A Decent Cup of Tea

Edward Winter || 25 || Owner of Cloud 9 Spa || Innocent.

[edward-winter]

Edward looked over raisin g an eyebrow, “Well, I’m sure there wouldn’t be many complaints,” he smirked. “Sorry about that, everything is going to hell around here today. What can I do for you?” 

[andrewpxrker-blog]

“Are you saying you want me to get naked right here, right now? ‘Cause I’ll do it.” He laughed quietly, shaking his head, “Yeah, it seems like it. Why don’t you just take a few days? Sort out reliable staff or something?”

[edward-winter]

“Well, I mean, I wouldn’t argue... I guess there would be better places to do that in here though,” Edward smirked. “Trust me, I wish I could. I’m already taking appointments of the girls I’ve sent on training, which is fine, because I planned that, but having two extra people off is chaos. Thankfully, the books are clear for like an hour from what I can remember.” 

[edward-winter]

andrewpxrker:

“Pfft, already been standing here five minutes and you didn’t even look up.” Andrew replied, a teasing tone in his voice, “What’s a good looking guy like me got to do to get a little attention around here? Strip?”

Edward looked over raisin g an eyebrow, “Well, I’m sure there wouldn’t be many complaints,” he smirked. “Sorry about that, everything is going to hell around here today. What can I do for you?” 

[edward-winter]

“I swear I’ll be with you in a second, the computer system’s down, and two of the girls are off. I promise I’m going to sort in out, just two minutes... I’m so sorry about this.” 

[smadsarchived]

“Oh, um, I’d love to but.. I wouldn’t want to be a bother..”

[edward-winter]

“You wouldn’t be a bother in the slightest. And you look like you could use someone to talk to, and maybe even a hot chocolate if coffee’s not your thing.”

[smadsarchived]

“Um.. yeah. Yeah, everything is totally fine.”

[edward-winter]

“Okay... Well, I as about to go and get coffee, and I can be a good listener, if you wanted someone to talk to.”

[mollyabrams]

Molly’s ability to trust these days is thin & fragile & easy to break. When you’re living in a warzone, it’s easy to feel sharp and rusted and like a spark ready to light. Her fingers quake, her bones are tired, trying to keep in tears that have started to swell in her eyes, her heart is a puddle. Her mouth sprawls into a smile, sadness laced in the lines of her face and she’s turning suddenly, head pressed into shoulder, palm against shoulder, it’s a hug – nothing more, nothing less. The kind that comes after a long life and needing comfort from those she loved.

[edward-winter]

Edwards arms automatically wrapped around Molly, it was a reflex he’d come to have. Not only did all of his sibling spend month embracing to try and make sense of the world after their mother died, Edward had always been the point of comfort for his sisters and friends. “I’m going to be here for as long as you need me, Molly,” he said quietly, knowing sometimes people just needed that. Someone to be there. 

[toukka]

[thedaisylennox-deactivated20150]

“It is about the half naked females, or males?” Daisy joked. She couldn’t help herself with that joke. “Let me guess… It’s about helping people feel better about themselves. Letting them know that no matter what your spa is a place they can go to where there will be no cruel words, or judging. Just a place to relax at and  help them feel better.”

[edward-winter]

“When I first started going to the spa I was a little young to have that on my mind really,” he chuckled shaking his head. “Something like that, I guess. Personally it’s always acted as a sanctuary for me, a place to be myself, and a place where it was alright to act like everything was okay for an hour or two. Giving that to other people is a good enough reason to do it, but not my only reason. My father wants absolutely nothing to do with the business, so as long as I’m earning money he doesn’t get involved. And I wanted to do something to honour my mother, which meant I was opening a spa or a cake decorating shop,” he explained. “I chose a Spa because I could hire more people that way, I pay for all the treatment training myself, if they have some to begin with that’s a bonus, but not exactly a requirement.” 

[smadsarchived]

[edward-winter]

“Hey, is everything okay?” 

[andrewpxrker-blog]

“Mmhm, you bet your ass I am. Go on, remind me.”

[edward-winter]

“Okay, but this is the last time I say it in anything other than Irish. Very petty coffee boy” 

[sofia-koskova-blog1]

“Do you think we could get a metal one somewhere? Or plastic? Like Tupperware but bigger”

[edward-winter]

Edward nodded. “I’m sure we could find something like that. Maybe even a small toy chest, that could work.”

[andrewpxrker-blog]

“And I never claimed to have a good memory.”

[edward-winter]

“Are you going to make me admit it again?” 

[sofia-koskova-blog1]

“I would like to as soon as possible, maybe put him in a little box so the bugs don’t get to him…”

[edward-winter]

“Well, now is a perfectly good time. We might need to get a box from somewhere though, I think the only ones in the spa are cardboard.” 

[sofia-koskova-blog1]

“Really? Thank you so much… That really means a lot to me… When can we bury him?”

[edward-winter]

“It’s really no problem, happy to help in any way I can. Whenever you like.” 

[sofia-koskova-blog1]

Sofia watched quietly as he wrapped up her little friend, when he spoke to her about a spa she looked back to him, “Really? You would let me do that? I want to paint him a little head stone, you know? Like just a little flat smooth rock, like the ones you get from a river. I want to paint one for him, could I put that there? With some flowers?”

[edward-winter]

He nodded as she spoke. “Of course, you need somewhere to lay him to rest, I don’t see why not. That sounds nice, yeah of course you can put it there. Consider the place where you bury him as yours, whatever you want there is fine by me.” 

[halosydnes]

My parents brought us up in a very clever way, which was that they saw what we were interested in naturally, and then they encouraged whatever that may be. When I started sharing a keen interest in drama and the theater, instead of steering me away from it, they encouraged me to see plays and think about drama school.

[sofia-koskova-blog1]

Sofia sat quietly before looking up towards him, “Okay, just be really careful please, I don’t want him to hurt anymore…” Making room for him to get down she scooted closer to Ghost, glancing between him and the small cat. “I was going to bury him, but I would have to find a place, I just have an apartment, so I don’t have a yard…”

[edward-winter]

“I promise I’ll be very gentle,” he said, kneeling down where she’d moved across a little. As he started to wrap up the cat he made sure to do it as gently as he possibly could. Being gentle was something he’d had to practice when caring for his mother, and he was as gentle with the cat as he had been with her. He listened to her speak. “There’s some grass around the spa,” he said after a moments thought. “There’s CCTV, I’m there most of the time, so I wouldn’t let anyone dig him up. And if you wanted to plant flowers, or leave something whenever you liked no one would question it, and I’d make sure it stayed where it was.”