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Post by Prince on Feb 21, 2011 22:33:13 GMT -5
At least the girl was loosening up! That was always a good thing to see. Prince couldn't help but smile at her. She was cute. She'd be just fine bein' a newsie. "Yeah, Nice to meet you too," she said. She refrained from spitting in her hand, because usually people who hadn't seen it before found it fairly disgusting. She didn't want to scare the new girl away just yet.
There was nothin' worse than living on the streets of New York City, not to Prince anyway. she'd done it once, for net even a week, and was in no hurry to go back to that life any time soon! So any time she was able to take some one off the streets, show them how to make money and get them in bed, she felt accomplished, and proud of herself. Plus, there was no greater way to meet people! "How about I walk ya there?" she said. She looked behind her where the young boy had started to play in the water. "C'mon Jemmy," she called to him. He looked up at her and smiled. "Let's go home and get outta the cold huh?"
"Okay!" he said as he sprang up from the edge of the fountain and ran around it to his leaders side, he was ready to go home. He'd sold all of his papers as well.
"By the way," Prince said as she started walking, leading the girl to the lodging house, "I dun think I ever caught ya name?" she asked. She kept a hand on the boy's shoulder or back if just to keep track of him as they walked. Besides that, Jem had a tendency to drag his feet if he wasn't urged forward.
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Post by ghost1211 on Feb 21, 2011 22:47:01 GMT -5
Anya took Prince's hand and shook it. She had seen a couple of the guys spit in their hand before they shook and she was glad this guy didn't do it. She walked next to Prince and the kid he kept calling Jem.
She had been trying to figure out if they were brothers or if he was just one of the younger newsies. She didn't ask though
She walked through the street with Prince toward the lodge and pushed her hair out of her face again. It always had a habit of falling in her face. She looked over at Prince when has asked her name " Umm its Anya " she didn't have a nick name like most of the kids she saw around. She had never really understood why they didn't go by their first names.
A few minutes later she looked up at the building and smiled. It looked warm and she could see other kids inside. The thought of running back to her alley had flitted through her mind but she pushed it out. If she was going o make her life better she was gonna have to get over her chronic shyness. She waited till Prince pushed open the door before she follow him in.
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Post by Prince on Feb 21, 2011 22:56:47 GMT -5
"Anya huh?" she smirked a little. "Well that won't do, we'll hafta get you a real name!" she said as she walked up the stairs of the lodging house and turned the handle to let the three of them inside.
Once the door was open Jem took off for the stairs. He called a good bye over his shoulder and ran off to find his other friends, Prince was sure. It sort of made her smile.
"The care taker around here is Will," she explained as she closed the door behind Anya. "He's the one who collects the money, and keeps track of everything. You sign a log book when ya come in so we get a head count of how many kids are here every night." As Prince spoke, since the door was closed, and she was far from windows she slowly let her pitch migrate back up to it's original tone and then reached up and pulled her hat off. This allowed her hair to fall down around her shoulders.
It had crossed Prince's mind that she was perhaps a little too trusting with her secret of being a girl. But really, if a kid was a newsie, they were mostly looking for a bed, some money, and some friends. They weren't going to be the ones to give away her secret to some cop on the street. There'd be no reason. Her hair wasn't as long as it used to be, but it was now getting to be down past her shoulders again. she liked that it was gaining in length once more. "I'm Prince by the way, I'm leader of the kids around here," she added now looking and sounding like a girl. She always liked seeing the reactions of people when they found out she was a girl for the first time. Especially when she was pretty sure they were clueless before she showed them.
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Post by ghost1211 on Feb 21, 2011 23:10:26 GMT -5
Anya shook her head when Prince said they would find her a name and raised an eyebrow " why do you all go by nick names? " That was the one thing she didn't understand. Sure she figured some kids didn't know their real name or maybe didn't have one but she had never really understood the need for it
She looked down at the ledger and saw all the names in the book and then looked around the place.It didn't seem that big but looks could be deceiving. She grabbed the pen with a shaky hand and signed her name to the book. She would need to stop by the alley later and get her stuff but there was no way she was going back out there tonight with how cold it was getting. Last week she had been sick and she didn't want to have to go through that again.
She was about to say something to Prince about the amount of people that stayed here but stopped when the girl took of her hat and her mouth instantly dropped " your a girl? " she looked her up and down and laughed " wow I didn't see that one coming " she put the pen down on the counter and looked at her again " wow! I thought you were a guy the whole time! " her accent came out even more when she was surprised or excited
She smirked while she watched Prince and laughed again " Why do you want people to think you a boy? " Its not that she really minded she was just blown away by the fact that the girl pulled it off so well
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Post by Prince on Feb 21, 2011 23:26:50 GMT -5
Why did Prince pretend to be a boy? That was a complicated question/answer. She went for the usual reason, "Mostly 'cause it gets me more respect out on the street," she said. Lies, all of it, but she was okay with that. She wasn't much for the real reason. "Plus, a long time ago... some crazy man was lookin' for me who sorta..." she let that sentance die off leaving it up to Anya's imagination what she wanted to believe. "Well... I was an orphan and ran away from the crazy man... the old leader here figured he'd be lookin' for a girl and not a boy. So we put my hair up, put dirt on my face and tada," she chuckled. All of it was lies... nearly. There was a crazy man, but he hadn't done anything to her parents, not really. It was complicated. But she was no orphan, just a run away. But no one really knew that about her, save for one or two people.
She had to admit though, Anya's reaction to her being a girl had been priceless. And it made her smile all the wider. She sat her hat on her head, with her hair down and allowed her voice to hover around it's natural pitches rather than forcing it lower as she usually did.
"And... They ain't nick names," she started to explain. "Not to us... see..." she looked around the room, "some of these kids got pasts they don't wanna remember. You give 'em a different name it makes 'em feel like a different person. Then they ain't associated with what happened to them once... they can live as they want to now, and forget about sad or bad times that maybe put them here." True... after people left the lodging house they would go back to using their real names, but by then the kids were adults and able to cope with the situations that had happened to them when they were younger. Though Prince, even if newsies grew up, still often called her old adult newsie friends by their nick names.
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Post by ghost1211 on Feb 21, 2011 23:37:17 GMT -5
Anya listened to her answer about needing to be a boy and didn't push it " that make sense. " The girl obviously had her reasons for doing what she did. She wasn't going to run out and tell anyone. Everyone had their secrets. Hell she had her own. She smiled at Prince and nodded " I wont tell anyone or nothin. Your given me a bed and a place to live. If anything your my new best friend! "
She shut the book on the counter and looked around the room. " So how much is it to stay here? " She still hadn't decided if she was going to become a newsie or not. She had enough money to last her a couple nights of rent but not more than that.
She looked over at a couple of kids sitting on the couch's an chairs and licked her lips " so is the Jem kid your brother or something? " she didn't want to take up all this girls time but it was nice actually talking to someone. The only person she had talked to was the fruit vendor and that had been a very short visit.
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Post by Prince on Feb 21, 2011 23:51:28 GMT -5
Best friend huh? Well that was a compliment to her. "Well I'm glad I could be of service," she said with a small nod. "And thanks," she meant for keepin' the secret. "Just so ya know, a lotta kids around here don't much like discussin' life before bein' a newsie," she said. "Most of 'em are here, and it wasn't their choice, and if it was their choice then they probably left somethin' far worse. It's not a good question to ask, but other wise, Queens is a great place," she said as she dodged a few kids who were running around, Jem being one of them. "As for price? Eh, we'll worry about it later when Will comes collectin' tonight," she said with a shrug. "For now, just come in, sit down, take a load off, and if ya need a little help with rent for tonight well... that's okay." Prince would be more than happy and able to spot her a few cents should she need it.
There was no taking up all of Prince's time. Now that this girl was in her lodging house Prince was determined to learn things about her to help make her life easier and just a little more pleasant, if she could. The leader collapsed in one of her favorite chairs and put her feet up on a coffee table. "Jem and me?" she asked glancing at the blond boy running around. "Naw, no relation," she said with a smirk. They didn't really look like it either, her eyes were green, his blue. Her hair was brown, and her face long, his hair was blonde and he had a round face. No relation at all. "He's just real young, and came here when he was real young," she explained. "He sorta lost his family in a sad way, so... I took over where they left off," she explained. She had done that for a lot of kids at the lodging house. Queens had been a fairly young borough until recently, a surge of older kids sort of came out of no where. All the same, she played a motherly role quite often these days.
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Post by ghost1211 on Feb 22, 2011 0:07:21 GMT -5
Anya nodded when Prince told her to not go around asking people their personal history. She watched Jem for a minute after they set down and smirked " he is a cute kid. " she chose one of the chairs around the room and groaned when she sunk into the chair
" You have no idea how amazing this feels! " She laughed a her own dumb remark and looked at Prince. " So if you don't mind me asking, How old are ya? " She looked to be around Anya's age but she could be wrong. She thought she was pretty good at judging people. She pushed her hair out of her eyes for the tenth time that day and smiled
" You and Jem remind me of my sister and I. " She looked a little sad for a minute before she shook herself out of it and smiled. " I use to spend all of my time with her back in Russia. I guess you could say dad had never really wanted girls ". She looked across the room at Prince and sighed. Her father had never been one to give his girls the things they had needed. Hell he wast much on giving out love either.
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Post by Prince on Feb 22, 2011 0:22:29 GMT -5
True story, Jem was quite the adorable little one, when he wasn't causing in trouble. "Jem..." Prince said with a warning tone as he started to climb up on the dining room table. He and a boy were playing a game. when he was caught he quickly jumped off and the two boys ran off. "...kids..." she shook her head. She listened to Anya talk about how Prince and Jem were like Anya and her sister. While Prince wasn't one to ask about the past, she wouldn't turn down hearing about it. She found it sad when parents didn't want the children they had, or mistreated them. So she just listened and nodded. "Ya sister sounds like a real nice girl," she said nodding however, touching on the lighter part of the story and avoiding the sadder parts.
That chair was old, worn down, and flat from kids jumping on it and falling asleep in it, but Prince was sure after days of sitting and sleeping on the streets, any chair was a great feeling. The more time she spent with Anya, the more she got to like the girl.
As for her age? Prince had to think for a second. She considered it, blinked a few times and eventually came up with, "I'm... seventeen," she said. She'd sort of lost track over the years. But if she could remember her birth year, then she'd be okay... according to her math, she had just turned seventeen last December... so that should be right. "Yeah," she said a little more assured after she'd double checked her math. "How about you?" she asked back as she sort of leaned back in the arm chair she was in and kicked her legs over the arm of one of the chairs, sitting in it almost in a side saddle way.
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Post by ghost1211 on Feb 22, 2011 0:34:08 GMT -5
Anya smiled when Prince didn't pry into her personal life and leaned back in the chair " I think I'm gonna like it here " She smirked when Prince yelled at Jem and laughed " wow he actually listens to you."
She watched him run upstairs an looked back at Prince and smirked " 17 huh, she nodded showing she had been right and smirked. " I am 17 too. She had turned 17 in July. She had been freaked out the night of her birthday due to the load partying and kids running around the street banging pots because of the holiday.
She set up in the chair and looked at Prince again " okay about this whole newsie thing? How does it work " She wasn't sure she was cut out for it but if she didn't try she would never know. " Do I gotta Lie? " she had never been a good liar but she had grabbed some of the papers the newsies had been selling to look for the stories they had been yelling about only to be confused when they weren't in there
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Post by Prince on Feb 22, 2011 0:42:30 GMT -5
"Damn right he listens to me," she said with a nod as she smiled at the kids. They all did really. She had the authority, and she didn't get it like they did in Brooklyn. Prince was in charge because she was smart and respected, not feared. She preferred Queens to Brooklyn any day. And even though Queens and Brooklyn were by no means good friends, especially since the borough wars, not everyone who came out of Brooklyn was bad, she believed.
How to be a newsie in three easy steps was one of Prince's favorite games. She was really good at it, so she was happy to answer Anya's questions. "Bein' a newsie ain't as hard as ya makin' it out ta be," she promised. "And no, ya dun gotta lie. Lie is too harsh of a word anyway. What most kids do is find a story in the paper, usually not one of the headlines, and just change it a little, and add some fancy words. That's all... usually," she said with a grin. "Some kids make up stories, but I don't think that's a good idea, ya loose all your credibility that way. If you're close, then they can at least figure that you read it wrong, or misunderstood the story." She tried to think of a good example. "Like... hmmm..." she thought about it. "You can always make numbers higher or lower, that's usually to your advantage, depending on the story," she said with a small chuckle. "Hmm... what else? Use words that most people don't know... but it does help if they're English words..." okay, bad example. "When all else fails look for really interesting words in the headlines... there are some key words that will sell papes in an instant," she said. "Especially if they have anything ta do with bein' naked, or makin' love. That stuff makes the papes, the whole world wants to know. And don't think of it as lyin'... think of it this way, you're just makin' the stories more interesting... we could probably write these things better than the journalists do," she said honestly before she shrugged and leaned forward in her chair. "Ask all the questions ya want! I can answer 'em all day, and if ya want I'll take ya out tomorrow and show ya the ropes." Jem could always go sell with someone else.
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Post by ghost1211 on Feb 22, 2011 1:00:10 GMT -5
Anya listened to her and smiled when she finished " okay I can improve the truth. " that made her feel alot better about everything. She was really dreading have to lie.
She leaned back in the chair again and nodded " okay I can do that. It didn't seem that hard. Find the keys words, words that caught peoples attention and smirked
" That would be really great if you could help me tomorrow. " She was pretty sure she could get use to this but it would be nice to not have to try to start on her own.
She looked up when people started coming and she looked at Prince and sighed " I guess I should let you get back to being a leader " she smiled at he and licked her lips " and thanks for talking to me. Its get boring talking to yourself all the time! " She didn't actually talk to herself but she hoped Prince got the point
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Post by Prince on Feb 22, 2011 1:09:32 GMT -5
"No problem, come tomorrow, we'll make sure that everyone's up on time, and then you and me will be sellin 'partners for the day. The longer you're here you might find someone else who'd like ta sell with ya," she suggested with a small smile. "Trust me, there's lots of kids around here, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to talk to you," she said sincerely. Once Anya opened up... she was a right delight, or so Prince thought anyway.
As for getting back to being leader? Well Prince was in no hurry. She shrugged, "Not like you're keepin' me from anything really," she said with a smile to the girl. "I just keep the peace, and usually the peace seems to keep to itself," she said. And she was happy for it. She had a pretty easy job, and she didn't get anything extra for doin' it, not that she would want anything more. She had her own place in the lodging house where people could come and find her if they liked, but that was all. Just some where for her to be and resolve fights. And more often than not her bed room wasn't all that private thanks to kids like Jem havin' nightmares. But she didn't mind. That's what she was for. "But I'll let ya get to know your way around," she said as she stood. "Bunk room's upstairs. There's some quilts in a chest up there that we got as donations. There's several beds, and so long as it don't have blankets on it and looks like it's bein' used, it's yours," she promised. "Welcome, and if ya need anything, ya know who ta talk to," she added as she tapped the brim of her hat in a small salute to the new girl.
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Post by Prince on Mar 5, 2011 19:57:50 GMT -5
((New Day: For Styx))
Prince had a small soft smile on her face. Spring was just around the corner, and you could feel it. This day, for example, she wasn't wearing a coat. It was the perfect kind of day. The sun was out, small white puffy clouds dotted the sky, no wind because it was cool enough with out it. Besides, Prince never liked wind. She took a deep breath in with her eyes closed and then breathed out. She was loving the weather, she was loving the day, and she was thinking very hard.
She had left a message with Styx and told him to come visit her here when he was done selling papers for the day. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and looked down the street at Queens. she was simply waiting and contemplating. After all, decisions were hard, and this was a rather large one. She was sure it was right. She sat there, the smile growing slightly.
She even chuckled a little as she swung her legs up onto the fountain. She gazed down into the water and skimmed her fingers across the surface. It was a perfect temperature. It wasn't cold, it wasn't warm it was perfect. He should get here soon though. Wasn't right to keep a lady waiting.
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Post by Styx Kennedy on Mar 5, 2011 20:19:49 GMT -5
Styx sauntered down the busy Queens street, a half smirk plastered on his face as he weaved in and out of the crowd. He had finished selling at his usual time, maybe a little earlier, and returned to the LH only to find a note from Prince waiting. To say he was a little intrigued would be a huge understatement. It wasn't often he received notes of this sort from his leader and he wondered what this was all about.
As he came upon the fountain, he spotted Prince waiting and quickened his pace. He was anxious to find out what all this was really about. Stopping in front of her, his half smirk turned into a grin and he crossed his arms, "I hear ya need ta see me?" It was phrased as a statement, but his tone implied a question; he quirked an eyebrow at her and waited.
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(c)Red
