soon, you'll love again.

linda regressing when emotions catch up to her too suddenly and she doesnt know what to do. chief sitting with her (or holding her hand) where nobody will find them to let her calm down and process everything before she's ready to get back to normal, even if it takes hours.

chief regressing hard and fast after an encounter with an AI that reminds him a bit too much of cortana, quietly shadowing linda and letting her dry humor and endless patience and steady hands ground him and remind him that he's human, and not a machine, and cortana would be proud of him for everything he's done.

shared tiny hours where they sit somewhere quiet and silently people watch together for hours until linda starts nodding off or chief gets too restless. for the former, they go back to their barracks, and linda curls up for a nap. for the latter, they go on a walk and make a game out of it ("how many x can you spot before we reach y? try to get more than the other person!" sort of games)

gentle hand and face touches. spartans arent really encouraged to show affection towards each other even remotely, but i like to think in these moments of vulnerability, where linda's body feels far too big and john just feels tired and shy and nervous, when theyre able, theres lots of quiet contact. brushing knuckles, loosely linked pinkies or fingers, holding hands, john tracing the scars from linda's injuries on reach, linda tracing the contours of john's face, both of them sitting so close together there's barely a few inches between them. they get so clingy, they want to protect each other all the time.

sometimes, at the end of the day, kelly and fred return to their barracks to find these two curled up on the ground together, having tried to wait for their older siblings to come back but too tired to stay awake. kelly will always snort fondly, while fred grins to himself and goes to grab a blanket off one of the bunks. it usually ends in a the closest thing to a spartan cuddle pile you can get, sprawled on the floor of their barrack, all four of them huddled close and tangled in blankets.

linda feels the pain from their augmentations and her revival much more, when shes small. some part of her lets down its guard, and makes it easier to pinpoint her pain, so while it's beneficial for knowing if she needs to visit the technicians, it means she's easily tired out when regressed, and prefers curling up in a perch somewhere to nap.

★ it doesn't matter how long it's been or how much they've changed. one look at his golden heart tells luuk that rover hasn't regressed in a long, long time by the time they come to lahai-roi. and boy, let me tell you - it keeps him up at night for a good while.

★ once rover gets some answers - about lahai-roi, about luuk, about themself, it's then, and only then, that luuk reaches out. he gives them time to process everything with aemeath, lets them get a sense of familiarity built back up as they attend classes, and then shoots them a text over wavesline, offering to meet up for lunch. it's on him.

...can't say no to that, now can they?

anyway, that's when luuk explains the details. that they used to regress sometimes, and luuk would take care of them. that, if they're willing, he'd like to do that again. it was nice, to have a sense of purpose. and it was nice, to watch them get to take a break. think on it, okay? he'll check in later. tell him about your classes, won't you? he wants to make sure they're going well.

★ it takes some convincing and stubborn little check-ins for rover to finally realize that luuk isn't going to give up on them. they can't just blow him off or brush his offers aside and have him nod and back off. he knows. he knows, and he won't let them suffer through everything alone.

★ when they finally break down, it's when they tried to just reach out to talk. they're in his office with him, sitting quietly and trying to find their words. then they look up, see his gentle eyes, that soft look on his face he always gets when he looks at them - and some part of them snaps, and they burst into tears.

luuk is at their side immediately, noticing the change in posture before they do. with careful, predictable movements, he gathers them into his chest and lets them sob on his shoulder, regressing for the first time in far, far too long.

★ before the memory wipe, it was an awkward thing - having to make sure aemeath didn't stumble across her parent chewing on their fingers and hiding behind a plushie while luuk cradled them in his arms, or so that little girl wouldn't hear the sleepy mumbles and exhausted refusals while luuk quietly begged his golden heart to take a break.

★ but now, after, more privacy, more freedom, it's so much softer. there's still a lot of vent regression, rover's shoulders are still heavy with responsibility, but luuk is better prepared this time. candy always in his pockets, even having found a few mouth-safe stim toys he can let rover chew on, soft blankets tucked in his office, and he has more than enough money to buy them a fluffy friend if they want it.

and, more importantly, after that first break, where the pieces clicked together and rover realized that luuk had just been waiting for them to realize, that he meant it when he said he wanted to take care of them again, they - albeit hesitantly - let him in.

★ usually, they meet up in luuk's office, or rover's dorm. in luuk's office, they sit together on the floor with coloring books or handheld games, sometimes competing against each other (rover is offended by how good luuk is at some of the games they play, while luuk beams proudly at them whenever they beat him in a versus game) until rover is tired, at which point he walks them back to their dorm, or until rover starts to slowly slide out of their regression, which always ends with an offered candy and a gentle "you can always come back if you need me."

in rover's dorm, sometimes they'll watch videos together, or play-fight using pillows for shields and terminal-projected sticks for fake swords, but it always ends the same way; with them on the couch or in rover's bed, with rover bundled in a blanket and curled up on luuk's lap, forehead against his neck and eyes heavy while he hums softly, rocking them as he sways side to side lazily, or as his fingers drum a melody out on their blanket-wrapped frame while he idly plays games or checks over paperwork he still needs to complete.

★ petnames are a rarity, only saved for moments of genuine distress, dire need of comfort, or moments where rover is especially, itty-bitty small. luuk only really calls them soft nicknames, not quite teasing anymore, laden with affection as he murmurs a quiet "golden boy/girl" or "little light," and rover usually only calls him by his name, unless they're particularly small or unfiltered or upset, at which point a distressed or quiet "luukey" might slip out of them, melting and puncturing luuk's heart in equal measure.

★ luuk buys them a snowfluff seal plushie. it stays in their dorm, by their pillow. and, inevitably, when they leave lahai-roi, they make sure to tell him that they're sending it home. back to the black shores, where it'll be taken care of, and it'll be waiting for them whenever they go back. it's almost enough to make him want to weep with joy.

★ luuk also gets them a keychain. he poured over his options for a long, long time, recruiting help from lynae to help with his color blindness, which quickly spiraled into a different situation all together. instead of buying keychains, rover gets a handmade one. a soft, rounded dog, creamy soft yellow with teal pawprints and tip of its tail and little nose, with rich, deep red eyes.

when luuk shows them his keychain, it's with uncharacteristic shyness - a black cat, with metallic, gold buttons for eyes, and a bowtie collar with a golden bow at the back of its neck and a silver center that glitters in the light.

"this way," he explains, not quite meeting their eyes as he looks at the keychain in his palm. "even when you go past lahai-roi's borders, you will still have me with you, if you ever need someone to take care of you. and you won't have to feel guilt for having left me here - i'll have you right here, next to my work bag."

rover launches themself into his arms and hugs him tightly, tears in their eyes while they laugh breathlessly, helplessly wondering how luuk manages to make them feel so small in such a soft, comforting way, so easily.

the keychain rests at their hip, and they rub the little puppy's paws between their fingers when they need to remind themselves to breathe.

★ video calls, when they can't physically be together but rover is just too small to be alone. luuk especially loves the ones where he can see rover's hologram curled up in a bed, face squished in a pillow, while abby snuggles into the crook of their arm, and badgers luuk with questions while rover dozes, face still soft with regression lowering their mask.

★ abby loves watching luuk take care of rover. it's so obvious they're in good hands with him, with how gentle his hands are and how careful he is to make sure they have a say in everything, without letting them do everything alone.

watching rover's guard finally drop, as they curl up in the arms of someone who knows their past and won't judge them for it, the way luuk's face melts into a soft expression of yearning and fondness every time, like he just can't help it - yeah. yeah...

★ listen, okay. first of all, that poor guy does NOT regress voluntarily and he does NOT like how it feels. feeling all foggy and vulnerable, struggling to filter himself and find the words he wants... nope! nope! nope! get him OUT of there he will claw his way back out and if he can't then he hides until it passes.

★ of course, given the time frame, he doesn't... know what age regression is. all he knows is that it happens when he thinks too hard about his father, or abbas', or when rashid is unhappy with him, or....... well.....

★ he regressed really suddenly when he was punished for solomon's temple, but panicked, and masked it so hard he just lashed out at everyone around him instead. so his scolding later from rashid hit him TWICE as hard because he KNEW lashing out in a panic wasn't good - but he was scared and the only other option was to go quiet and make himself small and he couldn't handle the idea of doing that.

★ the first things to go are his ability to mask or filter what he expresses, and his vocabulary. speech becomes difficult, he often talks quieter... he doesn't want to. or mean to. it just... happens, and, when he notices it, it scares him.

★ i don't think, even if something really hit him where it hurts, he'd be able to regress all the way down, not even involuntarily, without being somewhere that is both familiar to him, but also somewhere that feels defended. i think a few specific bureaus (including malik's, of course) and a few favored rooms of his in the masayf fortress are those places.

this ties into my headcanon about his sleep patterns: he cannot sleep unless it is somewhere hard to access, or unless he knows at least one other assassin that he trusts personally or trusts the skills of is nearby to wake him if something happens.

★ when altaïr really regresses, i think he experiences some pretty hard verbal shutdowns. even if he can think, or write, or express ideas in some format, his mouth doesn't communicate with his brain correctly anymore, and speech becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible.

the best you might get are small, non-word vocalizations, soft hums when he's content, disgusted nhh noises when confronted with something he doesn't like, and animalistic sounds - i think he hisses, when particularly regressed, if he's frightened or angry.

★ i'm not assigning him an age range. his childhood is so muddled anyway - there's before umar's death, and after umar's death, and... not much in between. i think he's got a little touch of the time blindness side of the autism symptoms, which doesn't help terribly much. he's just... small.

★ FORGET trying to take care of or help him. if he can't mask it, he either snaps at people and pushes them away - which isn't that hard to do, usually - or he runs and hides from everybody until he can at least pretend something isn't off about his behavior.

i do think this changes late game, though. and after ac1. especially with maria, but including with malik. they still don't have the language for it, and honestly? i don't think he'd ask the apple. but i do think that both malik and maria learn the subtle shifts in behavior, how he withdraws and goes quiet and can't seem to make himself as stoic as usual, and accommodate for him.

★ he likes sitting near mailk and reading when he regresses without trying to rip himself out of it. he takes a bit longer to get through the words, and sometimes struggles with the bigger words, or books in languages that aren't his mother tongue, but he tries. it keeps him occupied, at least, and it means no bickering. they're peaceful afternoons, albeit on the rarer side.

★ with maria, honestly, he's just content to sit in her presence. he'll read, of course, where he can, or do simple things, like... if they're outside, he might braid strands of grass. if they're inside, he might work on a sewing project he's picked up somewhere or draw something. if they're just in bed together, he curls himself around her and shoves his face into her shoulder and half-dozes until she wiggles around to change positions. and then he does it all over again.

★ i. genuinely doubt he ever really ends up comfortable with his regression. but i think he makes peace with it, at least. stops associating that fuzziness and inability to mask with vulnerability and danger and i'm not safe like this, and associates it with the softer memories he makes when regressed.

sitting in clean hay with his favorite mare and running gentle hands over her neck and shoulders without the need to speak, helping brush and braid maira's hair with slightly less coordinated hands, doodling in his journal while he listens to the familiar sound of malik murmuring to himself as he writes or draws out yet another map... maybe even sitting somewhere comfortable with two young sons curled up on his lap, asleep against his chest.

ever since the dark tide, there hasn't really been a standard for a "normal" day in porto-veno castle. but today's events... well, if what occurred this day becomes the standard, then matriarch cantarella fisalia would far from mind.

it starts with her usual routine. ease out of bed, careful not to wake the deep-sleeping body next to her, stretch her arms and back slowly, pick up her clothes for the day (laid out in advance the night before, like she always does), then slip into the bathroom. wash her face, give her teeth a quick brush to get the morning breath out from behind her tacet mark, shed her nightclothes and put on her day ones.

now this is where the day changes slightly.

it's true the darling she shares her bed with (lucky them, hmm?) is often a deep sleeper, but sometimes, her absence is enough to stir them from sleep. just as she's finishing buttoning up her body suit, clipping her stockings to the hem to make sure they stay in place (maybe she should invest in a pair that doesn't slide so much...), a small voice calls out.

"c'nta'ella?"

oh, she realizes, hands freezing, before a small smile breathes life into her and warmth graces her heart. it's a day like this.

that sleepy voice, the slurred syllables, the soft vulnerability all contained into one drowsy call of her name - she might not have her overdress on yet, but she quickly makes sure her stockings are fastened and heads out of the bathroom.

"there you are," she greets, seeing her darling - her little one - slowly pushing themself into a sit. "good morning, my dear. did you sleep well?"

easing herself down onto the mattress, her beloved little fish crawls right over to her and lays their head in her lap with a sleepy mm. she laughs, softly, fondness more than any amount of teasing she could ever conjure when they're in such a precious state, and runs her fingers through the hair at the side of their head. just how they like it - nails first, gentle, tracing lines, then scritching softly, like how one might pet behind a cat's ear.

"are you my baby today?" she asks, and the little one slowly opens their eyes to look at her, nervousness starting to color in their eyes. its a work in progress, to get them fully comfortable with the idea of having someone see them and tend to them in such a delicate state, but they are very brave, and cantarella is good at being patient.

...and also, she has a few tricks up her sleeve.

"or," the resonator continues, now a little playfully, as she boops her sweetheart's nose. "are you my little hatchling today?"

the anxiety in her tiny's eyes fades into surprise, then a mix of embarrassment and joy, before they hide by tucking their face into her belly to hide. cantarella laughs softly, and pets down their back, rubbing her knuckles slowly alongside vertebrae as she goes.

"now, now," she chides, as if she could ever imagine such a sweet thing doing wrong. "you know i won't mind. let's see... a little hatchling like you will need food, so early in the morning. why don't i make... hmm, how about shrimp pasta, while you find something to wear?"

shrimp pasta... dirty trick, for it being something the tiny has been craving recently. considering how their head snaps up immediately with excitement, a little squeaky noise sounding from them, cantarella knows she's hit the mark. she doesn't mind, anyway - shrimp are an excellent texture, the chewiness blending well with the creaminess of the pasta sauce her darling prefers.

bending down, she kisses their forehead, and, with gentle chuckle and even gentler hands, guides them to sit up.

NEWT

★ NEWT MY FAV!! okay i have a lot of regressor headcanons for him, so ill try to just cover some of the basics here. :)

★ newt is a vent regressor imo, he's.. got a handful of underlying mental issues, to put it mildly. i dont really get the vibe of a set age range, sometimes hes just... small. quiet. gets nervous and likes to hover close to alby - or minho, when he's not out in the maze.

★ he doesn't let anyone close to him particularly easily, it takes some effort to get close enough for him to let his guard down. but when he does... that is one sleepy baby. holy crap he loves napping. he LOVES curling up close to someone he trusts and taking a biiiiiig ol nap!

★ i think when he regresses down REALLY far, he gets separation anxiety issues :( the fear of never being found that day in the maze makes him awfully clingy, especially with minho, since he was the one who found newt and took him home. im imagining like. distressed little mms and soft whining whenever he has to be left alone when he's TINY tiny

★ prefers track-ho work when regressed. getting to focus on the plants, under the sun, trimming unruly branches and harvesting pea pods, rooting out weeds as he goes - it's soothing and he likes being around nature anyway. calms him down. :)

★ prone to nightmares when regressed :((

★ caregiver newt is... hm. honestly, i dont think about this often. but i think i can see him as like... calm, guiding, a gentle hand. like how he helped thomas when he was new.

★ no nonsense, you dont get to bend or break rules just because you're regressed. but newt is fair and kind about it - he gives warnings, but if you go and do the thing you're not supposed to anyway... well. fair's fair.

★ i dont think he uses a lot of pet names. nicknames, maybe. ones based on your name. but not... pet names. just not really his style, y'know? he's a bit too blunt for that.

★ has the best hugs you've probably ever been given though. borderline wraps his whole body around the tinies he takes care of when they want or need it. he takes care to never feel like he's trapping someone into physical contact, but he still is grounding as he does it anyway.

THOMAS

★ hm hm hm... let's see. thomas is a pretty emotional guy, but he's got good intentions and a clear drive to do what he thinks is right, even if sometimes he's... pretty impulsive.

★ so, as a regressor, it's giving... toddler regression? has a million and one questions, wants to be super involved in everything possible, even if sometimes he ends up getting in the way. but considering that its... yknow. thomas, that really isnt too much of a surprise, and it isnt seen as particularly odd.

★ sticks to minho, newt, and chuck like GLUE, dude. he loves his friends and he revels in their company. in thomas' regressed mind, chucky is his little brother, and minho is like... a mentor, almost? and newt is very similar to him :) his friends are his family, wouldn't be any other way.

★ like twice as expressive as usual, and considering it's thomas... well. that's saying something! he's so expressive and easy to read, scrunching his nose and pouting and emotions pouring into his voice no matter how much he tries to hide it.

★ cries really easily. especially over people he's close to.

★ but i think, as a caregiver he's very... listen. older brother. big older brother. holy crap he's an older brother.

★ where newt is the type to let the kiddo make mistakes and be there to help them learn from their mistakes, thomas is the type to hold the kiddo's hand and walk them through the process so they learn how to do things safely, together.

★ probably uses really casual nicknames like "dude," or "buddy," but i can see him using ones along the lines of like. "little guy," or "kiddo" if the situation calls for it :)

★ i think that thomas would be absolutely FILLED with delight if he got to like. just lay down. and let the tiny he's caring for lay on him with their head on his chest. i think that would fix something in him, a little bit.

★ head bonks. loooots and lots of gently bumping his head against his tiny's!! its cute and simple and a little silly, but still a good form of subtle affection :)