Jack's Room

[Prince]

She shook her head. "Nonono," she said. "I've got a kid gone too, just one, but he's real young... and he isn't the kinda kid to just turn around and bolt ya know? I mean we're talking about 8 here," she said. "No, somethin's wrong..." she agreed as she finally took a seat across form Jack. "Question is, what. And... what we gonna do about it?" she asked leaning back in the chair and folding her arms.

[Jack Kelly]

"Nonono, I've got a kid gone too, just one, but he's real young... and he isn't the kinda kid to just turn around and bolt ya know? I mean we're talking about 8 here."

Jack stared at Prince. "One of yours is gone too?" He started thinking hard. Four Manhattan kids and a Queens kid, all either young boys or small girls, just vanishing? There was something strange. He didn't like it. "I had two young boys go missing, and two girls--they was older, but smaller. None of 'em knew each other too well, I don't think..."

"No, somethin's wrong...Question is, what. And... what we gonna do about it?"

"We can't do nothin' until we find out what's going on. I have no idea...could they be in the refuge?" Jack wondered if the five kids had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were taken to the refuge by the bulls. For a while there, the police officers were really stepping down on homeless children...

[Prince]

She thought for a second and nodded slightly. "Worth a look," she said nodding. "They might be in the Orphanage in Queens too," she suggested. "There's a textile mill in Queens too," she said, "but I don't see them being there," she said. "What do you think we should do, just go out looking for them... But if not the cops... just... saying, if it ain't the cops... and it might be, who knows... but then who would it be?" she said looking down at the ground in thought.

[Jack Kelly]

"Worth a look," she said nodding. "They might be in the Orphanage in Queens too."

Jack hadn't thought of that. He supposed he didn't really remember the orphanage in Queens because if he didn't, he had one less thing to worry about. He had the refuge where he was, so that was something hanging over the head of every Manhattan newsie. If you were caught here, the odds weren't excellent they'd bother taking you all the way to Queens. Especially if you'd been acting up, which was something the Manhattan kids (most of them, anyway) had a habit of doing. "Good thinkin'. Your boy especially, right?" Jack knew that if the Queens boy had gotten into some kind of trouble, the odds were good that he was in the refuge and not the orphanage. But Prince had made it sound as if the kid was meek, so Jack doubted it. Still, if Prince found the kid in either place, it would make Jack feel a lot better about his missing kids. If the Queens kid reappeared, it meant the cops were just cracking down on street kids again, and that all four Manhattan kids were probably in one of two places.

"There's a textile mill in Queens too, but I don't see them being there."

Jack shook his head. He highly doubted any newsie would go willingly from selling papers into a textile mill. If the bulls had caught them, they probably wouldn't put them in any kind of mill or workhouse. Old Teddy Roosevelt was cracking down on child labor himself. It didn't mean families weren't pushing kids to work to get some extra wages, or that kids weren't lying about their age to try and work, but no self-respecting (and Governor-fearing) police officer would put young kids to work like that.

"What do you think we should do, just go out looking for them... But if not the cops... just... saying, if it ain't the cops... and it might be, who knows... but then who would it be?"

Jack didn't answer for a moment. As Prince sat down, he stood and paced the room, patting Prince's shoulder sympathetically as he passed her. They were in the same boat, and Jack was in deeper than her. He was glad he'd asked to talk to her; now he knew his fears were warranted, and there was something strange going on. "We ain't gonna get ahead of ourselves here," Jack said in firm resolve. "We'll check the refuge and the orphanage, right? See if the kids end up there. If not then we worry about if not the cops."

[Prince]

Prince watched him pace until he patted her on the shoulder and then turned her eyes to the ground again. She didn't want to think about this, she didn't want to deal with this, she didn't want this to be happening at all.

"So," she said quietly. "What do you think we oughta do? If ya want you can check the refuge here... I can go back to Queens and see if the kids is there, and... well we can meet back here, or somewhere else if ya think'd be better," she said with a shrug.

She looked up at him again and then blinked a few times before she looked back to the ground trying to decide what the best plan here really was. Would it be better to stick together, or divide and figure out... assuming quicker? Do they ask the other boroughs to help? Then again, they probably had their own problems to deal with, everyone usually did it seemed. What was the deal with the world having so many problems? She wasn't a fan. She sighed a little and took her hat off before running a hand through her hair, and remembered how short it was before she sighed again.

[Birdie Schaffer]

((New Day -- For Jack, seemed like the best place for this since the roof was taken xD))

Birdie sat on the window frame of Jack's room and took a drag from her smoke as she waited. He was after all the leader of Manhattan and she'd heard about the meeting he wad no doubt getting ready to go too. Spot was arming for war, and Birdie-- well she didn't think Jack exactly had all the information.

They'd always had an uneasy alliance. Neither one of them liked the place the other held. Birdie was loyal only to Spot and could give anyone else the run around for hours if she saw the reason in it. She played her own side, and right at the moment she felt like talking to the Manhattan leader for a spell. There was more than a little bit of bristling between them as she folded her legs and smirked a bit.

There were times were the Brooklynite just looked incredibly feminine. She hid it well most of the time but since she was alone at the moment she just enjoyed the window seal like a cat.