Souseiseki

*This article is about the character from Peach-Pit's manga continuity. For other uses see Souseiseki (disambiguation).*
**Souseiseki** (蒼星石*, Lapislazuli Stein / Lapis Lazuli Stone*) is the fourth doll to be created by Rozen. She is the younger twin sister of Suiseiseki. She initially appears antagonistic but eventually ends up helping the protagonists.

## Appearance

Souseiseki has moderately-short chestnut-brown hair, the same shade as Suiseiseki's, with bangs that sweep to the left. A good portion of her head is covered by a large black hat. Her right eye is green and the left is red.

She wears a white shirt under a black corset-like piece that has a set of blue ruffles down part of the back. The front of this corset piece is partly open with a black ribbon connecting it in a crossing fashion. On top of this piece is a blue cape that runs down to her elbows. Finally on top of all this is one last piece, a rectangular piece of white cloth that covers her chest and upper back with white ruffles on the edges and a black ribbon on the front. A pair of large blue pants goes down to just past her knees, hemmed in such a fashion that the ends of the pants close up around her leg. White socks cover all of her exposed legs. She wears a pair of black shoes with an additional black piece on her ankles.

In Zurückspulen her hair is still brown, but not the same shade as Suiseiseki's like in the manga.

## Personality

Souseiseki can be summarized as a serious character, but is prone to being socially confused and taking things too literally. She tends to speak bluntly on subjects which may offend or startle others. Usually, she does not speak much unless spoken to.

Souseiseki possesses a sharpness in her speech which is also noted to be of the masculine form. She refers to herself using "boku", a masculine "I" pronoun. Her clothing preferences also tend to lean towards a masculine style, though this seems out of other preferences than a clear gender-influenced preference. Souseiseki also tends to be mistaken for male because of this. When asked, she will identify as female, such as when Kazuha thought she was a boy until she confirmed otherwise.

Her attitude towards her masters leans very heavily into actual servitude. She possesses a great amount of respect for her masters, seemingly thinking that they can do no wrong. This can and has caused problems between her and Suiseiseki. She also only refers to her masters as "master" unless they specifically request otherwise. Even then, she'll usually end up slipping back into the "master" habit.

She has a fondness for plants and usually ends up trying to garden whenever possible. In several eras, the Rose Mansion was a favorite spot of hers to garden in, as it contains a huge rose garden like the one back in the Miniature Garden she used to tend to.

The Alice Game is something she respects, but has a clear conflict with. She is not primarily drawn to the game out of a longing for Rozen, but rather to feel a sense of purpose. Identity is an issue with her, and she thinks that if she plays the game, she'll finally feel complete because Suiseiseki's presence reminds her that she is not. This is another conflict between her and Suiseiseki, who does not want to play the game because she feels complete when with Souseiseki.

In the end Suigintou ends up killing Souseiseki and taking her Rosa Mystica, leaving Suiseiseki heartbroken and furious with Shinku and Suigintou.

## History

### Creation

Souseiseki was the fourth doll to be created by Rozen. Like the rest of the first 6 dolls, she spent her first days in the Miniature Garden. Unlike most of the first 6, she and Suiseiseki stuck together and the two tended to the orchard and rose garden the Miniature Garden held and the two also made a home out of a wardrobe.

She would later join the rest of the first 6 in tea parties at Hinaichigo's request. This would last until they were all bored of this and Suigintou had an outburst, which Souseiseki attempted to divert before it happened. After this, Laplace's Demon made his first appearance to them and informed them of the Alice Game, to which Souseiseki could only wonder how sisters could fight each other.

She and Suiseiseki would later decide to leave the Miniature Garden. Despite the risks, the two decided to do this opting to think of it as just a trip.

They later met up again with Hinaichigo apparently not too long after leaving. Hinaichigo explained that she didn't come to fight them, though Souseiseki is wary. When Suiseiseki expresses interest in Hinaichigo’s idea of not playing the Alice Game like it was explained to them by Laplace, Souseiseki confronts Suiseiseki over this. Suiseiseki tells her that she doesn't want to play the game, offending Souseiseki who tells her that it would mean rejecting her identity as a Rozen Maiden.

At one point, Suigintou attempted to take Suiseiseki's Rosa Mystica. Souseiseki heard her cries for help and attempted to fight off Suigintou. After Suigintou broke off one of Suiseiseki's feet, Souseiseki payed her back, heavily ripping her wings. Suigintou retreated and Souseiseki took Suiseiseki back to the city to be fixed. The dollmaker tells them he cannot work on her unless she is still, so Souseiseki took Suiseiseki out to the forest where Suiseiseki then drained the rest of her energy, creating rain.

## Weapons and Skills

Souseiseki's artificial spirit is the light blue colored Lempicka (レンピカ *Renpika*), who is used to summon her weapon, the Gardener's Shears. Souseiseki's ability is to cut souls and memories with her shears. In combat, they are used like a sword to block and parry attacks. In the dream worlds of humans, Souseiseki uses the shears to cut away the brambles that represent one's memories. While ideally, only the dead roots could be cut away, freeing a human of his or her burdens, the good memories could be cut off as well.

Like Suiseiseki, she is also able to use her case as a form of mobility. When inside her case she can "fly" it through the air.

## Trivia

* Was once depicted with a blue/red eye color combination on the color page for Phase 20. Since Suiseiseki was also shown in Phase 22 with the same combination, but reversed, it could mean that Peach-Pit had changed their eye colors for a short time and then changed them back to their original green and red combination.
* She is the favorite doll of Shibuko Ebara, one of the two members of Peach-Pit
* According to Peach-Pit, she looks like a boy from one of Kenji Miyazawa's works - "*we think it’d be neat if she acted like one too*".

## References and Citations

1. Final Tale
2. Special Edition Part 1
3. Tale 56
4. Tale 57
5. Tale 58
6. Floor 4
7. Floor 6
8. Floor 11
9. Floor 13
10. Phase 19
11. Tale 38
12. "An Audience with Peach-Pit". UK Anime Network. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
13. Rozen Maiden: Comic and Anime Official Guide Bo