#*furtively adds lily to my vriska chart*

[thewertsearch]

I never really thought about it before, but John was throwing bombs around earlier, on this planet covered in oil. He's honestly pretty lucky that it took this long for it to catch fire.

Is this... is this fixable? Has Jack just destroyed another planet?

The whole world revolves around its Heir.

Alright. What do you have to say for yourself?

AG: I was the one who put you to sleep. [...] EB: you can do that? AG: Yes, that seems to 8e the limit to what I can do to your primitive species.

For now, at least. I'm sure you're working on it.

...hey, never mind her psionics. Can Vriska steal luck between sessions? Because that would arguably be worse.

EB: why would you put me to sleep and put me in this predicament? AG: John, soon you will understand that you are meant to rise to gr8tness. AG: This can't possi8ly happen unless you are challenged.

Again - Sburb is challenging enough without you making things worse. Exactly how miserable do you want John to be, before you're finally satisfied?

Oh, right.

There isn't an upper limit. You're just going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing until someone who cares about John realizes what you're doing, and puts a stop to it.

EB: if you're seeing my future, and you know those things are the outcome, then why are you going back and… EB: i guess, involving yourself with these events? see what i mean? [...] AG: You are going to 8ecome a gr8 hero, that much is sure. AG: 8ut I want to 8e the one responsi8le for it!

Well, this is nonsense - but it's very Vriska nonsense.

I'm reminded of the Discworld novel, Witches Abroad. The villain of the story is a fairy godmother, who uses her magic to turn the people around her into characters from various fairy tales - Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty and the like. These people are then forced to follow the 'plot' of the story they've been shoved into, whether they like it or not.

She's accrued plenty of wealth and influence from doing so, but her primary motivation is to feel important. Lily derives enormous satisfaction from being the cause of the stories around her - of being the one behind the curtain, the fulcrum around which the narrative turns. At the end of the day, it's pure ego.

Vriska is the same. She's trying to mold John's journey into The Thief's Apprentice, a story with herself at the center. She doesn't really care about this action's effect on the timeline, and she'd certainly never admit that she didn't really have any agency in this event.

All that matters is that, as far as Vriska is concerned, this is her story now.