2022-06-28 6:09:08 ¶ ●

cherubs, who experience romance solely through the ♠, “seek out another cheru8 similar to the half they lost“: the quadrant is a means of completing the self.

culturally we tend to associate spades with the ace, which is why it’s come to be a symbol of asexuality. but in this context maybe the number of the ace is more interesting; are spades the “becoming one” quadrant? when Jack reaches his ultimate form, “SOMETHING HIGHER THAN A QUEEN OR A KING“, John suggests he may have become “like an ace”. compare with Clubs Deuce, whose associated quadrant is threefold, but serves the primary purpose of making sure a pair remain two separate individuals… (his name also serves to contrast him with his Prospitian counterpart, Ace Dick… who eats all of his identical otherselves to become… Ace Dick!) think also of Kanaya, the pejorative village tricycle, whose unspoken Bit is that she likes to auspisticise people into two halves with her chainsaw.

wonder now, then, whether any instance of caliginous desire (caliginous… it’s been flagged up before but probably bears repeating here) might represent the same desire a cherub feels to complete oneself. tangenting on from last post, Karkat’s hatred for his own shattered otherselves becomes hate at first sight for the spade-wearing John… John represents many things Karkat longs to have, freedom chief among them, but does the flesh and Blood of Lord English recognise a future host of the spirit?