Dunes

I would, but I am not down for listening to 8 hours of me and my dog snoring and sleep barking. Even though I'm pretty sure I only did that last part once, personally. (I woke myself up barking once. I don't know why.)

((Aaa delayed again, sorry. The past few weeks have been a long slog of sending out endless resumes. Job hunting, ughh. )) Sapphire arched an eyebrow at Timbre, grinning. “A contest, huh? I actually hadn’t thought of that, but I like the way you think.” What could they keep score over? Number of odd looks, number of strange ponies they could rope into dancing, or the first one to get arrested… Maybe not that last one. Well, maybe it didn’t need to be quite as simple as that. Timbre had some chops, and he was quick on his hooves. “Alright then, straight-up song contest? Let’s see who can get these sleepyheads and sourpusses goin’.” Sapphire beamed, wiggling in anticipation. “Whaddaya think, full songs, or swap off each verse and improvise? You got any more songs stirrin’ in that noggin?” She backed up a few steps, nodding towards the fountain. "I'll let you start. Let's see what you got, fancy pony!"

This isn't so much a planned break as it is an apology for sluggish replies and a notice that it may continue for a little bit. Roommate and I have less than a month left on our lease, are too broke to lease at a new place, and are basically scrambling to find jobs. Things have been busy and stressful. I know I'm not in a whole lot of threads right now but I'm sorry to keep folks waiting. Adulthood sucks.

Crystal panted in between verses, still tired after the day's events. Being a Manehattan native had trained her to belt out long strings of obscenities, and this song was almost the same thing, but this was the desert. The desert lacked vendor ponies offering bottles of water and snacks. So far, the desert kind of sucked. She was glad of the little filly joining in. It was a song that was hard to escape, and she saw that it was clearly true even out in these parts. Even so, she'd forgotten the next verse. "Uh... EQ-UES-TRIA GIRLS... P-P-P-PONY FACE, P-PONY FACE... I'M... pony and I know it?" Crystal looked at Arrow and shrugged. "I'm out." She yelled in Milky's direction, her shrill city accent coming out in full. "HEY! Are they gone? I dunno any more songs, but I can insult their mothers for ya! Do you think coyotes speak Equestrian?" "HEY COYOTES. YO MAMA'S SO HAIRY, SHE LOOKS LIKE A CHIA PET WITH A SWEATER ON." For the first time today, she felt some remnants of her confidence coming back. Deserts, she didn't know so well. Yelling? Yelling, she knew. Yelling, she was good at. Stupid desert. Stupid fire. Stupid coyotes! All that anger boiled up inside of her, settling in a place well-known to all children of Manehattan. She stomped toward the mouth of the cave. "YO MAMA'S SOOOOO UGLY, WE PUT HER IN THE KENNEL WHEN WE LEAVE TOWN. Wait, that one makes sense. HEY! YO MAMA'S SO FAT, I RAN AROUND HER TWICE AND GOT LOST."

Sapphire grinned at Timbre, wiggling her shoulders in excitement. “It’s one thing to sing where ponies are expectin’ it; it’s another to bring music to ponies had no idea they wanted it.” She grinned and winked at him. She trotted a little bit faster, keeping an eye out for where there might be a group of ponies. This time of night, it was a mix of law enforcement, drunken ponies making their way home, and a grab bag varied, colorful night denizens. There was a little area around a fountain, lit by flickering lamps. There seemed to be a few ponies milling around, with the occasional guard patrol. She grinned. “Art’s always a little more interesting to me when it’s in places it’s not supposed to be.” “Whaddaya say to a little song ‘n dance number?” She beamed at Timbre, her eyes twinkling in anticipation. "Bonus points if you can get a stranger to dance with ya."

I am sad to read that you have met so many mean bronies at your meetups. Who could be mean to Rose?! >:[ There's a DFW group that I keep meaning to go to, but then I keep having to work odd hours and weekends. RESPONSIBILITIES.

H-hey! I might not be working weekends by then! And Austin is not that bad of a drive from DFW! WANT.

Ooo! Ooo! I have two. I have a pony ask blog (also linked in my signature). I haven't had any questions in foreverrr so feel free to send some my way. Aaand I also have a regular personal blog that I put some of my art on sometimes, but is also just some random reblogs I happened to like.

I haven't been as huge into pony with the drought. But I don't blame the drought so much. I mostly blame Legend of Korra. >.> (AASDADAL:KSD SO GOOD OH GOD I had all of The Last Airbender on Netflix to watch at my whim, and now I'm waiting for new episodes every week like a plebeian.) That said, pony Tumblrs are where it's at. There are some really awesome ones out there.

(So apparently I've gone for months and months and months without knowing that the forums have a post tracking feature. >.> Hahaha. But the French is fine! Though I wouldn't say no to some OOC translations in a footnote or something, if the mood struck ya.) As she listened to Timbre’s story, she couldn’t fight the urge to grin. It was just too precious; picturing this artistic stallion as a tiny colt, singing as he weaved around his mother’s workshop. He seemed to struggle with a few words, but somehow that just added to the charm of the story. “Your Equestrian’s fine, hon, you’re good enough at getting your point across,” she said, smiling. “And your mama came to watch your show? That’s so…” she struggled to find a word other than ‘aww.’ She failed. “So… aww!” “It’s so awesome when parents encourage their foals. 'Cause then we get artists like you!" She nodded at him, smiling. "I dunno what I would’ve done if mine hadn’t, other than get stuck in Hoofington.” Her quick pace slowed a little as she thought what that would’ve been like. She probably would be playing in musty, stinky bars every night. She wrinkled her nose. Gesturing to the three blue stars on her cream-colored flank, she laughed. “I got this by causin’ a ruckus, as usual.” Each step she took as she pranced along went just a little higher with the memory of it. “I knew I liked music, well enough, and I knew I liked singin’, even back in Hoofington. But I went for so long with no cutie mark!” She tilted her head dramatically and mocked a pout. “I started to wonder if I was gonna get it at all.” “I came to Canterlot to live with my aunt, though, and then I saw this one singer. She sang, yeah, but that’s not all she did. She was just as much about the spectacle as the music.” Passion was stirring and swirling in her chest as she talked; her voice quavered. “It wasn’t just a performance for listening. It was for seeing, and participating, and dancing, and… and… being.” Pausing for a moment, she found herself blinking back a tear. She took a breath, recomposed herself. “Anyway, getting’ out of that I just had to put on my own little number. I danced, I sang, I danced with ponies on the street. Pretty sure I wore a plant for a costume.” She laughed. “I had everyone lookin’ at me by the end. Got home,” she pointed a hoof at her mark, “and these babies were there!” A thought occurred to her. Grinning mischievously, she asked, “You ever do any performance art, Mr. Timbre?”

Hey, I didn't know they turned my entire childhood into a website! (... Let's be honest, it's my adulthood too. I don't want to think about how much I've spent on this dog this year alone. -.-)

As I recall, there's kind of a crowbar separation between furries and otherkin. Otherkin see therianthropy as a religion/spirituality thingy, whereas furries just think it would be fun to draw themselves as/dress up as a fox or something. Otherkin thus don't care for being lumped in with the furry crowd. At least, that's how it was back when I was into the furry community, I don't know if the tides have changed lately. I used to be pretty into it! Talking animals made me like cartoons way more than cartoons that just had people in 'em as a kid, and that kinda stuck. Combine that love with a general inability to draw humans as a middle schooler, and the furry community was a godsend for me. Gave me a place to draw stuff I liked to draw and was okay at without having people go, "why does that man have a dog head?" I've since expanded my artistic horizons, and my friends who were into it moved on, so I haven't had much of a reason to stick around over the past several years. Still have a soft spot in my heart for it, though. The furry community is a little different than, say, the Brony community, since most of the content is fan-generated. There's some media that they latch onto (like Disney's Robin Hood, or Tale Spin, and stuff like that) but there's no one single franchise that brings them together. It's more the concept of talking animals/talking animal-people that brings them together, so there's a lot of variation in what gets produced. And, yes, fursonas are basically ponysonas, but furries instead of ponies. Sometimes they ended up being a character unto themselves, other times they were just, well... fuzzy versions of the artist. I always thought it was amusing when they ended up having basically the same personality as the artist, but with animalistic quirks. I may or may not have had one. Yes, that is a tiger/dog with a mohawk. I was fourteen when I came up with it, so sue me. (Ahaaha definitely wasn't fourteen when I drew that, though.)

The piercing yips of the coyotes froze Crystal in place. They were close. The pepper spray wouldn't work in here, she knew, which left... Which... left... Nothing. She'd had one pretty good idea about how to protect herself out here, and it wasn't going to work in the cave. She felt Arrow let go of her leg and yell something. Crystal felt compelled to move to defend the filly, but she was completely unable to move. She stared, wide-eyed into the dark for the shapes she wouldn't be able to see. A little voice in the back of her head piped up. I would be dead now if not for other ponies. I would be dead twice if not for other ponies. She swallowed and flattened her ears. How useless was she? A thud jolted her out of her melancholy. She would try to be... not completely useless. Weren't sounds supposed to scare off coyotes? What kind of sound would scare off a coyote? She closed her eyes, imagining herself in Manehattan again, yelling at crazy cab drivers. She took a deep breath, and belted with all of her might... “E-QUES-TRIA GIRLS, WE'RE PONY-FABULOUS, FAST, FINE, FIERCE, WE TROT 'TILL WE DROP! CUTIE MARKS REPRESENT - NOW PUT YOUR HOOVES UP - AO-AO-AH OH, AO-AO-AO-A-OH!” 'Singing' would have been an overly generous term for what came out of her mouth. 'Banshee shriek' was closer to the mark. She had no idea if it would scare off wild animals, but there was no way they'd want to come any closer, either.

((Shoot, sorry this took so long! Been doing a lot of family stuff with my brothers both graduating and lost track of how many days had gone by!)) Ah, so he was still trying to break into the music industry. Sapphire nodded, a sympathetic look on her face. “Yeah, I remember how that is. It’s not a whole lot of fun, scraping by.” She paused to toss several bits in the direction of the barmare. “Tell you what, I’ll ask around. Dunno if my label’s interested in jazz acts, but they might know who is. You’re good though. One way or another, I got a feeling you’ll make it.” She trotted through the door, raising an eyebrow at the state of the door. “Man, I dunno if bars in general are getting drunker or if I’m gettin’ more sober as time goes on, but either way I don’t think I wanna know how they got the door handle sticky. Thanks for holdin’ it open.” The cool night air was a welcome change from the damp, smelly stuff inside. She took a deep breath and let it out again, glad of the change in aroma. She tilted her head at Timbre's question and smiled. Everypony always thought she was from someplace fancy. “Nah, I’m not originally from Canterlot. I was born and bred in Hoofington. My daddy used to work unloadin’ the docks.” She laughed, gesturing at her well-tailored, expensive clothes. “Not that you’d guess by looking at me now. My aunt let me stay with her once I figured out I had a taste for the musical. Not a huge music scene in Hoofington.” Energized by the fresh breeze, she was practically prancing as they walked. “Y’know, anytime I come across musical types, I like to ask – how’d you get your cutie mark? When did you know music was your thing?”

Sapphire beamed at the compliment, and bowed in return. “You’re like to make me blush, Mr. Timbre. I’m surprised I only just heard of ya tonight, with a voice like that. Where do you usually perform?” That pony had some pipes – it’d be a crime if he didn’t have regular gigs. She knew jazz didn’t tend to be as popular as, well, pop, but a singing voice as good as his was hard to come by; that should count for something. (She knew all too well it often didn’t end up counting like it ought to, though.) She hopped off the stage, shaking her tail with a flourish as she landed. “That felt just like bein’ back at home, makin’ up songs for Papa and the dock ponies.” She laughed and ran a hoof over her mane, trying to smooth it out of her eyes. “Well, except I got way better accompaniment this time.” The crowd was getting sleepier, more drunk, or both, and the sticky floor was getting progressively stickier. The muzzy tang of alcohol hung in the air with the distinct smell of… breath. Sapphire yawned, inhaling deeply, and made a face at the nasal assault. “Eugh. Smells like it’s time to wrap things up here. Care to join me for a walk around Canterlot? Oughta be a little more breezy and smell a little less sleazy out there.”

I meant how thick the individual pages were, yes. Computer paper answers that question just fine though. Have you bound books before? This looks really neat and nice. (Not that I know a lot about bookbinding...)

That's cool! The drawings were always what inspired me. I saw a movie recently -- the Secret of Kells. All the animation's inspired by the style in the Book of Kells. It's gorrrgeous. If you're interested in that kind of thing, it's a great movie to watch. Out of curiosity, what weight is the paper you're working with?

I can just imagine a pony-inspired illuminated manuscript in there, with lavish little paintings and calligraphy explaining Equestrian mythology.

Man, that Sapphire Shores best not be real. She's not a unicorn! D:

I hadn't commented so far because I couldn't come up with anything more coherent than sitting slack-jawed at how great that looks. Is it going to be a sketchbook? That would be the most amazing sketchbook ever.

Oh, shoot. Tumblr doesn't let secondary blogs do all that social stuff. I think I may have to delete it and re-make it on a second account. Or... would it not matter? Tumblr is confusing!

Yeeeah! It even got a question! So now there's TWO posts. YES. Now to twiddle my thumbs for a while. XD This is fun. I haven't really let myself sit and do cartoony fun stuff for a while, for whatever reason. Still trying to nail down a coloring/shading style for it, though. I don't want to make it too detailed, or I'll never keep it up.

That... was the perfect response. XD

One-way trip? If I could bring my family and my practically-sisters with me. We could all be ponies together! If I had to leave them, I doubt I'd go. I love 'em too much. Back and forth? Then heck to the yes! Even if I were stuck as a human, I'd probably still go once or twice to check it out. See what poison joke would do to me. If I got to change into a pony every time I went... My family would probably only see me on holidays. XD I'd probably be an earth pony. That, or a unicorn, but I have an affinity for earth ponies. I like that whole "one with the earth and the critters" thing. I've always wanted to have my own little mini-farm setup, anyway, so it'd be perfect. As for smell... There was a bathtub in the show once! I'm going to assume they have running water and some kind of sanitation setup. >.> I'd hope sentient ponies would clean up after themselves.