not-invented-here:

one thing about jade, concerning sad homestuck childhoods: 

lots of kids in homestuck grow up alone and isolated and having to figure things out on their own because there are no adults or guardians around to help them, and yet jade’s story is still one that gets me. 

maybe it’s because she was the first, back when the frame of reference were the beta kids with john and his dad and rose and dave and their dysfunctional families but at least pretty clearly adults in their lives who take care of them and protect them.
maybe it’s something else though: nobody knew. 

in jake’s case for instance all his friends know of his weird life situation, dirk and roxy know of each other and so does calliope, it’s no secret that gamzee and terezi have no guardians to look after them, neither are feferi’s and vriska’s situation, friends reference this fact. kids in homestuck get through a lot but they talk about it a lot. dave and rose talk constantly about their shitty home lives. 

jade though even was cagey and mysterious about her dog, she was cagey and mysterious about her life, about everything. her friends didn’t know her grandpa died, they didn’t know about her science and how she lived, her friends didn’t know about skaia’s visions and her responsibilities. she did it all alone. she knew she’d die soon because she grew up with her stuffed dreamself and never told anyone. 

the only character who compares a bit re: ‘all these responsibilities and knowledge that i never share with anybody’ that i can think of right now is calliope.