Expio
(#87885172)
Dawn Sr's Attempt To Raise Another Child
Familiar
Regal Silkmith
Click or tap to view this dragon in Predict Morphology.
Energy: 50/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Light.
Female Aberration
This dragon is benefiting from the effects of eternal youth.
This dragon is an ancient breed.
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Personal Style
Ancient dragons cannot wear apparel.
Scene
Measurements
Length
1.50 m
Wingspan
1.23 m
Weight
20.41 kg
Genetics
Gold
Diamond (Aberration)
Diamond (Aberration)
Gold
Spade (Aberration)
Spade (Aberration)
Flaxen
Flameforger (Aberration)
Flameforger (Aberration)
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 1 Aberration
EXP: 0 / 245
STR
7
AGI
8
DEF
6
QCK
6
INT
5
VIT
8
MND
5
Biography
AKA "Dawn Sr's Attempt To Raise Another Child"
sorry not sorry, you probably need to read everything here first.
- a spirit born out of dawn sr's sunfire; given her track record and the fact that she's actively trying to atone, she decided to raise them. it also helps that they persistently follow her everywhere she goes.
- kinda difficult to raise, perhaps inner turmoil that's supposed to represent dawn sr and stuff (regina doesn't count).
- the fire on them IS her sunfire. fortunately (or unfortunately), it's rather powerful.
- from Latin, meaning: "I make amends or atonement for a crime or a criminal; atone for, expiate, purge by sacrifice; repair, appease" / "I punish, avenge" / "(of an omen or sign) I avert". guess which meaning refers to which head?
- they like being referred to collectively anyway, even if each head heavily disagrees with the other's approach (cough cough symbolism)
art by me, ft dawn sr & expio
by TrueTerror
"..."
"..."
"Dawn?"
"...I know," is her quiet response as the tiny Aberration coughs yet again and breaths out another round of sunfire. The sinking feeling only intensifies when she realises, dismayed, that it's her sunfire, which means everyone else is going to know within the day at best. Dawn figures she's at least fortunate that the room hasn't been set on fire yet.
"Well," Regina makes a humming sound and neatly sidesteps the next fireball, "what are you going to call them?"
Dawn blinks. That's honestly the last thing she expected to hear from Regina, but Dawn supposes that all the Clan's regular shenanigans and mayhem have probably gotten to her and she's been desensitied to the chaos. "I... thought you would be more concerned about the whole affair."
"Have you seen the Chaotic Quartet?"
That's fair, Dawn has to concede silently. Still, she has a more pressing problem to deal with.
"Please stop."
It's not even that loud, but miraculously the black head stops attempting to commit arson. The yellow head lets out a little whine, and it and the black head start communicating with a series of growls. Eventually, though, they sit on the floor, twin tails wagging, and all of their eyes are trained on her. Dawn swallows her dread. At least she's established that they can understand and listen to her.
"Thank you," she says, trying not to let her nervousness show. "I... what's your name?"
The yellow head does its best impression of a shrug. The black one just stares flatly at her. Well. That's not exactly helping. Then again, given that they were literally born barely five minutes ago, they're far more likely to be waiting for her to give them a name.
Dawn turns to Regina in silence. Regina gives her a look to try and communicate that she has to do it herself.
"...how do you feel about Expio?" Dawn tries, and resolutely ignores the second Look Regina casts her.
The yellow head yips, and the Aberration attempts to clamber onto the armchair and then onto her forearms. Fortunately, the sunfire doesn't seem to hurt her, and she can see Regina trying to stifle a grin as she awkwardly pats their heads and they attempt to snuggle against her.
Well... it could be much worse.
"Expio, then."
"You're taking this surprisingly well," Dawn observes.
Hikari shrugs in her direction. "I've seen weirder, and Regina exists."
Right. She knows.
"Besides, rumours spread quite quickly."
Dawn winces. "That fast?"
Hikari gives her a solemn nod, then pushes the forms over. "At this point, why are you still surprised? Now, here are the adoption forms. I took the liberty to fill in the details for you, please sign here."
Dawn takes the proffered quill and reads through the form. If there's anything she's good at, it's proofreading and scanning documents thoroughly (that, and architecture). Well, everything seems to be in order, so she signs it and hands it back over
"Congratulations are in order, I suppose," Hikari finishes, before a flash of something resembling mischief flits across her expression. "Oh, and you should probably get a fire extinguisher while you're at it."
"To put out the fires?"
"No, but because then you can both be de-lighted."
Dawn throws the pillow she was clutching at her.
Ava Starling blinks twice. It's rare to see her caught off-guard, but Dawn figures she could at least help with the situation.
"You... require help to raise the child? Don't you have Crystalline? ...no, wait, he's out doing some backroom diplomacy, right."
The backroom diplomacy in question is strictly confidential; how did she- right. She's Ava Starling. She has her own intelligence networks.
"Unfortunately, my track record is..." she trails off and chooses to finish what's left of her tea. Obediently, the Greenwing Razorclaw Ava's been raising tops up her cup... wait.
"Did you spike my tea?"
The Greenwing Razorclaw startles, then looks down at its feet, ashamed, as the vial in its claws clatters to the ground. Ava levels a glare at it.
"Lesson for you," the green Skydancer says dryly. "Don't get caught, and if you're going to do it at least do it properly and don't spill it on my desk. Also, don't bother with her; she's far too useful as an asset, and I'm fairly sure she's immune to poison anyway."
Well, that is very Ava. Figures. Dawn doesn't know what to make of being called an "asset", but then again from what she knows of her, Ava thinks everyone's an asset anyway.
The Greenwing Razorclaw lets out a caw. Dawn doesn't understand it, but clearly Ava does, because the latter follows up with, "I didn't introduce you? This is Dawn Sr - yes, that Dawn Sr. And this is Shahrokh, sorry about that. He says it was only a mild laxative, but still."
Dawn silently absorbs this information and takes a sip of the tea. It doesn't seem spiked, so she supposes that's a good thing. If it were... she probably wouldn't be affected given her constitution, but Expio would probably be tearing their way here from where she asked Regina to occupy them with books.
"I would introduce you to Apollo, but he's out with Maria," Ava continues, like they're merely discussing the weather over tea and snacks, and not Dawn's latest magical mishaps. Then again, any conversation with Ava is always like this; despite the deliberate levity, she cannot dispel the feeling that she's playing a losing game of chess with her while her every word is heavily scrutinised for any and every possible subtext and implication. "Why are you asking me for advice? Your daughter is older than me, and my only experience with raising children is with Maria and Shahrokh."
Dawn barely suppresses her smile. "Maria?"
Ava gives her a level look in response, electing instead to take a sip of her tea. "I will not deign to answer that in case it gets back to her."
Fair.
Dawn gently cuts a small portion of herb butter to spread on her bread while mulling over her next few words. Having something she can use to occupy her thoughts with is... a nice change, she supposes.
"In that case, do you have books on child rearing, or at the very least, would you be amenable to babysitting them?"
"I am not very good with children."
"Past experience with Asa and Benthos says otherwise."
Ava does have to concede that point (and given Asa's well-known fear of scary adults, the fact that she managed to get the Aberration to trust her is a feat unto itself). "Alright, alright, I will try. No guarantees, however."
"Before you ask, yes, I heard, no, sunfire is vastly different from what the Academia teaches, yes, I'm trying to develop some spells against it but no, they're still in development, and yes, I can lend you books on child rearing, but haven't you already raised several children before this?"
Dawn blinks. Well, she certainly hadn't expected Polaris to rattle off that whole spiel, but then again she hasn't been the most subtle with asking around for help. She glances down at where she's securely holding Expio, then back up at the Archmage.
"...yes, but none of them have been as... volatile as them."
She gets a fireball blasted at her face from the black head for the trouble, but elects to shrug it off. She is immune to her own magic, after all.
"I see," Polaris nods almost sagely. If Dawn didn't know better, she wouldn't have spotted the almost imperceptible trembling of the former's shoulders - evidently, Polaris has nearly mastered the art of suppressing her laughter.
"
"Wait, so they're
A wide grin that Asteria reserves only for when she's planning her next big prank appears on her face, and Dawn cannot help but feel a trickle of weariness down her spine.
Dawn Senior stares.
Dawn Junior stares back.
Idly, Dawn wonders how long it'll take her daughter to break the deadlock first. It's not a matter of debate as to who'll break it first - it simply boils down to the fact that she herself has endless patience while the upper limit for her daughter is around five hours or so.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's perspective), Expio launches themself at Dawn Jr. The latter's usual facade immediately slips from attempting to be calm to panicking as she dodges the sunfire being blasted at her face.
"Mother, what the h-"
Dawn, however, is too preoccupied with attempting to restrain Expio to listen to her, let alone respond. She may or may not have dropped the library books on the floor, but Polaris can probably forgive her.
"Sorry about that," she says evenly, once Expio is properly secured in her arms. "
Dawn takes a peek into the room, and is treated to the surreal sight of Ava having what seems like a genuine smile on her face as she and Expio work on a jigsaw puzzle. Even the intimidating aura is gone. She doesn't want to interrupt the moment, though, so she quickly takes her leave.
"Mother?"
Dawn already knows who it is, and quite frankly she's not in the mood for conversation. She can either pretend to not have heard by continuing to read her book, or she can respond. Maybe any other day, she would have chosen the former. But today...
"
"It could be worse," Laurel observes. "At least they're not setting everything and anything on fire."
"...that sounds like a rather low bar," is Dawn's rather sceptical reply.
Laurel just shrugs at her. "I'm just saying... I would rather deal with a hyperactive child than a group of hyperaggressive Peahats swarming the Observatory."
The both of them let out simultaneous shudders at the memory; the Post-Dusk Peahat Incident is easily up there in Dawn's Top Five Worst Experiences Ever, which, given her past, is quite the accomplishment, and not least of which is because of finding at least ten Peahats in her bedroom alone and getting swarmed by more than fifty after opening the door. So, Dawn has to concede that she's right.
The both of them watch Expio chase after Shahrokh (Ava is nowhere to be seen) throughout the sprawling gardens outside of Dawn's house in silence. Laurel reaches for yet another Charged Duneberry and munches on it as Dawn chews on her own thoughts. Normally, Dawn would think that the sheer volume of High-Voltage Almonds and Charged Duneberries the lawyer eats on a daily basis would be rather concerning, but she seems to be perfectly alright so far, and it would be hypocritical of her to judge (haha). So, Dawn reaches for the teapot and refills her cup with tea, then sets it back down with a clink on the table.
"...you look troubled," Laurel finally says. "Is it about Dawn Jr?"
"...yes and no," Dawn admits. "On one hand, I did talk to her. She's still mad at me, which is understandable, but..."
"But?"
"I... do not wish to hold onto grudges," is what she finally goes with. "Obsessing over the past for too long is almost never beneficial. Though...
sorry not sorry, you probably need to read everything here first.
- a spirit born out of dawn sr's sunfire; given her track record and the fact that she's actively trying to atone, she decided to raise them. it also helps that they persistently follow her everywhere she goes.
- kinda difficult to raise, perhaps inner turmoil that's supposed to represent dawn sr and stuff (regina doesn't count).
- the fire on them IS her sunfire. fortunately (or unfortunately), it's rather powerful.
- from Latin, meaning: "I make amends or atonement for a crime or a criminal; atone for, expiate, purge by sacrifice; repair, appease" / "I punish, avenge" / "(of an omen or sign) I avert". guess which meaning refers to which head?
- they like being referred to collectively anyway, even if each head heavily disagrees with the other's approach (cough cough symbolism)
|
- the yellow head is an absolute chaos gremlin but tries hard to help!! even if it doesn't work!! - basically they represent the side of her that genuinely wishes to atone (even though more often than not when she does try to help it kinda goes sideways), so they try to get along with almost everyone |
- the black head keeps shooting fireballs everywhere and setting everything on fire (well, sunfire), most of the time they're kinda angry and paranoid, and they noticeably don't like dawn jr - they represent the side of her that can't move on and be at peace with stuff yet, and they've inherited all her subconscious grudges |
art by me, ft dawn sr & expio
by TrueTerror
"..."
"..."
"Dawn?"
"...I know," is her quiet response as the tiny Aberration coughs yet again and breaths out another round of sunfire. The sinking feeling only intensifies when she realises, dismayed, that it's her sunfire, which means everyone else is going to know within the day at best. Dawn figures she's at least fortunate that the room hasn't been set on fire yet.
"Well," Regina makes a humming sound and neatly sidesteps the next fireball, "what are you going to call them?"
Dawn blinks. That's honestly the last thing she expected to hear from Regina, but Dawn supposes that all the Clan's regular shenanigans and mayhem have probably gotten to her and she's been desensitied to the chaos. "I... thought you would be more concerned about the whole affair."
"Have you seen the Chaotic Quartet?"
That's fair, Dawn has to concede silently. Still, she has a more pressing problem to deal with.
"Please stop."
It's not even that loud, but miraculously the black head stops attempting to commit arson. The yellow head lets out a little whine, and it and the black head start communicating with a series of growls. Eventually, though, they sit on the floor, twin tails wagging, and all of their eyes are trained on her. Dawn swallows her dread. At least she's established that they can understand and listen to her.
"Thank you," she says, trying not to let her nervousness show. "I... what's your name?"
The yellow head does its best impression of a shrug. The black one just stares flatly at her. Well. That's not exactly helping. Then again, given that they were literally born barely five minutes ago, they're far more likely to be waiting for her to give them a name.
Dawn turns to Regina in silence. Regina gives her a look to try and communicate that she has to do it herself.
"...how do you feel about Expio?" Dawn tries, and resolutely ignores the second Look Regina casts her.
The yellow head yips, and the Aberration attempts to clamber onto the armchair and then onto her forearms. Fortunately, the sunfire doesn't seem to hurt her, and she can see Regina trying to stifle a grin as she awkwardly pats their heads and they attempt to snuggle against her.
Well... it could be much worse.
"Expio, then."
"You're taking this surprisingly well," Dawn observes.
Hikari shrugs in her direction. "I've seen weirder, and Regina exists."
Right. She knows.
"Besides, rumours spread quite quickly."
Dawn winces. "That fast?"
Hikari gives her a solemn nod, then pushes the forms over. "At this point, why are you still surprised? Now, here are the adoption forms. I took the liberty to fill in the details for you, please sign here."
Dawn takes the proffered quill and reads through the form. If there's anything she's good at, it's proofreading and scanning documents thoroughly (that, and architecture). Well, everything seems to be in order, so she signs it and hands it back over
"Congratulations are in order, I suppose," Hikari finishes, before a flash of something resembling mischief flits across her expression. "Oh, and you should probably get a fire extinguisher while you're at it."
"To put out the fires?"
"No, but because then you can both be de-lighted."
Dawn throws the pillow she was clutching at her.
Ava Starling blinks twice. It's rare to see her caught off-guard, but Dawn figures she could at least help with the situation.
"You... require help to raise the child? Don't you have Crystalline? ...no, wait, he's out doing some backroom diplomacy, right."
The backroom diplomacy in question is strictly confidential; how did she- right. She's Ava Starling. She has her own intelligence networks.
"Unfortunately, my track record is..." she trails off and chooses to finish what's left of her tea. Obediently, the Greenwing Razorclaw Ava's been raising tops up her cup... wait.
"Did you spike my tea?"
The Greenwing Razorclaw startles, then looks down at its feet, ashamed, as the vial in its claws clatters to the ground. Ava levels a glare at it.
"Lesson for you," the green Skydancer says dryly. "Don't get caught, and if you're going to do it at least do it properly and don't spill it on my desk. Also, don't bother with her; she's far too useful as an asset, and I'm fairly sure she's immune to poison anyway."
Well, that is very Ava. Figures. Dawn doesn't know what to make of being called an "asset", but then again from what she knows of her, Ava thinks everyone's an asset anyway.
The Greenwing Razorclaw lets out a caw. Dawn doesn't understand it, but clearly Ava does, because the latter follows up with, "I didn't introduce you? This is Dawn Sr - yes, that Dawn Sr. And this is Shahrokh, sorry about that. He says it was only a mild laxative, but still."
Dawn silently absorbs this information and takes a sip of the tea. It doesn't seem spiked, so she supposes that's a good thing. If it were... she probably wouldn't be affected given her constitution, but Expio would probably be tearing their way here from where she asked Regina to occupy them with books.
"I would introduce you to Apollo, but he's out with Maria," Ava continues, like they're merely discussing the weather over tea and snacks, and not Dawn's latest magical mishaps. Then again, any conversation with Ava is always like this; despite the deliberate levity, she cannot dispel the feeling that she's playing a losing game of chess with her while her every word is heavily scrutinised for any and every possible subtext and implication. "Why are you asking me for advice? Your daughter is older than me, and my only experience with raising children is with Maria and Shahrokh."
Dawn barely suppresses her smile. "Maria?"
Ava gives her a level look in response, electing instead to take a sip of her tea. "I will not deign to answer that in case it gets back to her."
Fair.
Dawn gently cuts a small portion of herb butter to spread on her bread while mulling over her next few words. Having something she can use to occupy her thoughts with is... a nice change, she supposes.
"In that case, do you have books on child rearing, or at the very least, would you be amenable to babysitting them?"
"I am not very good with children."
"Past experience with Asa and Benthos says otherwise."
Ava does have to concede that point (and given Asa's well-known fear of scary adults, the fact that she managed to get the Aberration to trust her is a feat unto itself). "Alright, alright, I will try. No guarantees, however."
"Before you ask, yes, I heard, no, sunfire is vastly different from what the Academia teaches, yes, I'm trying to develop some spells against it but no, they're still in development, and yes, I can lend you books on child rearing, but haven't you already raised several children before this?"
Dawn blinks. Well, she certainly hadn't expected Polaris to rattle off that whole spiel, but then again she hasn't been the most subtle with asking around for help. She glances down at where she's securely holding Expio, then back up at the Archmage.
"...yes, but none of them have been as... volatile as them."
She gets a fireball blasted at her face from the black head for the trouble, but elects to shrug it off. She is immune to her own magic, after all.
"I see," Polaris nods almost sagely. If Dawn didn't know better, she wouldn't have spotted the almost imperceptible trembling of the former's shoulders - evidently, Polaris has nearly mastered the art of suppressing her laughter.
"
"Wait, so they're
A wide grin that Asteria reserves only for when she's planning her next big prank appears on her face, and Dawn cannot help but feel a trickle of weariness down her spine.
Dawn Senior stares.
Dawn Junior stares back.
Idly, Dawn wonders how long it'll take her daughter to break the deadlock first. It's not a matter of debate as to who'll break it first - it simply boils down to the fact that she herself has endless patience while the upper limit for her daughter is around five hours or so.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on one's perspective), Expio launches themself at Dawn Jr. The latter's usual facade immediately slips from attempting to be calm to panicking as she dodges the sunfire being blasted at her face.
"Mother, what the h-"
Dawn, however, is too preoccupied with attempting to restrain Expio to listen to her, let alone respond. She may or may not have dropped the library books on the floor, but Polaris can probably forgive her.
"Sorry about that," she says evenly, once Expio is properly secured in her arms. "
Dawn takes a peek into the room, and is treated to the surreal sight of Ava having what seems like a genuine smile on her face as she and Expio work on a jigsaw puzzle. Even the intimidating aura is gone. She doesn't want to interrupt the moment, though, so she quickly takes her leave.
"Mother?"
Dawn already knows who it is, and quite frankly she's not in the mood for conversation. She can either pretend to not have heard by continuing to read her book, or she can respond. Maybe any other day, she would have chosen the former. But today...
"
"It could be worse," Laurel observes. "At least they're not setting everything and anything on fire."
"...that sounds like a rather low bar," is Dawn's rather sceptical reply.
Laurel just shrugs at her. "I'm just saying... I would rather deal with a hyperactive child than a group of hyperaggressive Peahats swarming the Observatory."
The both of them let out simultaneous shudders at the memory; the Post-Dusk Peahat Incident is easily up there in Dawn's Top Five Worst Experiences Ever, which, given her past, is quite the accomplishment, and not least of which is because of finding at least ten Peahats in her bedroom alone and getting swarmed by more than fifty after opening the door. So, Dawn has to concede that she's right.
The both of them watch Expio chase after Shahrokh (Ava is nowhere to be seen) throughout the sprawling gardens outside of Dawn's house in silence. Laurel reaches for yet another Charged Duneberry and munches on it as Dawn chews on her own thoughts. Normally, Dawn would think that the sheer volume of High-Voltage Almonds and Charged Duneberries the lawyer eats on a daily basis would be rather concerning, but she seems to be perfectly alright so far, and it would be hypocritical of her to judge (haha). So, Dawn reaches for the teapot and refills her cup with tea, then sets it back down with a clink on the table.
"...you look troubled," Laurel finally says. "Is it about Dawn Jr?"
"...yes and no," Dawn admits. "On one hand, I did talk to her. She's still mad at me, which is understandable, but..."
"But?"
"I... do not wish to hold onto grudges," is what she finally goes with. "Obsessing over the past for too long is almost never beneficial. Though...
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