but summer's in your blood—

in general, tay isn't a picky eater. food is food to her, not that she doesn't appreciate it when it's good. but she would eat just about anything if that was her only option. thankfully, it isn't and there are certain things she dislikes and actively avoids because of it:

meat/seafood heavy dishes — she likes both of those things just fine, with the exception of meat that is too gamey, or fish that, well, is too fishy. but she doesn't like too much of it, or multiple different kinds for the sake of it. she likes keeping it at just the one, and building the rest of the dish around it.

sushi — keeping a similar theme, raw fish isn't for her. she'd happily eat vegetable sushi, however.

symbol headcanon asks.

🫠 — is it easy for them to get turned on, or do they need emotional safety first? it's very easy, in fact too easy, but only klaus is privileged to finding out that it's the case every time. emotional safety, which is not something she expects from short-term partners, is just a very welcome bonus.

💞 — do they separate sex and feelings, or blur them dangerously? tay is capable of separating the two, but only in the case of one-night stands or if there are long periods of time between encounters with the same person. if she spends a lot of time with someone outside of the bedroom as well, things start to blur for her.

🔥 — do they crave intensity or stability? the only intensity she enjoys is short-term, or long-term if it's in specific scenarios. likewise, she wouldn't expect stability in the short term, but she expects and prefers stability in the long term. she's at her happiest in a relationship when she feels safe, and she does think that it makes the sex better.

🪶 — are they gentle with people they desire? she is, unless they ask her not to be. tay likes pleasing people above all else, and she's happy to comply with what other people want from her. given klaus' past, he has to ask her not to be gentle because that is her default setting with him. she doesn't always expect it to be returned.

🎱 — what do they need to feel wanted? listing and not elaborating: safety, as already mentioned; eye contact, being listened to, non-sexual touching, actually good foreplay when the touching becomes sexual and if everything else fails which it won't, being told that she's wanted always works for her.

🔒 — do they guard intimacy, or give it too freely? she gives it too freely, and ends up hurt because of it. but tay will never learn. luckily, not guarding it when she should have and cheating on her husband, worked out for her.

symbol headcanon asks.

⚖️ — what line will they never cross? tay can justify doing just about anything for specific reasons, even murder. whether she's capable of it physically, or mentally is a different story but she would, if she felt like she needed to for the sake of other people. there are obvious lines she wouldn't cross, such as any kind of sexual violence, and she expects people to have that same belief. for her personally, she'd never betray current family. that is a line she'd never intentionally cross.

🧭— do they believe they're a good person? the short answer is yes, and tay believes that she tries to be all of the time. it isn't something that she's likely to describe herself as, or praise herself for and she wouldn't like being complimented for it. to her, being a good person is basic human decency and tay would be nothing without that.

🔪— what would they do if survival demanded cruelty? different factors mean different results. if she was alone? she would die. tay, generally, can't be cruel for no reason. if she wasn't alone? she would have that reason. that isn't to say that she would enjoy it, but as time passed, she would become more used to it. tay would partake on behalf of other people, and for other people. and also to keep herself alive, but that falls under for other people in this scenario.

🪙 — what do they value more, loyalty or truth? if forced to pick between them, she would pick loyalty. most people, past and present, who are or were important to her have lied to her in some way and she's been able to live with it. tay lies too— about her feelings, mostly but the basis remains the same. she could forgive lying, and she could probably forgive disloyalty to an extent but she wouldn't as easily forget it.

🚪 — who would they abandon if forced to choose? nathan would be the easiest for her. he is the person in her life that she is the least attached to on an emotional level. she does care about him, given the fact he's dan's father but that is the only reason. there aren't any lingering feelings otherwise.

🕊️ — do they believe in forgiveness? for themselves? in others? obviously she believes in forgiveness. that's how she ends up married to the man who broke her heart with no explanation. for herself— sometimes. tay has a raging guilt complex, whereby if anything goes wrong, it's her fault. this applies to when something genuinely is, or it's because of circumstances out of her control. she finds it easier, and is much quicker forgiving other people than she is herself.

symbol headcanon questions.

🩸— what wound shaped them the most, even if they won't admit it? being abandoned by her father for, seemingly, no reason. it wasn't so much that it shaped her, but it shaped her relationships with men into adulthood. it affects her much less now that she's not in her twenties, and searching for a father figure in sexual partners that are forty plus. but there was a time, and she would never admit it, if she had even realised that's what it was.

🧷 — who failed them first? above point, but also both of her parents failed her in different ways. the most selfish thing tay has ever done, besides cheating on nathan, is leaving her mother. it used to scare her that she didn't start to regret it.

🪤 — what pattern do they keep falling back into? less of a pattern and more of a state of being, but tay doesn't know when enough is enough when it comes to being there for other people. there are times it's not as applicable, but when it is, it's second nature.

🧨 — what pushes them past the point of restraint? besides the obvious, that being the people she cares about getting hurt in any way, general nastiness towards other women and children. she doesn't have to know them personally for it to anger her, or for her involve herself and act as defence.

🕶 — what lie do they tell themselves to survive? that she's completely okay with the mikaelson family fortune.

symbol headcanon questions.

🫀— what emotion scares them the most? regret. whilst tay is unbelievably certain that her life at present is as perfect as anything she'd ever pictured, she'd be terrified to discover that she wishes her marriage to nathan hadn't ended. it's unlikely she would ever think like that given how unhappy she was, but she could have spared dan all the upheaval if she had just pretended.

👣 — do they believe they deserve good things? after many years of being indifferent to what she deserves, yes. circling back to the above point, even after her own wrongdoing which brought about the good things she's always dreamed about. in short, tay now believes she's deserving of much more than the bare minimum, and this translates to her relationships and her job.

🕳️ — what do they spiral about at night? nothing usually. her brain shuts off at night. any spiralling she does is typically about minute things in the day, that don't require spiralling over.

📉 — what's their most common self-criticism? that she isn't doing enough, or could always do more. though, this isn't true. tay gives as much of her time, and energy and herself as she can on a daily basis. it's more than enough, leaning more so into being too much, for everyone else but unfortunately, not to her.

symbol headcanon asks.

🚬 — what vice do they justify the most? drinking, simply because it's a nightly habit that she doesn't want to break. to an extent, she is influenced by klaus but if she didn't want to drink, she wouldn't.

💊 — what's their relationship with substances, past or present? in the past, tay has never been braver than trying weed. in the present, if she wanted to partake, she'd much prefer the edible route. it's the smell of a joint that puts her off. otherwise, she has no relationship with them. the couple of lines of coke at lucien's party don't count, nor does the occasional drunk cigarette.

🍺 — do they drink to socialize, numb, or celebrate? all three. though, it has been a long time since things were bad enough for her to drink herself into oblivion. the closest she gets to that is drinking, somewhat in excess, if she's had a bad day. in general though, she doesn't overdo it when it comes to socialising, or celebrating. new years is really the only exception.

🛏️ — how do they sleep when things are bad? brokenly, or not at all. if she's unsettled emotionally, she's not at all relaxed in bed. she gets up much earlier than usual, and substitutes her lost sleep with caffeine.

🖊️ — do they write things down or let thoughts rot in their head? it rots, and rots and rots until she no longer thinks about it. she has never been massively into journaling, and she wouldn't be interested in writing down all of her feelings. if she has any for people, she tells them easily. if she has any for herself, they are hers to keep private instead of risking anyone finding out, should they read it.

symbol headcanon questions.

🗣️ — are they better one-on-one, or in groups? tay's better one-on-one, which isn't to say that she's terrible in group settings. she isn't. though, on occasion, it depends who is there. she likes klaus' family. the same can't be said for rebekah's friends. but if it's a group setting where klaus and/or dillan are there, she is nothing but relaxed.

📱— do they text back immediately, or let messages rot? she immediately texts back, or rather she texts back as soon as she can. her phone is on silent the majority of the time, and tay can leave it in a different room without feeling bothered about doing so, especially if she's at home. if she ever leaves it longer than a day, it's genuine forgetfulness.

🎭 — how different are they with strangers versus people they trust? she isn't noticeably different with strangers. she still smiles just the same. she still seems just as approachable. the only glaring difference is she does consider personal space with someone she doesn't know, and she wouldn't go in for a hug with someone she doesn't know as she does when greeting/saying goodbye to friends.

🤝 — do they make friends easily, or accidentally? tay is easy to get along with, because she tends to adapt her personality for the people around her. this isn't so much the case with people she's known a long time. she's comfortable being herself around them, but the fact she isn't at first only makes her more likeable.

symbol headcanon questions.

🕰️ — what time do they naturally wake up when no one needs them? alarm, or no alarm, tay wakes up early. it's usually anywhere between 6am-8am if it's any time after that, it's because of an excessively late night before. the usual culprits are klaus, or rebekah. she doesn't like wasting time by sleeping in, though her early wake up time doesn't always mean getting out of bed as soon as her eyes are open. time spent cuddling is never unnecessary to her.

☕ — what's their morning ritual, and what happens when it's disrupted? black coffee with two sugars. she's tricked her brain into thinking it will make her more alert than how she takes it during the rest of the day. it gets disrupted every morning by a make out session. she never minds.

🏠 — what part of their living space reflects them the most? the bedroom. comfortable, cosy and personal. tay is all of those things. and there's a blanket in there. she's soft and warm like that too.