#just glad im on track and able to handle the material :D

[homestuckreplay]

Homestuck Is For Cat People

(page 928-941)

KITTEN UPDATE: Rose has picked up the kitten and is cradling it so gently.

The big development here is another APPEARIFIER, this one green (on theme with the lab) and perhaps a different model as it has this arcade cabinet setup instead of the big flat Playstation Portable that WV had (p.738). A coin-operated appearifier is a fun thought and I’m glad the idea was planted in the story, even if it didn’t come to pass.

This appearifier can be adjusted in time, but has been specifically locked onto Rose’s childhood cat Jaspers, who is apparently a Very Important Cat – there’s a special catlock symbol on the bottom of page 929. The funniest reveal is that Jaspers was always wearing a suit, and was fitted with a new one for the funeral, but not his first one.

And then we zoom out and see BABY ROSE. So small. Giant wet anime eyes way too big for her face. This is from Thursday September 7, 2000, and Rose was born in the winter of 95/96, so she’s 4 close to turning 5, and she is already a therapist and (according to unreliable present Rose) may have written the phrase ‘characteristically recalcitrant’ in a notepad.

Rose’s immediate instinct upon seeing this is to cause a time paradox. As though she doesn’t have enough problems already.

KITTEN UPDATE: The kitten is clinging to the trailing end of Rose’s scarf.

Rose creates a slime-cat just as WV creates a slime-pumpkin (p.752), and then we get a MASSIVE lore bombshell. This appearifier is connected to a slime chamber/DNA sequencer, automatically sucking up the paradox slime which contains the DNA of whatever was/wasn’t appearified. (I can confirm from Real Life that molecular biology sometimes involves slime).  

If it’s working, the machine then creates a PARADOX CLONE; an actual, living, non-slime embryo of the creature which can most likely grow like any other creature of its species. This one isn’t quite working; the kitten nibbling the scarf is actually a very close copy but the two-headed version in a jar is a step backwards. These are, apparently, ‘unsuccessful attempts to perfect the science of ECTOBIOLOGY.’

‘Ectobiology’ is written in green in the narrative so we know it’s important. And it is a very green and slimy word. Maybe a word that could describe a kid wearing a green slime ghost shirt. John is (or wants to be) someone who clones creatures through appearification, sequencing, and synthesis. It’s… weirdly analogous to how alchemy works in Sburb. Appearifying the slime = dispensing the cruxite, a raw material to work on. Sequencing the DNA = carving the totem, encoding the specific data. And synthesizing a clone = alchemizing an object, creating something physical out of digital data. It actually seems really easy, and like it doesn’t require any actual biology knowledge. But how does John know about this science when we’ve never seen it mentioned outside this ominous underground lab? And does John have plans with this? Specific clones he’d like to create??

Jaspers ‘tells Rose a secret’ and again I am wondering if we are supposed to take this literally, if cat speech is possible via Skaia’s will or if this is a weird false memory of Rose’s. And then he’s appearified away, by someone who isn’t Rose at some point in the past/future. For exactly two weeks his location is hidden by static; then he returns battered, and then we get the Jaspers-centric animated page, something I wasn’t expecting for today but am thrilled to have.

KITTEN UPDATE: The kitten is blinking all four eyes in sequence, like a crowd doing the wave.

A funeral dirge filled with purrs and meows plays as we see Jaspers’ extravagant funeral (complete with Mom’s martini glass and what looks like a funeral lab coat?), time in the mausoleum, and journey to the lab and transportalization today to somewhere with a gray square-patterned carpet. I don’t think we’ve seen this specific carpet before, but we have seen some geometric gray carpets in Jade’s house (for example, p.914). This is intercut with moments of the new mutant kitten chewing on Rose’s scarf, rolling around, and being generally adorable. Surely Rose is falling in love with this kitten as much as I am.

Rose appearifies Jaspers back and with ‘all this sorted out’ (p.940) grabs both cats and transportalizes away to who knows where. I do not feel like anything is sorted out. I actually have nothing but questions. But I’m glad Rose is feeling good.

Thinking through all this. Someone – presumably Rose’s mom – has been trying and failing to specifically recreate Jaspers. We know that resurrecting Jaspers via Sburb is a big goal of Rose’s, even if she’s reluctant to admit it, so that’s a big parallel between these two characters who have a lot of distance and hostility. Rose was so young when Jaspers disappeared that losing him must have been a formative memory. Jaspers was likely Mom’s cat from before Rose was born; her cat plushies suggest she’s a cat lover in general. She might have been working on getting Jaspers back ever since the moment he disappeared. The question is, does she want him back for herself or for Rose?

It's also possible that this setup has been here even longer, and that Mom herself appearified Jaspers from Rose’s therapist couch that day. Maybe accidentally, and it had bad effects, and she’s been trying to create a new Jaspers ever since as an apology (a real Dr Frankenstein way to approach interpersonal relationships but GREAT characterization) or maybe on purpose for some more nefarious/experimental reasons, considering the ‘no accessible feed’ during the time between his disappearing from Rose’s side and reappearing at the river.

KITTEN UPDATE: The kitten has been PRETTY DECENTLY ESCAPALIZED along with Rose!

> Rose: Check for additional cats in your new surroundings.