Chapter Text
Be Terezi Pyrope =⇒
Your name is Terezi Pyrope and you’re going to be pretty blunt with this, you’re blind. You have always been blind and you’re pretty sure you were born this way, but that’s ok with you because you think that seeing things is overrated. When you were little your parents stuck you in a hospital because they didn’t have the time or the patience to take care of you, but that’s fine because you made your best friend in the whole world here, a grumpy troll boy named Karkat Vantas.
You and Karkat are the same age, and you’re both seven years old right now. He has a breathing problem and he tells you that he walks around with a breathing tube and oxygen tank to help him breath, he says it makes him look stupid and he’s jealous of the dragonhead walking stick that you get to carry around with you so you don’t bump into things. Honestly you don’t need it anymore, but you just love it too much to part with it, and your sister Latula installed a special component in it, though it’s a secret that you would never tell anyone about.
You’re currently in the playroom with Karkat; he says he’s reading a book, so you decide to play with the chalk. The doctors don’t like it when you play with the chalk because you like to lick it, it’s only because the colours are so delicious. They tell you its crazy to think you can taste colours, but you always prove to them that it’s possible when you find the red piece of chalk every time no matter where it is. Did you mention that you can sniff colours as well, because that’s also a thing you can totally do.
As you write on the chalkboard with you red chalk you hear a large commotion from outside in the hallway, then you hear all of the kids run to the door, probably to see what’s happening.
“Come on Terezi, there’s a big commotion in the hallway, let’s go check it out, I’ll tell you what’s happening,” Karkat says as he grabs your arm to lift you up. You follow him to the door.
“Karkles what’s happening,” You ask him. You can smell, blood maybe? Oh no did someone get hurt?
“The nurses are shoving everyone back, it’s hard for me to see… Oh wait I think I got it, it’s a girl, and she’s bleeding real badly on her face,” he answers you.
“Oh, well that sucks, we should probably get out of the way then, I bet they’re super busy trying to help her. Come on Karkat lets go to your room.” You and Karkat slip away from everyone else and go to Karkat’s room.
You smell Gamzee in the room and assume that he’s lounging on his bed.
“Hey there motherfuckers what’s up,” he greets you in a super mellow voice. Gamzee has always been a super mellow guy, Karkat tells you that he’s some sort of drug addict, but he’s your age so it seems kind of farfetched to you.
You and Karkat tell Gamzee about the girl in the hallway and then you all chat for a little while longer until a nurse comes into the room to take you to your room because it’s bedtime. You tell her that you can get there yourself and before she can stop you, you take off down the hall.
Of course it’s easy for you to find your room, by now you know every inch of the pediatrics wing of the hospital. You really hate how everyone underestimates the blind girl; you’re very capable of getting around by yourself.
As you walk into your room, dragonhead walking stick poking out in front of you just incase there’s someone in there, and you make your way to your bed when the coast is determined clear. You easily find your way to your bed and as you’re climbing in you smell another presence in the room, that’s odd there shouldn’t be anyone in here you currently don’t have a roommate.
You decide to let it go in favour of getting some sleep, but just before your head hits the pillow you hear a groan and then you hear the door opening.
“Ms. Pyrope! Finally, you didn’t give me the chance to tell you that you have a roommate,” a nurse, you assume, says to you as you hear her walk to the other side of the room where the other bed should be.
“Oh I had no idea,” you tell her.
“That’s quite alright and understandable Ms. Pyrope considering your… condition. Your new roommates name is Vriska Serket and she will be staying here for a long while. She’s asleep right now so please try not to make a lot of noise.”
You hear the nurse shuffle around the room and make her way to the door and before she can leave you call out to her in a whisper, “Wait nurse! Can I ask you what’s wrong with her?”
You can sniff the nurse’s nervousness to answer your question, “Well Ms. Pyrope your roommate was in a bit of an… accident, I think it’s for the best if she tell you about it. Now why don’t you go to sleep hmm?” The nurse leaves and closes the door on her way out before you can ask her anything else.
You grumble to yourself as you slip off your glasses and place them on your bedside table, your sister had given them to you as a present a few years ago, she says they’re red and when you licked them you believed her. They are your prized possession, besides your walking stick of course.
You decide to sleep and ask your roommate about themself tomorrow.
~~
You wake up in the morning to a low groan coming from the other side of the room; your roommate must be awake.
You slip on your red glasses, grab your stick, and get out of bed; time to meet your new roommate.
“Hey I’m Terezi,” you say in your best quiet voice just in case she’s still asleep. You hear her shift in bed she must be awake.
“Vriska,” she says back in a weak voice. You really hope she isn’t sticking out her had for you to shake because you wouldn’t be able to see it, gestures like that are lost to you.
“So what are you in for,” you ask her in complete curiosity.
She snorts, “What, can’t you see?”
“Nope! I’m blind,” you reply simply as you lift your glasses and show her your glazed-over red eyes, the doctors tell you that’s what they look like, glazed-over and blood red, you’re cool with this.
“Oh, then I guess we sort of have something in common, I lost an eye...amongst other things.” She says it so casually, trying to act like it doesn’t faze her, but you’re sure it does, you can sense it.
“What do you mean by amongst other things?”
“Lost an arm too.”
“Wow two things, how did you lose them?”
“An accident, a really… bad… accident. How did you lose your sight?”
“I was born this way, or at least that’s what everyone tells me,” you say with a shrug.
“Then why are you in the hospital if that’s all that’s wrong with you, it seems strange.”
You cackle, “That’s because my parents don’t want to take care of me so they give the hospital lots of money and in turn they let me stay here, I’ve pretty much lived here my whole life.”
“That’s depressing.”
“Not as depressing as losing an arm, I don’t know what I would do without my arms, they’re like my eyes.”
“It’s ok with me I guess, I mean it’s not like I’ll always be missing one, the doctor here has a son that’s apparently some sort of robotics genius, he’s gonna build me an new arm. I just have to stay here until it’s ready.”
“Well sure you can replace the arm, but you can’t replace your eye, what are you going to do about that?”
She laughs, her laugh is very chilling you decide. “Well that mean’s I get to wear an eye patch, it’ll make me feel like a pirate. I’ve always dreamed of being the Capitan of a pirate ship, being the leader.”
“That sounds like fun, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to hunt for treasure.”
“Yeah, sometimes when I get bored I go and play Pirates by myself.”
“Why by yourself, don’t you have anyone to play with,” you ask her in confusion.
“No…” By the tone of her voice you assume that she doesn’t want to elaborate on why at the moment, so you don’t press it. Instead you spend your time talking to her about a book about Pirates that your sister read to you once, she seems to like it a lot. Around nine o’clock a nurse comes in and gives you your breakfast, she also says she has to take Vriska away for testing. You say bye to her and dig into your eggs and toast.