|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 18, 2008 1:30:15 GMT -5
Boxer pulled her hat down low, sheilding her face further. She looked like a boy, her hair was up and she had herself tied down with the shirts under her shirt. The vest added to disguise further.
She pulled a cigarette out and lit it to add to her attire. She wasnt really a smoker, but she had picked it up for when she needed it. It was good too, because cigarettes werent cheap and not having much money, well it wasnt easy to get.
Boxer made her way through the crowd of the market place, her stomach was growling and it hurt. She hadnt eaten in quite some time. Shed been travelling, looking for her brother and had came into new york a few days ago.
Shed slept in the park her first night, stole some food and was caught, unfortunately. She was thrown into the refuge, but thankfully that night some of the kids were escaping as well and she went out with them.
The other days were a blur and now it was her fourth day here and she wanted something to eat, needed it. She still had no place to sleep, no money, and no brother. She had a black eye from a fight she was in yesterday and all she was getting were looks of disgust.
She slid up quietly behind a gentlman as he looked at some oranges. She eyed the vendor who was helping another person and when the man reached for an orange, so did she and then ran.
Thats when she heard the shouts and the whistles and she didnt even want to look back to see who was chasing her, but she knew they were.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jack Kelly on Feb 18, 2008 21:29:49 GMT -5
The market place was one of Jack's best selling spots. Getting yourself heard over all the shouts and talking was hard, but if you could get your voice loud enough and maybe get lucky enough to stand on a crate or something, people would buy. He pressed through the crowd, yelling to get himself heard, holding the paper high. As he passed, gentlemen would stop, hurriedly press a penny into his waiting hand, grab a paper and shove onward. Women rarely bought papers unless they were more well-to-do, but overall Jack was doing well here.
He got his hundred down to about eighty or eighty five when he saw the crowd part swiftly ahead of him, and a few indignant cries. He squinted to see a boy running through the crowd as if something was after him, and Jack jumped out of the way, making room for him. He saw the bulls follow, actually not too close behind. Grateful for the excitement, he craned his neck to see who they were chasing and if he knew who they were.
The bulls stopped after a while, and Jack skirted their range of sight as he searched for the kid who had apparently stolen something, or the like. He found who he was looking for a while away and realized it wasn't a boy at all...it was a girl, as he could see in the face, dressed like a boy. Jack could swear he saw more girls in trousers than he did in dresses. For lack of anything better to do and out of curiosity, he approached the girl and asked, "So whad'ja do?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 18, 2008 21:44:38 GMT -5
Boxer continued to run as fast as she could, something she wasnt to bad at. She was used to running, it was a way of life when you were living on the streets. She finally found herself an alley, pressing herself up against the wall of one of the buildings, waiting silently, barely breathing.
There were no more sounds of pounding feet and she held out a little bit longer before she was satisfied that they had given up on chasing her. With a grin she pulled the orange out of her pocket and brought it to her nose. She took a deep breath as she pulled herself onto some crates, leaning her back up against the brick wall. It had to be one of the most beautiful smells in the world.
She was so used to smelling smoke and spoiled that this orange was like heaven. A slight grin came to her lips as she started to peal it, the juices squirting out. It was a good pick.
She heard someone step into her alley and she looked up to see a boy looking at her. She quirked an eye brow and was about to ask what he wanted when he spoke. Disguising her voice best she could, she shrugged "whats it to ya?"she asked looking at him suspiciously. What did he want? Did he want her orange because she wasnt giving it up. At that though she gripped it tighter and slowly slid it back into her pocket as if with a sudden movement the boy would jump to grab it. |
|
|
|
Post by Jack Kelly on Feb 18, 2008 21:52:48 GMT -5
"Whats it to ya?"
He could see she had an orange with her, and was acting like he was going to snatch it from her. With an attitude like she had, he just might. He could easily overpower her; the clothes didn't make a person, and a girl was a girl. He gave her a slight glare, not enough to scare her off, but to tell her he meant business if she tried something funny. "It ain't nothin' to me...sorry I axed..."
He scanned her with a critical eye. She was entirely unfamiliar, and that made him worry. He didn't like new kids walking around Manhattan without him knowing. He could never be sure who they were or what they were doing, and evidently this girl was some kind of thief. "You ain't from around here," he said. It was a statement, not a question. "Who are you, anyways?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 18, 2008 22:25:15 GMT -5
When she deposited the orange safely into her pocket she brought a leg up and propped her arm over top of the knee. She continued to watch him, trying to keep herself as masculine as possible, not knowing he had already seen through her disguise. It wasnt easy being a girl.
She caught his glare and instead of cowering back, she returned it. Her brother had always taught her not to show a weakness. If people saw a weakness you were dead and her being a girl it was even more crucial to make sure you stayed tough and stood tall. Keep your head up even while people were laughing in your face.
"What are ya, da welcomin' committee?"She asked with sarcasm. "Or just a stalker' her accent wasnt pinpointable. She had traveled so much that her accent was now just a lot of things mixed into one to make a slightly unique, slightly bland one. Though her true itailian accent only came out when she was angry or frustrated, because then she started slipping back and forth between the languages.
"none o' your business"she cocked her head to the side with a slight grunt at the end of her words. Who did this guy think he was? Why was he drilling her for answers, not like she had to sign something to walk these streets... Did she? Aw hell what did she know. |
|
|
|
Post by Jack Kelly on Feb 22, 2008 14:29:49 GMT -5
"What are ya, da welcomin' committee? Or just a stalker?"
Jack glared at her, and stiffened his posture to look imposing. "Don't get wise! I ain't neither. I run things on these streets, and ya best watch yer mouth if ya wanna walk 'em without gettin' soaked!" He hated when girls talked like they were boys. And this girl had a mouth on her, which miffed Jack even more.
"None o' your business"
He stepped towards her, hoping she would scramble back at his approach. "You better tell me somethin', goily. Or else I won't be as friendly as I been bein'..."
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 22, 2008 15:10:21 GMT -5
Boy this kid really had some kind of ego trip going on. Run these streets? "Oh.. so yer the mayer or something huh?"She asked. "They lettin' anything in now adays huh?"She smirked a bit, her cool eyes traveling over him a bit and then up at him. "Dont look no more special then any of the street kids around here"
Her brows rose at his next words and she furrowed her brows a bit. girly! Well not like she could fool everyone. She muttered something under her breath in italian. She didnt recoil though, she stayed where she was, the only thing that changed was she tipped her head back a bit more, her finger coming up to the brim of her hat and tipped it back a little bit more out of her eyes.
She grunted "You got a funny definition of nice then, boy"she said, still offering no information and in stead feeding comments back to him. "More like bordering on annoying and bothersome"she gave him a little smirk. Now that she knew he knew she was a girl it was even further crucial not to give him any kind of leverage. God only knows what his guy thought he could do. He could very well be the type that thought they could step all over the female gender or... worse. |
|
|
|
Post by Jack Kelly on Feb 22, 2008 19:05:08 GMT -5
"Dont look no more special then any of the street kids around here."
Jack smirked at her. "Don't ya know, girly? The mayor runs the town, but I run the streets. See, alotta the streetrats ya see comin' round here? They'se is my boys." He continued towards her, noticing she didn't shrink back. "The name's Kelly, Jack Kelly." He stood near her, surveying her carefully, some of his malice going away. "You one of Spot's kids?" he asked. He thought she looked a bit like a Brooklyner.
"More like bordering on annoying and bothersome."
He laughed aloud. "Ya think so? Well...what I mean is, I could get a little meaner if I'd like to. An' if I'm bein' bothersome...well. Not much I can do 'bout that, considerin' all I'm doin as askin' a few questions." Jack saw it as his responcibility to make sure his newsies didn't have anything to worry about, especially rouges and guttersnipes hanging around.
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 22, 2008 19:24:21 GMT -5
She raised her brows further and then burst out laughing. "You know..'She said, "You sound like you're announcing dat yer, I dunno, someone important, or something"She said,"but I aint neva heard of you, nor this spot kid"She said. "and i didnt think it was somethin' great to run the streets. Its like saying.. your the king street urchin"she laughed, "who wants to be that..."She shook her head. 'ah well...'she said. "whatever makes you happy I guess"she said.
She tilted her head. "So... is there anyone outside of your little circle?"she asked, "or does everyone gotta... "She shrugged>"I dunno, do whatchu do?"
"no..'She said, "yer demanding things, and all I did was try ta get some food"She let her leg drop and crossed her arms. "Whats the big deal anyway?'she asked,"Not like Im the only one tryin' to survive..'She said. "Were you never in my position before?" |
|
|
|
Post by Jack Kelly on Feb 22, 2008 20:53:05 GMT -5
Again, Jack smirked. Her being a wisemouth was getting on his nerves, but at least she was a wisemouth who was actually witty. Jack couldn't stand the type of people who thought they were funny, but turned out to be obnoxious. "King of street urchins. Better'n nothin', I guess..." He cautiously crouched down to level with her, and looked her over one more time. "Never heard of me or Spot Conlon, eh? You really haven't been here long, have ya?"
In responce to her question, he shook his head. "Not everybody aroud here sells papes. It's mostly for the kids. No older than eighteen, most of 'em." He eyed the orange she still clasped in one hand. "It's how some of us prefer to live. We earn money without nobody tellin' us how to spend it. And," he gestured to the orange, "we don't gotta steal out a livin'."
Jack hoped he wasn't making the life of a newsie sound like a good one. Sure, you earned your own keep and there was no one telling you what to do or where to go. But being a newsie meant dealing with the bulls, crooks, thieves, and thugs on a daily basis. It also meant having to fight your way to a few more cents, whether with words or with your fists as best you knew how. The pay was enough to get you to eat for the day and leave you with your stomach still empty. Not much more.
Still, Jack thought, just by the look of this girl...if any girl he'd seen could stand the less glamorous parts of being a newsie, she could. "What's your name, kid?" he asked, keeping his voice civil, almost kind. Even if she wasn't a newsie, she wasn't half bad. She had an attitude, sure, and an ego that could get her into trouble real quick one of these days, but she was turning out to be an okay kid.
"Were you never in my position before?"
He paused. He had a brief, vivid remembrance of a skinny eight-year-old boy, sliding up to a vegetable cart and snatching a tomato while the vendor turned the other way, running with it hidden under his coat until he was safe behind a building and biting into it raw. He blinked against the memory and looked back at the girl. "Most of us were just where you are. Till we discovered there's other ways of survivin'."
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 22, 2008 21:30:21 GMT -5
Boxer smirked, "Well I suppose so. See society they got their mayers and.. Presidents.. things like that."She waved her hand in the air a bit as she talked. "and us.. apparently we got King urchins"She laughed lightly. "What do we know. Guess everyone needs a leada"she tilted her head a bit as he crouched down to her level. "no..'She said slowly, 'maybe you guys arent as pop'lar as you want to think you are"she replied, not really answering whether shes been her or not. It was quite obvious she hadnt been and she figured hed guessed it since hed asked it.
When he eyed her orange and referred to it, she clutched it tighter hiding it further, her jaw firming a bit as if to say, 'dont even think about it.' she didnt care if he was or not, it was just a reaction from fighting over food. Plus she still didnt trust this guy. "ya ear money sellin papes?"She asked. "How?"she asked, 'aint nothing good in papes, who'd wanna buy it?"She asked, "Bullocks"she retorted. "thats what its filled with."
"What is this? Some kind o' sales pitch?... tryin ta get me to join ya or something?" she asked. It kind of sounded... doable. Boxer was a bit skeptical, but maybe it would be the best thing. "So if you guys get money for sellin papes... where do ya live?"She asked, "i know you cant make enough to.. live any more den a park or... one o' them abandoned warehouses or somthin'"
When he called her kid she frowned a bit. Her brother would call her that all the time, it was like his nickname for her, because he was older. "Hmm..."She said, "Well it aint kid, so you you can refrain from sayin' that ever again"she retorted. She knew it was unecessary, he didnt mean anything by it. He didnt know her name so it had just been a referral for now. It had just been that little thought that made her snap and she almost felt bad for it. She shrugged and looked away from him, her frame seemed to slouch a bit before she realized what she was doing and she snapped her head back to him, lifting her chin again. "Boxer"she said. It had been the name a few of the kids happened to give her and she decided to use it.
"Well den"She said,"If you were in my position at one time, then whyd you have to get all third degree on me?"She asked and stood up from the crates moving away from him. Her thumb moved over the outside of the orange. Her thumb hit the part that had been peeled and she could feel the juicy part of it and her mouth started to water. She stopped and turned towards him, her one hand going to her hip.
"Well... "She said, "anything else?"She asked. Her mind was still going over what he had said... maybe.... |
|
|
|
Post by Jack Kelly on Feb 22, 2008 21:48:35 GMT -5
"Bullocks. Thats what its filled with."
Jack nodded in agreement. "Course, nobody wants to read the papes. That's why we make 'em worth readin'." He explaind to her briefly how a newsie twists the headlines around to make them sound more interesting. "All we do is hawk our own headline, and people start buyin'. Ya buy 'em half a cent each, sell 'em for a penny."
He grinned at her and shook his head. "The last thing we need is more newsies. The whole town is crawlin' with them. There ain't a peaceful moment with some lug who can't sell for his life hawkin' a lousy headline in the middle of the night." She asked where they could live. Jack pointed in the general direction of the lodging house. "There's a lodging house set up for us. We go there every night...take a bath, grab a bunk, and sleep with a roof over our heads."
She told him her name was Boxer. Jack nodded in adknowledgement. "Good ta know ya, Boxer..." he said. He didn't bother extending his hand, knowing she probably wouldn't take it. "And nobody's givin' ya the third degree. King of the Street Urchins gotta know what kinda people are goin' around his streets..." He gave her a grin.
"Anything else?"
Jack shook his head and straightened, taking his papes under his arm. "No. But you're okay, Boxer. There's room in the lodging house if you ever need it." He paused for a moment, thinking. Then he took a pape out from under his arm and held it out to her. "Try your hand," he said. "Ya may find it feels better to buy some food than stealin' it..."
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 22, 2008 22:16:29 GMT -5
"ah.."She said, a half grin coming to her. 'Just do what the writers do...'She nodded 'not bad...' Well that made sense and it obviously worked. Boxer felt a little bit like an idiot, it probably could have been obvious how they hawked the headlines, but she hadnt really thought a bout it. She knew what he was talking about, everyone knew what a newsie was, she just never thought much about it.
Boxer laughed a bit, "so let me get this straight"She said, "ya tell me how ta make money then ya practi'cly tell me not to become one. "She shook her head. "you know Kelly, you got some really weird ways on helpin' people'She said,. "Thats what Im assumin yer doin', I mean why else would you even bring up doing something that would keep me from stealin'" she shrugged.
She looked towards the way he pointed. Lodging house hmm... Mentally she was rubbing her chin in thought...
She brought her light gaze back to him. "hmm.."She gave him a nod as he said it was nice to know her. "ah well.. "she said,"Im just an innocent girl"she remarked in her sarcastic tone again. "Now that you know, does this mean I get a free ticket to run around on yer streets?"She asked. "or will we have to do these little run ins a few more times?"
She just kind of stared at him when he offered her a place at the lodging house if she needed it. She wasnt used to this kind of kindness. It was something so little, but it was more then anything shed experienced in quite a long time. She crossed her arms over a chest, a defense mechanism she had gotten accustomed to. It was more like to protect her from getting used to this. Sure it had only been one comment, but she couldnt take too much thought into it.. if any.
"mm..'She looked down from his face to the paper he held out to her. Hestitating briefly, she finally reached out to take it, looking up at him again. "yeah... "she shook her head. "you... are an odd one.."She said. |
|
|
|
Post by Jack Kelly on Feb 23, 2008 16:41:50 GMT -5
"Thats what Im assumin yer doin', I mean why else would you even bring up doing something that would keep me from stealin'"
Jack explained, "Well, I ain't tryin' to recruit ya or anything. I'm just tellin' ya, it's what most kids do around here. An' sure, okay, maybe you're not most kids. Just sayin', it's another way of livin' than you are now." He didn't want to give off the impression that he wanted her to become a newsie. Really, he didn't care if she didn't. If she did, great, but it wasn't a cause for celebration or anything. But stealing for a living meant stealing a lot, and thieves got sloppy. Thus, thieves got caught. And thieves who were kids got sent to the refuge. Personally, Jack didn't want to see anyone go there.
"Or will we have to do these little run ins a few more times?"
He chuckled. "Naw, you're fine. I just gotta make sure, ya know? And sorry for a little curiosity. It's human nature." Jack was rarely curious about other people. He always wondered what they were doing, sure, but he never really cared about in their problems too much. When Boxer called him "an odd one", he grinned at her. "That depends on who ya ask..." he said demurely.
|
|
|
|
Post by Boxer on Feb 23, 2008 16:57:54 GMT -5
"Well, I ain't tryin' to recruit ya or anything. I'm just tellin' ya, it's what most kids do around here. An' sure, okay, maybe you're not most kids. Just sayin', it's another way of livin' than you are now."
Boxer switched her weight to the other foot as she nodded a bit. "okay... "she wasnt going to deny the thought of not having to steal was appealing, cause really she wasnt some kind of pick pocket, theif kid that enjoyed stealling from people. It did get messy and even though shed been on the streets doing it for so long, didnt mean she wanted to continue it.
"So..'She said, he had been the most civil to her, well except for Jinks but they hadnt really talked that long and it had been mainly about her frustrations about her brother treating her like a baby and some boy she liked that she was afraid to tell him about. All of which she didnt really care to hear about, she wasnt some kind of psychologist or confessionist that people came to, to confess their inner feelings and such. Though, for some reason Jinks had chosen to... that had been the other day, in fact it had been there that shed gotten into one the fights and Jinks had come along to break it up.
Jinks hadnt gone into detail one spot or jack, and hadnt really used names except Jack. She didnt say he was some king of the urchins in manhatten, probably because she had assumed that Boxer must know. Everyone knew jack and spot apparently.
"Naw, you're fine. I just gotta make sure, ya know? And sorry for a little curiosity. It's human nature."
"Hmm..."She smirked at that. "I suppose so...'she tilted her head. 'Sides roles are reversed, now Im asking you a million questions"she shrugged. "So...'she licked her lips, "say I might be in'erested, do I gotta go through you? like ask your permission or something? or... well maybe for that place, that lodgin' house. Do I need to come at a certain time or can it be anytime?"She asked.
"That depends on who ya ask..."
Boxers brows shot up and then she burst out laughing. It probably wasnt that funny to him, but it for some reason struck her as just ... absolutely hilarious. "Well..'She said, 'I dont think I have to ask someone for my opinion. You're odd in my book"She nodded. |
|
