Rose Quartz (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roseheartz) wrote2022-09-01 11:42 am
roseheartz) wrote2022-09-01 11:42 am
Entry tags:
Application | Ryslig
SPOILERS for Steven Universe! CW: for mentions of something similar to domestic abuse.
OOC INFORMATION
Name: Meowzy
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
meowzy / Meowzy#8807 @ Discord
Age: 34
Other Characters: Otto Octavius, Steven Grant
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Rose Quartz
Age: Unknown. Twenty millennia at the least (source: a Steven Universe artbook)
Canon: Steven Universe
Canon Point: After 'Greg the Babysitter'
Character Information: Beware the spoilers!
Personality:
Right up front, I'd like to note that Rose Quartz is a character who went through a rather drastic identity change in her lifetime. Because of this, while I'll focus mostly on the character Rose Quartz was in her current canon point, I'll still be referring back to Pink Diamond to outline the similarities (and differences if they exist). The Key Traits are based on Rose Quartz as well, but I will absolutely talk about how each trait links back to Pink.
For a long time, all we know about Rose Quartz is what other characters say about her. There's nothing but praise for her skills, kind heart and beauty. Her tears held healing powers, she enjoyed a good laugh and just as the weapon born from her gem is a shield, she did her best to protect her companions. Despite being an ancient, alien being, she gave her heart to a human man by the name of Greg Universe and even decided to have a baby with him, knowing that it would cost her her life. “She felt real love for those around her. She felt real sorrow when they were hurt,” is what's said about her, and there's no reason to dismiss this as fiction. Yes, judging the book solely by its initial cover, it seems there's no doubt about it: Rose is a beacon of genuine love and care. Even with all we've learned by the end of the series, that is difficult to dispute. Pink Diamond's love for Earth is what spurred her on to rebel. Her love for her companions is what had her fight so hard to protect them.
But really, that's about the only positive thing we can say about Pink Diamond, or even about Rose Quartz. Good intentions and genuine adoration do not necessarily make for a good person.
In a more neutral ground, Rose is curious by nature. She loves learning about new things and asking questions. It's implied that before Greg came into the picture, Rose was the only one of the Crystal Gems to actively venture beyond the fence surrounding the beach to interact with human beings, or otherwise just wander the planet and enjoy the sights (see her encounter with Buddy Budwick in the desert). When she first learns about fusion between two different Gem types, she's overwhelmed and full of questions. In fact, her curiosity is part of the reason why Pink Diamond went down to Earth in the first place. Simply watching it through the observation orb on the moon base was not enough; she wanted to interact with Earth in person. "I have to see it all," she tells Pearl.
The smallest of the four Diamonds, Pink Diamond's personality was highly childish. Pink was the one who always wanted to play games with the others, and while the Diamonds would indulge Pink's whimsical nature on occasion, it becomes clear from the stories and the flashbacks that they could not afford to do that too often. They had better places to be and work to do, leaving Pink behind. It wasn't seen as befitting of a Diamond to behave that way either, as Pink was accused of 'not acting like a Diamond' by Yellow. It's likely because of this that Pink was given (Your New Best Friend) Spinel, along with a place to play that lay out of sight. Pink's childish nature was being hidden from the Gem society. Pushing this problem just a little further, there's some sinister implications scattered throughout the series that Pink was heavily scrutinized and punished for this by her peers. Take, for example, the dream sequence where Pink is laughing and playing with her previous Pearl, but when Yellow peeks in through the door, she hastily pretends to be serious. It's outright said that Pink was locked away in a prison whenever she'd 'misbehaved' and that Blue would make her cry, for reasons as innocent as bringing a cute alien into the palace with her. Pink was actively reminded, day after day, that her playful behavior was abnormal and something to hide. It isn't until she became Rose Quartz that she was free to be herself. In flashbacks, Rose is often seen laughing and playing, just having the time of her life on Earth. And that may sound like a good thing, but it's actually very harmful to those around her. When she was still in the start of her relationship with Greg, Rose had a lot of trouble connecting to him because she didn't quite see him as an equal. Instead, she saw him as a form of entertainment. Greg's attempt to connect with her only amused her and when he asked her whether she respected him, she outright laughed at him. Everything is just one big joke to her. She loves humans, yet doesn't know how to be in love with them. It seems that even later on, their relationship was quite flighty, because when Greg mentions the 'important' things that they always talked about, he lists: Music, comic books and getting sand between your toes. There's no signs of an actual, serious relationship there. She never grew up, and the truth is that she knows it. It's something that she admits to envying in human beings; the ability to grow up.
Continuing on this track, Rose is very careless and self-centered. I'm tackling these two traits in one go because they're inherently tied together. She doesn't seem to take into account that her actions affect others. It was already bad when she was Pink Diamond. She tricked Spinel into staying behind on the garden because she was embarrassed by her. She expressed interest in preserving the human species, which led to humans being kidnapped for a zoo, and never once set those humans free. She started a rebellion because she was afraid to stand up for herself, which got countless Gems killed... And when that didn't work, she tricked her fellow Diamonds- her family- into thinking that she was dead. That resulting grief then escalated into nearly every single Gem on Earth being corrupted. There's the incident with Bismuth, of course, where she sealed someone away inside a bubble over a misunderstanding and never told her friends. Rose Quartz treated Greg like a plaything and in doing so, hurt him multiple times. She caused incredible emotional harm to Pearl just by following her own impulsive nature without taking Pearl's feelings into account. Rose likes to throw lofty ideals around such as 'we need to save the beings on this planet' and 'all life is precious', but a lot of what she does only gets her friends hurt or killed because she acts without thinking it through. She views her motivations from her own self-centered lens, which leads to collateral damage of frankly outrageous proportions.
Perhaps a result of being created a monarch, Rose Quartz is very entitled. "You know Rose; she always did what she wanted!" It was absolutely worse when she was Pink Diamond, because not only would she would sneak cute aliens into the palace, she would throw tantrums when she didn't get what she wanted. She would scream, she would stomp her feet, she would punch a wall... Once, one of her tantrums went so far that her Pearl was damaged, the gem cracked by the force of her screaming. This also links back to her childishness, but it's more than that. "I'm a Diamond too," she would insist, and believe that meant she couldn't be denied her wishes. Rose Quartz no longer has that weight of Gem monarchy to throw around, but she found herself a different weight; that of the leader of the Gem rebellion. Rose Quartz was renowned far and wide, loved and respected. Who would deny her anything? Certainly not her last remaining friends, who were unable to stop her when she surrendered her life to give birth to Steven. Thankfully, Rose no longer seems to throw any tantrums in present day. This is implied to be a result of what happened to her previous Pearl, as the ending of the episode Volleyball hypothesizes that after the accident, Pink wanted to change.
Pink was ultimately a coward, only offering half-hearted excuses to defy the colony project and not having enough courage to truly fight back against her peers until it was in the guise of Rose Quartz. And even then, she continues taking the coward's way out. "As long as you are there to rule, this colony will be completed" might seem like the only reason that Pink Diamond was taken out of the equation, but looking a little deeper, it's clear that Rose ran from her life as Pink Diamond. Once all is said and done, she's afraid to share the truth with even their closest companions. It's possible part of this stems from the mindset that she must put up a perfect facade. She must be flawless, she must appear strong, she must always make the best decisions and not stir too much needless conflict. As a result, she keeps her dirty secrets to herself and doesn't even tell her companions about Bismuth's fate.
Terrible person as she was, Rose does at least seem to acknowledge this. One may not think so at first glance, but there's several clues to tell us that Rose held deep remorse for all her mistakes. From the episode Volleyball, which implies how badly the damage to her Pearl had impacted Pink, to the mentions that Rose had attempted several times to fix the corrupted Gem monsters with her healing powers. Then there's one very telling exchange between Rose and Greg, where he says that he barely knows her, and she replies with the words "that's a good thing." Many decisions Pink and Rose made, no matter the intent, only led to situations getting worse for everyone involved. There's no way she could be blind to such a thing. This is why she envies human beings; they have the ability to invent and better themselves as they go along, and are even expected to do so. Despite encouraging many of her Gem followers to break free of their molds and develop themselves, even telling 'flawed' Gems like Amethyst that they're perfect just the way they are, it seems Rose could never follow her own advice and stir the change she wanted to see within herself. Rebecca Sugar once stated in a podcast that all of Steven's compassion comes from Greg, and Rose was aware of that. It was that compassion which drew Rose to Greg in the first place, because she doesn't quite understand it. She's 'able to be a convincing human being, but she's just sort of playing at it'. This is why, in the end, she gave up on her life and passed her gem on to a human being. Steven was always meant to become someone who would be like her, but better.
5-10 Key Character Traits:
- Loving
- Curious
- Childish
- Careless
- Self-centered
- Entitled
- Cowardly
- Remorseful
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Fits
Opt-Outs: Minotaur, troll, goblin, pooka, waldgeist, manticore, faerie (Otto)
Roleplay Sample:
Ryslig's July/August Test Drive Meme
Thread with Ryunosuke Naruhodo on the September/October TDM
Thread with Sherlock Holmes on the September/October TDM
OOC INFORMATION
Name: Meowzy
Contact:
Age: 34
Other Characters: Otto Octavius, Steven Grant
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character Name: Rose Quartz
Age: Unknown. Twenty millennia at the least (source: a Steven Universe artbook)
Canon: Steven Universe
Canon Point: After 'Greg the Babysitter'
Character Information: Beware the spoilers!
Personality:
Right up front, I'd like to note that Rose Quartz is a character who went through a rather drastic identity change in her lifetime. Because of this, while I'll focus mostly on the character Rose Quartz was in her current canon point, I'll still be referring back to Pink Diamond to outline the similarities (and differences if they exist). The Key Traits are based on Rose Quartz as well, but I will absolutely talk about how each trait links back to Pink.
For a long time, all we know about Rose Quartz is what other characters say about her. There's nothing but praise for her skills, kind heart and beauty. Her tears held healing powers, she enjoyed a good laugh and just as the weapon born from her gem is a shield, she did her best to protect her companions. Despite being an ancient, alien being, she gave her heart to a human man by the name of Greg Universe and even decided to have a baby with him, knowing that it would cost her her life. “She felt real love for those around her. She felt real sorrow when they were hurt,” is what's said about her, and there's no reason to dismiss this as fiction. Yes, judging the book solely by its initial cover, it seems there's no doubt about it: Rose is a beacon of genuine love and care. Even with all we've learned by the end of the series, that is difficult to dispute. Pink Diamond's love for Earth is what spurred her on to rebel. Her love for her companions is what had her fight so hard to protect them.
But really, that's about the only positive thing we can say about Pink Diamond, or even about Rose Quartz. Good intentions and genuine adoration do not necessarily make for a good person.
In a more neutral ground, Rose is curious by nature. She loves learning about new things and asking questions. It's implied that before Greg came into the picture, Rose was the only one of the Crystal Gems to actively venture beyond the fence surrounding the beach to interact with human beings, or otherwise just wander the planet and enjoy the sights (see her encounter with Buddy Budwick in the desert). When she first learns about fusion between two different Gem types, she's overwhelmed and full of questions. In fact, her curiosity is part of the reason why Pink Diamond went down to Earth in the first place. Simply watching it through the observation orb on the moon base was not enough; she wanted to interact with Earth in person. "I have to see it all," she tells Pearl.
The smallest of the four Diamonds, Pink Diamond's personality was highly childish. Pink was the one who always wanted to play games with the others, and while the Diamonds would indulge Pink's whimsical nature on occasion, it becomes clear from the stories and the flashbacks that they could not afford to do that too often. They had better places to be and work to do, leaving Pink behind. It wasn't seen as befitting of a Diamond to behave that way either, as Pink was accused of 'not acting like a Diamond' by Yellow. It's likely because of this that Pink was given (Your New Best Friend) Spinel, along with a place to play that lay out of sight. Pink's childish nature was being hidden from the Gem society. Pushing this problem just a little further, there's some sinister implications scattered throughout the series that Pink was heavily scrutinized and punished for this by her peers. Take, for example, the dream sequence where Pink is laughing and playing with her previous Pearl, but when Yellow peeks in through the door, she hastily pretends to be serious. It's outright said that Pink was locked away in a prison whenever she'd 'misbehaved' and that Blue would make her cry, for reasons as innocent as bringing a cute alien into the palace with her. Pink was actively reminded, day after day, that her playful behavior was abnormal and something to hide. It isn't until she became Rose Quartz that she was free to be herself. In flashbacks, Rose is often seen laughing and playing, just having the time of her life on Earth. And that may sound like a good thing, but it's actually very harmful to those around her. When she was still in the start of her relationship with Greg, Rose had a lot of trouble connecting to him because she didn't quite see him as an equal. Instead, she saw him as a form of entertainment. Greg's attempt to connect with her only amused her and when he asked her whether she respected him, she outright laughed at him. Everything is just one big joke to her. She loves humans, yet doesn't know how to be in love with them. It seems that even later on, their relationship was quite flighty, because when Greg mentions the 'important' things that they always talked about, he lists: Music, comic books and getting sand between your toes. There's no signs of an actual, serious relationship there. She never grew up, and the truth is that she knows it. It's something that she admits to envying in human beings; the ability to grow up.
Continuing on this track, Rose is very careless and self-centered. I'm tackling these two traits in one go because they're inherently tied together. She doesn't seem to take into account that her actions affect others. It was already bad when she was Pink Diamond. She tricked Spinel into staying behind on the garden because she was embarrassed by her. She expressed interest in preserving the human species, which led to humans being kidnapped for a zoo, and never once set those humans free. She started a rebellion because she was afraid to stand up for herself, which got countless Gems killed... And when that didn't work, she tricked her fellow Diamonds- her family- into thinking that she was dead. That resulting grief then escalated into nearly every single Gem on Earth being corrupted. There's the incident with Bismuth, of course, where she sealed someone away inside a bubble over a misunderstanding and never told her friends. Rose Quartz treated Greg like a plaything and in doing so, hurt him multiple times. She caused incredible emotional harm to Pearl just by following her own impulsive nature without taking Pearl's feelings into account. Rose likes to throw lofty ideals around such as 'we need to save the beings on this planet' and 'all life is precious', but a lot of what she does only gets her friends hurt or killed because she acts without thinking it through. She views her motivations from her own self-centered lens, which leads to collateral damage of frankly outrageous proportions.
Perhaps a result of being created a monarch, Rose Quartz is very entitled. "You know Rose; she always did what she wanted!" It was absolutely worse when she was Pink Diamond, because not only would she would sneak cute aliens into the palace, she would throw tantrums when she didn't get what she wanted. She would scream, she would stomp her feet, she would punch a wall... Once, one of her tantrums went so far that her Pearl was damaged, the gem cracked by the force of her screaming. This also links back to her childishness, but it's more than that. "I'm a Diamond too," she would insist, and believe that meant she couldn't be denied her wishes. Rose Quartz no longer has that weight of Gem monarchy to throw around, but she found herself a different weight; that of the leader of the Gem rebellion. Rose Quartz was renowned far and wide, loved and respected. Who would deny her anything? Certainly not her last remaining friends, who were unable to stop her when she surrendered her life to give birth to Steven. Thankfully, Rose no longer seems to throw any tantrums in present day. This is implied to be a result of what happened to her previous Pearl, as the ending of the episode Volleyball hypothesizes that after the accident, Pink wanted to change.
Pink was ultimately a coward, only offering half-hearted excuses to defy the colony project and not having enough courage to truly fight back against her peers until it was in the guise of Rose Quartz. And even then, she continues taking the coward's way out. "As long as you are there to rule, this colony will be completed" might seem like the only reason that Pink Diamond was taken out of the equation, but looking a little deeper, it's clear that Rose ran from her life as Pink Diamond. Once all is said and done, she's afraid to share the truth with even their closest companions. It's possible part of this stems from the mindset that she must put up a perfect facade. She must be flawless, she must appear strong, she must always make the best decisions and not stir too much needless conflict. As a result, she keeps her dirty secrets to herself and doesn't even tell her companions about Bismuth's fate.
Terrible person as she was, Rose does at least seem to acknowledge this. One may not think so at first glance, but there's several clues to tell us that Rose held deep remorse for all her mistakes. From the episode Volleyball, which implies how badly the damage to her Pearl had impacted Pink, to the mentions that Rose had attempted several times to fix the corrupted Gem monsters with her healing powers. Then there's one very telling exchange between Rose and Greg, where he says that he barely knows her, and she replies with the words "that's a good thing." Many decisions Pink and Rose made, no matter the intent, only led to situations getting worse for everyone involved. There's no way she could be blind to such a thing. This is why she envies human beings; they have the ability to invent and better themselves as they go along, and are even expected to do so. Despite encouraging many of her Gem followers to break free of their molds and develop themselves, even telling 'flawed' Gems like Amethyst that they're perfect just the way they are, it seems Rose could never follow her own advice and stir the change she wanted to see within herself. Rebecca Sugar once stated in a podcast that all of Steven's compassion comes from Greg, and Rose was aware of that. It was that compassion which drew Rose to Greg in the first place, because she doesn't quite understand it. She's 'able to be a convincing human being, but she's just sort of playing at it'. This is why, in the end, she gave up on her life and passed her gem on to a human being. Steven was always meant to become someone who would be like her, but better.
5-10 Key Character Traits:
- Loving
- Curious
- Childish
- Careless
- Self-centered
- Entitled
- Cowardly
- Remorseful
Would you prefer a monster that FITS your character’s personality, CONFLICTS with it, EITHER, or opt for 100% RANDOMIZATION? Fits
Opt-Outs: Minotaur, troll, goblin, pooka, waldgeist, manticore, faerie (Otto)
Roleplay Sample:
Ryslig's July/August Test Drive Meme
Thread with Ryunosuke Naruhodo on the September/October TDM
Thread with Sherlock Holmes on the September/October TDM