Name: Rose Marie
DW username: singasongasixpence
E-Mail: disneybusiney@gmail.com
IM: AIM: lottielogic01
Plurk: singasongasixpence

Other Characters: N/A

Character Name: Rose Quartz
Series: Steven Universe
Timeline: Post-”death”
Canon Resource Link: ”Isn't it remarkable, Steven?”

Character History:

Much of Rose’s past is shrouded in mystery, lost to secrecy and both disdain and respect for her decisions. However, Rose Quartz was not made of the life she spent on Homeworld that shaped her past, but rather the work she put into the rebellion and into creating a better future for her friends, family, and the planet Earth.

We know she was most likely created on Homeworld; it’s been revealed that Quartz are made specifically for army purposes, meaning Rose Quartz was created for this reason as well. However, brawns need brains to back them, and Rose was created for defensive purposes, putting her pro-life powers (such as healing and creating plant life) into perspective. Beyond that background information, we don’t know anything (yet) about her life on Homeworld.

What we do know of her distant past is that around 6,000 years ago, she arrived on Earth. Around 5,500 years ago, the love and respect she held for life on the planet spurred her decision to rebel against Homeworld alongside a renegade Pearl and a runaway, forbidden fusion of a Ruby and Sapphire, known as Garnet. Though it’s conjecture at this point, most agree that her decision most likely additionally involved discovering or participating in the creation of the Cluster: an unholy chimera of thousands upon thousands of fractured Gems forming at the center of the Earth; upon maturity, it would destroy the planet completely, leaving nothing but a fractured shell. Given Rose’s canonical manifesto, it’s incredibly probable that it played a role in her decision to drive out the Gem colonies and break ties with the imperialistic Homeworld. However, regardless of the cluster and Rose’s unknown level of involvement with it, the Homeworld colonization of Earth in of itself would have obliterated all life save for the alien Gem life that took it over. Rose was said to have seen the beauty in everything and everyone, no matter how mundane. A motherly protector in personality and practice, she simply couldn’t allow the colonization to happen.

Before their decision to defect, Rose met with Pearl on a series of floating islands looming over the strawberry battlefield. There, she announced to her confidant and partner, Pearl, that she was going to fight for the planet. Though Pearl claimed she wanted to fight, Rose pressed, “I know you do. Please understand, if we lose we'll be killed, and if we win we can never go home.” Ever loving, Rose made absolutely sure that Pearl had thought her decision through; despite Pearls being a servant class, their lives had a structure and routine, and most Homeworld Gems felt the desire to fit in and “be who they were created to be.” Rose’s respect for her partner meant that Pearl’s genuine and uninfluenced consent was necessary before she could recognize Pearl as a member of her rebellion. As Pearl reassured Rose, the two had a brief and tender moment, intertwining their fingers.

Sometime shortly after, the duo decided to rebel together under the title of the Crystal Gems. They began to attack colonial strongholds, gaining a well-known reputation on the planet and putting at least one of the Diamonds on-edge. Ironically, their interference with the colony routine is what lead to Garnet fusing for the first time. Rose and Pearl decided to crash Blue Diamond’s meeting with Sapphire, a Gem with a rare psychic ability. Their entrance was enough to prove that Rose had a love of theatrics; it was grand as they lept in, striking a pose as they announced themselves as the Crystal Gems. Blue Diamond, seeing them as a threat, closed off her mechanical gazebo as protection, and had its mechanical legs carry her away from the battle. As Rose and Pearl attacked, they showed a remarkable skill in fighting, to the point to where Ruby could tell there was no stopping them. But Ruby defied fate, and, tackling Sapphire out of the way of one of Pearl’s attacks, caused them to accidentally fuse into the Gem we know today as Garnet. Rose recognized something in the situation (“Wait! This is... hm?... Let's go.”), and as quickly and quietly as they arrived, they left the outpost. Rose, with Pearl loyally at her side, happened to run into Garnet later that very day. Though Garnet was fearful of the duo, Rose was quick to reassure the stranger, instantly showing warmth as she conveyed that she was glad they met again. Though we don’t know how Rose truly felt inside in solid words, we do know that she stated that her feelings in the situation didn’t matter; in a show of selflessness, she reaffirmed that what Garnet was feeling was far more important, validating the new fusion’s feelings. After Garnet explained that she was confused as to who she is, Rose jumped at the chance to hold her hands, telling her never to question her existence again, because her existence --love-- was the answer. Rose then welcomed her to Earth, and it’s assumed Garnet then joined the Crystal Gems, all thanks to defecting as well as Rose’s welcoming warmness.

A noted brilliant leader and remarkable tactician (by admission of her peer, Garnet, as well as a sworn enemy of her Crystal Gems, Jasper, respectively), Rose -with the help of her colleagues Pearl and Garnet- succeeded in winning the war against Homeworld, their rebellion securing the planet’s safety for 5,000 years. Over that time, they watched humanity grow from cave dwellers into the complex society we have in modern times, protecting the people of Earth from the residual threats left by the ancient, attempted colonization of their planet. These threats took the form of monsters, born from the fractured Gems in the war and -later on- from the Gems broken specifically for beta testing how to create the Cluster.

Along the way, they found Amethyst in one of the abandoned Kindergartens, adopting her into the Crystal Gems. At some point, they decided to reinvent the Temple as living quarters in what’s known today as Beach City. We also know that they experimented with Fusion (not as a lifestyle change, like Ruby and Sapphire) as early as the 1500s (we know thanks to the depiction of the four-way fusion in Steven’s play on how Beach City was settled by European explorers, co-written by Pearl to be historically accurate to include the Gems). We know the Gems traveled without the use of warp pads during that time thanks to a photo/painting of them in 1700s garb on a boat.

Over those many years before, during, and after the rebellion, Rose formed incredible bonds with the Crystal Gems, including a romantic one with Pearl (as revealed by one of the storyboard artists and writers). Though Rebecca Sugar has confirmed that Rose returned Pearl’s affections, Matt Burnett, one of the other writers, described their relationship as “complicated”, implying that something of import happened to have allowed Rose to seek a relationship with a human without being torn over her feelings for Pearl.

Speaking of relationships… enter the 1980’s. Greg Universe was a relatively unknown musician, trying to make his mark in a competitive music world. It just so happened one of his tour stops was in Beach City, not far from the Crystal Gem temple. Rose, stumbling across a grand beachside concert completely devoid of an audience, stopped to watch the young guitarist play and sing. They spoke briefly, but Rose --though she loved humans and found them novel-- didn’t stick around for long, heading home before Greg could really get a chance to speak more with her. It wasn’t terribly long after that Rose noticed a commotion at the temple, and stepped outside to find Garnet manhandling Greg, Pearl encouraging her to toss him back over the fence. As she spoke up and asked them to stop, she jumped over to Greg, landing with a soft touch onto the sand. Extending a hand to him, she helped him up as he held out a free t-shirt from the concert to her, of which she happily accepted. She wished him luck on his “train to the cosmos” as he left to continue his tour, laughing good-heartedly as Pearl jealously exclaimed she could sing too.

Shortly thereafter, she put on the t-shirt, signifying she liked the strange human and his gimmicks. However, his return to the temple to serenade her took her by surprise. Though she thought he was fun and she truly did want to play with him and enjoy his energy and personality, as a Gem and as someone who fought so hard for the planet, she knew his dreams and aspirations couldn’t be met if he didn’t make the most of his short life span. It would have been irresponsible and unfair for her to influence him away from that. Rose asked if he could leave so he could pursue what he wanted. Yet his answer took her by surprise yet again; he claimed he wanted her. Rose, though shocked and touched, was entirely amused and infatuated, and couldn’t help but laugh once again.

From there, the two began to date, though Rose didn’t initially take the relationship --or Greg-- seriously at all. She thought of it as a game, a novelty, which Greg began to suspect one night during band practice. Rose’s improvised lyrics betrayed that she found humans fun, and that she liked “playing along”. Pearl, jealous of the attention Greg was receiving after a long history with Rose, suggested to fuse, which Rose agreed to, again in the name of fun. Together, they fused into the being known as Rainbow Quartz. However, after the dance and after Rose kissed Greg goodbye, and left, Pearl conveys that Greg’s a novelty… which as he found out later, was true. In an attempt to fuse (inspired by Garnet), he set up an elaborate slow dance, to which he dipped Rose. She was obviously enamored with his show of affection… until he admitted he was trying to fuse. His admission was met with laughter. To Rose and the Crystal Gems, fusion was a show of moments perfect unity, of body and spirit, as intimate as can be. As far as she knew, humans weren’t capable of such a deep devotion and bond due to her misconceptions about humanity; their lives were precious, but short… how could they ever achieve and emotional deepness like Gems who live indefinitely? Of course she found his attempt to fuse silly and adorable and naive.

However, Greg felt the opposite. He yelled out of desperation, which shook Rose from her own ignorance. Surprised, she admitted she didn’t know that her behavior wasn’t appropriate, and that she wasn’t a “person”. In that moment, she realized she didn’t know how humans thought or really felt. That realization lead to a willingness to talk it out with Greg. She told him life seemed to move so fast on Earth (due to her not aging) and that it was better that he didn’t know all the details about her past (for his safety, out of her own shame, or both, we don’t know for sure). However, they both discovered they were new and unsure of what to do, bonding over their inexperience with interspecies relations, that discovery giving them cause to dance into the night.

Fast forward to the early 2000’s. Greg and Rose worked hard on their relationship, becoming a healthy couple. Though it’s assumed they didn’t marry, along the line, they decided to conceive a child. Rose shifted her form to have a functioning womb, allowing her otherwise shell of a body to harbor and sustain life. In time, she successfully became pregnant. One day, a very pregnant Rose and Greg went alone to the beach with a camcorder, recording a home video for Steven to one day watch. It’s her one opportunity to speak to Steven directly in an indirect form, letting him know how much she loves him and that she’ll always been with him as part of him. It also showed how much she learned to appreciate her time on Earth and the living creatures, exclaiming how wonderful the complex and the simple is; sometimes Earth life (insinuated to be human life) was both. And that made it all the more special. Her final farewell asked Steven to protect them, the life on planet Earth. In a twist of fate, in the Guide to the Crystal Gems, it was revealed she could have given birth to him and lived, but if she wanted Steven to inherit her gem (thus becoming a “fusion of love” that could be a bridge between humankind and Gemkind), she needed to give up her physical form and existence as herself. Steven otherwise would have been human alone.

This couldn’t have been an easy decision for Rose, much less Greg or the Crystal Gems. Though his birth was never held against him, the Gems and his dad have all conveyed how much they missed Rose and how lost they were without her. Yet Steven is proof of her finding love in the least likely place, proof that life is the most precious and valuable gift Rose could give both Earth and Gemkind. And at the end of the day, Rose’s legacy will always be that of learning and love, ever evolving.

Abilities/Special Powers:

Gem Abilities: These are abilities all Gems share.

Shape Shifting: Changing her physical form. Her ‘normal’ form, itself, is nothing but a very fancy, solid hologram. Thus, with some concentration, any Gem can alter it for short periods of time, and can turn into any creature or object. However, it’s “unhealthy” and straining to keep anything but their natural form for any extended period of time.

Weapon-Summoning: Similar to shape shifting, Gems have the ability to summon a weapon from their gemstone, unique to them, which is an extension of their superficial physical form. In Rose’s case, her weapon is a shield, decorated with a thorned vine and rose insignia. *She also wields a large saber, however, since it can survive independent of her form, we can assume it was forged for her, and not an extension of herself. Therefore, despite it being iconic and matching her shield, I won’t play her as being able to summon it until canon confirms any ability to do so.

Regeneration: When a Gem is badly damaged, they stop using their humanoid forms and retreat completely into their gemstone. This allows for faster healing from severe damage and full regeneration of their physical, humanoid forms.

Superhuman Strength/Durability: Though durability and strength varies depending on the type of Gem, gems can take a lot more damage than a squishy human. Though their weak spots are always their gemstones, they can handle getting hit hard. They can also lift, throw, and demolish objects many times their size due to their superhuman strength. The bigger the Gem, usually the stronger and more durable. In Rose Quartz case, we don’t know specifics, but she survived in the war on Homeworld even before the hard-hitting Garnet joined the team, which speaks volumes of this ability on top of her renowned battlefield prowess. Beyond that, it has been explained by Peridot that Quartz are remarkable warriors and are incredibly resilient.

Fusion: All Gems can fuse. Gems of the same kind (say 3 Rubies) fuse, they create one big Ruby, triple the strength of the originals. However, when Gems of different kinds (like Ruby and Sapphire) fuse together, they create a completely new being with a new personality, the originals both there and not at the same time. These fusions are always much stronger than the originals. It takes a lot of compatibility and desire to stay fused to keep the fusion formed, though if they wish to defuse, they can without any issue. If there’s internal discord, the fusion can be broken, even without the desire to defuse. The healthier the relationship, the more seamless the fusion (see: Garnet), and the more toxic the relationship of those fused, the more misshapen the fusion (see: Malachite). Thus far, the only fusion we’ve seen Rose Quartz enter is with Pearl to create Rainbow Quartz.

Individual Abilities: Unique to Rose!

Healing Tears: Rose cries tears that heal injuries and damage. It’s pretty straightforward.

Phytokinesis: She has the ability to grow flora; the sentient flora can act as her guardians if they so wish. Back on Earth, she had a magnificent garden of both normal and sentient flora.

Leaps and descent: It was recently confirmed in canon that Rose can leap super high at great speed (every day must be leg day), and can also control the speed of her fall, from a gentle, slow-moving float to a full on rampaging plummet to the earth.

Emotive-Electric Interference*: This is mostly here for being thorough, as we currently don’t know if this effect was used to showcase a power or if it was for dramatic, storytelling effect. “In "We Need to Talk", Rose appeared to be able to control Greg's radio based upon her emotion. For instance, when she was shocked, the music stopped,” (http://steven-universe.wikia.com/). I won’t be using this as one of her abilities unless canon makes it explicit that it wasn’t for dramatic effect, but it seems wise to disclose it just in case.

.
Third-Person Sample:

Rose Quartz found herself in the gardens more often than not. The irony of her name wasn’t lost on her, especially not with her impossibly green thumb --a strange human saying if she ever heard one, despite its accuracy. The gardens didn’t necessarily need tending to, but Rose couldn’t help herself. It felt right to nurture the flora there, adding onto its shape and diversity as her abilities and as the undoubtedly-magical landscape allowed. Rather, it felt right to nurture in general.

Wonderland seemed to have its share of heroes, some with powers, some without. As far as she could tell, it seemed peaceful enough to boot… or at least, it didn’t seem to need the kind of force Gems --especially a Quartz like herself-- could dish out. It left her a little speechless on the topic of what she felt her role should be, even within her own mind. Gardening seemed to be a natural solution, a placeholder as well as place filler for that uncertainty.

Rose walked over to a jasmine bush, and with a soft touch, willed it to grow strong and tall, to blossom and fill the air with a fresh, perfumed aroma. Unfortunately, the action wasn’t distracting enough, her mind immediately wandering back to the thought of what to do. Though she wouldn’t give up protecting or caring for the living in Wonderland (exactly as she would have on Earth), taking an active role seemed unnecessary. How strange, she pondered, that someplace so bizarre and holding so many people wouldn’t need the kind of attention Beach City needed? Granted, there were no Gem fragment monsters --which were too numerous to count-- that could run amok here. Bare feet nearly silent on the grass, she stepped away from her jasmine bush and looked it over.

Peaceful. Serene. Content. Cared for.

A thought crosses her mind, draping an ease over her and causing a small smile to pull at her lips. Maybe... instead of simple protection, she could strive to make Wonderland those things and offer the same to those who lived around her.

First-Person Sample:

I hope this question doesn’t sound alarming, but…

Has anyone seen a pink lion?

[It’s a strange question to ask, asked by a strange lady with hair so large, it must be holding thousands of secrets. Though as far as Rose is concerned, the only truly strange thing is using mirrors to communicate… mirrors that are in no way advanced technology ---she checked. How utterly bizarre for magic to be imbued in an inorganic and non-sentient object. Even for someone who has lived thousands of years and seen all kinds of odd things, this is extremely different and remarkably new. But Rose can’t dwell on that, no; she’s posing the question for good reason. Important reason. And as a mother, a necessary reason.]

I’m so sorry if the question is out of the blue, but I’m just trying to piece together a few things. [Namely, what happened since her existence was put on hold; the feline would have the ability to use his portals to show her Beach City. Going back to Beach City might cause a cosmic shift, and that’s a risk to Steven’s life she wouldn’t risk. All the same, Rose Quartz just wants to know is if her son is alive and well.]

And regardless of Lion, has anybody seen anyone going by the name of Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Greg… Or by any possible chance, Steven?

[Rose can’t yet overlook the possibility of him being here… or having been here.]