grapefruit and rocky road with malt
Story: Timeless { backstory | index }
Title: Buds
Rating: G
Challenge: Rocky Road #1: big city, Grapefruit #20: natural selection
Toppings/Extras: malt
Wordcount: 750
Summary: Ashdown and Pia Rees visit a rooftop spa in the city.
Notes: Happier piece for you! Grapefruit PFAH: Ashdown : city lights.
Steam billowed like sheets of curling silk from the surface of the spa bath. The oval pool, piping hot, occupied the rooftop of the Thermae skyscraper and offered a fantastic view of the city. Pia was larking around as usual, splashing and causing a nuisance and being glared at by the veterans that had come to the baths-powered by Britain’s only hot springs, located in Somerset-in order to relax. It was pricey but once in a while utterly worth it.
Ashdown liked the smell of the water, personally. The people who ran the place were so quick to point out about the natural minerals and what-have-you in the water that it almost detracted from the experience but it really did feel nourishing.
Especially when one was so hungover one could die.
“Hey, I reckon she should have a slide or something!” Pia called at him from the other side of the pool. “That would be so cool.”
Ashdown smiled.
Though the place had been disconcerting and alien to him upon his arrival, from up there he had to admit that the city was an astounding sight. It was mid-morning and clean light glanced from glass and metal. The city had a strange mixture of architectural styles, old-fashioned stonework built onto some of the more important building, covering up metal beneath. To Ashdown it was clearly false but it was nice to see the occasional spire or bit of masonry. Lower down in the skyscrapers everything was bare metal.
“Um, dude, I still feel funny after the sauna things,” Pia said, flinging herself onto the underwater seat next to him. Ashdown glanced around-he’d lost the self-consciousness of being barely clothed around strangers a while ago as it was apparently quite normal for the time, but he still felt a little strange.
“I liked them,” Ashdown remarked idly. It had been so hot it was hard to breathe and the intense smell of tea-tree had been a little overwhelming but he’d quite enjoyed it overall. He certainly felt a lot better after their shenanigans the night before.
“Hey, see? Told you you’d like this place,” Pia said with a wink.
“How did you know about it?” Ashdown asked. “I can hardly believe you’re always popping up here for the occasional massages.”
“Ha! O’course not.” Pia slung her arms behind her head, bleach-blonde hair dripping warm water down her freckled back. She was wearing a red bikini with white dots, Minnie Mouse style, and it didn’t quite suit her. It looked rather cheerful and sweet. “But everyone knows about this place.”
Ashdown nodded absent-mindedly.
“Verity would like it here,” he said eventually.
“Um, who gives a shit?”
“You really don’t like her, do you?”
“Well, she’s cheating on one of my buds!” Pia nudged him. “We are buds, right?”
“Buds?”
“Dude!”
“What on earth are you talking about now?”
“Buddies!” His expression didn’t change. “Mate. We are best friend for life. Yes? We are pals. Cronies. Chums. You are my brother from another grandmother.” She turned over so that she was on her front, elbows over the edge of the bath, eyes fixed to the city skyline that was shown to them through the glass barriers surrounding it. “Cool?”
“Very,” he agreed, for the sake of not getting lost in another circular conversation. “Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve spoken to her and I do miss her…”
“Hold on, hold on, I left my violin at home…”
Ashdown splashed her, which wasn’t very mature, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He smirked as she gave a brief exclamation and ran her hands through her curly hair.
“If you want to get screwed over, it’s your choice, man,” Pia said, resting her head against the edge of the pool. “But if it all goes arse-over-tit, don’t come runnin’ to me.” She suddenly grinned at him. “Or, well, do. ‘Cause that’s what buds are for. Am I right?”
“I… yes?”
“Of course,” Pia said. She eyed him curiously, one still-ginger eyebrow raising. Her freckles looked positively nuclear, bright white wires shining over her face as they reflected from the surface of the water. “Why did you marry her, anyway?”
“It’s… it’s what you have to do.”
“Surely there were some bachelors around?”
“Some.” Ashdown’s shrugged lightly. “I don’t know, Pia.”
“Could it be?” Pia twisted around again so that she floated on her back. “The mighty Lord Ashdown doesn’t know something?”
“Shut up.”
“I will remember this day.”
“Shut up.”
Title: Buds
Rating: G
Challenge: Rocky Road #1: big city, Grapefruit #20: natural selection
Toppings/Extras: malt
Wordcount: 750
Summary: Ashdown and Pia Rees visit a rooftop spa in the city.
Notes: Happier piece for you! Grapefruit PFAH: Ashdown : city lights.
Steam billowed like sheets of curling silk from the surface of the spa bath. The oval pool, piping hot, occupied the rooftop of the Thermae skyscraper and offered a fantastic view of the city. Pia was larking around as usual, splashing and causing a nuisance and being glared at by the veterans that had come to the baths-powered by Britain’s only hot springs, located in Somerset-in order to relax. It was pricey but once in a while utterly worth it.
Ashdown liked the smell of the water, personally. The people who ran the place were so quick to point out about the natural minerals and what-have-you in the water that it almost detracted from the experience but it really did feel nourishing.
Especially when one was so hungover one could die.
“Hey, I reckon she should have a slide or something!” Pia called at him from the other side of the pool. “That would be so cool.”
Ashdown smiled.
Though the place had been disconcerting and alien to him upon his arrival, from up there he had to admit that the city was an astounding sight. It was mid-morning and clean light glanced from glass and metal. The city had a strange mixture of architectural styles, old-fashioned stonework built onto some of the more important building, covering up metal beneath. To Ashdown it was clearly false but it was nice to see the occasional spire or bit of masonry. Lower down in the skyscrapers everything was bare metal.
“Um, dude, I still feel funny after the sauna things,” Pia said, flinging herself onto the underwater seat next to him. Ashdown glanced around-he’d lost the self-consciousness of being barely clothed around strangers a while ago as it was apparently quite normal for the time, but he still felt a little strange.
“I liked them,” Ashdown remarked idly. It had been so hot it was hard to breathe and the intense smell of tea-tree had been a little overwhelming but he’d quite enjoyed it overall. He certainly felt a lot better after their shenanigans the night before.
“Hey, see? Told you you’d like this place,” Pia said with a wink.
“How did you know about it?” Ashdown asked. “I can hardly believe you’re always popping up here for the occasional massages.”
“Ha! O’course not.” Pia slung her arms behind her head, bleach-blonde hair dripping warm water down her freckled back. She was wearing a red bikini with white dots, Minnie Mouse style, and it didn’t quite suit her. It looked rather cheerful and sweet. “But everyone knows about this place.”
Ashdown nodded absent-mindedly.
“Verity would like it here,” he said eventually.
“Um, who gives a shit?”
“You really don’t like her, do you?”
“Well, she’s cheating on one of my buds!” Pia nudged him. “We are buds, right?”
“Buds?”
“Dude!”
“What on earth are you talking about now?”
“Buddies!” His expression didn’t change. “Mate. We are best friend for life. Yes? We are pals. Cronies. Chums. You are my brother from another grandmother.” She turned over so that she was on her front, elbows over the edge of the bath, eyes fixed to the city skyline that was shown to them through the glass barriers surrounding it. “Cool?”
“Very,” he agreed, for the sake of not getting lost in another circular conversation. “Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve spoken to her and I do miss her…”
“Hold on, hold on, I left my violin at home…”
Ashdown splashed her, which wasn’t very mature, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He smirked as she gave a brief exclamation and ran her hands through her curly hair.
“If you want to get screwed over, it’s your choice, man,” Pia said, resting her head against the edge of the pool. “But if it all goes arse-over-tit, don’t come runnin’ to me.” She suddenly grinned at him. “Or, well, do. ‘Cause that’s what buds are for. Am I right?”
“I… yes?”
“Of course,” Pia said. She eyed him curiously, one still-ginger eyebrow raising. Her freckles looked positively nuclear, bright white wires shining over her face as they reflected from the surface of the water. “Why did you marry her, anyway?”
“It’s… it’s what you have to do.”
“Surely there were some bachelors around?”
“Some.” Ashdown’s shrugged lightly. “I don’t know, Pia.”
“Could it be?” Pia twisted around again so that she floated on her back. “The mighty Lord Ashdown doesn’t know something?”
“Shut up.”
“I will remember this day.”
“Shut up.”