Here's the story Darth Michael won. He asked for an Inside Out version of the infamous Dance of the Seven Veils. What was going on inside Lois' mind? Read and find out.
Michael, I really hope you enjoy!
Inside A Lovesick Mind
Lois’ heart raced, so eager was she to see Clark again. Too much time had passed since they’d parted, too much time spent finding the right costume, touching up her makeup and taming her hair until it was just right. Because tonight, she was going to be his. Bouncing on her toes, Lois felt her hand twitch with the need to ring the doorbell again.
Inside her mind, Joy had a hard time reigning in her giddiness. “Any time now,” she mumbled. “Any time now he’s going to open that door. Oh, I can’t wait to dance for him. This is going to be soo great!”
She whirled around behind the console, filled with so much nervous energy she could hardly stand still. Her usual glow had spiked up, blinding the other emotions who were standing behind her, separated by an invisible field between them.
Fear covered her eyes with her hands. “We need to do something!”
“And what's that supposed to be?” Anger growled, tapping her foot. “We already tried breaching the barrier, burning it down, not to mention your pitiful attempt at talking Joy out of this madness.” A flame of barely contained frustration flickered on her head.
On the screen the door to Clark’s apartment opened.
The flicker on Anger’s head turned into a flash as she glanced over her shoulder. “Gee, how long can it take to wake Embarrassment from her beauty sleep? If anyone can penetrate this barrier, it's her.”
“Lois!” Clark appeared on the doorstep, a strange purple glow and blinking hearts surrounded him.
Disgust gagged. “I swear if any of this becomes a core memory, I'm resigning.”
Anger rolled up her sleeves and stomped toward the door leading to Lois suppressed emotions. “Sadness, get your sorry butt out here and don't forget to bring Embarrassment with you.”
On the screen, an exasperated Clark looked at his watch and let out a sigh. “It's very late.”
“Oh, my gosh,” Fear whimpered. “You think he'll throw her out and spare us the humiliation?”
Anger turned her head, raising a brow. “Never count on a guy to handle a delicate situation. Sadness!” she barked. “We’re running out of time.”
“Coming,” Sadness' muffled voice replied, right as Anger pulled the door open.
Embarrassent, who'd obviously tried to resist, tumbled into Headquarters, landing flat on her stomach. From behind her, Anxiety darted out of the room, jumping over Embarrassment’s back right through the barrier.
“Are you sure we practiced enough?” Anxiety asked eagerly, pushing Joy to the side so she could get access to the controls.
“Wait, what?” Disgust muttered. “Why did she get through?”
“Because someone’s dead set on ruining my day,” Anger grumbled. “Come on, girls, don't just stand there. Help me get her up! I swear she put on more weight since Clark sent Lois into the sewers.”
Sadness, Fear and Disgust rushed to her side, the three emotions struggling to roll Embarrassment around.
“What if he doesn’t like the dance?” Anxiety piped up. “What if he’s not alone? Nonsense, it won’t matter. He’ll forget whoever is with him once he’s seen Lois in that costume, won’t he, Joy, won't he?”
“Sure,” Joy grinned, glowing even brighter as she pushed a button. “Just you wait, Clark Kent.”
On the screen, Lois cooed. “Not too late, I hope. For us. For happiness.”
Joy rubbed her hands with glee, as she pressed another set of buttons, letting Lois untie her trenchcoat.
Fear blanched and dropped Embarressment’s arm. “Oh, no, no, no,” she stuttered. “Please tell me, she’s not untying that trench coat. She cannot show him what she’s wearing.”
“I’m more concerned with all the stuff she isn’t wearing,” Disgust said glumly. “Can someone knock me out, please?”
“This is not happening." Sadness pinched the bridge of her nose. “We’ve got to be hallucinating!”
“If you mean that Lois is about to embarrass herself forever and all eternity while we’re here, stuck at the far end of Headquarters,” the flame on Anger's head flickered dangerously, “then no, you’re not hallucinating.”
“Embarress herself forever and all eternity?” Embarrassment squeaked and jumped to her feet.
“Oh, look, who found her voice,” Anger growled. “Now, come on and stop this madness.”
She threw herself against Embarrassment's bulky frame and pushed her toward the barrier. Disgust, Fear and Sadness joined her efforts, grunting and groaning as they moved her inch by painful inch.
“Hngg,” Embarrassment complained, her nose pressing flat against the invisible forcefield that kept the emotions away from the controls.
“How is this not working?” Disgust cried. “This pink bunch of insecurities kept us from asking out every single cute guy in high school! But she's utterly useless when you need her!”
“It's not my fault,” Embarrassment whimpered.
“Oh, shut up, you spoilsports.” Joy flexed her fingers, quite obviously preparing herself for the kill.
“Take your time, Joy,” Anxiety cautioned. “We've got to get this right.”
She joined Joy on the console, whirling back and forth between buttons and levers until the trenchcoat slowly, seductively dropped to the floor, revealing the flimsy Harem’s costume Joy had chosen as Lois’ outfit.
On the screen, Clark's eyes widened. “Oh, no. Lois, please don't.”
“Told you he'd love this,” Joy stuck her first into the air and grinned. “Let's up the ante.”
She pressed another button, while next to her Anxiety bounced with nervous energy. “Oh, let me, let me!”
Together the worked the console, having Lois put her arms around Clark. “I love you, Clark Kent. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Urgh.” Disgust covered her mouth with her hands, momentarily forgetting about Embaressment.
Like her, Fear, Anger and Sadness stood staring at the screen. Embarrassent, no longer pushed into the barrier, took a step back and tightened her hood until only her nose and mouth stuck out. Then she pulled a chocolate bar from the pocket in her hoodie and started chewing.
On the screen, Clark grimaced. “Lois, please, go home.”
Anxiety stared at the screen, tearing her hair. “Oh, no! We must have done something wrong!” She turned into a whirl, frantically pressing more buttons. “Perhaps she didn't sway her hips seductively enough.”
Lois threw her arms up. “You're here. This is my home.”
Embarrassment turned her back on the screen and pulled another set of chocolate bars from her hoodie, hastily stuffing them into her mouth.
Anger flared and plucked the latest chocolate bar from Embarrassment’s hand. “What are you doing? You’re supposed to stop this madness – not consume tons of unhealthy junkfood.”
“But I can't move past the barrier,” Embarrassment muttered unhappily.
“Then find a solution!” Anger threw up her hands. “FYI: Eating chocolate is not it!”
Embarrassment briefly glanced over her shoulder, saw Lois whirling around a veil, turned a deeper shade of pink and pulled a carton of Rocky Road Ice Cream from her hoodie.
“Seriously?” Disgust snorted. “You got a fridge in there?”
Embarramssent wordlessly handed Disgust a spoon and pressed the carton of ice cream into her hands. Disgust studied the gift with dismay, then rolled her eyes and dropped the offending items as if she'd burned herself. It rolled through the barrier, straight toward Joy, who picked it up and grinned.
“I love eating Rocky Road while watching a romance unfold.” Joy turned toward them and laughed. “What’s your problem? We want Clark, we get Clark. Simple as that.” She snapped her fingers, then pulled a lever. “Initiating ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’.”
Oriental music started to play while Lois swayed her hips, dancing with the turquoise veil she’d brought with her.
Disgust groaned. “There go over a hundred years of women fighting for emancipation."
On the screen, Clark went down the stairs, a very unhappy expression on his face. “Lois, you don't know how much I've thought about, dreamt about this… well, something like this….but it's not real.”
Sadness squeaked. “Oh no, do you know what that means?”
“That Lois is just about to drive away the one decent guy on this planet?” Anger suggested.
“No, it means he’s not attracted to us!” Sadness cried. Tears welled out of her eyes, creating a puddle around her. “He’s just not into Lois.”
“Nonsense,” Joy protested.
“All we got to do is try harder,” Anxiety said through gritted teeth, darting across the console as Clark continued his speech.
“I mean, what you're feeling isn't real. I don't know exactly how, but there was something in the perfume that affected people in the newsroom. Made them drunk... on love. Lois, I just can't take advantage of you this way.”
“See, he’s just not attracted to her,” Sadness weeped. “It’s all over.”
“Oh, would you stop it,” Anger shouted. “It’s bad enough that Joy and Anxiety are on steroids.”
“Perfume, apparently,” Fear muttered. “Do you really think Lois is drunk?”
Disgust shrugged. “The last time she was drunk, Sadness worked the controls and the screen got all blurry. I don’t recall any force…”
“Does it really matter, if she’s drunk or lovesick?” Anger shouted. “We’ve got to stop–”
“Oh darn,” Fear yelped. “We didn’t bring any protection!”
“Protection?” Disgust cried. “You’re not seriously suggesting… Have you lost your freaking mind?”
“No, but Joy and Anxiety have, apparently,” Fear said, trembling. “And if Lois keeps swaying her hips like that - well, Clark’s only a guy.”
“A decent guy!” Sadness sniffed.
Anger tipped her head. “Still a guy.”
Suddenly an alarm blared. <Facial recognition alert, facial recognition alert>
“What the heck?” Anger stared at the screen, where lines had appeared around Clark’s eyes and mouth. “Did anyone know about this function?”
Next to Clark’s face, a number of faces Lois had seen in the past appeared in quick succession. When Superman appeared, the patterns matched and a green frame lit up around his face.
Anger landed on her butt. “I’ll be damned.”
“You know, it's remarkable,” Lois said. “I never noticed before.”
Clark stared at Lois like a deer in headlights. “What?”
“Uh, oh,” Fear bit her nails as she pointed at the screen. “Do you see that look on his face? It’s like he was caught with his hands in the cookie jar. So it’s true.”
“Holy Moly,” Sadness whispered.
Joy literally seemed to explode. “Oooooohhhh, jackpot,” she cheered. "JACKPOT!!!"
She danced behind the console and when she pushed a button, Lois said, “That you look a lot like... Superman.”
Suddenly, a new memory appeared, glowing yellow and brighter than any other.
“Oh, my gosh, we’ve got a new core memory,” Disgust moaned. “I can’t even begin to imagine what whacky personality island that’s going to create.”
The emotions looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do, when Joy pushed another button and Lois started dancing around Clark, swaying her hips, wrapping her veil around his shoulders and twisting her upper body in ways none of them had known she was even capable of. Headquarters tilted, causing the new core memory to roll across the floor until Anger caught it, adding a deep shade of red to the memory in her hands.
Disgust threw up her arms. “Oh, just wonderful. Now she’s going to be angry, when she realizes that he’s been lying to her the whole time.”
“Well, she should be,” Anger fumed. “After all, he’s her partner.”
“Who’s obviously trying to keep the world’s biggest secret in front of one of the best journalists in town. He may have his reasons,” Sadness pointed out. “I don’t think Lois is ready to learn the secret yet.”
Anger narrowed her eyes on Sadness. “So what? We just let the jerk continue to lie to her?”
Disgust pursed her lips. “I hate to admit it, but Sadness is probably right. Okay, we need to hide the memory until time’s right. Sadness, you find a place for it.”
“But if I touch it, she’s also going to be sad!”
“He’s lying to her, the very least she can be is sad about it,” Anger said, arms akimbo. “You know, if you want to treat him with kid gloves, that's your choice. I'm out of here. Consider me a suppressed emotion until this madness stops.” She stomped toward the door and closed it behind her with a resounding bang.
Disgust looked after her, then shrugged. “I think I'll follow her. Haven't seen Ennui and Nostalgia in a while.”
Holding her head high, she headed for the door.
“You think we should leave as well?” Sadness asked.
“And listen to Nostalgia tell us about all the stuff we did as children?” Embarrassment shook her head.
Then she took the core memory from Sadness hands, adding a shade of pink to the blue, yellow and red. She slid the memory into the front pocket of her hoodie.
Sadness hesitated. “Any chance you got chocolate in there?”
Embarrassment pulled a fresh carton of ice
Cream from her hoodie and handed it to her fellow emotion.
“That's it?” Fear pointed at the console, where Joy and Anxiety sat with their feet resting on the console, sharing the carton of Rocky Road. “We're just going to watch events unfold?”
“I think we don't have much of a choice,” Embarrassment muttered and stuck her nose deep into her carton of ice cream.
“Want some?” Sadness held out her own ice cream.
Fear fidgeted, glancing at the screen before she dropped onto the floor with a heavy sigh. “I guess, the occasion calls for vanilla.”
Last edited by bakasi; 09/19/26 12:40 PM.
