Tea, Time, and Tales

 

Good evening my gothic friends.

We are in the final days, the last nine days of September, it is crisp as bacon outside, and Lady Cora cat that loveable tuxy tyrant is hogging the fire. So pull up a chair wriggle the toes shake the fingers and have a cup of tea with me and we’ll have a cosy chat.

The Seasonal Contradiction

You know September is a month of rebellion isn’t it? It still spoils us with warm sunshine one moment, and then followed by sharp crisp frost, at least that’s how it behaves here in the Militiverse. But I have to admit, I love the fickleness of it all. Only last weekend, the café air was filled with the aroma of pumpkin syrup. yes, it is the season of pumpkin spice lattes ( I get excited by it, can you tell?)

It reminded me of Vienna some years ago, sipping hot chocolate from a Christmas mug, one of those that you get to keep, painted with elves and lights. I digress, as usual. Last year in the café where I usually go, I bought some pumpkin syrup, only a small bottle but I still have a wee drop left.

This evening as I was putting the final touches to the edits for the upcoming release. I craved a cup of pumpkin spice cappuccino. In the scramble to the kitchen, I narrowly avoided giving myself a concussion tripping over Lady Cora.  In the quest for the cappuccino the cup that I grabbed was none other than my Vienna mug, complete with elves and Christmas tree all beaming with deviance of the calendar.

So this evening my lovelies, I am enjoying my lumpy cappuccino from my Christmas mug. You know something though, it tastes even lovelier because of that little seasonal contradiction.

The Time Traveler’s Cup

I love to travel to new and exciting places and three things I always bring home with me: a shot glass (because why not?) a postcard which for a time acts as a bookmark and a cup and saucer.

One such pair I found in a dusty old vintage shop, Paris perhaps, but it might just as easily have been Bratislava.  It’s from the 1920s, painted with an orange stroke and black stripe that together suggests the stem of a flower. Around the band of the cup is a black ring. It’s not terribly delicate but it is undeniably pretty.

I remember being in the scriptorium, on a rain blurred morning, teacup was resting on the desk… When bam…it slipped into the Militiverse. Without me realising it, it appeared in the hands of a character. Was it deliberate or was it a time slip?

In the Militiverse, strange things like cups, maps, and books have a way of finding their way home again…

Time seen through Steam

Time! Tempus! It means lots of things to lots of people. But what does it mean in the Militiverse? Immortality.

What I love about the world that I have built, (and am still building) is that regardless of time’s endless stretch, the characters still do ordinary things even though they are extraordinary. They take their tea, (or coffee) as we do. They pause to watch the steam as it rises from a freshly poured cup, and they savour the warmth as it curls on their hands. For a heartbeat at least, the immortal stands still…

That my friends is time seen through the lens of steam.

Until next time my dark academic friends,

Be Good and if you can’t be good, don’t get caught!!!

Anna..xoxox