Yeah I remember that. You were forced to be the “villain” so you had to make sure that everyone knew how baller you were so you can be above it all, as a way of protection.

God so much has changed from the past year of reading this comic.

This is reminding me of this one Spiderman/Deadpool comic panel I saw, where Spiderman says “You’re not a good person, you just want everyone to think you’re one” (something like that) And that, sort of hits the nail on the head here, doesn’t it?

I mean…maybe? You think that Vriska started to really think about her actions with the pirate thing before Aranea went off the map? Because in Vriska’s perspective: John called her dangerous, John touched the “ultimate prize” and disappeared forever (something that Vriska led him to), and Aranea going all Pirate Larping.