Artemis Fowl II (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
eternitycoder) wrote2012-03-08 10:47 pm
eternitycoder) wrote2012-03-08 10:47 pm
[The Library] [OOC] Application
Alternate Universe Canon Character
Out Of Character
Name: Serey
Age: 24
Journal:kouject
Contact: the2ndhunter[at]gmail[dot]com / kouject @ plurk
In Character
Name: Artemis Fowl II
Canon: Artemis Fowl (Book series by Eoin Colfer)
Canon Point: The end of the 6th book (The Time Paradox)
AU point: I am adding canon from a previous game (Dirty Vegas) onto his existing canon self.
Sex/Gender: Male
Actual Age/Apparent Age: 19/19
Belongings: Armani suit (jacket, slacks, shirt, undershirt, vest, tie, cufflinks, red silk boxers, socks, loafers)
Skills and Powers: Artemis is, essentially, a genius. He is a master problem solver, a walking encyclopedia, can speak a variety of languages, and still has time to play Minesweeper I bet! Granted, Artemis doesn't know EVERYTHING, he's just right most of the time on subjects he's familiar with. But while Artemis is very intelligent, he's not strong at all. Without his bodyguard Butler, Artemis is much more wary of what he says and does simply because he has no one to back him up with brute force. On top of not being very physically fit (he states at one point that he hates ‘running and jumping’), Artemis isn’t exactly socialized for normal-human interaction. When he’s trying to talk to a girl (Minerva) in The Lost Colony, he devolves into math puns and awkward conversation. Butler also states in The Eternity Code that he can’t see Artemis being a very big hit at school dances.
His second biggest weakness is his inability to think very clearly under pressure. In The Eternity Code, when Butler is shot Artemis has under two minutes to think of a plan before Butler dies—and he has trouble coming up with one. He plans brilliantly, but he needs time to think about it, plan for problems, et cetera.
Power-wise, at the end of The Lost Colony, Artemis has stolen some fairy magic. In the most recent book, The Atlantis Complex, it states that he still has some left, so at the point I’m taking Artemis from, he should have some of his magic left.
Magic, in Colferverse, isn’t an offensive thing, but a defensive one. Magic allows fairies to be invisible (‘shielding’), heal, and mesmerize (very similar to hypnosis). It is also a commodity—meaning fairies can (and sometimes do) run out of magic. When this happens, they perform a ritual in order to restore their magic (burying an acorn under an ancient oak tree by a bend in a river under the full moon. Complex? Oh yes). Given that Artemis is a human and not a fairy, it’s very hard for him to control his magic, making healing the only ability he can control with some ease (magic automatically seeks wounds and reconstructs them—much like supped up human healing). Mesmer and shielding are beyond his current scope of practice.
However, Artemis’ magic isn’t all benefits. Fairy magic doesn’t belong in humans, as The Time Paradox and The Atlantis Complex shows. In The Time Paradox, Artemis has to play loud music during full moons, as the ‘commune of nature’ resonates with his magic and is so loud he’s unable to think straight. His magic also prevents him from going places he isn’t invited into without having to chew motion sickness tablets (fairies aren’t allowed in human dwellings/places they aren’t specifically invited into without becoming violently ill). Even when he attempts to use magic to heal his mother or modify memories, he gets a blinding headache. The effects of fairy magic in a human Artemis come to a head in The Atlantis Complex when Artemis contracts Atlantis Complex (a mental illness fairies contract when under extreme guilt). So while Artemis has the ability to use some magic, it comes at a heavy price.
While outside of the gates, I'd like Artemis to still be able to use a slight amount of his healing magic, but perhaps it could be less effective at closing/cleaning wounds. He is, at this point, technically part fairy and part human, and so having some limited access to magic would fall within the “normal range” of Artemis' current status. He honestly isn't all that amazing with magic to begin with, and while inside a gate he might be able to have better luck at healing but it will never be as successful as if he were fully fairy.
Physical Description: Artemis has often been compared to a vampire. He's thin, has pale skin (he never spends much time playing outside, obviously), and jet black hair. For a boy of 19, he isn't terribly tall or imposing either—he's 5'7”. Moreover, due to two brushes with time vortexes, the index and middle finger of Artemis' right hand have been switched, plus his left eye is hazel and the right one is dark blue. On top of that, Artemis wears Armani suits on a regular basis. He is one weird-looking kid.
Nationality-wise, Artemis is Irish—he speaks with an Irish accent, but doesn't use any Irish slang. In the books, his accent isn't written in, leading me to believe that Artemis speaks business-style English with a light Irish accent.
Book Description: Artemis' book looks very much (and very uncomfortably) like a fairy's book/bible. It's smallish (perhaps 8.5”x5.5”), a tarnished gold color, elegantly decorated, and is inscribed with “Carry me always, Carry me well” on the front cover in Gnommish (the language of the People in the series). His Bookmark is a little different, taking on the same style as one of his inventions: the C Cube. It glows a soft blue, and the various screens and touch panels look very much like touch screens and LCDs of today.
Alternate History and Personality:
How does one describe Artemis Fowl? Many psychologists have tried and failed, some sent gibbering to their own hospitals…
Artemis Fowl II is not only educated in a variety of areas, he is a genius and a criminal mastermind by age 12. Born into a family of high-class criminals, Artemis only knew both wealth and how to obtain it through less-than-upstanding methods. His father, Artemis Fowl I, was not only a crime lord, but also involved with the Russian mafiya. At the beginning of the series, Artemis II lives in the Fowl Manor in Ireland with his mother Angeline Fowl, bodyguard Domovoi Butler, and Butler's sister Juliet.
Artemis Senior is presumed dead when Artemis turns 11. After this event, Angeline Fowl goes insane, leaving it up to Artemis Junior to regain the family fortune. Artemis essentially becomes a child with no responsible adult holding him back—he HAS to grow up, and fast. The key to understanding Artemis’ personality is realizing that he is a boy born out of obligation to his family and role in his family. He is most easily described as a child genius, but while he is extremely gifted intellectually, it has stunted him in other areas. However, instead of recognizing that Artemis himself had no childhood, he scoffed at the things that he believed to be unimportant in the long run and plunged down the path to becoming a criminal mastermind. Which he did, with flying colors.
While Artemis was growing up, he was essentially trained to succeed his father in the Fowl family business: high-class crime. Artemis had to be smart. He had to be an adult, there was no time to play with kids his age or bond with his family members. He had to be a smaller, younger version of Artemis Senior as soon as possible. In order to do this, however, he needed to pull off as many feats as possible, be as fearful an adversary as possible. The best way to get what you want in the underworld is for your reputation to precede you, and he is rather good at making it so. He forges famous paintings, writes ‘missing’ Beethoven symphonies, writes psychology books under pseudonyms, steals famous paintings (and of course he has to do it before he turns 15, because the youngest person to steal said painting was 18), and just does all manner of impressive things that a boy his age simply couldn’t begin to undertake. However due to this rigorous training and self-instruction in every discipline under the sun, Artemis’ social growth was, if not stunted, completely non-existent. He could go toe-to-toe with any adult, but could only reference psychology books when faced with someone his own age. Therefore, as soon as Artemis Senior disappeared, Artemis Junior did what he was programmed to do: he continued in his father’s footsteps.
He was ‘the man of the family’ and he had to take care of the family’s assets—which had taken quite a plunge after his father had been pronounced dead. He filled his father’s shoes as quickly as possible, without rhyme or reason. It was the only thing Artemis thought to do. He was treated as an adult at the age of 11, so in his mind, he was one. Once his father disappeared, Artemis wasn’t going to revert back to being a normal boy and go outside and play. He would have been offended at the idea, especially given how he had been raised to not waste his time on things that ultimately didn’t benefit the family business. However once he has his mind set on a goal, that’s that. He’s going to accomplish it no matter what and step on whoever he has to, to get there.
The first book chronicles Artemis' first venture into the world of the Families (Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Goblins, Pixies, Sprites, and Demons—collectively known as Fairies). To make a long story short, Artemis steals the equivalent of the Fairy Bible ("The Book") and miraculously decodes it. This leads to Artemis kidnapping Captain Holly Short and holding her for ransom. Artemis contacts Commander Julius Root to discuss the terms of Holly's return, and naturally the elfin commander is reluctant to do business with a human—and a boy. However Artemis is the perfect picture of confidence. He smart, he can hatch the perfect plot, and he can get away with whatever he’s scheming. Artemis is worse than a genius—he’s a genius who knows he’s fucking brilliant. Of course, it follows that he would become an extremely arrogant, know-it-all boy with several Swiss bank accounts. He’s got the brains and the means to pull off anything, and it shows. Artemis can afford to act proud and superior to all adults because he has his own confidence backing him up. Because of this confidence, Root takes Artemis seriously and agrees to give Artemis the ransom money in exchange for Holly, though he sets up several means by which he hopes to kill Artemis before they have to fork over the gold. Artemis is too smart and too crafty to leave alive with knowledge of the People. Despite a burrowing dwarf (Mulch Diggums), a troll, and a bio bomb, Artemis ends up gaining ½ a metric ton of gold, plus (in exchange for half the gold) Holly returns Angeline's sanity. Whether Artemis did this for his mother's sake or for his given reason (it's harder to commit crime with your mother watching), is not quite clear, but Artemis does love his parents. Before Holly heals Angeline, Artemis has to keep himself from crying whenever he leaves her room, and Artemis keeps CNN running in his study for any news of his father's lost ship. These things indicate that while Artemis may have suggested he revived his mother to introduce another obstacle, he probably did it because he was a boy who missed his mother.
The series continues with Artemis, Butler, Holly, and Mulch Diggums venturing into the Russian arctic to find Artemis Senior, who is being held by the Russian Mafiya. In exchange for Holly and Foaly the LEPRecon's tech-genius centaur's help in the rescue mission, Artemis finds out who has been supplying goblins with weapons and human batteries, stops the supply flow, and the goblin uprising. The group then travels to Murmansk, where Artemis Senior is being held hostage. Artemis tricks the mafiya by faking shooting his own father. The mafiya are shocked, but Artemis manages to convince them that he doesn't want his father alive and that he'd rather continue as the head of the Fowl empire. He's very convincing, and the mafiya accepts that Artemis is the sort of 'devil' boy that would kill his own father to take control of an empire. Artemis sends the captors running when he offers them the ransom money anyway, lying and saying that the money is by a flare he's lit way off in the distance. But as the captors run off, Artemis Senior is dropped into the freezing ocean. However, Holly dives in (fairies HATE the cold—they won't even eat ice cream) and manages to save Artemis' father. Artemis has a few breathless moments where he feels helpless, unable to save his father, counting on someone else to save him. When Holly resurfaces with Artemis Senior, Artemis drops to his knees and cries for a full minute. Artemis does cry, however when he does, he's sublimating, releasing pressure he feels because of his inability to do anything. But more importantly, when Holly comes through for Artemis, someone that had held her hostage just a few weeks ago, Artemis is able to say, up front, that he doesn't know a lot about friendships, but he feels he wants to learn for Holly's sake. Artemis is just now learning to see the people he cares for as equals. At first, Artemis only considered people who were dead (Albert Einstein and des Cartes) as equals, but at the age of 13, he starts to develop friendships and learn about relationships in general. He's learning to respect the people who help him instead of just use their strengths to his advantage.
After this whole ordeal, Artemis seems to have a normal family. His mother is sane, his father has lost a leg, but strangely enough wants the family to go straight. So, Artemis promises to quit his life of crime—right after one last escapade (there's a pattern here). Artemis builds what he calls "the Cube". It's a super-computer made from stolen Fairy technology that makes all human technology obsolete, coded with a code that would take "an eternity" to figure out (hence, The Eternity Code). Artemis meets with a potential buyer—John Spiro from Chicago. However, Spiro isn't planning on buying the Cube. Artemis however, is too wrapped up in being superior and smug to realize that Jon Spiro will get his way no matter what violent means he needs to use. Jon Spiro steals the cube and leaves his bodyguard to finish Artemis and Butler off. Artemis' arrogance ultimately costs Butler very dearly. Spiro's bodyguard shoots Butler when the manservant jumps in front of Artemis to protect him. There is a tearful goodbye, Butler is certain that he is done for, but Artemis won't have it. He quickly packs Butler into ice and contacts his fairy-help. Fortunately, Holly is around to heal Butler, but chastises Artemis when she sees what's happened. She says, “When are you going to learn that these schemes of yours get people hurt?” Artemis doesn't need to be told twice—he's beside himself already. Unfortunately, Butler ages 15 years as a result of the healing and feels unable to protect Artemis. So Juliet Butler (Butler's sister) accompanies Artemis on this venture. The plan is simple: steal back the Cube from Spiro before he figures out fairy technology and blows the cover of the People. However, the mission is so dangerous that after it has been completed, Artemis and company have all their memories of the Fairy People wiped. Fortunately, Artemis gives Mulch Diggums a disk of all the information he's gathered on the Fairy People, so that he could re-learn it after the inevitable wipe. It is the only thing that survives, and Artemis plants plenty of decoys to throw off the People (he is always playing metaphorical chess during these plans of his).
And once again, the Fairy People are under attack by one of their own. This time, it's the pixie Opal Koboi—a genius pixie with an intellect that rivals Artemis'. Opal wants revenge on Holly and Artemis, the two people who put her in jail for helping the B'wa Kell goblin triad obtain softnose lasers during the Arctic Incident. After escaping high-security prison with the use of a clone, Opal repeatedly tries to kill both Holly and Artemis through a variety of ostentatious plots. But while she's trying to kill Holly and Artemis, she's also trying to expose the Fairy People. Using magic and plastic surgery, she convinces an environmentalist that she is his daughter, and convinces him to drop a large amount of iron down a chute, directly to the Haven (name for the underground Fairy realm). Once it reached the Haven, Opal would detonate it, causing a huge explosion and the discovery of the People. Fortunately, Artemis manages to outwit Opal by stealing a box of chocolate truffles (yes, anti-climatic, but Artemis goes for effective and then flashy) and causing her to blow up her own transport. Opal tries to get out of the fix using magic, but since she had a human pituitary gland installed in her skull during surgery, she can't use magic anymore. The LEP tracks Artemis, Holly, Butler, and Mulch down for questioning, and they are eventually cleared of charges, though the People still are very wary of Artemis Fowl. He started out kidnapping fairies, and moved on to breaking up goblin triads, and eventually starts just stirring up trouble just by existing as Artemis Fowl II. Not only is he hated aboveground, but all of fairykind belowground tends to look on him unfavorably as well. Not that he minds very much. He’s not looking to win any popularity contests. He’s just the resident child genius bent on screwing over every single major business he sets his sights on. Exploitation and anything illegal is what he does in his world.
Holly, frustrated with her new commander Ark Sool, leaves the LEP to be a private detective with Mulch Diggums, who gave up a life of crime out of respect for Julius Root. Artemis seems to be on the right track towards a life of non-crime, returning paintings he stole and researching other topics of interest—including women. Artemis has finally hit puberty during this book, and he is severely displeased by the difficulty he's having with it. On the inside Artemis is your average teenage boy. All of the fancy vocabulary and graduate-level mathematics form a mask, behind which Artemis hides his failure to interact with people on a normal level. He’s socially inept (due to never once conversing with children his age), awkward when it comes to relationships with other people he doesn’t know very well, protective of his family (Butler, Juliet, Angeline, and Artemis Senior), and sometimes even childish when it comes to having his way. As a result, Artemis has no idea how to interact with girls (or boys), but he wrestles with the idea as something that can be stopped or ended if he tries hard enough. This is somewhat naïve, but it also points to how determined Artemis is to get his way and maintain his image as a mastermind. To distract himself, Artemis plunges into his next big research project, the lost Family of the People—demons. A brush with one demon and a time vortex causes Artemis' first and index fingers to switch, after which Artemis comments “I am unique”. He isn't at all disturbed that his fingers have switched, he seems almost pleased that he's physically unique. After this incident, Artemis manages to predict where the next subject with appear and is ready for it: a misfit demon named No. 1.
No. 1 is constantly bullied by other demons because he cannot "warp", or mature from an imp to a full-fledged demon. The imp finally decides to leave the demon world of Hybras by removing the silver bracelet that keeps him on Hybras, and jumping into a volcano. He is set adrift in time. No. 1 falls out of the time drift and into an opera house in Sicily. Artemis is ready to capture the demon, but someone beats him to it—a 10-year-old girl named Minerva. She immediately identifies Artemis and challenges him to take the demon back—which Artemis begins plotting to do. He obviously can't ignore a challenge (and the fact that Minerva is pretty has nothing to do with it...).
Artemis lays siege to Minerva's manor, sending Holly in to rescue No. 1. Unfortunately, Holly is captured as well. Through a series of events, Artemis ends up with No. 1 and Holly manages to escape, while Minerva and her father have been taken hostage by Billy Kong—one of their own bodyguards who has a misinformed vendetta against demons. Artemis, Butler, Holly, and No. 1 end up in Taiwan at the Taipei 101 building to trade hostages. Artemis hands over No. 1, and Kong hands over Minerva. Kong intends to kill No. 1, but the demon manages to escape by removing the silver slug that keeps him anchored. Fortunately, No. 1 re-materializes near the silver damper in Taipei 101, and is anchored again by Holly. The group makes a run for it, knowing that Kong will be very upset when he realizes Artemis still has the demon.
Artemis takes the group down to an art exhibit featuring statues that look curiously like No. 1. Normally, demons can't use magic, but No. 1 can, proving he is a warlock. No. 1 turns one of the statues into a living, breathing warlock elder named Qwan. Qwan explains that he, along with other warlocks, put Hybras into another dimension in order to save the demon race from conflict with humans. Unfortunately, the spell encountered interference from two other demons, and Hybras was thrown into dimensional limbo.
After this little story, Kong and his goons bust in and start a gunfight. The gang throws a bomb into the mix, which is still left after the gang has been disabled. Artemis automatically begins planning how to get out of the building with the bomb to disarm it, despite Butler's disbelief. He says that Artemis is starting to sound like “a good guy”—jumping off a building to get a bomb to someplace where it can be disarmed. Artemis really doesn’t have any response to this. He neither confirms nor denies it, he just promises Butler that he’ll come back no matter what. This is nearly a complete 180 from his philosophy in the first book, though his ‘nothing is impossible’ attitude and listing sense of morality towards people he doesn’t care about is still the same. Artemis flies out of the building with Holly, No. 1, and Qwan and the bomb. It becomes apparent that Holly cannot carry all of them when they start to fall. Artemis rips No. 1's silver bracelet off, and the group is thrown into a dimensional tunnel. While in the tunnel, Qwan tells Artemis that they need five magical beings to move Hybras out of the time loop it's stuck in. But as it stands, they have Qwan, Holly, and the newbie No. 1. While in the tunnel, Artemis embraces some blue sparks, stealing magic for himself. Now, they have four.
Once the group arrives near the volcano on Hybras, it is clear that time is unraveling on the island. A fight between demons and Artemis' crew ensues, which manages to kill almost everyone except Artemis. However Artemis, refusing to believe that the game is over and that his friends are dead, manipulates the fluctuating flow of time by the volcano and disables the leader of the demons before he can kill Holly, Qwan and No.1. That becomes his priority, the safety of his friends instead of saving himself. Artemis manages to defeat the leader of the demons who, unknown to every other demon, possesses magic. Now, they have five magic-users. The group casts the spell, and moves the population of Hybras to Artemis and Holly's time period.
Unfortunately, time spells are never an exact science. Artemis returns to his time three years after he left. Butler has been waiting for him, Minerva has aged a bit, and Artemis Senior and Angeline have two new sons. On top of this, Artemis and Holly have each given the other one of their eyes—so Artemis has a right blue eye and a left hazel eye.
The story continues with The Time Paradox. A few weeks after the end of The Lost Colony, Artemis is adjusting to life as an older brother (he now has two twin brothers) and an older man (at least, according to everyone who assumes he's been gone for three years). However soon, Angeline Fowl falls terribly ill with a disease Artemis can't heal with his magic. In fact, he makes her condition worse after attempting it. In a desperate attempt to save his mother, Artemis contacts Holly and No. 1, begging them to save his mother. After the two fairies arrive, they determine that Angeline is infected with a fairy disease called Spelltropy. Even worse, it can only be cured with the brain fluid of a silky sifaka lemur from Madagascar. Of course, there's one problem with obtaining this brain fluid...
Artemis made certain the lemur went extinct eight years ago.
Angeline lost her mind after Artemis Senior disappeared, and in her delusional state, donated a giant portion of the Fowl fortune to saving the silky sifaka lemur, which was endangered at the time. Artemis, then eleven years old, felt that he had been personally wronged by his mother's choice, and decided to kill the animal in revenge. This is made very difficult though when Artemis Fowl (14) steps in to save the lemur from his younger self.
Artemis, knowing that he himself has damned his mother, begs for No. 1 to open the time stream so he can save the lemur. Foaly objects, but then Artemis lies to Holly about his attempt to heal his mother, claiming that Holly was the one to give his mother Spelltropy. Holly's mother died from this disease, and so she agrees to help him right away. No doubt Artemis knew that if he manipulated his friend in this way, she would help him unconditionally. He doesn't like lying to Holly, but when the issue is the death or life of his mother, Artemis has to prioritize and do whatever he can to get what he needs to accomplish that goal. After stripping down to their underwear, No. 1 pushes the two of them 8 years into the past.
They arrive in Artemis' study, and much to both man and fairy's surprise they are somewhat changed. Artemis is older and growing facial hair while Holly has regressed to an adolescent. They brush this off soon enough, as Butler comes into Artemis' study and tranquilizes the both of them. Unconscious, Artemis and Holly are dropped unceremoniously into the trunk of the Fowl Bentley. Artemis twists the timeline in order to escape, telling Holly that he intends to get a message to Mulch Diggums sometime before this incident. It's a clever move, something that Artemis would think of naturally despite the unconventional nature of the “way out”. He always thinks outside the box like this. Sure enough, Mulch shows up and breaks the two out of the trunk.
Artemis chases after his younger self, following him and Butler into an animal park where the lemur is being held. Of course, Artemis picks the wrong cage to enter into, and is attacked by a very nasty silver-backed gorilla. Holly leaps into action and saves him, though Artemis is gravely wounded. Holly's magic of course goes to work immediately, and when she realizes that Artemis is alive, she is so relieved she kisses him (and the strange cross-species 80-year-old/14-year-old shippers go wild.....).
The next time Artemis picks a cage, he makes sure it's the right one. He easily rescues the lemur, however Artemis The Younger and Butler catch up to him. Artemis the Younger threatens Artemis the Older at gunpoint, and the older Artemis knows that his younger self will carry through with killing him. He's forced to release the lemur he's just spent hours chasing down, and has to deal with the realization of just how cold and calculating and heartless he had been before he rescued his father. If anything, this interaction throws into sharp relief how different Artemis the Older is from his younger self and how far he's come.
Artemis the Younger and Butler hurry to Morocco to meet up with a ruthless group called The Extinctionists (they kill rare animals for kicks). Meanwhile, Artemis the Older and Holly hurry to the Haven and the shuttleport in Tara. During this journey, Artemis reluctantly admits that he lied to Holly about giving Angeline Spelltropy. Holly is, understandably, furious and refuses to talk to Artemis let alone look at him. Artemis redeems himself though, mentioning that at this point in time, Commander Root is still alive. Holly has a chance to talk to him again, and eventually warms back up to Artemis having seen that Artemis only lied in an attempt to save his mother.
Holly and Artemis commandeer a shuttle to Morocco. There, Artemis the Younger intends to trade the lemur for a hundred thousand euros to the Extinctionists, the money later used to fund the expedition to find the lost Fowl Star and Artemis Senior. However instead of capturing the lemur, Holly is captured and sold by Artemis the Younger. The Extinctionists intend to kill her, but of course Artemis the Older comes to the rescue (posing as a dashing lawyer!). The rescue plot quickly falls apart though, and Artemis the Older falls into the fire intended to kill Holly.
However the fire isn't real. It's a hologram generated by Opal Koboi. She has mesmerized the leader of the Extinctionists into bringing her rare animals for her various experiments. Artemis manages to escape from Opal, meets up with Holly, and the two fly back to Fowl Manor with the lemur (now officially named Jay-Jay), and return to the future. However Opal continues to get in the way. She jumps into the time stream with Holly and Artemis, escaping two days into Holly and Artemis' past. In the end, Angeline's Spelltropy symptoms were simply faked by Opal (who had taken over Angeline's body via magic and pretended to be Artemis' mother).
But while Opal gloats, she fails to realize that the Artemis she is gloating to is only 11 years old.
Artemis the Younger has come back from the past into his own future in order to distract Opal. Of course, the Younger Artemis wouldn't leave his time stream without first making a deal (he would keep his memories of all that had happened), but Artemis the Older expects this. He's still somewhat the same in that respect. Artemis the Older sneaks up from behind her and quickly attempts to tranquilize her. The attempt fails, however, and Opal takes advantage of the mesmer she inflicted on Butler two days previous. Butler easily dispatches Holly and No. 1, but when he is ordered to kill Artemis the Younger, Butler has a heart attack resisting the order. Artemis the older makes quick use of a defibrillator and brings Butler back to life (for the second time in this series... damn, Butler).
Opal has fled after everyone has regrouped from Butler's (latest) stint with death. However she comes back once she realizes that Artemis and his associates are weakened from the encounter. Artemis takes Jay-Jay and runs for one of his planes, taking off and leaving the grounds of the Manor to lure Opal away. Try as Artemis might, Opal and her genetic experiments get the best of him. Opal is able to punch through the casing of the plane with strength not typically seen in pixies. The damage to the plane forces Artemis to crash land (breaking his collarbone in the process, but he keeps going knowing that no one is going to come to help him even though he's injured). He takes Jay-Jay and runs on foot, across a rope bridge spanned between two boulders. Opal easily catches up to him and seizes the lemur. Which in fact, is not a lemur—Artemis left the manor with his brother's stuffed toy Professor Primate. Artemis produces a flare gun and shoots one of the boulders Opal is standing on, which happens to be a kraken only Artemis knew existed. Kraken, in the Artemis Fowl realm, have to let off methane gas every fifteen to twenty years via an explosion of their shell. The flare gun hurries this process along, and that is checkmate for Artemis Fowl. The kraken's shell explodes, and Opal is supposedly buried. Later, an LEP search team reveals that she has disappeared.
Artemis the Younger, despite the shrewd deal he makes in an attempt to keep his memories, has his mind wiped and is sent back to his proper time stream by No. 1. However, her still retains a subconscious interest in fairies, which sets the events of the first book into motion. This creates the “Time Paradox”. Once everyone has left the mansion, Artemis confesses everything to his mother—because Opal didn't bother to wipe his mother's memories. Now Angeline knows everything.
Artemis' book canon sees him meet with obstacles that are not so easily overcome by the methods and life he breathed every day. Artemis Fowl II begins Book One as a twelve-year-old boy with no regard for any life besides his own and his family’s, and ends Book Six having saved countless lives. Still not a big hit at parties, though. Internally, he changes quite a bit, but his impact on his world is more or less consistent concerning his illegal exploits. He’s brilliant, but also has his own rulebook. He gets what he wants, and everyone else can just stand back.
Shortly after the paradox adventure, Artemis is transported to the “Aging Ground” of Dirty Vegas, Pleasantville. Artemis is taken from his canon world when he’s 14 years old, meaning he spends nearly 4 years in Pleasantville until he hits the streets of Vegas at 18. Given that Artemis is practically an adult in his canon at age 14, he didn't mature much more. He remains just as socially prickly, intellectually obnoxious, and unwilling to develop his social skills with the wives (if they can’t talk economics or psychology with him, he considers the effort of holding a conversation with them to be a waste of his time. He’d much rather read, write philosophy, draw, write music, or bury himself in some activity that doesn’t include anyone else).
When Artemis first arrives in Vegas, he is very staunchly against playing by Loki's rules. So much so that he completely ignores the 2-week rule and ventures off into the desert to find a way home. When he isn't able to find one, and when his 2-weeks run out, Artemis climbs to the top of the Mirage and attempts to “fly” off of it (Artemis' insanity was built heavily off of the events in The Atlantis Complex, however due to the debilitating nature of the disease I chose not to include that canon for DV and this game). Fortunately, he has one person who finds him interesting enough to save (and screw): Lelouch vi Britannia. Lelouch uses the Geass on Artemis to save him, as well as instruct him to seek out Lelouch whenever Artemis feels the pull of insomnia and insanity. The two have a very dynamic relationship, but it ultimately disquiets Artemis and makes him realize that he could very easily end up the “possession” of someone in Vegas. Artemis attempts a castle move, signing on to be a liaison (prostitute) at the local drug den. The owner, Holland, promises to protect Artemis from anyone he doesn't want to talk to, and pay him for every customer. Artemis, who is still uncertain of his sexual appeal, also believes that if people are paying to have sex with him, he will be safe from insanity and from Lelouch. He calls this protection 'his castle', after the castling move in chess—he considers himself fully protected based on his place of employment, the connections he's made, and his job. Life continues on in this same vein—Artemis meets people, Artemis believes he's in love with a few of them, and Artemis loses people. He's softer than he was when he was younger, though. More playful, more assured of his attractiveness after a year of seducing a lot of men. But he is still incredibly intelligent, incredibly shrewd, and very careful about who he lets into his pants. Being liked and befriended means that he doesn't have to sleep with just anyone, and as his time in game goes on, he becomes more and more selective of his partners.
Almost a year and a half later, Loki decides to prune the number of people in his prison (AKA: The Game Moved To Dreamwidth) and Artemis loses most of his friends (about six or seven). He's devastated, and suddenly very aware that he's set himself up for this sort of heartbreak. He becomes more guarded, more wary, and loses his flirtatious side and confident nature. Nearly six years away from home and Holly's reassurance as his “anchor friend” is grating on him, especially when he can't find anyone who can be a solid, ever-present figure in his life.
About a month after Artemis experiences the Vegas-Pruning, he wakes up in The Library...
Samples
First Person/Action brackets: [Artemis gets up, straightening and buttoning his jacket agitatedly.] I honestly don't expect you to understand what I'm doing here. You yourself have a rather blank expression on your face that indicates you have no idea what's going on either. All I'm asking is that you tell me, at the very least, whether or not you were just in a hollowed-out version of Las Vegas or if this is something completely new and different.
Third Person/Prose: Artemis sat in his pile of mattresses and pillows, feeling very much as though he were back at the beginning again. At least in Vegas, he had a very nice suite now. When he'd first started, he'd been staying in a hole. Now he was in a hole again.
He sniffled and pulled the dirty, hole-ridden blanket around his shoulders and shivered. A hole with no heating, obviously. Part of him wondered if he would have preferred to be in Vegas, however miserable and lonely his existence there was. At least in Vegas there was a shower and central heating. At least in Vegas, he would have been immediately consumed in a pile of nations, all vying to keep their leader warm. Now Artemis was alone, truly alone. He'd left his nations alone, done exactly what he'd sworn never to do. And they couldn't even be properly happy for him. Artemis wasn't even home.
The young man huffed, trying to keep from crying. This place was new and strange, he couldn't let his guard down when he was by himself. Not when something or someone could leap out of the rotting floors or walls and attack him.
Something creaked down the hall and Artemis stiffened. Slowly, he grabbed the table-leg he'd managed to root out of a pile of wreckage. God he hoped it wasn't something bigger than he was...
Out Of Character
Name: Serey
Age: 24
Journal:
kouject Contact: the2ndhunter[at]gmail[dot]com / kouject @ plurk
In Character
Name: Artemis Fowl II
Canon: Artemis Fowl (Book series by Eoin Colfer)
Canon Point: The end of the 6th book (The Time Paradox)
AU point: I am adding canon from a previous game (Dirty Vegas) onto his existing canon self.
Sex/Gender: Male
Actual Age/Apparent Age: 19/19
Belongings: Armani suit (jacket, slacks, shirt, undershirt, vest, tie, cufflinks, red silk boxers, socks, loafers)
Skills and Powers: Artemis is, essentially, a genius. He is a master problem solver, a walking encyclopedia, can speak a variety of languages, and still has time to play Minesweeper I bet! Granted, Artemis doesn't know EVERYTHING, he's just right most of the time on subjects he's familiar with. But while Artemis is very intelligent, he's not strong at all. Without his bodyguard Butler, Artemis is much more wary of what he says and does simply because he has no one to back him up with brute force. On top of not being very physically fit (he states at one point that he hates ‘running and jumping’), Artemis isn’t exactly socialized for normal-human interaction. When he’s trying to talk to a girl (Minerva) in The Lost Colony, he devolves into math puns and awkward conversation. Butler also states in The Eternity Code that he can’t see Artemis being a very big hit at school dances.
His second biggest weakness is his inability to think very clearly under pressure. In The Eternity Code, when Butler is shot Artemis has under two minutes to think of a plan before Butler dies—and he has trouble coming up with one. He plans brilliantly, but he needs time to think about it, plan for problems, et cetera.
Power-wise, at the end of The Lost Colony, Artemis has stolen some fairy magic. In the most recent book, The Atlantis Complex, it states that he still has some left, so at the point I’m taking Artemis from, he should have some of his magic left.
Magic, in Colferverse, isn’t an offensive thing, but a defensive one. Magic allows fairies to be invisible (‘shielding’), heal, and mesmerize (very similar to hypnosis). It is also a commodity—meaning fairies can (and sometimes do) run out of magic. When this happens, they perform a ritual in order to restore their magic (burying an acorn under an ancient oak tree by a bend in a river under the full moon. Complex? Oh yes). Given that Artemis is a human and not a fairy, it’s very hard for him to control his magic, making healing the only ability he can control with some ease (magic automatically seeks wounds and reconstructs them—much like supped up human healing). Mesmer and shielding are beyond his current scope of practice.
However, Artemis’ magic isn’t all benefits. Fairy magic doesn’t belong in humans, as The Time Paradox and The Atlantis Complex shows. In The Time Paradox, Artemis has to play loud music during full moons, as the ‘commune of nature’ resonates with his magic and is so loud he’s unable to think straight. His magic also prevents him from going places he isn’t invited into without having to chew motion sickness tablets (fairies aren’t allowed in human dwellings/places they aren’t specifically invited into without becoming violently ill). Even when he attempts to use magic to heal his mother or modify memories, he gets a blinding headache. The effects of fairy magic in a human Artemis come to a head in The Atlantis Complex when Artemis contracts Atlantis Complex (a mental illness fairies contract when under extreme guilt). So while Artemis has the ability to use some magic, it comes at a heavy price.
While outside of the gates, I'd like Artemis to still be able to use a slight amount of his healing magic, but perhaps it could be less effective at closing/cleaning wounds. He is, at this point, technically part fairy and part human, and so having some limited access to magic would fall within the “normal range” of Artemis' current status. He honestly isn't all that amazing with magic to begin with, and while inside a gate he might be able to have better luck at healing but it will never be as successful as if he were fully fairy.
Physical Description: Artemis has often been compared to a vampire. He's thin, has pale skin (he never spends much time playing outside, obviously), and jet black hair. For a boy of 19, he isn't terribly tall or imposing either—he's 5'7”. Moreover, due to two brushes with time vortexes, the index and middle finger of Artemis' right hand have been switched, plus his left eye is hazel and the right one is dark blue. On top of that, Artemis wears Armani suits on a regular basis. He is one weird-looking kid.
Nationality-wise, Artemis is Irish—he speaks with an Irish accent, but doesn't use any Irish slang. In the books, his accent isn't written in, leading me to believe that Artemis speaks business-style English with a light Irish accent.
Book Description: Artemis' book looks very much (and very uncomfortably) like a fairy's book/bible. It's smallish (perhaps 8.5”x5.5”), a tarnished gold color, elegantly decorated, and is inscribed with “Carry me always, Carry me well” on the front cover in Gnommish (the language of the People in the series). His Bookmark is a little different, taking on the same style as one of his inventions: the C Cube. It glows a soft blue, and the various screens and touch panels look very much like touch screens and LCDs of today.
Alternate History and Personality:
How does one describe Artemis Fowl? Many psychologists have tried and failed, some sent gibbering to their own hospitals…
Artemis Fowl II is not only educated in a variety of areas, he is a genius and a criminal mastermind by age 12. Born into a family of high-class criminals, Artemis only knew both wealth and how to obtain it through less-than-upstanding methods. His father, Artemis Fowl I, was not only a crime lord, but also involved with the Russian mafiya. At the beginning of the series, Artemis II lives in the Fowl Manor in Ireland with his mother Angeline Fowl, bodyguard Domovoi Butler, and Butler's sister Juliet.
Artemis Senior is presumed dead when Artemis turns 11. After this event, Angeline Fowl goes insane, leaving it up to Artemis Junior to regain the family fortune. Artemis essentially becomes a child with no responsible adult holding him back—he HAS to grow up, and fast. The key to understanding Artemis’ personality is realizing that he is a boy born out of obligation to his family and role in his family. He is most easily described as a child genius, but while he is extremely gifted intellectually, it has stunted him in other areas. However, instead of recognizing that Artemis himself had no childhood, he scoffed at the things that he believed to be unimportant in the long run and plunged down the path to becoming a criminal mastermind. Which he did, with flying colors.
While Artemis was growing up, he was essentially trained to succeed his father in the Fowl family business: high-class crime. Artemis had to be smart. He had to be an adult, there was no time to play with kids his age or bond with his family members. He had to be a smaller, younger version of Artemis Senior as soon as possible. In order to do this, however, he needed to pull off as many feats as possible, be as fearful an adversary as possible. The best way to get what you want in the underworld is for your reputation to precede you, and he is rather good at making it so. He forges famous paintings, writes ‘missing’ Beethoven symphonies, writes psychology books under pseudonyms, steals famous paintings (and of course he has to do it before he turns 15, because the youngest person to steal said painting was 18), and just does all manner of impressive things that a boy his age simply couldn’t begin to undertake. However due to this rigorous training and self-instruction in every discipline under the sun, Artemis’ social growth was, if not stunted, completely non-existent. He could go toe-to-toe with any adult, but could only reference psychology books when faced with someone his own age. Therefore, as soon as Artemis Senior disappeared, Artemis Junior did what he was programmed to do: he continued in his father’s footsteps.
He was ‘the man of the family’ and he had to take care of the family’s assets—which had taken quite a plunge after his father had been pronounced dead. He filled his father’s shoes as quickly as possible, without rhyme or reason. It was the only thing Artemis thought to do. He was treated as an adult at the age of 11, so in his mind, he was one. Once his father disappeared, Artemis wasn’t going to revert back to being a normal boy and go outside and play. He would have been offended at the idea, especially given how he had been raised to not waste his time on things that ultimately didn’t benefit the family business. However once he has his mind set on a goal, that’s that. He’s going to accomplish it no matter what and step on whoever he has to, to get there.
The first book chronicles Artemis' first venture into the world of the Families (Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Goblins, Pixies, Sprites, and Demons—collectively known as Fairies). To make a long story short, Artemis steals the equivalent of the Fairy Bible ("The Book") and miraculously decodes it. This leads to Artemis kidnapping Captain Holly Short and holding her for ransom. Artemis contacts Commander Julius Root to discuss the terms of Holly's return, and naturally the elfin commander is reluctant to do business with a human—and a boy. However Artemis is the perfect picture of confidence. He smart, he can hatch the perfect plot, and he can get away with whatever he’s scheming. Artemis is worse than a genius—he’s a genius who knows he’s fucking brilliant. Of course, it follows that he would become an extremely arrogant, know-it-all boy with several Swiss bank accounts. He’s got the brains and the means to pull off anything, and it shows. Artemis can afford to act proud and superior to all adults because he has his own confidence backing him up. Because of this confidence, Root takes Artemis seriously and agrees to give Artemis the ransom money in exchange for Holly, though he sets up several means by which he hopes to kill Artemis before they have to fork over the gold. Artemis is too smart and too crafty to leave alive with knowledge of the People. Despite a burrowing dwarf (Mulch Diggums), a troll, and a bio bomb, Artemis ends up gaining ½ a metric ton of gold, plus (in exchange for half the gold) Holly returns Angeline's sanity. Whether Artemis did this for his mother's sake or for his given reason (it's harder to commit crime with your mother watching), is not quite clear, but Artemis does love his parents. Before Holly heals Angeline, Artemis has to keep himself from crying whenever he leaves her room, and Artemis keeps CNN running in his study for any news of his father's lost ship. These things indicate that while Artemis may have suggested he revived his mother to introduce another obstacle, he probably did it because he was a boy who missed his mother.
The series continues with Artemis, Butler, Holly, and Mulch Diggums venturing into the Russian arctic to find Artemis Senior, who is being held by the Russian Mafiya. In exchange for Holly and Foaly the LEPRecon's tech-genius centaur's help in the rescue mission, Artemis finds out who has been supplying goblins with weapons and human batteries, stops the supply flow, and the goblin uprising. The group then travels to Murmansk, where Artemis Senior is being held hostage. Artemis tricks the mafiya by faking shooting his own father. The mafiya are shocked, but Artemis manages to convince them that he doesn't want his father alive and that he'd rather continue as the head of the Fowl empire. He's very convincing, and the mafiya accepts that Artemis is the sort of 'devil' boy that would kill his own father to take control of an empire. Artemis sends the captors running when he offers them the ransom money anyway, lying and saying that the money is by a flare he's lit way off in the distance. But as the captors run off, Artemis Senior is dropped into the freezing ocean. However, Holly dives in (fairies HATE the cold—they won't even eat ice cream) and manages to save Artemis' father. Artemis has a few breathless moments where he feels helpless, unable to save his father, counting on someone else to save him. When Holly resurfaces with Artemis Senior, Artemis drops to his knees and cries for a full minute. Artemis does cry, however when he does, he's sublimating, releasing pressure he feels because of his inability to do anything. But more importantly, when Holly comes through for Artemis, someone that had held her hostage just a few weeks ago, Artemis is able to say, up front, that he doesn't know a lot about friendships, but he feels he wants to learn for Holly's sake. Artemis is just now learning to see the people he cares for as equals. At first, Artemis only considered people who were dead (Albert Einstein and des Cartes) as equals, but at the age of 13, he starts to develop friendships and learn about relationships in general. He's learning to respect the people who help him instead of just use their strengths to his advantage.
After this whole ordeal, Artemis seems to have a normal family. His mother is sane, his father has lost a leg, but strangely enough wants the family to go straight. So, Artemis promises to quit his life of crime—right after one last escapade (there's a pattern here). Artemis builds what he calls "the Cube". It's a super-computer made from stolen Fairy technology that makes all human technology obsolete, coded with a code that would take "an eternity" to figure out (hence, The Eternity Code). Artemis meets with a potential buyer—John Spiro from Chicago. However, Spiro isn't planning on buying the Cube. Artemis however, is too wrapped up in being superior and smug to realize that Jon Spiro will get his way no matter what violent means he needs to use. Jon Spiro steals the cube and leaves his bodyguard to finish Artemis and Butler off. Artemis' arrogance ultimately costs Butler very dearly. Spiro's bodyguard shoots Butler when the manservant jumps in front of Artemis to protect him. There is a tearful goodbye, Butler is certain that he is done for, but Artemis won't have it. He quickly packs Butler into ice and contacts his fairy-help. Fortunately, Holly is around to heal Butler, but chastises Artemis when she sees what's happened. She says, “When are you going to learn that these schemes of yours get people hurt?” Artemis doesn't need to be told twice—he's beside himself already. Unfortunately, Butler ages 15 years as a result of the healing and feels unable to protect Artemis. So Juliet Butler (Butler's sister) accompanies Artemis on this venture. The plan is simple: steal back the Cube from Spiro before he figures out fairy technology and blows the cover of the People. However, the mission is so dangerous that after it has been completed, Artemis and company have all their memories of the Fairy People wiped. Fortunately, Artemis gives Mulch Diggums a disk of all the information he's gathered on the Fairy People, so that he could re-learn it after the inevitable wipe. It is the only thing that survives, and Artemis plants plenty of decoys to throw off the People (he is always playing metaphorical chess during these plans of his).
And once again, the Fairy People are under attack by one of their own. This time, it's the pixie Opal Koboi—a genius pixie with an intellect that rivals Artemis'. Opal wants revenge on Holly and Artemis, the two people who put her in jail for helping the B'wa Kell goblin triad obtain softnose lasers during the Arctic Incident. After escaping high-security prison with the use of a clone, Opal repeatedly tries to kill both Holly and Artemis through a variety of ostentatious plots. But while she's trying to kill Holly and Artemis, she's also trying to expose the Fairy People. Using magic and plastic surgery, she convinces an environmentalist that she is his daughter, and convinces him to drop a large amount of iron down a chute, directly to the Haven (name for the underground Fairy realm). Once it reached the Haven, Opal would detonate it, causing a huge explosion and the discovery of the People. Fortunately, Artemis manages to outwit Opal by stealing a box of chocolate truffles (yes, anti-climatic, but Artemis goes for effective and then flashy) and causing her to blow up her own transport. Opal tries to get out of the fix using magic, but since she had a human pituitary gland installed in her skull during surgery, she can't use magic anymore. The LEP tracks Artemis, Holly, Butler, and Mulch down for questioning, and they are eventually cleared of charges, though the People still are very wary of Artemis Fowl. He started out kidnapping fairies, and moved on to breaking up goblin triads, and eventually starts just stirring up trouble just by existing as Artemis Fowl II. Not only is he hated aboveground, but all of fairykind belowground tends to look on him unfavorably as well. Not that he minds very much. He’s not looking to win any popularity contests. He’s just the resident child genius bent on screwing over every single major business he sets his sights on. Exploitation and anything illegal is what he does in his world.
Holly, frustrated with her new commander Ark Sool, leaves the LEP to be a private detective with Mulch Diggums, who gave up a life of crime out of respect for Julius Root. Artemis seems to be on the right track towards a life of non-crime, returning paintings he stole and researching other topics of interest—including women. Artemis has finally hit puberty during this book, and he is severely displeased by the difficulty he's having with it. On the inside Artemis is your average teenage boy. All of the fancy vocabulary and graduate-level mathematics form a mask, behind which Artemis hides his failure to interact with people on a normal level. He’s socially inept (due to never once conversing with children his age), awkward when it comes to relationships with other people he doesn’t know very well, protective of his family (Butler, Juliet, Angeline, and Artemis Senior), and sometimes even childish when it comes to having his way. As a result, Artemis has no idea how to interact with girls (or boys), but he wrestles with the idea as something that can be stopped or ended if he tries hard enough. This is somewhat naïve, but it also points to how determined Artemis is to get his way and maintain his image as a mastermind. To distract himself, Artemis plunges into his next big research project, the lost Family of the People—demons. A brush with one demon and a time vortex causes Artemis' first and index fingers to switch, after which Artemis comments “I am unique”. He isn't at all disturbed that his fingers have switched, he seems almost pleased that he's physically unique. After this incident, Artemis manages to predict where the next subject with appear and is ready for it: a misfit demon named No. 1.
No. 1 is constantly bullied by other demons because he cannot "warp", or mature from an imp to a full-fledged demon. The imp finally decides to leave the demon world of Hybras by removing the silver bracelet that keeps him on Hybras, and jumping into a volcano. He is set adrift in time. No. 1 falls out of the time drift and into an opera house in Sicily. Artemis is ready to capture the demon, but someone beats him to it—a 10-year-old girl named Minerva. She immediately identifies Artemis and challenges him to take the demon back—which Artemis begins plotting to do. He obviously can't ignore a challenge (and the fact that Minerva is pretty has nothing to do with it...).
Artemis lays siege to Minerva's manor, sending Holly in to rescue No. 1. Unfortunately, Holly is captured as well. Through a series of events, Artemis ends up with No. 1 and Holly manages to escape, while Minerva and her father have been taken hostage by Billy Kong—one of their own bodyguards who has a misinformed vendetta against demons. Artemis, Butler, Holly, and No. 1 end up in Taiwan at the Taipei 101 building to trade hostages. Artemis hands over No. 1, and Kong hands over Minerva. Kong intends to kill No. 1, but the demon manages to escape by removing the silver slug that keeps him anchored. Fortunately, No. 1 re-materializes near the silver damper in Taipei 101, and is anchored again by Holly. The group makes a run for it, knowing that Kong will be very upset when he realizes Artemis still has the demon.
Artemis takes the group down to an art exhibit featuring statues that look curiously like No. 1. Normally, demons can't use magic, but No. 1 can, proving he is a warlock. No. 1 turns one of the statues into a living, breathing warlock elder named Qwan. Qwan explains that he, along with other warlocks, put Hybras into another dimension in order to save the demon race from conflict with humans. Unfortunately, the spell encountered interference from two other demons, and Hybras was thrown into dimensional limbo.
After this little story, Kong and his goons bust in and start a gunfight. The gang throws a bomb into the mix, which is still left after the gang has been disabled. Artemis automatically begins planning how to get out of the building with the bomb to disarm it, despite Butler's disbelief. He says that Artemis is starting to sound like “a good guy”—jumping off a building to get a bomb to someplace where it can be disarmed. Artemis really doesn’t have any response to this. He neither confirms nor denies it, he just promises Butler that he’ll come back no matter what. This is nearly a complete 180 from his philosophy in the first book, though his ‘nothing is impossible’ attitude and listing sense of morality towards people he doesn’t care about is still the same. Artemis flies out of the building with Holly, No. 1, and Qwan and the bomb. It becomes apparent that Holly cannot carry all of them when they start to fall. Artemis rips No. 1's silver bracelet off, and the group is thrown into a dimensional tunnel. While in the tunnel, Qwan tells Artemis that they need five magical beings to move Hybras out of the time loop it's stuck in. But as it stands, they have Qwan, Holly, and the newbie No. 1. While in the tunnel, Artemis embraces some blue sparks, stealing magic for himself. Now, they have four.
Once the group arrives near the volcano on Hybras, it is clear that time is unraveling on the island. A fight between demons and Artemis' crew ensues, which manages to kill almost everyone except Artemis. However Artemis, refusing to believe that the game is over and that his friends are dead, manipulates the fluctuating flow of time by the volcano and disables the leader of the demons before he can kill Holly, Qwan and No.1. That becomes his priority, the safety of his friends instead of saving himself. Artemis manages to defeat the leader of the demons who, unknown to every other demon, possesses magic. Now, they have five magic-users. The group casts the spell, and moves the population of Hybras to Artemis and Holly's time period.
Unfortunately, time spells are never an exact science. Artemis returns to his time three years after he left. Butler has been waiting for him, Minerva has aged a bit, and Artemis Senior and Angeline have two new sons. On top of this, Artemis and Holly have each given the other one of their eyes—so Artemis has a right blue eye and a left hazel eye.
The story continues with The Time Paradox. A few weeks after the end of The Lost Colony, Artemis is adjusting to life as an older brother (he now has two twin brothers) and an older man (at least, according to everyone who assumes he's been gone for three years). However soon, Angeline Fowl falls terribly ill with a disease Artemis can't heal with his magic. In fact, he makes her condition worse after attempting it. In a desperate attempt to save his mother, Artemis contacts Holly and No. 1, begging them to save his mother. After the two fairies arrive, they determine that Angeline is infected with a fairy disease called Spelltropy. Even worse, it can only be cured with the brain fluid of a silky sifaka lemur from Madagascar. Of course, there's one problem with obtaining this brain fluid...
Artemis made certain the lemur went extinct eight years ago.
Angeline lost her mind after Artemis Senior disappeared, and in her delusional state, donated a giant portion of the Fowl fortune to saving the silky sifaka lemur, which was endangered at the time. Artemis, then eleven years old, felt that he had been personally wronged by his mother's choice, and decided to kill the animal in revenge. This is made very difficult though when Artemis Fowl (14) steps in to save the lemur from his younger self.
Artemis, knowing that he himself has damned his mother, begs for No. 1 to open the time stream so he can save the lemur. Foaly objects, but then Artemis lies to Holly about his attempt to heal his mother, claiming that Holly was the one to give his mother Spelltropy. Holly's mother died from this disease, and so she agrees to help him right away. No doubt Artemis knew that if he manipulated his friend in this way, she would help him unconditionally. He doesn't like lying to Holly, but when the issue is the death or life of his mother, Artemis has to prioritize and do whatever he can to get what he needs to accomplish that goal. After stripping down to their underwear, No. 1 pushes the two of them 8 years into the past.
They arrive in Artemis' study, and much to both man and fairy's surprise they are somewhat changed. Artemis is older and growing facial hair while Holly has regressed to an adolescent. They brush this off soon enough, as Butler comes into Artemis' study and tranquilizes the both of them. Unconscious, Artemis and Holly are dropped unceremoniously into the trunk of the Fowl Bentley. Artemis twists the timeline in order to escape, telling Holly that he intends to get a message to Mulch Diggums sometime before this incident. It's a clever move, something that Artemis would think of naturally despite the unconventional nature of the “way out”. He always thinks outside the box like this. Sure enough, Mulch shows up and breaks the two out of the trunk.
Artemis chases after his younger self, following him and Butler into an animal park where the lemur is being held. Of course, Artemis picks the wrong cage to enter into, and is attacked by a very nasty silver-backed gorilla. Holly leaps into action and saves him, though Artemis is gravely wounded. Holly's magic of course goes to work immediately, and when she realizes that Artemis is alive, she is so relieved she kisses him (and the strange cross-species 80-year-old/14-year-old shippers go wild.....).
The next time Artemis picks a cage, he makes sure it's the right one. He easily rescues the lemur, however Artemis The Younger and Butler catch up to him. Artemis the Younger threatens Artemis the Older at gunpoint, and the older Artemis knows that his younger self will carry through with killing him. He's forced to release the lemur he's just spent hours chasing down, and has to deal with the realization of just how cold and calculating and heartless he had been before he rescued his father. If anything, this interaction throws into sharp relief how different Artemis the Older is from his younger self and how far he's come.
Artemis the Younger and Butler hurry to Morocco to meet up with a ruthless group called The Extinctionists (they kill rare animals for kicks). Meanwhile, Artemis the Older and Holly hurry to the Haven and the shuttleport in Tara. During this journey, Artemis reluctantly admits that he lied to Holly about giving Angeline Spelltropy. Holly is, understandably, furious and refuses to talk to Artemis let alone look at him. Artemis redeems himself though, mentioning that at this point in time, Commander Root is still alive. Holly has a chance to talk to him again, and eventually warms back up to Artemis having seen that Artemis only lied in an attempt to save his mother.
Holly and Artemis commandeer a shuttle to Morocco. There, Artemis the Younger intends to trade the lemur for a hundred thousand euros to the Extinctionists, the money later used to fund the expedition to find the lost Fowl Star and Artemis Senior. However instead of capturing the lemur, Holly is captured and sold by Artemis the Younger. The Extinctionists intend to kill her, but of course Artemis the Older comes to the rescue (posing as a dashing lawyer!). The rescue plot quickly falls apart though, and Artemis the Older falls into the fire intended to kill Holly.
However the fire isn't real. It's a hologram generated by Opal Koboi. She has mesmerized the leader of the Extinctionists into bringing her rare animals for her various experiments. Artemis manages to escape from Opal, meets up with Holly, and the two fly back to Fowl Manor with the lemur (now officially named Jay-Jay), and return to the future. However Opal continues to get in the way. She jumps into the time stream with Holly and Artemis, escaping two days into Holly and Artemis' past. In the end, Angeline's Spelltropy symptoms were simply faked by Opal (who had taken over Angeline's body via magic and pretended to be Artemis' mother).
But while Opal gloats, she fails to realize that the Artemis she is gloating to is only 11 years old.
Artemis the Younger has come back from the past into his own future in order to distract Opal. Of course, the Younger Artemis wouldn't leave his time stream without first making a deal (he would keep his memories of all that had happened), but Artemis the Older expects this. He's still somewhat the same in that respect. Artemis the Older sneaks up from behind her and quickly attempts to tranquilize her. The attempt fails, however, and Opal takes advantage of the mesmer she inflicted on Butler two days previous. Butler easily dispatches Holly and No. 1, but when he is ordered to kill Artemis the Younger, Butler has a heart attack resisting the order. Artemis the older makes quick use of a defibrillator and brings Butler back to life (for the second time in this series... damn, Butler).
Opal has fled after everyone has regrouped from Butler's (latest) stint with death. However she comes back once she realizes that Artemis and his associates are weakened from the encounter. Artemis takes Jay-Jay and runs for one of his planes, taking off and leaving the grounds of the Manor to lure Opal away. Try as Artemis might, Opal and her genetic experiments get the best of him. Opal is able to punch through the casing of the plane with strength not typically seen in pixies. The damage to the plane forces Artemis to crash land (breaking his collarbone in the process, but he keeps going knowing that no one is going to come to help him even though he's injured). He takes Jay-Jay and runs on foot, across a rope bridge spanned between two boulders. Opal easily catches up to him and seizes the lemur. Which in fact, is not a lemur—Artemis left the manor with his brother's stuffed toy Professor Primate. Artemis produces a flare gun and shoots one of the boulders Opal is standing on, which happens to be a kraken only Artemis knew existed. Kraken, in the Artemis Fowl realm, have to let off methane gas every fifteen to twenty years via an explosion of their shell. The flare gun hurries this process along, and that is checkmate for Artemis Fowl. The kraken's shell explodes, and Opal is supposedly buried. Later, an LEP search team reveals that she has disappeared.
Artemis the Younger, despite the shrewd deal he makes in an attempt to keep his memories, has his mind wiped and is sent back to his proper time stream by No. 1. However, her still retains a subconscious interest in fairies, which sets the events of the first book into motion. This creates the “Time Paradox”. Once everyone has left the mansion, Artemis confesses everything to his mother—because Opal didn't bother to wipe his mother's memories. Now Angeline knows everything.
Artemis' book canon sees him meet with obstacles that are not so easily overcome by the methods and life he breathed every day. Artemis Fowl II begins Book One as a twelve-year-old boy with no regard for any life besides his own and his family’s, and ends Book Six having saved countless lives. Still not a big hit at parties, though. Internally, he changes quite a bit, but his impact on his world is more or less consistent concerning his illegal exploits. He’s brilliant, but also has his own rulebook. He gets what he wants, and everyone else can just stand back.
Shortly after the paradox adventure, Artemis is transported to the “Aging Ground” of Dirty Vegas, Pleasantville. Artemis is taken from his canon world when he’s 14 years old, meaning he spends nearly 4 years in Pleasantville until he hits the streets of Vegas at 18. Given that Artemis is practically an adult in his canon at age 14, he didn't mature much more. He remains just as socially prickly, intellectually obnoxious, and unwilling to develop his social skills with the wives (if they can’t talk economics or psychology with him, he considers the effort of holding a conversation with them to be a waste of his time. He’d much rather read, write philosophy, draw, write music, or bury himself in some activity that doesn’t include anyone else).
When Artemis first arrives in Vegas, he is very staunchly against playing by Loki's rules. So much so that he completely ignores the 2-week rule and ventures off into the desert to find a way home. When he isn't able to find one, and when his 2-weeks run out, Artemis climbs to the top of the Mirage and attempts to “fly” off of it (Artemis' insanity was built heavily off of the events in The Atlantis Complex, however due to the debilitating nature of the disease I chose not to include that canon for DV and this game). Fortunately, he has one person who finds him interesting enough to save (and screw): Lelouch vi Britannia. Lelouch uses the Geass on Artemis to save him, as well as instruct him to seek out Lelouch whenever Artemis feels the pull of insomnia and insanity. The two have a very dynamic relationship, but it ultimately disquiets Artemis and makes him realize that he could very easily end up the “possession” of someone in Vegas. Artemis attempts a castle move, signing on to be a liaison (prostitute) at the local drug den. The owner, Holland, promises to protect Artemis from anyone he doesn't want to talk to, and pay him for every customer. Artemis, who is still uncertain of his sexual appeal, also believes that if people are paying to have sex with him, he will be safe from insanity and from Lelouch. He calls this protection 'his castle', after the castling move in chess—he considers himself fully protected based on his place of employment, the connections he's made, and his job. Life continues on in this same vein—Artemis meets people, Artemis believes he's in love with a few of them, and Artemis loses people. He's softer than he was when he was younger, though. More playful, more assured of his attractiveness after a year of seducing a lot of men. But he is still incredibly intelligent, incredibly shrewd, and very careful about who he lets into his pants. Being liked and befriended means that he doesn't have to sleep with just anyone, and as his time in game goes on, he becomes more and more selective of his partners.
Almost a year and a half later, Loki decides to prune the number of people in his prison (AKA: The Game Moved To Dreamwidth) and Artemis loses most of his friends (about six or seven). He's devastated, and suddenly very aware that he's set himself up for this sort of heartbreak. He becomes more guarded, more wary, and loses his flirtatious side and confident nature. Nearly six years away from home and Holly's reassurance as his “anchor friend” is grating on him, especially when he can't find anyone who can be a solid, ever-present figure in his life.
About a month after Artemis experiences the Vegas-Pruning, he wakes up in The Library...
Samples
First Person/Action brackets: [Artemis gets up, straightening and buttoning his jacket agitatedly.] I honestly don't expect you to understand what I'm doing here. You yourself have a rather blank expression on your face that indicates you have no idea what's going on either. All I'm asking is that you tell me, at the very least, whether or not you were just in a hollowed-out version of Las Vegas or if this is something completely new and different.
Third Person/Prose: Artemis sat in his pile of mattresses and pillows, feeling very much as though he were back at the beginning again. At least in Vegas, he had a very nice suite now. When he'd first started, he'd been staying in a hole. Now he was in a hole again.
He sniffled and pulled the dirty, hole-ridden blanket around his shoulders and shivered. A hole with no heating, obviously. Part of him wondered if he would have preferred to be in Vegas, however miserable and lonely his existence there was. At least in Vegas there was a shower and central heating. At least in Vegas, he would have been immediately consumed in a pile of nations, all vying to keep their leader warm. Now Artemis was alone, truly alone. He'd left his nations alone, done exactly what he'd sworn never to do. And they couldn't even be properly happy for him. Artemis wasn't even home.
The young man huffed, trying to keep from crying. This place was new and strange, he couldn't let his guard down when he was by himself. Not when something or someone could leap out of the rotting floors or walls and attack him.
Something creaked down the hall and Artemis stiffened. Slowly, he grabbed the table-leg he'd managed to root out of a pile of wreckage. God he hoped it wasn't something bigger than he was...