let me tell you a story. it begins three years ago and stretches all the way to now—the present.

and because it spans all the way to the present, consider it a gift.

.

once upon a time, there was a girl.

her name's not relevant to this love story, but let's call her quark-berry.

quark-berry loved drawing, especially manga-style. it was her passion, her pride and glory. she found a community online that seemed perfect for her: the HTDM forums.

but that wasn't quite right for her-- no, not really. quark-berry noticed that lots and lots of HTDM users had these strange... deviantART accounts?

so after some cajoling and promises and pinky-swears, her parents let her get a dA account.

it was like heaven! she found new friends. she improved dramatically. she was certain she'd never ever leave.

she never thought she'd have to. quark-berry's life was dA; all her friends lived online. the people she went to school with were merely acquaintances, unversed in the wide world of art.

this continued for about two years. a long time. long enough for her to become known-ish, though not famous. long enough for her to go through that horrid cycle of unpopular, wanting to become popular, and finally-- satisfied with oblivion.

quark-berry loved dA, she really did. she loved all the friends she made through it, friends she still talks to sometimes. but after two years... it didn't quite have that sparkle, that shine. her style was migrating, as she realized she couldn’t get the respect she felt she needed.

and then came the biggest, baddest bump in quark-berry's relationship with dA: highschool.

now, quark-berry was an intelligent young lass, and she signed up for all the honors courses she could possibly take. soon she found herself swamped by classwork, and more than that, she began to have friends.

real friends, friends she could call in the middle of the night, friends she could talk to in person. it was strange for quark-berry-- she'd always had trouble with friends before. for some reason or another, she’d never really clicked—never really had anyone she could count on.

and her art style started changing, too: from the manga she adored to something infinitely tougher {at least in her eyes}... realism.

it was inevitable. quark-berry and dA started to drift.

at first it was slow—the odd late post here and there.
then it got worse—apologetic journal entries, mass clearances of deviations.
eventually she was taking month-long breaks, forgetting about dA entirely.

sure, there were some parts of her that missed it.

but quark-berry moved on.

deviantART moved on, too.

.

i joined deviantART almost three years ago. it’s been a fun ride; i’ve learned a lot. there are so many people who taught me so much, and some who didn’t teach me anything at all, but… made my day with every single comment of theirs.

thanks for the comments, the favs, the notes. thanks for the shameless praise, the encouragement, the tough love, the kicks in the arse, the criticism. thanks for it all. thanks to you all.

you’ve probably realized by now that i’m leaving forever. {and if you haven’t, bless} not because i don’t love dA, because i do. just because… well, you drift. you move on. my love affair has ended; it’s time to start somewhere else.

don’t think because i’m leaving we won’t be able to talk! what i love about this place is how though it’s all about the art, it’s not always about the art. so please. note me, comment me, get in touch. google me. i’ll be on the internets.

it was a slow fade, and so it ended.

thanks a bunch, everyone. to those who read this and those who don’t. i know you’ve had enough of my departures, i just figured i’d make this one final. :]

much love to you all!
--quark-berry.

contact info:
-aim: merechyn
-email: [link].dreams@gmail.com
-livejournal: m_erechyn
-facebook: ask me!

…see you around? ♥

may your erasers never smudge, your pencils never break, and above all: may your message remain true.