#*102. happy to go wherever the winds take him // headcanon.

[aercnaut]

if you're reading this and your muse has a h.is d.ark m.aterials verse, you're legally required to tell me a soft thing their daemon(s) do. i'll start: when lee's having a nightmare, hester will loaf on his chest to calm him down. she also has a habit of grooming his hair with her paws when she can reach it.

[aercnaut-archived]

rapid fire headcanons vol. 3

HESTER EDITION

- despite being an arctic hare, hester's fur is always in a summer coat variation. it is also very soft to the touch

- lee may have had a list of lovers in the past, but none have been allowed to touch hester. no one besides lee (and one man without lee's consent who tried to strangle her to kill lee, who instead shot and killed him) has actually touched hester. the idea terrifies him, since he'd seen his father use his mother's dæmon to hurt her.

- the notch in her ear matches a scar lee has on the same ear

- in a similar vein, she hurts when lee does like every other dæmon, but she hides it incredibly well, giving the two of them and unsettling vibe in a fight.

- because she's smaller than most, she prefers to be carried either in lee's arms or in his coat

- shows affection to other dæmons by gently nuzzling their face with hers or grooming their fur/feathers/whatever with her paws.

- the most terrifying day of her and lee's lives was the day they woke up and realized she settled into a form so similar to his mother's. they assumed the abuse would get even worse. it did.

- while they have a very "idiot (affectionate)" relationship, hester loves lee with everything her little heart has. he is her best friend. he holds her when she's afraid, sings her favorite songs with her, and keeps her safe. when the chips are down, she's got him and she knows he has her.

[aercnaut-deader-than-lee]

just saw a video of a hare trying to beat up its caretaker with its front paws and i just remembered my headcanon that is exactly how hester fights other dæmons, and since i'm the captain now, lee boxes in a similar way

[aercnaut]

coughs

lee's accent gets heavier whilst fucking and he is so aware when that works his partner up. he'll use it to his advantage to tease them leading up to the act, too. like they'll be doing some mundane task and he'll very sweetly whisper in their ear about how much time he's planning on spending between their legs that night and exactly how he plans on putting his silver tongue to work all while letting that drawl just drip from his words before kissing them on the cheek and going back to what he was doing, leaving them nice and flustered.

[aercnaut]

lee's ranch would be so cozy. its always warm and smells of fresh baked bread and drying herbs. the walls are covered with maps and photos of lyra and anyone else in his life. the shelves are covered in trinkets and various things he's picked up on his adventures. any art or writing or good grades lyra gets are proudly displayed on bulletin boards through the scoresby homestead. his home is so lived in and slightly cluttered, but that's how he and lyra like it. its maximalist and slightly disorganized, but after a lifetime of neither having much choice on how they live, its a perfect display of their little family. they decorate the home together, but lyra is completely in charge of her own room. its her space, and the only real rule lee has is make sure nothing is growing mold and dishes are brought back into the kitchen. he only goes in if he needs to or lyra asks for him. her room is her own space and lee honors that. he only goes in when she's away at jordan to do some dusting and change out wilted flowers. he doesn't snoop, drawers stay shut, and everything is exactly as she left it when she gets home for breaks.

[aercnaut]

literally no one asked but if a vampire or a werewolf or something cannibalistic bit lee, he'd taste like a rich, slightly bitter, coffee.

[aercnaut]

lee has witches in his bloodline on his mother's side and this is evident in the way his huge brown eyes carry a perpetual expression of being cursed with knowledge but locked away from it for eternity

[aercnaut-archived]

i have said it before and i'll say it again: lee is a gomez a.ddams kind of bitch when he's in love. you will never open a door for yourself again. we're talking hand kisses. nicknames in every language he knows and some he doesn't. constant touches and quiet declarations that you're his. lots of "i found this and it made me think of you." he's embarrassed of his singing voice, but he'll serenade you anyway. he's not a violent man, but with him you are the safest person in the room. he's so warm and full of light when he's in love and he does all he can to make sure his partner is always touched by that light.

[aercnaut]

i'm thinking s.tar w.ars lee stole his father's chest plate and helmet as well as his blaster after lee killed him. given m.andalorian ideals regarding younglings and how his father treated him, he doesn't feel bad about it. he wears his leather jacket over the chest plate and typically only uses the helmet when he knows he's walking into a combat situation, since it doesn't fit him very well

[aercnaut]

the show: has lee make a joke about suffering from bunions

me: so what i'm hearing is lee is developing arthritis

[aercnaut-archived]

incomplete list of forms hester took before she settled because pullman clearly never actually interacted with a southern american when he created lee LOOK AT ME PHIL I'M THE CAPTAIN NOW

raccoon

possum

bobcat

coyote

nine banded armadillo

hummingbird

red wolf

[aercnaut]

lee will tell his partner the naughtiest things with all the confidence of an experienced man and blush literally the entire time

[aercnaut-archived]

a short, incomplete list of lee's scars in no particular order (pre alamo gulch)

missing part of his left ear from a bullet wound - hester has a matching notch in her ear

bullet wound in his left shoulder

various scars along his back and torso -- mostly appearing to be slashing wounds

burn scars on his arms from when he first started his work in aeronautics and spilled some kerosene on himself

rope burns around his fingers -- his hands are also permanently calloused

[aercnaut]

lee's hair where he got shot in the side of the head growing back gray and staying that way no matter how much he lets it grow or tries to dye it. its just one more thing he has to carry with him at all times from that other world. physically, he kind of heals, but the scars are still there. they always will be, just like that streak of gray.

[aercnaut]

lee knew he'd die young since he was five years old. all that changed as he got older was what he thought would get him. as a child it was his father. as an older teenager, it was the law. when he was a young adult, it was anyone -- he'd made enough enemies by that point to be prepared to have a bullet in his back at all times. when he was a full adult, he knew it would be the magisterium. lee has always been ready for death, however it came to him. imagine his surprise when he realized what killed him was love.

[aercnaut]

META   +   hester’s settling / dæmon settling as a whole

send meta + a word and i'll write a headcanon about it

a daemon settling is supposed to be a happy occasion to mark when a child becomes an adult. for lee, it wasn't. for one, hester didn't settle until after lee had turned sixteen. the abuse from his father not only physically stunted him, but hurt him on such a deep level it kept hester from settling until after his mother died.

lee's mother's daemon was white rabbit, and when lee realized hester had settled as something so similar to her's, he was terrified. before that point, hester had taken forms that were bigger than his father's rattlesnake to protect him, but both knew there was no way she could do anything in a form so small. naturally, they assumed the abuse would get wrose. it did.

now, as an adult, lee can't imagine his hester as anything but an arctic hare. their bond is strong, and he wouldn't want her as anything else.