#Diamond authority

[pastelpinkillustrator]

The Pursuit of New Hobbies in Era 3 - Part 2/2 (An unexpected gift)

[dearidealist]

DAAMAND

[emberfauna]

I spent the last week rewatching Steven Universe, and thought it would be fun to draw the Diamond Authority 💎

[gagnamfart97]

I love Steven Universe but damn, I refuse to accept its movie and su:future

[arthdoesart]

Old SU art I did on @niickiepie IG where the rejuvenator brought back Pink but she's stuck in Steven's body :'> (Prime comic during the heights of SU <3)

[jinaprivat]

The Diamonds ✨ I rewatched the 5 seasons of Steven Universe with a friend, his reaction to Pink Diamond reveal was hilarous

[frostyyart]

rewatching some eps of the gay space rocks show

[joitiks]

you cannot fathom how much i've mourned, what thousands of years of grief has done to me

[yipyapcoyote]

[thediamondsdidnothingwrong]

[pastelpinkillustrator]

Pink Diamond joins the Classroom Gems for part 9 to finish off the Diamond Authority!

I feel like we're missing somebody... A best friend perhaps? 💖

[atomicmnesia]

Pink Diamond again XD, but on my normal style.

[im-dums]

I put more effort in then usual and drew a face.

[gagnamfart97]

[rosenotactuallyquartz]

love like you & rose’s love for pearl

i love relating love like you to pearlrose. particularly, from rose’s perspective. here is how i’ve always looked at it.

the war

do it for her + love like you are exactly how pearl and rose felt about each other during the rebellion.

“You have nothing but the way you feel, your strategy and a sword, you just think about the life you'll have together after the war.”

“If I could begin to be half of what you think of me, I could do about anything! I could even learn how to love… like you!” 

“Deep down, you know you weren't built for fighting but that doesn't mean you’re not prepared to try!”

“I always thought I might be bad… now, I’m sure that it’s true ‘cause… I think you’re so good! And I’m nothing like you!”

“And then you do it for her. That's how you know you can win.”

“Look at you go, I just adore you, I wish that I knew what makes you think I’m so special.”

[Image description: Pearl’s blue hologram of Rose is depicted in this image as she reenacts a memory. She wears a dress with a star emblem at the chest, and she looks down, her expression appears to be one of concern. The background is a soft purple.]

a single pale rose

remember the night that they escaped from the other diamonds ?

“When I see the way you act, wondering when I'm coming back, I could do about anything.”

“When I see the way you look, shaken by how long it took, I could do about anything… I could even learn how to love like you.”

to fake pink’s shattering, she obviously vanished for a moment. in a single pale rose, we see a shapeshifted pearl crying and holding the diamond in her hand.

eventually rose came back, then, you know, “endless honeymoon” as rebecca described it. rebecca continues this in the book “end of an era” by adding, “pink is gone and pearl is free to love rose.”

meanwhile, rose saw how much pearl cared about her that night. she admired her so much–her courage, how much she meant to her because she definitely saw someone who was shaken and wondering when she was coming back after she reformed as rose.

[Image Description: this image depicts a pink flower in Pink Diamond’s palm. She wears a pink glove and there is dirt underneath the flower. Pearl’s hand is taking the flower from Pink]

after rose’s death

the final line of the song is: “love ME like you…”

i like to interpret this as the… truth, really. rose loved pearl more than pearl knew. sapphire had to remind her that she swept her off her feet.

rose loved pearl just as intensely, just as strongly and deeply as pearl loves rose.

rose could love pearl the way pearl loves her.

… but she could never love herself.

pearl knew rose the best. she lived with pink and then she lived with rose for the rest of rose’s life.

the only other individual who knows rose entirely like that… is rose herself. and yet, she hated herself.

“Her lack of respect for herself makes it impossible for her to respect everyone closest to her. She reveres them instead, because they are better than she could ever be, and that reverence is so honest and intoxicating that it draws everyone closer to her, without them understanding the deep self-hatred that pull is coming from.” — Rebecca Sugar, End of an Era, page 88.

meanwhile, there’s:

Interviewer: “Pearl obviously has some unrequited love for Rose, you know, and…”

Rebecca: “I don’t know if I would call it unrequited!” — Comic News Insider Episode 679

and there’s:

“Rose falls in love with Pearl's surprising boldness that comes out of left field.” — Steven Universe: End of an Era, Page 86

all of the flashbacks with rose are told to her son from the perspectives of others. they were either from the perspectives of people who didn’t know pearl or pearl / rose very well. sometimes, pearl would tell a story, but the focus was on how much she loved rose. there are also a few times in the show where her friends remind her that rose loved her a lot more than she knew.

if you think about love like you from rose’s perspective, the ending is meaningful.

the story didn’t end because she couldn’t feel the same love for pearl. the story ended because she couldn’t love herself. it was never about choosing anyone, if anything, she chose steven. pearl’s protectiveness, garnet’s wisdom, amethyst’s playfulness, and greg’s kindness made rose believe that her child would grow up in such a wonderful environment and she was “so excited for everyone who’s going to know [her child].” she didn’t realize that her death would hurt people, she thought they would be better off without her. and besides, she didn’t want to live with herself.

pearl barely knew that rose did love like her !! she was in awe of her; she would blush and show vulnerable parts of herself and smile all the time around her.

the problem is, she never loved like pearl in a way that she could see herself through pearl’s eyes. if she could, then maybe she would have been able to love herself.

[Image description: The Crystal Temple, a gray stone statue of a fusion between Pearl, Rose Quartz, Amethyst, and Garnet with long curls and four arms. In front of the statue, at the bottom, is a house. In front of the house is a sandy road leading to a beach, and the background is a soft purple sunset.]

i know that this song isn’t about any character in particular, but it also fits so many characters. i love relating this to many others—ame & the crystal gems, pearl + rose with garnet, sapphire with ruby, and steven with connie. here’s the pearlrose perspective !