disbelief crossed the werewolf’s face at the question but it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by another fond smile. but maybe it shouldn’t have been all that surprising, and mason tilted his head to the side as he gave a small nod. “yeah!” he reached up to scratch the back of his neck out of habit when he was nervous. “i think you really are the prettiest. i hope that doesn’t bother you…?“
“ thank you ... “
previously when told those words she’d be paralysed, but this time the mermaid flushes, smile pulling at her lips; whether it’s due to her recovery, or the wolf, hestia isn’t quite sure. she tucks purple locks behind her ear, green eyes sparking.
“ well ... for what it’s worth , i think you’re pretty too mason , “ hestia tells him softly. and he is.
he carefully took the shells, handling them with a care that was unusual for the werewolf but he didn’t want to accidentaly ruin them or worse break them, not only because they were indeed beautiful but because they were a gift from the very mermaid in front of him. at her words, mason was about to tell her that he’d bring her flowers everyday if she liked them, but the words were cut off at the feeling of a kiss on his cheek. he reached up, fingers brushing over his cheek, a bashful smile slowly spreading across his face. “i…i’m glad you like them.” he said, gaze fixed on her. “i thought they would suit you, they are just as pretty as you.”
the mermaid pauses, a flush on her cheeks as she tilts her head.
“ you really think i’m pretty ? “
she asks softly, almost hesitant. hestia had received compliments along those lines, but they’d never had good connotations. such a pretty little thing isn’t she? the jewel of my collection. come on pretty trinket wont you come and play with us? coming from the werewolf the word had more meaning than hestia could fathom to tell him.
He took a breath, turning his eyes away to look at the glass and raised a brow. Kieran wasn’t a patient man on a good day, not to mention now; so he shifted his focus away from the girl to not snap — selfishly not wanting to hear about another person grief. The ice on glass wasn’t his doing and that almost peak his curiosity; he knew that apart from him Grey was able to play with this in such easy way, but it was hard to find another one who would not just stay by water as a liquid.
He couldn’t really ignore the girl, not when she was a family of Artemis, so he looked at her again, eyes back to the glamorous green. “It’s not,” he said, the determination like a stell in his voice. “Even if she died for you, it’s not your fault. That’s exactly what mothers do - protect their children, for any price.” Kieran slowly lifted his hand to her, wanting to touching her gently, making sure she had time to take away hers. “Think about it not as a sight of your fault, but as a proof of her love to you.” Prince moved away, taking his own glass and filing it again from the bottle on the table. “I don’t think I caught your name though, little one.”
she holds her breath as kieran touches her. at his touch she doesnt feel the sudden spike of anxiety of the crawling beneath her skin. hestia leans back into her seat suddenly proud of herself. it seemed like only yesterday that she’d scream at the smallest touch. hestia smiles at him, green eyes identical to his shining slightly.
“ oh - it’s hestia , mama said that she and my father both had greek names and that i should carry on the tradition . hestia is my middle name actually - mama gave me another name , but we don’t use it . it’s amphitrite . mama said amphritrite was the queen of the sea , and the most beautiful daughter of nereus . i never really knew why mama named me that , she always said names had meanings , so there must have been a reason . “
the mermaid kneels tenderly at the grave, green eyes glassy and bones tired. she takes a moment to brush non existing dirt from the top of his gravestone, the marble polished and pristine, gold words carved in elegant script;
here lies mason hastings
beloved husband and father
may he rest in peace
hestia lets her fingers skim over the words, the wedding band on her finger catching under the sunlight. how long had it been? sixty years ? seventy ? she’d lost count, too many years had passed, too much had changed , but she still loved him- and time hadn’t dulled the sting of losing him.
a pale hand dips into her pocket and draws out a velvet pouch which she shakes into her upturned palm, pearls clicking together as she does.
“ i brought you a gift “
the mermaid whispers as she presses the pearls into the ground surrounding his headstone. she’s silent as she finishes and leans toward to press her forehead against the cool stone.
“ one day , “ she promises. “ one day i’ll be with you again my love . just wait for me . “
hestia isn’t sure how much time she spends there, but she looks up when a hand presses against her shoulder. gentle hands bring her to her feet and the mermaid leans against him gratefully.
“ hey mom ? you still love him dont you ? .. even after all this time ? “
the sunset behind him sets his already red hair ablaze, his father’s freckles splashed beneath the eyes he inherited from her. he glamours himself so young, almost the mirror image of his father. he always pretends he does it to keep his youth, but sometimes hestia catches him staring at father’s photograph when he thinks she isn’t looking. it helps him to feel closer to his father. to her mason. hestia pats his hand, crows feet beside her eyes crinkling as she smiles at him.
“ there isn’t a part of me that doesn’t love him . there isn’t a part of me that will ever stop loving him . - and he isn’t gone . he hasn’t left us , he’s still here , in my heart . and in you . “
their son smiles, bright and beaming in the same way mason’s was and for a moment her heart aches. he swings an arm around her shoulder and tugs her away, babbling something about the dinner he’s making for her. one of dad’s favourites he says, mutters about how he promises not to burn the house down this time.
hestia turns just enough to catch site of mason’s grave as their son tugs her back towards their home. she smiles.
good job, mason. really nice going there, get it together. if there was a thing such as mentally slapping oneself, well mason was doing that at the moment. scratching the side of his neck when the flowers were returned, the werewolf took them. “i got just a little startled. but those were actually for you.” he finally said, an apologetic smile crossing his features for dropping them. beaming up at the rest of her words, mason reached out his hand, letting his fingers gently slide over the shells. “they are for me? really?” he asked, gaze shifting from the shells to her, smile bright upon his lips. “like? i love them, they are beautiful.”
hestia almost drops the shells at that, handing them over before staring at the flowers with wonder. the mermaid stokes over the petals tenderly before turning her gaze to mason.
“ i’ve never had flowers before “
she murmurs. before she can second guess herself hestia leans up and presses her lips to his cheek. the mer withdraws slowly, gaze fixed on the petals as she fiddles with the flowers in her hands.
Kieran frowned, looking at the necklace before reaching to it. He first moved his fingertips over the seal, then catching it and brings closer. “This belonged to me, yes,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “I give it as a farewell gift to my close friend… And if you say the truth, she might have been your mother,” he looked up at a mermaid’s face — his eyes changed, the sclera black, pupils gone, iris in deep red and almost whiteish-grey.
“It has a spell on; only can be worn or taken off by the person with my or her blood. And well,” he tilted his head, playing with the necklace. “You do look like Artemis. But I am sure she would tell you this on her own… So the only conclusion is that she is dead, isn’t she?”
There goes another death in his life. He liked Artemis, feelings strong fondness to her years ago that still makes him sentimental sometimes.
hestia’s eyes flash in response, turning a pure silver, almost white. just like her grandmother. the mermaid looks down immediately after, almost sheepish. it’s almost hard to believe. her mother knew a prince. she was close friends with a prince. the mermaid is full to the brim with questions, she almost asks them too, but then he mentions blood and before she can question that he’s already skipping to her mother’s death.
her features fall, and hestia draws her knees to her chest, staring sadly at her glass of water. the purplette blinks and suddenly the glass is frozen, and she spares a cautious glance at the prince as she tries to figure out if she froze it or he did.
“ mama ... mama is dead ... “
she confirms quietly and looks down to hide the way her eyes glaze over.
“ she died for me . died trying to save me - it’s my fault . “
jason listens to her words with curious eyes and a warm smile on his lips. “no, i did not know that.” he’s happy that she shares it with him, though, this new way of looking at freckles and at pearls. “mason? yeah, i think he’d love some pearls.” the werewolf can’t recall ever seeing mason with pearls, but he has a feeling it will be appreciated more because of hestia than the gift itself. “you should give some to him. you’ll never know until you do.”
the mermaid squeals excitedly, jumping slightly as she claps.
“ i can get him pearls !! thank you ! i can get you some too ! i’ll make you a cake and i’ll decorate them with pearls but not the real pearls i dont think you can eat the real pearls but they can be fake pearls made from the ic- ic- the sweet stuff that elena showed me ! “
mason wasn’t good with those things, he was a disaster to be quite honest, and that was he was at the hunter’s moon, trusting his pack more than himself to not let him take something potentially hurtful to her. what he wasn’t expecting through, it was stumbling onto the person in question the moment he was out of the doors. eyes growing wide for a moment as he stared at hestia. “oh. hey, ‘ti.” and in a gesture of panic he ended up throwing the flowers to the side before he reached up to scratch the back of his head, a bashful smile spreading across his face. “i didn’t know the hunter’s moon was your thing.” @hcstiic
“ hi mason , “
hestia watches him wide eyed and fond as he fumbles. the mermaid smiles and moves away, picking up the flowers and straightening the petals one by one. she holds them out to him expectantly, waiting for him to take hem before she slowly fishes some shells out of her pocket, mismatched sizes cupped in the palm of her hand as she offers them to him too.
“ uh , you dropped these ? and i brought you some shells ... do you like them ? “
➰ ( DOVE CAMERON, CISFEMALE, SHE/HER ) *✧.:°░｡ —- is that HESTIA ?! you know them, right? they are the 176 year old MERMAID !! they’re known for being QUIET & RESILIENT - but i’d be careful if i were you because they’re also ANXIOUS & DOCILE.
BASIC INFO
full name: princess hestia
nicknames/aliases: hestia , tia , bubble , es
species: mermaid
age: 176
gender: female
sexuality: pansexual
birthday:
occupation: n/a
face-claim: dove cameron
ethnicity: unknown
abilities: water manipulation ( minor ) , siren song ( unused )
APPEARANCE
build: slim
height: 5 ft 4 inches
hair colour: purple
eye colour:
scars: multiple from captivity , most noticeably lashes on her back from a whip ( all glamoured )
tattoos: n/a
piercings: n/a
clothing: modern , usually belonging to either her or lyssa
mer form: pure white skin and hair ( inherited from queen eris , x ) , white tail with multiple almost translucent fins ( x , x , x ) , three gills on the top of her ribs , scales along her temple and cheeks ( x ) , silver irises ( x ) , pearls in strands of her hair
likes: seashells , sunlight , the sound of rain , painting
dislikes: closed spaces , the dark , violence , yelling
hogwarts house: hufflepuff
BIO
TRIGGER WARNINGS: KIDNAPPING , ENSLAVEMENT , CHILD ABUSE , ALLUSIONS TO SEXUAL ASSAULT , VIOLENCE , EXPERIMENTATION
meet hestia
kieran and artemis were really good friends and one night they got incredibly drunk and.... well i dont have to explain the frickity frack paddy whack
kieran left afterwards to go travelling, not knowing that artemis was pregnant, but before he went he gifted artemis with a locket, one that bears the royal family’s seal
when her family found out she was pregnant she was chased out of their reef
after hestia was born, artemis gave her the necklace kieran gifted her, and raised her wide eyed little daughter alone
artemis moved around a lot and only settled temporarily when she was found by her daughter morrigan, a warlock who she’d given up since she’d never be able to survive under water
when hestia was seven she was playing close to some ships, she was always obsessed and fascinated by the human world and didnt understand the danger she’d put herself in
she ended up being caught in a net, artemis tried to save her but as the sailors started hoisting the net back into the ship it got wrapped around her neck
when the sailors were cheering about finding real live mermaids, they didn’t notice they only really had one
the sailors ended up selling hestia, and who else bought her but the same couple who enslaved kat and blackmailed adrian
the necklace from kieran is spelled so that only the owner may remove it, and when the couple saw the royal seal they decided to ransom her back to her family
hestia didn’t understand what was happening at first, she was only a child
because she was small they kept her in a literal fish tank
the husband in the couple took a liking to her and she became his ‘favourite little pet’ so he’d keep her in his office
hestia tried to drown both him and his wife a few times, and as a punishment, they’d get her keeper ( lo and behold our darling adrian ) to slowly take water out of her tank
they made him do it until she had enough to keep her shifted, but barely enough for her to breathe through the gills she gained when transformed
safe to say she quickly became obedient
adrian alternated between looking after hestia and looking after kat
he’d bring hestia little seashells, and in the beginning she wouldn’t talk to him, but one day she did, blurting out that he had pretty hair
hestia had ben raised in a part of the sea where people generally had light hair, so before adrian she’d never seen someone with hair so dark
they started a system of hestia telling him fairy stories from under the sea ( like how all the stars in the sky were actually pearls, and when someone made a wish on them and the wish came true, they’d fall into the ocean ) and he’d tell her about the sea and how it looked, and tell her stories about the kingdom he ruled before he turned
now mers can make themselves look however they want, and when hestia was locked away she kept wishing she was bigger and stronger so that she could fight back and get away, she subconsciously ended up changing herself to look the way she does now
she did it to protect herself but the husband took an interest to her new looks
the wife absolutely hated hestia, and had her punished as much as she could, she’d also find excuses to pull the husband away which led to hestia being left in their vault
the vault was exactly what it sounds like, and hestia’s tank would be left in there whenever the couple went away or if the wife was particularly spiteful
as a result hestia suffers from a fear of the dark as well as claustraphobia
the couple struggled to find a way to contact the royal family and as a result couldn’t ransom her off, the wife wanted to kill her, the husband wanted to keep her, but adrian convinced them that it would be better to sell her to another owner
the deal went through and it was agreed that she would be sold, but two days before she was to be collected, auden and adriana came and rescued both kat and adrian
hestia is resentful of them, not angry resentful but rather a tearful one as she was never rescued
hestia was sold despite this, and went to a couple who were fairly nice, they were trying to buy as many downworld slaves as possible in order to save them from cruel owners
under their ownership she received a room and bed to sleep in, good meals and was treated kindly
it didnt last long
the couple died mysteriously and their eldest son took over and inherited both their wealth and their slaves, he was incredibly cruel and decided to keep the two mermaids in his possession as little trinkets to show off and flaunt, thus hestia was stuffed back in a tank, this time sharing it with another mer
after him, hestia was sold to one other owner
he was a middle aged mundane with the sight who was experimenting with downworlders and shadowhunters, trying to figure out what made them special
he had two mermaids, a vampire , two werecats , one werewolf , a seelie and a shadowhunter in his possession
the vampire died first, he was pitted against the shadowhunter in an evaluation of the species
the shadowhunter won, but she died next, their owner took an interest in her runes and skinned her, cutting them out one by one to study them
hestia was the most recent one he bought and he never actually got onto the experimental stage with her before he died
the thing is he kept them in this little wood cabin that was soundproofed so no one knew they were there
the two werecats there died of starvation
the seelie was called daphne ( given to us by mom ) actually pulled out part of the bone in his wing and used it to pick the locks and get hestia and the werewolf out
daphne ended up getting blood poisoning and told hestia and the wolf to go on without her, they did , hestia very reluctantly, and assumed that daphne died
tia and the wolf carried on and they were a few days out from the nearest town when they stopped to rest
whilst she was sleeping he shifted to wolf form so he’d be able to protect her better, but what they didn’t know was that it was hunting season, a group of hunters came by and saw a ragged little girl sleeping with a growling wolf near her so they shot him
the gunshots woke her up and she panicked, using her abilities to pull the water out of their bodies and kill them. she was found by shadowhunters a few days later and they took her in
that was 1976
since then hestia has actively been in recovery for her ptsd
she stil struggles quite a lot but she’s made quite a bit of progress
she can stand in ankle deep water
she’s okay with touch when she initiates it or with a few chosen people ( jason , mason )
she’s been nightmare free for the past week or so and her flashbacks are few ( though anxiety attacks a lot more common )
she’s very soft and tender
she currently lives with jason ( written by isa i still sob ) and theyre just soft af together
after an audience with eris it’s been revealed to her that she may be a descendant of the royal family but she still doesn’t know from who
WANTED CONNECTIONS
friends
people also recovering from ptsd
a girl best friend
a love interest
a descendant of her old crush ( she literally avoided him until he felt awkward and left the institute
a mentor to help her navigate the world ( she still sucks )
