VrisRezi (Page Contains Homestuck Spoilers)

Q. What is VrisRezi?

A. VrisRezi is the romantic pairing between Vriska Serket and Terezi Pyrope from Homestuck. It is also known as Scourge Sisters

VrisRezi was a ship that came very naturally to me, to the point where I don't think I would've described my early interpretations of VrisRezi as "shipping", a turn of phrase that implies conscious thought. They were a lot of my fandom firsts, being the subjects of my:

• First romantic fic
• First romantic fan art and
• First animatic (fortunately lost to time)

Q. Why should I ship them?

A. My girlies are so nuanced. I love their timeline, their fallout, and their background as childhood friends. I love how Terezi got away from Vriska, only to be her judge and executioner in her final hour, and I love how much hinges on that decision. I don't love Terezi's character assassination in regards to her relationship with Vriska. I refuse to see their struggle as one borne from jealousy -- maybe that's Terezi's justification, but it feels so narratively disappointing to have Terezi get away from Vriska only to come crawling back on her hands and knees saying that she was "jealous" of Vriska the entire time.

What if we were best friends and you were being manipulated by everyone in your life so you lashed out and lied and cheated and did whatever you could for even a scrap of attention? What if my entire schtick was enforcing morality under a corrupt judicial system when you went out of your lane? What if I couldn't kill you when I had the chance and the moral high ground and so I waited for you to act again and in the heat of the moment I ran you through in a stone-faced crime of passion? What if you were the best friend I ever had, and I was the one person you wanted, and at first I was in awe of you but now that I see the strings that you're puppeted by I know you're nothing but a byproduct of corruption? What then?

These girls do not turn the other cheek. They are both brutal and ruthlessly effecient killing machines from alien Sparta. They are also both barely-teenaged girls with no positive influences or guidence.

Q. Who is Vriska?

A. Vriska is a bully. She's a loose cannon who never misses a chance to punch down. She's the pawn of an ageless, omnipotent man in a white suit who terrifies her like nothing else. She's the daughter of a gluttonous spider who feasts on Vriska's peers. She's a pirate. She's a spider. She's a terrible friend and she knows it. She's the best person to ever exist. She is an empty shell. She is a thirteen-year-old girl looking for a space to be kind without ridicule. She will contr8l your m8nd. She is the main character and she is everyone's most favorite girl.

I love her dearly. What a complete fuck-up.

Q. Who is Terezi?

A. Terezi is justice, and justice is blind. She is the scales weighed down by her childhood best friend. She is a gleeful sadist. She is Vriska's right hand man and the one that got away. She is a natural-born manipulator. She is the arbiter of morality with only one blind spot. She is wanted by all but understood by none. She is a self-fulfilling prophecy. She is an executioner.

My darling Terezi (notice the parallels).