#hephaestus.

[ 🫳 ]ㅤ.ㅤwho do they feel they owe, but never paid back ?

[ 🧨 ]ㅤ.ㅤwhat’s the quickest way to set them off, even if they hide it well ?

[ 🩸 ]ㅤ.ㅤis there something or someone that, if lost, would break them ?

For Ares, Athena, and Hephaestus

[ 💤 ]

athena is a hugger - she's curled into a tiny ball with a pillow in her arms until she's a human donut under the covers. she likes a good nest around her, too, lots of warmth.

ares is a back sleeper, legs sprawled out wide, blankets inevitably around his waist.

hephaestus tosses and turns a lot, but usually always ends up somewhat diagonal, with pillows arranged just so to keep him propped the right way.

[ 🫳 ]

for athena, it's her mother. not that she's ever had a chance to repay metis, but everything she is and was allowed to become was because of metis' sacrifices, and the very essence of her mother, transmitted to her to give her life. it's powerful, and athena wishes she could show her gratitude somehow.

i had to think on this one for ares for a while, but i think maybe artemis? he was a wreck after his captivity, but artemis was ultimately the one who saved him and i don't think he was in the right state of mind afterwards to thank her. so maybe that!

it's not for lack of trying, but i think hephaestus feels as though there's nothing he can ever truly do to repay thetis for her assistance in his childhood. she raised him when he was unwanted, sheltered him when he was injured, and gave to him the peaceful childhood he likely would not have had otherwise. he hasn't stopped "repaying" her, and he likely never will.

[ 🧨 ]

for athena, anything that triggers her perfectionism. if it's insinuated that she's failed, or that she isn't doing something well enough, she can become incredibly agitated.

for ares, insulting or directly harming anyone he cares about. it can be an offhand comment about aphrodite, or harmonia, or his mother - but he will go off the rails to defend them. otherwise, his anger is typically reserved for battlefields.

for hephaestus, it's messing with his space or his routine. nothing pisses him off faster than someone moving a tool and it not being where he needs it.

[ 🩸 ]

if athena lost her sense of purpose, her duties, the necessity of others, i think that would break her. she is so bound to her feeling of usefulness, that suddenly being made null and unimportant would genuinely destroy her sense of self.

for ares, take your pick, lmfao. he's always one bad day away from losing his mind, and has come quite close in several instances. losing aphrodite, losing his children, losing his mother, his sisters - he loses any one of them and he's going bonkers.

‘    ...     you’ve been mentioned. where i’m from.    ’     it's rare that mortals attract the attention of gods.    when they do,    hephaestus has learnt that it isn’t always meant to be a good thing    -    not for the mortals,   anyways.   gods are rarely the unfortunate ones.    whatever doom that’s been resulted,   it was almost often their own doing.     ‘     my brother.   you amuse him.    ’    /    for @milehighmechanic​ !

hell YEAH he does

i mean, heph is pretty utilitarian with most of the stuff he makes, but he still thoroughly enjoys the artistry of certain pieces and can make them very beautiful. so his cane is definitely coated with metal he's shaped into beautiful geometic shapes along the length. he's reinforced it, too, so that if he ever needs to use it as a weapon, it will hold up lol.

poseidon is about as chill as you can get.  he is a gentle sort of supportive, willing to be what his kids need to succeed, but also refusing to put limitations or any sort of control over them.  he encourages his kids to be free spirits, and to take advantage of a freedom he never got to have.  you wanna throw a party?  sure, just let him grab his good snacks out of the kitchen first.  you want to be an astronaut?  fuck yeah dude, let him grab you some nasa merch.  you need him to sit and listen to you vent?  sure, and he’ll punch the person who pissed you off, too.

he definitely struggles with the emotional side of things, and tends to take a step back so that his personal turmoil doesn’t fuck his kids up, which can come across as him being emotionally distant sometimes.  there are occasions where he could take things more seriously.  but he cares a lot, and cares enough to give his kids room to grow while still maintaining some distance, just in case they fall.

hephaestus doesn’t have many kids, so its hard for me to say exactly what he’s like.  but i imagine he is a strict, gruff, but ultimately doting parent.  he talks a big game, sets high expectations and rules, but ends up caving when his kid bats their eyelashes.  he’s more of a pat on the shoulder and a go back out and get ‘em kind of dad than a super emotionally present one, but its not for lack of emotion, just difficulty expressing.  (that’s kind of a common theme, tbh).  heph believes that one of the best ways he can show his love is by a) teaching his kids valuable skills, b) setting them up for successes, and c) giving them gifts and tools that will benefit them in their life.  and that’s what he does!

‘    continue down this road and walk straight.    turn right after you see the house with pink mailbox,   then walk ‘till you see a red, bright door with morning glory planted on its fence  —    those are purple flowers  — n’ you should be near the centre o’ the town then,   i reckon.     ’     he hasn’t even bothered looking up from bending down the metal he has across his workplace.    surely those who ventures here only either meant that they are lost,    or they thought he a mechanic.     /    for @hardnews​ !

‘    rare.     ’      he grunts,    the only greeting he seems he could manage,    finally turning away from his station;   large,   rough hands darkened with soots now moved to wipe across the apron.     a pointless act,   perhaps    -     it isn’t like he will touch her.     he wouldn’t dare.    hephaestus knows what is said of him;   knows the value he’s being put outside of work.    he will not overstep.   will not give another reason to fall once more by just existing.    ‘    you,  here.   ’    he explains,   short.   simple.    ‘     a job ?    ’    translated :    are you here to give me a job ?     /    for @inmydrcams​ !