You're her moirail. You know she can fight, but it's your job to protect her. If you told her that, she'd bristle and snap at you (and probably make some annoying cat puns) so you don't. When you forbid her from being on the Red Team and make her join the Blue Team, you let her think you're being silly and unreasonable. But you don't want her on the same team as Vriska. Bad things happen to the people Vriska plays games with and if she's on your team at least you can look after her and keep her safe.

During the game you fight together and you protect her and she protects you. You curl up in the horn pile together and talk about feelings and you are so, so pale for her. You're fairly certain this is serendipity.

You remember other times you've piled, when she played with your hair or took off your glasses and traced the lines of your face. She never gave any indication that she noticed the smell of sweat, though you know her nose is better than yours.

As things get worse, you fix in your mind the memory of her falling asleep curled up on your chest like a cat and you resolve to always do whatever you can to keep her safe.