#But like??? He doesn't like it when people abuse their children tyvm

[illithilit]

Vhaeraun's experiences in being turned against his family and consequently watching the way his parents' marriage broke apart, being groomed for coldblooded violence by his mother from a young age, and his relationships with both Sharess ( the mother of his son, in case you didn't know ) and Selvetarm ( aforementioned son ) have made him crushingly cynical of almost any kind of relationship, but especially romantic, so he aggressively avoids having anything to do with others divine, mortal, or otherwise for that reason. He fully expects any ventures in that area to become poison, sooner or later, and tbh, it's also true of almost every other type of relationship.

That said, however, he's still vm connected to his Fae roots, and so it's absolutely not outside the realm of possibility that he lets someone in on impulse. Might have to bite them about it later, but the point is that the only person he's fully and completely guarded against is Lolth. She will never be allowed back into his life ever for any reason.

And no, we don't support victims forgiving their abusers.

Actually, Vhaeraun encourages you to murder them about it.

[umbran6]

The Roasting of the Deadbeat

I know I've posted this before, but I felt like this should be repeated since its... Father's Day. Or maybe its already past Father's Day if you're reading this post on some other part of the world. My least favorite holiday each year, second only to Columbus Day (I formally recognize Native American Day, TYVM). But I feel like I must say this, otherwise we forget that these people deserve this.

SCREW YOU HEPHAESTUS. Yes, I'm focusing on him, not Zeus.

Leo has every right to hate this bastard and if he could, spit on his throne. This hermit of a god abandoned Leo for nearly sixteen years, apparently too obsessed in either making stuff or screwing other people to even care about his son. Hephaestus isn't there to comfort Leo when his mother died, much less intervene in the actual matter when he, as god of the forge and flame, had every capability to do so.

The god doesn't even have the willingness to confess that he badly messed up with Leo, favoring his other children who get to Camp Half-Blood — his many, many children that ranged from either 18 (Charles freaking Beckendorf) to young Harley who was 8 years old. They get there young, they get there to stay for several years or months, and they get the training and knowledge to understand the world they truly live in.

Leo is extremely high up in that age range, at 16 years old when most demigods are brought to camp by age 12. Leo is apparently blessed with extremely rare fire powers not seen for several centuries, yet its a kid like Harley who is young to the point his demigod powers shouldn't even have manifested that gets the special treatment. When Medea looked into the future, she saw Leo as such a big threat to the Primordial Mother that Gaea herself made a personal visit at an attempt to psychologically break Leo when he was eight years old. Eight years old, the same age Harley is during The Lost Hero, yet Hephaestus does nothing as Leo's life falls apart around him.

HERA has a stronger relationship with Leo because she was actually there to help raise the kid. When the mother that tossed you off of Mount Olympus, the goddess that cursed each and every child of Zeus that was ever born (as far as we know of) is treating your child in a better way than you are, there is something wrong with you, you emotionally stunted goblin of a god.

ZEUS cared more about his children in his own warped way despite being an abusive bastard `and practically rival to Hephaestus in being a deadbeat. When Thalia was about to be killed by monsters Hades unleashed upon her, because, you know, Zeus broke a pact on the River Styx by sticking his dick in Beryl Grace (twice!), he at least had the decency to turn her into a tree so that she didn't die. It was severely implied in The Demigod Diaries that Zeus led her to find Luke and Annabeth. In Percy Jackson's Greek Gods its shown that he at least had an overprotective side to Athena and spoiled Artemis and satisfied several of her demands. Now I'm not excusing Zeus' own abuse towards his other children like Apollo and Ares. Zeus gave crumbs, you didn't even have the decency to give Leo anything at all.

HERMES, who screwed the pooch with Luke twice over, tried to do his best with him or by him. When Luke searched for a quest to prove his worth to the gods, Hermes offered it only unfortunately for the quest to end in failure. He left Luke in the care of his mentally unstable mother. Yet Hermes recognized the fact that he severely fucked up and tried to make amends, even apparently forgiving Luke despite the fact that he came inches to toppling Olympus. Hermes was willing to try to make amends and honored his son's wishes by helping Percy find the rest of his demigod children that were unclaimed. Hermes accepted that he had a hand for Luke's hatred towards Olympus and the he wronged Luke, Hephaestus has so far done zilch.

HADES did his best to protect Nico and Bianca when Zeus tried to kill them all, hiding them in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. When Marie Levesque was going to bring Hazel to Alaska, he tried to intervene and stop them from doing so because he knows Gaea was manipulating her and backed off at her wishes. When Nico is going through severe emotional turmoil during Blood of Olympus, he goes out of his way despite the Greco-Roman schizophrenia to help guide and comfort his son.

Hephaestus didn't even get Leo to Camp Half-Blood directly. Coach Hedge found Leo completely by accident. If it weren't for Hera literally rigging things so that Jason, Piper, and Leo were picked up at the Grand Canyon Skywalk, Leo would never have known that his life was screwed over by higher powers than him. His first direct interaction with Leo isn't even to give a sincere apology about the fact that he's been the shittiest deadbeat in millennia, its about to info-dump about the Giants. When Leo calls him out about this, Hephaestus doesn't even apologize for that and sweeps it under the rug and never speaks with Leo again.

So screw you Hephaestus. Decent fathers should be worth honoring, respecting at the very least. He deserves nothing, and should get nothing. His mother, who threw him off of Olympus, has a better relationship with his own son than he does. The rest of his fellow Olympians, even his shitbag of an adoptive father, have done better than him. He can do better, and he should be doing better. Hephaestus, the victim of abusive, neglectful parenting and parental favoritism should know the pitfalls of this and how to avoid them. Yet you're the divine equivalent of starting the cycle all over again, and it shows.

Let me finish on this note for you:

He is a god who is dedicated to forging inventions and fixing that which is broken. Yet for everything he has learned, he does not have the capability of fixing the bonds that he broke by his own hand.