(1937-08-30) Petting Zoos and Cotton Candy
Details for Petting Zoos and Cotton Candy
Summary: A carnival/farmer's market in Hyde Park attracts a number of people.
Date: August 30th, 1937
Location: Hyde Park, London
Related: None
Characters
JosieEllyHephaestaSimonRiaJack_Dodderidge

Hyde Park is packed more than usual today seeing as various stands and booths line about a miles worth of walking path. Visitors have a slew of classic games to choose from or perhaps even pick up a bag of popcorn and cotton candy if they so desire. Farmers from the country-side have set up their own tables and tents, selling goods from their homes like honey and fresh produce. And in the background of it all, there are a couple of other activities including a mini ferris wheel and some pony riding.

Donning a pair of round white framed sunglasses to block out the afternoon sun, Ria is standing a couple feet away from a petting zoo, watching in disdain as her little brother enjoys himself. "Five more minutes," she calls out in warning to him. Five more minutes and she's dragging him home to have a house elf scourgify him.

Simon is stationed at the barracks, so he's only a stone's throw away from the festivities. Once again, he's opted out of wearing his uniform and has instead donned a suit. The perks of being an officer with connections to the higher-ups. One hand is tucked inside of his trouser pocket and the other hangs loosely at his side as he has a look around at the fun. A light smile graces his lips as he sees a few kids chasing after one another with toy swords.

There's an older 'vintage' lorry, it's back set down, and boxes are within. On the back of the tailgate, Jack sits, his back a little hunched, his face unshaven; a scruffy youth, with a cigarette in his fingers. Dark eyes look over the various groups of people; marks, every one of them. Lifting the cigarette to his lips, he takes a slow draw on it, letting the smoke now linger in his lungs before he lets it out slowly. The kids are noticed, the birds around them even moreso.. young lovers.. and he reaches back and behind him to pull a box over, and begins to start to dig out a couple of items. There's a hodge-podge of items; old and quirky items.

Josie is here too, all on her own apparently. She seems to be intent on stopping by every stall, even if she isn't much good at any of the games. She does win a tiny stuffed animal at one stall, though, and carries that in one hand while her other holds a stick of cotton candy. She seems to have enough money for everything, too. The fact that a few people here and there, nowhere near where she presently is, find themselves missing their wallets is of no concern to her.

"Come on, let's go," Ria calls once more and her brother finally obeys albeit reluctantly. Though he isn't one to simply acquiesce, and so as he nears his sister he picks up his pace and opens his arms for a hug. "Don't touch me," she frowns sternly, and repeats as he get closer. "Don't touch me! You're filthy!" But when she realizes he won't let up, she begins to run in the other direction still angrily yelling, "Stop it! Don't you -dare- touch me!" It leads to a full on chase so intense that Ria runs into the crowd. And since she has such strong intent to not be touched, she doesn't pay attention to where she's going and is headed straight for Josie.

Simon raises an eyebrow as he sees Ria being chased around by her brother. He spots her running straight towards Josie. He shouts, "Look out, Jo!" He tries to run towards her, but remembers he's wearing his fine, non-broken-in leather shoes and won't be able to make it to her in time.

Jack's brows rise as he looks over the tableau, a smile creeping across his face as he sits up once again, his legs dangling from the back of the lorry. He's not going to get involved.. but it stands to look .. amusing, should persons collide. If he had a mate near, he'd put a bet on the outcome! "That's gonna hurt.." he mutters, though he doesn't sound too upset about it.

Once her name is called, Jo looks back quickly and spots the girl coming at her. Luckily, she's a very quick kid, she has just a split second to get out of the way, and she does, twisting out of the way easily. Still, she complains, "Hey, careful!"

Elly is a member of the crowd and is alerted by Ria's shouts and the Wench seems to be able to channel every mother present by the quick outreach that nabs Ria's brother by the ear. "Mr. Sykes, just what on earth do ye think you're doing? If a lady says no, ye act the gentleman, nae the hog that's rolled in the dirt. Ye hear Elly? Now, apologize to your sister and everyone else ye've muddied up. Lil bah-bare-ee-un."

And the young Mr. Sykes does stop. But not by choice. The young Leaky Cauldron wench has him by the ear and he lets out a girlish sort of squeal when he begs, "Okay okay I'm sorry! Please, let my ear go Miss Elly!" Ria herself only notices that she almost impacted with Jo, just after the young girl rails at her. Its then she comes to a screeching halt, scuffing the heels of her shoes which makes her frown. After taking a better look at the dirty denim overalls Jo dons, Ria simply gives her a brief, in sincere, "Sorry." But she was more grateful that she didn't come into contact with -those- overalls. Triumphantly she hmphs, dusts and straightens out her already clean blue skirt and says to the blonde woman, "Thank you Elly. He needed that. You're very quick."

Simon looks over at Elly as he hears her scolding the child and smirks. He casually walks over to her and looks down at the boy, commenting, "Boys will be boys." He looks over at Jo and says, "Are you all right, First Mate?"

Jack blinks at the appearance of Elly; how different people look out of their element.. and it takes him a moment to recognize her- at least by face. He clears his throat and slides down from the back of the truck, brushing off his pants so they're a little neater, anyway. Now, it's to good, honest work (as honest as could be, anyway!) and begins to unpack the boxes of the knick-knacks that he's gotten over the past week from cleaning out old wizard houses. All the good stuff has been gotten by the Minstry, of course, but there are some .. unique items in the lot.

Josie rolls her eyes, recognizing Ria's expression at the state of her clothes. The girl seems used to it, though, and looks back to the scene with the boy and Elly a moment, before her attention turns to Simon. She grins and says, "I'm fine, thanks to your yell. Didn't see her coming at all."

Elly smiles warmly at the boy, "That's more like it." She coos in her cockney way and pulls out a rag from the basket on her other arm and starts to wipe the boy down like he was her own son. That little rag sure leaves the boy super clean! When Ria returns back to them her brother is practically good as new. "Aye, well a girls' gotta be quick in her profession, less'r bum be turned black and blue by all the handsy customers." It's then that she spots Simon and she goes red in the cheeks, "Cooor, do ye think he heard me say that?" Simon hearing her talk about her bum going black and blue is not how she wanted to make a second impression. Coming here with hope to see the Lieutenent she's gone and tried to wear something more Muggle-ish. But in the effort she's quiet overdressed and is in a lovely purple satin gown that makes her look like she was going to a posh club, not some festival in a park.

Hephaesta strolls along the path, stopping at each booth to inspect its wares. She is dressed in a rather simple slate-blue coat buttoned up to the neck, and a matching skirt can be seen undernearth. Her wavy brown hair is bound into a pair of pig-tail braids, tied with black ribbons. A basket dangling from one arm contains a variety of purchases; everything from a small iron candle sconce, to a collection of bronze nick-knacks, to a hand mirror.
Though the commotion didn't catch her attention, at the sound of Josie's voice she pulls her attention from the stall and looks around. Spotting the younger girl, she smiles and makes her way closer, limping along, her leg brace making metallic sounds with each step.

Ria watches on approvingly as her brother is cleaned off by the woman. Thank. God. And her eyes narrow to inspect the rag a bit. "That is a -very- handy piece of cloth you have there," she observes to Elly and wonders if its magical. Of course, she can't ask that question in such a place. But her brow raises when Elly asks if Simon heard her speech and immediately she gives the man a once over. Good shoes. "Who that muggle there?" she asks the woman a slightly disapproving tone in her words. And now that she mentions it Elly seems to be rather fancy for such an occasion. "Is that why you're wearing that gown? I'm not sure this is the right place to wear something like that…."
But a familiar metallic sound comes into the area and she turns around to find yet another familiar face talking to dirty overalls girl. "Oh Hephaesta, fancy seeing you here," she says to her rather distant cousin and then roughly nudges her little brother. "Say hi to Phae." And he does. Like a good little boy.

Simon smirks as he finally reaches Elly, "Black and blue, hrmm? It's a shame I didn't practice medicine." He gives her a once over, eyes unintentionally lingering it certain places before saying, "You look marvelous, Miss Elly. Although, I was under the impression this would be a casual affair." Double entendre! He looks over at Josie and says, "Captain Cillian would be upset if his second in command were injured."

Customers, then, look as if they'll be few and far between.. and Jack casts another glance towards the gathering, his brows rising. A shrug gives his shoulders rise, and calling out to various passers-by, begins the slightly harder sells of oddly shaped candelabras, small music boxes, and little strange remembrances cleared by the Ministry. All for a couple of quid!

Hephaesta blinks in surprise, finding even more familiar voices and faces. She gives Ria and her brother an awkward smile, bobbing a little curstey. "Hello. I'm…shopping." It seems that today she has a firm grasp of the obvious. "What's going on?" She looks around at the impromptu gathering of witches and wizards, and apparently a Muggle.

Elly blushes even more hotly when Simon does seem to have overheard. "Or ye should have gone into intelligence with those big ears." She teases the soldier and the nibbles at her nails as she looks down at herself. "Would ye believe it's laundry day and this is all that me Mumsie left me that I could wear in a public…" Muggle. "…place."

Josie grins and nods quickly to Simon. Then she looks back quickly as she hears Ria mention a 'Phae', and she grins on seeing it's indeed the same one. "Hi Phae," she adds in cheerful greeting. To Phae's question she says, "Oh, her brother was chasing her and she almost crashed into me."

"He wanted to come see the animals," Ria gestures to her brother who seems to be distracted by all the different colors of cotton candy. But when Josie greets the partially mechanical Phae she peers between the two girls. "I assume you're acquainted already?" she asks. The innuendo that drips from Simon's honeyed words makes Ria's eyes roll though, and she strives to keep her upper lip from curling into a sneer. And though she finds it rather pathetic how easily Elly's eating his words up, she gives the man a polite, "Hello." You know. Just to be polite.

Hephaesta nods to Ria. "Yes. Josie's my friend," she offers in explanation, in a rather subservient tone. Though that meekness disappears for a moment when she gives the younger Sykes a scornful look, clearly disapproving of his ill-treatment of his sister.

Simon smirks at Elly and says, "No, I would not believe that. I'd be more inclined to believe that some man's come along and given you a lovely dress. If that's the case, then color me jealous." He looks over to Ria and offers her a smile, followed by a polite, "Good afternoon." Though, his politeness is a little more genuine.

Elly smoothes her hand over her dress and gives a little curtsy, "Well it's the honest truth! But no need getting jealous, made it with me own hands, I did." She turns in a slow circle to show off her handy work. "It is too fancy though, must think I'm a right git. Probably think I thought this is how the West End dresses even all casual like." Because she totally did!

Josie looks between Ria and Phae, and then adds, after the slight introduction from Phae, "Hi." She glances up to Elly and Simon curiously, but most of her attention are on Phae, Ria, and Ria's brother.

"Ria's my cousin," Phae offers in further explanation, to Josie this time. "Sort of. I think our grandmothers are cousins…or something." She looks to Ria for any clarification she can offer.

Ria lowers her round sunglasses to looks over at Elly and say, "I live in the West End and I'm not dressed like that." The verbal jab is made with a teasing sort of smirk as she puts her sunglasses back in place. But turning back to the pair of young girls she offers another rather cold, "How do you do, Josie. Short for Josephine perhaps?" Of course she's avoiding the saying 'pleasure to meet you' because her mother always taught her to speak honestly. Nodding in agreement with Phae she says, "Yes something of that sort. Though it doesn't matter. The Sykes and Mulcibers are highly prominent families and I'm sure the family trees interlock in multiple branches. After all they're two of the purest-." Ria pauses midword, her full lips freezing into an 'O' before she glances over at Simon. No no. This wasn't the place to talk of such things. So she simply clears her throat, crosses her arms and looks the other way.

Simon smiles at Elly and says, "Oh, don't worry. It's how we all dress normally. We're normally dressed like that. We tend to tone it down for carnivals and the like, though." He gives her a comforting smile, trying to dial her embarassment down a bit. He peers curiously over towards Ria as she ends her sentence abrubtly, but quickly turns his attention back to Elly.

Elly gives a little bounce when Ria stops mid sentence. Yes, muggle, look at the bewbs! She giggles like one would imagine a woman in her position would - awkwardly. The basket she has with her is smaller than her shopping basket and it's rather gently but enthusiastically 'shoved' into Simon's hands, another effort to distract him. "Brought ye and your unit a care package. It's called a unit right?" She full well knows it is, just another effort to side trick the poor soldier completely. "I saw a rather nice section of vendors with some clothing being sold. Perhaps I should rub some coppers together and see if they don't conjure up something a bit less fancy?"

Josie smiles at Phae's explanation, "Oh, that's good. I've never had any cousins. Not that I know of, anyway." She looks back to Ria and nods quickly, "Josephine Davies. But everybody calls me Josie, or Jo."

Hephaesta furrows her brow at Jo. "No cousins that you know of?" That's obviously a new piece of information for Phae.

Good. That's a good strategy. The boob shake. Ria will have to try that out if her boobs ever grow in. But when Josie confirms the long version of her name she hmms and says with a slight twist in her upper lip, "I feel that Jo is more fitting." Not because she's a dirty tomboy or anything. Certainly not. And when she turns around to see where her brother went, she spots the boy handing over money for his own cotton candy stick. "Oh don't you dare!" she frowns and snaps at him. And to the rest of her company she politely nods and excuses herself, "Forgive me, I'm going to take him home before he becomes a wreck and gets me into trouble." And off she stomps to grab the boy by the arm and drag him back to Green Park as he munches away on the sugary treat.

Simon is a true gentleman and would never think to do such a thing as oggle a woman in public. At least not when people are looking. He happily takes the basket and asks, "A care package? Whatever could it be?" He smirks at the woman and shakes his head, "Nonsense. You look marvelous."

Josie waves to Ria as she hurries off, and giggles a bit, "She really doesn't like dirt, does she. She'd never make it in Hoxton." She looks up to Hephaesta then and nods quickly, "My mum's family run a circus, they're still out there somewhere but never met any of them. And my dad, he scarpered before I was born, or just after, so I dunno anythinbg about him. He could have a really big family."

Hephaesta is wearing a permanent look of bemusement today. "A circus? I've never met a carnie before. So why aren't you with the circus and your mum?"

Elly gives another bob of a tiny curtsy towards Simon. "Cheers." She then tucks a loose strand of honey hued hair behind her ear and reaches to pull the cloth that was covering over said care package and she starts pointing to jars and wrapped boxes and some tins, "Fudge, Jelly, some hand made sweets - chocolates and brittles. Biscuits (cookies), preserved meat (jerky), bag of pipe and rolly tobacco, some honey laced papers for rolling…and I believe that's all, just a small little thing."

Simon beams at the woman and says, "Elly, you shouldn't have. I'm sure the boys will be ecstatic." He takes a moment to just drink her in but looks away, as he doesn't want to get in trouble.

Josie nods quickly to Hephaesta and says, "I'm an acrobat. Well, I would've been, my mum was, she was teaching me. She died when I was five, but been practicing on my own ever since." Then she shrugs to the question, "Mum left the circus to stay with my dad, but then he left her, and she didn't have any way of finding them again. They travel all over the world."

Here comes the sympathy face. Hephaesta's mouth forms an O, as in Oh, you poor, dear thing. "I'm sorry. I…I didn't mean to bring up sad memories."

Elly reaches into the basket and takes one of the many tins and offers it to Jo, "Why don't ye and Phae go find a bench and split this tin of sweets?" Elly seems to be aware of Jo's predicament and if Simon weren't so dash it all attractive, she might have run interference in changing the subject away from her tragic beginnings, but as it is, Simon had her full attention so now she's playing catch up and distractor.

Josie shrugs a bit to Phae and says, "It's ok. I'm ok." She's doing a pretty good job of pretending talking about it doesn't bother her, but Phae and Elly can probably both see through it. She's usually smiling, but not right now. She does, however, smile again at the offer of a tin of sweets, and she says quickly, "Thank you!"

Hephaesta's eyes widen a bit at the tin. Candy! Jo's predicament is forgotten for now. She flashes a grin at Elly with a "Thank you!" She is soon on Josie's heels to find a place to sit and munch sweets.

Elly smiles up at Simon a bit sheepishly. "Sorry, I'll have to get with ye again soon and replace that tin. Just an instinct in me, see someone sad - instant reflex - here have sweets!" Blushing she shakes her head but is smiling as she watches the girls gallop off to dig into the tin that's got a variety of fudge, chocolates, cookies, even chocolate dipped chocolate cookies with chocolate chips of all three varieties (dark, milk, white). "Jo, Phae!" She calls after them and points to a cheese booth that is also selling nice cold fresh milk as well. She doesn't want them to get chocolate ton mouth without any milk to relieve it.

Josie looks back to Elly at the advice and smiles, "Thanks again!" She takes the lead to get some milk from the stall before they move to sit down and eat the candies.

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