a hard day of work, and things have been tough lately, haven't they? blood on your hands, stress pressing persistently at the corners of your mind. you have sort of been going through the motions — you were on auto pilot.[break][break]
well, rest your weary head for a moment, and talk until your heart is content. at the other end of the table sits a young face with kind eyes. the room you're in is quiet; this is time shared just for the both of you, after all. it would be incorrect to paint that face with the shade of rose-colored naivety, or to assume they know no struggle, or that they go about life with a romantic attitude. they know struggle well, and have expressed with you that they've been through troubles too.[break][break]
they just don't want anyone to be alone like they had been.[break][break]
soon, they say, voice soft: "
i'll be here again, whenever you wanna talk." they curl their fingers under their chin as they lean forward, amber eyes bright with compassion. their lips lift into a gentle smile, and they say, "
i always like to listen. sometimes that's all you need, right?"[break][break]
a shoulder to cry on, someone who will listen while you rant and rave, and doesn't pass judgment upon your past actions — bad or not. offers when advice is asked for, a kind face in that sea of sad, monotonous grey. yes, that's them; artemy understands you must do what you have to do to survive, to get ahead, to make it right for
you. they know. they know this too.[break][break]
you nod your head.[break][break]
"
then, you can say whatever you want."
[attr="id","sybariscol"]sweeter than sweet
the deerlings are by no means a wealthy family. they got on well enough, settling nicely between the niche of finding some things affordable, and most things too expensive. they were of average talent, too: artemy's father, daniil, worked overnight at a warehouse somewhere in an industrial zone, while their mother, ceylan, was a seamstress and worked part-timer hours at a boutique while she took care of the children: artemy, and their sister.[break][break]
the deerlings as a whole were rather... small. their generations were dog-eared by unimpressive and subpar blue-collar workers. construction, production lines, etc. they are a family that worked with their hands, and were proud of what they accomplished, even though the feats of others overshadowed theirs greatly.[break][break]
artemy doesn't know any of their extended family on their father's side, apart from some old-timey pictures their father would show them in a "memory book" come every family-oriented holiday. he'd say something like,
"they would've loved to see you..." while looking misty-eyed, and sad.
artemy's earliest childhood memory was accidentally breaking the vase their mother and father had been gifted on their wedding day. they remember feeling horrible about it, trying their best to glue the pieces together with a glue gun. the whole ordeal ended with artemy having those flakey glue bits hanging off of their arms, their eyes watery with guilt and self-upset, as their parents observed with that look of:
"oh, we can't be mad at that face."[break][break]
daniil scooped them up into his arms and shushed them, while ceylan dusted the bits of the vase into a dustpan, and dumped it into the trash. artemy remembered their parents telling them that everyone makes mistakes sometimes. as long as they were careful, no more vases would be knocked over, and no one would be sad. they'd even shared moments where they made some silly mistakes.[break][break]
their father insisted his new business was not one of those silly mistakes. it was an apiary, something he and ceylan had put down together with everything they could. a life's dream realized:
better late than never, was something that he'd unequivocally quote. they'd purchased the land and the small house beside their home, vacant for too long. artemy remembers seeing their father incredibly ecstatic ( they remember something about their father
quitting his job at the warehouse ). they didn't know why, exactly, but they were happy that
he was happy.[break][break]
daniil taught artemy about the bees, how they go out and forage for food, and that the bees were kind enough to make enough honey to share with them and everyone else. the way he put it then was nice to their ears. they decide they want to help, and artemy becomes something of a miniature beekeeper in their own right: helping their mother spread wildflower seeds across the pasture, marking queen bees with their father, and slicing up honeycomb to put into little boxes and jars to give to their neighbors. ceylan wanted to make candles with the leftover beeswax, and daniil liked the idea so much that he'd gotten her the things to start on it.[break][break]
( artemy's favorite part of it all was watching those wildflowers bloom in the summer, and noticing how sweet they smelled in the morning. )[break][break]
with the approval of their neighbors, the little first generation family business was beginning to bloom, and they couldn't be happier. they'd even indulged in a small service where they could start advertising their product, and begin delivering it to people beyond their little neighborhood on the outskirts of delphi's residential district.
[attr="id","sybariscol"]chocolate cheeks
when artemy was a young teen, they heard their parents argue. sometimes this happens. they've learned that not everyone could be happy all the time, and that sometimes, even loved ones grew upset with one another for some things. artemy knows they've been mad at their sister when she would take something from them, so they had to wonder what made their parents upset? but it wasn't anything they could understand, at least not especially well.[break][break]
they were still smart enough to connect some dots, however:[break][break]
they had a growing collection of honey, beeswax, and other things sitting around. they weren't doing as much tending to the wildflowers anymore. their dad has been getting rid of a lot of his and ceylan's personal effects lately, and returning with meager bags of bronze and silver pieces. their mother has been staying home more, too. artemy themselves weren't being told to pack things up for delivery as often anymore.[break][break]
the business wasn't going well, and hadn't been going well for a couple years now. they started it when they were barely seven years old, and now they're thirteen, about to turn fourteen. there was a feeling of persistent restlessness in the air of their home. someone could hold a lighter to it, and it could explode: like oil to fire. for the first time, artemy sees their father drink. for the first time, they see their mother weep. for the first time, they see their family ask for help: and somehow, that is the worst offense of them all.[break][break]
artemy knew of their mother's side of the family, but they never saw them that much. they were like strangers who they would sometimes visit — it was hardly ever the other way around. the schäfers were far more well off than the deerlings were, see, and while artemy was taught to always try to do things themselves before asking anyone for help, they
truly thought the extent of that lesson was only in regards to themselves.[break][break]
why... wouldn't they help them? they were family, weren't they? the schäfers denounced them in every sense of the word: chiding them for their failure as businessfolk, for their mishandling of money, for getting into a borderline
unrecoverable debt. the choice words they had for ceylan were scathing most of all, even if artemy didn't understand the levity of it all. all that is to say: they refused to help. they said,
"help yourself," and they thought they heard a mean smile in those words. artemy, who listened to this with their ear against the wall, felt their gut twist terribly.[break][break]
they'd never seen their father so angry, their mother so withdrawn.[break][break]
she would brush the palm of her hand against their face before they left. she told them they'd made a mistake asking their relatives for help. she said,
"we have to help ourselves." they had a year to pay off the debt. frankly put, it's impossible, even if they filed for bankruptcy. they were only given a year, no exceptions. and then, the kicker: even if they took the house, claimed the assets of their land, and took everything they'd worked for, it wouldn't be enough to pay the debt they'd sunken into.[break][break]
artemy doesn't know how something like this could happen, but at fifteen years old, they have gotten smarter. relying on intuition, and a smattering of what they could gather from any book placed within reach, has drawn them to a few conclusions — none of which were nice, and none of which artemy wanted to believe in.[break][break]
at this part of the story, someone usually disappears...[break][break]
... and it's daniil who disappears. he is gone when they awake one foggy morning, no breakfast on the counter, no soft dulcet jazzy tunes playing on the crackling radio. and their mother is sat at the table, letters with the words
foreclosure written in red held in her hands. ceylan's face looks exhausted, and she nearly always has her head in her hands.[break][break]
she says their father has gone to find work, and that if he has any luck, he'll land something as nice as that warehouse job... or so she says. she tries her best to distract artemy from daniil's ever notable and stretching absence, but she's not good at it.[break][break]
they take her answer instead with no fuss, and they continued to be ever-present, ever sweet.[break][break]
the date for depositing the money comes and goes, and strangers in suits tell them to leave. ceylan managed to scrape together enough gold to get them a small apartment in tartarus — it was nothing nice, considering the neighborhood they were moving into, but it would have to do. they didn't have much to take with them, save for a few boxes of clothes for each of them.[break][break]
life in tartarus was rough starting out, though. ceylan was gone most of the time, looking for someplace for work, and that often left artemy with their sister. she eventually decided to become self-employed so she could keep an eye on artemy and their sister; it seemed like everyone in tartarus needed a dedicated seamstress to come to when their clothes have become too ragged, and buying something
new was less important than making sure food got onto the table. artemy's mother made a good bit of money, repairing old clothes until they looked brand new.[break][break]
eventually, they decide to explore the slums, and they find that the people there live the way they have to now: living day to day, having only each other for support. artemy sees their close-knit nature, and bonds forged over years of similar hardship. but it's scary, initially — these figures leaning out of alleyways, watching with hawk eyes — but artemy does their best to get used to it. they live here now, they're one of the
slumdogs.[break][break]
it's a title apparently worn like a shiny badge there.
[attr="id","sybariscol"]chocolate wings
artemy is fifteen when they start looking for a job. the genevieve is
perfect. it's located on thirteenth street, at the border of the slums and downtown delphi, and the youngest they hired was at fourteen. it's a nice place too, they'd thought — artemy has been there before, and sometimes they ordered a little bowl of ice cream for themselves and their sister, and they'd smartly spoken with the staff those times they've been there — and at the moment, ceylan needed all the help she could get.[break][break]
she hadn't asked them to get a job, but they'd refused to do nothing while their mother toiled away for their safety and security. so, off they'd went, and they were brought on board soon after. maybe they sensed their desperation? or maybe they'd already liked them enough to give them a chance — they didn't know, they were happy they could finally help their small family in some way. artemy gave their first check to their mother after sneaking out on several occasions to work.[break][break]
for the second time in their life, they saw their mother weep.[break][break]
she said, while hugging them tight that evening: "
how did i end up with such a good child?"[break][break]
it wasn't until later in the year that a miracle happened.[break][break]
a voice in their head spoke to them for the first time.[break][break]
artemy had always felt like someone's eyes were pinned to the back of their head, that there were a constant presence besides themselves, even if they were alone. they'd witness small displays of something
shimmering in darkness, and they were things they had written off as one of the many strange and unusual things to happen in tartarus. it simply made sense back then.[break][break]
but this was odd, this was
new, because their family were not made of witches. the deerlings hadn't seen a witch in their family for generations, and now they —
they were a witch.[break][break]
on that night, while artemy laid underneath the stars on the roof of their apartment home the voice said something that made them cement their resolve.[break][break]
"
there is another way of protecting your family, artemy. you're a witch — you have more you can do, now."[break][break]
and it's true; humans couldn't join covens. humans couldn't do much of
anything in a world where witches existed, could they? artemy has seen it: in their mother, and their father: the struggle. they don't want to see that, much less for their own family, of course. there was one coven that loomed over tartarus, and they've seen them from where they would lay beneath the stars. two gargantuan, shiny towers — that's where they want to be, someday.[break][break]
so, for now, working at the genevieve was what they can do. they're too young, at fifteen, to join sybaris. throughout the year, artemy makes friends with the hostesses, and a couple of the fellows that went upstairs. their friendliness ( which was always a constant with for artemy ) paid off, as they were soon offered
additional tasks whilst they worked their shift.[break][break]
washing money, or laundering it, was a term artemy had never heard of before. but the boys taught them how to do it, and they did it with no questions asked. there was a vague sense of knowing that what they were doing wasn't exactly a
good thing, but dažbog was there, as always, to encourage them.[break][break]
"
keep going," she'd say, "
i won't let anything happen to you." she promised.[break][break]
the next months are of artemy doing this. they get paid a little extra for their effort, and with time, there are more tasks delegated to them: from
laundering money to
making counterfeits. dažbog coaches them through it, and they learn how to make convincing counterfeits with artemy's eye for creativity. it's hard work, but they manage it, and they know no one would sniff around the inoffensive, wholesome sweetheart that was artemy deerling.[break][break]
january 5th is their birthday: they'd marked it upon the calendar, and circled it in red. for their birthday, they step into a den of snakes: a whole new world they knew nothing about.
[attr="id","sybariscol"]bitter next to your sweet
artemy's entrance into sybaris properly was more than a little startling. there were many changes in their life that had been jarring for them, and this one was the same, if not more so. joining a coven, they'd been told, was a
lifetime commitment: it was one they were ready for, after all this time.[break][break]
joining the coven itself was easy enough. the
initiation was another. whatever they did to be branded with that snakebite tattoo was something they'd keep to themselves: and after that, they are part of the narcisse. artemy was already familiar with their illegal dealings, having indirectly played part in them by laundering their dirty money and forging counterfeits: why not make it official?
they seemed to have taken a liking to them, and artemy felt like they have joined a bigger family: one that will help them, unlike their own flesh and blood. it is a stark realization that should have broken their heart, but instead empowered it.
found family. it is somehow better than their own, and it is another lesson they accept into themselves.[break][break]
just like that, artemy's goal shifted from getting their family out of tartarus to
staying in tartarus. they are better off here, after all, in a community that forged bonds stronger than blood. artemy, in the years they lived in tartarus, had become enamored by its people: and they found they'd do as they did for them, for others.[break][break]
that caring, and their doting, is duly noted in the narcisse; members would seek them out when they struggled with the stresses of day-to-day living, of hardship, of woe. they found their company wanting, and credible. artemy had slipped into a role they hadn't expected: they are
la chérie. the darling, and affectionately nicknamed
bambi ( a nickname that initially caught them by surprise, but spread like wildfire among the narcisse ).[break][break]
then, they're set to work, because artemy, once more, didn't want to simply sit by and have little involvement in anything. twiddling their thumbs never suited them in the slightest, although they wanted little part in shaking down people, or making lucrative, but dangerous deals under the table. not out of disinterest, mind you, but artemy had ceylan and their sister to protect.[break][break]
they are eventually put into ncs entertainment as a model and actor at the age of eighteen after the necessary training. three years of exercising to upkeep their physique, of working on their illusion magic to glamor and enhance their appearance at will, and more. artemy felt prepared to take on the role assigned to them, and they hadn't expected to catch onto it, much less get into modeling and acting.[break][break]
in 2018, artemy debuted as a dreamy, but witty personality — a hit sensation with their peers and similar crowds if you factor in their softhearted nature. they first appeared in the popular magazine
modish, and the strategic placement of their appearance in the fashion magazine led to their first outstanding role in a mystery thriller film called
memento mori. a percentage of the payments received from the film and photo shoots would find their way to ceylan, while the rest went back into the narcisse.[break][break]
ceylan couldn't have been more proud of artemy.[break][break]
and so, here they are. self-made, a talent, quietly hoping they can get their mother and sister on track to the life they so
clearly deserved. ceylan is getting older, you know — and artemy wants to see their sister attend a school as great as oracle university. ultimately, they don't mind what they're doing: they have found a place where they are happy and content, though ambition strikes them still.[break][break]
what was it like, high in the sky, in those pristine, heavenly towers? is it what they need to elevate their family further? the curiosity strikes them, as is their wish to get there. and they'll get there, eventually.
