18 Aug, '94 — Padmore Park Pit

Charley didn't wear shock the way the rest of Hogsmeade was, mouths all open as if they'd been sewn like that. She tucked it under her cap with the rest of her hair and worries, shrugging it off as she donned the ungainly straps of the flower tray. Mrs. Mann could balance three more baskets on her hips, but the urchin's own were not that wide. She could carry two if the tray wasn't too full, and today it was full enough that she could hardly keep up with the veteran flower seller a pace ahead without tipping the whole load into the street.

Reaching the park, she could finally see the measure of calamity that had descended upon it. Or into it, rather. Charley desperately wanted to run up and peer over the edge. She wasn't afraid of tumbling in, only eager to see how deep the pit was by now. Unlike the cat, the urchin would have to live with her curiosity unsatisfied, going off in the direction that Mrs. Mann pointed. There were already crowds of tearful wailers, hat-doffed looky-loos, mixed with a few striding purposefully with all measures of looking very important and not to be bothered.

Avoiding the last sort, Charley mingled among those still standing on level ground in the park, calling out to hawk her floral wares, "Lovely blooms for them what grieves? A bit o' beauty in sorrow's gloom? Or show yer care with a flower's touch!"

There was a flower for everyone, she was sure about that. Nor shy about offering to those who wouldn't speak up loudly, everyone deserved some flowery brightness in their lives today.

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OOC: Open to any and all at the sinkhole, multiple characters welcome, no thread commitment necessary!

  

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Leo snorted as he passed by some little kid selling flowers at the sinkhole - people would do anything to make a quick buck. If he had time he might have shooed her away, told her to go sell flowers elsewhere, but he was too busy helping out where he needed. (And he hated it, but at least it was a good look for him. People would think he gave two shits about the people stuck down in the pit.)

Leo's eyes narrowed, and as he passed by Leo accidentally smacked some of her flowers off their tray. He didn't bother to look back or help clean them off the ground, his focus solely on the crowd just ahead of him. Some were getting a little too close to the pit for his liking, and the less people they had to rescue, the better.

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If anyone needs/wants a ministry user group for CW<3

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There were far too many long faces at the park today, ones that Charley did her best to bring joy to. Or color, anyway. Each blossom she sold —for only a couple knuts each, the urchin wasn't about to take advantage of tragedy!— was sure to add a little color to someone's day. Even the ones that buyers tossed over the edge, hoping they might float down to meet their lost loved-ones.

If her Pa were here, Charley reckoned he would be writing a play about all this.

And she would feature as the little, heartfelt flower girl, singing a sweet song to comfort the mourners. Not that Charley was one to sing much, she was more the sort to dance. Yet the people gathered at the park didn't seem like they wanted songs or dances, or even plays today. No, they needed answers, and if not answers, then flowers.

Some of them, the urchin noticed, just needed to be mad.

Charley was crossing a path to reach a small child with big, red eyes, who was looking quite helpless next to the woman with a face buried in tears. She had just the flower in mind, too, a lovely snowdrop to bring hope to him and his mother. Stopping short to let a man pass in front of her, he took a swipe across her tray, knocking the snowdrop off with an assortment of other flowers.

"Have a heart, Mista'!" she called after him, not that he even slowed. She frowned at his back, it was too warm on this day to be so cold and callous. Charley bent down to gather the flowers up, fixing what she could and saving others to give freely. When she looked up again, the child and his mother were gone.

Another tragedy for a day of tragedies. Charley moved on, a tray still mostly full of color, trying to be more helpful than some people were today.

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