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polkadot Which is your favorite setting to roleplay in, and what are your favorite kinds of characters to roleplay?

This is going to be long, so you don't have to read the whole thing if you don't want to, haha-- I got excited talking about this stuff. Thanks for asking!

Haha, yes, I am a fan! Other than baseball, hockey, and wrestling, I like going to local roller derby bouts, and my aunt's a fan of tennis so I sometimes watch with her on TV or take her to the US Open when it's in town, and I always enjoy the Olympics (curling is my favorite Olympic sport besides hockey, probably), but those three are the sports I really care about. I've tried caring about basketball since the Nets moved to Brooklyn, but basketball isn't my thing.

My favorite team is my (MLB) baseball team, the New York Mets. They last won a World Series before I was born and they're the kind of team where being a fan means a lot of suffering, but that means it's that much sweeter when the bright spots come. I'm lucky enough to have been able to go to all the World Series home games in 2015 when the Mets were facing the Royals, and even though we had to watch another team celebrate on our field, it's a memory I'll never forget, and I believe that someday in my lifetime, that will be us. Ya Gotta Believe is our classic motto, and this year in particular the fan meme is unbridled optimism, something a Yankee fan tried to mock us for having. I think being a Met fan builds a certain kind of character-- you appreciate the small stuff, you're not afraid to laugh at yourself and the absurdity of life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I've been a Mets fan for as long as I was old enough to choose (when my two older brothers, a Mets fan and a Yankee fan, demanded young me swear my allegiance), but my other favorite sports team is one I've only become a fan of recently-- my (NHL) ice hockey team is the New York Islanders. (Floor) hockey was the only sport I was ever good at and enjoyed playing as a kid, but for whatever reason I never had an NHL team as a kid (probably because I hate the Rangers). The Islanders moved to Brooklyn in 2015, walking distance from my home, and I had a "home" team-- but proximity aside, well, there's a reason people call them the "Ice Mets." Besides having the same orange-and-blue color scheme, the Isles are also a quirky, troubled team with a historic past (they won their four Stanley Cups consecutively, and their 19 consecutive playoff series wins is a record that will probably never be beaten in a North American sport), who are also overshadowed by the more popular other local team (Yankees for baseball, Rangers for hockey). I mean, the Isles currently play in a basketball arena where the off-center scoreboard, the obstructed seats, and "Honky" the car that sits behind the glass on one goal are recurring jokes in the league, but the team is promising and young and has rising stars like center Mat Barzal, who is a shoo-in for this year's Calder award for best rookie. They have the same heart, and the fans are the same kind of self-deprecating, funny die-hards (their meme game is unbeatable), and I love them.

I won't say as much about pro wrestling, but my friend got me (and our other friends) into it a few years ago, and I in turn got him into the Mets and Isles, and we watch all three together whenever possible, even though we're long-distance and in different time zones. It's a lot of fun, probably my favorite kind of theater.

Favorite players below the cut:

hedgemaze I recall seeing you asked about sports a couple times in other thread. Also in your art tumblr, there are quite many pieces of art that you draw with sport themes (baseball, wrestling and ice hockey). I take it that you are a fan of those? Is there any other sport you like? What's your favorite team and any favorite player? :3

          That's a surprisingly difficult question for me ,really.   I tend to like at least one gender of each breed based on the art. Normally I'd say Snappers because they're rather unloved in comparison to other breeds, though to be honest I prefer just male and baby Snappers way more than female Snappers. I like baby Snappers enough the only perma baby in my lair is, of course, a baby Snapper I hatched on Christmas. :) 

          The second place certainly goes to Imps, which is why my seafood stock gets plundered at the speed of 120 points daily. :'D They are surely the most numerous in my lair (I need to consider selling/exalting some of them really or my seafood stock won't last long). I can't decide on the third, it's a tie between Coatls, Wildclaws and Nocs.

Ledokol

I see that you play Flight Rising. What is your favorite dragon on there? (I like Tundras, Faes, and Imps.)

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Ah, specific authors I look up to? Weirdly, I don’t have any particular favorite. But anyone that can create a story I don’t want to put down is cool enough for me. I like writing fantasy/romance, and in many different settings. Most of my stuff is modern fantasy, but a story I’ve set aside for a bit takes place in a more traditional fantasy world (knights and princesses, all that junk.) I like when books use whimsical language, describing lush flora and expansive mountain-tops. I can’t say I’ve ever been too interested in the technological side of things, and the magic I like to focus on derives from spirits and spells. I have many stories planned out right now. The current two I’m focused on are both contemporary fantasy in their own different ways. One involves a ghost that gives dating advice, the other involves fighting, powers, saving the world, and magical flower warriors. I have many other ideas other than that, but haven’t been writing for them in a serious manner yet. My favorite thing about writing is the characters and settings. I love emotional tales rather than the simple “let’s fight and get our peace back,” trope because those involve a multitude of action scenes. And my least favorite thing about writing? Just that. Long action scenes, which I try to stray away from since they bore me.

Hope you enjoyed reading all that lmao 

oh ur dream is to be a famous author! what kinds of authors do u enjoy and/or look up to? are there any books/stories that inspire u? is there anything u have already written/plan to write and what are ur fave and least fave things abt writing? :0 @BlossomSerpent

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YES omg they're honestly the best ;o; now i wanna know about ur two babies ahaha

but yeah i've got three at the moment between myself and my bf! we've had six in total but three have since passed away unfortunately, we limit ourselves to three bc we have four tanks but we like to leave one spare for a hospital tank if they need to use it 

phoenicis is the oldest we have atm and he had his first birthday a few days ago! i've had him a year... wow ;w; he's a very curious baby who LOVES checking out  anything and everything new in his environment so i always feel like i need to give him new things to keep him interested, and he'll spend up to an hour checking out new things (one example was when we put fake orange flowers in his tank - he made sure to thoroughly look at each one)! his favourite decoration is his yellow jellyfish and he spends 90% of his time in it
he's in a community tank and gets along very well w/ his tankmates - he's so placid and co-operative that there's never been any problems w/ him or the others! i know tetra can be a hit or miss w/ betta (we've had both good and bad experiences and i don't plan on putting a betta w/ them again) but w/ phe, they get along very well and it's honestly surprising :0 no tail-nipping or anything! the neon tetra in his tank are almost a year old as well, so i suppose they're just used to each other bc they've always been together
phe's very friendly and bold and always comes to the front to see u when u look at the tank! he'll even play around ur hand or dart between ur fingers if u dip them in the water - i've been handfeeding him so he's really used to human contact/having ppl close to him

xen is a baby i got back in november last year, and he's fairly shy and doesn't really ... do much - he's got a lot of trouble swimming bc of his tail so he tends to sit a lot, but he's also friendly and appears to get quite excitable when u get his attention in the tank! he sure wiggles a lot
he's the one i had a bad experience w/ the tetra w/, as they nipped his tail so bad that... there's only half a tail left really :/ (he's healing on his own now tho, he's already got regrowth) so we're not putting betta in that tank again bc those tetra are very... can u say fish are naughty? but the young ones definitely behave differently compared to the old ones in the other tank (teenagers, am i right? jokes aside, yeah - no more betta in there, i feel horrible but i've only been keeping fish for a little over a year, so i'm still making mistakes)
i'm not really sure if i have much to say about xen bc he's a pretty straightforward fish u need a lot of patience for bc he's terribly slow as well as shy and doesn't respond well to movement unless he's 100% awake

apollo (or baby, as we call him) is the newest addition and he was the smallest little thing when we first got him! he was barely half the length of a pinky finger and was mostly black and red in colour - but now he's so much bigger (tho still thin) and has a lot of blue that's shown up in his tail and scales! he's a very grumpy and angry betta despite his size (like a chihuahua) and he's ALWAYS flaring! like... i swear he's got his beard permanently half-flared at all times so he can flare super fast whenever he needs to
we moved him to another tank that lets in more light and he hasn't flared much at all since that move and he's been more active, so i'm wondering if he enjoys it more compared to his old one...?
we haven't had him as long as the other two (maybe a few months) but he's already made his mark on our hearts

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the fish we had prior that had since passed were sammy (no betta will replace him, he'll forever be my best boy he was so unique and beautiful ;-;), atticus, and tethys </3

i rambled a lot i apologise ;w;

AlleycatIrony

Another betta lover! I’ve got two right now and I’m always tempted to get more. How many do you have? Got any pictures?

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Thanks. For a long time I used my character’s names as online handles, but decided having my own universal username would be better. I just sat down and thought about things I liked and that sounded cool together. At first I actually played with the ideal of Sharklure as a username, which lead to Sharklore. That has since lead to a lot of nicknames, my favorite being “shartlord.”

I’ve always thought sharks were cool. When I was a kid I was pretty sickly, so I spent a lot of time in front of the television while using my nebulizer. My favorite thing to watch was animal planet, and I always thought episodes on sharks were neat. Lots of variety and they all look awesome. Also, before the username, my friend would call me a shark because I’m very business-minded and was decent at making a quick turnaround. Since then I’ve gravitated towards them even more.

kokohearts what are some of the archetypes that you use / look for / favor in character pairs? for example, athletic and nerd couples or a bad girl/boy vs. a good girl/boy? it doesn't necessarily have to be couples!

it's supposed to be calibri, but i didn't realise that it showed as a different font on different monitors! the weird font must make it hard to read, oops OTL i should definitely change that~
the song is actually "You Raise Me Up" (popularised by Josh Groban & many other artists); i chose it because the song talks about happiness, which has always been something hard for me to achieve. it's a positive yet meaningful and deep song for me.

Is there a reason for the interesting choice of font you've chosen for your profile? I copied and pasted it and realised it changes to proper english, so I know what it says, but what made you decide to use it for your profile? Is there any significance or was it just a random choice? 

Also, where is the verse from? I assume it's important to you somehow? I have a good idea of the meaning of it myself, but I was wondering how it was significant to you specifically!

Ah, well it all started when I was eighteen! I had a sleepover with my friends at that point and one of them turned up with a copy of Persona 3 and he just... gave it to me! I honestly didn't expect that and like, little did I know at that time what sort of effect the series would have on me. It actually took me almost half a decade to actually finish it, since I got the game in 2012 but I only managed to finish it in 2016, since i'm very easily distracted, even when it comes to games  that I love and back then it was tough for me to finish JRPGs.

I pulled through though! And I think that's when my true love for the series truly began. P3 sat with me long after I finished it and I ended up getting Persona 4 Golden for Christmas. It didn't take me as long to finish as P3, that's for sure, since I had finished it in a month or so. From there I was just totally hooked, and with Persona 5 just around the corner, it was the ideal time to be into the series. 

I actually honestly can't pick my favorite game. P3 was my first and I really enjoy the themes and the atmosphere of the game, but it is also the roughest in term of gameplay, of the ones i've played at least. P4 gives me this warm feeling inside and it's so familiar to me that it's like a friend in and of itself, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't overplayed a little. And P5 is honestly just incredible, from the visuals and the gameplay to the soundtrack. But I can't pick any of them to be my favorite since they're all just so meaningful to me as a person. There's something about those games that just hooks you in and when you've spent an entire ingame year with them, it's hard for them not to make a meaningful impression on you.

In terms of characters, It's hard for me to really choose between my main favorites either. I'd say that out of all of them though, Marie from P4 is probably my ultimate favorite? She just clicks with me so much and I really just adore her design, her fashion won me over from the moment I met her.

Overall what I love about the series is just how emotionally engaging it is. My first time playing P3, P4 and P5, it felt like I was really emotionally invested with the story and the characters. Whenever I hear the ending credits to any of those games, I get a little sad, but also very happy at the same time, since I remember all of the experiences I had playing them and what it meant to me personally. They also helped me understand a lot about myself and to see my own life in a different way. Their themes really resonated and felt incredibly fresh to me, even if they have been explored through other mediums. I could seriously go on and on for days about how these games are just so incredible, but I don't want this to turn into an essay.

Needless to say, they really have influenced my own works, but in slightly subtler ways. If anything, they just got me thinking more deeply about the themes I want to explore and rather than just exploring them on a surface level, I can really go deeper and with them. 

callilux I always had a feeling you probably like Kaiba (but for no good reason; it was just a strange gut feeling) and seeing it now listed on your profile made me really happy haha I LOVE that anime it's one of my all-time-favourites and I'm glad to find others who like it ; o ; < 3 Do you happen to have any series you'd recommend for those who enjoyed Kaiba? And also, if you had to recommend one manga or anime to someone, what would it be (given the person is up for anything)?

In more OC related questions, it's obvious from your characters you have put a lot of time and effort into them and it's seriously impressive! Do you remember what was the starting point for Gates of Heaven? And has anything changed dramatically from your initial concepts and plans for it? 

Oh gosh, thank you so much!!

My art journey is a little strange one, as I started drawing with an ambition when I was already turning 13 & started by exclusively drawing canines! I drew human art on the side but it was always fanart and I tried to copy the original's style so I learned absolutely nothing and my human art actually got worse during the time I tried to copy Gosho Aoyama's style with Detective Conan fanart, heh. My initial art influences were mainly other canine artist and then furry artist a bit after that once I started doing more anthro, and only when I was 15 I started developing my own style for human art! 

I actually filled this art vs hero meme only a few days back that shows my major human art influences and I think they're a pretty appropriate influence chart, although most of them are only from the past three years or so.

Jun Mochizuki has been a HUGE inspiration for me since I started Pandora Hearts at the age of 15 or so, and I think I got into Kaoru Mori's stuff when I was 17-ish? At 18 I discovered Riyoko Ikeda thanks to Rose of Versailles, and maybe a year and half after that I got into Moto Hagio's manga before I turned 20 and then Takemiya soon followed. Uchida and Kamatani are 2017 finds for me but have had a huge impact on my art & in turn I think Mucha's art has been on-and-off for me ever since I was 16 - I don't know.

I feel like I'm honestly a slow artist and I improve slowly, and the fact I'm entirely self taught has made it so that I don't necessarily go out of my comfort zone as much as I should, but I enjoy taking my time & enjoying drawing haha 

polkadot It feels like a bit of a cop-out asking such a similar question to the one you just asked but I really love your art style and I was wondering what some of your inspirations are. Apart from that, are there any character archetypes you find yourself creating a lot or just particularly like to make?

That's so cool, I love meeting other people who like podcasts! I actually got asked a pretty similar question on this thread before so my answers might be pretty copy-pasted from there, also I'll probably ramble a bit...

Most of the time I listen to audio dramas but in the past few months I've started listening to more non-fiction or talk show podcasts too like Oh No Ross and Carrie, Fictional, Myths and Legends, Wonderful, Sawbones, MBMBAM, Go Fact Yourself, Dear Hank and John, The Anthropocene Reviewed and Still Buffering. In terms of audio dramas I listen to, there's The Bright Sessions, Wolf 359 ( both of which I'm pretty far behind in) Marscorp, Ark City, Death at a Low Price, The Black Tapes, Victoriocity, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, LifeAfter, Welcome to Night Vale, Under Pressure and Greater Boston. 

My favourite audiodramas have to be 

Wooden Overcoats - A comedy about two rival undertakers fighting a (very one-sided battle) for business on the channel island of Piffling Vale. The characters are fun and memorable and all of the voice actors are so good. Also, it is narrated by a mouse named Madeline and what more could you want really.

Our Fair City- This one probably ties with Wooden Overcoats for my favourite comedy audio drama. It's a really fun refreshing take on the post-apocalypse genre. The concept is that 'following a climate-change-related disaster, humanity is now confined to subterranean cities. HartLife, an insurance company, now runs the lives of all "policies" in the city.'  Huge lightning rigs power the city while Mad scientists and adorably monstrous Molepeople walk the earth. But things are beginning to fall apart and it is now uncertain whether this city which has survived through the worst is as perfect as it's citizens are told.

and The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air) - This one is quite hard to describe but the basic plot follows the janitor for the wildly popular, bizarrely impossible radio show, broadcast from the top of the Eiffel tower. The show is surreal and filled with beautiful music and has a cool feel to it. I particularly love the show because I grew up listening to a lot of Story Time tapes and I have super fond memories them and somehow OHC manages to capture the same sort of feeling as listening to those.

Also, I thought I should mention The Adventure Zone, though it's not actually an audio drama, it still tells a story. The characters are just iconic and there are too many hilarious, epic and emotional moments to count. 

My favourite non fiction podcast at the moment has to be Oh No Lit Class (not to be confused with Oh No Ross and Carrie, they are made by different people) where hosts Megan and RJ revisit books everyone is supposed to have read but probably didn't with bad plot summaries, terrible impressions and even worse jokes. The show is hilarious and stupid but you actually finish each episode having learned a lot!

Overall I just really love podcasts, not only do they tell some really cool stories but they are so convenient to listen to, especially when you have an hour-long bus ride each weekday like I do haha.

FellowPigeon I read in your bio that you like podcasts, what are some of your favorites/what are they about? (I’ve recently started listening to podcasts while I draw and am always looking for recommendations)
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Oof I actually have some pretty complex feelings involving my hermit crabs. I had three named Snappy, Shelly, and Sandy and I loved them to pieces. But as much as I liked having them as pets, I probably wouldn’t take on the responsibilty of owning a hermit crab again. The three of them only lived a few years, even though hermit crabs in captivity can live up to twenty- I don’t remember exactly how they died, but I was pretty devastated when it happened. The unfortunate thing was, I was very young at the time and had no idea how to properly take care of a hermit crab. From what I’ve read online they need to be kept in very specific conditions, with a rigorous monitoring of their surrounding’s temperature and humidity. I kept my hermit crabs in a small box with very simple adornments- kind of the equivalent of keeping a fish in a plain bowl with no filter. Still, I try not to blame myself because I didn’t know any better at the time, and being too young to access the internet I was at the complete mercy of the information provided by the company that sold them to me. Despite this, I still have some very fond memories of my hermit crabs. I loved to take them out and watch them crawl around my hands, and enjoyed picking out pretty new shells for them to swap into. They had a pretty prominent place in my kitchen, and every morning I would excitedly come home from school to check on them. I buried the three of them in my garden outside when they passed, some shells are still there to stand as grave markers.