112: In Which Options Are Discussed, and Anguish is Seen.
Yes, that would be quite the tricky subject, indeed. I would think the only option there would be for Dave to be the biological father, in which case there would be the incest taboo to consider. There could be science fictitious mechanisms which might make the above assumption incorrect, but I do not know... . Rose is very kind, regardless, not rejecting this outright.
Ah. Hmm. Well, that’s good, I suppose. Interesting that “lol” was the response Jade had to this thought.
Well, indeed, it would seem that Karkat has decided to go with the option of Jade having masculine sex organs and likely no (or no functional) female ones. An interesting choice, to be sure. Again, considering the complexity of intersex fertility potential and the fact that her male gonads would presumably be at least partially canine in form, I am surprised that this would be a more viable alternative (genetically, biologically speaking) than the incestuous or interspecies (alien) options. Maybe it isn’t, necessarily, but Jade believes that with the combination of her scientific knowledge and Rose’s Seer of Light powers, they’d be able to alter the genetic material (and/or possibly the spermatozoa itself/themselves) in such a way that it would work. Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with the works of genetic hybridization-- such as, for example, the goat able to produce spider silk --to be able to properly comment on the degree to which reproductive viability might actually be present in her case, under more optimal conditions (which I am sure to some extent is something geneticists attempt to encourage, in such experiments). Even so, I am not sure there have in fact been cases in which the actual reproductive system has been altered in such individuals, so I am not sure there would be proper examples to compare this situation to, regardless. Oh! I should hasten to add that there could be the possibility of a viable offspring if some means of inducing parthenogenesis were to be used, but this would likely depend on whether or not Jade has viable ovaries/ovarian cells, which is possible but has been made to seem somewhat less likely via the passages implying her male organs, above. (I also don’t think there is the possibility of inducing transformation from sperm to egg; whereas I think the opposite has been shown to actually be theoretically feasible, but I could not be certain if I said anything with authority on such matters.)
This is all really, terribly sad. Even if what he says is true, technically, trying to hide his anguish from her like that is not good. Having at least one person that you can honestly confide in can be incredibly helpful in dark times, and holding back because he doesn’t want to bother her with his problems is just going to make them worse, and cause him to feel even further down. >:
