A.N: Set during the Strike, about a year after pt. 1, so its a timeskip. Timeline temporarily out of order, will be fixed when I have more of this 'verse up and out.
Spot knew that there was something special about the boy Kelly dragged with him and Boots across the Bridge. Something beyond the Mark that Annie had set upon him and the other boys before sending them over to him. He felt the ripple the boy's tribute made in the waters of the River that echoed across the Bridge and into the Borough. Magic called to its own and so did Brooklyn.
"Well if it ain't Jack be nimble, Jack be quick."
"So you moved up in the world Spot," Jack led his boys through the boxes piled about Spot's Court, angling himself to keep an eye on the other two and one on Spot where he sat above everyone else. "Got a River view and everything."
He doesn't answer the taller boy, just jumps down off his makeshift throne and grins as Jack offers him a spit-shake. As their hands meet he can feel the Borough wrapping itself about the three boys in front of him, accepting its- his visitors. He can feel when it hits his own boys, scattered on the edges of his makeshift Court, making them relax the smallest bit and take a step back.
Turning to the smallest of Jack's entourage he lets a bit of the Borough wrap a little tighter around the boy as he addresses him with a smile. "Hey Boots, how's it rollin'?" He holds back the sigh as his Claim, the piece of Brooklyn in the kid, is recognized and allowed by the hold Manhattan has on him. Is allowed a place about the kid like there was ever a choice.
Boots saunters up with a wide smile as he reaches into his pockets. "Here, I got a couple of real good shooters 'ere." His smile turns into a loose imitation of one of Jack's own cocky grins and amongst the handful of marbles Spot sees the large bright Shooter that has a slight sheen to it that makes it stand out from the rest. Tribute to the King as befitting one of his far-flung boys.
"Yeah" He picks it out and gives the kid a quick smile when he sees the rune etched onto its surface and fits it into his slingshot. "So Jackie-boy," The other kid that Kelly brought hasn't said a word yet, doesn't even make a sound when he ducks dramatically as Spot lines up his shot. Granted, Spot had made his motions big and wide and sloppy enough to give the boy pause, just to see what he would do. "I've been hearin' things from little boids."
Jack's eyes haven't left him since he entered the Court and but now his body shifts to face him full on to match his focus. "Yeah?"
"Things from Harlem, Queens-" He lets the marble fly, shattering a half empty glass bottle left behind by some dock worker, "All over. They're chirping in my ear. Jackie boy's newsies is playing like they're going on strike." He sticks the slingshot into his trouser pocket, slipping his hand in to feel the marble that had already materialized there.
Instead of Kelly pushing back, posturing and smiling and trying to use his charm and their friendship to his advantage and press his point the cowboy's whole body shifts and his face falls into guarded indifference. "Yeah, well, we are." And now that was unexpected.
What was even more unexpected was the other boy Kelly had brought with him moving in between the Lodge Head and the King of Brooklyn to throw in his two-bits. "But we're not playing. We really are going on Strike." And close up Spot finally recognizes the kid. He's gotten taller since the handful of times he saw him hanging about the Duane St. Lodge and his kid brother isn't hiding behind his legs but it's the oldest of the Jacobs brothers. Sarah's twin.
Spot looks him straight in the eye, can feel the swell of his magic showing as his own go a little too-blue and almost glow, in the gentle rocking of the dock and the light breeze that picks up around them as he moves just half a step further into the taller boy's personal space. Something pushes at him before falling away, almost inviting him in. "Oh yeah? Yeah?" He smirks a bit at the hint of fear behind the stubborn resolve in the Jacobs kid's eyes and pulls back just enough to let him take a shaky, steadying, breath. But he doesn't let himself relax, his shoulders stiff and hunched like he's expecting a blow or malicious burst of power and Spot has got to acknowledge that at least the kid seems to have some common sense. "What is this Jackie boy, some kind of walkin' mouth?"
That makes the kid puff up and clench his jaw like he takes issue with the name even as Spot feels it settling about him. It seeps into him like Annie's Mark and Manhattan's Claim and the charms that are so subtle and quiet but still powerful enough that even on his own turf he should have been kept well out of reach of the kid. And damn it all but it's so tempting. He could reach out and take hold of the power threaded about the other boy -anchored to him really- he could draw it to himself and let it fill in the empty spaces he's all too aware of these days as he's spread too thin too often to keep up with the demands of those within his domain. The familiar heady taste of warm bread mixed with sweet spiced honey cut by rich fresh milk settles on the back of his tongue and it takes everything in him not to let himself drown in it.
"Yeah it's a Mouth," And Kelly is pulling the kid back into his own space away from Spot's piquing interest. "But it's a Mouth with a brain, and if you got half of one you'd listen to what he's got to say." Spot pulls away, out to the edge of the reach of the charms that should have been able to keep him back but had invited him in like Jacobs was one of his own and sits down on one of the wooden boxes scattered about the place. There's a spark in the other boy's eyes like he's almost solved a particularly difficult puzzle as he watches Spot. He nods to the taller boys and Jack gives his friend one last pat on his shoulder before moving off to the side, leaving the Mouth standing alone before the King of Brooklyn to present their case with just a few words of encouragement. Interesting to see Kelly putting so much faith in someone other than Annie or Racer, and to lay it out on the table like that too.
Jacobs takes a deep breath and shoots Kelly a pointed scowl before facing Spot again, that wariness back in place. "Well, we started the strike, but we can't do it alone. So, we've been talking to Newsies all around the city." He feels a bit of him twist about unpleasantly at the acknowledgment of a single city.
"Yeah, so they told me." He scoffs but uncrosses his arms and rests his elbows on his knees, leaning towards the other boy. "But what'd they tell you?"
"They-they're waiting to see what Spot Conlon does." Spot can't help the pleased smirk at what he knows is more statement of fact than empty praise. The kid's shoulders loosen up a bit and he starts to talk a little faster. "You see now you're the key. Cause they say that Spot Conlon is the most respected and famous Newsie in all of New York, and probably everywhere else." There's a laugh in the kid's voice as he gains momentum and yeah he's laying it on a bit thick but there's a pleased thrill that runs through the charms hanging about the kid and it sends a pleasant, content, hum through him. "And if Spot Conlon joins the strike then they'll join, and we'll be unstoppable. So ya see, you gotta join because- well you gotta, ya just gotta"
"You're right, Jack, brains. But I've got brains too, and more than just half of one." He's up and moving between them now. Passing a little too close to the Jacobs boy and right past Kelly. "How do I know you punks won't run the first time some goon comes at you with a club? How do I know you got what it takes to win?"
Jack steps right up to him. He can feel the unease in his boys watching at the sight of another leader, a well-known and respected Head who stood as an ambassador for his Borough, moving so close to their King. "Because I'm tellin' you, Spot." And there's the rub. Because if it was anything else that would have been all he needed to lend his aid. Spot holds back a tired sigh.
"That ain't gonna be enough Jackie-boy," Spot can feel the hum of the charms woven about the Jacobs boy wrapping against him even tighter, can feel when the kid reaches for them himself and knows that for all the Borough can feel something in the kid that the answer is in the charms and who laid them. "You've gotta show me."
She won't like it, putting her brother in harm's way like this. But he has an entire City- Borough, he has an entire Borough to take care of and it comes with his own Newsies, with kids and littles who wouldn't understand why they were fighting and foolhardy teenagers who would end up getting themselves hurt, or killed. And that was just his Newsies.
So no, Kelly and his Mouth are gonna have to prove themselves, prove this is something they can do. Sarah would understand, he just hoped she could forgive him.