Phil (or Verona)'s Questionnaire

Phil lives in Seattle in Capitol Hill. They are from Wenatchee but moved to Seattle for school, then dropped out after 2 years to pursue their tattooing. Back in those days property was cheap enough to buy a studio/apartment without too much capital, which they were able to do in '99 and never left. It seems to them like a good place to live partially due to the general social attitude and partially due to the climate. They have always loved the outside and few places in the country offer more opportunities for meeting wildlife than Seattle. Although, they do sometimes fantasize about moving somewhere more tropical to meet the birds, it's really never going to happen, because like a good little Seattlelite they would not survive the heat.

They own a tattoo studio that they live on top of, and they make their money via tattooing. They have experimented before with selling their prints or their designs, they have licensed some designs in the past to clothing brands and the like, but mostly they make their money by tattooing. Given that they paid off the studio many years ago, their expenses are quite minor, which adds up to a comfortable living. They of course also host local guest artists but have not had any permanent staff. They do have a social media since of course this is required for artists in this day and age, but they do not manage this themselves, the only employee they have manages their social media.

They have numerous animals in both their studio and apartment above it. Their best friend is an African Gray named Crash, and although he is very intelligent they still wish they could have more meaningful conversations, not to mention the understanding that they should not try to be violent towards the other animal residents. There used to be a rat living in the studio but now any rodents live upstairs just in case, and the studio houses only Crash and some fish. What they want above all else is for other people to see their animal friends the way they do, and they believe the only way for that to be true is to give them human level intelligene and the ability to speak human language, and they will do anything to achieve this. Their other major priority is the ability to shapeshift, partially because of gender reasons and partially because they want to be able to understand what it is like to be the animals they love.

Their love of animals began when they interacted with an overly socialized bird as a child. The crow had imprinted on humans as a baby and was now unsafe in cities because of being so brazen, since if a crow bites or pecks a human they might be killed. Phil did not have a negative experience with the crow but heard about its death after someone reported it to animal control, and they became convinced this would not have happened if it had been understood as a person and not an animal. Phil and the crow were proper friends, but of course they never could take it home with them, and as a result (according to them) it died.