The Brooklyn Bridge

[Administrator]

Go ahead and shout, you know you want to...

[Nike Kennedy]

"Feck the cold!" Nike swore as she walked. Her coat had recently gone MIA, so the Irish girl was walking to Manhattan clad only in the everyday clothes she'd worn all summer. Winter had officially taken the reins from fall in New York and the wind had a bitter, harsh bite to it. The wind snapped at her clothes and pushed her this way and that. Ever one for a joke, Nike thought briefly that this might be close to how it felt to get attacked by ice dogs. She chuckled to herself despite her discomfort, and continued walking.

It had been _____* months since Snoddy had rescued her from the-place-of-which-we-do-not-speak and they had spent a lot of time together ever since then. Nike had never met him before that day, but now she felt like she wanted to be around him all the time... He had stayed with her while she recovered and tended to her even though he had a massive head wound himself. How he had managed, she guessed she would never know. She was on her way to visit him now, but the cold was threatening to freeze her before she got there.

It was a long trek from Queens to Manhattan, because there was no bridge connecting her borough with the island. There was talk in the papes of a company that wanted to build a bridge connecting E 60th street with Vernon Blvd, but that they went bankrupt before they could. Damn hoity-toity, big shots. They had enough dough to spend on street walkers and fancy cigars, but when it came to building a bridge street people like her needed? Oh no, not enough Barney Dillons for that. “They’re all feckin’ crooks!” she shouted to no one in particular. People glanced at her nervously, obviously wondering if she had lost her marbles, but Nike just winked at them cheekily. Let ‘em wonder, she decided.

Crooks and rich men aside, the facts remained. The bridge she wanted had yet to be built and, as a result, she had to go through Brooklyn to get to ‘Hattan. Brooklyn wasn’t too bad, she guessed, New York had shown her there were scarier things hidden in its nooks and crannies than a group of tough newsboys, but she still didn’t particularly like walking around here alone. Not that she’d ever tell anyone that... Nike knew she could run faster than any trouble she might find here, but she also knew the cold would absolutely kill her lungs without a scarf to put over her nose and mouth. “Oh!” that made two winter items gone missing. “Gah, shite hawk!” Nike swore loudly and groaned, “Feck this cold.”




*Anyone know how long it's been since the battle?
((Irish slang: Feck: pretty obvious... Shite hawk: general term of abuse. Barney Dillons: shillings, sheckels, moolah, money.))

[jewelkent]

(OOC: Sorry about this...moving Jewel again. Having trouble finding her a place...LOL.)

Jewel left McGinty's that night, never going back to the Lodging House all night. She was still on her high from dancing with that cute guy at the bar.

He had offered to walk her home, but she had refused, claiming that she just needed to be clear her head. The bar had been smoky, and loud.

Jewel stopped walking suddenly, realizing that she was on the Brooklyn Bridge. It must've been late because it was a bit dark.

She stared over the railing at the view of the city. She soon began thinking of all the stuff that she had been through in the last week.

She began to see flashes of those things

She kissed Banshee, her fight with him afterwards.

Then she started to think about the other stuff from that same night.

Spot seeing everything between them. Her, having to face the steely eyes of her fearless leader.

Just then, in a need to let her frustrations out...Jewel let out an ear-piercing scream over the bridge.

When she was done, she looked around. That was when she spotted her...

A girl walking over the bridge. Her hair whipping in the wind.

Jewel could tell this girl was freezing cold. She then ran over to her, and walked up beside her.

"Hey! Are you okay, girl? Please...just say something. What are you doing out here so far away from home?" she asked the girl.

(OOC: Okay, I fixed this thing finally.)

[Nike Kennedy]

Nike was hurrying along the Brooklyn Bridge, hoping to make it to the Manhattan Lodging House before nightfall, when she heard a girl scream. Any person new to Brooklyn would have looked around, hurried away quickly, or run to see what was going on. She, however, had crossed this bridge close to fifty times and it didn’t even cause her to flinch. It was just another eejit who thought it would be cool to scream over the edge ‘cause Jack does… She shook her head in annoyance at the effect Jack had on people and continued on.

As she came upon the place where the scream had come from, Nike didn’t even bother to look up, just kept her head down against the wind and walked faster. Some of the other people on the bridge had stopped to look at the girl who had screamed and she had to weave her way between them. All of the sudden, she was being bombarded with questions by a girl she’d never seen before. Nike guessed her to be the girl who had been screaming, because many of the people who had stopped were giving her sidelong glances.

“What the hell? Get off me!” Though the girl wasn’t touching Nike, she was right up in her face and far too close for her liking. “What are you, off yer nut?! You’re the one who was screamin’ over the edge like a fuckin’ scanger!” Normally she would have just given her a ”feck off” and been done with it, walked away like a good little girl (Snoddy disliked violence, so she was trying to abstain from fighting for his sake). Now, however, not only was she freezing her arse off in the middle of a bridge, she had to deal with some bird eatin’ her head off!

Oh, it was just too much; too, bloody much. Nike was pissed and about ready to bash this girl’s head in if she asked one more question. She wouldn’t, of course, but it was a nice thought. “And it’s none of your bleedin’ business what I’m doin he-…” Suddenly she realized what this girl had just asked her. “How the hell you know where I live, huh?”





*((Eejit (n): idiot. Off your nut (v): crazy. Scanger (n): stupid female. Eat the head off (v): attack verbally.))

[jewelkent]

Jewel backed off slightly from the girl "Jeez, I'm really sorry if I scared ya wit' my screamin'. I just had a lot of frustration to take out. I've had a hell of a week, girl." she said.

"You may not know me... But I'm one of the Brooklyn Newsies. The name's Julianne, but all the Newsies who know me call me 'Jewel'." she told the girl.

Jewel sighed heavily. She had no idea why this girl was so angry, but then she realized that the girl was also out here with no jacket.

"Oh! How do I know where ya live? Um... Ya look familiar to me. But judgin' by the direction in which you're walkin' in...I assume that you're from Manhattan. I'm down there sometimes. So, I must've seen ya somewhere." she told her.

(OOC: Sorry it's so short. It's still kinda early for me. Hope it helps though.)

[Nike Kennedy]

“You didn’ fuckin’ scare me,” Nike said with a growl of irritation. “I jus think it’s you who needs the help, gersha, not me!” Why couldn’t this girl just leave her alone? She honestly didn’t care if she was having a rotten week, or even a rotten life. She was having a rotten evening! If the weather had been pleasant and if the sun hadn’t been setting, she might have actually been nice to this girl. But it wasn’t and it was, so she wasn’t. The trip across the Brooklyn Bridge was the coldest part of the whole walk and here she was with no coat, no scarf, no foreseeable hope of seeing Snoddy before nightfall, and an eejit was blocking her way because it was cold. Maybe it was because of the two months she spent cooped up in a textile factory; maybe it was because she had gone insane, been shot and almost died; maybe it was all of these things or maybe it was none of them, but whatever it was Nike had lost some of her everlasting patience. When she was born, she had generous amounts of patience, optimism, kindness, and fortitude, but New York had just about robbed her of the lot.

Gotdamn her rotten luck! The Fates must have it out for her. Nike glanced around them, half expecting the three old women themselves to pop up and cut her lifeline for disrespecting them. It wasn’t that she religiously believed in Greek Mythology, or that she even believed in it at all, but she did believe in fate and if fate wanted to show up as three old women who shared an eyeball and did a lot of knitting, who was she to stop it? The Fates, it seemed had better things to do with their time, for her and the girl were almost completely alone now. The initial onlookers had moved on about their business and, with the temperature dropping along with the sun, there were fewer and fewer pedestrians venturing out onto the bridge. No old women, no cut lifeline.

The girl took that moment to introduce herself and Nike had to drag her thoughts away from ancient Greece before what she was saying made sense. Brooklyn? Jewel? She almost couldn’t believe this girl was from Brooklyn, she didn’t seem the type. At this point though, she was too cold to argue, so she spit in her hand and held it out to Jewel. “I’m N-Nike, Queens newsie.” After shaking, she wiped the excess on her pant leg and dug her hands deep into her pockets. “I’m not from ‘Hattan, jus visitin’ a f-ffriend.” Her teeth were chattering and it made it hard to speak normally, so she kept her sentences as short as possible. She could shout normally, though, maybe she should go back to that again. Didn’t they say that anger warmed the blood? Or maybe it just all went to your head and made you so dizzy you didn’t know you were cold…hmm, food for thought, she decided.

Looking around again, Nike removed her hands from her pockets and rubbed her face with them, trying to get some feeling back in her nose and cheeks. Attempt failed. She sighed and replaced her hands in her pockets. “S-so…J-J-Jewel,” her words were so shaky, she doubted the other girl could even understand her, so she took a deep breath before continuing, “Are you headed to ‘H-Hattan or w-what?”





*((Gersha (n): young girl.))

[jewelkent]

Jewel was a bit scared by this girl's attitude towards her. The girl in front of her was obviously in a bad mood due to the freezing cold weather, but still, there was no reason to yell.

*I need help? What was with everyone, and the mean comments this week towards me?* she thought to herself.

Just then Jewel heard this girl call her a 'gersha', and remembering a little of the Irish language that she learned when she was little, she knew she had been called a 'little girl'. Okay, granted she was short, but by no more than an inch or two from this girl.

Jewel decided to ignore this, and then listened as the girl introduced herself. Jewel 'spit-shook' with the girl.

"Nice ta meet ya, Nike. So, you're from Queens? But if that's true, then why do youse look so familiar ta me?" Jewel asked the girl.

Jewel then thought of something that might seem like a helpful gesture to this girl. She then took off the jacket she had been wearing, and draped it over Nike's shoulders.

"Jeez, you look like you're gonna catch your death out here. The cold don't bother me that much, so don;t worry." she sighed.

"Actually, yes, I'm headin' ta 'Hattan. Why not, ya know? I'se got nothing else ta do. Where exactly are ya headin' ta in "Hattan?" Jewel asked Nike, a huge smile creeping up on her face.

(OOC: Oh this f'un...Can't wait to see what's next)

[Nike Kennedy]

Nike looked at the girl in bewilderment. Was she completely off her rocker? She had never seen Jewel before in her life, yet here she was asking why Nike looked so familiar to her. “How the hell should I know? I’m not the one inside yer head, gersha!” She rolled her eyes and beat her hands together to warm them. Honestly, where did Spot find some of these kids… Perhaps if she just slid away silently, this girl wouldn’t notice. She did seem rather ditsy.

As jewel’s coat slid onto Nike’s shoulders, she straightened up quickly and shrugged it off onto the bridge, stepping away from the girl so that she was out of her reach. Her first instinct was to shout at the girl again, really lay into her for being so stifling, but her conscience took over before something really exciting happened. Jewel was only trying to help her out; it wasn’t her fault that Nike was picky about who she borrowed things from.

Feeling bad about how she had reacted, though not bad enough to actually accept the offering, Nike picked the coat up from where it had fallen and brushed it off. “Er sorry, but I can’t accept,” she said, holding it out to Jewel. Knowing it would be rude to say the real reason she didn’t want it, she quickly thought up another reason on the spot. “I don’ know if I’ll see you again, so I don’ know when I’d be able ta give it back…” She trailed off apologetically, twisting the end of her long ponytail in her free hand.

"Actually, yes, I'm headin' ta 'Hattan. Why not, ya know? I'se got nothing else ta do. Where exactly are ya headin' ta in ‘Hattan?"

Nike narrowed her eyes at the girl, suddenly seeing her in a different light than before. Why did Jewel want to know where she was going? Perhaps the innocent, ditsy, annoying Jewel was only a front she was putting on! It would be just like those slimy, sneaky Brooklynites to try something like that, but what would be the point? In the end, she decided that she was too far under Brooklyn’s radar for them to give a rat’s ass where she went in Manhattan and that Jewel was probably just curious. Still, it was better safe than sorry, so Nike gave as general a reply as possible. “Oh, here an’ there… I’ve got quite a few friends runnin’ around the place, so I’m not sure where I’ll go first.”




*((Gersha (n): young girl – not little girl.))

[jewelkent]

(OOC: Just figured I'd post here too. So not to leave anyone hanging.)

Suddenly, Jewel's green eyes grew darker as she heard Nike refer to her as a Gersha again. She grew angry "Dammit! Stop calling me a young girl. I'm possibly no younger than you are. I've been taken care of myself for a long time, missy!" She snapped.

Jewel accepted her jacket back from Nike. She sighed, putting it back on. She sort of didn't blame Nike for not wanting it. The cold breeze brought out the smell of cigarette smoke that had lingered on the jacket from her night at McGinty's.

"Okay then, I was just trying to help." She sighed.

Jewel then looked at the girl, and softly ran her hands through her own long red hair. She had no right to yell at this girl, and she was letting her own stress get in the way.

"Damn, I'm sorry I yelled. Find it in your heart to forgive me. I've been known to suffer from pretty bad mood swings." She said.

Jewel then smiled at the girl weakly "Look, is it okay if I accompany ya to 'Hattan?" She asked Nike.

(OOC: sorry its so short. Ran out of ideas.)

[Nike Kennedy]

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This thread has been discontinued due to a loss of relevance.
Feel free to New Day
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[Banshee O'Hara]

*NEW DAY*

Banshee was bored. Selling had gone by quickly today, and while he relished the thought of having a large portion of the day at his disposal, the fact that he had no clear idea of what to do with it was eating at him. A drink was out, as the bartender at McGinty’s seemed determined not to serve him anything but bloody sarsaparilla, and he was in no mood to sit alone at the docks with his thoughts. He had toyed with the idea of checking out Queens, but he had been poking around there last week, and hadn’t found much to interest him. Manhattan, however…. It had been quite awhile since he’d crossed the bridge, and he figured today was as good a day as any to do it.

Reaching the bridge, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, his eyes scanning the length ahead of him. Traffic was fairly heavy this time of day, and he stayed alert as he wove deftly through the crowd. With the exception of his boredom, he was in a fairly good mood, and he whistled lightly under his breath as he dodged a group of boys running through the crowd.

[jewelkent]

Jewel ran from Queens as fast as she could...only to find herself on the Brooklyn Bridge.

"Damn it, not again." She muttered to herself. This is where she had run into Nike the first time around a few weeks back.

She began to walk it... Again. Why did she keep running away without even knowing where she was going? 1hat the hell runs through her head when she runs?

She didn't feel like going back to the Bronx as of yet, she felt like going to Manhattan for a while. Maybe things would be different there.

Just then, she looked straight ahead, and smiled. She spotted Banshee walking the bridge.

*Oh, this is gonna be fun.* she thought to herself.

She smoother out her skirt, and walked slowly up to him. A flirtatious smile crossing her face as she approached him.

"Well well well... Look who it is. How ya doin, Banshee? Did ya miss me?" She asked him.

[Birdie Schaffer]

Birdie had been on her way back home when she saw someone she had yet to meet in person but had been dying to meet, the sarcasm even in her mind was a fabulous thing. She'd heard a lot of things, comical as they were and she was steady on her feet as she moved over, bounding onto one of the retaining walls and walking up behind Banshee, her smoke danging from her fingers as she looked down at him.

She saw Jewel come up, raised a brow at her before snorting. Miss me huh? "You must be, Jewel.. heard plenty about you.." Birdie knew everything about everyone and that was saying something. She looked down at Banshee and decided to do something almost nice and put herself between the two. "And from what I hear, you ain't allowed anywhere NEAR Brooklyn anymore. Lucky banned you, and you know what we do to trespassers doncha?"

[Banshee O'Hara]

Banshee tensed as the sudden sensation of being watched prickled his skin. Turning slowly, he found himself looking at a pair of legs and followed them up to find Birdie balancing on the wall beside him. Identifying his watcher didn’t do much to relax him, however, as she was the eyes and ears of Brooklyn, and rarely anywhere that wasn’t of interest to the leaders. He knew her by sight and reputation only, as he was nowhere near high enough in the borough hierarchy to warrant her attention. And yet, here she was. He guessed she could just be out for a stroll, though that thought got dismissed as soon as it occurred. Or… A thought began to form that was none too pleasant.

Ever since that thing with Jewel comments had been made here and there that would suggest word had gotten around somehow. And since he was pretty sure that of the witnesses, only Jewel was the gossiping type, he could only imagine what rumors were attached to his name now. He’d heard that the girl was banned from Brooklyn, and he had to admit the thought had relieved him some. But if somehow it had extended to him…. Taking another drag off his cigarette, he leaned against the wall and waited to see if she’d say anything or go on about whatever important business she might be on that hopefully had nothing to do with him.

An all to familiar voice had him stifling a groan, however and he turned to find himself face to face with none other than Jewel herself. If Birdie had been watching him on account of her, this certainly wouldn’t do anything to help him plead his case, should it come to that. Banshee took a deep breath, trying to resist the urge to throttle the girl. He had never raised a hand to a girl, but this one… Sighing, he shook his head in frustration, and wondered, without much hope, if ignoring her would make her disappear.

When Birdie spoke up from the wall, the fact that his comfort was probably the least of her reasons for intervening in no way detracted from the feeling of gratitude he felt towards her.

[jewelkent]

Jewel had heard enough today. She wasn't looking to cause trouble. She had enough to deal with after her encounter with Lucky in Queens.

"Oh c'mon! Now, I'm not one to make judgments about a lot of people, but this shit needs to stop. Everyone has been on my ass all day. I just came from Queens, where I had an unfortunate encounter with Lucky." She said.

Jewel then sighed heavily as she looked Birdie in the eyes. She was kinda shocked that the girl knew anything about her.

"Look, Missy! I'm not stepping foot in Brooklyn right now. I've got another destination in mind. I was just trying to talk to Banshee here. I just wanted to say Hello. I hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks, since that night I was at McGinty's. I was just trying to friendly. I don't come nowhere looking for trouble...lately, trouble has been looking for me. I'm so sick of all this crap! I just got a transfer to the Bronx, and I wanna adjust there. But right now! I'm trying to get away from things, clear my head, and people jumping on my back constantly has not been helping me." She snapped.

"Please yes, I know what we do to trespassers. I don't wanna fight you." She pleaded, her eyes shifting from Birdie to Banshee.