It's been the worst day since yesterday...

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

With apologies to bringeroflight, melenky, pierot, unifex and annwfyn...

Quinn jogged up the stairs from the cellar, fingertips covered in soot and dust. “All set”, he said, with a smug nod.
Eliza grinned at him. “Good lad”, she replied, and turned back to the others. “Lucy?”
Lucien arched a carefully-curved eyebrow at his mother’s use of his old nom de plume. “We’re packed, if that’s what you mean”, he said, waving a hand lazily. “All the boxes are ready to go.”
“Ceildh?”
“Car’s outside”, he informed her, “and it’s full. But, ma – I had to leave the engine running, and it’s not like I could lock the doors. Someone else’ll nick off with it if we don’t hurry up.”
Eliza chuckled. “All in good time, my boy. David, you done?”
David was leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe that led to the flat upstairs, looking for all the world like he had somewhere better to be. “Whatever must you think of me, Lizzie? Of course I am. The Prince will have no reason to doubt me, I assure you.”
She pursed her lips, gave him a slightly admonishing look. “You said that in Lisbon”, she pointed out.
David looked affronted. “Well, how was I supposed to know Verdugo would be so uncouth as to use his blood against me without permission? This Prince is an altogether different proposition. He will have no trouble believing you all ash. I’ll wail with mourning, wring my pretty hands in despair…” His mouth curled into a small smile. “Don’t you trust me, sister dear?”
Eliza relented, as she always did. “Course I do, silly git.” She glanced to the window behind her and sighed. “Where is that girl?”
“Got distracted by some twat in a frockcoat, probably”, Ceildh said, and Quinn sniggered.
Eliza turned and clipped him round the ear. “Don’t be rude about your sister”, she snapped, but the argument was caught short by Carrie bursting through the door in a whirl of skirts and beads.
“They’re coming”, she hissed, with a voice that would be out of breath if it really breathed. “I tried, but there were too many, I --” She trailed off, looking a bit scared. “I think we’ve blown it, ma.”
“Don’t be silly”, Eliza replied, and turned to the boys. “Alright then, lads, plan B. You ready? Quinn?”
Quinn had disappeared off into the cellar again, of course. He just couldn’t resist.
“Luce, you take your sister and go in the car. Drive fast. David…”
“I’ll be fine, Lizzie. You just go on without me, and I’ll clean up here.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely positive.”
Eliza reached up on tiptoes and planted a kiss on her brother’s whiskered cheek. “See you in Brixton?”, she asked him, quietly.
“Brixton it is”, David agreed. “Now go.”
She turned back toward the boys, then, and hitched up her skirts. “Quinn!”, she shouted, impatient. He emerged from the cellars a second later, smelling of smoke with a wicked grin on his face. Eliza hitched up her skirts and motioned for him to take her by the arm. Ceildh took the other.
They lifted her up between them, and by the time the bar went up in a great plume of flame and hot air they had sped out well into the night, laughing all the way.