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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 14:54:21 GMT -5
Rip stood at the distribution center, ready to sell the evening edition with the other newsies. It was one of the rare days he was free, and well, he wanted to keep an eye on his newsies. With the leaders meeting coming up, he needed to make sure his boys stayed out of trouble for the time being. While he actually didn't mind stirring up some trouble, he knew it was best not do so with the meeting in about a week. It was hard waiting, but he was used to it. If you wanted something, really wanted it, you had to be patient.
It was a slow countdown, but it would be worth it somehow. The borders would be redrawn and his newsies would have better selling. Things were starting to look up for the dark borough.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 14:57:07 GMT -5
Whisper was worried. It had been a long day of walking and there was a lot going on. All that she wanted to do was to make sure that everything would be okay, but everything had felt tense lately. She didn't know whether or not things were going to be okay with Spot and Brooklyn, but she could certainly hope.
Once she had found Rip in the distribution center, she had approached him slowly, still being cautious just in case. "Rip?"
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 14:58:37 GMT -5
"Rip?"
He glanced over at Whisper as she made her way over and gave her a small nod to let her know he heard her. The line wasn't too long, so he needed to keep an eye on his place.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 15:02:27 GMT -5
The lack of response didn't surprise her. Whisper simply continued quietly.
"I just talked ta Spot in Brooklyn."
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 15:08:28 GMT -5
"I just talked ta Spot in Brooklyn."
Rip's lips twitched slightly but other than that his face wasn't really readable. "You don't have ta report every little thing you do," he answered sharply. "If you want ta talk ta Spot, that's your business."
He moved farther up in line. Why did she feel she needed to talk to Spot? Why girls had to get into his business was beyond him... but right now, he needed to buy his papers and focus on keeping the boys out of trouble until that stupid meeting. He just hoped it would be worth it. Jack had said it was to talk about fair borders for everyone.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 15:13:08 GMT -5
"You don't have ta report every little thing you do. If you want ta talk ta Spot, that's your business."
Whisper huffed a bit. "Rip, things ain't right around here. Can't ya tell? Everyone's on edge because of that meetin' comin' up."
It was frustrating, hearing the chatter when she was trying to fall asleep, or standing in line to get her papers. She was getting tired of it all.
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 15:15:26 GMT -5
"Rip, things ain't right around here. Can't ya tell? Everyone's on edge because of that meetin' comin' up."
Rip stopped and frowned down at her. "What meetin'?" he asked sharply. He certainly hadn't mentioned anything about a meeting, not even to his birds. He didn't feel it was necessary to tell them and give them false hopes about the possible new borders. So, how on earth did Whisper know about this? He was pretty sure she had not been around when Jack had informed him of the meeting.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 15:20:46 GMT -5
"What meetin'?"
Whisper frowned a bit before suddenly realizing why Spot must have suddenly seemed so surprised when she had mentioned it. Rip had never told her about it, she had been overhearing it from people.
"The meetin'... about the boundaries." She cleared her throat. Was it meant to be a secret?
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 15:25:53 GMT -5
"The meetin'... about the boundaries."
Rip narrowed his eyes at her. "An' where did you hear about this meetin'?"
It wasn't good if people who weren't supposed to know knew. It would get them riled up, especially if the new lines weren't in favor for Queens. That was exactly why he had never mentioned it to the boys. He had noticed that the boys seemed antsy. He would had to have been blind not to, but he had thought it was because of the ranging prices. The price for papers kept fluctuating and made everyone irritable. If they had a bone to pick with him, he would know.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 15:28:13 GMT -5
"An' where did you hear about this meetin'?"
Whisper really did her best to not show the nerves that suddenly gripped her on her face, simply shrugging a bit. "Everyone's been talkin' about it... I thought ya told someone."
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 15:32:11 GMT -5
"Everyone's been talkin' about it... I thought ya told someone."
Rip's scowl darkened. Great, so the whole borough knew? This was just great... He ignored Whisper and left the line. There would be hell to pay for whoever let all of Queens know about something that was supposed to be private.
He needed to head to the lodge, he would look at the log book and talk to the lodge owner about who had all been in when Jack had stopped by to talk to the meeting. He was boiling now. Whoever had leaked this information had just made the tension in Queens worse and he wasn't going to allow that person whoever it was to get away with it.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 15:36:04 GMT -5
Whisper was a bit surprised by the sudden exit of Rip, though she quickly headed after him. She didn't know what he was bound to do, but she didn't want this tension to continue in the borough, and it would only get worse if Rip started interrogating and suspecting everyone.
"Rip, wait, things'll get worse if ya get involved now!" She called after him, finally catching up to his side despite his quick strides.
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 15:50:06 GMT -5
"Rip, wait, things'll get worse if ya get involved now!"
He glanced over his shoulder at her, not even bothering to stop. "Haven't you done enough?"
She just had to go talk to Spot of all people... and tell him. It would have been better to keep her mouth shut. Rip was tired of hearing about Spot! He would like some down time to rethink things. The whole meeting had given him a golden opportunity to rethink and get an idea of how Spot was reacting to things. And now, instead of "calming down" so to speak, he had to go look for a rat in his borough. Well, he should have known better. Things never liked to go smoothly for him.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 15:51:47 GMT -5
"Haven't you done enough?"
His words were enough to make her steps slow to a stop, a frown deepening on her face. "Excuse me?"
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 15:56:11 GMT -5
"Excuse me?"
Rip didn't stop. He either heard her and didn't care or hadn't heard her at all. He was determined to smoke out the rat that ruined his plans and worsened the tension in Queens. He wouldn't let anything get in his way right now.
While he wasn't in a major hurry, it was nice to know the boys' lodge wasn't too far from the distribution center. It only took about five minutes to get there, three since Rip had long legs. He didn't even bother greeting the lodge owner as he grabbed the log book and flipped through the pages to see who was all checked in the past couple of days.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 16:00:53 GMT -5
By the time that Whisper had begun moving again, her steps were coming quickly and quietly. Once Rip had headed into the boys lodge, she lingered back a ways, trying to observe from afar through the opened door what he was doing in there. Girls weren't usually welcomed in the boy's lodge, after all.
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 16:03:30 GMT -5
Rip scowled as he looked over the log book. The list of names checked in for the day Jack had stopped by wasn't short, but at least it wasn't too long. It shouldn't be too hard to narrow down once he spoke with Mr. Folwell. He had made the lodge owner a bit irritated... so he would have to go inside the office to apologize and get the information he needed.
With a soft sigh, he entered the office with the log book and shut the office door behind him.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 16:05:32 GMT -5
Whisper cursed under her breath as soon as Rip had vanished from view into what she assumed would have been the office, at least if she was basing it off of what she knew from the girl's lodge. It seemed as though things would be more complicated now... and perhaps she would have to pay Spot another visit the next day to tell him that Rip didn't seem to have told anyone in Queens, so the information leak was more than likely coming from somewhere else.
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 16:25:18 GMT -5
Rip and Mr. Folwell had a long talk. It took a bit of patient coaxing to get Mr. Folwell to recall who was all in the lodge that day. Rip had met with Jack in the office so they wouldn't be overheard, but there was still a chance someone had been up to no good. It made things a little less complicated. So after about an hour, Rip knew who he needed to talk to about people knowing about the leaders meeting.
He cracked his knuckles. They would be taught a lesson they wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon. It wouldn't be serious damage. He couldn't do that to one of his own, but he had to be firm so they knew that something like that was unexceptable.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 16:27:50 GMT -5
Whisper had loitered around the nearby buildings for a good long time while she had waited for Rip to be done with his talk. It had been a long wait but she had never minded, considering she wasn't really the type to do much else beyond sitting in her bed alone for the rest of the night, maybe going out for some tea when she would have some extra money. She just had to make sure that everything was okay.
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 17:00:57 GMT -5
Rip moved quickly. He wasn't one to walk slowly when he had business to take care of. And despite being tall, he somehow knew how to blend in with a crowd or the shadows to stay out of sight. He didn't like standing out unless he wanted to. Right now, it was best for the boys not to know he was looking for them. He was going to watch them from afar before confronting them.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 17:03:59 GMT -5
While Whisper had honestly seen Rip coming out of the lodging house, she had found that he was a bit difficult to keep track of initially when she was trying to not only keep herself relatively concealed but also keep up with him. She had received some odd looks from people in passing but she didn't mind.
So, doing her best to keep up... Whisper was still struggling.
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 17:07:26 GMT -5
Rip stopped in an alleyway, out of sight, but where he could see a couple of his newsies selling and just talking. He was close enough to where he could barely catch what they were saying. His eyes narrowed as he listened carefully. Anything they said could signal if they had been the one to spread the news about the meeting.
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Post by Whisper on Feb 25, 2019 17:09:25 GMT -5
By the time that Rip had stopped, Whisper had looked away for one moment and he was gone. Cursing under her breath, she slowly began creeping forward, trying to approach and figure out where he had gone whilst also keeping out of sight, but it was hard trying to remain inconspicuous and approach to see if Rip was hiding there or if he was trying to take a detour to get away from her.
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Post by Rip on Feb 25, 2019 17:19:54 GMT -5
Rip had been focused on the boys when he noticed someone out of the corner of his eye: Whisper. He frowned. What on earth was she doing here? He stayed put as he watched her, letting the boys walk further away from hearing range. Not that it mattered anymore, he had gathered enough information from them. They weren't the culprits he was looking for. At this moment, Whisper was his target to watch.
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