This post features Jasper and Snowiks from A Book Without Dragons.
No Spoilers
Drabble Type: Meta (aka – characters know they are characters)

~*~

Chief Snowiks saw a brief shadow on the door only moments before it swung open—Jasper, apparently, didn’t feel the need to knock.

He also didn’t feel obliged to ask Snowiks if he was busy. “Chief! It’s Pumpkin Spice Day! Where were you?”

Snowiks flipped over the top paper on the pile, though it was purely a reflex. Jasper technically had security clearance to look at anything that might pass over his desk. “I was right here,” he said. “And what is…?”

“Pumpkin Spice Day,” Jasper repeated, holding out a to-go cup of coffee as if that explained everything.

“Thanks,” Snowiks said, and nodded to his extra-large mug which was still half full. “I already have coffee, though.”

“Not this coffee,” Jasper insisted, setting the cup down on the desk when Snowiks didn’t take it. “You didn’t read the invitation?”

“As a rule—no.”

“The author is celebrating that pumpkin spice lattes are back in season. It means we all get coffee. It’s a coffee holiday, Chief.”

“I don’t like social gatherings,” Snowiks reminded him.

“Yeah, but you like coffee.”

Again, Snowiks offered visual evidence that he had coffee already.

Jasper sighed and turned to return to the party alone. Only then did Snowiks give any attention at all to the cup he’d placed on his desk. He noticed that it had the little temperature stick in it, proclaiming the beverage to be 157 degrees. The little plastic thing must have a Unitime chip in it. Unbelievable.

“Hey, Rookie,” he called before Jasper was out of earshot.

He poked his head back in the office. “Yeah?”

“Do we have these in our own story line? I mean, in 2054, are they still flavoring coffee like pumpkins?”

“Yes,” Jasper said, with an unnecessary amount of seriousness. “Chief, humans will always make pumpkin spice lattes.”

~*~

Thanks for reading! I hope all of you are enjoying the return of the pumpkin spice as much as I am.

Concerning the origin of this piece – sometimes I like to give a modern-world item to all of my characters when they’re ‘backstage’ just to see their reactions.