🟢② Tavio - Chapter 7: Sunlight, Paint and Baby Bottles
Eight months after transforming the old storage room, life changed again.
Talani Graves-Rivera was born.
Their first daughter entered the world and somehow changed everything at once. Tavio and Hallie looked at her with the same expression every new parent seemed to discover sooner or later. Complete disbelief mixed with overwhelming love. Sleep quickly became fragmented and nights rarely unfolded as planned anymore, but neither of them seemed to care very much.
They were entirely captivated by her. Even exhaustion felt different when it arrived carrying tiny hands, soft sounds and sleepy, little expressions.
Not long after the birth, Hallie returned to her work with the Marine. The adjustment was not always easy, but she stepped back into her routine with the same determination she brought into everything else. While she spent her days carrying responsibility elsewhere, Tavio found his own rhythm at home.
He cared for Talani attentively, almost instinctively.
The arrangement fit naturally into the life they had built. During the peaceful hours when Talani slept in her small bed, Tavio returned to his paintings. The house often became quiet then. Brushes moved across canvas while sunlight wandered slowly through the rooms.
His work still did not bring in much money. Not yet. But Hallie remained the steady foundation beneath everything, allowing him the freedom to continue learning and improving without pressure constantly waiting behind him. Tavio appreciated that more than he often put into words.
At night, whenever Talani needed a bottle or simply wanted comfort, Tavio usually rose first. Hallie often barely had time to wake before he had already left the room with the baby in his arms.
He never treated it like sacrifice. He simply knew how much energy her work demanded. Letting her sleep a little longer felt natural to him, something done without discussion.
On Hallie's free weekends, they slowly learned how to divide time in ways that felt fair. Parenting quickly taught them that rest mattered just as much as presence. They took turns stepping away for small moments of silence while making sure neither missed the tiny things that somehow became important.
Because with Talani, even ordinary moments suddenly mattered. A sleepy smile. A strange little sound. Tiny hands reaching toward nothing in particular.
Sometimes one of them walked down to the beach in front of the house for a short while, simply to breathe and exist without crying, babbling or constant movement surrounding them. Just a few minutes alone often felt enough.
Still, they never lost themselves entirely inside the routines of parenthood. Their time together remained.
When Hallie was not spending time training, she often sat beside Tavio while he painted. Sometimes she watched silently. Sometimes she asked questions. And every single time, she reacted to his creativity with the same amazement she had shown from the beginning.
Tavio always smiled at that, because even now, after everything had changed, Hallie still looked at him as if discovering something new. And somewhere between paint-covered hands, sleepless nights and the sound of waves outside their home, life had become fuller than either of them could have imagined.
🟢 To read the full Tavio story from the beginning, click here.
I finally came up with a final version of my first design for this dragoness. The line work is smoother, and the anatomy better. Plus I reshaped her muzzle to look a bit like her mother "Celeste". Link to Celeste's art is going to be in the comments BTW.
Leota: "Gracy what in the flying teacup are you doing?!"
Gracy: "Summoning circle"
Leota: "If I told you once, I told you a thousand times, stop
with this sh** before-
Hatbox Ghost: -"Hello"
Leota: -"SON OF A FU-!!
Not art related but here are some photos of me dressed as Madame Leota (in her corruptible, mortal state). Thanks to my sister for being the camera girl!
