Write what you know, all I know, is that I don't know what to write, or the right way to write it; and as I may have mentioned I have nooo cluuuue whaat I'm doing...

Those lyrics sum this up pretty well haha.

Especially as I may have mentioned I have noo cluuue whaat I'm doing that sums up me doing pretty much anything haha.

So the thing about this chapter is that it's Denton and Katherine working together. And this kinda breaks 92sies and Livesies. 

And ... this chapter is 100% me. (Aside from the lyrics).

I just ... feel like this is something I need to write about, you know?

I'm going to make you love the Denton/Katherine father/daughter dynamic.

Anyway, we'll just all have to Watch What Happens.

Enjoy! :)

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Katherine's mind races with all the possibilities. She has an extra spring in her step as she walks with Denton back to his apartment, where his typewriter is. Tonight, they're writing the story of today, making it tomorrow's news.

She can't wait.

Denton sees how happy she is and grins. "You seem extra excited today."

She continues with a spring in her step, genuine smile on her face. "It's just that this is my first big story."

Back when she worked for The World, she only covered small things. Gardening columns. Vaudeville shows. Unimportant things. Not that she didn't love the vaudeville shows--it's just that she wanted to write about something bigger. Still, her father never let her cover anything that made the front page.

At least, that was before he fired her. She gets why he fired her, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.

Denton knows how much this story means to Katherine, the chance to finally write a big story.

"You know," he tells her, "this is going to be an above-the-fold story."

She stops. "Really?!"

Denton chuckles at her excitement. "Of course."

She lets out a high pitched squeal of delight and jumps a little before continuing walking again.

She's been taking a lot of notes, and she has so many ideas.

Surely she'll know what to do when it comes to actually writing the article.

They reach Denton's apartment not too much later. Time to write.

Katherine loves the feeling of typing. She loves pressing each key down, and seeing the letter appear on the paper. It's a sort of magic of its own. She's always been fascinated by typewriters work. Maybe someday she can take one apart and finally see how it works.

The only typewriter they have is Denton's, which is normally something Katherine's not allowed to touch (due to her sometimes being clumsy and sometimes making rash movements and a broken typewriter is the last thing they need), but he knows how much she loves it, so if she has something that she has to write in her way, he'll let her use it.

"You ready to get started?" He asks her as they enter the room.

"I've been ready all day!" she answers.

"Alright, then." He sits down. "Let's get started."

She sits down next to him, and they begin.

He hesitates before actually typing anything. She knows the face he's making; that's the face he makes when he's conflicted on what the headline should be. Because Denton can't and won't settle for just some boring headline; he needs something that stands out and is still authentic. Katherine gets all of that.

So she starts coming up with headline ideas. 

The Newsies' Strike ... A Few Modern Day Davids Against The Worst Goliath ... Newsies Shut Down The World...

"Newsies Shut Down The World," Katherine says out loud.

"Hm?"

"That can be the headline." She amends, "or at least, part of it."

"Hm." He nods thoughtfully. "I like it. But what if it was-"

"Newsies Stop The World?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking." He faces the typewriter, still not typing anything yet. He turns back to her. "What about The Children's Crusade: Newsies Stop The World?"

"I love it!" she answers enthusiastically.

And so he begins to type. CHILDREN'S CRUSADE: NEWSIES STOP THE WORLD.

"Well, I'd say we're off to a good start," Denton declares.

"Good start," she echoes empathetically.

"Well, we got past the hard part of choosing a headline," he says. "Now it's time for the other hard part: actually writing the story."

"Ugh." Katherine sinks back in her chair empathetically. "Tell me about it."

She knows that she can be over the top sometimes. But Denton doesn't seem to mind. Her father always wanted her to act more normal. But she could never figure out how to be normal. Everyone knew something that she didn't, and everyone was expecting her to know it too. Unlike her father, and unlike everyone else, Denton doesn't expect her to know that elusive thing that everyone but her knows.

Denton reviews some of his notes, and starts typing.

Katherine's leg bounces as she watches Denton type with his dexterous fingers. She looks over some of the things she wrote--a lot less neat than what Denton has on his notepad. But most of what she wants to write is still in her head--trying to make its way onto the pages of a newspaper not yet written.

Denton writes a paragraph, two paragraphs, Katherine inserting little ideas here and there. And those little ideas form bigger ideas, some she keeps in her head, some she can't stop herself from saying.

"Well, what do you think of this so far?" Denton asks, and has her read over what he has typed up. He also knows that she'll catch any spelling/grammatical errors and won't be afraid to say them.

"I like it," she tells him. She holds back one little thought, which is let me write something. Maybe if she tamps it down enough, then she'll be fine.

He still senses her burning desire to write. "Alright." He stands up. "I know you got ideas." He gets out of his chair, and motions for her to switch over to his chair. "Write it good."

Katherine is suddenly hit by a huge wave of a feeling--how to describe that feeling in a comprehensible way, she has no clue how to. Is this really happening? She hesitates only a moment, two at most, before sliding into Denton's chair.

You heard the man, she thinks to herself, fingers hovering over the keys. Write it good.

She hesitates. True, she has ideas, but now that she's actually here, it's hard to make them tangible.

She starts typing, her mind full of many things--ideas of what to write, conflicted feelings, and some song that she doesn't entirely remember the tune to. All of these together create this one Feeling, one energy, and she draws on that energy to write this now.

Write what you know, so they say, all I know is I don't know what to write or the right way to write it--this is big, we can't mess it up.

She thinks about what her father would say. She sees the disapproval on his face. She sees in his eyes the little glimmer taunting her, two ice cold orbs jeering I told you you couldn't do it! She sighs and shakes her head, trying to get her father out of her mind.

Actually, maybe she can channel her anger for him in the direction of writing this.

Poor little kids versus rich, greedy sour pusses like my father--wow, that's a cinch--it could practically write itself.

And honestly? Let's pray it does because yes, I have no clue what I'm doing.

She berates herself for her negative attitude. Am I insane? This is what I've been waiting for--well that, plus the screaming of ten angry editors. "A girl?" "It's a girl, how in the-" "Is that even legal?" Look,  you got this, just go and get her. Be her.

She purses her lips. It's hard enough to be a woman in a field like this one. Especially women like her.

Her ideas grow as she continues writing. Not only that there's a story behind the story, thousands of children exploited, invisible, speak up, take a stand, and there's someone to write about it, that's how things get better!

She keeps going, more into it now. Give life's little guys some ink, and when it dries, just watch what happens. Those kids will live and breathe right on the page, and once they're center stage, you just watch what happens. And who's there with his camera, with her pen, as boys turn into men? As they storm the gates and then just watch what happens when they do!

She squeals out loud at what she wrote. She can't help it; she's just too excited. Denton just smiles. He asks if she has any other ideas, which she's learned is cue for how soon until I get my typewriter back? which she answers with Just one more idea.

She has a lot more ideas. She'll just have to see how many of them will make it here.

Because this is what she's been waiting for her entire life. A chance to prove herself.

The thing is, for someone who has come from a rich upper class family, she hasn't had the easiest life.

Ever since she was little, she knew she was girl, even when the world told her she was a boy just because of the body she was born in. Of course, no one believed her when she said that she was a girl. Her father was always convinced that she was another one of his sons. So she had to grow up forced into something she didn't want, and she was miserable. 

Even so, she loved to write. She was always coming up with stories in her mind, always loved writing things down--anything. When she was old enough, she begged her father to let her work for him. He had agreed, but under one condition--she works as his son. Reluctantly, she had agreed. Writing was her life. But she had to sacrifice a part of herself for this part of her. And she was fine with it, for some time.

Until one day, she couldn't take it. She chose a new name for herself. She bought dresses, wore dresses. Wrote for The World. Until her father fired her and disowned her.

That was when Denton found her. He took her under his wing. He helped her become a better writer than her father ever had. He became like the father she never got to have, one that's kind, supportive, and understanding.

She's worked so much to get to this point right here. She needs something good to happen now.

Katherine channels all of her anger at her past into her writing. She knows this is a cause worth fighting for. If it overthrows people like her father, she's in. One hundred percent.

Denton watches her as she types, as she disregards the rest of the world, totally focused in on what she's writing. He always wonders what goes on in that fantastic brain of hers.

Like someone said, power tends to corrupt, Katherine reasons to herself, and absolute power- she has to lean back. -wait, wait, corrupts--absolutely!

"That is genius!" she murmurs to herself gleefully.

Give me some time and I'll be twice as good as that six months from ... never.

She shakes her head to clear that thought. Nothing negative now. Only positive things.

Just look around at the world we're inheriting, and think of the one we'll create. Their mistake is that they got old, that is not a mistake we'll be making. No, sir, we'll stay young forever.

She stops. Well. We can't actually stay young forever. But we can keep our young mindsets forever. We won't do what they did where they forgot what it was like to be young. We won't actually be like them at all--from this point on, it'll be more than just the old rich white men who will hold the power. It will belong to the people like us, people who are different.

That thought gives her confidence as she finishes her last sentences.

She stands up. "Okay," she says timidly, "I wrote something."

"Yes, I can see you wrote something," Denton tells her, amused. 

"Is it any good?" she asks nervously after one moment.

"Just give me a second to read through it."

She takes a deep breath, heart beating nervously. Her thoughts continue on.

Give those kids and me the brand century, and watch what happens. It's David and Goliath, do or die, the fight is on and I can't wait to watch what happens.

She can't stand still as Denton is reading her words, but she can't sit now either. Her thoughts grow more pressing in her mind, giving her more adrenaline from nothing.

But all I know is nothing happens if you just give in. It can't be any worse than how it's been. And it just so happens that we just might win! So whatever happens...

"It's perfect," Denton tells her with a smile. "This is perfect." He adds more of his own, a few more paragraphs, then wrapping it up.

Katherine glows from the praise. She can't stop the smile spreading across her face.

Let's begin!

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I enjoyed writing that. I really enjoyed writing that.

What did you all think?

Because that? That was different. I don't believe I've seen anything quite like that, nor written anything quite like it.

I'm wondering why I didn't do something like this sooner.

So yes, I have trans Katherine headcanons. I mean, that's how she ended up working at The Sun, right? Instead of The World? Because her father is a transphobe and disapproved of her? 

And that's when Denton found her.

Okay, I've never seen a Denton and Katherine dynamic written before, but now I want more of it, because this is making my heart super soft.

And yes, I have neurodivergent Katherine headcanons. And yes, I definitely wrote her to be neurodivergent here. The most relatable line for me? But she could never figure out how to be normal. Everyone knew something that she didn't, and everyone was expecting her to know it too. That's one of the things that unites pretty much all (if not all) neurodivergent people.

Okay, so I don't get why people fight over if Katherine or Denton is better. Why not have both? Why not have Denton, Sarah, and Katherine exist in the same place? Giving Katherine space to be more than just the reporter/love interest? Give them all some space to develop more?

A lot of people don't like Katherine. I have nothing against Katherine; it's just how Livesies conceived her character. Upper class reporter who will always have her father's money to fall back on. I won't write all the things that I've seen people who are anti-Katherine say, but there are a lot of things that frustrate me about how her character fits into the story and how she interacts with the others. That's why I'm totally changing her character. Because I believe she has the potential to be more than what she's been given to work with.

(Not to mention the historical aspect--Katherine Pulitzer died at the age of 2. Livesies could have made any of Pulitzer's daughters who lived into adulthood into the reporter, but ... they didn't, for reasons unknown. )

And yes, Katherine and Sarah will meet :)

Alright! I think that's it.

So ... how was that??

So ... any guesses of what's next? ;)

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!!!!!!! :)
<3333

Please, no homophobia or transphobia, profanities, hate etc in the comment section.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who believes that any character has the potential to be greater if only they're given a chance to grow)