So, this has been a long time coming. In fact, this was going to happen around October of 2017, but computer troubles prevented it. But that gave me plenty of time, at least, to think on it aaaand...

...I don't think FA is the right place for me anymore. All my anthro artwork has already been cleared from here; and there is a new space forthcoming where it, as well as any new anthro artwork, will be uploaded from here on out.

This was a tricky decision, but, ultimately I think, the right one for me. I'll be contacting several of you about staying in touch outside here/other spaces where you might post your work.

Thanks for all your guys' time and support while I've made this site my home for my anthro work, some of you all the way back from when I was MalloCat, some of you from the CylindricalPerv days. I'll still be around this big ol' internet, so don't you cry. :)

This journal will either be deleted or edited once I've wrapped up everything here and heard back from the folks I contact.

As for what ultimately caused the decision, I'm keeping that to myself for now. Apologies in advance to the curious! It was not any one person, for the record; but more a product of certain attitudes encouraging some specific toxicities.

I guess it feels weird to write a parting journal without some parting words, but I suck at speeches. Let's see.

I first joined this site when I was an awkward high schooler who wanted to add some animal characters to their already-expansive repertoire but, due to cultural attitudes surrounding such at the time, didn't feel comfortable posting them to my regular art sites. In the time since, I have watched the fandom shift and change and stretch, I have watched public perception of it do the same, I have gone on a whole roller coaster ride of how I engage with my kinks, I've introduced and abandoned characters, I've found friends and lost friends (both in the "separate ways" sense and the "no longer with us" sense), I've discovered numerous things about myself, and I've cultivated my sense of my own place in this fandom (Verdict: probably not furry enough to ever feel comfortable at a con, very much fur-friendly enough to embrace and encourage friends who are themselves in the fandom, often deeper than me, and will absolutely continue to have anthro characters in my character "portfolio"). A lot has changed since those awkward high school years, and I'm pleased to say the majority of it really has been for the better. I've found a lot of wonderful friends and seen a lot of wonderful art and watched a lot of interesting social phenomena unfold.

The takeway, I suppose, is this (and for the record, is unrelated to my leaving): Don't let your fandoms define you, don't let them consume you, don't make them the whole of your identity. But do let them enrich you, let them be one of the lenses for examining your worldview, and celebrate them unashamedly.

See you around, kiddos. To those of you who discover this bat's new cave, I hope you like it.