so follow me d o w n [where to?] *Open*

[Doll]

As much of a little kid it made her feel, she could honestly not resist running along boats as they left, trying to race them to the end of the docks. Doll always felt at home around here, so it was no problem for her to navigate her way around all the boats, occasionally climbing around, making herself completely at home in the large docking of ships. It was almost impossible for her to not make herself at home. Every once in a while she'd see a sailor from when she was little and would wave at them, or she would talk to them. It was like being with dad.

But of course, there was another reason she was here. Apparently her mom was getting pretty close to finding her (which she was bad since she didn't want to be found), so she had to find a way to get her off her trail. To Doll it was a game of cat and mouse, she had to think. She thought best when in her own territory, and with boats, she felt at home. Since she'd never really bothered to tell much about her past, this was a nice way to get connected back to it without all the bad memories.

Not knowing where she was born, she remembered learning most of what she knew on a boat with her dad and Soldier. Mother never wanted her and Soldier on the boats but they had never listened, and when they hadn't been able to be with dad, they sold papers. After he had died Doll and Soldier had just gotten into routine of going to sell papers. She'd always been in Brooklyn or a boat, so it was never a wonder as to why she never wanted to leave Brooklyn at all. Looking down she looked at what Spot had given her.

They hadn't told anyone yet, but she'd have to tell Muse, or maybe Bear. There was a lot to be done, but that would be done in time. So for now, she climbed up one of the beams and sat down on it, looking at all the boats surrounding her. This was nice, a great view, and a place to think. Doll wondered if Spot had ever taken the time to climb up one of the beams and look at the scenery. He had his throne, but that was all she thought. She'd have to show him the views you saw from the beams.

[Bloody Jack]

Bloody Jack Butler walked down the pier at a lesiurely pace. She used her umbrella as a walking stick and liked the noise it made as it hit off the wood. Her heels followed up to make a pattern of clicks. Clunk, click click, clunk, click click. She looked upwards, her hand holding her expensive hat as she did so. She saw a girl sitting above her on a beam.

Jacky smiled up at her. It was cold, no real feeling, but one would have to be an expert to tell the difference. "Hello! Dear me, child, if you were wearing a dress, every sailor from Brooklyn to Timbuktu would be standing where I am now!" She laughed, again, it had no warmth to it. She sighed and, leaning her umbrella gently up against a wall, Jacky undid her hat, set it on her umbrella, reached her gloved hands upward till she touched a bottom beam and hauled herself up. She did this until she was on the same beam as the girl. She balanced on her heels before sitting down.

"Now. Why are we up here?" She asked, looking at the girl and studying her. Very pretty compared to the other street children she had seen, a nice looking child, with an expensive looking ring on her finger. Jacky knew that with three swift movements--one to reach into her dress, another slash upward to cut her finger off, and a third to catch the finger and push her off the beam to the pier below. Not enough to kill her, but enough to cause damage that would have her severly incapacitated. All Jacky would have to do is stand, walk back down the beam to the other side and drop down and walk away.

Jacky came back to the present and looked out over the harbor, her kid booted feet swung back and forth as she surveyed the area. "Lovely, isn't it? Reminds me of Cork, it does. Hated Cork, but lovely view and lovelier boys." Jacky glanced at the girl and then held her hand out to her, her white glove only slightly dirty and wrinkled. "Jack Butler, and you are?" She asked, putting on a nice innocent expression with her eyelids down just enough to make her look especially innocent.

[Doll]

Tensing up when the woman came and sat down there, she hid it easily and kept her face impassive. Doll answered her question with ease, "I'm lookin' for somethin'. It's easy when your perched high enough to see everything in sight." It was normal for a woman, who looked like this lady, to climb up on beams, while wearing a dress at that. Sizing the lady up nonchalently, she looked around, pretending she was looking for a ship, when honestly she was just looking around. You just didn't trust strangers all the time.

"I like the view from Singapora better," she replied, looking out, "They always have something interesting in their ports." Doll liked going to different places with her dad, and since he had always done business there with the silk imports and such so she had always gotten to look out at all the ships she had never seen. They always interested her, and since dad was there she could have seen them. It dawned on her that the ship might be here today at the docks...

"Johanna," Doll replied, not bothering to give her the name others had for her, "My dad worked on the boat over there," she pointed towards a familiar cargo ship, then shook Jack's hand, then putting her hands in her pockets, fiddling with the ring. She asked curiously, "I thought ladies weren't allowed to climb up onto beams. I know for fact the crew of the Anne Louise isn't the best bunch, so you might wanna be careful how you sit." She was a bit happy remembering things like this, because she had been taught them for a reason of survival.

[Bloody Jack]

"Yes, it is easy to see everything when you are high up like a bird." Jacky said meaningfully, letting her words sink it. "I bet you can see absolutely everything that goes on around here." Jacky looked at Doll. "Have you been to Singapora? Alot I mean? I've only been to England and Ireland and I must advise you; skip over the land of the Irish if you ever head that way. They're all a bunch of totterin' drunks they are." She nodded, her perfect curls bouncing around.

Jacky stopped kicking her feet quickly and looked at Doll. "You know quite a bit about ships, my dear. I am impressed. And I'm a hard one to impress. Trust me." She rolled her eyes, thinking of a few members of the Thieves. "I hear that Singapora has many fine silks. Many of my dress materials are shipped from there to Paris..."

Jacky inclined her head. "Nice to meet you, Johanna." She said graciously. Jacky looked over at the ship Doll was talking about. "Oh! It is adorable! Almost like a child's toy. I almost expect a doll to be sitting on it." She chuckled, again letting her words sink in. She sighed and tilted her head back.

"Ladies... Yes, well, I am not a lady, dear Johanna. I was born and raised in the slums of London. Thank you for the complement. No, I just know many powerful people is all. Many powerful people." Jacky looked around. "That lot of coves right there? How about this?" She stood, lifted her skirts and for lack of a better term, mooned them. She sat down, laughing so hard tears ran down her cheeks. "I think the poor bloke had an attack." She said, wiping the tears away.

Jacky looked at her. "I could care less about them and what they think. They're all the same in every port, can't wait to lay their hands on any female flesh they see. Good thing they can't reach us, eh?" She nudged Doll gently, winking.

[Doll]

Now Doll was nervous, but hid it, not wanting to give the lady the satisfaction of knowing who she was. "Yea, I've been. Pa did business there, so I'd tag along. I remember some words, but only ones that are useless." With the whole doll thing mentioned, she was on edge. Nonchalently moving her hands around the beam, not to grip it from falling, but to give herself something to push off of for speed in case she had to run. Why? Well, you never knew when you had to run. She was a bit used to running by now.

Laughing, she almost forgot about what she was nervous about. Keyword being almost. You just didn't forget someone who hinted off to knowing your newsie name. It just didn't work like that in Brooklyn. Blushing a little at Jack's comment, she nodded, "I'd bust their heads wide open before they tried to get to me. They know not to mess with me." Well, their sons did, if they had any. She remembered some of them, and how her and Soldier would fight with them sometimes, just for practice of course, but it always made Dad mad. That she rememered.

"I think my Pa's been to London and Ireland, I dont know, I stayed on the boat or here most of the time." She was still weary of the lady, but that wasn't it. Most of the time, you just didn't talk about family. It was uncomfortable when you talked to people about it. Most newsies liked to think that their family was perfect, but in reality your dad would rather clobber you than give you a hug. Doll was glad her dad wasn't that kind, but her mother... she just had no love for her. There had never been a connection between her and her mother.

[Bloody Jack]

Jacky raised her eyebrows. "I see. Well, your father sounds most accomplished." She said, her haughty and cold attitude coming back suddenly. She lifted her chin up and sat up straighter, regaining the air of a distinguished lady. "I imagine your father procured silks for you and your mother. 'Tis the only proper thing to do." She said, waving an airy hand that was gloved in a white rich material.

"Now dear, why would they try and get to you when they could get to me?" Jacky asked, fixing her with a pitying look. Her eyes held and evil glint in them, lifeless, like there was no soul. And if you asked Jacky's family members, she did not. "I can understand how you might be... interesting to some of the boys here, but I doubt any would seriously want to marry you. Men only want to marry women who are kind and docile and... chaste." Jacky said, smiling in a manner that said she felt sorry for Doll's delusions.

Jacky ignored Doll's last statements. All she said was, "Staying off the coast and looking is a sorry excuse for an adventure." She sniffed, looking away. "See, my parents sent me to live with a sorry excuse of a man when I was only... Hmm... Nine, I believe. He certainly liked to smack me and my sisters around and he took an interest in little Polly. I snuck up on him one night as he loomed over her and busted his head open with an axe." Jacky said, her voice lowering into a whisper. It was a chilling whisper, with excitement in it.

Bloody Jack was revealing herself.

[Doll]

She rubbed the back of her neck nervousy. Her dad never really got her silk, only her mom. "Actually, Mother was the only one who got the silk. I didn't want any. It'd be too hard to climb beams and ropes if your wearing silk... could tear easily." Doll wasn't proper. She never quite was. Sure, she knew her table manners, say please and thank you dont follow strangers home if you dont think they're safe. But proper... if she was proper than Bear wouldn't snore and Muse would be a freaking saint. There was no proper in Brooklyn.

Now she felt uncomfortable talking to this lady, Jack. She didn't think she was pretty, and apparently Jack thought so too. And when she said no one would probably want to marry her... that hurt. It stung. Did that mean Spot didn't like her? That maybe he pitied her? Doll ran a hand through her hair, the hair she cut with a knife. She wasn't proper for that. She replied, muttering, "Well I'm not like that and others like me for it." Jack, it seemed to her, was a bit of a... bully. That's what it was. A bully.

She resisted the urge to stare at Jack like she was mad. Doll had seen murderers before, heck she'd lived with them. But the fact that she used an axe just unnerved her a smidge. "An axe?" she asked, keeping her voice even, "Nice. But isn't that a bit messy? Why an axe?" She didn't quite know much on murder, but when one of the older boys from when she was little 'accidently' killed someone, it was always a knife, or snap of the neck. Always a clean kill. Never an axe. Where did you get an axe in New York anyway?

[Bloody Jack]

Jacky rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously if you wore silk you would be more careful. Look at me," She said, gesturing to her dress. "This is a fine silk from Asia, made in Paris, shipped from London, bought in New York by a Mister Wilson for my pleasure." She said, smiling primly. "And I don't usually climb things like this, or do strenous activites beside what I need to, and look! No tears!" She said proudly, sniffing loudly.

Jacky laughed out loud. "They like you, do they? I am sure they do..." She shook her head slowly, in an even more pitying manner. "They may say they like you to your face, but behind your back, they are laughing at you and talking about you. How oblivious you are to the truth. Judging by your ring, someone had pledge to marry you. But... Is he marrying you because he loves you, or just to get what you won't give before marriage? Who knows, he may leave you after only one child instead of six..." She chuckled.

"Why an axe... Why indeed?" Jacky murmured. "I like the feel of the wood on my hands, the reassuring weight in my arms, the sound and the feeling it made when it hit him. A gun is impersonal, and a knife... You can only cause little wounds. They kill all the same, knives, but not the effect I wanted. I planned it out... Nearly took his head off with the first swing." Jacky waved a dismissive hand. "Of course, this is all speculation because the Honorable Courts of England dismissed all charges against me... Because and eleven year old child cannot kill anyone." Jacky murmured, looking at Doll in the eyes. Of course, she had killed her uncle, of course she had. She remembered everything, she always wanted too remember it. She would tell the story on her death bed, she would let the world known what she had done, and then she would greet the Devil with open arms.

[Doll]

She couldn't help but wonder how anyone even cared about dresses, but all the same, Jack had a way making her feel like trash. Wasn't her fault that she couldn't quite afford one, and that she didn't want to wear one. Doll couldn't do her work in a dress. Sure it worked as a disguise, but that was it. A disguise. If she wanted to run she wasn't gonna be running around in silk, or any kind of dress. You couldn't run in that. You could run in pants, and that was better.

Still silent, she listened to Jack, and felt sick to her stomach. What if her friends did laugh at her behind her back? What if Muse only pitied her, and Bear was only nice to her cause she was his boss? Doll felt bad. Spot loved her, right? He wouldn't just marry her for... he wouldn't. Or would he? She looked down below her, not bothering to respond to that. She felt sick, and if Jack was intent on being rude to her, she could go on, but now she just didn't want to talk.

Was all this true? Did no one like her? As much as she liked to believe Jack was wrong, she couldn't help but feel like she was right. Doll wasn't the girl next door, she never wore a dress unless forced, and her hair... it definitely wasn't the best. Were people ashamed to even be near her? Did her friends pity her, and did Spot only be with her so in some way he could embarass her? She held tight to the beam, ready to jump down, one of the only places she felt home at was now a cold, barren area she couldn't recognize.

"Ah, I see," was all Doll could say to that. This was probably the first lady she met who had actually killed someone. it was... different. Very different. Looking up, she squinted and looked at the sun, "It's getting towards around five I think. Docks are gonna close soon." Perfect excuse to leave. It wasn't the whole killing thing that bothered her, it was the whole talking about how apparently no one liked her. This was probably the time she wished Soldier was around, he'd have her back.

[Bloody Jack]

Jacky looked at Doll, she could almost read the girl's thoughts. She was so... transparent. She was worried, self-conscious, suddenly so afraid that everyone she knew secretly despised her. "Oh, dear! I am sure you have a lovely personality!" Jacky tittered, her hand waving dismissively. She smiled cruelly, enjoying striking home.

She looked at the sunset. It made the sky look red. Like blood. Jacky turned toward Doll suddenly, her face alight savagely. Her pistol was in her left hand, poked into Doll's side, her right hand was around Doll's wrist. "Now you will listen to me. I am going to climb and you are going to follow me. Once at the pier, I will collect my things and we will go for a walk. Do you understand?" Jacky asked with mock sweetness, cocking the gun.

Jacky was bloodthirsty. But she would not kill Doll unless Doll did not comply. She wanted to cause fear. And kidnapping Spot's girl and the number one bird would be wonderful. It was cause so much pain and fear and hurt... She revealed in it. "I also have my knife, so if you do anything funny, I will shot you so you cannot run then cut you apart as you live. Do you understand?" Jacky asked, nodding. "If you do, then you will live. If you do what I say, you will live. Otherwise, Spot will be planning a funeral and not a wedding."

[Doll]

When the gun went to her side she froze, holding back on saying every swear word she knew. Of course, she thought, let's all kidnap Spot's girl and make him mad! Doll made her face impassive, void of emotion. All that making her feel bad had been a set up. Hearing the gun cock was enough to get her to listen. Jack probably had good aim, and climbing up would only stall. Nodding her head, she just stared straight forward. Leave it to Doll to get kidnapped. First Ghost, now this? Damn someone out there either hated her or wanted to piss off Spot.

Listening to Jack's threat, she responded, "Understood." That was all she could say. Doll didn't want to provoke the girl any further, and was (trying to) keep calm about this whole thing. She was mad, and scared. This definitely was not on the agenda. Hopefully someone would know what was going on, and maybe tell Spot. She couldn't leave them anything to follow off of. No bread crumbs or pebbles like in hansel and gretel, hopefully Bear would use his skill to find her. Besides, she'd have to go with Jack, she didn't to cause Spot the pain of a funeral.

[Bloody Jack]

Jacky smirked. "Glad to see someone knows how to behave around here." Jacky muttered, climbing slowly to her feet, the hand not holding the gun shot out and grabbed Doll's arm, yanking her to her feet. The gun was hidden by her long sleeves, but the sleeve would not stop her from killing Doll. She had good aim. She was practiced. "Now, walk slowly over to the ladder there and wait. I'll climb down first and then you'll follow and we'll take a little walk."

Jacky kept her eyes and her gun trained on Doll's face. Doll's eyes would reveal any movements she was about to make. Jacky crossed in front of the other girl, reaching for the ladder. She found and placed one foot on the top rung, then paused, waiting to see what Doll would do. "Smile dear, I'm not going to kill you... Yet." She laughed coldly. "If you alert anyone, I will shoot you on the spot, through the head. If anyone questions us, we are just acquaintinces and you are showing me around Brooklyn."

She glared at Doll, seeing if anything was sinking in. "Got it? You had better. Or... My finger might twitch." She smiled, it was a cruel frightful thing; the smile of a devil. Jacky was enjoying herself immensly.