Darker London-Uncover what is underneath...

Mal and Ardal were having a very interesting effect on one another. Their cigarettes behind the school had become a daily ritual, which meant that Mal actually showed up at school every day, which was something of a miracle. School was almost out for summer holidays anyway, and Mal actually didn't want it to end because that meant that his daily smokes would end too.

( Influence )

Mal went to school the next day, even though Rage was still in his bed. He wanted to stay with her, but when she'd kneed him in the balls after the 25th time she'd told him to go without her, Mal decided he should probably listen. Rage would likely have struck a critical blow next. Like removing his balls.

( Connection )

When Rage wasn't in school, it gave Malachy cause to worry. He knew she wouldn't be there if she wasn't forced to be. But it was that fact alone that caused his stomach to contract violently when he couldn't find her anywhere. Her father claimed that school was the most important thing a young person could do, and he took such offense when she didn't attend, that he hurt her. Even if she only took off for a sick day. Rage had attended school with the flu, she'd attended when she was vomiting and the nurse had tried in vain to send her home. This was bad.

( Precursor to Doom )

If Ardal Quinn's first actual encounter with Malachy O'Reilly was bad, the second was worse. Mal's girlfriend, Rage Winthrop, had shown up at school wearing a diamond necklace which she flaunted quite proudly. And Mal did nothing to make her hide the fact that she was wearing a diamond she obviously couldn't afford. He loved it when she flaunted the things he stole for her. Especially when he'd stolen them from rich English pigs like the Dwyers.

( Oh, Awkward.... )

When Malachy O'Reilly finally returned to school after being held and questioned by the police, his triumphant return did not go unnoticed. It was quite the hot topic from the moment someone saw him walking towards the fonrt doors of the school. Mal ignored them, distracted by the fact that he saw his girlfriend, Rage, walking towards him. He broke into a run, ending up at her side. "Rage, what are you doin' here?!" Rage had quit school to focus on her music...or that had been the plan anyway.

( The bookbag )

Malachy was not unused to someone knocking on his window at midnight, but he had to admit that it still startled him every time. He was just glad the knock hadn't come on the door. He would have been sure it was the cops again, coming to take him away after finding damning new evidence that he'd planted the bombs in the patrol cars...

( The er...softer side of thugs? )

The explosion hurt his ears, but Malachy O'Rielly let out a whoop despite that, as glass and debris rained down from the sky and flames overtook the body of the cop car they'd just exploded. He felt someone grab his arm, and when he turned to the side, his lips were met by those of his girlfriend, Rage Winthrop. She was the mastermind behind the operation, and he'd been the one to plant the bombs. Something to scare the English pigs on the police force. Anything. And now they would celebrate their victory.

( Kaboom! )

Ardal had left them and Mal was beside himself about what to do. He was terrified some horrible and tragic calamity would befall his dear boyfriend. And he was also terrified that Ardal just wouldn't come back, even though Ardal had said he would.

As if things in Mal's life weren't complicated enough.

( Life and Death )

It had happened so quickly, none of them had even seen it coming before it was their reality. Without ever meaning to, Mary had become a part of them. She had joined Ardal and Mal's little twosome and, together with her unborn baby, made it into a quartet. They pooled whatever resources they had, and on the occasion that Mary got a place to stay where she could sneak Mal and Ardal in, she did just that. She had also shown the boys how to raid the clothing bins at the Salvation Army to get 'new' clothes. She insisted it wasn't stealing since they had been given away in the first place. That certainly got around Mal’s staunch refusal to steal anything.

( TROUBLE )

He had seen here there all day, and he had watched as people had walked wide to ignore her or stepped around her. He had seen them look right through her. She hadn't seen him, but Malachy had been sitting in front of the McDonald's beside the Dublin bus office holding out a dirty cup for people to drop their change into. Why would she take notice of someone in the same situation she was in?

( The Girl )