HANDWAVED CR AND MINGLE MEME
Has your character been here for a while now? Are you tired of meeting characters for the first time even though they've been actually sharing a class and/or work space for a month now? Well, here is the solution for you! The Handwaved CR Meme! Instead of stressing out trying to thread with every character you would reasonably encounter right off the bat, here is an opportunity to OOCly discuss and establish casual meetings and connections that have already happened but never had the time or need to be threaded out.
This is best used for things like characters sharing a class in the Coven, or working in the same location, or pursuing the same quests. Or maybe even being roomates! Anything where characters have been occupying the same space for the last while, but haven't had the opportunity to thread it out yet. Get those first building blocks of CR out of the way, and prepare yourself for more intense threading later.
THE RULES:
- I'm going to start off by posting some different subject headers, centered around common activities or locations I can think of. Beneath these headers, you can go ahead and post about what your character is generally doing there and the impression they may give off.
- Then, other people react! Reply to people who have posted with how your character would generally engage with their presence, and establish some nice, casual CR. Are you that loudmouth that won't stop talking over people in Evocation class? This is where people can tell you how you make them feel!
- Post your own subject headers! I'm just putting up what comes to mind, but if you have other subjects you'd like to mingle over, go ahead and make them a reality.
- These don't necessarily have to be first meetings, it can also be used to flesh out CR you've established elsewhere.
Coven Witch School : For witches (or tag along monsters) that have been learning magic with the coven. Specify classes, behaviours, routines, success with their studies, and whatever else their classmates might become familiar with.
Workplaces Around the City : Do you have a job? If so, tell us about what hours you work, your disposition with your coworkers or customers, or anything else people might see you doing while working around the city.
Questing Companions : Been doing quests? Give us a run down of what quests your character has been doing, and how they behave while doing them. Would they be accepting help from others doing the same thing? Have they been giving people pointers during flower arrangement classes? Let us know!
Haven Neighbors : Now that we're all sharing a neighbourhood together, you've probably been seen around the Haven. Do you interact with your neighbours at all? Have you done something terrible to your property? Is you lawn an eyesore? So you stay up late making noise that everyone living around you can hear? Establish some neighbourhood friends or enemies.
Making a Scene : Are YOU making a scene? This one is pretty general, but basically if your character has been doing anything worrying, obnoxious, or just highly visible in public places, and you want to make it known, tell everyone about it here. People can observe and have opinions about you. Or maybe they will even try to interfere.
PERMISSIONS (AEFENGLOM)
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
VISUAL: Steven is 4'4" tall and has an endomorphic body type, especially since he's still a kid. Despite being 15, he still looks like he is a pre-teen, because his half-gem heritage means he doesn't age as quickly or consistently as a regular human. His hair is dark brown and tightly curled, if you are wondering how to interpret it from its cartoony style. In Aefenglom, Steven is a Fae, so you can take a look at his current changes via the link.
FASHION: Lest he permanently wear out his only t-shirt and pair of jeans, Steven has taken to wearing casual clothing local to Aefenglom, mostly in the form of loose robes and shirts that can be modified to expose his back. When performing or just in the mood, he will create a variety of dazzlingly sparkly jumpsuits with his illusion magic. He has a strong appreciation for fanciness and beauty, meaning the opportunity to dress up will never be lost on him. He's as eager to wear a pretty dress as he is to wear a tuxedo, and will happily do both when given the opportunity.
DEMEANOUR: Steven is energetic and extroverted, meaning he tends to boldly throw himself into social engagements, even if he sometimes trips over his choice of words. He is quick to trust and to show affection to people who are kind to him, and so his interactions tend to display a casual physical closeness with other people. He is unafraid of femininity and ostensibly has no concept of gender stereotypes, meaning he comes across as generally gender nonconforming.
SOUND: Though he still sounds young, his voice has deepened a lot since a couple years ago. He's got a pretty great singing voice.
SCENT: Given that he is a fastidious person when it comes to bathing, he smells clean whenever he has access to the tools required to accomplish it. He probably smells like whatever shampoo he is using at the moment.
MENTAL INFORMATION: Steven is an empathetic and open person, so he's probably got the opposite of mental shielding. Reading his intentions is probably easy to anyone with the skill for it and he's terrible at lying. Due to being a Fae, though, he has innate immunity to illusions and overt mental enchantments.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: His body is half comprised of magical light energy, and he can't survive without it. It's what holds his biological body together. Upon arriving on Talam, his gem stopped properly supplying him with this energy, and over time it has had to refill itself with local magical power instead. Both as a Fae and as a Gem, Steven is closely tied to the magic of this world.
PREFERENCES
BACKTAGGING: I'll be upfront and say I'm not the best at this. I definitely try to finish important threads, but I am honestly not that interested in backtagging most things past a month or so. I find it hard to get excited about threads once they are so far in the past that the outcome can't meaningfully affect the present anymore. So, it's not that I refuse to backtag, I'm just definitely not a 'backtag forever' sort of person.
FOURTHWALLING: I'd mostly rather you didn't. There's not much to be gained.
PHYSICAL AFFECTION: I'm open to any kind of physical affection, as long as it's not something that's creepy to be doing to a little kid. If it is, please ask me before doing it. ICly Steven is open to pretty much any age-appropriate displays of affection, though he may be sort of confused if he doesn't know you. He'll still probably appreciate the sentiment, though!
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: You can feel free to attack or try to kill Steven, he's used to it. When it comes to actual injuries, I'm generally not going to be interested in having him actually die or get maimed unless there's a really good reason.
RELATIONSHIPS: I'm open to shipping with characters in his age range (12-15 mostly) but nothing too serious. Steven has no interest in sexuality but he does love romance, so odds are anything with him is just going to be silly crushes and hand holding. He looks younger than he is due to his species, so I'm not gunna have him do anything that would be inappropriate for a pre-teen.
CODED BY BOOTYCALL
VISUAL: Steven is 4'4" tall and has an endomorphic body type, especially since he's still a kid. Despite being 15, he still looks like he is a pre-teen, because his half-gem heritage means he doesn't age as quickly or consistently as a regular human. His hair is dark brown and tightly curled, if you are wondering how to interpret it from its cartoony style. In Aefenglom, Steven is a Fae, so you can take a look at his current changes via the link.
FASHION: Lest he permanently wear out his only t-shirt and pair of jeans, Steven has taken to wearing casual clothing local to Aefenglom, mostly in the form of loose robes and shirts that can be modified to expose his back. When performing or just in the mood, he will create a variety of dazzlingly sparkly jumpsuits with his illusion magic. He has a strong appreciation for fanciness and beauty, meaning the opportunity to dress up will never be lost on him. He's as eager to wear a pretty dress as he is to wear a tuxedo, and will happily do both when given the opportunity.
DEMEANOUR: Steven is energetic and extroverted, meaning he tends to boldly throw himself into social engagements, even if he sometimes trips over his choice of words. He is quick to trust and to show affection to people who are kind to him, and so his interactions tend to display a casual physical closeness with other people. He is unafraid of femininity and ostensibly has no concept of gender stereotypes, meaning he comes across as generally gender nonconforming.
SOUND: Though he still sounds young, his voice has deepened a lot since a couple years ago. He's got a pretty great singing voice.
SCENT: Given that he is a fastidious person when it comes to bathing, he smells clean whenever he has access to the tools required to accomplish it. He probably smells like whatever shampoo he is using at the moment.
MENTAL INFORMATION: Steven is an empathetic and open person, so he's probably got the opposite of mental shielding. Reading his intentions is probably easy to anyone with the skill for it and he's terrible at lying. Due to being a Fae, though, he has innate immunity to illusions and overt mental enchantments.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: His body is half comprised of magical light energy, and he can't survive without it. It's what holds his biological body together. Upon arriving on Talam, his gem stopped properly supplying him with this energy, and over time it has had to refill itself with local magical power instead. Both as a Fae and as a Gem, Steven is closely tied to the magic of this world.
PREFERENCES
BACKTAGGING: I'll be upfront and say I'm not the best at this. I definitely try to finish important threads, but I am honestly not that interested in backtagging most things past a month or so. I find it hard to get excited about threads once they are so far in the past that the outcome can't meaningfully affect the present anymore. So, it's not that I refuse to backtag, I'm just definitely not a 'backtag forever' sort of person.
FOURTHWALLING: I'd mostly rather you didn't. There's not much to be gained.
PHYSICAL AFFECTION: I'm open to any kind of physical affection, as long as it's not something that's creepy to be doing to a little kid. If it is, please ask me before doing it. ICly Steven is open to pretty much any age-appropriate displays of affection, though he may be sort of confused if he doesn't know you. He'll still probably appreciate the sentiment, though!
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: You can feel free to attack or try to kill Steven, he's used to it. When it comes to actual injuries, I'm generally not going to be interested in having him actually die or get maimed unless there's a really good reason.
RELATIONSHIPS: I'm open to shipping with characters in his age range (12-15 mostly) but nothing too serious. Steven has no interest in sexuality but he does love romance, so odds are anything with him is just going to be silly crushes and hand holding. He looks younger than he is due to his species, so I'm not gunna have him do anything that would be inappropriate for a pre-teen.
CR CHART
RELATIONSHIPS
CODED BY BOOTYCALL
★ (Friendly) | ❖ (Homeworld) | ☁ (Unsure) | ⚔️ (Conflict) | ♬ (Bandmates) |
✨ (Witch) | 🌙 (Monster) | ❤️ (Close) | 💖 (Bonded) | 💔 (Enemy) |
PERIDOT ★ ❖ 💖 🌙 Peridot is one of Steven's closest friends from home, and also one of the few Crystal Gems that could be considered unarguably his peer. They met on equal terms, first as enemies and then as allies, and Peridot's place in Gem culture means that she's never thought of him as either someone who needs to be cared for or as someone to be revered. He's very happy to have her here with him, as her presence has a way of keeping him grounded. They share a house in the Haven. |
LEX ★ ❤️ 🌙 Steven first meet Lex in the Coven's medical wing, because he was suffering from Gem magic withdrawal and she had been irradiated while securing safe drinking water for thousands of people. Ever since hearing that, he's considered her a hero - an opinion which was only strengthened when she saved him from being devoured by a giant spider. They live together in the Haven, after he invited her in an effort to keep her off the streets, though she is somewhat reluctant to live in the city after years wandering the post-apocalyptic landscape on her own. |
TOBY HAMEE ★ 💖 ✨ Steven and Toby first met in a dream, and after forging some common ground due to their alien ancestry, it wasn't long before the idea of Bonding came up. Though mostly a practical offer on Toby's part, Steven suggested they hang out and get to know each other first, and they are now happily Bonded. Toby is very pragmatic and realistic to the point of pessimism, which Steven finds intimidating but respectable, especially with the horrifying situation her species is in back home. She also lives outside of the city and hates the urban landscape, which means they are fairly independant as Bonded go. |
YAKO KATSURAGI ★ ✨ Steven met Yako soon after arriving in Aefenglom, and ever since they have been sharing information with each other and helping out with various investigative tasks. Yako is the sort of person that Steven finds very easy to get along with - she loves food, and has similar inclinations when it comes to empathetic interactions with others. Yako is a friendly face that he's always happy to see. |
YUYA SAKAKI ★ ☁ ✨ Steven has only known Yuya for a short period of time, but a crazy amount of stuff has already been crammed into it. All in the first month of knowing him, he had met Yuya in a dream, had him come out to a Speed Dating event, kidnapped him during a Full Moon fueled faerie rampage, and had Yuya die trying to save him during the first Dorchacht dream not long after. Suffice to say, this relationship has been all over the place, and Steven is equal parts humiliated and taken by Yuya's ostensible patience and kindness. He'd love to become good friends, but he can't help but feel he's made a really weird first impression. |
ELLIOT CRAIG ★ ♬ ✨ Another Mirrorbound musician, Elliot is someone Steven has seen around quite a bit in the performance scene. He's volunteered to help Steven put on musical events, and has been supportive and helpful since back in the days where Steven spent most of his time busking on the street. Not only that, Elliot is also a very down to earth and level-minded friend who has helped talk him out of some bad emotional funks. Steven has a lot of respect for Elliot as a person and a musician. |
DAENERYS STORMBORN ★ ☁ 🌙 Apparently some kind of epic warrior queen and liberator of civilization back home, with actual dragons for children. It's hard not to be impressed with her, and Steven's interest is only amplified by the vulnerability and humanity he's seen from her in private moments. Of course, she is also very forceful and opinionated, and it sounds like war and bloodshed is something she is plainly used to from her home life. Steven isn't sure she'd have much patience for his political strategies, and doesn't know what to expect from her at her peak, but he's eager to try to help her through these difficult situations regardless. |
ENTRAPTA ★ 🌙 Definitely some kind of mad scientist, but a friendly one! Entrapta helped him run a Speed Dating event at one point by building a jury rigged printing press, and he's been rather in awe of her capabilities ever since. She's very weird, but seems like she's trying to be respective of other people, in a way that reminds him a lot of Peridot. Because of that, he's been inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt, and feels comfortable going to her for her tech savvy. He's also fine with giving her his shed monster parts, which she is almost eerily enthusiatic about. |
HICCUP HADDOCK III ★ ✨ Hiccup is basically the coolest dude. He has an adorable dragon partner named Toothless, is a viking, and is also an incredibly capable blacksmith and engineer. Steven hasn't spent a massive amount of time around him, but has a glowingly positive opinion regardless. Hiccup is definitely stupid baby crush material. |
GAME INFO
HOUSING

ROOMATES
EMPLOYMENT
CODED BY BOOTYCALL

STEVEN'S ROOM
ROOMATES
EMPLOYMENT
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WILDER (Employer: The Coven) With his partner Toby, Steven has been granted approval for Wilder missions. How often this comes up really depends on the month and what kind of missions are available. |
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PERFORMER (Employer: The Little Melody) Steven has been developing a reputation as a musical performer and illusion specialist, creating fantastical imagery to match his songs. The Little Melody is supporting some of his personal performances, and he also aids other musicians with lighting and magical 'special effects'. |
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MAINTENANCE (Employer: The Little Melody) When there isn't enough performance work to do, Steven has also taken to performing maintenance tasks about the music hall, for payment and favors. It may be a bit undignified, but it has certainly helped to put him on the good side of the people in charge. |
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BUSKER (Employer: Self Employed) In between all of that, Steven still performs smaller version of his acts in public for donations. Since working with the Little Melody this has gained the secondary purpose of advertising for his larger acts and also the music hall itself. |
FAERIE FORM (as of August 14th, 2019)
MONSTER FEATURES

★ Pale pink, yellow, blue and white scales that glitter and come off as a powder when touched. These cover his wings, back, and portions of his carapace.
span style="font-family: sans-serif; color: yellow; font-weight: bold; font-size: 15px;">★ Currently covers his wings, back, shoulders, and hips, arranged in stripe-like patterns.
★ Fully grown white, pink, yellow and blue spiny flower mantis-style wings.
★ Can carry his own weight with relative ease, as well as the weight of another person or other significant burden for a lesser period of time.
★ Sections of skin have fully transformed into a layer of white carapace. They provide plate metal armor level defense.
★ Currently most pronounced around forearms, thighs, shins, and down his spine.
★ Long antenna grow from his brow, currently about 10 inches long with an crown-like carapace definine their base.
★ His sclera have become slightly pinkish, and his irises brighter in hue.
★ After his most recent molt, he's discovered carapace-covered lumps running along the base of his ribs and towards his shoulder blades. They currently don't get in the way, but they feel a bit weird. After another molt, they have increased in size and become more defined.
TRANSFORMATIONS
BLESSINGS & CURSES
CODED BY BOOTYCALL

GLITTER SCALES (100%)
★ Pale pink, yellow, blue and white scales that glitter and come off as a powder when touched. These cover his wings, back, and portions of his carapace.
span style="font-family: sans-serif; color: yellow; font-weight: bold; font-size: 15px;">★ Currently covers his wings, back, shoulders, and hips, arranged in stripe-like patterns.
WINGS (100%)
★ Fully grown white, pink, yellow and blue spiny flower mantis-style wings.
★ Can carry his own weight with relative ease, as well as the weight of another person or other significant burden for a lesser period of time.
CARAPACE (80%)
★ Sections of skin have fully transformed into a layer of white carapace. They provide plate metal armor level defense.
★ Currently most pronounced around forearms, thighs, shins, and down his spine.
ANTENNAE (90%)
★ Long antenna grow from his brow, currently about 10 inches long with an crown-like carapace definine their base.
ENLARGED EYES (30%)
★ His sclera have become slightly pinkish, and his irises brighter in hue.
EXTRA ARMS (30%)
★ After his most recent molt, he's discovered carapace-covered lumps running along the base of his ribs and towards his shoulder blades. They currently don't get in the way, but they feel a bit weird. After another molt, they have increased in size and become more defined.
TRANSFORMATIONS
MAY
★ Skin itches and starts flaking where scales are coming in. ★ Skin begins slightly thickening where carapace will form. ★ Two small "pimple" bumps grow where antennae will be. |
JUNE
★ Glittery scales thicken and covers back, shoulders, and hips in stripe patterns. ★ Carapace patches pale in skin tone and become harder. ★ Antennae begin to sprout, growing a couple inches long. ★ His illusion powers manifest for the first time, used to conceal his presence from a giant spider. |
FULL MOON ★ Scales begin appearing fully, becoming sparkly and coming off as powder. ★ Antennae start emerging from bumps for the first time. ♦ Steven spends the first month without any powers, and is only completely certain he's a monster as of the full moon. He's not particularly happy about it. |
FULL MOON ★ Wings emerge during molting, at about 50% of their potential size. Steven discovers he can fly for brief periods of time. ★ Carapace patches become completely smooth, white, and shimmery in light. The defense they offer is increased to something approaching leather armor. ★ Antennae grow to about 5 inches long, deepening into a pink color. ♦ Steven gains these changes after molting off a full layer of chrysalis-like skin. When he wakes up on the full moon, his faerie urges manifest in earnest for the first time. His illusion abilities become more focused and potent, enhanced by the moons. |
JULY
★ Wings gradually increase in size and strength. ★ Antennae continue growing in length. ★ Steven practices flying and using his illusion at the Little Melody music hall, increasing his skill with both. |
AUGUST
★ His glitter scales finish growing in, completing their pattern. ★ Carapace gradually hardens to something like plate armor. ★ Eyes turn a brighter pink and iris size increases slightly. |
FULL MOON ★ Hardened patches of skin become durable white carapace. ★ Wings increase significantly in size. ★ Lumps have formed around the base of his ribs, covered in segmented carapace. ♦ Steven sheds another skin at the beginning of the full moon, much like before. After his recent bond with Toby, though, he manages to keep his head together better this time. |
FULL MOON ★ The lumps of carapace around his ribs become larger and more arm shaped. ★ His wings and antennae reach full size. ★ Skin left over from molts has the quality of diamonds, with shining effect. It's a bizarre crystalline-organic hybrid material. ★ Steven creates and bestows his first Fae Blessing to Toby in exchange for a birthday present. ♦ Molting is apparently a monthly thing now. ♦ Steven's birthday falls on the Full Moon, and that and the emotional stress of missing his family causes him to succumb to faerie mania and go out to trap people in his house via illusions. It's a party! |
BLESSINGS & CURSES
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PENDANT OF DEFTNESS (Given to: Toby Hamee) Gives its wearer additional dexterity and cunning when it comes to actions that require fine movements. The wearer is less likely to make mistakes while crafting or performing other careful work with their hands. |
AEFENGLOM APP
Player Information
Name: Quix
Age: 29
Contact:
quixocalypse
Other Characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Steven Universe
Canon: Steven Universe
Canon Point: After 'Change Your Mind'
Age: 14 and three quarters, with approval from the mods. (He does look young for his age due to his gem biology.)
History: Here and a full timeline here.
Personality: Steven has come a long way in a very short amount of time. When he was just two years younger, he was naive to a fault, and so recklessly enthusiastic about pursuing his destiny as one of the Crystal Gems that he was prone to accidentally endangering himself by plunging ahead a bit too excitedly. He felt left out by the rest of the group due to his lack of real gem powers, and by the fact that they frequently left him behind out of a desire to protect him until he had more experience. He has always been a thoughtful and kind child, but his youthful exuberance frequently blinded him to the feeling of others, not realizing that they were being made uncomfortable until he was told.
Two years of training, lethal danger, and heartbreak have refined that kindness into something far more compassionate and enduring than it ever had been before. He's grown in strength rapidly, and along with it he's developed an extremely dedicated sense of responsibility - arguably too much of it, for a child his age. Steven tends to place everyone else's feelings before his own, because his own sense of empathy makes it impossible for him to ignore when someone else is in pain. He wants to help everyone he meets if he can, whether they be friend or enemy, and the conflict inherent in his situation has been wearing on him more and more as the months pass by. He finds it difficult to think about his own feelings, and particularly his own problems. He doesn't want to dwell in his sadness because he's the kind of kid who's always been naturally cheerful, and after a series of bad luck and mistakes the stress in his life has become literally more than he can deal with, resulting in him suppressing it out of the desire to remain strong for everyone else.
He dislikes conflict, and though he's learned to become more assertive with time, his inclination is still to avoid it whenever possible. This is why he tries to pacify people first and foremost without thinking about the impact of their actions on his own emotional well being, and considers his inability to help people a personal failure, even if they are actively fighting against him. In his own words he says he "believes in everyone", and though his faith has been tested, he's never lost it entirely. He recently wrote a song called "Still Not Giving Up" in an attempt to approach his most hard to deal with feelings, and that phrase is an excellent summary of his approach towards his own struggle. He's been hurt a lot over time, but he keeps pushing forward regardless, and always with the best intentions.
Outside of the struggles brought on by recent years, his childhood was a good one. He has a caring and wise father, and three mentors that he considers his family, all of which who love him very much. He's a person who naturally has a great deal of light in them - he's always joking and laughing and trying to allow himself and others to have fun despite the trouble that might come their way. He's naturally artistic and a prodigy musician, and has a wide variety of talents and interests that he actively explores. Steven knows what love is because he's been given it, and he does everything he can to spread that warmth to others, whether or not they try to hurt him in return.
One of the biggest emotional struggles in his life has been him understanding and coping with the legacy his mother left behind for him. Given that she was very important and well loved to the rest of the family, and that she gave up her life to create him, it created a difficult precedent from the day he was born - for the longest time, his loved ones would compare him to her, and see signs of her in his actions. Given that the gemstone that was her body has become a part of him, he's honestly been forced to wonder whether he is really her, and whether his identity as Steven is an illusion meant to hide her from the mistakes and pain she wanted to leave behind. Not many people can relate to the struggle of possibly being your own mom, but it's something that has haunted Steven for years.
With time, however, he has started to find answers to these existential questions. Through many tense emotional trials, his family has come to see him as his own person. Though White Diamond, his most daunting antagonist, tried to convince him that he was nothing more than a disguise for his mother to hide behind, it was finally revealed that his gem, when separated from his body, was still just him. Two halves of the same person. The realization that his mother is gone forever, and has been since he was born, is oddly enough an affirming one, and a real game changer for him psychologically. At the canon point I am using, he has just recently had this revelation, and the confirmation that he really just was himself all along. To a kid who has been constantly compared and mistaken for his mother his entire life, this is a key piece of validation that will grant him new confidence and self esteem in days to come.
Self love has been a hard win for Steven, but towards the end of Season Five, he has shown that he is beginning to respect himself for who he really is: just Steven.
Abilities & Skills: Steven has a lot of canon powers going on, so this list is a bit long:
SHIELD SUMMON: One of his most signature moves, Steven can summon a magical shield from his gem that seems capable of blocking most forms of damage. It can also be used as a thrown weapon, Captain America style. Steven can summon his shield as big or as small as he needs to, and can also summon multiple shields at a time. When a magical attack hits the shield’s surface, there’s a chance that it will destabilize or nullifying the spell. The shield tends to dissipate if Steven is stunned or too exhausted to keep it going.
DEFENSE BUBBLE: Steven can summon a pink bubble barrier to surround himself and others. It offers better coverage than his shield, but it’s also less enduring. While at its best it can defend against a spaceship crash from orbit, it is also frequently stomped to the point of popping/breaking by various monsters. He can purposefully explode the bubble outward to knock back enemies, as well as make the exterior of the bubble spiky and inflict damage with it.
HEALING/RESURRECTION: Steven’s saliva/tears/sweat/body fluids have healing properties that work on both humans and gems, as well as inanimate objects. It will magically repair things that are damaged. In the past it’s been used to heal broken bones, ripped teddy bears, as well as genetic ailments like Connie’s nearsightedness. It does have its limits, though, and can’t fully repair things that are too extensively damaged. Additionally, his tears have been shown to be capable of resurrecting a biological body that has recently died with renewed health and some inorganic/magical physical characteristics (like a magic zombie), but this has only happened once within canon and he can't do that on call.
IMBUING LIFE: Rose Quartz was said to have been able to grow plant warriors to defend her in combat, as well as grow magical, moving defense vines and the like. Steven's main usage of this has been to grow an entire garden's worth of essentially sapient watermelon people (by accident) which seemed instinctively inclined to protect him. After he scolded them all for being violent, they left into the ocean. Months later they were discovered on a remote island, apparently having developed their own functioning community complete with agriculture and family structures. The average watermelon person only lives for a couple weeks. In much more recent canon, however, it's been shown his fluids can also give life to small rocks. He can use this power consciously by putting any body fluid on seeds before planting them, though it's usually spit.
PHYSICALLY ENHANCED: After lots of training with his gem powers, Steven has become inhumanly strong, fast, and durable. This isn’t anywhere near Superman levels, to be clear – it’s more like he runs faster than most humans could, and can survive getting smashed through a rock wall, at the cost of being worn out. Strength wise he can lift a lot for someone his size, like an entire trunk of heavy musical equipment by himself, or a tall stack of boulders. Theoretically, he can throw a pretty brutal punch, but his combat style is inherently defensive so he rarely exploits his strength offensively.
DEFYING GRAVITY: Steven can jump super high, and then control the rate of his descent. This basically means he can moon jump up into the sky and float there for as long as he wants. Carrying extra weight doesn’t do anything to affect his float time, either. He can only use this power float/walk on air, and cannot fly in a more traditional sense.
SHAPESHIFTING: Full gems are capable of shapeshifting into just about anything, though it can take a lot of energy and they are only capable of holding it for a limited time. Steven can mostly just make his limbs get longer or shorter at this point – most of his experiences with shapeshifting have been somewhat traumatic and so he rarely does it. His first experience involved accidentally transforming himself into a mutant pile of cats, accidentally rapidly aging himself into an old man, and expending so much energy trying to pretend he was older that he ended up involuntarily turning back into a baby for a while. It is definitely not his strong suit and almost always goes badly for him.
FUSION DANCE: All gems are capable of fusing with one another in order to create an entirely new being that combines their emotional and physical traits. Fusions are more powerful than just the sum of their parts, and frequently end up with new abilities and personality traits based on the relationship of the the gems forming them. Steven’s half human heritage means that he’s also capable of fusing with humans, which he has with his friend Connie on several occasions.
ASTRAL PROJECTION: Steven can leave his body and travel into the minds of other beings, especially while they are sleeping, with two potential results - 1) he can potentially possess the being's body with his consciousness, or 2) he can interact with the being's dreams in a lucid manner, bending the dream reality with willpower and interacting with the dreamer. He's only possessed someone this way once and doesn't want to again for ethical reasons. His own body is left vulnerable/comatose while he does this. If he astral projects around people that are awake, he can get close to their 'consciousnesses' (represented in a non-literal psychic landscape) and speak to them like an invisible ghost via two-way empathy and telepathy. The target seems to feel him as an unseen 'presence.'
RECEPTIVE EMPATHY: Steven's empathic abilities are honestly pretty vague, but it's been said that his powers "help him to connect to people". In a few cases Steven has said that he can feel the emotions coming from another gem, and this is also implied to be how he can access Pink Diamond's memories from his gem/why he is so receptive to Blue Diamond's projective empathy powers. It's impact on his daily life seems fairly minimal, though, so it can generally be assumed he's not suffering a constant deluge of loud emotions from the people that surround him, and he's never overtly used it to determine someone's hidden intentions or anything like that. So, I take this to mean that he has strong emotional intuition and is supernaturally receptive to psychic projection, rather than anything approaching telepathy.
MISC GEM STUFF: Gems can all do a variety of minor magical things, that mostly seem to involve interacting with gem technology. They can "bubble" objects and teleport them back to whenever they consider to be their home. They can interact with gem-built warp pads. A full gem is capable of putting their bodies back together after it is destroyed, provided that their gem is still intact. It is not yet clear if Steven can recover in this manner, due to his human heritage, but probably not. There is evidence that lack of immediate needs like air will put him into a coma until his organic parts can function again, instead of outright killing him.
MUSICAL PRODIGY: This is the main ability here that isn't overtly a super power. Steven has "perfect pitch", in that he can tell what musical note sounds are just from hearing them once or twice. (He could determine what 'note' a power drill sound was just from listening.) He can also play pretty much any instrument he's ever picked up skillfully. At the very least, that includes guitar (acoustic and electric style), bass guitar, ukelele, piano, and drums. He's also pretty damn good at improvising music, both lyrically and from a composition standpoint. He can also dance, sing, and act, making him a full triple threat - though the acting is more in line with his actual age. (He's a bit melodramatic.)
COMBAT TRAINING: Steven has been trained to fight with his shield by his mentor Pearl. So, generally speaking, he has a good grasp on fighting as part of a team, can aim his attacks well, etc. He's not exactly a kung-fu master, but he's competent.
Inventory/Companions:
- (1) PINK LION: 'Lion' is an adult male lion who is pink. Normally he has a bunch of super powers, including a hammerspace portal in his mane, the ability to create teleportation portals, and the ability to walk on water, but I'm assuming that junk will be nerfed. He does have two powers that sound like they may be appropriate to keep, based on the FAQ answers I've seen: one would be a sonic attack he does by essentially just roaring really loud, but to a lesser degree than in the show. The other would be the fact that he doesn't have to eat very often and is long lived, due to the fact that his biology runs at a fraction of what is normal. This happened when he died and was brought back to life by gem powers as what is vaguely like a pink zombie. (The same resurrection power described in Steven's abilities above.)
- (1) UKULELE: It's just a ukulele.
- (1) CELL PHONE: A cell phone with about 60% charge. He may look for some method of charging it, but mostly so that he can look at his photos/play his MP3s.
Choice: Monster (Fae)
Reason: Steven's mother, Rose Quartz, has always had an ethereal quality about her - she showed up on Earth and timelessly spent thousands of years enjoying what it had to offer, but always in a distant and sort of alien way. She saw humans as cute little playmates to be loved and protected, but not as equals to be respected, and it was only late in her life that she finally started to see them as more. She fell in love with a human man, and gave birth to a half human child, before disappearing forever.
All of this has always had a very 'changeling child' sort of feel to me, like Rose Quartz could easily have been a benevolent fae that left a faerie child behind. Rose's life was one of deceptions and facades, and much of Steven's life has been spent unpacking that, which I feel ties in thematically with the fae connection to illusions. Even more directly, the gem side of Steven's heritage is arranged into four Courts in a way reminiscent of faerie myth, and also have a history of kidnapping and imprisoning humans. Overall gems themselves can give off a bit of a faerie vibe in some ways, so when it comes to translating his story into fantasy, fae have always stuck out as an appropriate mythos to go with.
Give Steven's honest nature and history of searching for truth, it seems like an interesting challenge for him to deal with those fae instincts, as well. It both fits him and challenges him in a way I think could make for some great writing material. Not to mention, as a character who very rarely asks for anything in return for his time and effort, having an instinct to call in debts would be really weird for him.
Most importantly, accidentally shedding glitter on people and things is the most Steven aesthetic thing I can think of.
Sample:
A PSL with Yellow Diamond
With Shigeo on the TDM
Name: Quix
Age: 29
Contact:
Other Characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Steven Universe
Canon: Steven Universe
Canon Point: After 'Change Your Mind'
Age: 14 and three quarters, with approval from the mods. (He does look young for his age due to his gem biology.)
History: Here and a full timeline here.
Personality: Steven has come a long way in a very short amount of time. When he was just two years younger, he was naive to a fault, and so recklessly enthusiastic about pursuing his destiny as one of the Crystal Gems that he was prone to accidentally endangering himself by plunging ahead a bit too excitedly. He felt left out by the rest of the group due to his lack of real gem powers, and by the fact that they frequently left him behind out of a desire to protect him until he had more experience. He has always been a thoughtful and kind child, but his youthful exuberance frequently blinded him to the feeling of others, not realizing that they were being made uncomfortable until he was told.
Two years of training, lethal danger, and heartbreak have refined that kindness into something far more compassionate and enduring than it ever had been before. He's grown in strength rapidly, and along with it he's developed an extremely dedicated sense of responsibility - arguably too much of it, for a child his age. Steven tends to place everyone else's feelings before his own, because his own sense of empathy makes it impossible for him to ignore when someone else is in pain. He wants to help everyone he meets if he can, whether they be friend or enemy, and the conflict inherent in his situation has been wearing on him more and more as the months pass by. He finds it difficult to think about his own feelings, and particularly his own problems. He doesn't want to dwell in his sadness because he's the kind of kid who's always been naturally cheerful, and after a series of bad luck and mistakes the stress in his life has become literally more than he can deal with, resulting in him suppressing it out of the desire to remain strong for everyone else.
He dislikes conflict, and though he's learned to become more assertive with time, his inclination is still to avoid it whenever possible. This is why he tries to pacify people first and foremost without thinking about the impact of their actions on his own emotional well being, and considers his inability to help people a personal failure, even if they are actively fighting against him. In his own words he says he "believes in everyone", and though his faith has been tested, he's never lost it entirely. He recently wrote a song called "Still Not Giving Up" in an attempt to approach his most hard to deal with feelings, and that phrase is an excellent summary of his approach towards his own struggle. He's been hurt a lot over time, but he keeps pushing forward regardless, and always with the best intentions.
Outside of the struggles brought on by recent years, his childhood was a good one. He has a caring and wise father, and three mentors that he considers his family, all of which who love him very much. He's a person who naturally has a great deal of light in them - he's always joking and laughing and trying to allow himself and others to have fun despite the trouble that might come their way. He's naturally artistic and a prodigy musician, and has a wide variety of talents and interests that he actively explores. Steven knows what love is because he's been given it, and he does everything he can to spread that warmth to others, whether or not they try to hurt him in return.
One of the biggest emotional struggles in his life has been him understanding and coping with the legacy his mother left behind for him. Given that she was very important and well loved to the rest of the family, and that she gave up her life to create him, it created a difficult precedent from the day he was born - for the longest time, his loved ones would compare him to her, and see signs of her in his actions. Given that the gemstone that was her body has become a part of him, he's honestly been forced to wonder whether he is really her, and whether his identity as Steven is an illusion meant to hide her from the mistakes and pain she wanted to leave behind. Not many people can relate to the struggle of possibly being your own mom, but it's something that has haunted Steven for years.
With time, however, he has started to find answers to these existential questions. Through many tense emotional trials, his family has come to see him as his own person. Though White Diamond, his most daunting antagonist, tried to convince him that he was nothing more than a disguise for his mother to hide behind, it was finally revealed that his gem, when separated from his body, was still just him. Two halves of the same person. The realization that his mother is gone forever, and has been since he was born, is oddly enough an affirming one, and a real game changer for him psychologically. At the canon point I am using, he has just recently had this revelation, and the confirmation that he really just was himself all along. To a kid who has been constantly compared and mistaken for his mother his entire life, this is a key piece of validation that will grant him new confidence and self esteem in days to come.
Self love has been a hard win for Steven, but towards the end of Season Five, he has shown that he is beginning to respect himself for who he really is: just Steven.
Abilities & Skills: Steven has a lot of canon powers going on, so this list is a bit long:
SHIELD SUMMON: One of his most signature moves, Steven can summon a magical shield from his gem that seems capable of blocking most forms of damage. It can also be used as a thrown weapon, Captain America style. Steven can summon his shield as big or as small as he needs to, and can also summon multiple shields at a time. When a magical attack hits the shield’s surface, there’s a chance that it will destabilize or nullifying the spell. The shield tends to dissipate if Steven is stunned or too exhausted to keep it going.
DEFENSE BUBBLE: Steven can summon a pink bubble barrier to surround himself and others. It offers better coverage than his shield, but it’s also less enduring. While at its best it can defend against a spaceship crash from orbit, it is also frequently stomped to the point of popping/breaking by various monsters. He can purposefully explode the bubble outward to knock back enemies, as well as make the exterior of the bubble spiky and inflict damage with it.
HEALING/RESURRECTION: Steven’s saliva/tears/sweat/body fluids have healing properties that work on both humans and gems, as well as inanimate objects. It will magically repair things that are damaged. In the past it’s been used to heal broken bones, ripped teddy bears, as well as genetic ailments like Connie’s nearsightedness. It does have its limits, though, and can’t fully repair things that are too extensively damaged. Additionally, his tears have been shown to be capable of resurrecting a biological body that has recently died with renewed health and some inorganic/magical physical characteristics (like a magic zombie), but this has only happened once within canon and he can't do that on call.
IMBUING LIFE: Rose Quartz was said to have been able to grow plant warriors to defend her in combat, as well as grow magical, moving defense vines and the like. Steven's main usage of this has been to grow an entire garden's worth of essentially sapient watermelon people (by accident) which seemed instinctively inclined to protect him. After he scolded them all for being violent, they left into the ocean. Months later they were discovered on a remote island, apparently having developed their own functioning community complete with agriculture and family structures. The average watermelon person only lives for a couple weeks. In much more recent canon, however, it's been shown his fluids can also give life to small rocks. He can use this power consciously by putting any body fluid on seeds before planting them, though it's usually spit.
PHYSICALLY ENHANCED: After lots of training with his gem powers, Steven has become inhumanly strong, fast, and durable. This isn’t anywhere near Superman levels, to be clear – it’s more like he runs faster than most humans could, and can survive getting smashed through a rock wall, at the cost of being worn out. Strength wise he can lift a lot for someone his size, like an entire trunk of heavy musical equipment by himself, or a tall stack of boulders. Theoretically, he can throw a pretty brutal punch, but his combat style is inherently defensive so he rarely exploits his strength offensively.
DEFYING GRAVITY: Steven can jump super high, and then control the rate of his descent. This basically means he can moon jump up into the sky and float there for as long as he wants. Carrying extra weight doesn’t do anything to affect his float time, either. He can only use this power float/walk on air, and cannot fly in a more traditional sense.
SHAPESHIFTING: Full gems are capable of shapeshifting into just about anything, though it can take a lot of energy and they are only capable of holding it for a limited time. Steven can mostly just make his limbs get longer or shorter at this point – most of his experiences with shapeshifting have been somewhat traumatic and so he rarely does it. His first experience involved accidentally transforming himself into a mutant pile of cats, accidentally rapidly aging himself into an old man, and expending so much energy trying to pretend he was older that he ended up involuntarily turning back into a baby for a while. It is definitely not his strong suit and almost always goes badly for him.
FUSION DANCE: All gems are capable of fusing with one another in order to create an entirely new being that combines their emotional and physical traits. Fusions are more powerful than just the sum of their parts, and frequently end up with new abilities and personality traits based on the relationship of the the gems forming them. Steven’s half human heritage means that he’s also capable of fusing with humans, which he has with his friend Connie on several occasions.
ASTRAL PROJECTION: Steven can leave his body and travel into the minds of other beings, especially while they are sleeping, with two potential results - 1) he can potentially possess the being's body with his consciousness, or 2) he can interact with the being's dreams in a lucid manner, bending the dream reality with willpower and interacting with the dreamer. He's only possessed someone this way once and doesn't want to again for ethical reasons. His own body is left vulnerable/comatose while he does this. If he astral projects around people that are awake, he can get close to their 'consciousnesses' (represented in a non-literal psychic landscape) and speak to them like an invisible ghost via two-way empathy and telepathy. The target seems to feel him as an unseen 'presence.'
RECEPTIVE EMPATHY: Steven's empathic abilities are honestly pretty vague, but it's been said that his powers "help him to connect to people". In a few cases Steven has said that he can feel the emotions coming from another gem, and this is also implied to be how he can access Pink Diamond's memories from his gem/why he is so receptive to Blue Diamond's projective empathy powers. It's impact on his daily life seems fairly minimal, though, so it can generally be assumed he's not suffering a constant deluge of loud emotions from the people that surround him, and he's never overtly used it to determine someone's hidden intentions or anything like that. So, I take this to mean that he has strong emotional intuition and is supernaturally receptive to psychic projection, rather than anything approaching telepathy.
MISC GEM STUFF: Gems can all do a variety of minor magical things, that mostly seem to involve interacting with gem technology. They can "bubble" objects and teleport them back to whenever they consider to be their home. They can interact with gem-built warp pads. A full gem is capable of putting their bodies back together after it is destroyed, provided that their gem is still intact. It is not yet clear if Steven can recover in this manner, due to his human heritage, but probably not. There is evidence that lack of immediate needs like air will put him into a coma until his organic parts can function again, instead of outright killing him.
MUSICAL PRODIGY: This is the main ability here that isn't overtly a super power. Steven has "perfect pitch", in that he can tell what musical note sounds are just from hearing them once or twice. (He could determine what 'note' a power drill sound was just from listening.) He can also play pretty much any instrument he's ever picked up skillfully. At the very least, that includes guitar (acoustic and electric style), bass guitar, ukelele, piano, and drums. He's also pretty damn good at improvising music, both lyrically and from a composition standpoint. He can also dance, sing, and act, making him a full triple threat - though the acting is more in line with his actual age. (He's a bit melodramatic.)
COMBAT TRAINING: Steven has been trained to fight with his shield by his mentor Pearl. So, generally speaking, he has a good grasp on fighting as part of a team, can aim his attacks well, etc. He's not exactly a kung-fu master, but he's competent.
Inventory/Companions:
- (1) PINK LION: 'Lion' is an adult male lion who is pink. Normally he has a bunch of super powers, including a hammerspace portal in his mane, the ability to create teleportation portals, and the ability to walk on water, but I'm assuming that junk will be nerfed. He does have two powers that sound like they may be appropriate to keep, based on the FAQ answers I've seen: one would be a sonic attack he does by essentially just roaring really loud, but to a lesser degree than in the show. The other would be the fact that he doesn't have to eat very often and is long lived, due to the fact that his biology runs at a fraction of what is normal. This happened when he died and was brought back to life by gem powers as what is vaguely like a pink zombie. (The same resurrection power described in Steven's abilities above.)
- (1) UKULELE: It's just a ukulele.
- (1) CELL PHONE: A cell phone with about 60% charge. He may look for some method of charging it, but mostly so that he can look at his photos/play his MP3s.
Choice: Monster (Fae)
Reason: Steven's mother, Rose Quartz, has always had an ethereal quality about her - she showed up on Earth and timelessly spent thousands of years enjoying what it had to offer, but always in a distant and sort of alien way. She saw humans as cute little playmates to be loved and protected, but not as equals to be respected, and it was only late in her life that she finally started to see them as more. She fell in love with a human man, and gave birth to a half human child, before disappearing forever.
All of this has always had a very 'changeling child' sort of feel to me, like Rose Quartz could easily have been a benevolent fae that left a faerie child behind. Rose's life was one of deceptions and facades, and much of Steven's life has been spent unpacking that, which I feel ties in thematically with the fae connection to illusions. Even more directly, the gem side of Steven's heritage is arranged into four Courts in a way reminiscent of faerie myth, and also have a history of kidnapping and imprisoning humans. Overall gems themselves can give off a bit of a faerie vibe in some ways, so when it comes to translating his story into fantasy, fae have always stuck out as an appropriate mythos to go with.
Give Steven's honest nature and history of searching for truth, it seems like an interesting challenge for him to deal with those fae instincts, as well. It both fits him and challenges him in a way I think could make for some great writing material. Not to mention, as a character who very rarely asks for anything in return for his time and effort, having an instinct to call in debts would be really weird for him.
Most importantly, accidentally shedding glitter on people and things is the most Steven aesthetic thing I can think of.
Sample:
A PSL with Yellow Diamond
With Shigeo on the TDM
PERMISSIONS (GENERAL)
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
VISUAL: Steven is 4'4" tall and has an endomorphic body type, especially since he's still a kid. Despite being 14, he still looks like he is a pre-teen, because his half-gem heritage means he doesn't age as quickly or consistently as a regular human. His hair is dark brown and tightly curled, if you are wondering how to interpret it from its cartoony style.
FASHION: Though he's usually found wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of flip-flops regardless of how appropriate it is for his current activities, he also has a strong appreciation for fanciness and beauty, meaning the opportunity to dress up will never be lost on him. He's as eager to wear a pretty dress as he is to wear a tuxedo, and will happily do both when given the opportunity.
DEMEANOUR: Steven is energetic and extroverted, meaning he tends to boldly throw himself into social engagements, even if he sometimes trips over his choice of words. He is quick to trust and to show affection to people who are kind to him, and so his interactions tend to display a casual physical closeness with other people. He is unafraid of femininity and ostensibly has no concept of gender stereotypes, meaning he comes across as generally gender nonconforming.
SOUND: Though he still sounds young, his voice has deepened a lot since a couple years ago. He's got a pretty great singing voice.
SCENT: Given that he is a fastidious person when it comes to bathing, he smells clean whenever he has access to the tools required to accomplish it. He probably smells like whatever shampoo he is using at the moment.
MENTAL INFORMATION: Steven is an empathetic and open person, so he's probably got the opposite of mental shielding. Reading his intentions is probably easy to anyone with the skill for it and he's terrible at lying.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: His body is half comprised of magical light energy, and he can't survive without it. It's what holds his biological body together.
PREFERENCES
BACKTAGGING: I'll be upfront and say I'm not the best at this. I definitely try to finish important threads, but I am honestly not that interested in backtagging most things past a few weeks. I find it hard to get excited about threads once they are so far in the past that the outcome can't meaningfully affect the present anymore. So, it's not that I refuse to backtag, I'm just definitely not a 'backtag forever' sort of person.
FOURTHWALLING: I'd mostly rather you didn't. There's not much to be gained.
PHYSICAL AFFECTION: I'm open to any kind of physical affection, as long as it's not something that's creepy to be doing to a little kid. If it is, please ask me before doing it. ICly Steven is open to pretty much any age-appropriate displays of affection, though he may be sort of confused if he doesn't know you. He'll still probably appreciate the sentiment, though!
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: You can feel free to attack or try to kill Steven, he's used to it. When it comes to actual injuries, I'm generally not going to be interested in having him actually die or get maimed unless there's a really good reason.
RELATIONSHIPS: I'm open to shipping with characters in his age range (12-15 mostly) but nothing too serious. Steven has no interest in sexuality but he does love romance, so odds are anything with him is just going to be silly crushes and hand holding. He looks younger than he is due to his species, so I'm not gunna have him do anything that would be inappropriate for a pre-teen.
CODED BY BOOTYCALL
VISUAL: Steven is 4'4" tall and has an endomorphic body type, especially since he's still a kid. Despite being 14, he still looks like he is a pre-teen, because his half-gem heritage means he doesn't age as quickly or consistently as a regular human. His hair is dark brown and tightly curled, if you are wondering how to interpret it from its cartoony style.
FASHION: Though he's usually found wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of flip-flops regardless of how appropriate it is for his current activities, he also has a strong appreciation for fanciness and beauty, meaning the opportunity to dress up will never be lost on him. He's as eager to wear a pretty dress as he is to wear a tuxedo, and will happily do both when given the opportunity.
DEMEANOUR: Steven is energetic and extroverted, meaning he tends to boldly throw himself into social engagements, even if he sometimes trips over his choice of words. He is quick to trust and to show affection to people who are kind to him, and so his interactions tend to display a casual physical closeness with other people. He is unafraid of femininity and ostensibly has no concept of gender stereotypes, meaning he comes across as generally gender nonconforming.
SOUND: Though he still sounds young, his voice has deepened a lot since a couple years ago. He's got a pretty great singing voice.
SCENT: Given that he is a fastidious person when it comes to bathing, he smells clean whenever he has access to the tools required to accomplish it. He probably smells like whatever shampoo he is using at the moment.
MENTAL INFORMATION: Steven is an empathetic and open person, so he's probably got the opposite of mental shielding. Reading his intentions is probably easy to anyone with the skill for it and he's terrible at lying.
MAGICAL INFORMATION: His body is half comprised of magical light energy, and he can't survive without it. It's what holds his biological body together.
PREFERENCES
BACKTAGGING: I'll be upfront and say I'm not the best at this. I definitely try to finish important threads, but I am honestly not that interested in backtagging most things past a few weeks. I find it hard to get excited about threads once they are so far in the past that the outcome can't meaningfully affect the present anymore. So, it's not that I refuse to backtag, I'm just definitely not a 'backtag forever' sort of person.
FOURTHWALLING: I'd mostly rather you didn't. There's not much to be gained.
PHYSICAL AFFECTION: I'm open to any kind of physical affection, as long as it's not something that's creepy to be doing to a little kid. If it is, please ask me before doing it. ICly Steven is open to pretty much any age-appropriate displays of affection, though he may be sort of confused if he doesn't know you. He'll still probably appreciate the sentiment, though!
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: You can feel free to attack or try to kill Steven, he's used to it. When it comes to actual injuries, I'm generally not going to be interested in having him actually die or get maimed unless there's a really good reason.
RELATIONSHIPS: I'm open to shipping with characters in his age range (12-15 mostly) but nothing too serious. Steven has no interest in sexuality but he does love romance, so odds are anything with him is just going to be silly crushes and hand holding. He looks younger than he is due to his species, so I'm not gunna have him do anything that would be inappropriate for a pre-teen.
HOW'S MY DRIVING?
HOW'S MY DRIVING?
CODED BY BOOTYCALL
Here is the place that you can submit comments, concerns, and generally contact me as a player if you don't want to use any of the other methods for some reason. You can also use this to tell me if you wish to disengage with some aspect of my roleplaying. Comments are screened.
ACATALEPSY APP
OOC INFO;
NAME: Quix
AGE: 29
CONTACT:
CHARACTERS IN GAME: None
IC INFO;
CHARACTER NAME: Steven Universe
AGE: 14 (Physically delayed aging so he looks more like a pre-teen.)
CANON Steven Universe
CANON POINT After 'Change Your Mind'
HISTORY: Here, in gratuitous detail.
PERSONALITY: Steven has come a long way in a very short amount of time. When he was just two years younger, he was naive to a fault, and so recklessly enthusiastic about pursuing his destiny as one of the Crystal Gems that he was prone to accidentally endangering himself by plunging ahead a bit too excitedly. He felt left out by the rest of the group due to his lack of real gem powers, and by the fact that they frequently left him behind out of a desire to protect him until he had more experience. He has always been a thoughtful and kind child, but his youthful exuberance frequently blinded him to the feeling of others, not realizing that they were being made uncomfortable until he was told.
Two years of training, lethal danger, and heartbreak have refined that kindness into something far more compassionate and enduring than it ever had been before. He's grown in strength rapidly, and along with it he's developed an extremely dedicated sense of responsibility - arguably too much of it, for a child his age. Steven tends to place everyone else's feelings before his own, because his own sense of empathy makes it impossible for him to ignore when someone else is in pain. He wants to help everyone he meets if he can, whether they be friend or enemy, and the conflict inherent in his situation has been wearing on him more and more as the months pass by. He finds it difficult to think about his own feelings, and particularly his own problems. He doesn't want to dwell in his sadness because he's the kind of kid who's always been naturally cheerful, and after a series of bad luck and mistakes the stress in his life has become literally more than he can deal with, resulting in him suppressing it out of the desire to remain strong for everyone else.
He dislikes conflict, and though he's learned to become more assertive with time, his inclination is still to avoid it whenever possible. This is why he tries to pacify people first and foremost without thinking about the impact of their actions on her own emotional well being, and considers his inability to help people a personal failure, even if they are actively fighting against him. In his own words he says he "believes in everyone", and though his faith has been tested, he's never lost it entirely. He recently wrote a song called "Still Not Giving Up" in an attempt to approach his most hard to deal with feelings, and that phrase is an excellent summary of his approach towards his own struggle. He's been hurt a lot over time, but he keeps pushing forward regardless, and always with the best intentions.
Outside of the struggles brought on by recent years, his childhood was a good one. He has a caring and wise father, and three mentors that he considers his family, all of which who love him very much. He's a person who naturally has a great deal of light in them - he's always joking and laughing and trying to allow himself and others to have fun despite the trouble that might come their way. He's naturally artistic and a prodigy musician, and has a wide variety of talents and interests that he actively explores. Steven knows what love is because he's been given it, and he does everything he can to spread that warmth to others, whether or not they try to hurt him in return.
One of the biggest emotional struggles in his life has been him understanding and coping with the legacy his mother left behind for him. Given that she was very important and well loved to the rest of the family, and that she gave up her life to create him, it created a difficult precedent from the day he was born - for the longest time, his loved ones would compare him to her, and see signs of her in his actions. Given that the gemstone that was her body has become a part of him, he's honestly been forced to wonder whether he is really her, and whether his identity as Steven is an illusion meant to hide her from the mistakes and pain she wanted to leave behind. Not many people can relate to the struggle of possibly being your own mom, but it's something that has haunted Steven for years.
With time, however, he has started to find answers to these existential questions. Through many tense emotional trials, his family has come to see him as his own person. Though White Diamond, his most daunting antagonist, tried to convince him that he was nothing more than a disguise for his mother to hide behind, it was finally revealed that his gem, when separated from his body, was still just him. Two halves of the same person. The realization that his mother is gone forever, and has been since he was born, is oddly enough an affirming one, and a real game changer for him psychologically. At the canon point I am using, he has just recently had this revelation, and the confirmation that he really just was himself all along. To a kid who has been constantly compared and mistaken for his mother his entire life, this is a key piece of validation that will grant him new confidence and self esteem in days to come.
Self love has been a hard win for Steven, but towards the end of Season Five, he has shown that he is beginning to respect himself for who he really is: just Steven.
CANON POWERS: All of Steven's abilities come with a disclaimer - there are a lot of them, because as it turns out he has the gem/powers of what was essentially a goddess/queen of the gems, and one of the four sources of all gem life. He's got a lot going on. However, Steven has a far from complete grasp on them, and I am totally open to nerfing any of these powers as requested/generally toning things down. All of his powers have the capacity to exhaust him with use, and a lot of them are dependent on willpower/mood, so everything is limited by how tired he is and how much he's already done. His weirdest and most intense powers are probably his healing/life giving abilities, which I am happy to underplay or nerf based on what seems reasonable, in the event that an event comes up where canon powers are a factor.
SHIELD SUMMON: One of his most signature moves, Steven can summon a magical shield from his gem that seems capable of blocking most forms of damage. It can also be used as a thrown weapon, Captain America style. Steven can summon his shield as big or as small as he needs to, and can also summon multiple shields at a time. When a magical attack hits the shield’s surface, there’s a chance that it will destabilize or nullifying the spell. The shield tends to dissipate if Steven is stunned or too exhausted to keep it going.
DEFENSE BUBBLE: Steven can summon a pink bubble barrier to surround himself and others. It offers better coverage than his shield, but it’s also less enduring. While at its best it can defend against a spaceship crash from orbit, it is also frequently stomped to the point of popping/breaking by various monsters. He can purposefully explode the bubble outward to knock back enemies, as well as make the exterior of the bubble spiky and inflict damage with it.
HEALING/RESURRECTION: Steven’s saliva/tears/sweat/body fluids have healing properties that work on both humans and gems, as well as inanimate objects. It will magically repair things that are damaged. In the past it’s been used to heal broken bones, ripped teddy bears, as well as genetic ailments like Connie’s near nearsightedness. It does have its limits, though, and can’t fully repair things that are extensively damaged. Additionally, his tears have been shown to be capable of resurrecting a biological body that has recently died with renewed health and some inorganic/magical physical characteristics (like a magic zombie), but this has only happened once within canon and he can't do that on call, so this won't ever happen unless the mods/player allowed it an a bunch of other emotional needs were fulfilled as well. In game terms, it will only heal things with OOC permission, and will leave behind damage based on what is interesting to the player.
IMBUING LIFE: Rose Quartz was said to have been able to grow plant warriors to defend her in combat, as well as grow magical, moving defense vines and the like. Steven's main usage of this has been to grow an entire garden's worth of essentially sapient watermelon people (by accident) which seemed instinctively inclined to protect him. After he scolded them all for being violent, they left into the ocean. Months later they were discovered on a remote island, apparently having developed their own functioning community complete with agriculture and family structures. The average watermelon person only lives for a couple weeks. In much more recent canon, however, it's been shown his fluids can also give life to small rocks. He can use this power consciously by putting any body fluid on seeds before planting them, though it's usually spit.
PHYSICALLY ENHANCED: After lots of training with his gem powers, Steven has become inhumanly strong, fast, and durable. This isn’t anywhere near Superman levels, to be clear – it’s more like he runs faster than most humans could, and can survive getting smashed through a rock wall, at the cost of being worn out. Strength wise he can lift a lot for someone his size, like an entire trunk of heavy musical equipment by himself, or a tall stack of boulders. Theoretically he can throw a pretty brutal punch, but his combat style is inherently defensive so he rarely exploits his strength offensively.
DEFYING GRAVITY: Steven can jump super high, and then control the rate of his descent. This basically means he can moon jump up into the sky and float there for as long as he wants. Carrying extra weight doesn’t do anything to affect his float time, either. He can only use this power float/walk on air, and cannot fly in a more traditional sense.
SHAPESHIFTING: Full gems are capable of shapeshifting into just about anything, though it can take a lot of energy and they are only capable of holding it for a limited time. Steven can mostly just make his limbs get longer or shorter at this point – most of his experiences with shapeshifting have been somewhat traumatic and so he rarely does it. His first experience involved accidentally transforming himself into a mutant pile of cats, accidentally rapidly aging himself into an old man, and expending so much energy trying to pretend he was older that he ended up involuntarily turning back into a baby for a while. It is definitely not his strong suit and almost always goes badly for him.
FUSION DANCE: All gems are capable of fusing with one another in order to create an entirely new being that combines their emotional and physical traits. Fusions are more powerful than just the sum of their parts, and frequently end up with new abilities and personality traits based on the relationship of the the gems forming them. Steven’s half human heritage means that he’s also capable of fusing with humans, which he has with his friend Connie on several occasions. Fusions only work if the people doing it are sufficiently “in sync” with each other emotionally, and so this would only be for very close CR.
ASTRAL PROJECTION: Steven can leave his body and travel into the minds of other beings, especially while they are sleeping, with two potential results - 1) he can potentially possess the being's body with his consciousness, or 2) he can interact with the being's dreams in a lucid manner, bending the dream reality with willpower and interacting with the dreamer. He's only possessed someone this way once and doesn't want to again for ethical reasons. Obviously neither of these things would happen without OOC permission, and could be reasonably shut down by any character with the mental fortitude to do so. His own body is left vulnerable/comatose while he does this. If he astral projects around people that are awake, he can get close to their 'consciousnesses' (represented in a non-literal psychic landscape) and speak to them like an invisible ghost via two-way empathy and telepathy. The target seems to feel him as an unseen 'presence.'
RECEPTIVE EMPATHY: Steven's empathic abilities are honestly pretty vague, but it's been said that his powers "help him to connect to people". In a few cases Steven has said that he can feel the emotions coming from another gem, and this is also implied to be how he can access Pink Diamond's memories from his gem/why he is so receptive to Blue Diamond's projective empathy powers. It's impact on his daily life seems fairly minimal, though, so it can generally be assumed he's not suffering a constant deluge of loud emotions from the people that surround him, and he's never overtly used it to determine someone's hidden intentions or anything like that. So, I take this to mean that he has strong emotional intuition and is supernaturally receptive to psychic projection, rather than anything approaching telepathy.
MISC GEM STUFF: Gems can all do a variety of minor magical things, that mostly seem to involve interacting with gem technology. They can "bubble" objects and teleport them back to whenever they consider to be their home. They can interact with gem-built warp pads. A full gem is capable of putting their bodies back together after it is destroyed, provided that their gem is still intact. It is not yet clear if Steven can recover in this manner, due to his human heritage, but probably not. There is evidence that lack of immediate needs like air will put him into a coma until his organic parts can function again, instead of outright killing him.
MUSICAL PRODIGY: This is the only ability here that isn't overtly magical. Steven has "perfect pitch", in that he can tell what musical note sounds are just from hearing them once or twice. He can also play pretty much any instrument he's ever picked up skillfully. He's also pretty damn good at improvising music, both lyrically and from a composition standpoint.
OTHER: Steven's gem can apparently be pulled out his body with enough brute force, at which point he divides into two halves - his gem half and his human half. Both sides are completely dysfunctional without the other. His human half starts to physically die immediately without the gem magic to support it, and his gem half seems to be missing his soul/personality. All either side wants to do is rejoin with their other half until they manage to do so with physical contact. This is probably useless information because it's hard to imagine it coming up but I find it fascinating so I just wanted to have it be established in case it ever becomes relevant. If uselessly splitting into two people needs to be nerfed I would probably just assume the gem would not reform into a person on its own and would just lay inert until reconnected with the human part.
GAME INFO;
CRAU INFO: N/A
MAGIC ABILITY: Steven will gain the ability to build pink crystal constructs, not unlike how Elsa from Frozen can build structures and objects out of ice. These constructs are made out of a gently glowing diamond looking gem material, and their durability is fueled by the psychic power of his emotions - that is, if he is focusing on supporting them with strong emotions, focus and determination, they will become very resistant to assault, but if he succumbs to feelings of hopelessness or doubt, they will become fragile and possibly shatter. An average or neutral emotional state will have the structures be strong enough to support themselves and hold weight, but any significant force put towards breaking them will have a good chance of causing them to crack. This ability is limited by the following:
1) While these structures can persist without his direct concentration, there is a limit to how much material he can support at once. So, if he starts building too many structures at once, the older ones will start falling apart when he runs into his limit. Creating any large structures will also just generally tire him out, physically and emotionally, and he'll need time to recharge afterwards. Also, if something is actively trying to break his structure, attempting to hold it together will take an additional toll on him. Pushing himself too far in either regard will result in him becoming emotionally numb for a while afterwards, having ostensibly used up all his feelings.
2) If his emotions run wild the structures make break or form in ways he doesn't necessarily want them to, reacting to impulsive desires. For example, overwhelming fear may cause him to create a wall structure in between him and whatever is scaring him, and until he calms down he won't be able to control the wall or make it go away.
3) He can't conjure anything overly complicated or intricate, like machines or complex tools. It's mostly intended to be used as a shield, or build simply structures like walls, stairs, and generally things you could reasonably craft out of stone.
ANY WEAPONS/MAGICAL ITEMS?: A ukelele is basically a weapon, right? I've decided he'd not going to bring his shield along in a solid form because it doesn't even have a handle and would be sort of useless.
ANY PETS?: N/A
SAMPLE;
LINKED SAMPLE: Thread with Astoria
OOC INFO POST

JOINED: Game Start
TRAILER: #21
⇨ CHANGES
✧COMMON CHANGES: Pink (and blue) gem freckles, mossy green fur on parts of his body, pink (and blue) crystal claws on hands and feet, pink (and blue) crystal horns, and lion ears.
✩UNCOMMON CHANGES: Lion's tail, gills along ribs, pink (and blue) roses growing in his hair, and paw-like leg and hand structure (digitigrade and toe beans.)
✵RARE CHANGES: Flight capable wings with rose petals and leaves instead of feathers. Blue Rose based mutations amounting to a crystallized cardiovascular system, with blood that hardens into crystal when outside the body - also, his roses and gems are all partially blue. Lastly, his limbs are made of plant material, and have grow/regrow accordingly.
⇨ CONTRACTS
1ST CONTRACT: Defensive nature magic for Greg.
⇨ OOC INFO
PLAYER: Quix
CONTACT:
IC RADIO CONTACT

DESCRIPTION: Steven will be fairly quick to answer, on average, but it's also entirely possible that he'll forget his radio or get distracted from answering.
DESCRIPTION: It's wooden and a little crooked but Steven is gradually covering it in sequins and jewels.