mackerelgray: Picrew art of a light-skinned human-looking android with wavy brown hair falling in their face, smiling. (jude)
mackerelgray ([personal profile] mackerelgray) wrote2025-10-16 12:13 pm
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dragonlinking go brrrrr

Written by Jude Rook-Machina on October 16th, 2025.

so the Linking is going great! I'm having FUN with this, hey fellow alterhumans we don't talk enough about how fun and enriching it can be to introspect and design forms for yourself that feel good and cool and right for you! copinglinks are cool and 'linking is cool and I'm having the time of my life

I have design notes after this, don't go anywhere :V

Reference sheet of a Western dragon in profile, showing off their two knife-shaped horns, their fluffy furred mane and tail tip, and large pointed falcon-like webbed wings. The wing closer to the viewer is folded up, showing that their fingers curl up to reduce their visible wingspan (like a bat!) - the wing further away is stretched out, showing that it's as long as the dragon's torso and tail combined. The same reference image as above, this time in color! The dragon has bright red scales, shading darker towards their feet and along the top side of their body. Their fluffy mane is bright purple, and that same purple colors their claws and the edges of their knife-shaped horns.

Design Notes!

  • small for a dragon, i Need to be a holdable size. bigger dragons can Pick Me Up
  • fluffey because I like being v pettable and also with my history, I'm designed to look kinda cute and nonthreatening as a person!
  • knife horns! because I thought oooooh my horns should look like my knives 👀 yay my knives from my ex-job! \o/ tribute to them (emotional support knives for emotional support murder)
  • big pointy ears for the dog energy! also the muzzle shape a bit
  • falcon type wings because hunting by striking things very fast is very relatable and cool and fun, and i deserve Really Cool Acrobatics (dive bombing my enemies)
  • (the "finger bending?" note on the art was me realizing "oh yeah fingers curl when relaxed, this also happens to bats. wing origami unlocked!" because earlier I was trying and failing to understand how I was supposed to walk around with wings that long)
  • stripes because i like stripey patterns! they feel very me, i think we have a List of traits that max wrote for me in AUs and im sure "being stripey when animal" was on there

and I chose this first option for color schemes because NEON SPARKLEDRAGON GO, I DESERVE THIS, and the colors have cool personal symbolism! but i also have other ideas! like

  • dark base with several bright colors
  • bird of prey browns and barring
  • brown but with huge neon eyespots or similar on the wings

I have OPTIONS. I can do ANYTHING. this is actually too much power, I like making designs for myself and it's one of the most fun parts of making new AUs and this is a dragon AU but it's Also something I'm trying on here! for myself!! phantom scales and wings are really fun!

I'm thriving and in my lane and looking very cute about it :> I can be vain, dragons are vain! honestly a big reason I've chosen to be a dragon is because dragons are often really self-confident and I want to feel more of that! and it turns out that it's FUN and EASY to be confident when you're a BIG FLYING REPTILE with COOL HORNS and GEMSTONE COLORS! it's really hard to feel worthless when you're a fucking dragon! it rules! copinglinks rule! okay bye I'm gonna draw more art of myself

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gze: Portrait of a dark reddish-brown barghest-dragon with ram-like horns, red eyes, and visible fangs. (E)

[personal profile] gze 2025-10-16 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
hellll yeah dragon time and choosing your own form let's heckin goooo ╰(▔∀▔)╯

-E
mackerelgray: Picrew art of a light-skinned human-looking android with wavy brown hair falling in their face, smiling. (jude)

[personal profile] mackerelgray 2025-10-17 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)

i love agency i love grabbing my future and going "hey i get to choose how to express my existence and im choosing to be a fucking dragon"

writtenincantordust: A visualization of a dodecacontachoron, or 120-cell (the 4-dimensional equivalent of a dodecahedron) over a blue gradient. (Default)

[personal profile] writtenincantordust 2025-10-17 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Wouldn't it be "dragonlinking go rrraaarrr" or whatever noise dragons make /j

In all seriousness though, you're absolutely right that there needs to be way more talk about linking and the benefits of deciding "y'know what, I'm Thing now" for the hell of it. Sometimes, what you need is being a very good fluffy neon sparkledragon. For morale.
mackerelgray: Picrew art of a light-skinned human-looking android with wavy brown hair falling in their face, smiling. (jude)

[personal profile] mackerelgray 2025-10-17 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)

dragonlinking go rawr you're SO right

and yeah! linking is NOT like just being the thing, like I did not choose to be an android and I just happened to be one with all the baggage that comes with it. I AM choosing to be a dragon though, with the intent to focus on the beautiful parts of the experience, and it's really different! I mean I kinda chose to be human in a similar way, of "this sparks joy way more than the thing I was originally, I'm gonna say I'm this new thing to express my agency and control over my own life," and honestly I like that way more than "I was always this way and I had no choice in being like this." No I did choose to be me the way I am now! I have the agency to choose who I want to be! And I'm choosing to be a cute fluffy neon sparkledragon for morale and it FUCKS!

leo9ish: Headshot of my fursona, a lion with horns and dragon wings. (Default)

[personal profile] leo9ish 2025-10-17 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)

i Need to be a holdable size. bigger dragons can Pick Me Up

Hold derg gentle like hamburger

Here's another HELL YEAH! for fluffy neon sparkledragon Jude. Good to hear your 'linking is going well!

mackerelgray: Picrew art of a light-skinned human-looking android with wavy brown hair falling in their face, smiling. (jude)

[personal profile] mackerelgray 2025-10-18 11:09 am (UTC)(link)

hold derg gentle like hamburger so true... im like. a solid Half The Height of several of my dragon friends who have admitted they're not even very large dragons! which is news to me because I thought they were big, but no, there are bigger dragons who are like the size of airliners?? so I can snuggle under my friends' wings and be picked up hamburger style by other huge dragons! wild!

im SO fluffy and brightly colored and cute! somehow in the day since drawing the pictures up there i got Four (4) pieces of gift art?? the beautiful nature of having friends who can make art really fast and use their powers for whimsy

lightning_beast: A statue of a western style dragon. It's primarily black with purple and cyan accents. (Comet)

[personal profile] lightning_beast 2025-10-19 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm curious, how large are you as a dragon? I'm about horse sized as far as I know but that seems to be towards the smaller side. In other news, I really love the fluffy mane+tail, they work well together. Knife horns are cool too! - Comet
mackerelgray: Picrew art of a light-skinned human-looking android with wavy brown hair falling in their face, smiling. (jude)

[personal profile] mackerelgray 2025-10-20 01:41 am (UTC)(link)

I think I'm like ~5 feet tall at the shoulders, so I'm actually also about the same height as a horse! Definitely longer with the wings and tail and all, but I'm still a relatively small dragon! I know dragons twice my size who don't even consider themselves very big! Dragon size diversity is ridiculous :V

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