Despite not wanting to think about Vriska, Terezi couldn't help but think about Vriska, especially since as the party started to wind down, the kids put a movie on, and Terezi could only listen as it played. Terezi and Vriska had a messy history, though in all honesty, things didn't get bad until Tavros "fell" down the stairs after a D&D match at Vriska's house, and even though he would always say it was an accident, pretty much everyone could put two and two together and figure out that Vriska pushed him. When Aradia and Terezi talked about the situation, Aradia said something about summoning spirits in a fit of anger and desire for revenge, but Terezi insisted on taking care of it herself. But what was really sticking out in Terezi's mind was Vriska's revenge against her; the blinding incident. See, Terezi wasn't always blind. In fact, she'd only been blind for just over a year. But her eyes had never worked quite right, either. Terezi knew she'd been born with congenital anirdia—a condition that affected the iris and caused some light sensitivity—and in the summer before eighth grade, not long after Vriska was fitted with her prosthetic, the girls decided to have a good old-fashioned California beach day.
Terezi tended to just lounge on the beach, but Vriska was splashing around in the water trying to get her attention.
"Hey 'Rezi! Get your lame ass out here!"
Terezi squinted, glancing up to see Vriska waving at her from the water with one arm, her other shoulder carrying nothing but a stump that ended quite abruptly with a load of scar tissue. Other people seemed to be giving Vriska a wide berth, whether it be from her stump arm or the wounds from her eye or just her general attitude, but Terezi started to feel a little bad about the situation, so she got up from where she'd been laying, and with a light sigh, traipsed into the water towards Vriska. Vriska grinned as Terezi waded closer to her, and then, upon catching someone else's startled and upset expression, Vriska's enthusiasm faded.
"Ugh, I wish that people wouldn't look at me like that," Vriska murmured. Terezi frowned, her face fading into a pitying expression. Vriska glanced sharply upwards at her. "I wish you wouldn't look at me like that."
"What?"
"You, with that pathetic little frown on your face." Vriska's voice was escalating quickly. "You know this is all your fault, right? If you had just—"
"My fault? If you hadn't pushed Tavros down the stairs—"
"You can't prove I did anything!"
"If you hadn't pushed Tavros down the stairs," Terezi repeated, "no one would have had any reason to hurt you."
"So this was all about avenging Tavros?!"
"Vriska, I—" Terezi paused, and then let out a sigh. "Don't you know how sorry I am for that by now? I'm not trying to pity you or feel bad just because I think I ought to feel bad. I have felt bad about that since it happened. I… I'm sorry." Vriska grew silent for a moment. Terezi took another deep breath. "I was mad. I was trying to… I dunno, bring justice, I guess." Still silence. "Look, you and I agreed we'd still be friends. I want to be friends with you. I want to have a good time today. It's up to you, Vris."
And with that, Terezi retreated to the beach again, plopping her sunglasses back on before laying down on the towel and promptly falling asleep underneath the afternoon sun.
When Terezi woke up, everything was alarmingly bright. Her sunglasses were gone, and her weak eyes… the sun was bright and just overhead, and before she could really put together what had happened, everything around her dimmed and blurred into nothing more but little smudgy blobs of color.
This was the incident running through Terezi's mind as The Corpse Bride played, and she began to wonder why she did fight so hard for a friendship with Vriska. They had never been good for each other, not since all those incidents, all right after each other. And Terezi had tried so hard to pretend everything would be okay. After everything that had happened, was Vriska's friendship really, really worth the trouble? Terezi was jostled out of her thoughts by everyone beginning to move around as the movie ended. Dave was the first to speak.
"Welp, thanks for the party, man," he said.
"Yeah, I had fun, Tavros!" John added.
"Are you guys… leaving?" Tavros asked. Immediately, Terezi could feel some dregs of disappointment radiating off of Karkat. John, Rose, Dave, and Jade explained they had to go and began to shuffle out and Feferi mentioned her curfew and followed behind closely, and then there were 11. Terezi's ears pricked as Karkat let out a sigh, so she swung her cane upwards and poked him in the back of the shoulder, letting out a laugh as he spun around.
"Having a dilemma?" she asked, grinning widely at him.
"No," he said, point blank, and swatted her away.
With so many things chewing at her mind, Terezi was surprised she fell asleep so easily on the floor of Tavros' guest room.
In the morning, Latula showed up to take Terezi and Vriska home. As Terezi climbed into the front seat, she remembered how Tavros had pulled Vriska outside just after the whole 'Seven Minutes in Heaven' thing, and her curiosity got the better of her.
"So what were you talking to Tavros about?" Terezi asked.
"Huh?"
"Last night. You two went into the front. What were you talking to him about?"
"Oh," Vriska said, and then she laughed a bit. "So get this; that whole thing? Was rigged." Terezi's mouth fell open a bit. "Equius asked me if I could help get him a chance with Aradia, and I kinda owed him a favor for the whole… you know. Arm thing. So I kinda cheated."
Terezi was formulating her words for a moment. She knew something was fishy with that whole thing. "Wait, so you made it so those two were in there on purpose? And Tavros was… what, calling you out?"
"Heh, yeah. Thinks he has some kind of authority over me or something."
"Well he was right to call you out, you know."
"You can't seriously tell me you're on his side with this."
"Yes! I am!" Then it was Vriska's turn to let her mouth drop. "Vriska, you can't keep messing with peoples' emotions like this. You wonder why none of our friends like you, it's because you pull this kind of shit constantly. And I've tried so hard to defend you, to justify your actions so I don't feel guilty about defending you, and the more I think about things, the more I think I'm kind of done with that too. Karkat tried to tell me for so long, but I didn't get it. But he's right. You're dangerous, and I think I'm done."
Terezi's speech ended with remarkably good timing, as Latula was just pulling up to the Serket home, her lips pursed, saying nothing about the fight between Terezi and Vriska. She had no desire to butt in, especially between these two headstrong girls.
"You know what, Terezi? Fine. If you don't think I'm tolerable, or worth being around, or whatever, then FINE. I don't need to be a good person and I don't need you to think that I'm 'worth defending'. Terezi says I'm morally corrupt and a bad influence so it must be true! Fiiiiiiiine! I'm done too!" Vriska grabbed her backpack and hopped out of the back seat of the car, slamming the door behind her. Terezi's strength immediately withered, and she knew Latula could tell. The sisters were silent for a moment, idling in the Serket driveway.
"Are you alright?" Latula asked, looking gently over at Terezi.
"Yeah, let's just go," Terezi muttered. The truth was she wanted to talk to someone about it, but not have Latula hear, which was always difficult given the fact that Terezi had to dictate every text she sent to Nora. So she waited until they got home, went up to her room, laid Pyralspite on her chest as a comfort, and then mulled everything over. She couldn't message Karkat, he'd only be glad he was finally proven right about the Terezi/Vriska friendship.
"Nora, message turntechGodhead."
"Messaging turntechGodhead."
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]
GC: Dave are you available? Can I call you about something?
TG: kinda tied up at the moment
TG: whats up
GC: I kinda… cut off my friendship with Vriska
TG: oh shit
TG: well if you really need to talk like not over text then i can call later
GC: No dont worry about it
GC: If you are busy I can just talk to my mom but
GC: Idk just dont worry about it
GC: What are you tied up with at the moment?
GC: If its any of my business
TG: oh
TG: its just
TG: im at johns
TG: some shit happened last night
GC: OH
GC: Ok definitely call me later then
GC: If you want to talk about it that is
TG: yeah maybe
TG: theres a lot going on rn but theres also a lot I dont totally feel comfy sharing with john so i probably will
TG: thanks
GC: What are friends for?
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]
Contrary to what she'd told Dave, Terezi did not go talk to her mother about the situation. She didn't talk to Karkat, or Kanaya, or Latula. Instead, she just laid on her bed and ran her hand down Pyralspite's spine while he made little chirping sounds of affection. After a while, Terezi carried him downstairs. She plopped him into her lap as she sat at the barstool, and then she reached across the counter, grasping for the bowl of grapes that she knew was out, where was it? Ah, there. She grabbed a handful of grapes and then laid her palm out in front of Pyralspite, his little flicking tongue tickling her hand as he ate them. Well, as long as that lizard liked her, Terezi supposed things weren't all that bad.