A/N: Hello, all! I know I said I wouldn't write this until I published more of MALA…I have the chapter up right now, and am continuing to work on it…I just got this major push to write this chapter. Mainly because of this awesome thing that just happened: I tweeted about listening to the Newsies soundtrack, and I tagged all of the Newsies that I follow (plus the director and choreographer) in the tweet. Then, I checked Twitter the next day, and…..JEFF CALHOUN (the director) AND CHRISTOPHER GATTELLI (the Tony-winning choreographer) AND TOMMY BRACCO (freaking SPOT CONLON) ALL FAVORITED MY TWEET! Pardon my fangirl scream, but AOIEHOIWEFIHEA8OH GEIFOUAGIOJEAIOFGOIWEAH! Haha…because of that, I was like, "I have to write a Newsies story-I seriously can't not write one." I still don't know what it's going to be about…but I assume by the time that I finish this author's note (and maybe my cup of coffee) I'll have figured something out. Which I just have…three hours after I started writing this author's note. ;)
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING NEWSIES AND I NEVER WILL…I JUST FANGIRL STALK THEM ON TWITTER AND THEN FREAK OUT WHEN THEY FAVORITE MY TWEETS.
Responses to reviews of "Refuge of Nightmares", as well as a few from Chapter 19 of "The Newsie Girl"…
RON:
FansieFace: Yay-I'm glad you're reading it! I've missed your reviews…and your hatred of cliffhangers. (Isn't it ironic-as writers, it's one of our best weapons, but then as readers, we flat out hate them. ;) ) Luckily for Hulu, this is hopefully going to be another monster story (although we'll see if I can keep up two chapters a day while I'm in college…I'm not sure…), and there will be plenty of cliffhangers to keep it occupied. Thank you! Your encouragement means a lot!
S. Castro: Yeah, I love the bond between them too, and it was great to get to work on it again! Hopefully this story shows it as well! And I agree-nightmares are the worst! I haven't had one in a while, but the ones I've had were terrible. I think the last one I had was caused by an episode of Scooby Doo… ;)
TNG:
Luckysquidmere: Thank you so much! That means so much to me, and I am glad you got to read the story! Hopefully you like this one as well!
P.S: All of you readers are probably going to hate me by the time this story is done…if you're a new reader, prepare for lots of cliffhangers and feels. If you're a TNG reader, remember how many times you guys yelled at me, and how many alerts I had to put up for cliffhangers? I am going to have to put up (according to the plan I just typed up) 9 alerts, including 7 alerts IN A ROW! Yes, 7 straight chapters of cliffhangers. Remember-killing the author means no new chapters! ;)
REFERENCE ALERT!
Please enjoy "A Rich Man's Newsie" Chapter 1!
*P*R*O*L*O*U*G*E*
A young man quietly walked around the streets of Manhattan, not saying anything, simply observing. He was rather tall, and looked to be around twenty years old, with dark brown hair, and almost black eyes. At almost every corner he passed, he saw a newsie shouting out the newest headlines, trying to get people to buy the paper for March 8th, 1900. Every time he saw one, his lips curled back into what could be described as a look of total disgust. Finally, he reached his intended destination-an old, weathered library, which had seen a lot of books go through its shelves, and a lot of people pass through its doors. He opened the door, and quickly closed it behind him. The inside of the library was warmer than the outside (which was still rather cold, even in March), and he and the others didn't want to waste the hot air. He could hear voices coming from an upper room, and he cursed under his breath.
The meeting had already started-and he was late.
He quickly hurried up the stairs and opened the double doors leading into the next room, neatly sliding into his seat as he did so. Then, he looked up at the other men in the room.
"Ah, Nixon, you are here…finally. What took you so long?"
"Sorry, Anton-my parents made me attend 'family time' for a while, and I didn't have a chance to escape until now. Then, in order to escape detection, I had to take the more….scenic route."
"You had to pass by all of those newsies, didn't you?" another man asked. Nixon nodded, looking perturbed by the thought. "Yes, those illiterate and unintelligent street urchins who can't seem to shut up. Even when they're not selling, they're obnoxiously loud and foul." The other men nodded, looking as if the newsies' very existence was a plague upon their city. "Yes," Anton continued, "they are loathsome creatures-and for some reason, the public is infatuated with them. Those no-good mongrels struck out against Pulitzer, and what happened? They were rewarded, and not punished. And Pulitzer's stupid daughter even supported them….and we all know she has brains…but they must have been deficient then. Then, when a daughter of one of us, one of our 'noble families', was kidnapped and held hostage by these dogs, what happened? Pulitzer somehow lost all common sense and intelligence and sided with the incompetent fools. WITH them! And Warden Snyder and the Clancy brothers couldn't even manage to train the wench properly-she got rescued from their care, and is now even more independent and outrageous than ever!" He sighed, trying to calm himself down a bit, before he continued. "So, that is why we are all gathered here. We have all agreed that the newsies are truly detestable creatures, who do not comprehend their place below the bottom rung of society." The other men nodded. "And we have all agreed that the public is much too sympathetic with these wretches to recognize their inferiorness." Again, the others nodded. "And, lastly, we all agree that in order for both of these lessons to be learned, we must strike one down, and reeducate the other, so as to finally illustrate once and for all the truly foul creature that is the Manhattan newsie." All of the men in the room let out a resounding cheer. Anton looked at them all, before nodding. "Then so we are agreed, and so we swear-to force the public to see the truth behind the mask of the newsies, and instruct the newsies on their place, or lack thereof, in the social order. So I, Anton Merson, leader of The League of Gentlemen, so swear."
"So I, Nixon Warden, the deputy leader of The League of Gentlemen, so swear."
"So I, Lukas Rowlin, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Oscar Morrison, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Rito Revoltan, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Jaden Coldfrost, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Mitchell Renard Smith, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, William Tailen, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Lucius Mannon, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Delon Underbridge, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Jordan Harris, a member of The League, so swear."
"So I, Conrad Birden, a member of The League, so swear."
Once the men had all spoken, they sat back down in their chairs. Then, Anton sighed. "Gentlemen, do any of you have any ideas of how we can accomplish this goal? For it is all well and good to speak, but better to act." The rest of the men sat there for a while, pondering his question. Then, one man-Jaden Coldfrost-cleared his throat. "I have an idea…although you all will probably find it revolting and detestable." The other Gentlemen looked at him, very intrigued. "I will understand if you all decide to lynch me or something after this, but…why not beat the newsies at their own game?"
"Explain."
"Well, the newsies' entire survival is derived around them selling papers, correct? Well, what if we come in and 'volunteer' to sell papers-and what's better, we don't charge for them. The newsies have to charge for their papers in order to pay for the papers they must sell the next day, but we have so much money to burn, we could just give the papers away for free. And if any of them get aggressive towards us, we have more than enough of us to make it an unfair fight…and could even take possession of those Newsie women-their 'younger sister', Margaret, and the leader's girlfriend, Katherine Pulitzer-and force the newsies to give up their jobs to get them back." The others considered his proposal for a few minutes, contemplating hard. Jaden shifted nervously in his chair. He knew that if the group rejected his proposal, it could mean terrible consequences for him later on. Finally, after he had nearly started biting his fingernails (a nervous habit that he was trying to get rid of-one that occurred the most when he encountered a cliffhanger while reading a story), each of the other Gentlemen turned to Anton and flashed him a thumbs-up, followed by a quick nod. Jaden gratefully slumped back in his seat, releasing the breath he didn't know he was holding in one quick breath.
"So, we are decided." Anton murmured delightedly. "We shall take the newsies down, using their own means of survival against them."
Jaden nodded gleefully. "They won't know what hit them." he crowed.
A/N 2: Hey! Sorry this is so short, but I needed it to be, since it's technically just a prologue…and because it's currently 11:47pm on the West Coast, and I need to get some sleep. Just think-I only came up with this story 12 hours ago, and I already have it all planned out. ;) Oh, before I forget to do this, I should probably mention that my twelve new OC's-the members of The League of Gentlemen-are each named for a villain in a TV show/movie/play that I enjoy! Here are the twelve, and who they're named for:
Anton Merson: named for Anton Mercer, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Nixon Warden: named for United States President Richard Nixon (best known for the Watergate Scandel)
Lukas Rowlin: actually not named for a villain…named for a friend of mine, Lukas Rowland…I tend to use his name for evil characters in stuff that I write. A lot.
Oscar Morrison: named for…..I can't tell you that! ;) Hopefully some of you know…
Rito Revoltan: named for Rito Revolto, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Jaden Coldfrost: named for Jadis (a.k.a. The White Witch), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
Mitchell Renard Smith: named for Mr. Smith (who is also called Agent Smith), The Matrix (which I haven't actually seen yet…)
William Tailen: named for Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail, Harry Potter
Lucius Mannon: named for Lucius Malfoy, Harry Potter
Delon Underbridge: named for Delores Umbridge, Harry Potter
Jordan Harris: named for John Harrison, Star Trek: Into Darkness
Conrad Birden: named for Conrad Birdie, Bye Bye Birdy (also technically not a villain, I just wanted an excuse to punch him after doing the show my freshman year of high school)
Also, Jaden's nervous habit is a habit one of my TNG readers mentioned…shout out to that specific reader!
Hopefully the next chapter should be out soon…I've got some of my best school friends coming over tomorrow to watch movies, and I don't know how long they'll be over…and then I have some stuff left to pack for college/get ready to go see Wicked on Friday (which is now tomorrow, according to my clock…it's now 12:01am. #WickedTomorrow! Haha…anyways, with luck, the next chapter should be out within the next couple of days or so. Just as a heads up, three of my main OCs will be returning for this story: Juliet (of course, this story does feature her again), Snitch (Juliet's brother, James), and Judge Jeremy Bolger…but it does not involve another lawsuit. You'll see what happens…eventually. However, according to my plan so far, Spot Conlon will not be making an appearance in this story….hopefully I'll come up with an idea for my next story where he can come back! Also, TNG (and Refuge of Nightmares, to some extent) featured a lot of emotional whumpage, which is also present in this story, but just as a heads up…there will be a lot of physical whumpage in this story. A lot. Like, you should want to kill the Gentlemen in about…two chapters. For…reasons.
Welp, I've rambled on long enough….I'll see you all next chapter!
God bless,
-1monster2
P.S-the Gentlemen all talk like Davey/Katherine/Pulitzer/Judge Bolger/the Comstocks…they don't have the NY accent that all the others do.