The sun stretched as it rose, reaching past the trees and in through Samuel's window. The paca shut his eyes tighter and pulled his blanket over his head. Morning already? It felt like he had only just fallen asleep! He remained in bed, hiding under the comforter until the sun fully filled the room, making the reality of the daytime inescapable. When he finally gathered the will to rise, he took a deep breath, yawned, and kicked off his blankets. The chilly winter morning greeted him immediately and he found himself scrambling to grab a blanket back.
He ended up getting up, but the blanket came too, wrapped protectively around him to fend off the morning, and ten little socks made sure his feet nubs wouldn't freeze. Feeling adaquetly bundled up, Samuel made his way to the kitchen. The first thing he did was turn on the electric kettle. As that started to warm, he poured himself some cereal and sat at the breakfast table to eat.
The sun had melted the frost off the window, but the outside world was still waking as he was. The grass was crisp and the birdsong sparse. Samuel watched in silence as a squirrel ran along the top of his fence, jumped down to the feeder, and then seemed quite offended that the metal trim of said feeder would dare to be so cold. Samuel cracked a smile at the critter's startled jump. The squirrel decided it would be best to get as much of itself into the feeder as possible, to get out of the cold (and probably also to prevent any other creature from trying to come get breakfast.)
As the squirrel was finishing, jumping back up onto the fence, the electric kettle clicked off. Now that he remembered it, Samuel could hear the water bubbling. He'd been so engrossed in the squirrel drama that he hadn't even noticed as the kettle began to boil. But with the water ready and the cereal gone, it was time for a good cup of tea.
Samuel's tea collection was, while not quite fancy, very extensive. He had many different kinds of teas to choose from. Herbal and fruity, hot and iced (though the thought of drinking iced tea right now made his feelers numb.) And he knew what he liked, what helped with what, and when teas could be enjoyed most. Other pacas had started referring to him as a tea connessieur, but Samuel? Samuel considered himself to just be a guy who happened to really like tea.
Samuel picked out chamomile for himself, adding some lemon juice and honey while it was at its hottest and stirring that in to get it to dissolve. He could lose his front two socks now, since carrying the teacup to the living room kept his nubs warm enough. He climbed up into his favorite chair and adjusted his blanket cloak so that it was better spread over him. He turned the TV on and let the sitcom that popped up play.
The tea lasted briefly, just until the episode was finished. He sipped it slower at first, letting it cool so he could enjoy the flavors without the tea burning him. But once it wasn't a burn danger, Samuel finished the tea before it could even think of becoming room temperature. He could do hot tea and he could do iced tea, but room temperature tea was just sad.
The show finished and Samuel looked outside. Other pacapillars were out and about by now, and the clouds were much thinner than they had been at dawn. Samuel decided he'd better go about his day, too. He set the teacup on the coffe table and headed to get ready to go out.
He could probably stop by the café for a drink soon.
A tea, of course.