New User I'm Berry New Here

[Juneberry]

Hihi! How's it going, guys?

I'm Juneberry, but you can call me... Well, any nickname you can think of! I've probably gotten it before anyway. I'm a writer and editor, and I'm also looking to get back into roleplaying, so this forum appeared to be a good fit for me.

Things to know about me... Well, my pen name is Jaluna Rolik, and I also respond to that or nicknames that come from it. At work, most people call me Luna. I've been roleplaying on and off for well over a decade (more like a decade and a half, give or take a couple years).

Things I like besides writing and roleplaying? Well, I'm an avid manga reader, a lover of video games, I like a variety of television series (mostly crime dramas, I notice)... I stream games, I make random youtube videos, and just generally love to try any creative outlet I can.

I'm not sure what else to say here, honestly, so here's my favorite ice breaker:

Do you have a favorite/least favorite scent? Good! Now describe it for me the way you'd explain color to someone born unable to see it, 'cause I have congenital anosmia and it ruins my ability to write smells.

 

[Tiko]

Lillies! Goodness. The smell of lilies takes me right back to growing up in upstate NY and a huge field of tiger lilies that grew next to our house. As for explaining color to someone who can't see... I don't know that you can. It would be liking describing hearing to the deaf, or well, smell to someone who can't smell. If their brain is incapable of interpreting those external stimuli, it would be very hard for them to compare it to anything.

There's a lot of things too that we take for granted. Like, we don't need to explain to someone WHAT purple is, and any attempt to explain it would involve relating it to other colors. But this is useless to someone who has never seen ANY colors. That's the problem you run into when trying to explain these kind of things to people who have never experienced them. There's nothing to compare/connect them to easily.

That said, I could take a crack at describing smells, because I think that smell is closer to our other senses than sight is. Every object you touch has a unique 'feel'. Soft, hard, prickly, itchy, cool, hot, smooth, metalic, furry, etc. And as you build associations with certain touches and sensations you can touch something and recognize it without even looking. The feel of the carpet, the texture of the wall, the soft fur of a cat, the warm hug of a family member, etc. Smell is kind of like that. Only everything has a unique odor to it instead of a touch, but our brains learn to recognize them in the same way. When we smell something we know what it is without having to see or touch it. That's why when I smell lilies it brings me back to that tiger lily field.

Smell goes a bit further than touch though, in that it has similarities to sound. When you hear something you can tell that it's loud, or soft and know if it's close or far away. You can tell what direction it's coming from. Smell does the same. You can tell that a smell is faint, or strong, and tell if it's closer/farther away and what direction it is by turning and moving around.

And now with all that said.... welcome to Storyteller's Circle

 

[Juneberry]

Thank you for explaining the difficulties of my ice breaker! The reason I like to ask it is I feel that, as a writer, you should be able to provoke all the senses... But I can't smell things, so I can't describe how things smell! You can't describe what you don't know, right? I treat that ice breaker as research, and as a bonus I get to learn what people like and don't like... so it's sort of a win win! Plus it's fun to see people try to describe it for me- some people really explain it well, while others just say it's the same as how it tastes. I like the fact that you instead explained why it's such a difficult question, rather than trying to impress me with an awkward attempt at a description.

 

[Tiko]

Hah. If things smelled the same as it tastes, no one would eat a lot of things! Onions, certain cheeses, fermented foods, vinegars... That said, they do tend to overlap a bit, especially since they become merged when you eat, and your brain combines a smell with a specific taste. And from what I understand, when you can't smell foods, you lose a chunk of that merging, and foods can wind up blander, or lacking in certain tastes that are a combination of the taste buds and smell.

I know someone who lost their sense of smell for a while, and that's one of the biggest things they noticed. Food became very bland. So smell isn't the same as something tastes, but rather it works with and enhances tastes.

 

[Tiko]

Popping back in to let you know that we approved your account Welcome to Storyteller's Circle!

 

[Juneberry]

In my case the difference is I was born without the sense, so I also was born with the way my ability to taste works. I don't know what normal tastes are to other people- just myself. It's interesting that way, too.

 

[Fractured]

I'm Juneberry, but you can call me... Well, any nickname you can think of!

I shall call you Squishy, and you shall be mine! You shall be my Squishy!

Damp basements are my favorite smell. The kind of basements that are stone and give the impression of a claustrophobic dungeon. They smell like a humidifier feels: pleasantly damp in the nose. It's a cold smell too, one that hits the back of your throat and cools your core as it flows into your center. Some people drown in the smell, the moisture and everything it grows causing their sinuses and lungs to burn. When you step into it there is a noticable shift in atmosphere as it becomes heavier, even oppressive. It's a scent that surrounds and permeates a person, pressing in and through, making you aware of every breath. To others it's a negative smell: water sitting where water might not supposed to be. To me it's a weighted blanket; a calming, silent hug that makes it just a little harder to breath.

It's a nostalgic scent that reminds me of my childhood, and that's probably why I enjoy it so much when most people really don't at all Honestly, that's a really fun little writing exercise! I love it when people describe details like that in game, it can really add so much to a scene!