Vinyl: *sigh*  XD Dontcha just looove the word 'intrigued'.  And don't worry about the shout outs.

Ann: XD ::dies:: Wait 'till—well, you'll see.

Dreamcoat: ^^ Thanks.

Bam: ^_^ Yay!

SilverSapphire: Here's your update…

****

The silence was deafening as the entire Lodging House looked upon the trio with new thoughts.  Stage blushed red under their gaze, ToT glared, and Sparkles kept glancing around.  Finally, the blonde was sick of it.

"Stop looking at me!" Sparkles exclaimed, flailing her arms.  The newsies all jumped at her outburst and a few ducked. 

"Ya'know, it's kinda hard once ya'll tell us dat youse been lyin' ta us 'bout who youse were and just tellin' us now dat youse killed some people." Jack stated.  Murmurs of agreement drifted through the crowd.

"We didn't lie." Stage answered, her arms crossed.  "You just didn't ask."

"And we had good reasons for what we did." ToT added.  "Good reason for the people that we killed." She stopped when she caught sight of Stage's expression.  "Er, the people that me and Sparkles killed, anyway."

"You just said dat youse killed somebody, Stage." Mush spoke up.  Stage rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"I was convicted of it…but that doesn't necessarily mean that I actually committed the act.  The law isn't always right, you know." She replied.  "I was framed.  Set up, double-crossed, conspired against.  'Staged', if you will.  An 'associate' of my father's was on the side of his worst enemy.  They murdered my family and I got there just in time to be blamed for everything.  Drug wars work that way."

"I was kinda set up…not so much as Stage." ToT remarked.  "Basically, my 'boyfriend'—Darius Cuthbert—tipped off the police of my smuggling operation.  He was involved, but got out scot-free.  I snuck gold in, in bars of chocolate.  After an officer died by my own hand, I fled here.  I was caught in Virginia and shipped cross-country to the Santa Fe penitentiary.  My name's an acronym of 'Thief of Tubingen'."

"I'm from Switzerland," Sparkles started hers off.  "I smuggled jewels in, hence the name 'Sparkles'.  I murdered the mayor of the small town after he found out the truth about my 'charity donations'.  I'm charged with manslaughter as well.  I met these two in the Santa Fe jail…they met on the boat ride over."

"Oh that was ever so fun." ToT grumbled.

"Ducking down at every person that passed our way." Stage added.

"So…they're still looking for you?" Bumblits asked, raising his eyebrows up his forehead.  Dottie had managed to slip out, unnoticed, from the Lodging House.  Dutchy—who had been sitting next to her on the step—was asleep, his head resting on the wall.

"Guess so.  'Course Sparkles had to go and get herself caught…and Stage after that." ToT noted.  "So now your numbers are even more apparent."

"I escaped, didn't I?" Stage muttered.

"Doesn't account for anything."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

"I said it first."

"That doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!"

"No it doesn't!"

"Does so!"

"Does not!"

"Does so!"

"Does not!"

"I'll soak ya!" Stage yelled, pulling a switchblade.  The entire bunkroom—aside from Sparkles, Dutchy, and ToT—jumped backwards at the flash of metal.  She advanced on ToT with smoldering eyes.  ToT pulled out a gun.

"Goils…goils…" Jack began nervously, trying to stop bloodshed before it began.  ToT and Stage both whirled and glared.

"Shut up, Cowboy!" They yelled.  Jack shrank backwards with a meek squeak of sorts.  Spot leapt forward while ToT was distracted and wrenched the gun from her grip.  Specs had also gone into action, restraining Stage from making any attacks.  ToT shrieked and made a grab for it.

"He-ey, that's my guuun!" She whined.

Spot faltered.  "What is with you two?"

"PMS." Sparkles replied without hesitation.

"No, that was last week." Stage answered with a sigh.  "That's why I kept bursting out in tears."

"I had mine awhile ago." ToT said, dismissing the subject. 

"What is that saying?" Sparkles asked, wriggling her eyebrows.

"No!  I have morals, ya'know!"

"Oh, what?  And I don't?!" Stage demanded, annoyed.  There was a deadly silence in which everyone stared at her, mouths open in shock at what she had just said.  Stage blushed bright red and covered her mouth with a hand.

"Stage…" ToT began carefully.

"Specs…" Spot said in the same tone.

"No!" Specs waved his hands in a 'time out' motion.  "Not me!"

"Then who…?"

"Stage…youse a voigon, ain't ya?" Snoddy asked, breaking the confused silence.  Stage, still turning redder with each passing moment, cleared her throat and made an attempt to answer the question before her.

"…No."

****