(no subject)

[apprentice_lurk]

((I was trying to draw HW&HD Fluffmoon, I really was. I even looked up uniforms and everything.

Yet, somehow, I ended up with a tiny drawing of ickle baby Artemis instead, and the idea for Fluffmoon has vanished as though it had never been.

Because little!Artemis is Just That Cute.))

Comments

And in retaliation...

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

It was a brothel. Helios had never known any other word for it, nor remembered not knowing what the word meant. His mother had sex with men for money, and one of those transactions had resulted in an unexpected complication: him.

She was nice enough in her way, his mother; when she remembered he existed, she'd bring him a sweet or a small toy, at the end of the month after the Honeybee Inn took its cut from her pay. And a few of the other girls were nice to him too. Ultimately, though, they were too full of the life they lived to have any room in their hearts for the redhead, and Helios learned at an early age to take care of himself.

That meant earning his keep at the Inn, running supplies and loading endless piles of laundry 'til his little muscles ached; when he was older, that meant spying on the goings-on and reporting customers who broke the rules, or girls who took more than their share. Sometimes it meant keeping his mouth shut about what he saw, like the fat man everyone called "the Don" who broke a girl's arm when she wouldn't do his lieutenants for free. Always it meant staying out of sight; Midgar's laws about kids in brothels were firm, and anyway letting the customers see him tended to be bad for business. That part was easy for Helios. He used the back hallways and crept along everywhere he went, and by the time he was ten even his mother had forgotten he existed.

He'd imagined other ways to live, of course he had - a mother who knew him, maybe even a father, lessons in math and chocobos and maybe even a little patch of grass all his own, like the flower lady in the church he wasn't supposed to go in - but dismissed them as Not For Him until the word came out that AVALANCHE was looking for members. "Helios the ecoterrorist" had a ring to it that he liked; as he left the laundry on the floor and slipped out unnoticed toward Sector Seven, Helios determined that to escape his life, he would become the best warrior for the Planet there ever was.

Re: And in retaliation...

[(Anonymous)]

*WIBBLES LIKE A WIBBLING THING* Oh, Helios...

little!Artemis: *toddles over, looks at him curiously* 'Lo...

Re: And in retaliation...

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *peers at him out of one eye, slightly suspicious* ...h'lo.

Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *grins cheerily out from under a mop of grubby blonde hair* 'M Artemis Who're you? *he's clearly been out and about today - meaning he's covered in smudges of dirt all over his hands, knees and elbows, which he seems to have attempted to wipe off with no great success*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *examines all the dirt and has an unexplicable urge to throw him in the washtub for a good scrubbing* *slowly, as if wondering why ask such a question* Helios...

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *Ma's not doing anything today! He doesn't have to look after his sisters, he can get into as much mess as he likes! :D ...Well, so long as he gets some of it off before he goes home...*

*holds a hand out, smiling brightly at him* Wan' go see th'flowers? My Da's coming home tomorrow! *logic!*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *perks up immediately* Flowers? *almost smiles* *can pretty much go wherever he wants, so long as he doesn't get in the way of the customers, doesn't slack off on the laundry, or otherwise call attention to himself* *thinks about how much work he has left, calculating in his head, and decides he can afford to let it go for a little while* ...'kay. *fingers quirk in response to Artemis's gesture, unsure*

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: Yeah! Th'flower lady's out today, w'ca go get some fluffy stuff! *looks at Helios' wiggly fingers, then laughs and takes him hand* C'mon! *encouraging, sunny grin*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *eep! human contact!* *but his fingers curl around Artemis's, thin and cold, and he smiles shyly back* ...'M following you.

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *...beams* 'Kay. ^_^! *heads off at a trot, tugging on Helios' hand and grinning back at him* They're pretty!

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *is tugged, goes along gamely behind him - though it's a little hard to slink and stay out of sight when someone like Artemis has you by the hand* Uh-huh. I've been to the church before...

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *bombs along the street happily, ducking fearlessly through alleys and broken-down streets, though if you're paying really close attention you'll notice that he is too...* *breathlessly* 'F we go quick, we c'n go in further! C'mon! *grins*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *is infected by Artemis's enthusiasm. Just a little.* ...heh. *speeds up, dodging around the junkpiles and hardly noticing he's clutching Artemis's hand*

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *...racing! :D* *goes that bit faster, hanging on tight to his new friend - might be racing, but not letting go!*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *finds himself smiling as he runs alongside Artemis, their hands clutched tight together - racing, competing, but also staying together no matter what* *...likes the feeling*

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *has a few friends he hangs about with, on the rare occasions he can get away from his chores - he's fairly sure he won't necessarily see Helios again, but he likes the redhead already...he's fun.*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *is the only kid in the brothel, and while Sector 6 is the kind of place that encourages copulation, the resultant kids are almost always raised elsewhere. The concept of 'friend' is nebulous, faraway. ...Still. If he could see Artemis again, that would be... nice.*

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *is used to his friends being fair-weather or largely absent, so is automatically assuming Helios will be the same...* *still, today is fun, and that's what matters - it's not like he can get out regularly, anyway*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *is still clinging when he sees a spot of color ahead, garish-bright against the monotone sepia of the junkpiles* ...s'the church! *gasps*

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *eyes light up* C'mon! *darts closer, hand still reassuring-tight around Helios'* Look look, ain't they pretty?

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *very, very much hopes that hand stays right where it is* *peers through the grimy windows and breathes out* Pretty...

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *isn't about to let go, no matter how confident he seems-!* Yeah... *stands there looking at it from a safe distance, peeking out of the mouth of an alleyway, then glances around with the air of an explorer* C'mon!

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *hesitates, his fingers tightening* ...in there?

Re: Eee! <3

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

lilArtemis: *looks over - it's bright, for under the Plate; the flowers are pretty; there's no-one around...* Yeah! C'mon, it'll be fun! ^_^ *trots out confidently towards the flowers*

Re: Eee! <3

[raisedbymoogles.livejournal.com]

lilHelios: *clearly Artemis is determined to go over there, and if he wants to keep his new friend he'll be going over there too* *sticks close as a burr to Artemis's shoulder, eyes darting around him*