Empathieas | Application

[alienwear]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Possum
Contact: awkwardpossum
Age: 27
Current Characters: n/a


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Peridot
Age: A few thousand years old, we never get a specific age beyond that.
Canon: Steven Universe
Canon Point: Mid “Change Your Mind”

Background:
Wiki link

Personality:
Peridot has come a long, long way since her introduction on the show, which was as an antagonist who posed the first major threat to Steven and his friends. Once perceived as a cold and calculating villain, she has revealed herself over time to be a enthusiastic, passionate and energetic individual.

This is a Gem who, in addition to being naturally stubborn and prone to frustration when things don’t go her way, just thinks differently than most other people. When she first started working alongside the show’s protagonists, she didn’t know how to factor unpredictable forces such as emotion and sentiment into her calculations, because she simply did not understand them or their relevance. She generally had a hard time empathizing with other people, and even lacked the proper terminology with which to discuss her own feelings. At first, this was a major obstacle that kept her from really understanding other people’s perspectives, and it took a while for her to learn that efficiency and logic don’t automatically make a given solution the “best” solution. Like anyone else, she still doesn’t always get this right 100% of the time, but she’s far more aware of the importance of people’s feelings than she was in the past. She still has a propensity for bluntness in conversation, and generally won’t hesitate to tell you exactly what she thinks about something, but she no longer gets annoyed by people’s ‘irrational’ or ‘illogical’ emotion based reactions to things.

One of Peridot’s greatest strengths is her intelligence and propensity for quick thinking. She is exceedingly clever, and it’s a trait that she’s both aware of and loves to brag about whenever she gets the chance, claiming that she’s “smarter than the average Peridot”. Indeed, she has a tendency for boastfulness and overconfidence that can come off as grating to many people. This behavior seems to be, at least in part, a coping mechanism to help preempt the negative judgement of others, and to cover for a certain lack of confidence. Gems as a race value usefulness above all else, and have little interest in the concept of the Individual. Peridot was made during a time when resources for creating new gems were dwindling, and she emerged into a society that prioritizes function and productivity to justify the expense of one's creation. It’s no surprise that she would slip into the habit of talking herself up as much as possible after living under such constant pressure, feeling the need to justify her existence and prove that she’s just as good, if not better than any other peridot.

Even though she’s not on Homeworld anymore, this upbringing continues to express itself through her behavior as a desire to feel wanted and important. For example, a large part of Peridot’s issues with Lapis revolved around this perception which she had that Lapis, who is someone with a lot of trauma and issues to work through, “needed” her. Peridot restricted herself in order to keep Lapis happy because she felt it was her duty to keep her friend safe and comfortable. It did not occur to her that Lapis might not appreciate this dishonest behavior, and when Peridot finally did come clean, Lapis took the information very poorly and left her.

She is an extremely dedicated and passionate individual; she falls into her various hobbies and interests with an almost obsessive tendency, doing things like watching a single episode of a TV show she likes over and over and over for a full 24 hours straight. By that same token though, she's also extremely loyal; to causes, to her friends, and to the Earth. She doesn't take rejection very well, especially from the people who matter most to her. She was extremely upset when Amethyst was mad at her for making jokes at her expense, and Lapis leaving utterly devastated her, launching her into an extreme depression that took ages for her to get over.

Abilities:
-Doesn’t age (♫because her age isn’t real and her body’s an illusion♫)
-Very sturdy, with a high damage threshold (even by gem standards). Has the ability to release her physical form and return to her gem when grievously wounded in order to regenerate. Can’t be truly harmed unless her gem is damaged.
-Can generate translucent green bubbles around dormant gems (and other objects) and teleport them to a set location.
-Metallokinesis. She can move metal objects with her mind, which lets her do ludicrous things like fly around on a hovering garbage can lid. (Note, the wiki calls it ferrokinesis, but. it's never explicitly stated in the show that it only affects iron and I'm a pedantic shit :T

Alignment: Aiada; I'm selecting this mostly because "appreciation" is something that was integral to Peridot's growth as a character in the show. She had to learn to appreciation other perspectives, and appreciation of things that she initially did not see the value in.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General Sample: Top level on the TDM

Emotion Sample:
Liiiiink