Steven Universe (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tigermillionaire) wrote2015-02-24 01:46 am
tigermillionaire) wrote2015-02-24 01:46 am
THE WAKE APP
Personal Information
Name: Quix
Age: 25
Personal Journal: Don't have one.
Email / AIM / MSN / Plurk:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
quixocalypse
Current Character(s): None.
Character Information
Character Name: Steven Universe
Fandom: Steven Universe
Character History: Steven Universe is the son of Rose Quartz, a member of a powerful alien species called Gems. While trapped on Earth along with three of her comrades, she fell in love with a human named Greg Universe, a mediocre travelling musician. She ultimately ended up giving birth to Steven at the cost of her physical form: she passed on her quartz gem to Steven to give him life, and thus vanished from Earth, leaving him in the care of her three teammates and her husband Greg.
Being raised by three aliens and a bohemian resulted in Steven having a pretty unique worldview. Since his birth, the nature of his half Gem half Human heritage has been a mystery. None of the other Gems have been sure whether he will truly develop the same powers as the rest of their kind, or what effects his human parts will have on his development. They have raised him the best they can, however, while simultaneously training him in the use of the abilities he manifests. At age eleven, he was finally allowed to join them on some of the missions they frequently go on, which usually involve fighting monsters and collecting the gem fragments they leave behind. He's done a lot growing since then.
Though his early contributions to the team were quite haphazard and opportunistic, over time Steven has truly begun to grow into the legacy of his mother. His powers are unfortunately fickle and highly dependent on his emotional state, but a combination of dedication and out-of-the-box thinking have made him a legitimate asset to the team. At the same time, a lot about the origins of his caretakers are kept secret from him. It was only upon meeting Lapis Lazuli, a gem that had been trapped in a magical mirror, that he began to learn that the Crystal Gems are not exactly popular with the rest of their species. Though the others are far from quick to explain, it is gradually revealed to Steven that a conflict spanning centuries has separated the Crystal Gems from the rest of their kind - their particular interest in protecting the Earth is apparently not shared by the wider gem populace.
Worse than that, it turns out that the monsters they are always fighting are, in fact, corrupted mutations of former gems. Though what triggers these corruptions is unclear, Steven is told that his mother had spent years attempting to heal them, but was never successful. When Steven develops healing powers that match his mother's, he too began dreaming of a day where he would be able to help them return to their former selves.
Much of the story covers the day to day affairs of Steven's especially whimsical life, following him and the Crystal Gem's adventures as he gradually discovers more about his surroundings and about himself. However, there is clearly something more dire brewing on the horizon, with the arrival of another gem named Peridot, who seems intent on hunting the Crystal Gems down and tearing them from their self imposed solitude. They have been safe on Earth up till now, but there is no telling when that will change, and Steven's world along with it.
Character Personality: Steven is twelve years old and acts like it. Maybe that should seem obvious, but where a lot of series may have their young protagonist act more adult for the sake of the story, Steven Universe does not. The series is very much Steven’s coming of age story, meaning that from the beginning, the inexperience and innocence of Steven’s youth is pivotal to his character. The setting in the show is very much seen through his point of view, and the darker and more complicated aspects only become apparent as Steven becomes equipped to understand them.
He has many traits you’d expect from a child, including a powerful imagination and a keen desire to impress his multiple guardians. He’s only occasionally been pointedly upset with still being young (though he did become so insecure he almost accidentally aged himself to death out of a desire to be more “mature”), and ultimately he is mostly preoccupied with being useful to his family and his team. He has high expectations of himself when it comes to being brave and strong, primarily because he’s been a member of the Crystal Gems, a band of interstellar heroes, for his entire life, and is only just recently began to come into his own as a member. He was extremely excited to be allowed to come on missions with the other Gems, much the same way a more normal kid might be excited when their parents let them pay for groceries at the store.
“I’m magic! Well, half magic. On my mother’s side.”
In terms of normal versus not normal, Steven’s life is pretty strange. Along with feeling a weight of responsibility towards the other Gems that’s unusual for a child, he’s also never participated in a lot of the mundane parts of growing up. He’s never been to school, for instance, or even officially home schooled. His family and the rest of his home town consider him to be more a gem than a human that way – no one seems concerned that he is separated from those parts of human society, because with gem guardians come different priorities and culture. Steven’s priorities are learning how to use his magic gem powers so that he can aid the others in defending the Earth from near constant monster attacks. Needless to say, people seem to be content with just leaving that particular situation be.
(He seems fairly well educated, regardless, and can read and write without problems and can also presumably do math.)
Despite his alien upbringing, Steven values the human facets of his life a great deal. He loves a lot of the things that the average child does, like reading, comic books, and video games. One of his favourite places to be is the donut shop near his house and the local arcade. The balance between Steven’s human and gem halves are an important aspect of his character. He is a natural medium between the two cultures as much as he is a natural medium between people. He also has absolutely zero regard for societal boundaries brought on by bigotry - he cares not for gender roles, and probably wouldn't understand why someone might be homophobic or racist. He openly displays numerous traditionally feminine traits without being at all concerned about how that interacts with his identity as male, and he would see no reason for any one else to doubt themselves for those reasons either.
“Aww, you like her!” “I like everyone!”
Steven is very much a people person (or a “people human” as Pearl would put it) and experiences very little in the way of social embarrassment or shame. He’ll talk to anyone like they are his friend, or someone who could be, and it is almost impossible to permanently get on his bad side. He’s very expressive and sometimes a bit over-dramatic when interacting with people, and has a tendency to ham it up for entertainment. He sees the good in everyone and everything, and naturally craves harmony - Steven does not handle conflict between others well, and will do everything he can to smooth out interpersonal problems. He is excited to see people be kind to each other and to simply be happy. He will be kind to people who might not deserve it, and not because he is oblivious to their flaws, but because he believes that everyone has an inner beauty that can be coaxed out with patience and care.
Other people do tend to react well to him, even if he can be a bit much at times. He befriends almost everyone he meets, and is a well known figure around his home town, as the kind of kid that will come up and talk to pretty much everyone. He's creatively talented and intensely musical. He can play several instruments and writes his own songs - sometimes going as far to improvise new material on the spot. He's got a natural flair for showmanship and storytelling, though with a rawness that reflects his youth.
"What would you know about my mom? I didn't even get to know my mom! But I do know that she saw beauty in everything - even in stuff like this, and even in jerks like you!"
Though Steven is a very bright personality, he does have plenty of points of sadness in his life. The major one is his relationship with his mother, Rose Quartz, the gem that gave up her own life to make him. Steven struggles with the fact that he never got the chance to know her, and often worries that he won't even be able to live up to her well loved example. Steven has to function under the knowledge that someone his guardians all loved very much died so he could be born. He's hardly dysfunctional about it, but it is an inevitable weight on his shoulders. In general, the point in which he falters most is his worries about his own abilities and worth to the Crystal Gems and his family. He loves his family very much, and wants desperately to do right by them - and as time passes, he is learning more and more the ways that he can do so.
Steven is growing up, little by little, and by all indications he will someday become a very important person indeed.
Powers and Abilities: Steven, as a half gem, has a lot of powers. However, due to his youth and his human half, his powers are unpredictable by nature and highly dependent on his emotional state. Using most of them relies on a very particular kind of mental zen, and so far the shield bubble is the only one he can use reliably. The general scope is listed below, though, in order of approximate dependability.
SHIELD BUBBLE: Steven can create a pink bubble around himself and others that functions as a shield against harm. It can potentially block all manners of physical damage, but as it depends on Steven's willpower and focus, it can be popped by significant enough force. Also, sometimes being startled or afraid will result in him creating it accidentally, and in extreme cases he may find himself unable to dispel it, even if he wants to.
TRANSPORT BUBBLING: This basically means sealing an object (or person, sometimes) in a bubble and teleporting it back to a set location. The Crystal Gems use this to send captures gem creatures back to the inner sanctum of the temple, and it is unclear if they could change the location things are teleported to. Steven has recently proven himself able to do this on demand.
SUMMONED SHIELD: He's only ever done it twice, but Steven is capable of summoning a magical weapon, which in his case is a shield. It seems to be quite powerful defense when he does summon it, but he hasn't figured out how to do it on command.
TRANSFORMATION: All gems can shapeshift, and Steven seems to be no exception. He never does this, though, because every time he's shapeshifted it has been extremely traumatic. One time he accidentally turned his whole body into cats (yes, plural) and the other time he almost aged himself to death. So, I guess he can definitely do those things, but I have no idea why you would ever want to.
FUSION: Gems can basically do the fusion dance and become one, more powerful being for as long as they can remain in sync. At first, it wasn't known whether or not Steven would be able to pull this off as a halfbreed, but then he went and fused with Connie, his human best friend, a feat impossible for the rest of the Crystal Gems. Though it hasn't yet been shown, it seems likely that he could also fuse with the other half of his heritage. As it is, he probably can't yet do this on command.
PLANT MAGIC: Steven has shown the ability to grow and control plant golems, that serve and fight for him. This happened once by accident, where he grew dozens of watermelons overnight that were shaped like himself. This is the only manifestation of this power so far.
HEALING SPIT: At one point Steven developed the ability to reliably heal both people and objects with the application of his saliva. Unfortunately, due to a deception that threw off his self confidence, Steven lost the ability to do this at all and hasn't yet regained it. This is one of the abilities most key to his powers.
REGENERATION(?): When gems are seriously injured, instead of dying they retreat inside their gems to hibernate and heal. It is unknown if Steven could accomplish this due to his human half, leaving the Gems with the fear that he may be considerably more mortal than the rest of them. However, whether or not this is the case has yet to be seen.
Samples
Network:
Hi! I'm Steven!
You don't know me, but I'm one of the Crystal Gems! Pearl and Garnet have been here for a while and they're two of my best friends! And Connie, too! She's the greatest.
I don't know you guys yet either but I think we should be friends if we're going to be saving the universe together! I like playing music and writing songs and talking with my friends and watching TV with my dad and my pet Lion and comic books and playing games and donuts and drawing and wrestling and Dogcopter and going on missions and learning about new stuff-
Haha, I guess I like a lot of things! What do you like?
Third Person:
Steven's pursuit of his bending skills is dogged - it has to be, he thinks. He has so much catching up to do, more than ever before. The thought of it makes his heart sink, if he's honest with himself. All he can think about is his lost progress.
He'd come so far trying to be helpful for the other Gems, and now he's right back where he started. He knows that the others believe in him, and that Pearl and Garnet will teach him as best they can, but part of him still worries. What if he can't get used to this bending thing? What if he can never use any of his mother's powers again? He bets his mom would have been an awesome bender. The best, probably.
But Steven isn't his mom, as hard as he tries to be. All he can do it keep at it.
Right now, 'keeping at it' mostly means making tense-faced straining noises at walls and, in an eventual fit of frustration, thumping one with the jewel that constitutes his belly button. He frowns down at the rose quartz gem for a few moments afterwards, eventually letting his shirt drop with a dejected sigh.
"Come on..."
There are plenty of buildings in Nautilus to try out this routine inside, a whole new realm of places to explore. As Steven has wandered, he has tried manipulating his environment in little ways, again and again, to see if he can make it work. If only he could figure out how to make his bubble. Imagine how impressed the Gems would be, if he could figure this out on his own!
No luck, yet.
He sighs heavily and slides down one of the walls, staring up at the ceiling. He'll get this someday, he thinks. He has to.
Name: Quix
Age: 25
Personal Journal: Don't have one.
Email / AIM / MSN / Plurk:
Current Character(s): None.
Character Information
Character Name: Steven Universe
Fandom: Steven Universe
Character History: Steven Universe is the son of Rose Quartz, a member of a powerful alien species called Gems. While trapped on Earth along with three of her comrades, she fell in love with a human named Greg Universe, a mediocre travelling musician. She ultimately ended up giving birth to Steven at the cost of her physical form: she passed on her quartz gem to Steven to give him life, and thus vanished from Earth, leaving him in the care of her three teammates and her husband Greg.
Being raised by three aliens and a bohemian resulted in Steven having a pretty unique worldview. Since his birth, the nature of his half Gem half Human heritage has been a mystery. None of the other Gems have been sure whether he will truly develop the same powers as the rest of their kind, or what effects his human parts will have on his development. They have raised him the best they can, however, while simultaneously training him in the use of the abilities he manifests. At age eleven, he was finally allowed to join them on some of the missions they frequently go on, which usually involve fighting monsters and collecting the gem fragments they leave behind. He's done a lot growing since then.
Though his early contributions to the team were quite haphazard and opportunistic, over time Steven has truly begun to grow into the legacy of his mother. His powers are unfortunately fickle and highly dependent on his emotional state, but a combination of dedication and out-of-the-box thinking have made him a legitimate asset to the team. At the same time, a lot about the origins of his caretakers are kept secret from him. It was only upon meeting Lapis Lazuli, a gem that had been trapped in a magical mirror, that he began to learn that the Crystal Gems are not exactly popular with the rest of their species. Though the others are far from quick to explain, it is gradually revealed to Steven that a conflict spanning centuries has separated the Crystal Gems from the rest of their kind - their particular interest in protecting the Earth is apparently not shared by the wider gem populace.
Worse than that, it turns out that the monsters they are always fighting are, in fact, corrupted mutations of former gems. Though what triggers these corruptions is unclear, Steven is told that his mother had spent years attempting to heal them, but was never successful. When Steven develops healing powers that match his mother's, he too began dreaming of a day where he would be able to help them return to their former selves.
Much of the story covers the day to day affairs of Steven's especially whimsical life, following him and the Crystal Gem's adventures as he gradually discovers more about his surroundings and about himself. However, there is clearly something more dire brewing on the horizon, with the arrival of another gem named Peridot, who seems intent on hunting the Crystal Gems down and tearing them from their self imposed solitude. They have been safe on Earth up till now, but there is no telling when that will change, and Steven's world along with it.
Character Personality: Steven is twelve years old and acts like it. Maybe that should seem obvious, but where a lot of series may have their young protagonist act more adult for the sake of the story, Steven Universe does not. The series is very much Steven’s coming of age story, meaning that from the beginning, the inexperience and innocence of Steven’s youth is pivotal to his character. The setting in the show is very much seen through his point of view, and the darker and more complicated aspects only become apparent as Steven becomes equipped to understand them.
He has many traits you’d expect from a child, including a powerful imagination and a keen desire to impress his multiple guardians. He’s only occasionally been pointedly upset with still being young (though he did become so insecure he almost accidentally aged himself to death out of a desire to be more “mature”), and ultimately he is mostly preoccupied with being useful to his family and his team. He has high expectations of himself when it comes to being brave and strong, primarily because he’s been a member of the Crystal Gems, a band of interstellar heroes, for his entire life, and is only just recently began to come into his own as a member. He was extremely excited to be allowed to come on missions with the other Gems, much the same way a more normal kid might be excited when their parents let them pay for groceries at the store.
In terms of normal versus not normal, Steven’s life is pretty strange. Along with feeling a weight of responsibility towards the other Gems that’s unusual for a child, he’s also never participated in a lot of the mundane parts of growing up. He’s never been to school, for instance, or even officially home schooled. His family and the rest of his home town consider him to be more a gem than a human that way – no one seems concerned that he is separated from those parts of human society, because with gem guardians come different priorities and culture. Steven’s priorities are learning how to use his magic gem powers so that he can aid the others in defending the Earth from near constant monster attacks. Needless to say, people seem to be content with just leaving that particular situation be.
(He seems fairly well educated, regardless, and can read and write without problems and can also presumably do math.)
Despite his alien upbringing, Steven values the human facets of his life a great deal. He loves a lot of the things that the average child does, like reading, comic books, and video games. One of his favourite places to be is the donut shop near his house and the local arcade. The balance between Steven’s human and gem halves are an important aspect of his character. He is a natural medium between the two cultures as much as he is a natural medium between people. He also has absolutely zero regard for societal boundaries brought on by bigotry - he cares not for gender roles, and probably wouldn't understand why someone might be homophobic or racist. He openly displays numerous traditionally feminine traits without being at all concerned about how that interacts with his identity as male, and he would see no reason for any one else to doubt themselves for those reasons either.
Steven is very much a people person (or a “people human” as Pearl would put it) and experiences very little in the way of social embarrassment or shame. He’ll talk to anyone like they are his friend, or someone who could be, and it is almost impossible to permanently get on his bad side. He’s very expressive and sometimes a bit over-dramatic when interacting with people, and has a tendency to ham it up for entertainment. He sees the good in everyone and everything, and naturally craves harmony - Steven does not handle conflict between others well, and will do everything he can to smooth out interpersonal problems. He is excited to see people be kind to each other and to simply be happy. He will be kind to people who might not deserve it, and not because he is oblivious to their flaws, but because he believes that everyone has an inner beauty that can be coaxed out with patience and care.
Other people do tend to react well to him, even if he can be a bit much at times. He befriends almost everyone he meets, and is a well known figure around his home town, as the kind of kid that will come up and talk to pretty much everyone. He's creatively talented and intensely musical. He can play several instruments and writes his own songs - sometimes going as far to improvise new material on the spot. He's got a natural flair for showmanship and storytelling, though with a rawness that reflects his youth.
Though Steven is a very bright personality, he does have plenty of points of sadness in his life. The major one is his relationship with his mother, Rose Quartz, the gem that gave up her own life to make him. Steven struggles with the fact that he never got the chance to know her, and often worries that he won't even be able to live up to her well loved example. Steven has to function under the knowledge that someone his guardians all loved very much died so he could be born. He's hardly dysfunctional about it, but it is an inevitable weight on his shoulders. In general, the point in which he falters most is his worries about his own abilities and worth to the Crystal Gems and his family. He loves his family very much, and wants desperately to do right by them - and as time passes, he is learning more and more the ways that he can do so.
Steven is growing up, little by little, and by all indications he will someday become a very important person indeed.
Powers and Abilities: Steven, as a half gem, has a lot of powers. However, due to his youth and his human half, his powers are unpredictable by nature and highly dependent on his emotional state. Using most of them relies on a very particular kind of mental zen, and so far the shield bubble is the only one he can use reliably. The general scope is listed below, though, in order of approximate dependability.
SHIELD BUBBLE: Steven can create a pink bubble around himself and others that functions as a shield against harm. It can potentially block all manners of physical damage, but as it depends on Steven's willpower and focus, it can be popped by significant enough force. Also, sometimes being startled or afraid will result in him creating it accidentally, and in extreme cases he may find himself unable to dispel it, even if he wants to.
TRANSPORT BUBBLING: This basically means sealing an object (or person, sometimes) in a bubble and teleporting it back to a set location. The Crystal Gems use this to send captures gem creatures back to the inner sanctum of the temple, and it is unclear if they could change the location things are teleported to. Steven has recently proven himself able to do this on demand.
SUMMONED SHIELD: He's only ever done it twice, but Steven is capable of summoning a magical weapon, which in his case is a shield. It seems to be quite powerful defense when he does summon it, but he hasn't figured out how to do it on command.
TRANSFORMATION: All gems can shapeshift, and Steven seems to be no exception. He never does this, though, because every time he's shapeshifted it has been extremely traumatic. One time he accidentally turned his whole body into cats (yes, plural) and the other time he almost aged himself to death. So, I guess he can definitely do those things, but I have no idea why you would ever want to.
FUSION: Gems can basically do the fusion dance and become one, more powerful being for as long as they can remain in sync. At first, it wasn't known whether or not Steven would be able to pull this off as a halfbreed, but then he went and fused with Connie, his human best friend, a feat impossible for the rest of the Crystal Gems. Though it hasn't yet been shown, it seems likely that he could also fuse with the other half of his heritage. As it is, he probably can't yet do this on command.
PLANT MAGIC: Steven has shown the ability to grow and control plant golems, that serve and fight for him. This happened once by accident, where he grew dozens of watermelons overnight that were shaped like himself. This is the only manifestation of this power so far.
HEALING SPIT: At one point Steven developed the ability to reliably heal both people and objects with the application of his saliva. Unfortunately, due to a deception that threw off his self confidence, Steven lost the ability to do this at all and hasn't yet regained it. This is one of the abilities most key to his powers.
REGENERATION(?): When gems are seriously injured, instead of dying they retreat inside their gems to hibernate and heal. It is unknown if Steven could accomplish this due to his human half, leaving the Gems with the fear that he may be considerably more mortal than the rest of them. However, whether or not this is the case has yet to be seen.
Samples
Network:
Hi! I'm Steven!
You don't know me, but I'm one of the Crystal Gems! Pearl and Garnet have been here for a while and they're two of my best friends! And Connie, too! She's the greatest.
I don't know you guys yet either but I think we should be friends if we're going to be saving the universe together! I like playing music and writing songs and talking with my friends and watching TV with my dad and my pet Lion and comic books and playing games and donuts and drawing and wrestling and Dogcopter and going on missions and learning about new stuff-
Haha, I guess I like a lot of things! What do you like?
Third Person:
Steven's pursuit of his bending skills is dogged - it has to be, he thinks. He has so much catching up to do, more than ever before. The thought of it makes his heart sink, if he's honest with himself. All he can think about is his lost progress.
He'd come so far trying to be helpful for the other Gems, and now he's right back where he started. He knows that the others believe in him, and that Pearl and Garnet will teach him as best they can, but part of him still worries. What if he can't get used to this bending thing? What if he can never use any of his mother's powers again? He bets his mom would have been an awesome bender. The best, probably.
But Steven isn't his mom, as hard as he tries to be. All he can do it keep at it.
Right now, 'keeping at it' mostly means making tense-faced straining noises at walls and, in an eventual fit of frustration, thumping one with the jewel that constitutes his belly button. He frowns down at the rose quartz gem for a few moments afterwards, eventually letting his shirt drop with a dejected sigh.
"Come on..."
There are plenty of buildings in Nautilus to try out this routine inside, a whole new realm of places to explore. As Steven has wandered, he has tried manipulating his environment in little ways, again and again, to see if he can make it work. If only he could figure out how to make his bubble. Imagine how impressed the Gems would be, if he could figure this out on his own!
No luck, yet.
He sighs heavily and slides down one of the walls, staring up at the ceiling. He'll get this someday, he thinks. He has to.