Despite the debacle last time she saw her friends, Vriska still missed her friends. Not because she wanted to hang out with them, particularly, but because since her falling out with Terezi, it was proving difficult to find reasons to get out of her suffocating household. God, why did her mother have to be so awful? Hannukah had ended by then, but even when they were celebrating, it was insufferable to stick around so much. A girl could only hear, "you're such an ingrate" so many times. So, while Vriska was surprised to receive a call from Tavros inviting her to Spencer Slick's Christmas party, she—to her own astonishment—took him up on the offer. When she got into the car, it was pretty clear that Tavros' family was not exactly enthused that he had invited her, but she was mildly distracted by a conversation on Pesterchum. She'd been put out by John's reaction at Feferi's party, and the fact that they hadn't spoken since was a tad distressing, so she took the liberty of breaking the silence.
arachnidsGrip [AG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB]
AG: Hi John.
EB: oh, hey there, vriska.
AG: John, are you mad at me?
EB: um…no?
AG: Then what's the matter?
EB: i dunno, i should probably be socializing with my family.
AG: I never understood how you're so sentimental.
EB: yeah, i know.
EB: but how do you feel about your family?
AG: It's just my sister and my mom.
AG: And I never liked my mom that much.
AG: Things have been pretty chilly between us. I spend most of my time avoiding her. Haha.
EB: that…
EB: is too bad.
Vriska frowned. John was certainly being less chatty than usual. He typically went on and on about his dorky movies, or whatever ^cake file he was coding.
AG: John.
AG: Are you suuuuuuuure you're not mad at me?
EB: no!
EB: why would i be mad at you, vriska?
AG: Because of the way I acted last weekend!
AG: We haven't exactly talked since then.
EB: oh. Right.
EB: i…actually almost forgot about that!
AG: Would it help if I said I was sorry?
EB: why would you need to apologize to me though?
EB: i mean, tavros deserves an apology more than me i think…
EB: we were all pretty confused about it.
Vriska glanced up at Tavros. He really did take the brunt of it. But it was for his own good! He needed to learn to be tougher. She looked back at her phone, pausing for a moment.
"Who're you, uh, messaging?" Tavros asked, a note of jealousy in his voice. Vriska looked back at him and scowled.
"John. Not that it's any of your business."
EB: uh…
EB: are you there?
AG: Yes, I am here.
AG: Sorry, I wasn't sure what to say for a moment.
AG: I am relieved you are not angry with me.
EB: heh, i don't really think i have much reason to be angry.
AG: I don't know, John. People resent me a lot but you seem to get me.
AG: That's why youre special.
EB: shruuuuuuuug!
AG: 33333333
EB: so…
EB: is that what you wanted to talk to me about?
AG: Yes.
AG: Well.
AG: Not exactly.
It was about time Vriska was honest with herself, and honest with John as well. It wasn't as if she had a stellar track record with most people.
AG: John, I do really bad things.
AG: I know I do.
EB: well, how do you feel about it?
AG: Horrible!
AG: But I don't want people to think I'm weak.
EB: oh…
EB: i guess i understand.
AG: Do you?
EB: i don't know, it sounds like growing up was pretty rough for you.
EB: you have to act tough to make it, in your mind, and have a sense of how to fight, right?
AG: Uh, yeah.
EB: i think if you feel bad, it just means you have a conscience.
AG: Yeah, but I've done bad shit before and never felt this awful!
AG: Like, growing up I had to steal from people just to get food in the house.
AG: My mom held my well-being hostage, basically.
AG: God, I know how this sounds! But it was my responsibility to feed everyone!
EB: i guess that is why you didn't get along with her?
AG: Hell yes.
EB: i see.
AG: Yeah, but I never felt anything about it. It was just normal life for me.
EB: but you finally hurt a friend, and… not so cool anymore?
AG: Yeah. OH!
AG: Ok, that's not quite right. I accidentally-on-purpose fucked up Aradia.
AG: Man, I always forget about her.
EB: uh.
AG: And, yeah, I pushed Tavros down the stairs.
EB: …
AG: But man, that was years ago.
AG: I was always really obsessed with being the best at stuff, and I guess I was such a confused kid!
AG: I am sorry, John, I'm just trying to be honest with you.
EB: ok, well i appreciate the honesty.
EB: but i have to go.
EB: it's time for dinner.
AG: Okay
AG: Bye, John.
AG: Merry Christmas.
ectoBiologist [EB] has ceased pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]
Well, that was just great. If he hadn't been scared off before, he certainly was now. Fuck, she'd messed everything up, hadn't she? Whatever. Might as well enjoy Slick's crappy party, because anything was better than staying at home with her mother. As it turned out, the Nitrams were the type of people who showed up 20 minutes before everyone else. Vriska stood aside from the others while greetings were exchanged, her hands shoved in her pockets.
"Yeah, I put some stuff in the room upstairs for you kids," Spencer grumbled. Vriska wasn't super familiar with Spencer and Harold and Daniel and Clyde aside from her aunt being somewhat involved with Spencer.
"Upstairs?" Tavros asked. Vriska stifled a laugh. Spencer paused, taking a moment to realize his mistake.
"Aw shit dammit!"
"It's alright," Tavros muttered. Just then, the Captors arrived. Vriska rolled her eyes at Sollux's mere presence. He'd been so surly lately, turning into a fucking grouch like Karkat.
"Hey guys," Sollux grumbled. "Guess we're being exiled upstairs." Sollux headed up before the others, but Vriska was waiting to see Tavros handle the situation. He looked so embarrassed as Rufioh lifted him out of his chair and carried him up. Vriska couldn't help but laugh, even as she hoisted the chair up behind them. It was still funny as hell. Rufioh took Tavros into the spare bedroom where Sollux was already fiddling with the wires, Vriska set the chair down and flopped onto the bed, and Tavros settled back into his seat.
"Okay, little man, I'm gonna go chill with the adults. Holler if you need me," Rufioh said before vanishing. Vriska wasn't totally paying attention anymore; Sollux and Tavros were playing some kind of racing game so Vriska just fiddled on her phone for a while.
Eventually, Aradia showed up, seeming more morose and downtrodden than ever. The girl always seemed somewhat depressed, but the expression on her face was even bringing Vriska down.
"Hi Aradia," Tavros said.
"Hey Tav… Sollux…" Aradia answered.
"'sup," Sollux answered. Vriska noticed that Aradia and Sollux weren't making eye contact. She scowled at Aradia.
"What, don't I get a hello?"
"Don't you have your own family to bother? It is Christmas."
"Wha—I'm Jewish, you asshole." Aradia was frustrating in a different way than Tavros or Kanaya or John. Aradia just didn't care anymore. It was so hard to get a rise out of her. Vriska went on and on and on about things just trying to get a semblance of a reaction from Aradia, but nothing she said worked, and all it did was make Vriska angrier and angrier, until the kids were all called down for dinner. Vriska all but sprinted out of the room, shoving Sollux out of the way as she went out the door.
"Move it, loser!"
"Oh my god, shut up," she heard Sollux mutter behind her, but she paid him no mind; she was far too excited about food that hadn't been frozen prior to eating it. But of course some other kind of bullshittery had to rear its ugly head just as Vriska was sitting down to eat. Her phone rang, the caller ID reading "Equius Zahhak." She groaned, earning her an eyebrow-raise from Sollux, then skulked into the other room as she answered.
"What do you waaaaaaaant?" she asked.
"I need some help with Aradia, she's… I don't know. She's pulling away from me."
"What—"
"You're the one who got us together, you have to help."
"No, I don't care."
"Vriska, please, I don't understand how this works. I am not asking you because you owe me, I am asking as a friend."
"I know, but I can't force her to…"
"I have never dated anyone before."
"Shut up! Listen, Zahhak, I held up my end of the deal and rigged the game. I got you in the closet."
"But it's not working with me and her."
"Well that's not my problem! You deal with your own freaky relationship; I can't force Megido to have feelings for you! She hardly has feelings about anything anymore."
"Well… how can I fix things?"
"Figure it out! I made a promise and I fulfilled that promise. Not my business anymore." She hung up and went back to the dinner table. Wasn't there at least one competent non-asshole person in her entire circle of friends? Why was she being forced to deal with everyone's god damn baggage? Why was Equius even asking her for relationship advice when… when she was failing to manage her own? She'd messed things up with John and it wasn't going to happen with Tavros; there was nothing left to do about it. But… what if there was something to do about it? After all, Tavros was getting jealous of Vriska spending time with John. Maybe there was a way to get John's attention again, and maybe Vriska just had to turn the tables on him. After all, it wasn't as if Tavros had outright rejected her, either. Maybe this was another chance to see if things would work, even though subconsciously, Vriska had mostly made up her mind about it. She definitely liked John more, but it was possible she'd made a mistake in confiding in him, and the more she thought about it, the more certain she was she shouldn't have told him, and that it would drive a wedge between them. Because John was a good person, and she just… wasn't. Being around him kind of made her want to be a better person. But first she had to get his attention again, and if there was one thing Vriska Serket was good at, it was making boys jealous of each other.
