Today I’m reading.
07/31/10 - "And pages and pages and pages.” (/homestuck/2322) to 08/03/10 - "Kanaya: Answer CA.” (/homestuck/2343)"
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We start today with grimAuxiliatrix [GA]. She is one of 3 trolls we’ve yet to meet. We have seen her in a few scenes though. She was talking primarily with Rose and even managed to best her in a battle of social wits. GA was also seen removing Travos’s paralyzed legs with a chainsaw. She isn't great with technology, as she has leaned on Sollux to help her with using computers.
We learn her real name is Kanaya Maryam. Unlike other trolls, Kanaya can go outside during the day. It seems the sun above Alternia is too bright for most trolls. Daytime is also when hordes of undead rise from the sands. Kanaya’s chainsaw helps with this but she tries to avoid them. She spends the day tending to her landscaping and topiary hobby. She mentions she dreams of “puffy oracles”. She also likes to read about “rainbow drinkers”, “shadow droppers” and forbidden passion. Her blood is jade green in color. Though this isn't high in the hemospectrum based hierarchy, it's a special position. Her lusus is the “Virgin Mother Grub”. We learned in an earlier conversation that the other trolls hold this lusus in high regard. Also different from Kanaya, she loves aesthetics and colors. The trolls we’ve met so far only care about blood color and have otherwise been pretty drab. Kanaya loves fashion and plants. Her room is decorated with fabrics and flowers. She also seems to have access to advanced technology like the Wardrobifyer. Her room somewhat resembles Jade's tower though we haven't seen much of it yet. We did see the outside of it briefly in a false intro. It looks like the section of Jade's room that her dreambot self-destructed. She mentions the hive was a ruin dug out of the sand by her lusus. The ruins are not from Alternia but from another world she has seen only in her dreams.
Firstly she equips her ~~chainsaw~~ lipstick. This, being a reference to Problem Sleuth where weapons were often stored as random items. So “The thing you saw is not the thing you think you saw”. In this case the chainsaw is just lipstick, until it needs to be a chainsaw, and her Strifespec is Makeup Kind. As her outfit is randomly changing, she is being pestered by cuttlefishCuller [CC]. Notice her laptop is the same Squiddles lunchbox laptop Jade was using. CC is not a troll we have met yet, we haven't even seen their pester handle until this time.
CC is friendly to Kanaya. So far it seems everyone is. CC is the sign of pisces, the one with 2 fish. This may be why she “glubs” when excited. CC is very excited about getting into the game. She will be entering late after her “moirail”. Again, this word hasn't been defined yet. But I know it will be later. we can assume it is a relationship of some level, and based on context it's somewhat of a solemate or romantic thing. Kanaya also has one. They mention they will lose contact with their moirails shortly for a time. But see them again later. Though they are pretty vague on the details, it mentioned that Kanaya see’s hers from the clouds.
After this Kanaya goes to see her lusus in its final moments. But, she is too late as it seems to have died peacefully in front of her hive. She had made a bargain with it. She proceeds to cut into here lusus’s corpse with her chainsaw and removes an orb. The orb is covered in small troll forms from the creature. She stores this in her Chastity Modus. The item, a “matriorb”, is locked until Kanaya can find a key to unlock it. She is nearly overcome with a strong urge to drink the blood of her lusus, but seems to resist it. She then decides to meddle with her moirail. This is apparently Vriska. This was the conversation from page 2204. This was the one where she tells Vriska her lusus will die soon. Also that she wants to keep an eye on Vriska to keep everyone safe.
Before she can move on she is pestered by someone. The last of the trolls we have yet to meet caligulasAquarium [CA]. Surprise, it's another asshole. They are the zodiac of aquarius and have salty mouth. CA is demanding Kanaya have Vriska unblock him so he can talk to her. He was the one who had commissioned her to build the massive doomsday. The device that had eventually killed her lusus. He wants to use it to kill all land dwellers. Kanaya points out she hasn't really been motivated to help him. She certainly isn't interested in helping him get a device that would kill her and everyone else. She also points out that the planet will be destroyed by the game anyway. CA seems to have been mostly out of the loop about all this, and is grouchy about it. Kanaya decides to meddle and suggests that CC was talking about how she feels about CA. This really seems to get his attention but she refuses to give him any details of the conversation. He says something about how it's hard to be a kid and grow up before ending the convo. I don't really know what he means by this, or how it's related to the conversation.
Till tomorrow, do some cloud watching, and keep riding the pumpkin tide.