The Roof

[Administrator]

Need some fresh air? Some privacy?

[Jack Kelly]

Jack hated people who chain smoked. But as he added his fifth cigarette stub to the little collection at his feet, he was beginning to wonder if he was getting dangerously close, or else was already a hypocrite. He sighed, took a breath of the cooling night air, and pulled another cigarette from his pocket and lit a match. He'd been doing a lot of thinking lately, turning things over in his mind so many times he couldn't even remember first hearing about them. He considered talking to Spot (if he was around at all) or Prince, but he wanted to get himself sorted out before he went around showing everyone else how incomposed he was.

Racetrack approached from behind. "We got dinner downstairs..." he said tenatively.

"Yeah, yeah, be down in a minute..." Jack said, waving his hand dismissivly. He never took his eyes off the darkening skyline to the east. He heard the sounds of Racetrack heading back downstairs to join the others. Jack sighed and felt a sudden pang of pain in his gut. Did he eat at all yesterday? The day before...? Jeez, when was the last time he ate?

[Squints Matsumura]

King sat on a crate in a dark corner on the roof of the Lodging House-- a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth and a half-empty bottle of whiskey resting between his legs. He took a long drag of the cigarette, exhaled the smoke, and took a swig of the whiskey.

Lately, King had been spending quite a bit of time on the roof alone in the dark with his pack of cigs and a bottle of whiskey trying to lessen his hatred towards the high and mighty upper class he faced everyday selling papes. He would become so drunk that he would wake up in the morning with the bright sun shining in his face and a massive throbbing in his head. Then, he would sneak into the window of the bunkroom before anyone woke up and lay on his bunk until Kloppman's wake-up call.

Staring out at the dark skyline, King hadn't noticed someone else was on the roof until he heard voices. He listened to Jack and Racetrack converse and watched Racetrack leave before he spoke--making Jack aware of his presence, "Hey Jack..."

[Jack Kelly]

Jack gave a start. He hadn't heard anyone come up behind him. If it had been Racetrack he would have hit him, but since it was someone he didn't know too well he refrained. The sudden surprise made him suddenly feel dizzy, and he felt his stomach contract in a nauseous wave. He turned back to the side of the building, ready to be sick. The nausea passed, and Jack sighed heavily. Maybe smoking on an empty stomach wasn't such a good idea...?

He glanced back over his shoulder. "Hey, King..." he muttered. "Why don'cha head downstairs; Kloppmann's got the food on..." He knew he should be taking his own advice, but King didn't have things to worry about like Jack did.

[dutchy]

>>>>NEW DAY<<<<

Dutchy let his cigarette dangle from his lips as he pushed up the sleeves of his shirt. His vest lay on a crate, a library book keeping the barely noticeable breeze from pushing it off. His hand felt better. A lot better. Ached like a bitch when it rained, but he could hold a glass of water without shaking so hard it spilled, so that was something. The Warehouse Fight seemed so long ago, a distant memory.

He looked out over the dark skyline of Manhattan, leisurely blowing smoke. The breeze picked up, carrying it off, even managing to move a few strands of Dutchy's hair from his forehead. He pushed his hat back before taking it off completely and dropping it with the book and vest.

[Milo]

Milo’s feet felt like bricks as he trudged up the stairs, on his way to the roof of the lodging house, a lone pape grasped loosely in his little hand. To say that he’d had a long day would be a huge understatement. Usually, he went about his usual route, peddling his papes with a sob story or a little stalking as incentive for potential customers and managed to get all but one of them (which he kept for himself) sold well before most of the older newsies got even close to wrapping things up for the day. But, usually, he only bought fifty papes. Today, he had bought a whole hundred of them and, before he’d actually found out how hard it was to actually sell a hundred papes in only one day (let alone to carry twice the weight that he usually carried with him all day), he’d planned to do the same thing all week so that he could save up enough money to replace his shoes, which were starting to get painfully tight. He didn’t know exactly how much they would cost to start with but, whatever it was but even if he would have been able to save it up by working double that week he wasn’t sure that it was going to happen anymore. He wasn’t even sure that he would be able to survive a whole week selling that many papes. As it was, he had just gotten back home when it was already pretty dark and he was so tired that all he really wanted to do was go to bed. He hardly even cared about dinner or playing or anything else.

But, even though he really didn’t want to, he had decided before he got home that he was going to read through the paper like he had made himself do practically every day since he got back from the workhouse so he could learn a few new words before he turned in for the night. Which was why he was now up on the rooftop, making his way slowly (and a bit painfully) to the crates that he knew stood in the corner, overlooking the street below. He figured that the fresh air (well, as fresh as it got here, anyhow) and the light breeze outside would keep him awake long enough to do what he had to do. Walking with his head bowed and his gaze fixed on his troublesome shoes, he didn’t notice until he actually went to climb up onto the crates that he wasn’t alone on the rooftop. Dutchy was standing just a little bit away from him, with his back to him smoking and looking out at the city. He debated for a moment whether or not he should say anything to let the older boy know that he was there. On one hand, he really just wanted to get reading as soon as he could so that he could go to sleep sooner but, he also just felt like he should say something, just to be nice. In the end, he settled for a soft “Hi” as he scaled a couple of crates, plopped himself down on them and turned his attention to headline of the pape that he had saved. He’s already read it a thousand times that day and he already knew what it said, but he always found it better to start out easy.

[David Jacobs]

<New Day - Open>

David lounged on the roof of the Manhattan lodging house just as the sun began to sink low in the sky, dipping behind the buildings and painting the sky orange. It was a beautiful sight, and one he might have noticed if his thoughts weren't currently otherwise occupied, with a myriad of thoughts that ranged from the mundane to the important. David Jacobs was a thinker by nature, self contained when he needed to be, and cautious when it came to those things that mattered - joining with the Newsies had challenged that, his relationship with Fighter even moreso. But every now and then David still needed time to think and since home was far to hectic and quiet thoughtfulness would provoke to many questions, David had escaped to the rooftop of the Manhattan lodging house.

With the sun setting the others would be returning to the house, his friends would crowd into the rooms with wild abandon, loud chatter filling the silent hallways and the thought of it made David smile. There would be new faces mixed in with the old, ones that he hadn't had the chance to meet yet, something he needed to rectify once things slowed down a bit - though it was hard to say when that might be these days. There was always something either Les was finding himself in a mess or whispers of trouble on the streets and then there was Fighter; the light in any one of his days and the secret happiness of his nights. He really needed to hunt up Jack and square with him when it came to Fighter, with Hawk and Birdie in the know it was only a matter of time and all things considered, David preferred his friends heard it from him.

But for now, David relished in the quiet of the early evening and the cool breeze that wafted along the stale air with the setting sun and lost himself in his thoughts.

[Sweetheart Snow]

Sweetheart Snow walked up to the roof of the Manhattan Newsies Lodging House. Jewel had taken her here to introduce her to some of the non-Bronx Newsies and after the first five minutes of her being in a crowd room filled with so many strangers, Sweetheart needed to escape. It seemed like the roof was the only place that was serene, so Sweetheart sought refuge there. She got onto the rooftop and managed to trip of something. She fell face-first onto the ground.

"Lovely." she muttered to herself sarcastically. "Just what I needed to top off the perfect day."

[David Jacobs]

David mentally cursed when he heard the rooftop door open - so much for his quiet thinking time, it appeared he was about to get company whether he wanted it or not. He turned expecting to find one of his friends, perhaps Racetrack up for a smoke or Jack after the same thing he was, but instead it was a small waif of a girl he didn't recognize. And it was just as he registered this that she tripped and landed flat on her face, gravel flying from underneath her and David sighed - not from Manhattan, all lodging house residents and regular visitors knew that first step was tricky. Turning, David leaned his hip against the wall around the roof, watching her for a moment before speaking, "You alright, kid?"

He wasn't in the mood for company and goodness knows that especially included the presence of a lost looking girl, but he had a soft heart and it refused to let him not at least say something to the girl. His mind wandered then for a moment, after another girl that he wouldn't mind interrupting his thoughts - mostly because she was generally the subject of them these days. He wondered if she'd be tapping on his window as she'd been prone to do lately and if he'd be able to slip her in past his parents, brother and sister - they hadn't been caught yet.

[jewelkent]

Jewel followed Sweetheart up to the roof, as she watched her go up there. *Damn girl, I bring her here...and she just runs away to the roof.* she thought to herself.

She quickly went through the roof door, where she saw Sweetheart with a man she didn't recognize, but took a gamble that he was one of Jack's people...just like Baby and Mush.

Jewel turned to Sweetheart "Sweetie-bird...How many times do I have to tell ya to stay close when we're not in the Bronx?" she scolded the girl.

Just then Jewel looked up at the man...who was so cute, but she shook her head "I'm sorry...She's new to the Bronx house, and I was trying to show her around some other parts of New York." She said.

Jewel tried to catch her breath that was sudden;y caught in her throat "I'm sorry for disturbing your peace and quiet." She said in a low, smoky tone.

"I'm Jewel, by the way...and you are?" She asked the man in front of her.

[Sweetheart Snow]

Sweetheart groaned. Of course Jewel would follow her.

"Sorry Jewel. I'm just not used to being around so many people." Then she turned to the boy. "I didn't mean to interrupt you, sir. Honestly." she pleaded. She was always afraid of angering someone, because when she angered her father, she usually ended up with a brutal beating.

[David Jacobs]

David inwardly groaned as the door opened again and a red haired girl joined them, this one a stranger as well and he wanted to ignore them both, desperately wanted to ignore them and go back to thinking his thoughts in blissful peace. But that moment appeared to have passed and David watched as the new arrival attended to the first one that had arrived, clearly the girls were friends, though he didn't know them to be any of the Manhattan girls. A suspicion that was confirmed when the red head said they were from the Bronx - and then she was simpering up to him and announcing her name as Jewel.

He almost would have laughed, except that the name struck a chord, red headed girl from the Bronx named Jewel, oh he'd heard things about her alright. He could still recall the way that Fighter's face had lit up when she'd been describing the fight in McGinty's while he'd stroked a finger across her bruised knuckles. From what he had heard, the girl was a magnet for trouble and now she was here on the roof of the lodging house that was more or less his own, his eyes narrowed just a bit as he watched her, eyes scanning and sensing all the reasons Fighter hadn't any trouble with the girl. "David," He replied finally when she asked his name, mostly because she'd find it out herself if she asked around enough, he wasn't exactly a stranger in 'hattan. He nodded at Sweetheart, an acknowledgement of her apology before motioning towards the setting sun. "Shouldn't the two of you be heading back to the Bronx? It's getting late."

[jewelkent]

Jewel chuckled at David as she walked up to him. *Oh man...blue eyes...my weakness. Oh...gotta be strong, Jewel. He maybe like all the others.* she thought to herself.

"We don't have to worry much about the walk from here to the Bronx...it's not that far." She said.

"I'm sorry my surrogate little sister got away from me...I've been trying to keep her out of trouble lately since she came to the Bronx." She said.

Then she smiled at the boy who just introduced herself as David. "It's nice to meet you, David. Wow...you're the 3rd Manahttan person I've met...you seem...nice." She said.

[Sweetheart Snow]

Sweetheart lowered her head in shame. "I didn't mean to run off Jewel, really. I'm just not used to being around so many strangers, most of which are much taller than me and much stronger." she pleaded. Then, she turned to the boy - David?

"I'm really sorry about interrupting you, David. If you want, I'll go back down so you can get back to your thoughts." she spoke very timidly. He was obviously annoyed with her and she hated annoying people even when it wasn't her fault.

[David Jacobs]

David laughed a little when Jewel pegged him as nice, mostly because it was true enough - all things considered, David was pretty nice, a trait that had him both fending off good natured teasing from his friends and made his pairing with the perhaps more rash Fighter all the more interesting. "I guess you could call me that alright," David commented, shifting a little to the side away from Jewel when she moved closer, shoving his hands in his pockets with the realization that his short lived moment of peace had passed.

He waved off Sweetheart's suggestion that she go back downstairs, clearly she had been rattled by the returning Newsies, who were by turns loud and familiar with each other to the point of it clearly being unsettling to the girl. He'd find his thoughts at another time and another place and with the setting sun he'd be expected home soon enough - and Fighter wouldn't be far behind. "Nah, don't worry about it kid, I should head back down and check in with the others and then move on myself," David explained, pushing himself to standing and heading for the rooftop door. "You girls be careful when you head back, alright? Be sure to start out before it gets to dark." And with a final smile at the two girls, David pulled open the door and disappeared through it, calling out to one of his friends at the bottom of the stairs.