Case No. 002
Lucifer's Request
Prepared by the Cafe and Diner
I was beginning to entertain the rather dreadful notion that my social circle had become, well, truly circular. But providence, it seems, still has a few cards up its sleeve. Lady Lucifer, Demon Prince of Pride, Simulacrum of the Morningstar, has been harboring a rather significant secret for the past twenty-one years.
A cambion daughter.
The sheer audacity of keeping that under wraps is almost impressive, though I'll leave the hows and whys to those who care for such mundane details. What matters is—I've made a new connection. Julia Morningstar. Daughter of Lucifer, heir to the Auroric Throne. And if someone as important as that eluded my networking… Well, there still must be others left to meet!
What's more is that Lucifer has finally deigned to collaborate with our little Cafe and Diner establishment—with a caveat. She has agreed to lend her considerable influence to our cause, provided we find a suitable position for her darling drop of sunlight, Julia. Now, this isn't our first rodeo when it comes to employing a Prince's offspring. The problem was one of placement. Unlike my own Cafe's Abigail, who was already quite proficient in the Coffee Trade, Julia is what one might charitably call totally ignorant of the supernatural world.
So, the original Long Beach Cafe was clearly out of the question. We are far too up our own asses when it comes to the Trade. As for the Midnight Cafe in Palm Beach? Far too "Dark" for her fledgling sensibilities. The Silenus Cafe in West Virginia would likewise eat her alive, and she has no augur capabilities necessary for the Bloodglass Cafe in New York. The Tesseract Cafe out in Alaska might have worked, given that time moves at its own peculiar pace there, but Lucifer developed a sudden case of cold feet when the matter was broached. Not to mention the whole chronal genocide issue… Ah well, traditionally the Requiem Cafe, despite its recent unpleasantness, has always been our more "beginner friendly" branch, but the mere mention of the recent Blight affair had Lucifer looking paler than usual. And that left us only with Mammon's establishment, the Testament Cafe in Las Vegas. It takes a particular… "constitution" (or insanity) to thrive in Alex and Amber's madhouse, and Julia is far too normal for their lot.
So, a Prince's cambion in need of a suitable Cafe and Diner, what ever were we to do? Jack, whose capacity for clever deals never ceases to amaze, had quite the unique proposition. If Lady Lucifer would finally extend her sponsorship to a Cafe—and her Plane's protection over our last Piece of Fate—then we would be more than happy to open a new Cafe perfectly designed to foster young Julia's talents. Hell, we would even make her the owner of such a Cafe. Call it nepotism if you must, but I would prefer to call it...
The Cafe and Diner: Sunshine
…Located in rainy, cloudy, overcast, Seattle, Washington.
Next comes the exciting business of staffing. Jack and Lucifer both envision this particular branch of the Cafe and Diner Network to focus on, shall we say, "lighter work." Simple cryptid catch-and-release operations and lesser demonic dealings. This also opens the door to other neophytes to the Coffee Trade. I've begun reviewing my contacts to determine which newcomers might be suitable for such a task. I already have a few people in mind…
Sahir Bali
Another new Cafe? Gre—a—t. You know what that means? Extra warping duty for ol' Seth, the magical one-man moving company. I'm already running on fumes from the last three emergency warps. Now I gotta take crap loads of equipment from here to there. Heavy tables, ridiculously fragile mugs and glasses, and of course, the hulking and overpriced espresso machines that are absolutely not necessary to the work we do. You know, we've never once stopped a demon or caught a cryptid with a real cup of coffee.
Thankfully, I don't have to warp any people over—yet—as Lucifer decided she was more than capable of getting herself and her daughter back to Seattle. I guess, part of the reason they picked that city in the first place is it's where Julia actually lives. Unlike Abby, Julia's never even been to the Otherside. Can you imagine? She's a fully human-raised cambion, which is frankly mind-boggling to even consider. All that celestial blood running through her veins but she grew up just… bumming around as a normal human. Scrapped knees, nightmares, school, midterms, doctor visits… I mean, the whole… y'know, human thing. Trippy. Trippy enough that I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.
Well, anyway, fingers crossed that whoever Sahir picks out for Sunshine isn't, like, half way across the world. Again. Jumping from here to Galway to New York to Melbourne to New York to Germany and back to New York for that new Bloodglass crew REALLY took it out of me. I swear I had afterimages of different skylines burned into my retinas for a week after that fucking marathon. I get it, Augurs are in high demand—especially after Mary got a half-dozen or so killed and crazed and whatever—but warping people along with myself seriously sucks. It's like trying to push a water balloon through a pinhole without it popping. Except the balloon is flesh and the water is blood and guts and stuff and—eugh, you get the point.
Still, I can't be too peeved about a new Cafe. Lucifer is the last Prince we hadn't roped into guarding a Piece of Fate, minus Behemoth, of course, but like—hah, could you imagine? With her, the Locket is finally off our hands—and off of Abby's neck. Not that Abby wasn't doing a stellar job keeping it safe and all, but now she's finally free from all that nasty, nasty cosmic burden. So… Maybe now she'll finally take up my movie date offer? Been sitting on that one for like, what, six months now? I've been waiting for the perfect moment, but with everything that's been going on, there hasn't been a perfect… anything.
Well, Princess? Whaddya say?
Seth
[REGISTERING NEW CAFE AND DINER LOCATION]
LOCATION: SEATTLE, WA
BRANCH NAME: SUNSHINE
BRANCH OWNER: JULIA MORNINGSTAR
BRANCH SPONSOR: LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR
PIECE OF FATE: THE LOCKET
POTENTIAL STAFF: Jacqueline Lang-Torres, Kalmia Alder, Michael Jenkins, Dalisay Reyes, Travis Norris, Zachary Black, Max King
PIECE OF FATE: The Locket. Present power signature minimal. Former custodian Abigail reports artifact remains sealed and inert despite exhaustive attempts by both her and Arthur to access interior. Current hypothesis suggests power manifestation contingent upon opening of the Locket itself. Monitoring advised, though Morningstar custodians (both Julia and Lucifer) deemed sufficiently equipped to manage any developments. I'm sure of it.
NOTES: Sunshine jurisdiction encompasses WA & OR operations, with emphasis on cryptid containment (catch-and-release protocols) and minor demon interventions. Note: Branch authority extends to cross-regional assistance when requested by other Cafe locations.
Welcome, Julia.
[CaDence]
Caffeinated Report: LRQ-001
Tabanidae Taught Teacher's Teachee.
1 Word
Caffeinated Report: LRQ-002
Two, twos of The Great War—to a degree, removed from formality. Over dot, dash, dash, space, dash, dots.
2 Words
Caffeinated Report: LRQ-003
Odd one out: ee, Beeebb, aa, Mmm, aa, ss, ee/Aa.
1 Word