You hesitate. You are not sure that she wants to talk to you right now. You probably wouldn't want to talk to you right now. But Kanaya has been telling you that to have confidence, you are supposed to take initiative. And that is what you are trying to do now.
After many moments of deliberation, you cluckbeast out and walk away from the door. As you do, it swings open behind you.
"Oh pupa, I was just looking for you."
You blink in surprise and slowly turn around.
"You were?" you stutter.
"Of course! It's been too long since we've spent some quality time together. Let's go do something fun."
She loops her arm through yours and drags you down the hall. You are still in shock. She pushes the door open to the recreation block and leads you inside. She drops your arm and crosses the room to the closet. She rummages through the closet, leaving you standing awkwardly by the door.
"Let's play a game." She turns around holding a box with a wide grin on her face. Something seems a little… off about her. You can't quite put your finger on it though.
Vriska sets the box down on the card table and leans foreword, propping herself up with her arms.
"Loser owes the winner a favor." She sits down. "Well come on then! Get over here!"
You find yourself making your way slowly over to the card table and sitting down across from her. You aren't quite sure if it is of your own will or hers.
"Uh… Vriska, I don't know if…"
"Shut up pupa. Let's play."
She opens the box and takes out a chessboard. She lays out the chessboard out on the table and sets up the pieces.
"Vriska I'm not sure this game is fair."
"Of course it's fair! It's a battle of wit! Of course, not the most entertaining battle of wit there is but the more entertaining ones have higher consequences. We could play one of those if you would rather of course."
She smiles slyly. You shake your head.
"Then great. I'll even let you have the first move."
She turns the board so that the white pieces stand ready in front of you. She looks at you challengingly. You sigh, residing yourself to playing along and move your first pawn foreword.
She grins and cracks her knuckles.
"Then let us begin."
The game is surprisingly close. You don't think you've ever gotten this close to beating Vriska at anything. She seems to be distracted, like her mind is on something else completely. She doesn't even notice the trap you set with your knight and bishop.
"Check." You say, satisfied with yourself.
Vriska immediately snaps out of whatever other thoughts she was having. You watch her glazed eyes slowly focus on the board. She frowns, squinting her eyes menacingly.
"Well played pupa."
She uses her queen to take your bishop. You move your knight so that you are still in check.
"Check." You say again.
Vriska seems to be getting frustrated. She moves her king so that he is out of the line of fire of your knight. However, this has left him cornered. Your rook sits in a perfect line with her king. You pick it up to move it.
"Check mate."
A strange feeling washes over you, like the cool soper slime in your recupracoon. Your eyes glaze over and your hand moves of it's own accord.
When the feeling wears off, you find that you have moved your rook in the wrong direction, across the board. You frown. Why would you have done that?
Vriska takes one of your pawns with her queen, landing it directly in front of your king.
"Check mate." She says.
You blink, staring at the board blankly and wondering what just happened. You were so close and you just botched it. You somehow managed to mess it up like you always do. Vriska must notice the look of disappointment on your face.
"Don't beat yourself up about it." She grins. "Not everyone can be as amazing as me. And you got pretty close there too. I'll admit you even had me worried there for a moment. But in the end I ended out on top, because I will always end out on top."
She tosses her hair behind her shoulder. You look down at the board again, still trying to understand what happened. She leans foreword across the board and lifts your chin with two fingers, returning your attention to her face.
"Now about that favor…" Her eyes darken.
"I never agreed…" You stutter, trying not to pull away.
"You agreed by making the first move."
She pushes the table to the side, chess pieces spilling off of it. She steps behind your chair, holding your head in her cold hands. You grip the material of your shorts with your short nails.
"What do you want?" You squeeze your eyes shut as she presses her lips to your ear and whispers.
"I want you to keep quiet."
She pushes your chair over so that you tumble to the floor. You feel your teeth pierce into your lip, which stats to bleed dull brown. You roll over, propping yourself up on your elbows. She stands tall above you, a foot on either side of your torso.
You shut your eyes and ready yourself for what you know is coming next.
And it does.
Roxy and Rose, carve pumpkins!
A quick headcannon from the last chapter that I forgot to put in that one. John still doesn't understand troll romance even after spending so much time with trolls. :)
I'm not going to talk about the headcannons in this chapter until a later one because I don't want to give anything away accidentally. ;)