History Main / InnerThoughtsOutsiderPuzzlement

* In ''VideoGame/Another Code: R'', Ashley's internal monologues have her face the camera and seemingly address the player, with the background fading to black while this occurs. At one point, it's revealed that from the perspective of her companion Matthew and other characters, she's just staring blankly into space, with Matt wonders why she "black-outs" so often.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* [[https://betweenfailures.com/comics1/1021-updating One strip]] of ''Webcomic/BetweenFailures'' has Brooksie contemplating her attractions to the rest of the cast, with Jess and Ed watching her. Apparently she does this enough for Ed to no longer be fazed by it.
-->'''Ed:''' Yeah, my theory is that this is what happens as her software updates.
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': A hospital intern bearing some resemblance to J.D. from ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' tells Mr. Raven, [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2009-12-12 "I can only imagine how you survived being blown out of a building.]] He then stares off into space as he proceeds to imagine it. Unusually, the audience doesn't get to see the ImagineSpot, but instead sees Mr. Raven's AsideGlance at the intern zoning out, and his shocked expression at the intern's non sequitur when the imagine spot ends.
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
** When the heroes first meet [[EvilTwin Nale]] and [[PsychoRangers company]], Nale goes into an InternalMonologue that makes clear that he's up to no good. However he's lost in his own thoughts long enough for the others to notice, and the scene cuts from a closeup of Nale's face as he monologues to a shot of everyone standing around staring at him until Haley finally asks Roy what the hell Nale is doing.
** Much later in the comic's run, the [[spoiler:vampire spirit]] possessing Durkon's body thinks that Durkon is trying to invoke this so that Durkon's friends will notice the odd behavior and realize that Durkon is NotHimself. It's then defied in that the interactions are happening at the speed of thought, so only a split second is passing no matter how long the in-head discussion seems. [[spoiler:Eventually this goes from being defied to played straight; Durkon shows the vampire spirit a memory of such emotional weight and which is so antithetical to everything the vampire thinks and believes about mortals that it does, in fact get distracted long enough for others to notice. Long enough for all his followers to be killed off and lose a battle that the vampire's side appeared to have already won, in fact.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Rain|2010}}'', after being asked for her thoughts, Rain [[https://rain.thecomicseries.com/comics/502 goes through a variety of facial expressions while thinking but says nothing]]. This weirds out Emily and makes Ky think she's holding in a sneeze.
* In Part 3 of the ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'' comic, [[{{Eagleland}} the Soldier]] is offered a bowl of soup by [[HuskyRusskie the Heavy's]] mother. He refuses the offer, solely on the grounds of being from America, but starts to reconsider. He then imagines the ghost of George Washington attempting to dissuade him further, while the ghosts of Benedict Arnold and a big hot dog try to convince him to eat the soup. Meanwhile, in reality:
-->'''Heavy's mother:''' Son, I offered your friend soup and he has been screaming for five minutes.
[[/folder]]

--->'''Horst:''' Mr. Simpson!

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2009-12-12 references]] ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' tendency to use this trope.

** In "Lisa Gets An 'A'", Lisa imagines that an F on a quiz would mean thta no postsecondary school would accept her but Brown University, Lisa says "No, not Brown, Brown, Brown...", and Ms. Hoover notices Lisa is saying "Brown" repeatedly, asking her if there's anything wrong.

* In the Creator/ProZD sketch ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgx_xBLz6fg When your friend doesn't know a character dies but you do]]'', two friends are playing a video game, (The King Dragon Canon that [=ProZD=] has done a number of skits about) with one having already played before and one who hasn't. The friend who hasn't played the game begins gushing about a character who is going to die before long, and the friend who has already played does an internal reaction that includes EvilLaughter, then crying internally and mourning over the character's fate and begging to have them back. This goes on for a solid 15 seconds (with things like him blinking being sign that real time is actually passing) before the friend who has played the game finally manages a response. Something of a variant, since the video never shows his friend's reaction, it's more for the benefit of the audience.

-->'''Hans:''' ... Mr. Simpson? Mr. Simpson?
-->'''Homer:''' Huh? Oh, I'm sorry! We were talking about chocolate?
-->'''Horst:''' That was ten minutes ago!

->'''Nale:''' ''[Thinking]'' My machiavellian plan is beginning to come together. Now that I have secured the aid of these gullible saps, the Talisman shall soon be mine! Indeed, I have worked for years for this very day. It seems like just yesterday when my father took me aside and told me--\\

* For drama effect in ''Manga/SchoolLive'', Yuki views her time as school as the happiest she's ever been. The real matter at hand is the city is in the midst of a ZombieApocalypse, and Yuki is psychologically damaged. Her friends try to let Yuki live close to a school life as they could manage, and through these efforts find it within themselves to survive the zombies.

Often revealed via CuttingBackToReality. Compare and contrast NotSoDire, (where an audience is misled by serious-sounding dialogue into believing that a situation is critically important when it's actually over a much more trivial matter) AntiClimaxCut, and ActingOutADaydream. Compare the various "[[TalkingIsAFreeAction x]] [[TransformationIsAFreeAction is a]] [[ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction free action]]" tropes, PlotTime, ImagineSpotting, and CaughtMonologuing. Can overlap with, or be a sort of meta FailedAttemptAtDrama.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':