Also, I am bored and have half an hour of my lunch break left. So I drabble.
It wasn't a slum. His Ma said it wasn't, so it wasn't, but the battered, grim-looking houses hunkered in the gloom and clung to the grimy streets, all cheap plate and dull, dirty metal, and the walkways were cluttered with rubbish and graffiti. Artemis, of course, didn't think anything of it - this was how the world looked; this was his world. He'd heard about places where there was a bright blue sky overhead, where the streets were as wide as his Ma's house across, and he'd seen the lone tree in the flower lady's garden the next Sector over, but he wasn't sure how far he believed them. He was only little still, and people liked trying to tell him things that all his baby sisters could have said weren't true. There was the Plate overhead, his Ma at home, and there was always another baby sister to look after.
And sometimes, sometimes if the world was working the very best it could, his Da would come home and see them. His Da was tall as the top of the Plate and he wore his SOLDIER blacks, and his eyes glowed in the dark so he could always find Artemis easily when they played hide-and-seek. His Da knew Sephiroth and the President of ShinRa and he'd been out from under the Plate, and his da was the only person Artemis would believe when he told stories about things like fields and forests. Whenever Da came home, it was a holiday.
Ma didn't seem like she liked Da much, even though whenever he came to see them he brought ma things - mostly gil, but some of the other people who came to see Ma brought gil before they disappeared to talk upstairs; not enough, Ma always said with a scowl and a glance at Artemis, but they still brought it. Artemis wished, sometimes, that Da could come and see them but not see Ma - they never seemed to be happy when they were together, even when they came back downstairs, but Da always seemed happy to see him. He caught Artemis up and hugged him, and told him stories about General Sephiroth and the new person who'd come to help him, the youngest First Class SOLDIER ever.
Artemis wanted to be a SOLDIER more than anything. Then maybe Ma would be happy and not yell at him when his sisters cried, and maybe Da could stay at home and help make Ma smile. Ma never seemed to smile very much anymore. He remembered she looked pretty when she did, but no matter what he tried, she never seemed to want to smile for very long - even when he brought things home for her, to make her happy.
He found some flowers once - the flower lady had been out of the green part of the next Sector, and he'd slipped down the little hill to tug a little bit of green stuff with fluffy flowers out of the ground by the big, sad tree to bring home to Ma and his little sisters, but she'd just picked it out of his hands with a scowl and told him not to bring weeds back home anymore. It had looked pretty to Artemis, and when Ma had turned around and gone back to her room upstairs he'd crept out of the house, picked up the fluffy things from where she'd thrown them out the tiny window, and hidden them under his pillow.
He wanted to show Da when he came home again, but by then, despite Artemis trying to be so very gentle and careful, the fluff had dried out and died. He wrapped the bits in a scrap of paper and hid it under one of the floorboards again, so his sisters couldn't find it and gum it to mush, and told himself that he could show Da the bits and maybe go find some more.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 12:51 pm (UTC)It wasn't a slum. His Ma said it wasn't, so it wasn't, but the battered, grim-looking houses hunkered in the gloom and clung to the grimy streets, all cheap plate and dull, dirty metal, and the walkways were cluttered with rubbish and graffiti. Artemis, of course, didn't think anything of it - this was how the world looked; this was his world. He'd heard about places where there was a bright blue sky overhead, where the streets were as wide as his Ma's house across, and he'd seen the lone tree in the flower lady's garden the next Sector over, but he wasn't sure how far he believed them. He was only little still, and people liked trying to tell him things that all his baby sisters could have said weren't true. There was the Plate overhead, his Ma at home, and there was always another baby sister to look after.
And sometimes, sometimes if the world was working the very best it could, his Da would come home and see them. His Da was tall as the top of the Plate and he wore his SOLDIER blacks, and his eyes glowed in the dark so he could always find Artemis easily when they played hide-and-seek. His Da knew Sephiroth and the President of ShinRa and he'd been out from under the Plate, and his da was the only person Artemis would believe when he told stories about things like fields and forests. Whenever Da came home, it was a holiday.
Ma didn't seem like she liked Da much, even though whenever he came to see them he brought ma things - mostly gil, but some of the other people who came to see Ma brought gil before they disappeared to talk upstairs; not enough, Ma always said with a scowl and a glance at Artemis, but they still brought it. Artemis wished, sometimes, that Da could come and see them but not see Ma - they never seemed to be happy when they were together, even when they came back downstairs, but Da always seemed happy to see him. He caught Artemis up and hugged him, and told him stories about General Sephiroth and the new person who'd come to help him, the youngest First Class SOLDIER ever.
Artemis wanted to be a SOLDIER more than anything. Then maybe Ma would be happy and not yell at him when his sisters cried, and maybe Da could stay at home and help make Ma smile. Ma never seemed to smile very much anymore. He remembered she looked pretty when she did, but no matter what he tried, she never seemed to want to smile for very long - even when he brought things home for her, to make her happy.
He found some flowers once - the flower lady had been out of the green part of the next Sector, and he'd slipped down the little hill to tug a little bit of green stuff with fluffy flowers out of the ground by the big, sad tree to bring home to Ma and his little sisters, but she'd just picked it out of his hands with a scowl and told him not to bring weeds back home anymore. It had looked pretty to Artemis, and when Ma had turned around and gone back to her room upstairs he'd crept out of the house, picked up the fluffy things from where she'd thrown them out the tiny window, and hidden them under his pillow.
He wanted to show Da when he came home again, but by then, despite Artemis trying to be so very gentle and careful, the fluff had dried out and died. He wrapped the bits in a scrap of paper and hid it under one of the floorboards again, so his sisters couldn't find it and gum it to mush, and told himself that he could show Da the bits and maybe go find some more.