#splinter molina

"Betcha a dime I can knock the cigar outta Race's mouth."

@shifterwithnofilter

OOOOOH OKOK

Splinter hates cops in general, but she absolutely hates the sound of police whistles, because they're tied to 2 traumatic events in her life:

1. When she was caught stealing an apple, cops chased her through the street. She tripped and broke her arm, but she kept running like her life depended on it (and it did);

2. During the fight with the strikebreakers, a police whistle pierced through the air and everything fell silent. Romeo screamed at one of the cops "It's about time ya showed up! They're slaughterin' us-" before he was slapped across the face. It doesn't sound like much, but Splinter couldn't stand seeing her brother being hurt by someone who put her in danger so many years ago.

Lucia "Splinter" Molina

Age: 15 (during the strike)

Nationality: Filipino

Borough: Manhattan

Born in Manila but raised in New York.

Became a newsie when she was 10.

Came to the Lodging House with a broken arm.

Finch gave her the nickname "Splinter" because of her splint.

She's generally one of the more chill and responsible newsies (she and Specs get along really well). She loves to crack jokes and make people smile; has great comedic timing.

She doesn't look for trouble herself, but sometimes loves to watch Race and the others prank the Delanceys.

"you gonna tell Jack, Splints?" "I'm in a good mood, c'mon, let's go."

When she's feeling gutsy, she shoots the Delanceys in the head with Finch's slingshot.

Has tan skin, straight dark brown hair in a boycut (think OBC Smalls), and dark brown eyes.

Finch and her are best friends btw.

10/10 would die for each other.

He, Romeo, and Smalls are the only ones who can understand and speak Tagalog.

You can bet your ass they're the chaos squad.

She's anemic, so she gets bruised/scraped more easily than the rest of them.

But on the flip side, she's really fast.

She also carries around spare bandages/band-aids in her pockets.

She also has glasses !!!

Specs and Finch helped her save up to buy her own pair bc she's nearsighted.

Feel free to ask more about her!! I'd love to talk about this gal

Splinter is one of the more musical newsies.

Her family was pretty musical!

Both her parents loved to dance and sing around the house and her mom taught her a lot of Filipino and English songs.

Ever since her parents died, she didn’t really have any opportunity to expand on that musicality.

That was, until Jack took her to one of Medda’s shows.

And she fell in love with music all over again.

Something just clicked inside of her brain.

From that day onward, she could be found singing/humming tunes around the Lodging House.

She simply knew that she had to pursue music in the future.

When she’s too old to be a newsie, she moves in with Specs.

And when she has enough money, she buys a trumpet and learns how to play!!!

She plays at bars.

And!! she even becomes a part of Medda’s theater orchestra!!

Ok so, the root of all her angst comes from her parents.

Nono, I’m not saying that her family life was bad; I’m saying that it started after her parents died.

They were her heroes.

Her mom died first, when she was 9.

She caught something in the winter; it made her cough endlessly and become weak.

No matter how much firewood and blankets they brought in, she wasn’t getting better.

And they didn’t have enough money for a doctor, either.

Splinter was there when she breathed her last.

The sound of her exhaling still rings in her head.

This is why she’s so insistent that the newsies bundle up and stay warm during the winter.

She doesn’t want to lose more family to the cold.

Things became quieter at the dinner table.

She and her dad wouldn’t talk as much, but they still loved each other.

After all, they were family.

But sadly, he would die when she was 10.

See, Splinter liked to draw.

She wasn’t nowhere near as good as Jack, but she loved to draw little stick figures and cute things.

There was one time that she drew a picture of her and her Pa, simple smiles on their faces as they were surrounded by flowers.

She couldn’t wait to show it to him.

And so, she waited.

But her old man never came home.

A friend from work came by the house to tell her what happened.

Her dad got run over by a trolley.

@shifterwithnofilter

She shuts up when someone calls her by her real name, Lucia. It's not really a bad thing; it's just that when the newsies gave Splinter her current nickname, people just stopped calling her Lucia. Her friends only use it in really dire situations like when they need to ground her during panic attacks.

It ain't my best work but oh well