So this is a companion piece to the fic that timewornInkslinger and I are co-writing that is called "Four Quadrants". You don't need to read the fic to understand this because these are just one-shots that explain the characters backgrounds. Of you want to find out what this leads to you will have to read the fic on timeworn's page. C:
So, this has slight almost Terezi/Vriska if you squint and it mentions some Tavriska. I feel bad for making Vriska such a butch because she is my favorite troll, but Vriska is a bitch so whatever.
Enjoy!
Terezi Pyrope remembered the day her career started as if it was seared into her brain. She was eight years old when her mother took her to an audition for a part on a horror movie. She had recently bit her mother's acquaintance, a man who happened to be the movie's producer. Instead of getting upset, he merely laughed and said that with her teeth, she would make an excellent zombie. It was probably meant jokingly, but her mother, a once famous actress that had dropped her career to raise her daughter after her husband's death, took him seriously and brought her to auditions.
All she really did that day was smile, showing off unnaturally sharp teeth. They made sure that she could follow directions and BAM! Faster than one could say 'orange creamsicles', she got the part of a child zombie. Soon after that she was requested for another horror movie, specifically for her teeth-baring smile.
When she was 10 she got the starring role as a possessed child. Slowly but surely, she and her mother built up a horror-movie empire. She became known as 'The Child-Queen of Horror'. Some adults would ask her if she ever got scared of the movies she was in. She would shrug and tell them that she never got the chance to be scared because long before the age when one would normally start watching horror movies she was behind scenes. She knew how everything was done and she knew that it wasn't real. There was nothing to be afraid of.
She was 17 years old when she met Vriska Serket. She had always been aware of Vriska, an actress of similar prestige yet always a step behind Terezi. They were to be co-stars in "Volatile Times", a vampire movie where Vriska's character would be the first person to get turned into a vampire by Terezi's character.
Three months before filming started, Terezi got into a car accident. She lost all sight but gained an ability that baffled doctors everywhere; she could smell colors and use the smells to see. She did not have to learn braille because she could smell what was written. She preferred brightly colored texts over uniform black on white paper because of the different colors, but could smell words in black ink just as well. Her mother bought her bright red glasses and all was well.
"Terezi, this is Vriska Serket." Terezi's mother said, introducing the two.
"You smell like blue raspberry." Terezi said, smiling at her new acquaintance.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Vriska asked, her voice tainted with annoyance. Terezi narrowed her hidden eyes slightly, she had the feeling that she wouldn't like this girl.
"It means that you smell like blue raspberry." Terezi repeated, her smile not wavering.
"You know, I've heard that somewhere before." Vriska said thoughtfully.
"Have you? Hehehe. Perhaps you are familiar with someone named Redglare?" Terezi asked. She could think of one person on the internet that she had ever told that they smelled like blue raspberry. Could this person, her rival in the world of horror movies, be her roleplaying partner?
Vriska's eyes widened. "You're Redglare?" she asked.
"And you are Mindfang, correct?" Terezi stuck her hand out. Vriska grabbed it and they shook hands.
"Nice to finally meet you, sister."
It seemed to be the start of a beautiful friendship. They would call each other by their roleplaying names as if it was an inside joke. They made elaborate plans for their MMORPG and reaped the spoils in the name of justice. Somewhere during that time, a single sprig of attraction began growin inside of Terezi and she would often just sit and think about the other girl. Unfortunately, good things don't last very long. Halfway through filming an argument broke out.
Terezi was turning the corner when she heard Vriska talking to someone harshly. She stopped to listen.
"Tavros, I don't have the time for this. Just leave!" Vriska snapped. Terezi sniffed the air and made out the image of a boy with a Mohawk in a wheelchair. He had pressed himself against his chair, clutching a bouquet of flowers tightly in one hand.
"But I, uhhh, thought that we were, uhhh, dating so I, um, came here to, uhhh-" Tavros stuttered.
"Just spit it out!" Vriska said.
"Uhhh, I brought you, um, flowers." he held out the flowers to her. Terezi liked the way they smelled.
"Awww, you shouldn't have." Vriska cooed as she took the flowers. Tavros smiled. "No really, you shouldn't have." Vriska dropped the bouquet on the ground and smashed it with her foot. Tavros's smile fell into a look of heartbroken horror. Terezi could smell the tears clearly from where she stood.
"Now leave, and if you haven't guessed it yet, we're through. Bye bye Tavvy." Vriska flashed her smile before doing her famous hair flip and turning around, leaving Tavros to look at the shattered remnants of his heart litter the floor in the form of flower petals.
"What was that about?" Terezi asked, frowning at her co-star when Vriska rounded the corner.
"Hmm? That? Oh, my ex-boyfriend was bringing me flowers." Vriska said.
"I know. Why'd you break up with him?" Terezi demanded.
"What's it to you, Redglare?"
"Stop with the RP names. This is serious Vriska." Terezi said.
"Obviously not, anyway, my private life is my private life. I can crush the hearts of as many wimps as I want. Pupa had it coming the moment he told me had played games for little girls." Vriska shook her head at Terezi.
"You are being more stupid than usual, Serket." Terezi scowled.
"Oh, so you think that I am stupid?" Vriska snapped.
"What if I do? My private life is private." Terezi sneered, mimicking Vriska.
"My God, what is your problem? Just stay out of it. What I do with my irons is my business, not yours."
"Irons?"
"You have no idea how many irons I have in the fire, Pyrope." Vriska stretched out Terezi's last name like it was a profanity.
"So he was just an iron in your fire? Just a way to achieve your means? He was your boyfriend. If your boyfriend was an iron then what am I? Am I one too? Are you planning on just cutting off all relations after this movie?" Terezi growled, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. She had thought that she and Vriska had something special. They had become best friends, sisters. Terezi had wanted to become even more.
"Of course not, Redglare!" Vriska exclaimed.
"Do you even know the difference between reality and games is anymore? I am not Redglare, I am Terezi Pyrope. You cannot play people like you do in games in real life! That is unjust!"
"What are you accusing me of?"
"Me, accuse you of something? The only thing I would ever accuse you of is of being a huge bitch." Terezi cackled, her smile returning to her face.
"Oh, is that how it is, Redglare?"
"You bet it is, Mindfang." Terezi laughed at Vriska.
"You know what? I am fucking happy that you are blind. For a while I might have actually been guilty but-" Vriska caught herself, eyes widening.
"Guilty for what, Serket?" Terezi asked, the smile never leaving her face.
"It doesn't matter! Now just leave me alone to deal with my irons." Vriska snapped, flipping her hair indignantly. She turned and stalked off, taking the only real friendship either of them had ever had with her.
Terezi cried for days, although she would never admit it. On set she was always smiling and cackling loudly, flirting with some people and quietly manipulating others. Aside for the scenes where Terezi's and Vriska's characters interacted the two avoided each other. Any hopes for some sort of future, friends or otherwise, with the other girl was lost to rivalry and, slowly, hatred.
Almost ten years later, the thought of hosting a game show where she will see her once best friend with her boyfriend terrified her. She could only hope that her co-host, a Karkat Vantas, could offer sufficient entertainment.
Please review. C:
The next chapter will be how John (a famous pianist) met Vriska because he is her boyfriend in the future.
Want to request a pairing for "Four Quadrants" chapter 4? Go to that fic and answer the trivia question in chapter two (or three, it depends) and if you get it right we will include almost any pairing. C: