Pre-exo Atraks headcanon sheet commission done for @outbreakperfected! Ft a headcanon that part of Atraks's incentive to become an Exo wasn't just to gain strength and power, but was because she suffered from a form of leucism that made moulting in one piece (as is proper for an Eliksni) quite difficult. The protein that often gives Eliksni a red or blueish tint to their carapace is primarily utilized not for pigment, but as a binding agent between carapace layers, and the absence of it results in a flaky, delicate shell that often needs to be peeled off in pieces, much like a lizard's skin. This makes growing moults an arduous process and sex-change moults outright impossible. The irritation of this paired with Atraks being trans = jumping into an Exo body as soon as it's available the obvious choice, regardless of whether Eramis wanted it for her or not.
(How may being transgender work in a society that is capable of changing sex, you may ask? Simple- it's characterized by the inability to change sex as one sees fit. It's common for Eliksni to switch between different sex phases when reproductively active, but outside of children, adolescents, or actively reproducing couples, most Eliksni stick to the sex phase that they prefer. Eliksni have near-indistinguishable levels of sexual dimorphism, but being unable to have that freedom to switch causes dysphoria in some individuals no matter how socially accepted it is to have pheromones that don't match your social gender identity.)
