(Nope, it's fine! That was wonderfully written, and sounds just like Thomas.)

With energy in my steps, I head back to the Base – the Italian Mafia's HQ. Within seconds, I know someone is following me. I can smell the person's Irish bloodline a mile away. In other words, the stupid brat is following me. As I turn around a corner to the Base, I catch sight of the person.

A young, Irish girl.

I pause momentarily, then continue on, trying to act suspicious. It isn't every day I run across a wandering Irish downtowner. As I reach the Wall, I pull the loose brick and fall into the trap floor, landing agily on both feet. I wait until I can hear light footsteps sprinting above. I follow the dimly lit path of the Base as my follower crumples to the ground behind me. I push against the shadows and crouch, waiting. Any second now…

As footsteps sprint closer, I jump, and cover the girl's mouth as she let's out a childish scream.

"Shut up! Who are you? Why are you following me?" I spit.

The girl looks terror-stricken, so I shake her, hard.

"Well? Answer me!"

Not surprisingly, the stupid Irish kid replies with a fake name. I'm a natural at telling lies. I grew up surrounded by nothing but falsity and stories from my family. I killed innocent people due to lies. And I still do, willingly.

Again, she replies with more lies. The whole, It was an accident! coverup story. I've heard it a thousand times. Either this girl is just straight out dumb, or… straight out dumb. That is the only answer. 

The Irish downtown throws a punch to my jaw, leaving a stinging feeling for a moment. In shock, I release her, and she is off down the halls. The girl will regret it, I swear.

"Now you are gonna be sorry!" I shout down the empty halls.

Or, what appears to be empty. This was the hideout for the Italian Mafia. Within the walls are pipes… home to rats and disease, but also home to the worse group of downtowners you'll ever meet.

I storm after the girl, then fall back, slipping into a hidden passageway. I know exactly where she is going, so I follow silently.

I catch up to the girl – Cleo, she claimed – and silently stay right behind her small form, grinning to my collegues.

"You came to join me again. How pleasant," I say in a mockingly sweet voice.

"Look who I found snooping around. What should we do with her?"

Lindsey, one of our best Mafia recruits, gives Cleo a hard look. I note almost the slightest bit of sorrow before her expression goes blank.

"Interrogate the brat," she growls, stepping up and taking Cleo from my arms.

"Is Finn (you changed it to that, right, Gared?) here?" I ask as Cleo is tied to a chair.

"No, he left an hour ago with no Irish Mafia reports on the streets, someone calls from the shadows.

"Fine, I'll do it myself," I say, grabbing Cleo's hair and pulling her head back to face my own. "Look me in the eyes, girl!"

Cleo's eyes shoot up and stare, panicked, in mine.

"Are you part of the Irish mafia, or just a stupid wanderer?"

She wrinkles her face and hardens her eyes, giving me the fake I'll hurt you if you say that again look. Yeah, I know that look well.

"It would be unwise not to answer the dude," Lindsey says quietly in Cleo's ear.

"I'm not part of the mafia, but I'm not stupid either," Cleo says. "I have no interest in joining a mafia of either side."

"Are you Irish or Italian?" I ask, although it is obvious, she is clearly Irish.

"How often do you see fair skinned Italians?" Cleo spits, annoyed.

"Actually, quite often," I smirk, slapping her face. "Now don't talk back to me. Lindsey, take this girl in the pipe cells for a while. Is the Boss here?"

"No, he's on a hostage mission for the next day, sir," someone says as Cleo is dragged away, kicking.

"When the Boss returns, we'll talk about what to do with the girl," I growl.

(If this was too much control for anyone, let me know. I left some spots open in the room for people to join in)w 

Okay, so is it fine if I, or someone else, creates a list on here of who is in what Mafia? That way I know who I incorporate into my RP parts without having to read through all the charrie sheets.

I'm going to be leaving for camp tomorrow- in other words, starting around noon tomorrow, I will be off grid for two weeks. I really hope this doesn't die before then. Do what you want with my charrie in the meantime.

~TJ~

7:33 pm.

"Hey, TJ, want to come hang out with us?"

For once, Cassidy sounds like she actually wants me there, not just the protection I can provide from roaming Downtown thugs. Not that they come this far into Uptown anyway. Cassidy's just a scaredy-cat. I consider just hanging up on her, but then think better of it.

"Where are you?"

"Movie theater. We're gonna watch the late-night special; I think it's a double feature, Eagleman 2 and All Fall Down, with some neat sneak peeks of a few other flicks. Wanna come?"

Unbidden, a tendril of fear curls in my belly. I laugh nervously. "Cassidy, it's blackout night. They won't have a late-night special. That's stupid."

"Nuh-uh," Cassidy retorts. "Says right here on the poster. Starts at eight, runs 'til half past one in the morning. Blackout isn't 'til three."

I take a deep breath and force my hands to stop shaking. "Okay, fine. I'll be there in ten."

8:07 pm.

Movie previews are well underway. Ember, another of Cassidy's friends, keeps stealing my popcorn, but I don't really mind. I got the smallest bucket they had, but even that was huge. I try to focus on the screen, but my mind keeps drifting back to the blackout.

One-thirty is when this lets out. The streets might be dangerous even then, an hour and a half before things actually go dark. What have I gotten myself into?

10:18 pm.

Eagleman 2 rolls into end credits. Don't tell Cassidy, but I'm kind of a closet superhero fan. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Ember watches our seats while Cassidy, Brenna, Brenna's boyfriend Jaden, and I take a joint bathroom run. We pop back to the snacks counter to grab more SourBombs and Mint Delites, then slide back in just as All Fall Down starts up.

It's a horror movie about the blackout. I hyperventilate and clutch the armrests the whole time.

1:32 am.

We huddle in a group in the theater lobby. I know for a fact that, even with ninety minutes to spare, both Cassidy and I are scared spitless. She shows it. I do not.

"TJ? How we gettin' home?"

"We'll take the bus. Jaden, if you're broke again, I can pay your fare but you're paying me back the minute the lights come back on, understand?"

He nods. We set out.

2:19 am.

Cassidy's stop is the last. She gets out with a shaky goodbye and jogs in the door to her apartment building. I'm the only one of us five still on the bus. In fact, I'm the only one still on the bus period, except for a couple big guys in leather jackets, lounging in the seats further forward.

This doesn't strike me as odd until it's much, much too late.

By the time I realize we've deviated from the normal bus route, the streets are already narrow and caked with grime. Fear makes my head swim for a moment before the driver's rough voice breaks in, "So how are ya, Crush, Bottlehead?"

If those aren't Downtowner names, then I'm Eagleman. Before I can think about how utterly stupid this might be, I bolt out of my seat. Heedless of the three Downtowners' startled shouts, I dash for the back of the bus, wrench open the emergency door to a chorus of alarms, and jump out of the bus onto solid asphalt.

Pain explodes through my right ankle as I come down hard on it and fall to the pavement. I look up, scrapes on my face and hands stinging, as the bus roars away. Only then do I stop to consider my predicament, and realize this amounts to an "out of the frying pan, into the fire" moment.

Injured. Somewhat tired. Completely lost. Less than an hour to blackout.

What is it Luther says when he doesn't want to be caught swearing? Right, that's it: oh, spacemonkeys.

Oh, spacemonkeys.

I don't really know how I manage to drag myself all the way to Siegfried Square on a twisted and quite possibly sprained ankle, but I do. And immediately stop short when I see the clocktower, terror turning my stomach to lead and every drop of my blood to ice.

2:58 am.

2:59 am.

3:00 am.

The nightmare comes alive.

The girl named "Lindsey" draggs me to a cell. She is strong and rough, but once we are out of sight of everyone else, i struggle. Clearly, i don't have a chance of getting myself out of this underground… whatever it is. No, theses people know the passageaways much better than i do. So, I only struggle to let her know i wasn't going to be "easy".

I kicked her hard in the shins. She let out a strong curse word, and dropped me. I whipped around to get away, but Thomas was leaning on the wall, arms crossed, and with a nasty smirk on his face.

"I hope the prisoner isn't giving you any trouble, Lindsey."

Lindsey looked up guiltily. She had her hand to her shin, where i could see a big bruise rapidly forming, but she stood up straight and awkwardly looked at me.

I was smack in the middle, between Thomas and Lindsey, but I glowered at them both. 

"Well? Are you waiting for an invitation? Grab her!" Thomas calls out sharply. 

Lindsey jumps, then lunges at me. I dodge out of the way. She is so scared of Thomas, she is so nervous right now, that she is stumbling and tripping and altogether being clumsy. Thomas has enough of her.

He barks, voice tight with anger, "Go back to the room, stupid. If you can't catch her, I will."

Lindsey scuttles back to the room. She turns and gives me a stare of hate. So much for any sympathy i might have saw in her, earlier. I give her a lovely, sweet grin. She turns around and stomps off.

Thomas walks up and grabs me. I decide it's best to not give any trouble. So i walk quietly to the cell. 

"Not so tough, now, are you?" He says in a mocking smile. I ignore him. I check my watch. He doesn't have one.

"My goodness, it's 15 minutes to the blackout." I remark. Thomas jumps. "What?!" He thrusts me into he cell, and sprints back up the hallway. I snigger. "He's not gonna be happy that the blackout doesn't happen for another hour."

I grew serious. I needed to get out of here, now. I had to make it back to my house. Thankfully, I always wear bobby pins. Best thing in the world to pick locks. I laughed to myself. Except house door locks. But cells doors were possible. Pretty hard; you have to push hard enough to open it, but there is a big chance your bobby pin snaps.

"Bobby, don't fail me now." I murmur. To my surprise, it is a very simple lock. I pick it quickly and replace the pin in my hair. Then I set off down a hallway.

I decide to follow the hallway to the room. Maybe everyone will have left and i can make it out before they realize I am gone and the blackout isn't happening for a while. I peer in the room. It's creepy; everything is still and no one is in there. I tiptoe through and find two hallways. One slopes downward, one upward. I chose the upward pathand follow it.

Charles~

"Lock all the doors!" I bellow. "Secure all the gates! Close all the safes! Leave nothing available to those theives! Prepare the curtains!" I shout and give my orders. Can't those clumsy servants be quicker? I glance at my richly ornamented watch. 5 more minutes.

"Sir! The carriage! The horses!" a servant yells. I groan, and clap a hand to my forehead. I forgot about them. I rush outside. They already have been taken in. "Phew." I turn around to go back inside when the gates close. Oh no. I shakily look at my watch. 2:59 and 50 seconds. Oh great. I watch as it turns 3:00. This is not good. I am out of my house. And it's blackout time. 

The mafia depiction by Ashlee is actually pretty accurate; Thomas's thought process is likely one they'd have.

Think of the mafia like a pack of wolves: if you kill one of them, the pack will stalk you and murder you.

And Elmodaisy, your post is fine. We'll go with it. 

Sidenote: Most of Spade's posts will have a really simple pattern of speech, because he's animalistic. And I won't post too often, I'll leave it to you main characters. 😉

Spade

~~

Time is coming. Smell it in the air. Scent of fear of UpTowners. They afraid. They afraid of us. They afraid of the Mafia, being trapped outside on BlackNight. I jump up. Smelling UpTowners. Time is coming. Time is coming for BlackNight. Group UpTowners go into movie theater. I follow. Wait outside as BlackNight comes. I listen. Bell tolls for one. Bell tolls for two. Bell tolls for three. Night goes over city. All night. Smell the fear of UpTowners.

Smile.

It's time.