[willedstubborn]

WILLEDSTUBBORN ✨ an independent, private, and selective roleplay blog for Hera, queen of the gods, goddess of marriage, women, marital harmony, and the protector of women during childbirth, headcanon-based and inspired by Homer's Iliad and other greek myths. duplicate and crossover friendly, strictly 18+. established july 2024. penned by m., she/her, CET.

a study in: power and control, powerfulness and powerlessness, stubborn will and wounded pride, jealousy and faithfulness, being among the most powerful gods yet still in gilded chains, speaking your mind in spite of everything, the balance between humanity and cruelty, divine circles of abuse, protecting yourself and yours, the intersection of caring and harming, endless devotion, burning love, marriage, undying fidelity, and what we really owe to each other.

CARRD. (under construction) | ATHENA SIDEBLOG.

Currently working on: ✨ 7 replies ✨ 5 asks

[willedstubborn]

Hello hello, this is a proof of life 💜 life has been a lot more than I can handle the past year, and it’s unlikely I’ll be able to create a new routine and assess if I’m able to come back and write on here until November. I’m sorry for disappearing (I did not lie when I said I may do that in my rules 😅) but wanted to write something on here to mention that I’m around, I still wish I could write with you all, and hopefully will be able to make this happen soon, when I hopefully get to be in a healthier place with a routine conducive to writing🤞

In case any of you would like to keep in touch, I’m not great at responding on discord, but I’m a bit quicker there than on here ☺️

[willedstubborn]

Tiny, cheeky starter call ✨ Like this post for a short (around one paragraph maximum), unplotted starter from Hera. If you're a multimuse, please specify who it would be for 💜

[willedstubborn]

Hello hello! My queue ran out faster than I could replenish it 😅 I also meant to log on and write tonight but life happened and I need to be at work in 9-ish hours so I'm not sure I'll get much done. However! I'll be there tomorrow at the latest to try to get a few days of queue running ✨

[nightlock]

the bell jar // sylvia plath

[willedstubborn]

@stubborngods asked:

at least acknowledge this isn’t the way to deal with your anger . (from psyche)

« I shall deal with my anger how I see fit. » A declaration, said with all the stubbornness she could muster as Hera kept pacing, fingers absentmindedly running along her wedding ring. « They were conspiring, hiding something from us. Does this not at the very least puzzle you? »

Perhaps Psyche had not been a part of the gods for long enough to understand the special kind of grief that came along with it, to feel the impending conflicts and wars before they even started. Maybe Hera was exaggerating, but was this really a chance she was willing to take?

[willedstubborn]

@defenseonly asked:

❛ why do you care? you could have just walked away. ❜

« Don't tempt me, young demigod. » she jests, her tone light and almost dismissive. What else was she meant to provide? The truth? That while other gods might mostly ignore camp half-blood, Hera saw them all as instruments with the potential to destroy her family and some of them as children of her own children? That for all her flaws, for all the vitriol, for all the vile, abominable actions she had taken, none of them were without reason and most of them involved protecting the family she had so painstakingly built? That Daniel mattered a great deal to Johnny, and so even though Johnny had done nothing to deserve her recognition (quite the opposite, actually), she would make sure he came out of this alive, if only so that her grandson would feel indebted towards her? « Especially when I could ask you the same question. »

[cinelestial]

Images of Olympus from PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS Disney+ series.

[willedstubborn]

@stubborngods asked:

❛ you haven’t changed at all ! ❜ (from persephone)

Bright smile greets Persephone's words before the queen can take in her appearance. The Underworld has not been unkind to the younger goddess, and though neither of them would age in the way mortals did, courtesy of the ambrosia, Hera understood what she meant. Persephone looked different, a far cry from the girl that Demeter used to fiercely protect. In this context, not having changed was not inherently an insult, but it was a stark contrast with the goddess of springtime. « It is good to see you, you also look well. »

Hand waves and a scroll appears in the air, gingerly picked up by the queen of the heavens before handing it to the queen of the underworld. « Iris was on her way to deliver this, but since I had affairs to discuss with your husband, I thought to bring it in person. I do hope you will be able to join us. » The invitation, in gold lettering, is set for a date in early summer, clearly intended for Persephone alone.

[willedstubborn]

@seaprofound asked:

❝ so, how has married life been thus far? your charming husband treating you well? ❞ ( hi !! )

Giddy, breezy laughter meets Poseida's questions, quickly but poorly hidden behind the open fingers of Hera's left hand, wedding band gleaming under the sun of the shores of Samos. It was as if the mention of her wedding had some sort of private, exclusive connotations that the newly appointed Queen of Heavens was the only one to be privy to. « Oh Po, he is everything I have ever wanted. This is everything I have ever wanted. »

Newlywed bliss barely contains Hera's pride, instead wrapping it up in fancy silks and intricate bows, making it almost easier to put into words. She had been in love with Zeus since his war against Kronos, in a way she had not quite allowed herself to put into words then. It was not simply that she loved him, and wanted to be loved back. Rather, she wanted everything from him—the love, the respect, the status, the unending and unyielding trust, the undying fidelity—and expected to give everything in return. This might have been a lot to take in for anyone else, but not for them. Not for her.

« My only complaint is that the celebrations could have gone on longer, but I suppose a King and Queen must make a dramatic exit. Did the party go on for much longer after we left? »

[willedstubborn]

@trckstaer asked:

❛  you  were  always  sure  of  yourself .  ❜ – Deimos !

Hera's bottom lip quivers. She had not expected—or wanted—anyone to find her in this predicament, but it was perhaps fitting that fear themselves would be the one to find her this way. The comment stings more than she would have liked, a reminder that the time to grieve and lament was after a potential return of the Titans was properly investigated and addressed. Athena was likely already probing every avenue available and leaving no stones unturned in order to obtain answers, and Hera was waiting—powerless and in the dark. A deep breath, and the Queen of Heavens has steeled herself again, blue eyes meeting her grandchild's haze.

« I still very much am. » There is strength in her voice—And though it is not dishonest, it feels like armour against the current events. « We have prospered this far, and we will keep thriving. »

[bridgetreganing]

[victoriousfidelity]

@willedstubborn said: "People like us don't get to decide when we're done." for the damaged sentence starters. | accepting.

Norns, how many times had she longed for rest? Memories of the cave resurface: her body aching, her mind reeling, her heart broken. Time had lost all meaning as she stood her thankless vigil, there in the dark with only her tormented husband for company, one son's blood clinging to their skin.

So many years have passed since then, and though she has been reunited with those she lost - their story is cyclical, after all - the scars still remain. The venom-burned flesh of her arms and hands is as much a reminder of it all as the shadows in her heart.

Even now, there are days when she wishes for an end to it all.

"That is... More true than I wish it to be." Sigyn replies to her fellow Goddess in a murmur, her gaze somewhere in the distance.

[willedstubborn]

The Queen's eyes soften at Sigyn's words. In a second, Hera takes in all the implications, intended or not, that imbued the Norse goddess' words. Implications about her, about all of them. There was an inevitability in their every move, in their very existence—much bigger and broader than life itself, forever spun, unable to escape the Fates.

How many times had Hera tried?

How many of these times were merely repetitions of the same pattern, under a different disguise?

Still, there was something to be said about resilience. Whatever shape events took, Hera knew she would perdure, knew Sigyn would perdure, much like the rest of them. Mortality, she thought, was for those unburdened by a genuinely greater purpose—A thought her husband seemed to agree on, if Heracles was the example illustrating the rule.

« That is the only truth, » she still provides, ever the pragmatic. « Your heart may bruise and your bones bend, but you will still be here, you will still be needed. » Left hand grabs the bottle of wine and extends it to Sigyn in invitation. Words could not make their destiny any kinder, but wine could detain their sense just enough that this harshness did not matter. « Wine helps, ambrosia moreso, though perhaps that it because it can lay anyone bare. »

[willedstubborn]

@defenseonly asked:

❛ i don’t know what’s the truth or what’s a lie anymore. ❜

Soft snort meets Daniel's open, honest comment. You will have to forgive Hera. After centuries of seeing mortals and demigods alike go through the similar trouble of existing, she supposed she was allowed some level of jadedness. 'Oh, you don't know now? How about in 300 years?'

It seemed, she pondered, that humans often pinned their hopes and dreams and understanding of the world on very static notions, very set goals, and referred to failure to reach those (or deviations from the path to reach those) in very dramatic terms. The truth, of course, was far bigger than what even Daniel could imagine. The weave of fate and destiny was tied together in what might feel precarious knots, but doomed existence to a repeating circle of events and consequences, and never truly learning from one own's flaws. For gods, the weight of it all was even more unbearable than for mortals—Yet Hera perdured, imbued with all the pride and experience she had acquired circle after circle after circle. Daniel did not have the benefit of pride or experience, though. In fact, he did not even have the benefit of misguided self-confidence often found in other bright-eyed youths. What he did have were riddles, shards for him to decipher, his godly mother no doubt watching from afar and remembering his every decisions. As much as Hera would like to think her and Athena had built a common understanding over the years (one no other extramarital child of Zeus would ever fully reach. The Trojan war had destroyed as many bridges as it had built), the goddess of motherhood would hardly describe Wisdom as particularly nurturing, or providing her children with the right guidance they needed to go forward. Athena wanted better for her children, for them to be free thinkers, analytical minds of their own who would not need her advice, and so she provided cryptic signs and sparks of hope until they proved themselves.

Hera, on the other hand, knew the benefits of a guiding hand, for better or for worse. « If you are asking this question, then you must know at least some things are lies, » she provides. A starting point, if you will. « Focus on these. »

[ofvanaheim]

"I hope your journey wasn't too arduous?"

starter for @willedstubborn, from freyja.

[willedstubborn]

« Not anymore than usual, » Hera confirms, lips curling up in a grateful smile at Freyja's question. « Although this time, I brought wine. » Ambrosia was really the only drink Hera needed for sustenance, but she supposed indulging at times was good for the soul.

[tamsoj]

Sylvia Plath, "Love Letter"

[victoriousfidelity]

@willedstubborn said: "You're not a very convincing liar." 200 random dialogue prompts. | accepting.

"I fear lying is more my husband's forte than it is mine." Sigyn acknowledges with a hint of a laugh.

[willedstubborn]

« These are dangerous qualities to have in a partner, though immensely helpful in these types of social situations. » There is the hint of a smile on Hera's lips. If she took offence, nothing would show for it. « Tell me, how has your husband been? And how have you been, genuinely? »