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Post by jackspot94 on May 27, 2009 18:11:36 GMT -5
((New Day))
Spirit strolled down the alley as she slowly looked over today's papes. 'So far the headlines weren't as bad,' she thought to herself. Rats and other small vermin crawled past her on her way to Central Park. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day, but then again people were wrong everyday. She sighed and glanced at the bottom of page 5.
Suddenly, her breath caught and she moved to sit on a stoop. How could this have happened? Everyone had been so hidden, and even the families advisors had agreed to this hiding spot. Who in their right mind would ever look for a royal family in the lower sections of Manhattan? No one knew either... right?
'My story about the uncle and governesses had seemed to work quite well, and I wasn't even questioned about any little details,' she thought to herself. This story though... she quickly read the words in black and white; all the story really said though was that the 'officials', who were really just the men they were fleeing from, were on the look out and seemed to have a lead in New York City. Soon, she feared, they would have to run again.
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Post by tumble on May 29, 2009 22:12:35 GMT -5
*New Day*
Tumbler sighed, standing in the entrance of Bottle alley, annoyance showing on his young face. He had been selling with Boots and Snipeshooter that day. He liked the two, Tumbler got along with them pretty well, considering they were the second youngest in the gang and treated him okay, since they were kids themselves too. He was sure they wouldn't ditch him....he was wrong. After Snipeshooter caught the eye of a young teenage girl from Midtown, they decided to be "gentlemen" and help her carry her schoolbooks. Tumbler wrinkled his nose at the thought. He thought it stupid, the girl had hands didn't she? She could carry her own books.
Anyways, they decided not to drag Tumbler along, he would only get in their way, so stopping him in front of Bottle Alley, they handed Tumbler their newspapers and strode off with the girl, leaving Tumbler where he was now.
The young boy sighed listlessly scratching his head and tugging on his suspenders, before making a face and dropping the newspapers onto the ground, if they could dump a kid in front of a dark alley and tell him to stay until they came back, he could dump their newspapers on the ground. He was kind of glad he didn't come along though, he wasn't going to get in a mix up with some dumb school girl from midtown. He liked being by himself sometimes anyways, and would sell by himself if Jack didn't insist that the younger newsies sell with partners.
He took a step into the alley, scanning the shadows with his dark brown eyes, his black stick in hand. It couldn't be such a bad place, Mush sold here all the time, and he came back unharmed. Tumbler picked up a bottle cap and brought it out of the shadows so it could glisten and grinned, putting it in his pocket, his found reward for the day.
He was getting accustomed to the alley, putting down some of his guard, until he heard little scratching pitter patters in the dirt and something gray and well sized scramble past his feet. Tumbler looked down in surprise and yelled , diving into the nearest crate. It was a-a-a-a Monster!!!!
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Post by Gwennie on May 30, 2009 0:11:52 GMT -5
Gwennie generally didn't like gloomy days that much. They always made her feel bored and kind of sleepy no matter how much fun what she was doing should have been having. Today, though, was different. It had just been too good of a day to be sad no matter how gloomy it was out. She had sold all of her papers by noon, Marvin had found a friend to go play with , and she had finally saved enough money to buy a new pair of shoes for herself which she badly needed. (It wasn't that she didn't still like her old shoes. She really did, but since they had started to cut holes in the back of her socks (and sometimes the back of her feet a little bit) from how tight they were, she'd had to come to terms with the fact that she needed to replace them.)
Now, with all of the free time that she had ahead of her, she'd decided to explore the city starting with Manhattan. She hadn't been sure where she should start at first but she had quickly solved that problem with eenie meenie minie mo and had gone on her way. So far, she had already gone to Tibby's for lunch and was currently on her way to cen tral park to walk around and watch the ducks for awhile.
As she was walking, she passed Boots and that other, redheaded boy whose name she didn't know drooling over some older girl who they couldn't possibly win over if they spent a hundred thousand years on it. she waved at them but she wasn't terribly surprised when they didn't wave back. She was already giggling a bit at that when she heard a loud yelp from the entrance of the alley way accross the street. She whipped around to make sure nobody was hurt or anything. When she did, however, all she saw was a boy around her age staring at a box further back in the alleyway into which a big fuzzy rat was scrambling.
She immediately put two and two together and burst into laughter at the thought that a boy, a newsie, even, would be that scared of a harmless little rat. She kept laughing for awhile but managed to choke it back so she could walk accross the street without getting run over by carriage. She almost started lauging again when she saw the look on the boy's face but she figured it wouldn't be very nice, after all, she didn't want to make him sad. In fact, she figured she should probably help him. Even if he wasn't really in dannger at all, It stunk being scared and tit was always better when somebody else could help you to not be scared anymore. It was better when it was someone bigger but she could do it too. She was sure.
"What's wrong?" she asked the boy, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. "You look kinda scared." she figured it would be best not to mention that she saw the rat. It was bad to lie but she thought he might be kind of embarassed if he knew she knew he was scared of something that small.
((sorry it tooks so long and that it fails horribly. My brain is apparently fried right now.))
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Post by tumble on May 30, 2009 8:06:39 GMT -5
Tumbler was staring at the crate the rat had disappeared behind, panting and watching to make sure it wouldn't come back. He knew it was a rat now, but that wasn't any old rat! It was huge and Tumbler was sure it had yellow eyes and big fangs.
When he felt somebody reach out and tap his shoulder, he wheeled around and yelled all the more, losing his balance when he turned, he all but collapsed to the ground, landing on his butt with a thud. Tumbler recovered from his shock, though his heart was still beating a million miles an hour, he turned his gaze up at the girl sheepishly, growing red in embarrassment. Tumbler looked down at the ground with an agitated sigh and pulled himself up. He was often acquainted with the ground.
"What's wrong? You look kinda scared."
Tumbler glanced back at the crate before replying offhandedly, "Oh, um, it was nothing. A rat just ran past me and it kinda spooked me, didn't see it there."
Tumbler decided not to mention anything about the rat being a monster with fangs, the girl was probably laughing her heart out at him, he didn't need to add to his seemingly cowardly condition. He shoved his hands in his pocket, glancing at her every once in awhile with his dark eyes that peeked out slightly from his bangs at the moment. He reached up to push back his backwards brown and white striped hat and wiped at his running nose, only getting another smudge of dirt on his tan face.
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Post by Gwennie on May 30, 2009 15:13:16 GMT -5
Gwennie was unable to choke back a little giggle when the boy yelled and fell down just because she tapped his shoulder. She didn't mean to laugh at him. It was just really funny to think that anyone would ever be scared of little old her, even if it was just because she surprised him. Still, she felt a little guilty when she saw how red he was as he scrambled to his feet and tried as hard as he could to save face by pretending it had all been nothing big. She knew it felt bad to be embarrassed and she didn't like making people feel bad. But he was a really funny boy. She just couldn't help it.
"Yeah, It was a pretty big rat. I saw it all da way accross da street." she replied, trying to make up for laughing at him by making him feel not so bad about being scared of it in the first place. "I t'ought it was kinda cute but I'd a' def'nitly been scared if it jus' ran right past me. 'Specially 'cause 'a da kinds 'a mean t'ings dat can be in alleys sometimes." she continued, a sunny little smile forming on her face as she surpressed another giggle at the boy's attempt to clean himself up. He really was very funny kind of boy.
Her eyes wandered slightly as she stood there and after only a few seconds, they landed on a couple of piles of papes on the ground next to him. "Hey, why'dya got so many papes?" she asked, sure that he would be glad for a change of subject. "It's prolly not a good idea t' leave 'em here on ground in fronta dis alley someone could take 'em or somethin' or a doggie could come out an mess on 'em when ya ain't lookin' " that had happeded to her once before with Marvin but his pee was invisible to grown ups just like him so she sold the anyway but if a normal doggie did it it could be really bad and she didn't want this boy to have his day made even worse by something like that when had already been in embarrassed by the incident with the rat.
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Post by tumble on May 30, 2009 16:09:25 GMT -5
"Yeah, It was a pretty big rat. I saw it all da way accross da street. I t'ought it was kinda cute but I'd a' def'nitly been scared if it jus' ran right past me. 'Specially 'cause 'a da kinds 'a mean t'ings dat can be in alleys sometimes."
Tumbler nodded at what she said, still frowning slightly though when she kept giggling like that, but he was glad she made it seem like no big deal and said she would be scared too. She didn't look too scared now, smiling brightly in the middle of a dark alley. Tumbler was still in a bad mood from Snipeshooter and Boots, the fact that the girl saw him be scared of nothing but a stupid little rat, and that he landed on his now hurting rear. It was just not a good day for him.
"Hey, why'dya got so many papes? It's prolly not a good idea t' leave 'em here on ground in fronta dis alley someone could take 'em or somethin' or a doggie could come out an mess on 'em when ya ain't lookin' "
Tumbler scowled stubbornly and told the girl with the furry hat, "I left them there on purpose. They ain't mine, they're Snipeshooter and Boot's. They leave me in some stupid alley and dump their papers on me, so I dumped them on the floor. I don't care if a dog goes to the john on them, thats they're own fault for going after some dumb girl!"
Tumbler sighed and shook his head, knowing he was being stubborn and maybe a little mean to this girl. He shouldn't have acted like all girls are dumb and a waste of time. He glanced at her again, "I'm sorry, I just don't like it when everybody ditches me like that..." He managed a small smile at her. He thought her hat was interesting, and she was nice. He thought her smile was kind of pretty, though he wouldn't admit that out loud.
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Post by Gwennie on May 30, 2009 16:48:48 GMT -5
Gwennie burst into a fit of laughter when she heard who the papers belonged to and why they were on the floor. "You mean dese're Boots's and dat uddah kids's papes. Dey act'ally left sellin' fa' dat?!" she choked out, managing to compose herself a bit more after her initial outburst of mirth. "In dat case, I wouldn't worry 'bout gettin' 'em back by leavin deir papes on da ground. Dat goil dey went off wit is about ta do da same t'ing wit deir pride an' I t'ink dat's bad enough fa' one day." said, leaning down and picking up the two stacks of papers. "B'lieve me, you got da good end a' da deal lookin' aftah papes ." She thought it was cute how he didn't know why they wanted to go off with a girl. Boys were so dumb sometimes.
"Anyhow, I'm Gwennie." she greeted, shifting the large stack of papers to one arm and holding out her hand for him to shake. Her parents had always said she should introduce herself when she met someone or they'd be sad and think you didn't like them and that was the last thing she wanted to do to this boy with the day he seemed to be having up to this point. "I was jus' goin' ta central park ta watch da ducks. Ya wanna come? It'll be way funnah den waitin' in a lousy old alley fa' da next houah so's ya can watch papes dat jus' got dumped on ya anyhow. I betcha nobody'd take 'em if we put 'em on on 'a da stacks a boxes an' Boots an' dat othah kid'll def'nitely see 'em when dey get back." She gave him an encouraging smile before adding "dey'll prolly be glad dere's nobody heah ta see how bad dey screwed up so dey won't be mad or nothin'."
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Post by tumble on May 30, 2009 17:06:45 GMT -5
"You mean dese're Boots's and dat uddah kids's papes. Dey act'ally left sellin' fa' dat?! In dat case, I wouldn't worry 'bout gettin' 'em back by leavin deir papes on da ground. Dat goil dey went off wit is about ta do da same t'ing wit deir pride an' I t'ink dat's bad enough fa' one day. B'lieve me, you got da good end a' da deal lookin' aftah papes ."
Tumbler listened to her talk and agreed eventually with a shrug, watching the girl pick the newspapers off the ground. He guessed she was right. It was enough for the two thirteen year olds to be turned down by a girl. He guessed he really didn't care about getting revenge anyways, his backside was hurting and he didn't like how dark it was in the alley. He was happy for the girl to be there actually, at least he didn't have to be alone.
"Anyhow, I'm Gwennie."
Tumbler nodded with a smile and put his tan, thoroughly ink stained hand into hers and shook it. "I'm Tumbler. Nice ta meet you'se Gwennie."
"I was jus' goin' ta central park ta watch da ducks. Ya wanna come? It'll be way funnah den waitin' in a lousy old alley fa' da next houah so's ya can watch papes dat jus' got dumped on ya anyhow. I betcha nobody'd take 'em if we put 'em on on 'a da stacks a boxes an' Boots an' dat othah kid'll def'nitely see 'em when dey get back. dey'll prolly be glad dere's nobody heah ta see how bad dey screwed up so dey won't be mad or nothin'."
Tumbler's face lit up when she invited him to watch the ducks in Central Park. He loved Central Park and he watched the ducks often. It would be even funner with Gwennie there.
"Yeah, okay!" Tumbler took the heavy stack from her and set them on the crate with a grunt before turning and rubbing his hands together in satisfaction. He grinned widely crying, "Let's go Gwennie! I'll race you there!"
(You wanna start the post at Central Park? ;D)
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Post by waltz on Jun 24, 2009 21:18:25 GMT -5
-- New Day --
Waltz was lost. And she was alone, with nothing but the wind to keep her company. A little day of exploring had seemed like a good idea that morning. Then again, everything seems like a fun time under a sunny summer sky. But it was nearing nighttime, and she was getting scared, already regretting her decision to venture out of Queens.
"Oh no," She muttered to herself and bit her lip. Checking her pockets, Waltz saw that she only had about fifty cents on her. Who on earth would take her in for only two bits? Then suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her. Waltz froze.
"Who's there?"
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Post by dannyblue on Jun 26, 2009 10:08:57 GMT -5
"Just harmless ole Danny Blue," A London accent came though the darkness, followed by a man in a suit and his hands held in front of him, as if surrendering. "Wasn't aware this was a private alley." He smiled.
He walked closer to her, but slowly. She had sounded scared and the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her off. She had the brightest baby blues he'd ever seen. But she looked a bit young...
"So, you know my name now. Who are you?"
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Post by waltz on Jun 26, 2009 11:34:12 GMT -5
"Oh hello," Waltz nervously replied, her hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Quickly, she analyzed this Danny Blue. He had an accent, British, no doubt, and looked several years older than herself. He didn't seem harmless; in fact he seemed rather nice. Even so, there was something pulling at the corner of her mind. A dark, looming figure saying to get out of there. And fast.
"They call me Waltz," She said, involuntarily backing up a few steps as he came closer, her voice still high and shaky. "I'm a newsie- from Queens."
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Post by dannyblue on Jun 26, 2009 12:54:00 GMT -5
"Queens?" Danny smiled a bit sympathetically, "What on earth are you doin' out here, love, at this hour a'night."
Noticing she was backing away as he walked closer, he stopped moving. "Listen, I won't tell ya I know the street like the back of my hand. Haven't been here long myself. But what I do know is that it certainly can't be safe for a lovely young girl such as yourself to be wanderin' about all alone..."
He shrugged, keeping his hands where she could see him, "Allow me to walk you home, Miss Waltz?"
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Post by waltz on Jun 28, 2009 21:17:05 GMT -5
"Lost my way," Waltz replied, a little calmer now than before. "I ain't too good with directions." She smiled back sheepishly, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. This Danny Blue didn't wasn't bad after all, she decided. Her suspicions disappeared in a heartbeat.
She bit her lip in contemplation. He was right. It was dangerous for her to be alone this late at night. And he was awfully charming...
"Alright," Waltz said with a shrug. "Ya know the way back to the lodging house from here?"
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Post by dannyblue on Jun 29, 2009 10:47:22 GMT -5
Danny gave an embarrassed smile and shook his head, walking closer to her. He offered his arm out like any proper gentleman would and shrugged, "Your lodging house in Queens? No. Sorry. But I'm sure, together, we can at least figure out which direction Queens is... You must have loads of bottle, tramplin' about at night, Miss Waltz." He gave a light wink.
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Post by Jensen Flynn on Jun 29, 2009 12:08:51 GMT -5
"Or loads of stupid."
Jensen ambled into view from the opposite end of the alley, hands stuffed in his pockets casually. He looked to the girl with what passed for a frown of concern.
"Been a lot of pretty young girls going missing around here, kid. You shouldn't be out by your lonesome this late, talking to strangers and taking their offers. Ain't safe, you know."
He switched his gaze to Danny, and grinned. "Well, well. Danny Blue, we meet again." He nodded in the girl's direction. "Nice job, pal. She's a pretty one, too. Good on ya."
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