The sound of the accordion drifted through the air, the notes pulling the crowd of people closer to the tent. Children were laughing, smiling, and darting between the legs of their parents and all of the other people to get a better view of the entrance and the Clowns situated at the front, White faced and brightly clothed. One was happily playing the accordion, The large grin on his face endearing while he sang a song, while the other, Whose smile was a little more strained, passed out balloons to the children, tying the string around their wrists if they were too small to keep track of it.
At the end of the song, the Accordion player turned to the other Clown, Nudging him with his hand and saying quietly, "We have to go get ready for the show now, it's going to start soon." Passing out his last balloon, the other clown Let the smile fall from his face and scowled.
"We would have been gone already if you hadn't insisted on playing such a long song, bas- Feli." He cut himself off with a swift bite to his lip. He was always getting in trouble for swearing in front of the children, and that meant he'd have to miss dinner.
Holding his accordion in front of him and slightly cowering in mock surrender, Feliciano simply nodded, saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Lovino, But the children like that song!" When Lovino simply huffed in response and rolled his eyes, Feliciano had to suppress a giggle and an impish grin. While his brother may act all tough, He knew that Lovino was a soft one on the inside, it was the only way he could possibly be a decent clown with otherwise bad interpersonal skills.
Grabbing Lovino's wrist and keeping his grip on the accordion with the other, Feliciano began a swift walk around the tent, Quietly worming his way in and out of large groups of people. When they finally reached the back of the tent, they ducked quickly under the tent flap only to be greeted by the loud voice of the ringmaster, Waving his hands in various directions while he was giving instructions to different performers passing by, his big blue eyes shining behind his glasses, a large, charismatic grin on his face.
"Alright, The trapeze artists are going to go out first, the Clowns second-Where are the clowns, anyway?" He looked around, Trying to pick out the brothers in the crowd of performers.
"Alfred, We're over here!" Feliciano raised his arm and waved it, trying to get the ringmaster's attention so they wouldn't get in trouble for being late. Again.
"There you are! Alright, Everything is pretty much normal today, except, later in the show You're going on with the Lion Tamer, remember?" Feliciano and Lovino Froze. The lion tamer. Who was the lion tamer? They had never worked with the lion tamer! They looked at each other and then back at Alfred, whose grin was still plastered on his face.
"No, We don't! We don't even know who that is!" They spoke in a panicked unison, with Lovino adding a few choice words at the end get his displeasure across.
Alfred blinked with confusion. "I thought I told you last night….Ah well! It's fairly simple, You two just have to change costume and bring out the props for his act, since he's going to be handling the animals." He shrugged and grinned. "Elizavetta has your costumes over there, so you two just get ready for your first act. Don't worry, it'll be fine. He's good at what he does, so It's not like you'll get eaten!" And with that, he walked off, Calling to the acrobats to get ready to go, they were going on right after the clowns.
Lovino remained silent for a moment before he started screaming angrily in his mother tongue, the Italian pouring out of his lips like molten metal. Feliciano Just remained quiet, looking quite stunned and disturbed by the sudden schedule change. "I really don't want to get eaten…." Feliciano laughed almost hysterically, stopping when it began to degenerate into a mixture of sobbing and "ve" noises. He was never going to get used to how the ringmaster liked to change the schedule, since it usually ended badly for him and his brother. ("They're clowns, they won't get upset!" That was the ringmaster's faulty reasoning in these decisions.)
"Who's this Lion Tamer anyway? I seriously want to give the bastard a piece of my mind! Who does he think he is, having us help him with his Act?" Lovino's anger was totally misplaced, the Lion Tamer probably hadn't even asked. He was wasn't going to call out the ringmaster, though. He really didn't want to get on his boss's bad side. He always had a smile on his face, but the ringmaster still had the ability to leave him and his brother on the side of the road on "accident." He wasn't going to forget that.
Before Feliciano could say anything, The lights dimmed and they heard the Ringmaster's voice booming from in the ring. The show had begun.
Muttering Angrily in Italian Once more, Lovino grabbed Feliciano's hand and dragged him over to the side to get their props. The trapeze act was a total of maybe fifteen minutes. They had to change costume and fix their makeup before beginning their series of skits and minor acrobatics (Juggling, A few Flips, maybe something on a unicycle depending on the day, things like that.) and that would take a maximum of Nineteen minutes before they exited stage.
Feliciano finished changing last, picking up a small concertina and pulling on his hat just as the applause resounded from the driection of the ring and the lights began to move from the top of the tent to the bottom. Lovino came up behind him and pushed him rather roughly forward, and he allowed his knees to buckle as he was sent tumbling into the center of the ring. When the scenery stopped spinning, He looked up, seeing all of the faces in the seats. Shaking his head quickly, He smiled widely and got up, beginning to play the concertina.
In a series of exaggerated motions, He feigned dizziness and the concertina complained with loud, ugly noises as he pressed various buttons before flopping forward once more. A small murmur of laughter made it's way through the bleachers. Lovino came tearing into the ring at an angry pace, Telling him to get up and calling him names in Italian.
And that was how this particular set of Skits went. Feliciano played the lovable but bumbling fool and Lovino Chastised him thoroughly through out the act. It never seemed to fail at making people laugh, that kind of dynamic was tried in true, one of the oldest forms of comedy.
Throughout the performance, Feliciano would try to play his concertina, and be foiled by Lovino, telling him something like nobody wanted to hear it and to stop, and they'd do other acts until the end of the skit.
Then, Feliciano would puff out his chest, figuratively grow a spine, and play his concertina proudly and beautifully. At the end of the short musical number he would squeeze the instrument shut on his brother's nose and stick out his tongue.
The Fool Triumphs.
And then they were running out of the Ring, Feliciano blowing kisses to a laughing and happy crowd, Lovino spluttering in angry Italian. Feliciano Ducked under a tent flap and stifled a chuckle as his brother came in, still unhappy looking and red faced.
"Aw, Don't be angry at me, You know that's how that act goes!" Feliciano poked his brother's nose and looked up at him with a small pout before He was yanked to the side by Elizavetta, her long hair getting in his face as she dragged him towards the costumes.
Elizavetta made a lot of the costumes for the circus, and was quite good at it. She also repaired ripped stitches and the like with equal skill. She seemed to have a penchant for making the male performers try on her dresses, though….
Lovino followed rather begrudgingly, Muttering and scowling the whole way. He still hadn't quite forgiven her for trying to make him wear a tutu a few months back, and refused to be left In her care with no one else around.
"…And here we are!" Elizavetta Pulled out the two costumes, thankfully fairly simple and comfortable looking. "Alright, Feliciano, Just put on the pants while I get the sash for the shirt, Ok?" Feli nodded and complied, Scrambling out of his clown costume and pulling on the dark brown pants.
"Elizavetta, These are a little small, don't you think?" He looked up helplessly. The "Pants" Were more like leggings than anything, made of a soft material that clung to his skin. He was a little unnerved, to say the least. His brother was faring worse, Angrily mumbling swear words at his own matching pair of pants.
"It'll be fine!" Elizavetta brushed of the question and Pulled of the brightly patterned shirt that went with Feliciano's clown Costume, and Pulled a fairly loose tunic light shirt over his head, the muted gold of the fabric coming to rest about three inches above his knee. Groping behind her, she found the burgundy sash and wrapped it around his waist, giggling at the squeak of surprise Feliciano let out when she tightened the know a little roughly.
"No way, just give me the shirt, I'm dressing myself!" Lovino backed away when Elizavetta moved towards him, and She sighed and gave in, handing him a similar shirt in a mint green color and a dark purple sash.
"Suit yourself, Just remember to put on the boots with the buttons on the side." Feliciano had Already finished pulling on the boots and was wiping the last of the makeup off of his face when Elizavetta came back to him, and he didn't noticed the small gold earring she was holding in her hand until she tried to ram it through his left earlobe.
Letting out an audible squawk of pain, He fell sideways against a rack of costumes and had to be helped out by his brother, who was yelling at Elizavetta and calling her crazy. Her shoulders sank when she realized she was not going to get the cute little Italian clowns to walk out with matching pierced ears for this, like she wanted. Oh well.
"Ah well." She shrugged and apologized, saying it was for the show (Really, it was just her personal preference.) And that she wouldn't try it again. (Today, anyways.) While Romano chastised his brother (Who was helping him remove the last of his makeup) For squeaking so femininely, Elizavetta turned and waved in the driection of entrance to the back of the tent, send a cheerful greeting in that direction. "Ludwig! Your act is up soon, so Just finish getting ready, alright? Lovino, Feliciano! This is the Lion Tamer, Who you're going to be working with!"
Feliciano wiped the last bit of Makeup from his brother's face before turning to see this "Ludwig." His eyes were met with the sight of an imposing individual and his jaw dropped a little.
Ludwig was muscular and was fairly tall (Certainly taller than Feliciano.) with a face set into such a serious expression that the man seemed to chill the air within his proximity. His blond hair slicked severely back and his outfit was immaculate. The black pants had no trace of dust and he was Adjusting a red tie that contrasted sharply with a shirt that was white like snow.
Feliciano pushed his jaw back up and Looked away, pulling a little on a portion of his own hair, winding the copper colored strands Around his fingers in an attempt to not be noticed. He didn't want to get on this guy's bad side. It would be fantastic if this person just didn't notice him at all.
