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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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Twelfth Night: A Newsies Modern Theatre AU

Summary: Jack, Crutchie, and their roommates have made it through Les Miserables, but now it’s time to get ready for the Christmas show at the World Theatre, and they’ve been promised that this means hell on earth. As they go into six-day, 50+ hour work weeks for build, they readily believe that this is true, but things just get worse from there. Between interpersonal conflicts, technical difficulties, and cast and crew that drop like flies for a whole number of reasons, there are days where it’s a wonder the show goes on at all. ***COMPLETED***

Chapter One: Partridge in a Pear Tree

Chapter Two: Turtledoves

Chapter Three: French Hens

Chapter Four: Calling Birds

Chapter Five: Golden Rings

Chapter Six: Geese A-Laying

Chapter Seven: Swans A-Swimming

Chapter Eight: Maids A-Milking

Chapter Nine: Ladies Dancing

Chapter Ten: Lords A-Leaping

Chapter Eleven: Pipers Piping

Chapter Twelve: Drummers Drumming

What you need to know during this story:

The OCs of this story, AKA Elaine, Alan, and Alden O’Dell are all recycled OCs. They’ve been adopted into Newsies in several fics at this point, so any weirdness in the transition between fandoms has hopefully worn off at this point!!! Will and JD are references to characters from two movies I was really into at the beginning of quarantine, but are more OCs than anything else by this point and also hardly appear in this story.

This story is based off of my personal experiences working in theatre! It’s not exactly the same as any place I’ve worked, but I’m drawing very heavily and almost directly from my experience working my theatre’s Christmas show back in 2019. This means that unlike As You Like It, it’s directly inspired by real-life events and people. If you know me and think a character is based off of you, there’s a pretty real chance it was. However, none of this was done with malicious intent; I tried to draw on the best qualities of the people I know, and the worst qualities of the characters representing them in the story in order to make a compelling amalgamation.

Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies or anything you may recognize from it. I do not own any characters you may recognize from Newsies. I do not own the play ‘Twelfth Night’ or any references made to it in this story. I do, however, own Elaine, Alan, Alden, Will, JD, and this story!

Read Twelfth Night on FanFiction.Net | Read Twelfth Night on Archive of our Own

This is story 2 of 3 in this AU

Prequel: As You Like It

Sequel: A Midsummer Night’s Dream <<coming spring 2021>>

Banner made in Procreate. All images belong to me!

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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Newsies modern!theatre!AU, anyone??? (I had to fudge in a few more sentences for it to make sense, but it’s 6-ish...)

.*.*.*.*.*.

On the back wall was a wide half-white, half-cork board; on the whiteboard side was scrawled, in faded green and red dry-erase marker,

DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE TOP 10 DISNEY ANIMATED MOVIES EVER:

Tangled The Lion King

Aladdin

Great Mouse Detective

Moana

Mulan

Sword in the Stone

Black Cauldron

Robin Hood (should be #2 but whatever)

Cinderella II

Lion King 1 ½

There were also several notes and arrows drawn on the board, seemingly trying to correct whoever had initially written it, but Jack and Crutchie didn’t have time to take those in—in fact, they barely had time to take in anything else, because as soon as they rounded the corner created by the lockers, they were met by a deafening cheer of “ELAINE!”

Elaine jumped, nearly dropping her container of quinoa-spaghetti, and yelped. “Dear lord, boys, don’t scare me like that!”

“Look, we fixed your list!” a voice laughed.

“You didn’t fix it, you made it wrong!” Elaine cried. “The Lion King SUCKS, and is definitely not the best animated Disney movie ever!”

The room immediately dissolved into chaos, each of the dozen occupants yelling over one another, mostly about the movies they felt should be on the list. Elaine set her food down on the nearest table and waved her arms. “Everyone, SHUT UP!”

The room slowly quieted, the shouting replaced largely by laughter.

“Come on, boys, we have to make a good impression on the new guys!” Elaine yelled over the continuing noise. That shut the boys up, and they turned their attention to Elaine. “Thank you!” She grabbed Jack’s arm and pulled him forward. “Everyone, meet Jack Kelly, and that’s Crutchie…”

Six Sentence Sunday

Writers: post (approximately) six sentences from something you’re working on. If you aren’t ready to do that, add six sentences to your WIP.

Readers: challenge yourselves to leave a six sentence comment or give a writer a six sentence prompt. (or a total of six sentences for the day)

Fans and creators alike: reblog a fandom post and add some love in the tags. Aim for 6 posts - or 6 tags. Whatever you can manage!

Feel free to repost this banner!

#newsies #fanfic #original writing #as you like it (newsies)#ayli (newsies)#jack Kelly #jack Kelly (newsies)#crutchie (newsies)#crutchie #newsies oc #Elaine (newsies oc)

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theyoungersebald · 8 years ago

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Katie-Louise��s Character Index

Elaine Lainey Stark (@justthemechanicsdaughter) MCU Based OC. Multi-Verse, Multi-Ship. Low Activity.

Sally Sebald (@theyoungersebald) ASOUE/LS:UA Multi-Verse, Multi-Ship. High Activity.

Elaine Lainey Gray (@lainey-gray) Newsies OC. Single Verse, Multi-Ship. Low to Moderate Activity.

Belle (@nowwiserbutunsure) Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2017 Film Based). Multi-Verse, Single-Ship. Moderate Activity.

Eleanor Ella Howlett (@justellahowlett). X-Men Original Character. Multi-Verse, Pretty Much Single-Ship. Activity Level Not Determined Yet.

#character index #the mun speaks

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Newsies Modern Theatre AU

Summary: Part 3 of the Modern!Theatre!AU. Jack and Crutchie are still working at the World Theatre and living with Elaine and her brothers. March 12, 2020, their whole world changes. It is a summer of life-altering realizations as they all learn more about themselves and each other and hopefully become better people for it. Yes, this is the COVID quarantine one. Very gay. (Rated K. It’s just soft.) *** POSTING WEDNESDAYS ONLY***

Chapter One

Chapter Two (4/14/21)

Chapter Three (4/21/21)

Chapter Four (4/28/21)

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TAGGED WHEN THIS STORY IS POSTED. LET ME KNOW VIA A REPLY TO THIS POST, MESSAGE, OR IN OTHER EXPLICIT TERMS. REBLOGGING THIS POST IS NOT A CLEAR INDICATOR OF YOUR DESIRE TO BE TAGGED! THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!!!

Current Theatre AU tag list: @the-cowbi @fifty-for-the-racer @prettyinlimegreenboots @mysticstrawberrysalad — please let me know if you’d like to be removed from the tag list!!!

What you should know going into this story:

While the other two parts of the theatre AU are based off of my own experiences working in theatre, since this story diverges from the theatre itself, it delves more into the realm of fiction. While it has a basis in some of the struggles I went through during the spring/summer of 2020, and things that happened in regards to the theatre, it will be more of an exploration into how the COVID-19 lockdown would affect these characters.

There won’t be quite as expansive of a cast in this story, unlike As You Like It and Twelfth Night, because the characters will be spending most of it in their apartment! This will, however, let us spend more time getting to know each of them a little better in regards to this AU. The characters who will be appearing are: Jack, Crutchie, Davey, Elaine, Alan, Alden, and (maybe) JD. Other characters may appear briefly and will likely be mentioned, but these 6/7 are the ones we’ll be seeing the most of!

Just like Yo Ho, Hero!, I’m writing this story without a chapter plot. This means that it will likely be more meandering and drawn-out than the other two installments in this AU, and that I don’t have a chapter count (at this point).

Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies or anything you may recognize from it. I do not own any characters you may recognize from Newsies. I do not own the play ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ or any references made to it in this story. I do, however, own Elaine, Alan, Alden, Will, JD, and this story!

FanFiction.Net link coming 4/7/21 | Archive of our Own link coming 4/7/21

This is part 3 of 3 in this AU

Part 1: As You Like It

Part 2: Twelfth Night

Banner made in Procreate. The images of the amigurumi octopodes and amigurumi bees are mine; all other images found on Google and Unsplash. Let me know if they belong to you and you’d like them removed/credited!

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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Plymouth Rock: a Newsies 1950s Band AU (Spinoff of New Music)

Summary: A series of one-shots set directly after the events of Act 4, Scene 4-5 and in the brief gap between scenes 5 and 6. Each story will look at the response of one* member of the band and friend group to their expulsion by Pulitzer. Some stories will involve discussions (/arguments) with family, others are simply self-reflection and introspection. Most of them will be fairly short. (Rated K+)

Kid Blink

Cora Higgins

Davey & Sarah Jacobs

Mush Meyers

Jack Kelly

Race Higgins

Spot Conlon

Finch Cortez

JoJo & Cami de la Guerra

Tommy Boy

Elaine & Alan O’Dell

Mike, Ike, Theo, and Conrad

Crutchie Morris

Specs

Romeo DeJesus

Albert Dasilva

Henry Butler & Boots

Buttons Davenport

Elmer, Annia, & Walter Kasprzak

Smalls

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU’RE NOT ALREADY ON THE 50s AU TAG LIST BUT WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE TAG LIST FOR THIS STORY!!! LET ME KNOW VIA COMMENT OR MESSAGE—JUST INTERACTING WITH THIS POST IS NOT A CLEAR INDICATOR!!! Thank you for your cooperation!!!

(Feel free to reach out if you’d like more information about this AU before deciding if you want to be tagged!!! And thank you all so much for your support!!!)

What you need to know going into this story:

* : as you can see from the list up above, not every chapter is just about one person. Most of the characters who have siblings will share their chapter with their siblings, although non-band siblings (i.e. Sarah, Alan, Theo, Conrad, Annia, and Walter) will take a backseat to the chapter, leaving the focus on the band members. These chapters are many of the ones that will be more family-oriented, rather than just introspection. The two exceptions to this are the twins: Elaine and Alan will probably share the spotlight to their chapter, even though Alan isn’t a member of the band; Mike and Ike are both band members, but will be sharing their chapter with each other, while their brothers who were also involved in New Music A4S4 will be background characters for the story. Henry and Boots will also share their chapter and the spotlight in it, since they are siblings in this AU. Additionally, despite being siblings, Race and Cora have separate chapters, as they will have separate introspective looks at A4S4 rather than interacting with family about it.

There are going to be kind of a lot of OCs involved, because basically everyone’s family is entirely constructed of OCs created for New Music purposes. If you’d like to get more familiar with families, check out the New Music holiday stories, which can all be found here in the New Music masterlist, and the New Music family trees I made back in December.

Unlike New Music, these one-shots will not be music-centric/songfics. No music! But check out the New Music masterlist if you want to check out the playlists for it for some ~mood music~.

I am considering posting the whole of New Music and all of the connected stories on Archive of Our Own. Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in seeing done because that will help me make my decision! 😅

At this point, I’m not planning on writing stories for Katherine, Bill, and/or Darcey, but I may at some point, as I’d like to look at Katherine specifically. If you’d be interested in seeing these, please let me know! It’ll give me more motivation to write them 😂

Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies or anything you may recognize from any of its forms. I do not own Cora Higgins—she belongs to @the-cowbi , and I’m super grateful to Mouse for letting me borrow her! I do own this story, Elaine and all other OCs, and anything you don’t recognize from other sources.

Find the New Music Preface/Masterlist here. (A4S5 will be linked as “previous chapter” to Blink’s one-shot, and A4S6 will be linked as “next chapter” to Smalls’s one-shot for seamless navigation between New Music and Plymouth Rock)

Banner made in Procreate. All images from Google. Please let me know if they belong to you and you’d like them removed/credited!!!

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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What, me, actually finishing a piece of art for New Music???

Katherine, Cora, and Elaine in the 50s AU!!!

Katherine is in pink, @the-cowbi ‘s Cora is in yellow, and my Elaine is in green!

Yes, I know their skirts should really be longer, but the ad I used for reference was from the late 50s so the skirts were a lil shorter.

I started this drawing before I even started writing the 50s AU, and it’s taken me until now to finish it 😅 oops! But I’m still super proud of how it turned out—I just don’t want to talk about the faces. Or shading. Or whatever is going on with Katherine’s face aofena;oewinaw I give up.

50s AU tag list: @the-cowbi @fifty-for-the-racer @i-am-a-wizard @xbanner-carriedx @aggressive-bucky-barnes-stan (ask to be added/removed!)

Made in procreate.

#new music #new music (newsies)#the 50s au #newsies au #newsies 50s au #newsies band au #fanart #jack does art #honestly the part of this piece i’m most happy with is cora’s outfit #it turned out so cute and the shading actually looks decent #katherine plumber pulitzer #katherine (newsies)#katherine pulitzer #katherine plumber #cora higgins (newsies oc)#elaine o’dell (newsies oc)#newsies

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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“I’m going to pogo stick my way out of here”

Ahhh I’m sorry it took me so long to write this!!! I set it in the Theatre AU, so I hope that’s okay, and I hope you enjoy it!

Prompt from this list

Word count: 1,075

“Ugh,” Elaine groaned, heaving a misshapen plastic bin stuffed full of fabric up onto the cutting room table. “This is my least favorite thing.”

“I thought you said you liked inventory,” Sarah laughed, already marking off a new section on the sheet of scrap paper in front of her. “What’s this one?”

“Uh… Polar fleece, bin two of three.”

“Two of three?”

“Yeah, but… Where are the other two?”

On the floor on the other side of the room, Crutchie laughed. He was surrounded by piles of jewelry that he was sorting, reorganizing, and inventorying for the updated costume storage binder that the three of them were working on. They had quickly discovered that very little of the organizational “system” in the cutting room—or costume storage in general, which was also spread over the sewing and receiving rooms on the third floor, as well as most of the basement two floors down—made any sense, and was horribly out of date, as things had been thrown out and added to storage without being logged in the inventory lists. Fabric storage was possibly the worst off, and Elaine and Sarah had been slogging through the wall full of storage bins for almost the entire week, pulling out, measuring, logging, and refolding fabric cuts, swatches, and scraps, while Crutchie sorted through endless drawers, smaller bins, and other storage containers full of things like pocket squares, jewelry, socks, undershirts, and much more.

In the rest of the theatre, the boys on the crew were doing similar work. Jack and Albert had been pulled by Weisel for props organizing, and were up to their elbows in dust and dirt in the storage hole above stage left. Jack pulled a plastic bin off of a shelf and began to sputter and cough as a cascade of dust and a handful of dead bugs poured off down onto his head. “Gross,” he groaned, trying to brush it off, onto the floor instead of the other props around him.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Albert made a face as he ran a finger across the top of a toy drum, leaving a streak in the layer of dirt there.

“Why do we keep some of this stuff?” Jack asked, opening the offending bin to reveal that it was stuffed full of cheerleader’s pom-poms.

“Christmas stuff needs to be saved because shows are recycled, and you never know what you might need for them when they get redesigned anyways,” Albert droned, repeating the line that they heard regularly from Weisel and the other authority figures around them when similar questions were posed. “And other stuff is really the same thing: you never know when you might need it again.”

“How often do we really need cheerleading pom-poms?” Jack asked, holding one up and shaking it, the plastic rustling.

“Well, we did just use some for Ovation, last summer,” Albert mused. “None of those, obviously.” Both boys laughed, Jack shoved the pom back into the bin, and placed it on their pile of “things to ask Weisel if we can please throw away”.

.*.*.*.*.*.

That afternoon, as the crew was wandering out of the theatre into the brisk winter air—not cold enough to need anything more than a light jacket, and a few of the boys weren’t even wearing those—they were chattering cheerfully amongst themselves, happy to be out in the bright sun and fresh air.

“Hey, Laine, Crutchie,” Jack grinned, appearing between his roommates and slinging his arms around their shoulders as they headed for the front of the building to walk home. “You guys find anything cool today?”

“Check it out!” Elaine said, holding up a misshapen white tophat, the tags still attached. “Brand new. They couldn’t use it for the show they bought it for, ‘cause it was so messed up, so Weisel said I could keep it. It was going to get thrown out otherwise, because of the way the brim is warped and stuff. Perfectly good—well, not good, but useable—and brand new.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Jack asked.

“I dunno,” Elaine shrugged. “But it’s cool.”

Jack laughed.

“What about you?” Crutchie asked. “You guys find anything cool or weird or whatever?”

“Oh, yeah; check it out.” Jack pointed across the parking lot, towards Finch, Elmer, JoJo, Albert, and Race clustered together near their cars, laughing about something. As they watched, Albert’s head popped up over everyone else’s, bobbed up and down a few times, and then Race and JoJo lunged to catch him as he fell.

“What is that?” Elaine laughed.

“Come on,” Jack grinned, steering the other two towards the group.

As they got closer, the object Albert was holding became visible: a pogo stick.

“Where did you find that?” Crutchie asked as Albert started to climb back up onto the device, JoJo hovering worriedly behind him in case he fell again.

“Props hole, over stage left,” Albert grunted as he took a test hop forward. When he didn’t immediately fall over, he kept going, making it almost a full six feet before losing his balance and starting to fall.

“Albert,” Elaine groaned. “You’re going to kill yourself.”

“Or at least break something,” Finch grumbled.

“No, I’m not,” Albert grunted as he untangled himself from the pogo stick. “I’m going to pogo stick my way out of here.”

“Pogo stick your way to death, more like,” Race laughed.

“Oh, ye of little faith!” Albert retorted.

“I’m literally watching you right now. I have the appropriate amount of faith.” ”I’m getting better,” Albert protested.

“That’s what everyone says,” said Finch, “right before they fall and break their face.”

“I feel doubted,” said Albert.

“Oh, one hundred percent,” said Finch. “The only thing I don’t doubt right now is that you’re going to get hurt.”

Albert stuck his tongue out and started to climb back up onto the pogo stick, only to immediately start to fall towards the asphalt, a look of horror frozen on his face. JoJo scrambled to try and catch him, the others lunging uselessly forward with no way to cross the distance in time to help, but he managed to get a foot down to partially catch himself to avoid slamming into the pavement.

“You okay?” JoJo asked, helping Albert once again untangle himself from the pogo stick.

“Yeah,” Albert laughed sheepishly. “Maybe you guys are onto something. There’s a slight possibility I should get some pads before I try and master this thing.”

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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Twelfth Night: Chapter Eleven, Pipers Piping

Summary: Back to work after Christmas! Things are a little tense, but everyone is just ready for the show to end...

Word count: 1,722

Disclaimer: Twelfth Night Preface

Tag list: @the-cowbi @prettyinlimegreenboots @fifty-for-the-racer @aggressive-bucky-barnes-stan (ask to be added/removed!)

A/N: Second to last chapter! This story has flown by so fast... I’m going to post the preface to the next story (The Green Fields of France, which will start posting 1/14 probably) I’m working on either tonight or tomorrow, so if you’re interested in being tagged in that please let me know!!! The sequel to Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, will becoming at some point towards the end of February/early March, so keep an eye out for that as well!!! (Also coming soon: Space Pirates AU, and the New Music spinoff #2 and sequel!) Feel free to reach out and chat if you’re interested in knowing more about any of those, or if you want to be tagged when they’re posted!!!

Anyways, I hope this chapter isn’t too boring! It’s a lot of exposition and internal monologue because... at this point in a show... that’s about all you feel like doing 😂

Joke of the Day: What’s black and white and black and white and black and white and black and white and black and white? A penguin rolling down a hil!!!

Previous chapter: Lords A-Leaping

Next chapter: Drummers Drumming

No-one wanted to go to work on the twenty-sixth. Since Christmas Day had been so drowsy, they’d all had a hard time sleeping that night, so dragging themselves out of bed to get ready for work had been challenging. There was no lack of envy for Will, Alden, and Alan, who didn’t have to be in until two hours later than the others, although they still got up at the same time in a show of solidarity. Jack, Crutchie, and Elaine had to drag themselves down the block to the parking lot, almost completely silent save for the odd yawn or wordless grumble that escaped as they drove to the theatre. Inside, everyone else was just as still and quiet as they were—a “Christmas hangover”, as Race put it.

Jack moved through his pre-show preparations like he was moving through soup. Everything seemed more difficult than it should be, even simple things like rolling the cart-mounted carousel horses across the wagon house or rigging the carnival games. Elaine trudged through the wagon house, dragging the z-rack full of freshly-pressed dress shirts and scowling as the first performers began to arrive and fill the wagon house with their chatter—although even they weren’t as loud as normal. Not that anyone on the crew was complaining about that.

The only group that had even close to its normal level of energy was the child and teenage performers, who burst through the door in small packs, each one its own explosion of noise and color and force. Behind one of the little groups—the one containing one Leslie Jacobs—Jack had to hide a grin at the sight of an utterly exhausted-looking Davey Jacobs. When Davey caught sight of Jack, he perked up and smiled, giving the other man a small wave, before vanishing into the stairwell. A few minutes later, he was back, and sat down next to Jack on the bench by the stage right door with a sigh.

“How was your break?” Jack laughed.

“Well, we kind of crammed everything about Hanukkah—besides the candles; we did those during Hanukkah, but didn’t have time for anything else between working and finals and everything—into the past three days, and spent a lot of time on video chat with our parents. They wanted to come home, but decided it was probably best to just wait until the show closed because a lot of the time a second round of sick goes through in the last week just because everyone’s exhausted.”

“Great,” Jack groaned.

They watched Albert and Elaine walk past and pointedly ignore each other. Both of them arched their eyebrows at the odd interaction—or, rather, lack thereof—and watched the two head their separate directions.

“That was weird,” Davey observed.

“Yeah… I’m not really sure what it’s about. They were fine earlier.” Jack looked around and waved JoJo over. “Hey, what’s up with Albert and Elaine.”

JoJo shrugged. “Who knows. We’re all exhausted. They always fight when they’re tired. It’s probably nothing.”

Before the break, Jack had thought that the final Sunday’s show had been the slowest of the run. He had been wrong. The first show back was the slowest one—literally and figuratively; not only did it feel like it was dragging on, but, upon checking the time on his phone (repeatedly) he realized that was actually taking longer than normal to get through the show.

“Does the music sound slower to you?” he asked Race and Albert at one point as they moved the stage right house into place for a scene.

“Definitely,” Race grumbled.

“Even the band is out of patience with the show,” said Albert.

The second act, despite the high-energy start with the dancing and singing elves, things seemed to get even slower. From Race’s headset, Jack could hear the stage manager complaining about the lack of energy and speed—very loudly—and had to laugh. There was nothing to be done about it, after all.

The second show wasn’t much better, although the tempo picked up a little bit. They were still a few minutes longer than their normal run time, but had halved the amount of time that the day’s first show ran over.

For the rest of the week, things slowly moved closer and closer to normal. Everyone was still quiet and a bit lackluster, but the onstage energy picked up considerably the more shows they did—and the closer to closing they got. No-one ever figured out why Elaine and Albert were mad at each other, and Jack had a sneaking suspicion even the two of them wouldn’t have been able to answer if asked, but they were back to their normal scheming selves in a few days. Jack and Race decided to thank Mike, Ike, and JoJo for that, as another snowball war had been started—although this one was a stealth version that involved sneaking up on people before, after, and between shows; during intermissions; and even during lulls in the shows themselves and snipe-shotting one’s opponent with one of the little stuffed snowballs. Elaine always had a snow-puff in one of her apron pockets, and Albert kept at least one in the cargo pockets of his pants at all times. Jack guessed that Mike, Ike, JoJo, and Romeo—who was drawn into the war a little later—kept them on their persons most of the time as well. He never quite got used to the sight of fist-sized balls of fluff flying past his face in the middle of carrying props across the wagon house, usually followed by a startled yelp.

To everyone’s surprise, Elaine was the best participant in the war, and, when they were scolded by Weisel and called the competition off, she was declared MVP. Despite self-professed bad aim and poor depth perception—which the others could confirm, as other accuracy-based games that were played amongst the crew had illustrated her poor performance in these categories over the past months—she was scarily accurate with the light snow-puffs. It became common for her opponents to be in the middle of a conversation only to have a small ball of fiberfill and faux fur hit them in the back or head and to see a giggling, grinning Elaine dart around a corner or into a stairwell on the far side of the wagon house.

As they counted down to their final show, it was almost like everyone’s breath was held at the same time. The shows started to get faster now, and the protests by the stage manager over headset became pleas to slow down rather than speed up. Even the dancers commented on the increase in tempo, coming off from the tap number and elf sections breathless, sweaty, and laughing. A new energy seemed to be building up amongst both cast and crew, and Jack felt himself getting caught up in it without even noticing, the sort of energy that came with a storm on the horizon, with a wave about to crest in the ocean—with any sort of impending change.

Yet, with that nervous energy came an odd undercurrent of sorrow. As awful as so many of the parts of the show and its run had felt, as draining as the experience had been, as much as Jack wanted to be able to take a few days and just sleep—even though he knew that half of January was packed full of concerts and tours so he wouldn’t be able to do so for long—he was sad to see the show ending. Les Mis hadn’t felt like this, at least not that he could remember. He had felt ambivalent to tear that set apart after the final show, and happy to run his track for the final time. He wasn’t sure if it was because he had spent more time and energy working on the Christmas build, or just because he had grown so much more attached to the people he worked (and lived) with during this run, but he was truly sorry to see it go.

December 29th, 2019 was the second-to-last night of shows. Most of the performers spent more time than usual in the dressing rooms after the show, collecting personal belongings to take home with them. Many of them would be leaving the city or even state the next day, after the final show, heading for jobs at other theatres, as most of them weren’t permanent residents—the exceptions being two of the male singers, along with Alan, Alden, Will, and the show captain—of Santa Fe. One of the kid casts had had their final show the day before and had said tearful goodbyes to the adult cast members, each other, and even some of the crew. Some of them had returned tonight to see some of their friends on the other cast, and another round of tears went through the wagon house. Tonight’s kids cast had laid out their show t-shirts on the wagon house carpet and asked everyone to sign them. To his surprise, even Jack had been asked to sign several, and had reluctantly given in and done so.

Another reason that the ending of the show was particularly bittersweet, for Jack and his roommates, was that Will had told them, a few weeks earlier, that he would be moving back home to London in January, after accepting a job there. Despite jokes about having more space in the apartment and one less person to share the bathroom with, everyone was sad to see him leave, even Jack and Crutchie, despite only having known him for a few months. As the penultimate show drew to a close, Jack couldn’t help but notice Alan, Alden, and Elaine’s misty eyes as they prepared to say goodbye to their long-time friend and partner. He swallowed a lump in his own throat. It would certainly be strange to not hear Will’s accent somehow always discernible through the chatter of the entire cast, or run into him heading for the bathroom in the middle of the night at home. He’d be around for another week before leaving—it wasn’t like he was flying out after the last show, like most of the others, but quite suddenly it felt very much like he was going to be gone before they knew it. Maybe, Jack thought, that the show they had almost felt would go on forever was finally coming to an end…

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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New Music: Act 2, Scene 6

Chapter summary: Bad things happen to the sweetest children.

Warnings: mentions of blood/bleeding wounds and similar injuries. Physical assault, bullying, fistfighting and associated violence. More graphic than the last fight scenes in this fic.

Word count: 1,603

Disclaimer: Preface

Tag list: @the-cowbi @i-am-a-wizard @chaotic-sunflower-galaxy @xbanner-carriedx (let me know if you’d like to be added to/removed from the tag list!)

Links: No music in this one, so no links either! If you want the playlist links, you can find them in any other chapter or in my masterlist!!!

A/N: Ahhh don’t hate meee I know this rough chapter—and no chapter tomorrow to make up for it!!! Monday’s chapter will make things better though, I’m sure although I’m pretty sure y’all will want to kill me come Tuesday’s chapter. Please let me know what you think, tho!!!

Previous chapter: Act 2, Scene 5

Next chapter: Act 2, Scene 7

The next day at school was quiet. They all kept their heads down, avoiding Pulitzer and his lackeys around the building. The Delancey brothers were the hardest to avoid completely, but, in their groups of three, they felt safe. After school, Elaine, Cora, and Crutchie left their last class late, having stopped to discuss an upcoming project with their teacher. The halls were nearly empty by the time they left, and they hurried through stopping at their lockers before leaving.

Outside, the autumn wind whipped around them, snatching at the girls’ skirts and whipping them around their legs, and tugging Elaine’s hair out of its neat curls. They grabbed their skirts and pulled them tight around their thighs to keep them in place, laughing into the breeze as they walked.

“If ever there was a day to have worn pants,” Elaine gasped, snatching again at her skirt as the wind picked up again.

“Another way to put that would be ‘the one day I decide to wear a skirt to school is the one day mother nature decides to make me regret it’,” Cora grumbled.

They were only a few blocks from the club when it happened. The girls were walking a few steps ahead of Crutchie, chattering about something that had happened in an earlier class, when he let out a strangled cry. The girls whipped around just in time to see Morris and Oscar Delancey dragging him into an alley.

“Hey, stop!” Cora yelled. She dropped her book bag and sprinted into the alley after them.

“Cora, wait!” Elaine called, even though she was right behind the other girl.

They entered the alley just in time to see the Delanceys throw Crutchie to the ground. “Stop it!” Cora shouted again, running forward to shove one of the twins from behind. He stepped out of the way easily, and she tripped over one of Crutchie’s legs, stumbling a few steps further before managing to stop.

Elaine hurried to Crutchie’s side and helped him to his feet. “What do you want?” she snapped, glaring defiantly up at the twins.

“Want? Nothin’,” Oscar shrugged. He snatched at Elaine, but she took a step back, pulling Crutchie with her.

“Just thought we’d have some fun,” Morris leered, pressing in on them.

“It’s been so long since we’ve gotten a good beatin’ in,” Oscar sighed, smacking his fist into the open palm of his other hand.

“Youse three won’t be much fun, but we’ll take what we can get,” Morris shrugged. He reached out for Crutchie, but Cora popped up between them, slamming her fist into Morris’s stomach. He doubled over, wheezing and gasping. “You’ll regret that, you little runt,” he snarled at her.

“Make me,” Cora said, cocking her fist back for another blow. Before she could swing, however, Oscar shoved her aside, slamming her into the ground of the alley. With her out of the way, he reached again for Crutchie, who took a step back—straight into the brick wall of the building behind him.

Crutchie swung his crutch around from the side, lifting it over Cora and Morris’s heads to slam it into Oscar’s shoulder. He made contact and tried to pull back, but Morris caught the crutch as it went over his head again and flung it down the alley, where it clattered against the cracked macadam and vanished into shadow. Morris climbed up and kicked Cora back to the ground with a foot planted squarely in the middle of her chest, leaving a dirty smear across her blouse. Oscar grabbed Elaine by the arm and flung her to the other side, and both boys grabbed onto Crutchie and dragged him into the middle of the alley.

When she hit the ground, Elaine let out a scream that echoed through the alley. The twins froze for a moment, afraid of the attention that would draw, but, when nothing happened, they traded a wicked grin and continued what they were doing. They kicked Crutchie’s legs out from under him and he crumpled to the pavement, held up only by Morris’s grip on his arm. Oscar sneered down at the smaller boy and pushed his sleeve up. He reached out and grabbed Crutchie by the front of his shirt, and slammed his fist into his face. Elaine screamed again, a wordless cry that might have been something along the lines of “stop” or “no”, but came out as only a ragged screech.

As soon as Cora got her breath back, she rolled up and onto her feet and flew at Morris Delancey. This time, he saw her coming and dragged Crutchie up, shoving him into Cora and sending them both to the ground. He and Oscar laughed, a horrible, evil noise that barely resembled the joy typically encapsulated in the sound. Their attention was so focused on the scene, however, that they almost didn’t see Elaine coming. Almost.

Hobbling on a twisted ankle, Elaine made for Oscar Delancey, letting out another furious screech. He caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye and moved smoothly out of the way, sending her straight into the arms of his brother. Morris picked her up under his arm and hauled her down the alley, quite literally kicking and screaming. She swung her arms wildly, trying to land a solid hit on him but unable to do so from her position.

Oscar aimed a kick at Crutchie, burying his foot in the boy’s stomach and earning a pained cry in response. Crutchie curled in on himself, trying to protect himself from further blows, but Oscar had already lost interest in him. instead, he reached out and grabbed Cora by the wrists, dragging the stunned girl to her feet and pulling her along the alley, towards the wall Crutchie and Elaine had run into earlier. Cora dug her heels in, but Oscar was bigger and stronger than her and didn’t have much trouble in dragging her along.

Fortunately, Oscar was distracted enough by Cora that he didn’t see anyone else coming.

Racetrack Higgins’s fist slammed into the side of Oscar Delancey’s face hard enough to make the bigger boy see stars. He dropped Cora instantly and she hit the ground hard. Jack Kelly grabbed one of Oscar’s arms and Race grabbed the other, and they dragged him backwards, shouting, until he was clear of both Cora and Crutchie. They flung him to the ground, and Race reached down again, pulling Oscar up just far enough that his head wouldn’t smack into the pavement when Race punched him again.

Oscar’s shouting alerted Morris just in time. He dropped Elaine just as Mush slammed into him, stumbling over the girl’s body and sending both of them crashing to the ground. Albert pulled her out of the way even as she curled in on herself, arms wrapped around her head. He scooped her up into his arms and darted down the alley to deposit her on the ground next to Crutchie and Jack, snatching up Crutchie’s crutch as he passed it. He ran back towards where Mush and Morris were still on the ground, all flying fists and stray elbows, and pulled Morris off of Mush, shoving him towards where his brother had finally gotten away from Race and was struggling to his own feet in the mouth of the alley.

“Get out while you still can,” Albert snarled.

Morris didn’t hesitate. He stumbled down the alley and grabbed his brother, dragging him out into the street.

Albert helped Mush to his feet and brushed dirt off of his shoulder. “Nice one.”

Mush spit a mouthful of blood onto the ground. “Ow.”

“Yeah, that might be broken,” Albert pointed to his nose, which was dripping blood steadily.

They walked back to the others. Race had helped Cora up and was holding her close, letting her cry silently into his shoulder. Elaine was hunched into a ball against the wall, watching the others as silent tears streamed down her own face. Crutchie was bleeding from a gash across his forehead, his face already bruising and swelling. The blood dripped down his face and onto his shirt, adding to a growing stain on his shoulder. Jack pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it to Crutchie’s head.

“Everyone alive?” Albert said, leaning down to squeeze Crutchie’s shoulder.

“Close enough,” Crutchie squinted up at him.

“Elaine?” Albert glanced back at her. “You okay?”

She nodded. Mush knelt down next to her and offered her a hand up. She let him pull her to her feet, but nearly fell again when she tried to rest weight on her right foot.

“I think I sprained it,” she mumbled as Mush slipped an arm around her back for more support.

Race settled Cora on his back and stood up. “Let’s get you guys cleaned up at the club.”

“Good idea,” Jack said. He helped Crutchie to his feet and handed him his crutch. “You okay to walk?”

“Yeah,” Crutchie nodded. He took over pressing the handkerchief to his forehead and smiled half-heartedly up at Jack. “Just make sure I don’t run into anyone.”

“You got it,” Jack laughed.

Albert passed a handkerchief to Mush for his nose. “Pinch as hard as you can stand. Head back. Elaine, come on.” He crouched in front of her, and she climbed gingerly onto his back.

Mush grabbed Elaine and Crutchie’s bags from the ground as they went, slinging it over one shoulder. When they got out to the street, Jack paused to pick up Cora’s bag as well, and they headed for the club together.

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starship-squidlet · 4 years ago

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The Green Fields of France: A Newsies Fanfiction

Summary: Beginning in canon-era, a look at the lives of Elaine, Mush, and Finch, along with their descendants. Mush and Finch go off to war and never come back. Years later, Elaine finally learns what happened to them. (Rated K+. No adult themes, that I’m planning on, but there will be talk of war and dying. Nothing graphic, but just to be safe) ***COMPLETED***

The Green Fields of France Spotify Playlist

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Epilogue

Associated one-shot: Rescue Me is the story of how Elaine meets Mush and Finch in 1899, during the newsboys’ strike. It works as a sort of prequel to this story in that it gives a bit of foundation for their relationship.

What you need to know going into this fic:

This story is written about three asexual-spectrum characters in a polyamorous relationship with one another. If you have a problem with any of those things, feel free not to read!

For the purposes of this story, I’ve written Mush, Elaine, and Finch all as vaguely on the demi-grey-asexual spectrum. Specifics aren’t important for this particular story as it’s not so much about their relationship as what happens because of it.

This story isn’t so much about any of the newsies themselves, but characters who will make appearances to some extent (ranging from frequent mentions to appearances in at least one chapter) are: Mush, Finch, Crutchie, JoJo, Race, Albert, and Jack Kelly (possibly others as well).

Read on FanFiction.Net | Read on Archive Of Our Own

Disclaimer: I do not own Newsies or anything you may recognize from it. I do not own any characters you may recognize from Newsies. I do not own any song lyrics used in this story. I do, however, own this story, along with Elaine, Robin, Charlie, Pierre, Collette, Ellie, and other original characters that are not found in the Newsies medias.

Banner made in Procreate. All images found on Google. If they belong to you and you would like them removed/credited, please let me know!!!

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