#also camel would be one of the circus animals that used to do tricks but they kicked him out because of his knees

[frankenruth]

Workin on fleshing out the circus AU..

[revisitingstoneybrook]

#86 Mary Anne and Camp BSC: Chapter 13

Karen and her snotty group of friends nearly ruin the camp’s circus performance and the BSC finally gets off their asses and does some babysitting.

We're greeted with this opening, courtesy of Mary Anne: “If the dress rehearsal is a disaster, that means that the show is going to be a success...Because the Camp BSC circus rehearsal wasn't just a disaster, it was a mega-disaster.” Which means one of three scenarios took place:

1. Claire's plan to do a cover of Suzi Barrett's Baloney Dance is blown when she uses real baloney and Dawn flips a shit and spends hours lecturing everyone about the horrors of meat and where baloney really comes from, leaving no time to actually rehearse.

2. Jackie Rodowsky, while spinning for his dance routine, knocks into Jamie Newton, sending him falling to the ground with a bump on his head, punches Charlotte Johanssen in the face, giving her a black eye, then bumps into the barn, causing the whole structure to collapse.

3. Karen and her little group, the kids who went to real circus camp and think they're better than everyone else, aren't prepared for anything and ruin almost every single act with their snotty attitudes and pretentiousness.

Yeah, fairly obvious what happens.

Vanessa's the ringmaster, wearing white jeans tucked into high black rain boots, a red jacket that belongs to her mom and a white t-shirt that says “Ringmaster” on it. Claudia helped her make it, so you just know it's spelled Ringgmastur. She also has a top hat made out of black cardboard and Karen and the real circus camp kids are probably disgusted by it.

Vanessa delivers her monologue, thankfully lays off the poetry but manages to throw in at the end “No matter how things go, I know that you will like our show!” Old habits indeed die hard. First act is the wild animals, and no, it isn't a reality show-esque peek into a Day in the Life of the Pikes.

The trainers are Nicky and Marilyn and both are wearing blue sweatpants and for some reason, sassy t-shirts. Nicky's says Because I'm the Boss, that's why and Marilyn's says I Brake for Chocolate. Maybe they borrowed them from Kristy and Claudia, respectively. The wild animals are Andrew (a tiger), Claire (a lion) and Alicia (a camel). They do animal tricks, including jumping through a hoop with red, orange and yellow crepe paper “fire” and Alicia jumps over some hurdles. Then Jamie steps in and does a tiger dance. I guess Mary Anne forgot to introduce him. The trainers give out treats and the rehearsal is, so far, disaster-free.

Whoops, spoke too soon! The dancing animals are next. Jessi choreographed their dance because that's her one personality trait. Since she's such a good dancer, she made sure to incorporate stuff the kids can do really well into the dance. Stuff we never hear about again, like Margo being able to turn “terrific” cartwheels and Becca's ability to walk on her hands. If you remember our snark on Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn, Jessi said Becca has awful stage fright but I guess that doesn’t count anymore.

Anyway, Becca's dressed as a goat and Margo a bird. The other two kids in it, Hannie and Ricky, obviously have no idea what they're doing, having spent all their time and energy folding their arms and turning their noses up at Camp BSC, bragging that they went to a real circus camp instead of rehearsing. 

And the whole circus begins to unravel. Ricky screws up for the umpteenth time, proclaims that real animals wouldn't be dancing in a real circus anyway, and throws in the towel, Hannie following his lead. Becca asks them what’s the big deal and Ricky says, “No real animal in a real circus would ever do that.” Yeah, well in real life, two 7-year-olds don't get married on the playground to the strains of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star either. So shut the fuck up.

Margo tells them it's their circus and they can do whatever they want. Ricky calls their circus dumb and Margo responds with an “OH YEAH?!?” which makes it sound like she's ready to cut a bitch. Go Margo! 

But before Margo can lay the smack down on Ricky, Vanessa runs in and calls for a curtain, shooing the animal dancers out of the ring before it turns into a bloodbath. Dammit!

As they're ushered away, Becca asks the two snobs, in a “wobbly voice” if they know any of the steps and says in a very roundabout way that they ruined the act. Do the BSC do anything and tell Hannie and Ricky they need an attitude adjustment? No, they just sit there.

The clowns are next - David Michael, Matt, Carolyn, and Natalie. They do clown stuff in clown makeup and wave water guns around. Oh wait. Natalie's the only one not in a costume. Ok, did they all plan this out beforehand like a protest? We'll ruin the circus camp since it isn't a real circus like the one we were in. Kristy stops the music with a slam of her hand...she turns the tape player off, she didn't smash it, though that would have been hilarious. She shouts at Natalie why the hell she doesn't have a costume or makeup on. Yes, be assertive! For once in this godforsaken book.

Natalie responds, “It didn't look like a real clown costume. So I just never finished it.” What the hell? Might I add, Natalie Springer in the Little Sister books is this shy, wimpy girl with droopy socks who gets picked on a lot. She’s been ridiculously out of character this whole book. David Michael defends their costumes, saying they're real but Natalie ignores him. She probably tells herself she doesn't have to deal with this public school scum. Kristy, whose patience is starting to finally wearing thin, orders Natalie to go sit with Mary Anne.

But it doesn't stop there! Natalie keeps bitching on the sidelines, like an angry parent at a Little League game. As the clowns squirt each other with water guns and their makeup runs off, Natalie complains, “The water's making the clowns' makeup run! That's because it's not real clown makeup!” Real makeup still runs, Little Miss Droopy Socks. David Michael, in an amazing move, runs into the audience and dumps oatmeal all over Natalie and angrily tells her that's a real clown trick. 

Go David Michael! Now go dump it on your sister!

Kristy tells them to stay in character and the clowns finish their act, shooting Looks at Natalie the whole time. Can it get worse? It sure can, because guess whose act is next...

Vanessa announces Karen's surprise act - she's going to saw Nancy in half. Oh shit...she wants things to be real? Karen’s going to dismember Nancy!

Getting things off to a very obnoxious start, Karen says in her loudest Outdoor Voice, “THIS WOULD BE BETTER IF WE WERE A REAL CIRCUS CAMP WITH REAL PROPS! But we had to make our own. We hope the audience will understand.” So after the whole clown fiasco, you get this little brat trashing Camp BSC and the BSC themselves for hosting a crappy program. Do the BSC do anything to defend their honor? Of course not, Karen’s their Golden Child! They still sit there and do nothing.

Vanessa isn't standing for it though. She's all WTF because she's supposed to be the one doing the announcements. Uh, Vanessa, Karen tends to do whatever she wants when she's performing. Just look at her class Thanksgiving play. Karen fires back by insulting Vanessa's outfit, saying she looks like a bandleader in a parade, not a ringmaster, because she's holding a baton. WEAK. Vanessa, much like her sister, looks like she's about ready to attack Karen but instead explodes with “Cut it out, you two! Or you will soon be through!”

Karen then rolls her eyes at Vanessa. Whoa, that takes guts. I would never roll my eyes at a kid older than me when I was 7! She sticks Nancy in a cardboard box and soon there's thumping inside after Nancy climbs in. Oh no, she filled it with rabid badgers, who are now attacking Nancy!

Oh wait. No badgers. Two strange, lumpy legs appear out of one end and Nancy pokes her head out of the other one. Logan cracks up and Mary Anne tells us that they're stockings stuffed with toilet paper. Geez, Karen. I thought you were going for accuracy and real-ness. The legs wiggle to show that it's really Nancy and Karen pulls out a small saw, which she holds high in the air. 

Oh, NOW the babysitters react! They all jump up when they see Karen holding a saw but they wouldn't say anything when she was being rude to everyone? Kristy demands to know where she found it. Surprised and sheepish, Karen says she found it lying around in the barn. Nice, BSC! You're hosting a camp for little kids and didn't think to look around the barn for anything dangerous like a SAW?!

Also just need to echo a commenter from when I posted this on LJ. I don’t want to hear the BSC gush over how intelligent and gifted and smart Karen is again when the dumbass brought a REAL SAW to her circus performance, thinking it would be ok.

Kristy asks Karen what possessed her to use a real saw in a circus act and Karen responds with, I kid you not, “Pretend to saw people in half. Kristy! This is a REAL saw because you need REAL things if you are going to have a REAL circus!” No contractions, as always. And who the hell does she think she is, giving that attitude to her older sister, while in a subtle way insulting the BSC? I’m surprised Kristy didn’t do this:

Actually, I’m not surprised. No matter if it’s a BSC book or a Little Sister book, Karen Brewer is always getting away with murder.

Kristy takes a moment to collect her thoughts, then FINALLY says something to Karen and the circus snobs. It took you this long, Kristy? And even what she says is weak: “Karen, I'm glad you and your friends went to circus camp. But that doesn't mean you know everything about circuses. And let me tell you, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.”

What the hell? Does the BSC not believe in yelling? Where's the, “Look, you guys have been nothing but rude and mean to everyone here, including me and the other sitters. Just because you went to circus camp doesn't mean you know everything. You owe us all apologies because you’ve ruined the circus performance.” There, I wrote Kristy's dialogue, thank me for my help in preparing the manuscript, Ann Martin!

Karen, ever the “it's my way or the highway” type, frowns at Kristy's words of wisdom. What a little brat! Mary Anne then finds her backbone: “Everyone who was at the circus camp learned things. But true performers always do what they are supposed to do. And you guys haven't done that. Now it looks like the circus might not go on.” Ok, she managed to get some guilt-tripping in there but why are they lobbing softballs? They don't have to pull them all over their knees and spank them but at least let them know what they did was wrong and has put the circus performance in jeopardy!

One of Nancy's "legs" falls out, breaking the awkward silence and the sitters laugh at it. And FINALLY, Karen says she's sorry. Nancy too. Yeah, you guys practically destroyed the circus and put a damper on the whole camp and now you say you're sorry? God, this book just made me hate Karen more than I already did. Kristy assures everyone that they'll try and salvage what they can in time for the performance and tells Karen ominously, “We'll talk later.” Which translates to “I'm going to give you another weak talking-to about how you should behave, then we'll tell Watson the Millionaire, he won't punish you and he’ll find a way to reward you somehow.”

The other real circus acts are failures too. Bobby and Chris do a high-board act, which they obviously didn't practice. Hannie and Linny attempt to have Noodle the Poodle do tricks - that falls apart too because Noodle won't listen to any of their commands. Linny tries explaining it away with “A real circus dog...um, takes a long, long time to train, I guess.” Was he not paying attention to what Kristy and Mary Anne just said? Well, he's made to look like a fool in front of everyone and all the Circus Snobs have been put into their places. Somewhat.

The BSC realize they have their work cut out for them between now and tomorrow, so Kristy calls an ~EMERGENCYMEETINGOFTHEBSC~ and they huddle together after telling the kids to sit down with their partners and be quiet. For the first time in, well, forever, Kristy asks the BSC “What are we going to do?” Since this is a BSC book, they all have ideas for how to save the circus. Mallory has an idea to fix the dog act, Mary Anne has an idea to change around Karen and Nancy's act and Logan says he'll fix up the high-board one. The show will go on! 

[justgleekout]

Get to know me challenge

Thanks for tagging @steph-luvs-klaine <33

Relationship status: lonely lmao

Favorite color: idk sage green? Light blue? Pastels 💕

Favorite food: not to be a basic bitch but I do enjoy me a good sushi

Last thing you googled: “kim possible wade” I had an argument with someone about him being in a wheelchair.. i was convinced he was. turn’s out he isn’t.

Time: 16:47

Dream trip: okay so, I haven’t been horse riding in 5 years but my dream is to travel from the south to the north of either Ireland or Schotland by horse whilst camping in tents or staying at inns with a small group of people. That just sounds like absolutely bliss to me.

Last book you read: I don’t read books.. im terrible. So I’ll answer in fics: “dirty crooks and cheep tricks” by quizasvivamos. Its like a short two part western story very fun!

Last book you enjoyed reading: I enjoyed the one mentioned above a lot but for the sake of naming another: “making a baby” by flamingmuse. I’ve read it before but recently went back for a reread and I still love it. It follows canon but it gives all the missing parts of Kurt and Blaine’s journey towards getting a child ♡

Last book you hated reading: If I don’t like reading something I don’t read it and forget about it. I couldn’t answer this if I wanted to

Favorite thing to cook/bake: ooh I love both in general but I’m very good at making scones and make them for every social event so I’ll go with those :)

Favorite craft to do in your free time: making fanart <33 it’s just so nice to draw something you love most without any expectations and a loving fandom to share it with.

Most niche dislikes: that tiktok doesn’t let me play my music whilst using the app.

Opinion on circuses, now and in history: I think the people that perform in circuses are so talented. I also love seeing the performances. I don’t support animal cruelty so I would never contribute to any circuses that have tigers or bears and abuse them to perform. I don’t necessarily have anything against camels and such as its basically like having cows. Also in the Netherlands there are very strict rules to keeping animals for the circus and honestly if you treat an animal right, don’t expose it to any stressful situations and don’t make it do things it doesn’t wanna do. Its like learning your dogs tricks. So support the ones that do right and boycot the ones that dont. That aside I haven’t been to the circus in YEARS and have never been to one that had any other animals than camels lol but I would love to go to a circus performance with some amazing acrobats again.

Do you have a sense of direction, and if not what is the worst way you’ve gotten lost: not at all omg if I didn’t have google maps I would never go out. I don’t remember ever getting lost but I never take any risks so thats why lol.

Tagging: please I don’t know who wants to get tagged in these anymore. So if you wanna do this, do it and let me know because I wanna read it! 💕

[rainbowrider1290]

Part 3 of my take on a genshin impact circus AU: Bennett, Fischl, and Razor as a beast-taming trio. Backstory under the cut.

Benny:

Bennett was adopted into a research team of zoologists (what in canon would be the adventurer’s guild). The ones that go out into the world and get their hands dirty in studying animals. He loved interacting with the animals, and though research was interesting, he always spent more time with the animal caretakers and vets than with the researchers so he’s extremely acquainted with their habits, how to feed them, when to keep them in captivity versus the wild, and how to regulate their environment properly when in captivity. He has this knack for interacting with them, even the big ones.

As for how he got into the circus: Well first off he got wind of how poorly these animals are treated in some circuses and got into the circuses for the caretaking purposes. He would hop from circus to circus to take care of the animals and show the performers how to Not Harm Them (like tigers jumping through hoops on fire??? Nuh-uh. Whips, tight collars, and muzzles? We don’t do that here). He certifies himself as a vet after a while of this.

More time passes and he realizes this is a bigger problem than can be solved by himself. He’s been kicked out of a few places and for a while had terrible luck finding work because some of his previous employers didn’t want to spend the extra resources on animal care (lacking funds and lacking planning for it) and spread word of a legal liability of a vet.

Aether and Lumine catch word of this and track him down to a little animal clinic where he works as an intern. They offer him a spot in their circus bc they’ve been wanting to introduce animals into the mix but want to plan correctly (like how many animals they can support properly). Long story short, Bennett gets into the circus and works with Yanfei to actually become a legal liability to the circuses not treating animals correctly, and he himself will take as many of those animals as he can into his corner of the circus and send the rest to his dads (since circus animals tend to be rare breeds and his dads have a branch of research on captive animals). And finally he can take care of his animals and show the world that you don’t have to harm animals for a good show. Mostly big ones like elephants, big cats, and camels.

He’ll do shows more like synchronizing movements between the animals and tricks like they do with marine animals. They do have cages for transport but they’re spacious and they take frequent breaks for physical activity. Benny will only take the animals that have been domesticated their whole lives and will send the ones fit to live in the wild to his dads to set free.

Fischl:

Fischl was born into the circus life and was that kid who would stop people from killing bugs, take them in a glass container, and set them outside. She regularly patches up the birds with broken wings she finds outside.

Def spent more time outside hanging with the birds than with the people in the circus, since birds aren’t technically a circus animal. Oz is an old old vulture (or falcon, I haven’t decided yet. If anyone can pinpoint his species please let me know) that has taken a liking to Fischl and so no matter where her circus goes, she sees Oz there to hang and bring her injured birds.

She once asked if birds could be circus animals and was told that they tried but it didn’t work out. She gets into reading the obscure materials on birds as circus animals and deduces that they just weren’t taking care of them right. She brings up this idea to the circus manager and essentially gets the door slammed in her face. The last time she asks about it, it’s to her parents and is told to find something realistic to do in the circus and forget about the birds.

From then she sees all the other kids her age in the circus training to be in the show in some way or another and hears what they say about her “head in the clouds”. So she starts training with different branches of the circus (gymnastics-based, death-defying stunts, fire, etc.) and she... genuinely considers leaving to pursue another profession.

Then as her circus is about to get on the road, she catches wind of a circus performing in the town they’re just about to leave. One that uses animals, and since her circus never used animals due to lacking funding, she goes for a night out of curiosity and on the off-chance that they use birds. She noticed that this wasn’t anything like she’d heard about or read about circus animals, so she sends them a letter addressed to the person running the animal part of the show asking about birds in the circus.

Benny’s response boils down to “well it’d be a little complicated but what’d you have in mind?” so they start exchanging letters and the next time the two circuses are near each other, she goes on over and brings all her letters after a show and sees how gentle Bennett is with the animals. They get to talking and Benny takes her to meet the animals, telling her about how he does things while she tells him about how she’d go about introducing birds to a circus.

Aether and Lumine hear about this and before she knows it, Fischl’s being told to get her birds ready, she has an audition in a month (spoiler alert: she passes). Her act is made up of all kinds of birds. Very few of them are housed on the circus for very long since she’s never liked the idea of birds in cages. The birds she uses are all the injured ones in the process of rehabilitation brought to her by Oz. She also keeps the ones that won’t fly again or never learned to find food despite her and Oz doing their best to socialize them. Those that don’t perform are excellent at taking care of the newbies and overall helping Fischl out. 

At any given point she’ll be seen with about 3-5 birds of different sizes on her and she’ll always smell a bit like worms and seeds of various kinds. She expands on her first-aid abilities from watching Bennett, and in turn offers knowledge on birds and how to deal with smaller animals with different bone structures, metabolisms, and cardiovascular systems.

Razor:

Razor’s story is a lot simpler. Backstory is essentially the same as in canon, except he doesn’t meet Lisa right away, and spends a little more time with Varka learning to read and write at the most basic level and fight hand-to-hand. Instead of an abyss mage attacking them, it’s a group of hunters. During this fight, a lot of the wolves are gravely injured but he takes one of them and runs into town looking for help.

After a show, Bennett and Fischl are on their way to see Bennett’s dads to take some birds that can’t handle the circus life but also aren’t fit to be free. They happen to be in the town where Bennett trained to be a vet and they stop by the clinic to say hello. Inside they see a boy dressed in rags and covered in dirt cradling an unconscious wolf pup, trying to get the attention of one of the clerks. One of the clerks tries to help him but the communication barrier is not helping them and the boy seems distressed on top of that, pointing and growling with the word “help” thrown in here and there, so Bennett steps in bc he knows some of these people in the clinic.

Bennett comes in and he and Fischl follow him out to where the rest of the pack is. Fischl brings her birds bc they’re her babies in case anyone was wondering. They perform first aid the best they can given the conditions, and manage to save a good chunk of the wolves, but a good chunk of them still die.

The pack splits up into two. On the one hand, the older wolves take whoever’s still alive and resume their activities in the forest. On the other, Razor has this opportunity to go and find out whether he’s a human or a wolf, and the little wolf pup he brought to the clinic goes with him because she’s too injured to go with the others. Same for a few other wolves.

So they go and the only place they have to stay is the circus bc Bennett and Fischl want to monitor the wolves a little more, so they spend the night. Next morning, Razor gives Fischl and Bennett a basket of meat, berries, and seeds to feed their respective animals and they realize Razor has some valuable skills, so he ends up staying upon receiving the OK from Lumine and Aether and telling Lisa and Ningguang for administrative purposes.

Because wolves inherently do not do well with loud noises and circus settings, Razor is very off-put by the idea of performance. Not to mention that he himself probs wouldn’t feel comfortable in the performance setting, so he sticks to the background (even learning the basics of tech) and gets really good at gathering resources from food for the animals to helping Oz bring back injured birds and track other injured animals. He and Oz interact a lot, which helps his friendship with Fischl as he was initially closer to Bennett.

His relationship with Lisa after a while can be summarized as “focus up you little monsters. not you Razor. You’re an angel and we’re thrilled you’re here”

[aethelar]

*bursts through ur front door* nEWT RESCUING MERMAN!GRAVES FROM POACHERS

Newt is five the first time he goes to the circus. He trots behind Theseus, his hand securely held by his older brother to stop him slipping away and getting lost in the crowd. Not that Newt would intentionally wander off, but there was so much to see, so many sights and sounds and colours - over there, giant kites hovered in mid air, the one a flame-coloured goldfish with trailing red-yellow-orange ribbons, the other a glittering butterfly with reflective silver spots sewn over blue-green wings. There a man on stilts picks his precarious way through the thronged people below, his twelve foot trouser legs patterned in contrasting neon stripes. There, a lady selling candy floss, great sugar clouds of pink and blue on sticks and hanging in bags from the edge of her cart.

And there, ahead, rising above the mayhem like a gleaming castle, the big top.

Newt pulls Theseus ahead. “C’mon,” he says impatiently, tugging at Theseus’ hand. “C’mon, we’re going to miss it!”

“Calm down,” Theseus laughs, leaning back and moving at a deliberately slow meander. “It’s not going anywhere.”

“Theseus,” Newt whines. “What if all the good spots are gone and we can’t see?”

Theseus stoops down and picks Newt up, lifting him in one smooth movement to sit on his shoulders. Newt squeaks, his muddy shoes leaving black marks on Theseus’ coat and his fingers tangling in his brother’s hair for balance.

“There,” Theseus says, holding Newt’s feet in place. “Now you can see everything. Right?”

“You can’t pick me up,” Newt retorts. “I’m too old to be picked up.”

“Well, if you don’t want to be able to see…”

“No! I’m fine. I’ll let you carry me. Can we get sweets?”

Theseus changes course and heads for the candy floss lady. “And here I thought you were worrying about being late,” he says teasingly.

“Yes,” Newt explains with all the patience of a child having to state the obvious, “but that was when I was short and now you’re carrying me so I’m not. So, sweets.”

Honestly, big brothers were useful things, but they weren’t half slow sometimes.

In the tent itself Newt’s attention is torn between keeping himself and his oversized pink monstrosity of a candy floss stick balanced and laughing in delight at the show. He tries, he honestly does try to keep Theseus sugar free, but there’s distinct wisps of pastel in his dark hair by the time the first act finishes (not to mention the ones in Newt’s eyebrows, behind his ears, inching up his shirt sleeves and lodged under his collar). Theseus manfully ignores it and focuses on making sure Newt isn’t blocking the view for anyone behind them. The circus itself isn’t quite his cup of tea - the performers are brightly coloured, but their acrobatics are nothing special, really. He’s seen Newt do better trying to reach the cake jar on the top shelf.

It’s not the acrobatics though that are the star of this particular circus and the crowd falls into a hushed silence when the ringmaster comes out to announce, with great aplomb, the “Moment you’ve all been waiting for, the mystery and the magic, the magnificent and the magical; ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for MACUSA’s Marvellous Menagerie!”

The heavy velvet curtain behind him draws back and Newt gasps in anticipation, leaning forwards with wide eyed delight.

“A many gerry, Theseus,” he breathes. “Do you think they’ll have a tiger?”

Theseus ducks left to give Newt a better view. “They might,” he says. “You’ll have to wait and see.”

Newt’s protest about wanting to know now is drowned out by the roar from the crowd as the first creature, a long-necked camel bedecked with a gold and red tasselled head dress, is led out and paraded in front of the crowd. It walks with a strange, rolling gate and has two humps on its back, one of which stands straight and one of which flops over, and there’s bells tied to its feet that jingle with every step. It’s everything Newt could ask for, everything that should have delighted and amazed him -

But his attention is caught by something else. There, just there behind the edge of the curtain, he can see the narrow end of a glass tank. It isn’t very big; the end that Newt can see is maybe a metre square, the bottom resting on a dark wood trolley with a great hook at the front for a harness to attach to and top covered by an ornate gold lid. The light from the tent glints off the surface, playing tricks with Newt’s vision, but inside he sees - that is, he thinks he sees -

The camel is replaced by a lady with very little in the way of clothes, draped in the coils and folds of an enormous green snake, its scales dotted with small white flecks and its eyes staring unblinking at the crowd. The lady dips, holding out her arms to force the snake out of its tightly balled shape; it raises its head and hisses, much to the crowd’s delight.

She’s blocking his view and Newt cranes his neck to look past her.

“You see alright up there?” Theseus asks, shifting to the left to give him a better angle. Newt makes a distracted sound in answer, still straining to see the tank. The snake holder dances and twirls off the stage and Newt’s breath catches in his throat.

There’s someone in the tank.

There’s someone in the tank, and they’re looking at him.

Dark eyes set in a pale face, a halo of drifting hair around them; they catch Newt’s gaze and the rest of the tent seems to fade away. They twist, their face drifting upside down and right side up, and their hands come forwards to press against the glass. They come closer - he, perhaps, they’re a man, or something that looks like one. He comes closer, and mouths something, some words Newt can’t hear and doesn’t understand. At his blank stare the man repeats them, slower, mouth opening wide to exaggerate the movements and are those his teeth -

Theseus jostles him, shaking him out of the strange moment and Newt looks down automatically.

“So?” Theseus asks. “What did you think? You were awfully quiet up there.”

“I was looking,” Newt protests. He glances back up but the ringmaster’s back on the stage, his voice booming out something about a private showing and exclusive, never before seen creatures for those willing to pay the trifling price and step backstage.

The man in his glass tank is gone, blocked from view behind the curtain.

“Yeah?” Theseus asks. “Which one was your favourite then? I think I liked the parrots best. Weren’t they bright and colourful?”

Newt gives an irritated huff. He doesn’t want parrots, he wants to know about the man in the tank. Theseus is already turning though, moving with the flow of people back to the stalls outside.

“The camel,” he says, picking the first animal because it’s the only one he really remembers seeing. “But Theseus, we have to go back. There’s someone trapped there, he needs our help.”

“Trapped? Newt, you can’t go rescuing all the animals because you think they’re unhappy. They belong to the circus - that’s stealing.”

Newt tugs on Theseus’ hair in frustration. “Not the animals, the person. He was underwater. What if he drowns?”

There’s a steady stream of people curving round the back of the stage, going to where the ringmaster is waiting to welcome them to the private exhibition, and Newt’s mind whirrs.

“I don’t think -” Theseus starts hesitantly, but Newt has a better plan.

“Let me down,” he says. “I’m all numb, and I don’t need to see anymore.”

Theseus makes a dubious noise, but lifts Newt over his head and down to the floor all the same. “Ok little brother, whatever you say. But stick close and - Newt! Newt!”

Newt squirms out of his brother’s grip, ducking between people’s legs and scrambling under the raised seating areas at the back. Theseus curses as he chases but Newt slides under the striped canvas of the tent wall and makes a mad dash through the mud for the back. The back entrance is marked exit only and guarded by a bored looking girl in a faded circus uniform; she frowns as Newt careens into her.

“Hey, kid,” she starts, but Newt cuts her off.

“My brother’s in there, I got lost but he’ll be mad if I don’t go in,” he babbles. She tries to take his hand but Newt’s more mud than person by this stage and he slips free while she’s trying to find something to hold onto that won’t leave stains on her uniform.

“Kid, wait!”

Newt ignores her. The inside of the tent is dimly lit and smells of a heavy, foreign smoke. It’s hung with low coloured-glass lamps and swathes of brightly patterned silk, and decorated with assorted urns and jewel encrusted masks chosen more for their cost than any cohesive design..

Newt hurries past the lavish opulence with barely a glance. Real or fake, the effect is lost on him and the perfumed smoke only serves to irritate his lungs. He fights the urge to cough and creeps past a china pot that claims to hold a faerie inside - in any other circumstance he’d’ve stopped to look inside, but he’s too focused on his goal to stop. If he’s worked things out right, then the tank should be just to one side of the stage curtains which would put it… There.

In the low light, he can only make out the outline of the tank, straight sided glass walls and an overly decorated iron lid. It’s not until he’s standing right by it that he can see the man inside and he barely manages to stifle a gasp because the man isn’t a man at all.

No, that’s not quite right; he has a head, two arms, broad shoulders and a muscled torso - those things look like a man. But he also has a ridged fin running down his back, trails of dark, glittering scales wrapping down over his ribs, and in place of his legs there’s a sinuous, curving tail.

“You’re a mermaid,” Newt breathes. He hears a quiet rap and jerks his gaze up; the mermaid is frowning at him, one fist raised where he’d knocked on the glass. Newt flushes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare,” he says.

The mermaid lifts an eyebrow and studies him for a moment before his frown morphs into a satisfied smile. With an encouraging trill he lifts his arms and stretches out as much as he can, turning slowly in the water. He twists his head round as he does so to keep his eyes on Newt and make sure his audience appreciates him showing off.

“Wow,” is all Newt can say, and amends his earlier statement: “You’re a beautiful mermaid.”. He comes closer, both hands pressing against the glass. Now that the mermaid is moving he can see that the tank’s too small; his tail is coiling back on itself just to fit in and the sharp-edged fins at the end of it are crushed awkwardly against the sides.

The mermaid knocks again, and when he has Newt’s attention he gestures pointedly to his bare chest.

“I don’t understand,” Newt says, confused. The mermaid rolls his eyes and makes a vaguely obscene curving gesture over his front, then shakes his head and goes back to running his hands down his chest again.

Newt’s face burns as he gets it. “Oh,” he says, and trips into apologies again. “Sorry, sorry, I don’t know - what do you call a boy mermaid?”

The mermaid who isn’t a mermaid mouths something, lips twitching up in humour but Newt still can’t make out the words. He hears a noise behind him - the ringmaster, leading his private tour. He squeaks in panic and drops to the floor; the tank sits on iron feet, like a fancy bathtub, and with some frantic crawling and squirming Newt just manages to get underneath. There’s barely enough space to fit; he tilts his head to the side and squeezes his eyes shut and tries to take shallow breaths.

The mermaid knocks on the glass above him.

“They can’t see me,” Newt whispers back as loudly as he dares. If he believes it hard enough, then it’ll be true; like keeping the nightmares away at night, like Theseus taught. He hears footsteps and the low murmur of the approaching crowd and repeats it to himself: they can’t see me, they can’t see me, until he feels it settle over him like a safety blanket.

“And here,” the ringmaster announces, pride and glee threading through his oily tone, “here we have it ladies and gentlemen, the mighty monster from the deep: MACUSA’s own mermaid, the only real one to be found in any circus, anywhere. A genuine treasure, ladies, genuine treasure.”

Newt holds still. His heart is too loud - why is his heart beating so loud?

“How can you prove,” someone drawls, “that this one is real? It could be one of your stage hands in a costume for all we know.”

“Monsieur, you are wiser than your years! Come, come -” the feet obligingly step closer and Newt shrinks smaller in terror - “See, there’s no air in this tank. See there? Ah, my friend, don’t turn away - it’s shy, forgive me - those, those marks on its neck? Those are gills. Could a man spend all his life underwater without drowning, I ask?”

There’s an impressed rumble of agreement, but the same voice points out, “You could have a pipe hidden in the corner. That lid’s certainly large enough to hide one, and all your man would need to do is breathe from the pipe when no one’s looking.”

“Truly, an observant gentleman!” the ringleader praises with faked delight. “I see then you won’t be satisfied with anything but the truth, so watch, watch.” There’s a metallic groan as the lid is lifted open followed by an angry, distorted shriek that seems to sink into Newt’s bones and shake them apart. He presses back further under the tank and clamps his eyes closed, one step away from sobbing. The thud of the lid falling back into place cuts off the mermaid’s shrieking but Newt still can’t stop himself crying, muffling the sound in his sleeve.

“You see,” the ringleader says proudly. “You see now, do you see? Are you satisfied, my doubting friend?”

“I’m satisfied,” the other man agrees quietly. There’s something covetous in his harsh almost-whisper that the ringleader boldly ignores. They exchange more words, more boasting and more nodding at the right places and more making the right sounds of appreciation, but Newt stays pressed against the ground with his eyes closed until after they’ve shuffled off to marvel over the next thing in the tent.

The mermaid knocks on the glass.

“Go away,” Newt says. “I want my brother.”

He knocks again, more urgently this time.

“Go away!”

“Newt!”

Newt scrambles out, scraping his knee on the ground and banging his elbow against the tank but he doesn’t care because that’s Theseus.

“I’m sorry,” he says, stumbling over his feet as he flings himself at his brother. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Theseus soothes him, dropping to his knees to hug his brother. “It’s ok, I’m here now. You’re alright? You’re not hurt?”

Newt shakes his head. “I’m not but - but Theseus, we have to help him.” He turns to point urgently at the mermaid in his tank and falters in shock.

There’s a cut across the mermaid’s tail, just below where his hip would be if he were a man. It’s not a deep cut, but the water draws the blood out in a dark cloud and every movement of his tail makes the wound glisten an angry black.

“They hurt him,” Newt says in horror, pulling against Theseus to go to the glass.

“Newt,” Theseus says, stunned and still trying to get over it. “Newt, that’s a mermaid.”

Newt tugs sharply, annoyed by the delay. “He’s not,” he says crossly. “He’s a merboy and we need to help him.”

“Of course we do,” Theseus says faintly. The mermaid - merboy - scrapes his fingers against the lid, the clawed tips making a harsh scratching sound against the metal.

Newt darts in and pulls himself up on the tank’s feet, pushing futilely against the lid. “Theseus!” he says, jolting his brother into action.

“What do we do when we get the lid open?” Theseus asks, but he comes forward to help all the same. “He can’t swim out and we’ll get caught if we carry him - Newt, move - and mercy Lewis I’m asking a five year old for plans what am I doing with my life.”

“He’ll figure something out,” Newt says confidently. “He’s smart.”

In the tank, the mermaid darts a quick smirk in Newt’s direction.

The lid is heavy, heavier than it should be for how it looks and Theseus strains against it. It’s not until Newt joins in again and stubbornly puts his shoulder against the rim to help that it creaks its way open. They freeze, both of them darting nervous glances behind them to check that no one heard, but now that the lid is open a crack the mermaid gets impatient.

He slides a hand under the edge of the lid and, in one smooth movement, flings the whole thing off the tank to fall with a loud crash down the other side.

“Oh gods above,” Theseus moans. He makes a grab for Newt but Newt twists aside, hooking his fingers over the glass to watch as the mermaid lifts his torso out of the water. This close, Newt can see how very human his top half looks, but at the same time all the little things that so clearly mark him as different. His ears extend into points, long and low and dusted with dark blue scales. His eyes blink twice, the second, clear set of eyelids making them seem to glow in the dimly lit tent, and the eyes behind the eyelids are so dark they look like they lack a pupil. His teeth, showing in his open mouth as he pants for air, are curved down to sharp points. His gills flare with every shallow breath.

He mouths something, the words coming out as a soft croon.

“I don’t understand,” Newt says.

“Newt, we have to go,” Theseus urges.

The mermaid points at Newt, then at himself, then gestures at his legs, then finally back at Newt. He mouths the same word again but Newt shakes his head, frustration making him shout, “I don’t know what you want!”

There’s footsteps approaching, the sound of people coming to investigate the crash.

“Time’s up,” Theseus says, scooping a protesting Newt up in his arms and throwing the mermaid an apologetic look. With a growl the mermaid swipes his hand out, claws catching on Newt’s outstretched arm and leaving three bloody scratches in their wake.

Newt yelps and Theseus swears as he pulls out a handkerchief to wrap around the scratches. The mermaid ignores them in favour of licking the blood off each claw. He closes his eyes as though savouring the taste then takes a deep breath and hauls himself out of the tank, the glistening length of his tail unfolding behind him as he collapses over the side and falls to the floor -

And lands, rolls into a crouch, and stands up in one fluid movement.

“What the hell,” Theseus says, staring at him. His gills are gone, as are the long fins down his back and his tail, replaced by legs that are bare, muscled, and completely human. Theseus averts his eyes and covers Newt’s. Completely male human. The cut from his tail is now a wide gash over his left thigh, red blood clotting sluggishly around the edges.

“We need to go,” the man rasps, grabbing for Newt. Theseus backs away, keeping his brother out of reach.

“You think they’ll be lenient because he’s a child?” the man growls. “Come.” He stalks towards the curtain separating the back of the tent from the stage and disappears through it.

“Hey!” someone shouts behind them, and Theseus slings Newt into a piggyback and hurries out after the mermaid-turned-man. He pushes aside the heavy curtain and runs across the stage, praying that none of the staff were in there preparing for the next performance. The man is hovering by one of the side flaps, lifting it aside to peer out with an angry scowl.

He looks up when Theseus skids to a halt next to him.

“They won’t be far behind us,” Theseus pants. “What’s the plan?”

“The plan?” The man raises an eyebrow. “I go back to the sea. He comes with me.” He reaches for Newt again to lift him off Theseus’ back and Theseus spins to put himself between them.

“No.”

The man glowers. “I didn’t ask you.”

“He’s five,” Theseus spits, and grips Newt’s legs tight in warning when he makes a noise of protest. He doesn’t know what he’s doing - Theseus isn’t small by any means, but he hasn’t forgotten how the other man - mermaid - hell, whichever, how the other man casually threw the heavy metal lid it took both Theseus and Newt just to budge. If it comes to a fight then Theseus can’t hope to win, but Newt is his brother; Theseus can’t not defend him.

The sound of angry voices behind the curtain breaks their standstill.

“Fine,” the man snaps. “While he’s a child he’s yours. When he’s a man, bring him to the sea. I’ll find him.” He lifts the tent flap to go through and Theseus holds his tongue on pointing out his nakedness. Just before he goes he looks back over his shoulder and makes eye contact with Newt. “Oh, and before I forget,” he says, lips twitching into an amused smile. “My name is Graves, and I’m a merman if you don’t mind.”

“Yessir,” Newt squeaks, and Graves is gone.

“Do I have to go to the sea?” Newt asks in a small voice, gripping Theseus tighter.

Theseus glares at the empty space where the merman stood. “Not if you don’t want to,” he promises. “For now though, we have to go home before anyone sees us, so sit tight and keep quiet.” He pushes aside the tent flap with a foot, checks for passing naked mermen-given-legs, then slips out to join the crowd and hopes no one stops them to ask why Newt is quite so covered in mud, or why he has a makeshift bandage around his forearm.

He’s not yet sure how he’s going to keep his promise, but he will. If Newt doesn’t want to go to the sea then Theseus will make sure he doesn’t have to. He has thirteen years; he’ll find a way.

In the meantime, maybe he should look for a job further inland.