#meanwhile davey and katherine are a bit more jaded on the surface but have a lot more faith in themselves to actually make things better

[tiredandoptimistic]

The thing that kills me about Jack Kelly is that he's a dreamer without being much of an optimist. He's got his fantasyland and his image of a perfect future, but on some level he doesn't believe that any of it will ever be real. It's a safe way to escape from the shittier parts of his life and it gives him something to strive for when things feel hopeless, but that disconnection from reality means that it's never an actual literal goal. After Crutchie gets taken, Jack copes by painting Santa Fe because that's all he thinks he can do. Katherine and Davey focus on the practical stuff and how to keep the strike going, but for Jack there is no practical solution. He's either got his dream or he's got despair.