The Regrets of the Skaian Citizens: Jade

You stand in front of your bathroom mirror applying the last touches of makeup. Once finished you check the time: six forty-three, you better hurry if you want to be ready on time.

You crack the bathroom door open to the hall, “Vriska! Are you almost ready?”

“Um sure.” You cover your semi-naked body as you dash across the room to quickly put on
your dress. It’s gotten really cold, but your roommate is insistent to have a small
heating bill.

Your name is Jade Harley and you are preparing for a party that your moirail Vriska is
kind enough to accompany.

You slip your dress on but have trouble zipping up the back, “Vriska! Could you help me
here?”

“Yeah hold on,” you see Vriska walk in wearing an over-shirt.

“What-You told me you were almost ready!”

Your roommate moves behind you to zip up your dress, “Relax, it takes me like no time to
get ready.”

“Then why can’t you be ready now!?” You dress is finally zipped up so you turn around to
look her in the face disappointed.

“I’m in no rush and we have plenty of time.”

You point your finger to the bathroom, “Get ready now! You’re horrible at being on time!”
Vriska groans but obeys you, and you follow behind to help.

As you brush her wild hair, Vriska questions you, “So why are you freaking out so much
about this party?”

“I don’t know,” you say sighing. “Richard is really sweet for inviting me to this huge
club party, but I guess I’m nervous about the impression I’ll make. I don’t usually go to
such big parties filled with people I don’t know . . .”

“Blugh wubbfh, Ibbe embbrrabbse mebelb bore bobue,” she responds in the middle of brushing
her teeth. You giggle and shake your head as Vriska spits to retry, “So don’t worry, I’ll
embarrass myself for you.”

“Hehe, I’m sure I can count on you.”

“Yeah well if you get bored you can always talk to me.”

You work on a knot in her hair, “You sure you won’t get too drunk?”

“Whaaaaaaaat!? Come on, you know me! I’m waaaaaaaay more entertaining when I’m drunk.”

“Haha Vriska, at least try to stay mostly sober tonight, for me?”

She sticks her tongue out at the mirror, “Bluh.”

You back off, “Finish up while I gather my purse.”

In a few minutes Vriska walks into the kitchen finally dressed, “What are you doing?” you
ask.

“I’m hungry, do you think I could get a sandwich before Richard gets here?” Your boyfriend
is picking the two of you up.

“No! This is why I told you to eat earlier, besides there’ll be food there.”

Vriska pouts to herself and snatches a box of crackers to snack on, “So why kind of party
is this?”

“An important rapper from the Capital is coming over. I don’t really know,” you admit,
“Richard seemed really thrilled about it. I think we’re lucky to even go.”

“Ugh, but why do we have to go soooooooo early!” she complains while shoving crackers in
her mouth.

Despite her complaints, you smile, “Well if we want to go at all we go now!” You hear a
buzz sound, “Okay that’s Richard, let’s go!”

Later inside of a club in Downtown Skaia, you and Vriska are finally walking around a quickly growing party. Music is at highest volume, people are stomping their feet on the ground, and the rest are drinking for the mood. You and Vriska immediately head to the bar.

“Hello ladies,” a sleek man greets, “What can I get you this fine evening? And might I say
you miss,” he looks at you, “are looking exquisite today. I’ll even give you the first
drink on me. For a kiss.”

You giggle in slight embarrassment, but bend over the counter to kiss your boyfriend,
“I’ll have a Long Island Ice Tea.” Richard nods and looks over at Vriska.

Your moirail rolls her eyes amused, “What do you have on tap?”

“Don’t worry Vriska, I got you covered,” he assures as he prepares the drinks.

Vriska immediately sips hers and is satisfied, “Another excellent choice.” She looks over
at you, “I just loooooooove your boyfriend.”

You smile as you drink, “I better watch out.”

Richard returns to you as soon as he has a moment of spare time, “So don’t forget to tell
me when you’re leaving. And don’t forget to enjoy yourselves.”

“I won’t,” you and Vriska have no intention of staying, or getting crazy drunk, since the
two of you have work tomorrow. With both drinks finished, Vriska pulls you away to the
dance floor.

The two of you spend almost hours dancing and drinking together. It’s a good thing that
you both know each other’s alcohol tolerance, or you might not know when to stop.

You were inseparable until, “I have to pee,” Vriska tell you at the end of a song.

“Oh, do you want me to go with?” Your troll friend pats you on the shoulder and leaves you
behind.

With the next song starting up you didn’t know what to do, so you tried to dance alone but
with no one to be with, it was awkward and suffocating. Vriska knew how to keep others
away to allow you breathing room.

And Richard was too busy for you to talk to, so you ended up walking out the back door for
a smoking break. Lighting a cigarette seemed to calm your mind and your nerves; why didn’t
you just do this before?

You close your eyes almost ready to sleep before someone starts to sniff your hair, “Ah
shit Jade, what kind of wicked shampoo do you use?” You instantly turn your head around to
look at the hair sniffer.

“Gamzee?” You pull your hair out of his hands. “What are-Why are-Are you high?”

He pets your hair like you’re Bec all while giggling, “I’m pretty motherfucking sure I
am.” His long fingers ranking across your skull makes your skin tremble.

You back about a foot away, “Okay well I think I should be going now.” You try to pass him
to get to the door but he pulls you in close.

“Ah Jade, what am I going to do about Karbro? He’s all sad and mopey and he-“ Gamzee looks
at you before chuckling. “Just make sure not to tell him about this, he doesn’t like when
I’m reaching the motherfucking sky. Or any cops.”

You frown, “Gamzee, I’m a police officer.”

He stares at you again for a good twenty seconds before he bursts out laughing, “Hey
Jade?”

His breath enters your noise and you about gag, “Ugh, yes?”

Again he waits a while before he- “Boop.” He pokes at your nose.

Gamzee continues his daze look until someone from behind pulls him back by the hair. “I
think that’s enough.” You find out that your savior is Vriska. She twists his arm behind
his back and swirls around to push him back into the club. Her satisfied grin quickly
disappears as she tends you, “You okay? I’m sorry it took me so long, fucking assholes and
no directions in this dump.”

“I’m fine.” You are not, and Vriska can tell. You are tense again so you start another
smoke.

Vriska watches as you try to light the cigarette as you have hundreds of times before, but
this time your arms are trembling too much. “Oh Jade,” she pulls you into her arms for a
quick hug. “This really isn’t your scene, is it?”

“I-I think I’m ready to go home.”

“Alright.”

“And why don’t we go watch a movie?” you suggest.

Vriska shrugs, “Sure, I read about this movie that I’m interested in.”

“Great, I’ll just need to say goodbye to Richard.”

Your moirail places a hand on your shoulder, “Don’t worry, I can tell him you’re not
feeling good.” Vriska always seems to know what you want when you truly need it.

Soon enough you are back at your apartment preparing for a movie: movie is the code word
the two of you use to request a ‘feelings session.’ You do watch a movie together, usually
a low-rated one that Vriska enjoys more than you, and afterwards you talk about the movie
while moving onto feelings in a natural way. It’s a system that has worked out the best
for both of you. Both one of you have never had a moirail before, and you both are
horrible at confronting each other on what’s on each other’s mind. For instance, you know
that something’s on Vriska’s mind, just as she knows you, but she’ll only push you away if
you try to force her to tell.

So as Vriska readies the movie, you bring forth the popcorn and ice cream ready for
whatever emotions are too come.

The movie was about girls in high school, but looked more like college graduates, having a slumber party until a serial killer comes to murder them all. The pizza guy was their savior.

As the credits rolled by, Vriska was already criticizing, “Grub! Those girls are so stupid?! Don’t schools teach how to put killers in a headlock? I would have ended that guy when he first came by!” She wakes Bec who was sleeping on the floor in front of the couch that both of you are using.

“So wait, the killer was the girl’s dad?” You pet Bec to settle him down.

“Oh my Grub Jade! You have the woooooooorst time following along!” You do, but you also
know Vriska loves explaining it to you. “The girl who survived at the end only survived
because her dad was divorced and wanted to be with his daughter. So for whatever fucking
reason he thought it would be a good idea to gruesomely murder his girl’s friends and to
kidnap her. Then the real gem is the pizza guy coming along and running him over with his
car. The girl and pizza guy start to make out after killing her dad! They probably fucked
too!

“So did you like it?”

“I thought it was fucking incredible!”

“I’ll never understand how two people could just want to be together that quickly.”

“What like love at first sight? Isn’t that what happened to you and Richard?”

“What? No! We met and flirt and have dated! I don’t even love him!”

Vriska looks at you disturbed, “Okay calm down Jade.”

You take a deep breath, “You’re right, I’m sorry. I-I-I just think I need to break up with
him.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I don’t feel like we’ve connected like we used to. I don’t like him like I used to.
And the other day he tried to talk about marriage. He knows not now but . . .”

“You really don’t want to get married.”

You shake your hands trying to grasp the concept, “I don’t get the point! I’d rather just
be with a guy and that’s it. Why does it have to happen to everyone?” You look back at
Vriska, “I mean, I think it’s great that you want to marry John, but it’s not for me.”

Vriska smirks, “Jade I’m not trying to marry you. You can do what you want, but are you
sure you want to break up with Richard over it?”

“It’s over a lot of stuff. I’m going to call him in the morning to tell him.”

“Hmm, and I thought we’d agree that he was perfect?”

“I know, but something is missing. Something that can convince me, you know, to trust
him.”

Vriska reaches for the ice cream carton, “Who have you told besides me?”

“I’ve kept it undercover for so long if I tell some people I could lose everything. I
mean, I told Karkat.”

She digs at the ice cream, “Yuck, well don’t go fucking him.”

You stare at her bewildered as she stuffs her face.

“What are you staring at?”

“I never thought about that before.”

Vriska looks like she’ll be sick, “Eww don’t let that get in your brain.”

“Hey Vriska?”

“What!?” she says shoving as much ice cream into her mouth as she can to the purpose of
avoiding the subject.

“What if . . . What if I like that idea?”

“Ugh!” she starts to smack her forehead, “Damnit why don’t I get a brain freeze already?!”

“It’s stupid I know. I doubt Karkat could ever like me, and sometimes I think he thinks of
me as a child still. But other times . . .”

Vriska moans, “Jade you know I of all people would support inter-species relationships,
but with him?”

“Well you gave me the idea!”

“Okay that’s it!” She stands up, “I don’t know if I can talk to you when you’re getting .
. . hot over him.”

You blush and pull yourself into a ball, “I’m not!”

“Jade,” she sighs as she sits back down to you, “It’s been a long night. You’re tired, I’m
tired. Why don’t you sleep and think about it tomorrow. And you know I’ll support you no
matter what you decide, even if it’s being horny over Karkat.”

A few hours later, you are at the edge of sleep when someone walks into your room, “Jade?”

It’s Vriska, “What are you doing?”

“I was wondering if I could sleep here tonight.” You are curious now.

“It’s all right, just be careful of Bec.” Vriska carefully slips under the covers next to
you trying to not disturb the sleeping dog at your feet.

You turn around so you are face to face with your moirail, you see tear stains on her
face. “Vriska!” you whisper quietly as you pull her close for a hug.

“I’m sorry Jade, I should have told you sooner, but you were so busy and I didn’t want to
ruin anything.”

“Vriska, nothing is more important to me than you.”

“I spoke to Mr. Egbert yesterday.” You immediately tense up.

“What did he say?” you growl.

“It’s fine Jade, we actually reached an agreement.” She takes a deep breath, “We believe
that it’s been long enough, we are taking the preparations to pull the plug on John.” You
stare at her bewildered. “Soon it’ll be up to him to breathe his own breath, but most
likely . . .”

She starts crying again, so you brush the hair out of her face, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, we’ve held on to him long enough, but it’s time. I was so scared before Jade. I was
scared that I would be alone, so I kept John around but I’m starting to forget things
about him. How he woke me up, the smell of his hair after he showered, how he groans when
I want to watch Con Air. I need to move on, and I think that could only be possible if I
have you by my side.”

Bec wakes up and moves closer to the two of you so he lays in the small space between the two of you, he sniffs at Vriska and whines at her sadness.

You hold her hands, “Don’t worry Vriska, I’m right here. I’ll always be right here.”