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There used to be a time when you would look forward to when the cerulean trolltag light up on your ChumpRoll. These days however, getting a message from Vriska is typically bad news and, while you rarely jump to conclusions without weighing the available evidence to the support your theories, you have a feeling that whatever it is she’s going to tell you is going to be particularly terrible. You’re actually a little excited.
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]
AG: Heeeeeeeey!
AG: Tereeeeeeeeziiiiiiii
AG: Come on, I know you’re there!!!!!!!!
GC: WH4T DO YOU W4NT?
AG: Can’t a girl say hi to her 8est friend?
GC: NOT W1THOUT R1GHTFUL SUSP1C1ON!
AG: Hahahaha fiiiiiiiine you got me
GC: 1’LL S4Y 1T 4G41N
GC: WH4T DO YOU W4NT?
GC: 1 R3COMM3ND YOU 4NSW3R TH3 QU3ST1ON B3FOR3 1 F1ND R34SON 4ND M34NS TO FORC3 1T OUT OF YOU
AG: Well if you put it that way I guess I have no choice but to spill!
AG: Soooooooo, I was out roleplaying today right?
AG: And I sort of got caught up in some things
AG: Just, like, some normal, not-at-all criminal things
AG: 8ecause I have defin8ly left those days faaaaaaaar in the past!
AG: And I mean, I totally beat them, there wasn’t even a possibility of me not winning, but it took a lot longer than I had anticip8ed.
GC: G3T TO TH3 PO1NT
AG: Anyways, I’m in the area and I don’t think I’ll 8e a8le to make it 8ack to my hive 8efore day8r8k
AG: And I’ve 8een meaning to pay you a visit anyways
AG: So I figure why not kill eight 8eak8easts with one carefully aimed stone?
GC: TH4TS NOT HOW TH4T 3XPR3SS1ON GO3S 4ND YOU KNOW 1T
GC: TH4TS NOT 3V3N 31GHT TH1NGS >:/
AG: Wh8tever
AG: Anyways, I was wondering if I could stay over at your place for the day.
GC: WHY DON’T YOU JUST F1ND 4 N1C3 TR33
AG: I mean, there’s a lot of places I COULD camp in the area 8uuuuuuuut
AG: 8oy, daywalkers really give me the creeps you know!
AG: Like I’m not SCARED of them or anything
GC: 4ND H4NG YOURS3LF FROM 1T
AG: 8ut I dou8t I’ll 8e a8le to get aaaaaaaany sleep with them shuffling and moaning and creeping a8out!
AG: WOW.
GC: 4CTU4LLY SCR4TCH TH4T
GC: COM3 H3R3 SO 1 C4N H4V3 TH4T PL34SUR3 FOR MY OWN
GC: >:]
AG: Hahahaha!
AG: Well!
AG: Luckily for you........
AG: I’m outside your hive right now! ::::::::)
AG: Man, I’m so glad you gave me an official invit8ion! It’s totally apreci8d!!!!!!!!
arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]
GC: >XO
Vriska doesn’t often manage to trick you into going along with what she wants though, you figure a small part of you actually doesn’t mind. At least it’ll be easy to keep a watch on her.
You lean backwards in your desk chair to sniff out your window. The sky is already changing to sweet pastel hues with encroaching daybreak and it sharpens the edges of her blue-grey smudge of scent that stands apart from the familiar moss of the forest floor.
It might be a type of justice, to leave her out in the Alternian sun like she did to you all those sweeps ago, you suppose. If you weren’t so keen on keeping the vicious cycle of revenge the two of you easily get wrapped up in from starting again, you’d consider leaving her out to fry in the sun. Well, that and if you didn’t wish to dole out whatever justice she deserved when she requires punishment again.
That said, the way she’s posturing at the base of your hive doesn’t do her any favour in warming her to you so you feel no guilt in neglecting to untie the ropes of your treehive’s lift. If she wants to be here so badly, she’ll figure out a way up on her own.
And she does, after spending the next five minutes intermittently pinging your trollian account and shouting for your attention, both of which you gleefully ignore, before she figures out how to scale the tree some other way. You particularly enjoy how her cursing blends charmingly into the background music of the game you resumed playing but your respite is shortened by her stomping around the floorboards that warn of her approach.
You just barely have time to save your progress before she sweeps back the sheer curtains across the entrance. There’s dirt under her fingernails and she’s covered in minute scratches and her cheeks are radiating blue raspberry from exertion but she grins like she’s found a hidden boss level that she’s planning on demolishing in quick time.
Vriska locks eyes with you, spicy glint of challenge and she bows showily from the waist, all over dramatic flourish that causes the long, tangled sheet of her hair to brush the floor before she flips it back into place in a smooth swoop. “Well well well! We meet again Neophyte Redglare!”
Your grin holds even as the corner of your mouth twitches. God she’s so embarrassing.
Although you’ll allow yourself to save the ashamed blushing for later, when Vriska won’t be witness to your chagrin in being called by your old FLARPing name. Your ancestor was impressive but you regret pretending to be her yourself. You were such a wiggler.
Ah who are you kidding. You love this.
“Well, if it isn’t the infamous Marquise Spinneret Mindfang! To what do I owe the pleasure of our reunion? I somehow doubt this is a simple social call. I do hope you understand the risk you’ve put yourself in to be here.” You cackle out, all mock civility as you slowly spin your chair, spine straight, shoulder blades rigidly pulled back and your fingers slotted together on your lap.
“Sheer co-incidence. My business was with others of course, but it would have been rude of me to avoid my most esteemed rival when I was so close by.”
“I know as well as you that you would not be here right now had you not planned for the occurrence of such an event. It almost seems like you made sure to spend just enough time on your activities to ensure that you would not be able to complete your journey home.”
“Ah, those are some hefty claims! It’s too bad you can’t prove shit!!!!!!!! She replies and crosses her arms over her chest defiantly as she leers down at you.
“What you fail to realize marquise, is that in your case, it would take less than the most circumstantial of evidence to sway the jury towards a guilty verdict.”
“Ha! Like that means anything to me! If i can’t be caught then the verdict does not matter.”
“You’ve willingly placed yourself in my office and within my reach. You overestimate your own capabilities if you had expected an easy escape.”
“Well, I’ve always enjoyed a good challenge!”
She keeps dodging your questions so you determine it is ample time to throw your finest detective at her.
Your aim is impeccable as the inspector travels across the room in a delicious arch and hits Vriska on her blindside and knocks her glasses askew. The skin on the bridge of her nose is crinkled in offense at the mild pain, she glares up at you over the dark frame of her crooked glasses with her one yellow eye. You catch a whiff of the scorched out ocular chasm, the smell of rotten berry, coal dust, and musty revenge instead of her strange split pupil and you laugh even as you swallow down the sour tang of regret.
You don't have long to celebrate the victory because the tight grin that stretches across Vriska’s face is the only warning you get before your vision flashes lavender. Your chair skids backwards as the plush richottes off your forehead and you’re almost certain there’s a faint imprint from it’s button eye on your skin from how hard it smacked into you. A double agent in your ranks! You always knew you couldn't trust the dastardly Professor Pucefoot. She was much too protective of that suspicious research of hers. Alas her punishment would have to wait until the bigger threat was neutralized.
You wind up to throw the professor back at her but she interrupts the fight as she speaks up again. “Anyways! I’m going to use your ablutions block if you can bear to be without my presence for a short while. I know, I know... it will be hard! But I will be back before you know it so don’t cry too much.”
“I will try to restrain my tears of joy from being released from the presence of your stench!” You reply and she laughs it off as she walks out of the room but you know it bothered her. It wasn’t exactly untrue after all. Seeing with scent did have the unfortunate side effect of amplifying regular scents as well.
It seems she thinks she is off the hook with her substandard diversion. You suppose you will let her walk… for now. Besides, with her distracted you can actually complete your level before you have to spend the rest of the evening entertaining your ‘guest’.
---
About half an hour of vigorous gameplay later Vriska sweeps back into the room.
She sweeps back into the room in a completely different outfit than she left in.
What you don't understand is, when moves her wet hair as she combs it with her fingers, why it's your symbol that stretches in a teal band across her chest.
You just sort of stare at her and when she notices she shoots you one of those smug grins she seems to reserve for when she feels the need to be particularly obnoxious. It is completely bewildering how she can be so comfortable invading everyone else’s space.
“I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your clothes! It seems mine are currently in much too poor condition to be wearing in such a fine hive as yours. “ Bullshit she didn’t have any spare outfits with her. Instead of replying, you smile razor sharp and slide out of our chair with all the grace of a handful of loose box cutters to stalk off through your hive with Vriska following after you like a confused barkbeast.
When you find the trunk you’re looking for, tucked away in the corner of your respite block, you kneel down on the carpet to unlatch the metal clasps. Pulling the heavy wooden lid up to rest on the wall behind it reveals a mess of colourful fabrics and costumes. A piece of familiar cerulean blue pokes out of the pile as you shuffle it about and you hear Vriska’s disbelieving scoff before you even distinguish the article from the rest of the fruity rumpus to pull it free.
In your hands is vriska’s old flarping coat, long blue velvet panels with embroidered trim and golden buttons. You look Vriska dead in the eye, or as close as you can get when you can’t in fact see her, as you drape it around your shoulders and slide your arms into it. The sleeves a few empirically standard divisions of linear measurement too short and its tight on your shoulders but you’re still small enough to button it across your chest.
“Whaaaaaaaat!” Vriska drawls out as she looks on in indignation, “I thought I lost that. You mean you had it the WHOLE time!?!?!?!? Just sitting there on the other side of the screen, laughing and chuckling and having the time of your life sitting all snug and wrapped up in MY coat while I basically tore my place apart looking for it!”
“I’m not sure what you’re implying!” You respond through your toothy smile.
“Oh you are soooooooo full of shit Pyrope! You know exactly what I’m implying. For all your morality and goody two-shoeing you totally stole that and saved it to drag back into the light years later like ” She calls out as she lunges towards you with a peal of riotous laughter, “Give it back! Give it back! Give it baaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!”
You lose your balance as she launches into you and the two of you crumple to the floor in a heap of elbows and knees as you tussle across the neon carpet. You end up with your arms pinned to your sides as Vriska tries to peel the too-tight coat off while your hands are pushing your own shirt off her body. You’re both a bit breathless from laughing and writhing about as you try to reclaim the articles of clothing that have been stolen from you.
As your hands graze her flesh, understanding settles in your gut in a viscous slide and you suddenly realize how ridiculous you are, dressed in each others clothes just like the wigglers you used to be that ran around in replicas of their ancestors outfits. You’re older but for all your supposed gains in maturity you’re both the same goofy, terrible kids you used to be. You hadn’t known that you missed this.
All your thoughts of justice and retribution shift and morph when you try to apply them to the girl in front you who is still gleefully pushing the jacket sleeves from where they’re bunched at your elbows, whose skin beneath your fingers is soft and warm. The next breath you take is so cloyingly sweet, it hits you like a smack to the scentsifter.
It takes Vriska a moment to your hands have stilled, just enough time for the haze of reminiscence to clear from your vision, but when she does, she freezes up. Her face contorts in confusion, the corners of her smile turning down as the beginnings of indignation mar her features. As her flattened palms smack into your shoulders, hard enough that you wonder if you’ll bruise, you snatch her hands between fingers locked tight as iron bars, pressing them down before she can shove you away.
“What? Did I do something wrong again,” she sneers out, her visible eye a narrowed yellow slit, “because if I did, you’re really going to have to fill me in here. I have no idea what I could have done to piss you off this time.”
You smirk and flip the two of you, pushing her backwards to straddle on her legs and trap her there as she wriggles beneath you. “The accused, Vriska Serket, stands trial today for variety of illegal activities including: trespassing, assault, and theft, that resulted in her subsequent capture.”
“What the fuck...” She hisses out and you preemptively cover her mouth.
“I wasn’t finished. Please hold your comments until after the prosecutor has finished her statement.” You respond as you release her hand from where you trapped it against your chest and she fumes as she yanks your hand off her face but thankfully stays quiet.
“The jury has come deliberated the matter of her punishment and have returned with a verdict. The jury finds the defendant...”
You pause, weighing the charges in both hands for dramatic effect, but the verdict is swift on your tongue. “Guilty!”
You swoop down like an axe on the chopping block and your lips push hard against hers, a little off centre and with a painful twack of teeth through your closed mouths. When you draw back, her lipstick is smeared and you lick your lips to taste blueberry bubblegum.
She's staring up at you, stunned, and you watch in triumph as she struggles to put all the pieces together that click, click, click, as the lines of worry ease off her face.
She blinks herself out of her thoughts and reaches her hand up, her metal grip cool and smooth and strong on your neck and pulls you back down to butt your foreheads together. “Geeeeeeez! You had me worried for a second there, Pyrope!”
“Silence criminal!”
“Alright, shutting up!!!!!!!!” She says as leans her head up to connect your lips again and she guides you down with her until her skull bumps against the soft plush carpet. A few strands of hair from the back of your nape get caught between the seams of her metal digits as she threads them through your hair and they yank out painfully from your scalp but you can’t find it in you to care.
And a minute or so later, your portable mobile computational device pings in your pocket and she breaks off the kiss to laugh. You roll off her to sit next to her on the carpet before you pull out the device to glance apprehensively at the brightly coloured screen.
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]
AG: I tooooooold you you were lucky! :::;)
Ugh. You wonder if your taste is really as good as you thought it was. Who even multitasks like that while kissing?
GC: OH C4N 1T S3RK3T
You were right about one thing though, a message from Vriska is probably bad news.
She almost never disappoints.
And you wouldn't want it any other way.