A girl? It's a girl, how the hell? Is that even legal? (Spot and Dodger)

[brooklynishere]

Siobhan Conlon had run away from home at age 12 and very quickly realised that the streets were a terrible place for a girl. Especially one with a smart mouth and a violent temper. It wasn't that she couldn't handle herself - she absolutely could - but she didn't want to have to all the time.

So she'd stolen some boy's clothes from a washing line and spent her second-to-last dime on a haircut, and when she'd shown up at the circulation gate with the other newsies one cold November morning, three weeks after first leaving home, they'd accepted her with open arms.

After that, it wasn't long before she had a bed at the boarding house, a whole new family and a name - Spot.

By now she has it down to an art, as the leader of Brooklyn she had her own room at the boarding house which made it easier, but she's spent years perfecting her act, she's got the swagger and the voice and the look, and everybody thinks she's just small for a boy - Spot's certainly got more than enough personality to make up for it.

So when Dodger comes strolling into her life she doesn't think anything of it at first, he's just another cocky kid for her to take under her wing and show the ropes, and if she finds him somewhat attractive... well, it wouldn't be the first time she's thought that about someone. She'll get over it, she always does. She can't risk revealing herself, not after all this time.

There's something about him, though, something that's just kind of easy to get along with - even when they're arguing - and Spot just likes having him around. It's dangerous, really dangerous, but she can't stop herself being around him.

Comments

[artfuldawkins]

Dodger had been amused when he got confronted by the great and terrible Brooklyn leader. Oh, they might have everyone else around them fooled, but Dodger saw right through her within in the first minute. He would play along, not his fault if the blokes around here were dafter than a brush. Maybe they were just too used to it, but it was there if you know what to look for. He did - few girls in the den who would hide themselves as boys to go on the lift and then switch into their proper clothin' to hide from the peelers.

It doesn't take too long for the others to bugger off to go and peddle their 'papes' - what is with Americans and their need to change the language - and Dodger finds himself following behind Spot, listening idly to the talk. He wonders how to bring it up, because he needed to know the score here.

"So, how long you been playin' as a boy?"

Better to be blunt about it. Was a lot more fun that way

[brooklynishere]

Spot has always had control, a certain level of grace one might say, she was certainly far from clumsy - so it would be a surprise to any that knew her when she amost tripped over her own feet in response to that comment. She caught herself before she actually fell, spinning to face him with wild eyes.

"What?" she hissed, angry and startled. How the hell had he seen through her so quickly? Literally nobody else had ever even come close to figuring her out, or if they had they'd never said anything about it, and suddenly she was concerned it was more obvious than she realised. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

[artfuldawkins]

Was anger the response that he expected? It wasn't not a reaction he thought he'd get so... probably in the wheelbarrow to be honest. He just stands at ease, hands pushed into his trouser pockets, before he eyes her up and down. He walks around her, as if inspecting it.

"Yeah, I'm right." Dodger nodded. "You're definitely a girl. Surprised no bugger round here ain't picked up on it." He shrugged. "Guess they must be right thick over here."

[brooklynishere]

Spot glared, her gaze darting around the streets as though she expected every passer-by to be listening in. Nobody was paying them any attention, and none of her boys were anywhere near. Small mercies, since they gossiped like fishwives. Still, she grabbed hold of his sleeve and dragged him into a nearby alleyway before replying, cane already in hand and waved threateningly in his direction.

"You think I'm just gonna stand there and let you say shit like that?" she hissed, and for a second she wondered if maybe, just maybe, she could scare him enough into thinking he was wrong.

But Dodger had already proved himself to be pretty fearless, and he was so sure of himself that she knew he wasn't going to give up on his theory without proof - proof she could absolutely not provide.

"....how can you tell?"

[artfuldawkins]

Oh, there were so many comments he could be made about being dragged into an alley, but he just laughed instead. It's hilarious, though he can see - by how she swings the cane about - how she might have been able to keep a hold on this territory as he was told it. She knew how to use it as an effective weapon.

"'Cause I seen too many girls pullin' the same thing to avoid the peelers," he answered honestly. "You get used to spottin' them." He pulled his jacket slightly. "You ain't got nothin' to worry on, ain't going to peach on you. Just wondered how long you been playin' it."

[brooklynishere]

Fuck but she hated Manhattan sometimes.

All she'd done was taken a shortcut to the bridge and some assholes had decided to jump her in an alleyway. It was a quick and dirty fight and, yea okay she's a bit battered but it wasn't that bad, it got her blood pumping and it was kind of fun to kick their asses - even more fun when she knocked one of them to the ground and asked if they knew who the fuck they were messing with.

The name Spot Conlon had them fleeing in terror and she laughed to watch them run.

Only the laugh had sent a stab of pain through her side and fuck one of them must have got a lucky shot in that she didn't notice in the rush of adrenaline. One of the little fuckers had been carrying a blade - oh he'd dropped it when she slammed his fist into a wall but apparently he caught her with it before she did.

The cut is shallow enough, though it stings a bit, but he's caught the end of the bandages holding her chest down and they're coming unravelled.

And that, right there, is when her evening goes to shit.

Because who should happen upon her in that alleyway while she tries to fix those very bandages but Morris. Fucking. Delancey.

Morris, in an uncharacteristic show of intelligence, puts two and two together remarkably rapidly.

Oh he's very gracious about it - ha - and offers to keep her secret... in return for an evening of her attention.
A swift knee to the groin tells him what she thinks of that proposal.

This fight is also quick and dirty, but not nearly so fun. She's tired and bruised already and Morris doesn't waste any time breaking out the brass knuckles to give himself an edge. Maybe if she'd been fresh, if she hadn't had a long day and another fight, maybe if he hadn't been armed...

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

She feels her head hit the wall and it dazes her, the hesitation giving Morris enough time to press up against her, shoving his hand roughly down her trousers.

[artfuldawkins]

Dodger wasn't really a fan of Manhattan but he needed to spread out amongst the boroughs when he was doing his lifting. Too much in one area made the peelers take more notice, and would make it so that they could track him down. Spread it out, well, he became just another face in the crowd, hidden under a hat that was like thousands of others around them. Still, Manhattan was never his favourite, and he liked getting in and out of it as quickly as he could.

Cutting down side streets and back alleys were just habit for him, and he got used to keep his head down and not paying attention. He's not sure what made him look up this time, not really, but he does. And then he's running forward, as fast as he can.

He slams into the side of Morris Delancey, pushing him off to the side as fast as he can, and tackling him to the ground.

[brooklynishere]

Spot tries to shove him away, but the fact is he's bigger and stronger than she is, she's already injured, and most of her usual tactics aren't really applicable when someone's got you pinned against the wall.

Then suddenly he's not there anymore.

Her head is still ringing so it take her a second to actually figure out what's happened, but when she does a million things race through her mind at once and she doesn't like any of them. She lets instinct take over instead, her shame and horror and fear all erupt into boiling anger and she moves, then, to grab Dodger's collar so she can pull him off Morris.

"Dodger, stop,"

If anybody's going to kick the crap out of the scumbag it's going to be her.

[artfuldawkins]

He's not even sure what he's doing, Dodger just knew he had to get Morris away from Spot and down to the ground. He might have punched him, but that wouldn't have done as much as the shock of the tackle. He felt the pull on his shirt, and he looked up, letting himself be pulled up by Spot.

He glanced her over, trying to take in every little detail he could in a short space of time. Was that...? He could see blood on her side. She was injured, that's how Morris got the hope. Fuck, that was not good.

"We need to get out of here."

[brooklynishere]

The blood from the cut on her side is obvious and messy, but it's also pretty obvious she's been in a fight otherwise, she's roughed up and there's a bruise on her cheek, though it's probably not immediately clear that the injuries are from a different fight and not Morris.

She can almost feel the lump developing on her head and she's still a bit out of it, but that's less obvious from sight.

"No," she replies coldly, her eyes fixed on Morris where he's started to scramble to his feet "I'm goin to fuckin murder him."

And that's the only warning either of them get before she launches herself at Morris.

[artfuldawkins]

It had been a week since the news of Spot Conlon being a girl had broken and while no one believed Morris Delancey when he claimed that Spot could not keep her hands off him, there were more than a coupler of newsies who were looking at the Brooklyn leader in a new light. Not that this light hadn't been on them before, but there were a few more looking one.

One of those looking? Romeo.

The (self proclaimed) ladies' man of the Manhattan newsies, Romeo was positive that he could win the affections of the King of Brooklyn, and he was determined to do it. It had been a while since he had had a date - not that he let anyone know that - and he figured Spot must be wanting one herself. She could do a lot worse than him, he thought.

Still, just to be on the safe side... He found a clean shirt, a nice one, and even borrowed a tie. He scrubbed himself clean, and got the nicest bouquet of flowers he could find. Then? He made his way to Brooklyn.

"Spot Conlon, are you one lucky girl!"

[brooklynishere]

Spot had thrown out a couple of rumours of her own in the past week - mostly about the fact that she wanted to disembowel Morris Delancey. She was going to get him back, she just wanted to make him sweat first, and she knew that for all his boasting he'd be looking over his shoulder every second of the day, wondering when she was coming for him.
The thought of it kept her warm at night.

Otherwise, everything had kind of gone back to normal. She'd noticed the admiring glances had shifted away from her from some kids and onto her from others, but none of them dared to do anything about it, same as before, and she was fine with that.

Or, she thought none of them dared to do anything about it.

She was in the middle of talking to her second about some trouble one of the kids had the other day with Queens when the voice interrupts the conversation and she looks up.

And stares.

There's a Manhattan kid that isn't Race or Jack standing in her boarding house and... holding flowers...
And... what the hell did he just say?

"...I'm sorry what?" she asks, her brain short-circuiting momentarily while she tries to make sense of what's happening.

[artfuldawkins]

Romeo was gaining a lot of stares from every newsie who happened to be around that day - not many, it might be the afternoon but there was still people out selling or just out trying to have a bit of fun. Romeo was not one of the few Manhattan newsies who's presence in Brooklyn was easily tolerated. Him showing up without good reason - or what they considered good reason - gained some looks.

"I'm here to take you out," Romeo said, winning smile on. "Heard you were needing some fun, and I can deliver that kind of fun."

[brooklynishere]

For a split second, Spot actually thought he meant 'take you out' as in an assassination - which probably said a lot about the way Spot thought.

"...who did you hear that from?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

Race, meanwhile, had heard about Romeo's plans and - after being a good, encouraging friend - went and laughed solidly about it for a good ten minutes. He desperately wished he could be in Brooklyn to see it go down.

What he did do, however, when the laughter subsided, was track down Dodger. He figured after the punch he ought to get a little goodwill back with the other guy, so he figured it was only fair to tip him off.

"Hey, Dodger, heard Romeo was after your girl." was how he tipped him off, because it's still Race.

[artfuldawkins]

Romeo was still holding out the flowers, beaming at Spot as though this was going perfectly. It was going a lot better than he might have initially thought - if he dared to let himself have a bad thought about it all, that is. Spot was focused solely on him, and nothing else. How about that not be a good thing?

"Well, when all your hearin' is Morris Delancey sounding off his little fantasties," Romeo made a big gesture of rolling his eyes, making it clear that no one believed a word of it, "you get the information that some special someone could use bein' shown a good time by a right gent."

He smiled, and held out the flowers a bit more. "And are you lucky, I'm right here."

Dodger was halfway back to the lodgings when Race tracked him down. He paused in his steps and turned to look at the other boy, an eyebrow raised in questioning.

"And just how is he plannin' on doing that?"

[artfuldawkins]

After the very public display of affection between Spot and Dodger, it was pretty clear her time in the lodging house was getting to an end. There wasn't any way that the people in charge were going to let her stay with a bunch of boys, especially not if she was stepping out with one of them. They may not care about much, but it wouldn't do to allow for what could be seen as an encouragement of this lack of morals.

So the boys went out on a hunt. Spot wanted to leave on her terms, before they kicked her out. So they'd help out, find a place before she got kicked to the curb. It didn't take long - why would it when you had every newsie in Brooklyn on the hunt.

Spot and Dodger were in the lodgings when the kids came rushing in - Dodger was searching through some unsold papes to see if there was mention of any place local that could work for them. Also just checking to see if there'd been any word of any of his exploits - it was always a good idea to keep an eye on that.

"Spot, we found ya a place!"

[brooklynishere]

The whole situation was something of an irritation to Spot, she begrudged the extra money any other place would almost certainly cost her, and she didn't like the idea of not being close to the rest of the kids - it reminded her that someday soon her newsie days would be behind her and she'd have to figure something else out, would have to pass on the reins to somebody else.

Still, she knew the need for urgency, so for all her scowls and grumbles she still sat and helped Dodger look through the papes for any news of a place.

She looks up when the kids come rushing in, startled when they shared their news.

"You have? What kinda place? Where is it?"

[artfuldawkins]

Dodger looked up, they'd found a place already? That was pretty good, he figured. Or at least it meant that they had a step up on those in charge. The kid nodded and stepped forward.

"It's real near!" He said like that was the biggest selling point. "An' cheap! Run by this old lady, girls only." That was all the information they'd been able to figure out. "There's a room goin' now an' she wants it filled by the weekend."

[brooklynishere]

There was, because old habits die hard, a split second where Spot almost told them it was no good. Girls only.

But she was a girl, and everybody knew, and actually close by was a pretty big selling point, as was cheap.

"Alright, let's go see this place." she stood, there was no time like the present after all "Show me where it is. You comin' Dodge?"

[artfuldawkins]

Dodger stood, stretching a bit and grabbing his jacket. He was one of the only ones who went with one, but it was him. He nodded.

"Might as well," he said, hint of a grint. "Lead the way, kid," he said to the newsie. The kid beamed and leaded them out. It was only a couple of streets away from the lodging house. The front step was scrubbed clean, a sign of someone who wanted to keep standards.

"Don't reckon we'll get in with you, boss," Dodger said, looking up at the place.

[brooklynishere]

It doesn't take long for Spot's things to get moved in - she barely has any, for a start, which is helpful since she can carry all of it herself and avoid getting on Mrs Rogers' bad side for having a bunch of boys traipsing through her house. There's a little crowd of them outside, having followed her there, but they manage to behave themselves and disperse when Spot tells them to, so it all goes relatively smoothly.

One of the other girls comes to her door and glares daggers at Spot as she carries her things in to the room, so she guesses that's probably the one Smalls mentioned - Becca or something, the one who wanted to get her own friend into the room before Spot took it. Spot ignores her - glaring she doesn't care about, if she decides to do anything more about it she'll...
Well. She ain't gonna soak a girl, but she'll think of something.

Dinner the first night is an awkward affair, Smalls - no, Julie - hasn't had a chance to get her any underthings and the dress was only pinned into place, so she felt like a sack of potatoes. Sharp potatoes, if she moved in the wrong way.
Not that Spot cares what she looks like, but she just felt... stupid. Stupid and uncomfortable and like she was a kid playing dress up. The stares and giggles from the other girls didn't help.

She'd slept uncomfortably - despite the bed being bigger and nicer than what she had at the lodging house - and it had been a relief to put on her own clothes and go back to meet the boys and try and pretend that everything was normal, despite knowing it really wasn't, not anymore.

When she gets back from selling on the second day, though, Julie hands her a package of underthings and a finished dress, and even offers to help her dress for dinner since she won't be used to all of it.

Julie's left, now, to change herself, and it's still half an hour to dinner - half an hour for Spot to sit at the dressing table and stare at herself in the mirror. She still feels like a kid playing dress up, but it's different now. The young lady staring back at her in the mirror... well, she is a young lady. The underwear makes her sit differently, accentuates the shape she's spent the last six years hiding under baggy shirts and bandages. It's weird.

[artfuldawkins]

He won't say that first day was easier, because frankly, it weren't. He'd gotten so used to Spot just being there that any change to that was... right off-putting. He weren't the only one that thought it either. It was easy to see among all the lads that they were missing Spot something fierce. Bucky had to step up at night now to make sure the lads actually got a sleep. It felt... wrong.

Dodger itched to sneak out, to work his way into Spot's room, but she had made him promise to give her that night. To let her work out how the whole system worked before she decided to break the rules and let him in her window. He itched to just ignore it, and go over anyway. But he gave his word. He didn't have much worth keeping, so he'd keep his word.

Especially when he gave his word to Spot.

No, he did not want to examine that too closely.

He was concerned when she showed up for work. She seemed... not herself. Like something had put her off, an' he couldn't work out what it was. Spot Conlon was the toughest person he knew, an' there was no way those girls what she was lodging with could have shaken her that bad, could they? Nah, not the Boss, it wasn't for happening.

Still... it was something.

It weren't like he was worried, he insisted to himself, as he climbed the fire escape into Spot's room. He just ... was bored and wanted to check in with the Boss. That's all it was. Ain't no rule against that, and it wasn't like she said he couldn't do it.

When he gets to the window? He stares.

Who the hell is that in the dress in Spot's room?

[brooklynishere]

She's a little distracted to really register the faint sounds of somebody climbing the fire escape, running a hand self-consciously through her short hair and wondering if the better fitting dress makes her look more or less stupid than she did last night. Some part of her feels like it will only highlight how much all her mannerisms and movements are just ingrained at this point - like the illusion of how she looks will be broken the second she moves, or opens her mouth.

She stands up, awkwardly smooths out the skirts a little and wonders if she should try to be more feminine or just subject herself to this weirdness for the sake of getting dinner every night. She makes a noise of frustration and turns, skirts swirling a little with the movement (and that's weird too), only to stop abruptly when she realises she isn't alone.

"Geez, Dodge, you almost gave me a heart attack." She hisses, trying to focus on being annoyed that he surprised her and not the suddenly overwhelming rush of embarrassment and discomfort at him seeing her like this.

[artfuldawkins]

Dodger was getting ready to move on, honestly. He clearly had misjudged the window, and was at the wrong one. It was the only explanation that his mind could come up with. And then Spot snapped at him, and he couldn't help but stare.

"Boss?" His voice probably sounded his disbelief, and he couldn't stop the small snort. The anger and the annoyance in the voice made it more than clear to him that yeah, this was Spot, and he couldn't help but grin. Ah, she was at her best when she was riled up. It's why it was always so much fun to argue with her. Probably shouldn't admit that out loud, though.

"Ain't givin' you a heart attack, but almost had one myself." He leaned against the window. "Lettin' me in then, boss? It's bloody cold out here. Guy could freeze an' then where would we be?"

"Who put you in the frock?" He couldn't help but ask it. "It's... a look."

[artfuldawkins]

Time moved on, in the way it was inclined to do, and suddenly Spot had been out of the lodgings nearly a full month. In the grand scheme of things, a month was nothing and yet it somehow felt far too long, if you were to ask the Dodger.

Not that anyone did, especially considering the foul mood he seemed to be in most nights.

Smalls - Julie - continued to help gather a small wardrobe for Spot, so that she would have options for what to wear coming down at night. She also tried to continue to get the other girl to come to the night she and her friends had to just sit and discuss.

That was not on that particular night though. That particular night, a gentleman caller stood in the front room, waiting on his particular company to come and meet him.