Mall 2} Vriska and Jack

Vriska played by Link, Jack played by Deku

Vriska sighed impatiently as she flicked through the clothing rack in front of her. It was all cheap, gaudy crap! She needed something smooth and imposing for her big reunion with her greatest rival, Dualscar. She took out a jacket and eyed it in utter disgust. She couldn't face him wearing this! His fashion sense was borderline non-existent and even he'd know that that jacket should not be worn by anyone who wanted to be taken seriously. She audibly scoffed and put the jacket back on the rack, wiping her hand on her pants leg. With an annoyed grumble, Vriska turned and walked away from the rack without watching she was going, and bumped right into an unsuspecting individual.
"Hey!!!!!!! Watch where you're standing, jackass," she scowled.

Jack gasped, falling onto the tile floor.

Cocoa, who was in his pocket, quickly made her way onto his shoulder and gripped the fabric of his shirt tightly.

He quickly stood up to apologize. "I'm so sorry, miss! I wasn't paying attention."

Cocoa looked exceedingly worried about him.

He gave her a gentle pat to reassure her he was fine.

"O8viously not, idiot," Vriska snapped, glaring at Jack.
She furiously stared him down for a moment, before her eye drifted to look at the rat on his shoulder. She sighed heavily and looked away, folding her arms.
"Shit happens, it's whatever," she grumbled, and rubbed her face with her robotic hand, "I'm looking for nice pir8 clothing, do you know a place less shit than this?"

"Oh, pirate clothing?" He looked to the side, thoughtfully. "Are you doing a cosplay or something?" Jack couldn't help but feel he was gonna get in trouble for saying that. Because he probably was.

Cocoa studied Vriska and squeaked, a little frightened.

"COSPLAY?!" Vriska scoffed, as if that was an insult. She looked at Jack and shook her head. "No, it's not for cosplay. I'm a FLARPer, and my character is an incredi8ly powerful pir8. I haven't played for a few sweeps and I thought I'd try pick up some new duds to impress my rival, 8ut evidently I'm 8arking up the wrong tree here."

Jack smiled. "I could try and help you, if you'd like. What's your name? You look like an interesting person." He took in Vriska's appearance, his interest piqued by her mannerisms. It looked like she knew what she was talking about, much too complex for someone like him to grasp.

Vriska unfolded her arms, putting a hand on her hip as her free thumb pointed up at her face proudly.
"My name is Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, and I'd expect you to remem8er that!"
She span on her heel and started walking towards the exit.
"Now, come with me!" she commanded, glancing over her shoulder, "And tell me, what do I call you?"

Jack stared at her for a second. "Wait a second. Vriska???" He looked almost like he just saw a ghost of a dead family member. "I'm Jack. You know, stellarStardust?"

Vriska froze in place and stared forward for a moment. Slowly, she looked back over her shoulder, glaring at Jack with a wide eye. She was blushing, ever so slightly.
"Jack?" she asked, turning slightly, "No fucking way."

"YES... uh... Fricking way! I can even verify it for you!" He pointed to the flower patch on his shirt pocket. "It's the same color I use for text."

Vriska fully turned to face Jack, folding her arms. She smiled faintly and shook her head. "What are the odds? Guess you must 8e almost as lucky as I am! ::::)"
She stepped over to Jack and gave him a light jab on the arm, then cocked her head slightly.
"What's a guy like you even doing in a shithole like this?"

"I was shopping for trinkets and got distracted. I will agree that this brand isn't my favorite, but it's fun to see what there is anyways." Jack giggled shyly. He should be comfortable with Vriska by now, but seeing her in real life was more than a bit strange. "You're not at all how I imagined you'd be."

"Psh! You don't 8UY trinkets, Jack. You loot them. You should know this."
Vriska stepped next to Jack and gave him a pat on the back with her mechanical arm, leading him out of the store. "So tell me, then, how DID you imagine me?"

He walked with Vriska, still a little unsure of his steps. "Well, for starters, I imagined you'd be a lot less... Intimidating. I knew you were scary, but still. Also, I imagined you'd have your hair up for some reason, weirdly enough."

"Ha!" Vriska scoffed, flipping her hair out dramatically as she lead Jack through the mall, "I know, I know. My in-person presence is even more impressive than the average person's fee8le imagin8tion can comprehend. Don't feel 8ad, I just tend to 8e that impressive."
She looked him up and down as the pair walked, no mention of where she was leading him.
"You don't look much how I expected, either. I thought you'd 8e........ Taller."

Jack laughed. "A lot of people say that. I'm shorter than most people, but I think it kind of works for me. I can certainly fool people into thinking I'm younger when I don't nessecarily want to talk to them. If you get what I mean."

"I........ don't really get what you mean, 8ut sure."
Vriska led Jack to a small, shitty-looking mall café thing. She grabbed an unused chair from a table--without asking the people sitting there--and pulled it over to a table that only had one seat. She pointed a thumb to the cashier and looked at Jack.
"You want anything? Their coffee is shit. 8ut it's still coffee."

"Oh, sure, I guess." He looked at the chair that Vriska took. "Are you sure they didn't need that?" He asked shyly. He didn't know why, but even with someone he called a friend, acting as she usually would, he still felt as if this were an odd sort of dream.

Vriska shot a death glare at the table she took the chair from, and the two people sitting there nervously returned to their conversation. She looked at Jack flatly, a mild look of disappointment on her face.
"Jack, that wasn't a yes or no question. I may 8e an incredi8ly gifted mind reader, 8ut I don't want to have to waste my powers on finding out what kind of coffee you want. Just sit down, and tell me what to order, 8efore I just choose for you."

Jack sat down in the un-stolen chair, fidgeting with his pin. "Um, I'd like iced coffee, please..." He felt really, really nervous, but figured that's just what Vriska does to people. Wow, she's a lot more intense in real life...

"Iced coffee?????????" Vriska asked, seemingly taking offense at Jack's choice, "Ugh. Fine. W8 here." She shook her head and span on her heel to step over to the counter. She made an order and waited with folded arms as the drinks were made. A few minutes passed before she returned to the table with two iced coffees and sat across from Jack.
"So," she stated, taking a sip from her coffee, "what have you 8een up to l8tely?"

"I tend to overshare to you on Trollian, so you should already be aware. I'm moving, Vriska." He remarked with a small laugh. "Also, you ordered the same coffee as I did, who are you to judge me?" Mostly he was just trying to get out of this skiddish rut. Jack sighed and tapped the table. He wondered how Vriska felt about all this, about meeting him. He wondered if she felt this same feeling, under her cool, no, icy exterior.

"Yeah, I know!!!!!!!! I was asking a8out, y'know, other stuff..."
Vriska looked off to the side, a little embarrassed. She took a sip of her coffee and shifted in her seat slightly. "I didn't judge you, I just don't like when dwee8s cramp my style 8y wanting the same thing as me. Shut up."

Jack smiled kindly at Vriska. "You don't need to worry, I wasn't copying you or anything. If anything, great minds think alike. As for the 'other stuff' you mentioned, my life is ungodly boring. I don't imagine you'd be interested in what I don't tell you. Other than maybe the fact that I have a boyfriend."

Vriska jumped slightly at the revelation that Jack had a boyfriend. She choked on her coffee a little, coughing into her robotic elbow, before taking an unsteady breath and looking at Jack.
"You have........ a 8oyfriend?"
She tried her best to stay cool, but was struggling to hide the embarrassment in her body language. She scratched her arm to help calm her nerves.

"Yeah, I do. He's super cute and... That's kinda why I'm moving. I'm moving in with him." He giggled. "I didn't really think it would matter this much to you."

"I d8n't-" Vriska coughed into her fist and looked away, "It doesn't matt8r to me. I don't c8re. Good for you, I guess."
She crossed her legs, staring off into the distance and trying to maintain a neutral expression. "H8pe he's not a 8itch."

"His name is John. He's really nice, I think you'd like him. He's a bit of a dork, and likes movies as much as I like books. We've been dating for a long time, I'm surprised you never asked."

Vriska's eye went wide and she fell silent. She twitched slightly and dryly gulped. After a few seconds of jittery silence, she took a raspy breath.
"J8hn Eg8ert?"
She continued to stare off into the distance, hands tightly gripping her folded arms.

"You know him?" Jack could tell something was wrong. "Are... Are you okay?" He was worried for his friend, it looked like she was really hurt by something he said. "I can stop talking about it, if you want."

"........ No. N8ver heard of h8m."
Vriska's knuckles audibly cracked as she dug her nails into her metallic arm. Intangible emotion stung in her torso as a fevered pain burned in her pupil. She took a faintly quaking, heavy breath, and stood up. Scratching the side of her head, she cleared her throat.
"I sh8uld 8e going."

Jack felt absolutely crushed. He didn't mean to hurt his dear friend like that. But he decided he wouldn't push. "Alright. I should be going, too. Goodbye, Vriska." He stood up as well, grabbing the thin plastic cup in front of him. Cocoa squeaked at Vriska, blissfully unaware of what just happened as Jack did what he could do better than anyone, and disappeared into the crowd.

Vriska stormed off without another word, cerulean tears welling in her eye as the emotion overcame her. She swore at herself under her breath, finding difficulty in digesting the feelings that were ravaging her. She liked him. She thought she had a chance. But it happened again.
She failed.
She really was the unluckiest person in the world.

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