#girlsies week

[to-be-a-dreamer]

Spot Conlon and the rest of Brooklyn all being girls actually means so much to me and not in a "See women can be strong too!!!" kinda way because like. It just makes so much sense???

Like, okay so if you stop thinking about it as "the strongest and most fearsome group of newsies is also all girls" and instead think of it as "the group of newsies that are all girls is also the strongest and most fearsome" it all starts clicking into place.

Because if you were Spot Conlon, if you had a group of young girls who all live and work on the streets to take care of, of course you would want to have this big, intimidating reputation of being the best fighter and strongest leader. If every other borough, most of which are made up of dozens of teenage boys, believes you can and will soak them for so much a stepping foot in Brooklyn, they won't dare think about so much as touching one of your girls.

Of course you would make sure all of your girls know how to beat an opponent much bigger and stronger than them. If someone does mess with them, they have to be able to fight back. Not just to protect themselves, but to make sure that whichever idiot thought it was a good idea to mess with Brooklyn never dares try it again. They have to be able to win that fight and all future fights.

Of course you would be super territorial and make sure you don't give a single inch of leniency towards the other boroughs. You can't show any kind of vulnerability, no matter how capable you are. Being "just as strong" as the other boroughs isn't enough because they will never see you as an equal. So you choose to be seen as a threat.

Brooklyn has to be strong. They have to be scary. They're not any more violent or mean than the other boroughs, but they need the others to think they are because the alternative is being seen as an easy target. That can't happen.

I also feel like Brooklyn wouldn't have this reputation unless they were forced to. Like, if it were up to them they would be kind and welcoming and friendly. But whenever they gave an inch the other neighborhoods took a mile. Whenever they showed even an ounce of kindness there was always someone who took that as a sign of weakness.

It's not fun being isolated. It's not fun being feared. But it keeps them safe and that's the most important thing. I think Brooklyn only has a reputation of being strong fighters because they keep being forced to fight.

I have no idea if this is even remotely comprehensible but do you see my vision? I just. The idea of Brooklyn being the strongest borough out of necessity instead of desire. Spot Conlon being a girl has so many implications about this character's backstory and motivations that we've never had before and it's so much more than just "Hey did you guys know women can be competent leaders too? I know, WILD"

[newsiesficchallenges]

Day Fourteen of Brooklyn’s Here!

Happy Day Fourteen! Today, create a Brooklyn OC! Give them a cool name and backstory, and add something unique that sets them apart!

[girlsies-week-2023]

Information on some of my favorite Girlsies !!! For sillies !!!

(working title was me infodumping about girlsies under the excuse that it is relevent to the event)

I don't have the energy to go through & update this post at the moment, but @thegroundsofbrooklyn has a post here that has more info on the UK Brooklyn Girls !!!

Starting out with our number one, the original girlsie: Charlie (Hard Promises) !!!

Charlie was the original love interest for Jack in Hard Promises, and she was a newsie !! Her story was that she was living in a house of prostitution with her aunt (with her aunt trying to shield her from as much as possible to stop her from going into that life / being exposed to it) and she was planning to (and did!) go with Jack to Santa Fe at the end.

Next up: Smalls (Papermill - Broadway) (Manhattan / Possibly The Bronx) !!!:

I know that whether or not Smalls is a girl is up to interpretation but I am interpreting her as a girl & including her in this list (same with Sniper).

Smalls is a Bronx newsie (as implied by her yelling so's da Bronx during Brooklyn's Here), but she's still allowed in Manhattan (hence being there for KoNY in some versions), so she's probably allowed to wander around on her own.

According to Liana Hunt, she lives in a family with at least one parent and a ton of brothers who all work to support them, so she's sort've eager to be one of the boys in that sense — she's also super tough.

Talls !!! (Broadway) (Manhattan / Possibly The Bronx):

Talls was Caitlyn Caughell's newsie whenever she was on for that track. I have no information on her besides the fact that she was played by Caitlyn Caughell & is probably a play on her height of some kind — + also being a play on Smalls. Smalls & Talls <3

Sniper !!! (Tour) (Manhattan / Possibly The Bronx):

I'm going to be mixing in other backstories for this because as far as I'm aware Sniper's the only newsie on that list with a backstory that isn't from their actress ? + she has more involvement in the show when she isn't a girl so I'm going off that

But according to Alex Wong — Sniper's last name is Wah, and she's the daughter (son in this backstory but it's okay) of Sam Wah, who owns the laundromat above Jacobi's (the sign of which can be seen in the pre-uksies Jacobi scenes). She's named after her 'incredible aim' with a slingshot.

In certain versions, she's one of the scabs, the last one to throw down her papers, and the one to go 'Ah, what the hell? My father's gonna kill me anyway!' in the proshot. In the tour, she was also the one to yell so's da bronx.

Puddles !!! (Tour) (Manhattan / Possibly The Bronx):

Puddles is in the same group as Talls in the sense that there is like no canon lore about her & there isn't even any information besides her name and the fact that she was played by Melissa Steadman Hart during the tour. However she has the cutest nickname and deserved to be included in this list.

Marriott! Buttons !!! (Marriott) (Manhattan):

According to Adrienne Storrs, the actress for Buttons, she's been a newsie for three years. Her parents are poor Italian immigrants that don't speak English, so she works to support them. She was convinced to start selling Newspapers by JoJo after being caught pickpocketing on the street.

Buttons & JoJo are best gal pals, she sees Specs as a younger brother figure (she's always looking out for him), and Race and Albert are her favorite people to joke around with!

She has (had?) a rich boyfriend that went to jail for forgery a bit before the strike, so she's a little heartbroken during it, but she's 'continuing to live her life and she has the best newsie friends'.

She has a really positive mindset in general.

She also (along with JoJo) checked Katherine out when she walked into Jacobi's and later taught her how to Irish dance during KoNY with JoJo !!!

Marriott! JoJo !!! (Marriott) (Manhattan):

According, once again, to Adrienne Storrs, JoJo (who's real name is Josephine) is 'one tough cookie'. She was originally a pickpocket, but Jack found her and took her under her wing for ten percent of her earnings when she was almost twelve. She was one of the original newsies in the Manhattan group, and after three years she started seeking out other girl newsies (& that's when Buttons came along !!). She's been a newsie for about five years, 'not too far behind how long Jack had been selling'.

She has an Irish father and a Romanian mother and they were circus artists that came to America with P.T Barnum in the 1870s. She was born in 1882 (making her seventeen at the time of the strike) and she was raised around a circus.

Rafaela (Marriott) (Brooklyn):

Once again, according to Adrienne Storrs, Rafaela's parents moved from Spain to Puerto Rico in the 1880s and she was born there in 1885. They moved to New York City when she was five and she's very close with her brothers, who were six and eight at the time. All three children became newsies at the same time, being expected to work as much as their parents did.

She didn't go to school, she taught herself how to read and speak English, using her time as a newsie as a teaching device. She's super tough, and she had to grow up really fast. She 'has a strong sense of community with her family and fellow Brooklyn Newsies'.

Joey (Marriott) (Brooklyn):

You guessed it, information yet again from Adrienne Storrs!

Joey is Racetrack Higgins' cousin, and she's super positive. She's also secretly a really good fighter.

Hildy (Marriott) (Brooklyn):

You'll never guess where this info is from.

Hildy is German, and her parents own a sausage shop, and she likes to get into trouble.

Honorable mention to Nancy, Hazel, and Muriel from Newsies Jr.

I don't have the energy to read through all of newsies jr rn to find out which lines they have, however I can tell you off the top of my head that they are very supportive of Katherine and probably also on the younger side (because. Newsies Jr. Obviously).

If anyone who's played them would like to mention their backstory in the rbs or in this accs ask box, that would be lovely !!!

Spot Conlon (UK) (Brooklyn):

Using Lillie-Pearl's backstory for Spot here, because Clarice never got the opportunity to share hers if she had one :(

Lillie-Pearl's backstory for Spot is that her parents were Irish and African American immigrants living in Seneca Village.

Spot in Uksies is very close with Davey !!! According to Lillie-Pearl, she doesn't call him Davey, she calls him David, and in her cameo description she added 'making rhymes with Davey' into her list of things she enjoyed. She is also very close with her girls (obviously), specifically Lucky & Stray, who she did the handshake with depending on what point in the show it was. She also liked Race, depending on the day.

(She also probably isn't on awful terms with most of the Manhattan newsies, especially if they're girls.)

Lucky (Newsies UK) (Brooklyn):

Lucky doesn't have a lot of canon lore too her HOWEVER I can tell you that she used to do the handshake with Spot back when she existed, was called Tops for some performances, AND her real name is Eliza !!! She also interacted with Scope a lot during The Rally.

Mack (Newsies UK) (Brooklyn):

Mack's real name is Jeanie MacDonald, but she shortened it down to Mack because she didn't like her name.

She's a Scottish immigrant whose family moved to the U.S (just North of New York) to start a farm, but a plague of locusts destroyed the farm, so they had to move into the city for work.

She couldn't stand being stuck in their one bedroom cramped apartment, so her father suggested that she take up work as a Newsie.

Splint (Newsies UK) (Brooklyn):

Splint's arm is in a Splint !!! For some mystery reason that definitely isn't because Bobbie's hand was injured at the time of the first preview. Definitely not.

She doesn't appear after The Rally, which is because — according to Bobbie — she falled down & died :( (Bobbie needed 2 be there as Hannah)

Also her real name is Splinty McSplint.

(Bobbie also said that if she were to have a love interest it would be Buttons.)

Scope (Newsies UK) (Brooklyn):

I have no canon info about Scope besides the fact that she has the world's cutest pigtails and hung around Lucky at The Rally a lot :(

Ritz (Newsies UK) (Brooklyn):

Ritz' real name is Rita, and her nickname comes from ritz crackers and also Lucy's last characters name !! That's all the canon info we have on her as far as ik :(

Stray (Newsies UK) (Brooklyn):

Stray's nickname comes from her feeding all of the stray animals of New York !!!

She is related to Specs in some way (probably siblings, considering the fact that Sam & Immie are).

She becomes a Bowery Beauty when she's older, and her real name is from a newsgirl turned dancer but Immie doesn't remember who that is — the closest I got in my research is Lillian Russell, who wasn't a newsgirl but yk close enough.

(Her love interest would've been Mike !!)

Pips (Newsies UK) (Brooklyn):

Again, no canon information on Pips as far as I'm aware, besides the fact that she is literally adorable

[lithuanianking]

Day 6!

Stray and spot (per request)

[undescribed1mage]

Rating, Archive Warning(s), and Category: Teen & Up, None, Gen

Fandom(s): Newsies - All Media Types

Relationship(s): David Jacobs & Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Katherine Plumber Pulitzer & Kid Blink

Character(s): Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, David Jacobs, Kid Blink

Additional Tag(s): Alternative Universe - Time Travel, Alternative Universe - Doctor Who Fusion, POV Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Mentioned Jack Kelly (Newsies), David Jacobs is The Doctor, New York City, Time Travel, Newspapers, Mentioned Joseph Pulitzer, Self Indulgent, Girlsies Week (Newsies), Girlsies Week 2023, The Newsboys Strike of 1899, the TARDIS is so important (not really) (but it's okay), Journalist Katherine Plumber Pulitzer

Summary:

So, it’s odd, when she has awful mind-exploding writer's block and the Doctor leans over the TARDIS console, and asks, “Where do you want to go?” and she says —

“New York City.”

Or — exactly what it says on the tin.

[WRITTEN FOR DAY TWO OF @girlsies-week-2023: STRIKE.]

[can-we-do-christmas-in-june]

the fic that was supposed to be for girlsies week

quick thing!!!

yes, i am not participating in girlsies week. HOWEVER, i did write this before everything got bad for me. so, this is where this fic came from :) this was for day 1 which was, your fave newsie as a girl, and i couldnt decide between jack and or davey, so- ENJOY

tw: smoking

Davey Jacobs was standing over the fire escape with a cigar between her fingers. She had stolen them off her friend Race earlier and was trying to not think about the thoughts in her head.

She was trying to not think about her best friend Jackie.

She was trying to not thinking about how kissable Jackie’s lips looked after she took a drink at Jacobis.

She took another long drag from her cigar as she sat on the fire escape.

“Hey Davey!!” Jackie Kelly yelled from the bottom of her fire escape.

Davey looked over and saw her best friend standing there waving her hands.

“Racer gave me an extra cigar. Wanna smoke?” Davey yelled down.

Jackie considered the offer.

Suddenly, the next thing Davey knew, her and Jackie were smoking the stolen cigars on the rooftop.

“You ever get jealous?” Davey asked.

Jackie looked over at her confused. Davey had everything, what should she be jealous about?

"'Bout what?" Jackie asked.

Davey looked away.

"Of how Kath can walk around with Darcy on her arm, but I can't walk around with who 'm in love with." Davey sighed.

Jack noticed how Davey said "I", so it was defiantly a personal thing, but Jackie couldn't remember Davey ever looking at a boy like that.

Come to think of it, she looked at Jackie liked that and when Jackie thought about that her blush deepened.

"Oh..come on Davey, the fella should be pleased to have a newsie as amazing as you on his arm." Jackie said.

Davey chuckled, looking at Jackie. Jackies brown hair had come down from its ponytail and Davey thought it looked magical with her brown skin and red shirt.

"Who said anything about a fella?" Davey laughed, regretting the words as soon as they left her mouth.

Jackie looked over at Davey and pushed her hair behind her ear. Suddenly, Davey grabbed Jackie by her necktie and kissed her. Jackie didn't pull away but melted into it, tasting the cigar smoke from Davey. Suddenly Davey pulled away with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Davey cried.

She walked up and started to walk away until Jackie pulled her back and kissed her again.

"Who said anything about being sorry Doll?"

[regina-cordium]

signed up for the mini band and the upcoming fic exchange

gonna go lie down and try not to panic abt it

[newsies-squared]

Hey ya'll!

Me and Cards are going to be participating in Girlsies Week 2023 this year, with me writing and Cards drawing. We will be posting our work here and on our own personal blogs (I will also be posting on my AO3).

Our personal blogs just in case you didnt know

Mine (Stilts): @the-genderfluid-kony

Cards: @lithuanianking

My AO3 where I will also be posting my writing: ghostybookworm

-🗞️

[daveysjackie]

So @davesjacobs and I were talking about west-endsies sprace so I’m gonna share our thoughts:

- Bi4Bi for the win (which makes my bi heart very happy)

- They’re a (and I quote) “girlboss and malewife who also kicks ass with her”

- There’s still the height difference and Spot owns it

- She will routinely grab the collar of his shirt to pull him down to kiss him on the lips or cheek

- They’re the cheek-kissing kinda couple. That’s their casual affection. Proper kissing is just a little something extra.

- Unlike the other versions of sprace which would - frankly - be awful at keeping the secret, west endsies sprace would be able to keep the secret for ages (like months, nearly a year)

- The only reason anyone finds out is because Spot was seen kissing Race’s cheek after selling with him for a day

- They have a sharp kinda humour. To anyone else, it seems overly dry and hurtful but to them, it’s all good fun.

- When the other Brooklyn newsies/girlsies/Bowery Beauties (for a reason I explain here kinda) discover the relationship, they corner Race and ask him, “What are your intentions?” and he laughs because Spot can and has beat his ass.

- Once every few weeks, the two of them watch Medda’s show from the rafters or the very back and just share stories about the shenanigans from their respective boroughs. Their own small, quiet dates in their otherwise loud, chaotic lives

[tommmmmmmy-7]

More about my newsies au prt 5

prt-4

This ones going to be about the more background/less impact but still awesome Brooklyn newsies. None of these guys really have canon alternates.

Robin: (She/her)

11 years old

4'8

even for a young, Brooklyn, girlsie, she's mature for her age (not in a weird way) she understands a lot of stuff that most kids her age don't

Is the kid that Snap has an eye on and is "training" to become King/Queen when he's gone

has short hair because it got caught in a machine a week before she became a newsie, got mistaken for a little boy a lot and hated it

will fight a grown man and win

Tinder: (She/doesn't care)

13 years old

4'9

has almost set lots of stuff on fire, how she got her name

sent to separate school by family when she was 12 and ran away from that

their parents think they're at school year round for some reason

has bitten multiple people

has a lighter always, that her brother gave her, but she's banned from all other lighters

bit of a loner

Sky: (he/him)

9

a lot like Les but not

uses looking younger to his advantage to selling papes

when he's not doing anything, he's juts looking up, staring at the sky

in modern era his favorite movie is Mary Poppins and if that doesn't say anything, I don't know what does.

became a Newsie when he was 4 and both his parents died

kinda sad how independent he is (thinking about my little brother like him)

(hes kinda based off my little brother)

very adhd

remembers everything you say around him

can't read very well and has to get the headlines read to him

Brooklyn has a lot of littles but there are still some more unnamed older ones

[baura-bear]

I need stray and specs relative hcs

I love them both sm :') they made uksies such an amazing experience

I think Specs is the older sibling but they're quite close in age (like 1-2 year age difference). They've both always been pretty laid back because they quickly realized that as long as they had each other everything would be fine.

I don't have any specific hcs about their home life or where they lived before becoming newsies, but I think they ran away because it wasn't a great situation to be living in. They were pretty young and Specs was very very protective of her initially because of his status as older brother and the "men have to be strong and protect women" societal norm. They were both very self sufficient and didn't need to rely on each other but Specs was still very protective. He would braid her hair to keep it from getting snagged or grabbed while they were living on the street. He always was very calm even when he was scared because he never wanted to worry her. Pretty quickly they found joined the Manhattan newsies where Specs' older brother role extended to the rest of the newsies. He sees a lot of the younger boys as younger brothers and treats them as so, always happy to help with anything!

Stray sold with Manhattan for a little bit until her and Specs met Spot on a trip to Brooklyn. They were probably there visiting Coney Island or a visiting circus, something fun to do after a long day of selling. Specs was being an Annoying Older Sibling and Spot ended up seeing it. Initially she didn't realize they were siblings so she comes over ready to beat this shit out of Specs so Stray has to be like "Please don't kill my brother" From there on out Spot and Stray become friends and slowly Stray is spending more and more time in Brooklyn until she's an official Brooklyn girlsie! Specs was actually very hesitant about "letting" her switch over to Brooklyn because he still felt like he needed to protect her and she just had to be like "I'm old enough to take care of myself and make my own decisions. You've done so much for me but this is what I want and ultimately you don't have a say" and Specs is like "Ok slay, have fun bestie" (Plus Manhattan is a bit of a boys club and Stray could not stand the STENCH that wafted from boys during the summer) She stops braiding her hair when she moves to Brooklyn it's sort of a symbol of the safety and freedom she finds with the Brooklyn newsies.

Of course they both still visit each other! It was less often before the strike but afterwards after the union is formed the boroughs all start communicating more with each other and it gives Specs and Stray more chances to see each other. Specs will braid her hair while they catch up or Stray will bring an new animal over to Manhattan that she "adopted" that week (one week she finds a teeny puppy and the boys all go absolutely wild)

(I have no clue if Imogen or Sam have spoken on either of their backstories so if anything doesn't align with what they've said please forgive me)

[newsiesficchallenges]

Day Five of Brooklyn’s Here!

Happy Day Five! Clicky button day!

[girlsies-week-2023]

I DID make a difference really long & fancy introduction post for this but then I accidentally deleted it so you get this.

Girlsies week !! Any art following the prompts & celebrating the women of newsies is welcome, as long as it's after the events starting date (December 9th) even if it's late !!! It can follow girl newsies, or Meddda, or Katherine, or Sarah, or literally any of the women of newsies !!! Just please no nsfw things :3

My ask box on both this & my main ( @undescribed1mage) will always be open for questions relating to the event, & I will be reblogging posts following the prompt that I see / am tagged in !!

Have fun !!

[lithuanianking]

Day 4

Here's some bowery beauty's dress disigns I did a bit back,Inspired by Victorian burlesque show dresses

They don't look the best but I think the disigns are solid. I have a dress for medda I drew and a concept for her theater.

It's crazy I'm getting through girlsies week when it's also tech week.

[undescribed1mage]

Rating, Archive Warning(s), and Category: Teen & Up, None, Gen

Fandom(s): Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: The Musical

Relationship(s): Buttons & Tommy Boy, Splasher & Tommy Boy, Buttons & Splasher

Character(s): Tommy Boy, Buttons, Splasher, Racetrack Higgins

Additional Tag(s): Girlsies Week, Girlsies Week 2023, Blood and Injury, Hurt/Comfort, References to Christianity, Religious Guilt, Mentioned Delancy Brothers, Marriott Newsies (2017), Maltz Jupiter Newsies (2017), Arena Stage Newsies (2019), <- Buttons Tommy Boy & Splasher in that order, Post-Seize The Day fight, Scabs, Tommy-Boy Centric, Sister-Sister Relationships

Summary:

Tommy Boy lets Buttons go after Race, before slowly following behind her — definitely not because she's a little (a lot) afraid of Race right now — as Splasher’s sobs slowly quiet, and they enter the Lodging House bedroom. She knows — staring at Splasher’s bloodstained face over Racetrack’s shoulder — that both Splasher and Buttons’ injuries are all her fault. If she hadn't convinced them to scab —

(She worked herself sick over the pastor at the local church not approving of the strike and what that'll mean for herself and her friends by the time the Delanceys approach her with the offer — free papers for a month and a half if she scabs and brings other people with her — and she, like an idiot, takes it, dragging Splasher and Buttons down with her, because they're the most important people in her life, and —)

— then they would've been fine. Maybe a little bruised, but everyone else would've been perfectly fine with helping them because they hadn't betrayed them like she had.

Or — Tommy Boy, Buttons, and Splasher after the Fight.

[Written for Day One of @girlsies-week-2023: Your Favorite Newsie as a Girl.]

[can-we-do-christmas-in-june]

so i was gonna try and participate in Girlsies week. however, my depression is back with a vengeance, and i kinda have to prioritize staying alive over girlsies week. im sorry guys. i do have a fic written for day 1, so ill probably post that.