Hellooooo I'm a little new to agere fandoms and I'm still sorta testing the waters, debating making a sideblog, but anyway I like your phm agere stuff. Could I possibly request some little eva stratt headcanons? Caregiver grace maybe? Idk!! Thank you đ
Eva Stratt Agere Headcanons â´ď¸
I also snuck some regressor Grace in here, but itâs mentioned and not the focus :)
CW: light angst, responsibly consumed alcohol mention, a little bit of dissociation implied if you squint.
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I think Stratt is the opposite of Grace when it comes to her regression. Graceâs regression slowly builds up until he dropsâusually when heâs really stressed, scared, hurt, or angry. Eva is able to ignore it completely, focusing on tasks at hands and telling herself that she just needs to work a little harder. Sheâs really, really good at it. Her tells are hard to notice if they exist at all.
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Stratt only regresses when the storm calms and itâs safe to do so. Once the adrenaline wears off, she canât hold it back any longer and it stresses her out.
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Evaâs biggest tell is her absence. Contrary to what some believe about her, she cares about the others on the task force. Sheâs usually there at post-work meetings where they drink, do karaoke, and otherwise hangout. She might not be the loudest person in the room, but she happily engages with the others and sometimes gets dragged over to where theyâre playing monopoly (they trust her to be the bank because Yao swears Ilyukhina is stealing cash). Grace always looks forward to seeing her face and sharing a beer with her, even if sheâs sitting at the bar doing work instead of relaxing.
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So when Stratt isnât there on a Friday night like she has dozens of nights before, Ryland goes to look for her. Sheâs not in her office, the meeting room, or the lab. He eventually tracks down her quarters from Carl under the excuse he needed a signature (which Carl saw right through, mind you). He takes a deep breath, prays this isnât going to get him fired or sent to space, and knocks on her door. No answerâitâs 6 pm, she definitely isnât asleep. Heâs seen her up well into the hours of the night.
He slowly opens the door to find Stratt sat cross legged on the ground, stuffed animal and folded touch screen laptop in her lap.. Sheâs bent forward while typing in a position that makes Graceâs lower back weep. One hand is tapping on the screen while the other scratches the little plushâs ears.
âStratt?â He whispers, and she snaps her head up like a deer caught in headlights. He canât see much of her face, but the illumination from her laptop highlights her terrified eyes and the heavy, dark bags that sit below them.
She doesnât say anything, just freezes. Her grip on the plush gets impossibly tighter, like Grace is going to take it from her.
âIâm coming in, okay?â Itâs phrased like a questionâitâs not. She doesnât move as he enters the room and the lights automatically come onâGod, she hasnât moved in at least 10 minutes, hunched over her laptop like that. His converse pad softly on the carpet as he makes his way over and kneels in front of her.
He knows that this probably a dumb ideaâheâs breaking in to his bossâ room, if you can call it that. HR (if they even had one) was going to have a field day if this didnât go the way he thinks it will. This could be a number of thingsâa PTSD episode, dissociation, just something she does with no logic or reason behind it. Grace, ever the observant scientist, has a little bit of an idea.
Graceâs hand slowly reaches out to where Evaâs is gripping the plush and laptop like theyâll turn sentient and run away. She flinches back like sheâs been burnt and makes a small, panicked sound. The wave of sound hits his heart and squeezes tight.
âHey, none of that,â Grace whispers and reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a little bear keychain. Itâs his own worry stone, keeping the fuzzy part of his brain grounded when things started to get big and loud and scary. âMe too, see?â
A small hum leaves her and the hand clutching the laptop reaches out for the bear instead. Shaking, she takes two fingers and pets over the soft fur. The way her blue eyes crinkle is contagious and Grace beams.
âYou too,â she breathes, the tension leaving her body with the relief of being known. Something like this is much too big of a secret to keep when youâre so small.
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They learn a lot about each other really quickly after that. Neither of them have ever met someone like them before! Their regression was always something shameful and hidden, but now there was someone who got it!
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Grace has never been on the caregiver side of things, but he finds it easy to settle into the role. To anyone else, theyâve just become really good friends! To them, checking in on the other or bringing them a snack serves as a lifeline.
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She almost immediately confesses that she prefers to be called Eva when she was small (and that itâs a quick way to bring her regression forward). Everyone who was big called her Stratt when they wanted to talk about the scary things outside. Eva was safe from that and free to be herself. Sometimes she gets really sad when sheâs small and thinks about people saying sheâs mean :(
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At first he thinks that Eva regression to around teenage years, but he quickly figures out thatâs a front. She so desperately tries to fight it off because what if someone needs her? Sure the work is done for *today,* but tomorrow is just around the corner! Grace being there to talk softly, watch a movie, or just sit in silence for a bit helps her settle down to around 8. Sometimes when sheâs really stressed from the project, she acts even smaller.
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Big, big fan of parallel play. She likes to be comfortable around her caregiver and she plays games on her computer while heâs reading a book.
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One of her favorite things to do while small are puzzles! Grace is expecting the 200 piece ones he prefers when small, but Eva is pulling out a 4000 piece puzzle onto the coffee table in her office and announcing sheâs free all weekend. Sometimes they both have their own headphones with music on and other times they put a movie on as they work.
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Nights when Eva is small are fun, but the days are his favorite. He gets to have a little shadow for the dayâdressing her up in a lab coat, gloves, and goggles so she can hang out in the lab. She likes to scoot around on the swivel chairs and watch Grace work and explain everything to her. Most of the time itâs not really going into her brain, she just likes to hear him talk :)
look at her. four sauces big
