» When the Sun Goes Down, Open

[Jeremiah Twatt]

tag: open

words: 402

notes: first jerry post :)

they say it changes when the sun goes down around here

It had only been a few days since the carnival’s arrival in the village, but already the people who travelled with it were well settled in. With just an hour or so until dusk, Jerry Twatt sat up in bed, hitting his head (not for the first time) on the bunk above his own. This would be the last time he made any wagers that would risk decent sleeping arrangements, the troll wrangler vowed mentally as he swore loudly. Taking extra care to duck this time, he swung his body around and climbed from the bed, slipping quickly into his clothes before leaving the tent to amble down to the enclosure. Blasted trolls had to be riled up a bit before they could be deemed entertaining, though it was not a task the carnie relished: his were not the most nimble of feet, and there had been more than one occasion when he had been unable to dodge a troll’s swing in time.

Jerry whistled cheerfully as he roamed across the carnival, which was—for now—quite quiet. The Hogsmeade residents would not begin their traipsing about until the carnival opened its gates for the evening, and those with whom he worked were only just emerging to prepare for their shows that evening. For once, the man noted with a degree of surprise, he seemed to be running on schedule; ordinarily, he found himself running rather late (and more than a bit hungover from whatever mischief he had gotten up to the night before.

He was distracted from his casual survey by a snarl just before him, prompting Jerry to jump backwards, almost losing his balance entirely. “You’ll be wantin’ to watch that beast o’ yours,” he reminded the handler, wary eyes never leaving the tiger. Most of the creatures that the carnival hauled around with them were largely harmless—at the very least, the chances of them killing you tended to be slim, though those damn dragons, which Jerry adamantly refused to go near, were always an exception—but that did not keep him from wanting to stay on their good side, or wanting them to stay well under control.

The handler let out a laugh that Jerry echoed with one of his own—though it was a bit strained—before the two parted to go in their own directions once more. Once alone again, Jerry resumed his whistling once more.

thanks!

[Evelyn Appleby]

Lots to do in a single day when working for a carnival, her horses needed to be walked, brushed and bridled and her star, Sweet Pea, needed a serious wash down before the performances started. Nobody wanted to see a dirty elephant. With that as the last task on her list of things to do that day, Evie slipped out of her bunk dressed in a simple riding outfit, pants, which around here nobody cared about women wearing around here, and a comfortable cotton shirt. Evie highly suspected she would be getting wet sometime during her elephant's bath so did it really matter what she wore? Besides, she actually liked dressing simply when out of her costumes and behind the scenes.

With her hair plaited simply behind her neck, Evie strolled through the carnival, enjoying the quiet. Everybody was likely resting up for their shows later on. The crowds of people, if there were any at this point, were on the other side of the tents, still enjoying games and small side attractions until later when all of the big stuff started. It was so rarely this quiet, she could help but to enjoy it as she meandered through the various tents, by the other animal trainers, stopping to chat idly here and there, before reaching her own animals. Well, they weren't her's per say, but she felt like they were. She was not the only horse trainer and probably would not have been hired on if it weren't for her experience with elephants.

She greeted each of her horses in turn, decided to take her black and white Appaloosa out first for a stretch. Dot, as she was affectionately referred to, waited patiently while Evie put a lead on her and led her from her stall. They didn't get too far, when Evie heard a distinct whistling and didn't find the source until she rounded a corner. She couldn't remember his name for the life of her, but she did know he was one of the troll wranglers. "Somebody sounds chipper today." She teased lightly as she strolled by. Evie had by no means learned all of the names of her fellow carnies at this point, but she was getting there. It wasn't something she necessarily needed to know, but she did try to get down the ones of the people she interacted with regularly.

[Theodoric Bagman]

519 WORDS TAGGED FOR CARNIES They might have liked the quiet, but Theo was not used to peaceful tranquility and it made him edgy. He needed noise and chaos to sleep, and here, in this little big nowhere, there wasn’t anything of the such. Theo hadn’t been sleeping well at all since they’d arrived. He needed traffic jams blaring and barkers yelling out the sales and urchins running around and men arguing over the weather and women arguing over the men. He needed more than Hogmeade had to offer, that was for sure. It was too tame for his tastes. Besides all of that, they really weren’t supposed to be in town much at all. Theo needed to keep up the air of mystery that was the whole basis of his show, and so Mr. Hammond had made it quite clear he was to stay away from town. Fine, but what else was there to do? Not much. Though… there was a lake! Granted, it was black and didn’t look too inviting, but he’d take what he could get. He’d taken a quick dip, but the water just wasn’t really the type to swim in. Again, just another thing in this town that made it impossible to like. Something else impossible to like was Russ Hammond running off to his Daddy to tell on him. Could a man not go for a swim around here? Obviously not in his underwear, as Mr. Hammond and the Officer explained. That was just silly. All the scandalous bits were covered up. What was the big deal? Dripping wet and shirtless – though, he’d been yelled at until he put his pants and boots back on – Theo left Hammond’s tent and decided to find something to do to blow off some steam since the bastards wouldn’t let him swim. There wasn’t anything fun to do in this town. Being Muggleborn, he found all-wizarding towns so dull. Even the slums of Hogsmeade weren’t as interesting as his old stomping ground in London. No point going into town, and he wasn’t supposed to as well – so what now? Bored and restless, Theo had wandered the sea of tents aimlessly. Though, when he heard Evie’s voice, he thanked his lucky star. Finally! Someone interesting to talk to! Evie was fairly new to this circus, unlike Theo who had been here since he was nine. She’d been one of the few people to remember his birthday was coming up and, being a fellow performer, he’d been keen to make her acquaintance. Really, he knew better to go any further than that. He’d learned his lesson about mixing business and pleasure and Evie seemed like a nice girl to boot. So, just glad to find someone he knew, Theo strolled up on the other side of Dot, greeting the horse with a rub on her neck. “Oh, he’s a regular songbird,” Theo interjected. He wasn’t a big enough snob to not talk to the non-preformers, so he knew a few – especially the ones with the funnier names. “How goes it, Twatt?” Theo looked quickly at Evie. “What?! It’s his name! Honest!”

PATHICE PRODUCTIONS @ ATF.

[Jeremiah Twatt]

tag: carnies ^^;

words: 221

notes: second jerry post :)

they say it changes when the sun goes down around here

“All the better for seeing you,” Jerry offered with a sly, though harmless, wink. Though he might play at being a womanizer, the wrangler had always been very aware of the fact that those who worked in the carnival—like them or not—were as close to family as he was likely to get, and so with that in mind his flirtations were almost always harmless ones. This lady he knew to be a newcomer to the circuit—working, as far as he could recall, with something a lot easier to get on with than bloody trolls—but that didn’t mean he could not have at least a bit of fun.

Short lived fun, it would seem, as Bagman then felt the need to make his entrance.

Performers, in Jerry’s experience, were like cats. They were nice and lovey-dovey when it suited, but standoffish little pricks when the mood struck. While this did not mean that he disliked Theo Bagman, nor any of the other performers, or even assured bad experiences with them, he would always be just a hair less easy-going around them, a habit developed over his years working with the carnival. That said, he couldn’t help but grin at the illusionist’s comment.

“Yeah, yeah, we all know you just like sayin’ it, Bagman,” Jerry offered with a chuckle.

thanks!

[Evelyn Appleby]

Evie hadn't even gotten a chance to say anything further to her fellow carnie before Theo appeared out of nowhere. On a laugh at his comment, she pursed her lips in mock disdain. "Honestly, such language in front of a lady." She was by no means a lady of any kind, other than in gender. Evie had seen and heard her fair share of inappropriate activity and language. It wasn't as if a traveling carnival was the most respectable of places to be around. They had very loose morals around this place and that was part of the allure to Evie. What really was propriety but a bunch of rules to follow? No, no thank you on that one.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance." She turned to Mr. Twatt with a chuckle. "Evie Appleby." She introduced herself. "I work with the horses and the elephant." She ran her hand down Dot's neck absentmindedly. Having a horse with her was more natural than being around people. Then again, she never minded being around her fellow carnies, the guys especially. The girls were catty, she'd prefer not to have to deal with that. There was some unspoken agreement between most of the carnival workers not to mix up their professional and personal lives. They were more like family. It didn't stop some of them though and it never ended well, but Evie was quite content to have them all for friends. She'd been pregnant once in her life and was in no rush to get there again.

"What in the name of Merlin's beard have you been up to?" She looked at Theo, in his current state. She could only assume he was up to trouble of some kind. Theo was the kind of guy who was easily bored and therefore needed to find something to entertain himself, which usually got him into trouble of some kind. She could relate. Their off time, while not taking care of their animals, if they had some to look after, was rather open and they were left to their own devices. The smart ones slept, however, Evie liked to keep to a schedule.

[Theodoric Bagman]

201 WORDS TAGGED FOR CARNIES "Twatt, twatt, twatt,” Teddy chattered, just to make a point, or to be annoying. He seemed to be on a roll today with annoying people. Or inconveniencing people. Or something to that effect. He watched the interaction between Evie and Jerry, minding his own by untangling some rogue seaweed-looking plant from his boot. When Evie asked him what he’d been doing, Teddy shrugged, tossing the plant to the side. “Swimming, or, trying to. Supposedly that big lake is private property along with housing a giant squid and merpeople. Look, I went to Hogwarts. I don’t remember no sea monster and merpeople? Honestly? Look at that water! Hell, it’s not fit to swim in anyways, but Hammond had to chaff my ass about it all the same.” Teddy scoffed and realized that he might have not mentioned attending Hogwarts to either of them. Actually, he didn’t go around announcing it. Hogwarts had been an awkward, embarrassing part of his life – as with any teenager. The Teddy Bagman he was today was only a seven year old re-creation of his former self. Considering he didn’t want anyone to remember the old Teddy Bagman, he normally kept things like his school years to himself.

PATHICE PRODUCTIONS @ ATF.

[Jeremiah Twatt]

tag: carnies ^^;

words: 142

notes: ---

they say it changes when the sun goes down around here

Jerry raised an eyebrow at the mention of Hogwarts. Some people had all the luck—neither Jerry nor his brother had been able to afford Hogwarts, and Fanny May had proved to be a squib and so was not even invited—and Jeremiah was hardly one of them. In the past, the carnival worker had idly wondered what his life would have been like had his family been able to send him to Hogwarts—before quickly realizing he could not even imagine such a world, as there would have been countless other things that the Twatts might have afforded under such circumstances as well.

“All I know is a lake’s a lake,” the wrangler added, not particularly contributing to the discussion. “’less you’re running naked in front of their wives, I don’t think any man’s got a right to say anything.”

thanks!

[Evelyn Appleby]

Evie just raised her eyebrows and shook her head, laughing lightly as Theo continued to spout nonsense. "You are incorrigible Mr. Bagman." She mused aloud, stroking Dot's neck absentmindedly as she did so. A swim, honestly in the middle of the public park. Yes, she was sure that had gone over well indeed. "I can only assumed that's what he was doing." Evie turned her attention back to Mr. Twatt as he spoke. "A bit of a show off this one." She said, turning back again to Theo to stick her tongue out at him.

Evie quirked her head as something called Hogwarts was mentioned. She knew nothing of it, whatever it was. Though, the way Theo spoke of it, it sounded like a school. Having grown up in the United States, Evie knew very little about English wizarding or schooling. She could only assume it wasn't all that different than it was back home, but being here, she was curious to find out. She had, after all, come back to where her father was born to find out more about her magical heritage. Remembering her former life, the family that she was essentially thrust out of in Salem, was painful to say the least. She had gotten her education, well most of it anyway, enough to know the basics. Not that Evie really used magic in her everyday life, but she was envious of those who were better at it than she was.

"Well boys," She patted Dot with another chuckle. "As tempting as a swim sounds, I supposed I should continue to get ready for the evening." She didn't particularly want to, she supposed. Despite being constantly surrounded by people, there was more often than not, a real connection missing. There was something she had been missing from her school days. She had close friends, a social life and a real relationship with those people. Some had been superficial, but that was half of the fun really. While she felt at home with her fellow carnies, like they were family, but having a honest to goodness friendship was not as common as you would think.

[Jeremiah Twatt]

tag: carnies ^^;

words: 127

notes: absolutely nothing happens in this post. FML.

they say it changes when the sun goes down around here

He let out a soft chuckle at her suggestion that Bagman was a show-off, an opinion Jerry shared though not necessarily negatively so.

“Don’t imagine there’s much to do too get ready for you performance types,” Jerry pointed out, not unkindly. Though he had been with the carnival long enough to know that, in spite of appearances, the performers did work, he had always been perplexed that it took them so long to ‘prepare’ for their shows—not in terms of rehearsing, but simply getting ready. He knew, for example, that much of the grunt work where the trolls were concerned was on him rather than those that handled them publically, and would have assumed the same for the woman before him and the horse beside her.

thanks!