Case No. 24
CAFE & DINER REQUIEM · NEW ORLEANS, LA · MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT
BARISTA: FELIX BLACKWOOD
CAFE: REQUIEM
DATE: LATE MARCH
RECEIPT ID: TBC-11
Well now, it would seem that our Auditor has absconded on us. Well, in truth, I set them free. I could tell that whatever, "freak coincidence" they picked up on had them rather rattled to their core. They are an agent of truth, no? Not one to leave a mystery unturned. I assured them that we would be more than capable of handling our upcoming service for Ms. Sandiego. And we are, aren't we? It should be fairly simple once Penelope, Jade, and Katherine are able to get the final ingredient for her overindulgent cocktail.
While they sort that out, Ichabod will be ensuring that once Ms. Sandiego is properly served she won't be interested in booking a follow up reservation. Meanwhile, Oleander will continue to coordinate with our Langley guests to make sure we will have plenty of time (or a lack thereof, no?) to serve Ms. Sandiego. Aelan, naturally, is in charge of handling Ms. Barre. And Elizabeth? Well, the poor dear certainly already has her hands full and blue, yes? Once Ms. Sandiego is served we'll be able to turn our full attention to her cohort, Nickels Costigan, to determine his fate in all of this.
There is but one wrinkle that I foresee in all of this and that is Ms. Sandiego's sibling, Ms. Bradbury. Ms. Bradbury is not entirely herself, and I doubt she would move against us, but at her siblings' command, eh… who knows what might happen. For now that flame remains doused, but it'd be prudent to keep a watchful eye for any stray sparks. I am half tempted to call up our resident experts of Ms. Bradbury but alas they are still out of town sampling some rather large Green Tea. At least, we have Ichabod and Elizabeth to lean on beyond Jericho, Joy, and Julius.
Caffeinated Report: C-TGS-01
"Felo de se situs."
Cemetery Trivia | 1 Word
Caffeinated Report: C-TBC-12
"no = 1, la = 2."
Tradition Trivia | 2 Words
Caffeinated Report: C-TGS-02
"Putting a hat on for Ms. Barre's drink of choice."
Spice Trivia | CaD Knowledge | 2 Words
BARISTA: KATHERINE WADE
CAFE: REQUIEM
DATE: LATE MARCH
RECEIPT ID: TGS-04
Well… that complicates things, a little. Not, anything to do with the Vile plan or whatever. No. I've just never really had blood like that before. I didn't realize Jade also could taste "emotion" from blood. Which… yeah… I guess we both got a mouthful of how Penelope feels about us and… it's complicated. Oh. And, yeah, I guess there's the big question of "where is CD-TGS-03?" So—CaDence, or really the CaDCom, not CaDence, technically they're different, uh, the CaDCom flagged our soul-matter extraction as something of interest or importance to the Cafe and Diner Network's operations so it was recording the whole process. Which, y'know, would be fine and all… Except Penelope has an awful lot of "feelings" about us and things… escalated.
To fix this, CaDence has assured me that the receipt exists but is "ulterior." You basically need to know where to look for it and how to unlock the truth. Of course, it was up to Jade, Penny, and me if it should be up at all and well… I think it's worth having it exist. But it is… a slight departure from our usual "propriety," so, you'll have to look at the start and at the goal. Oli did help me out with this one as he certainly seemed to enjoy the "taboo."
Daunting as this whole process was, the outcome was positive! Deeply insightful into my otherwise "dead" libido. Now, there is still one thing that is a little problematic. The Cauchemar is still, uh, sorta inside of Penny's mind which is a bit distressing. Still, it's weakened considerably since Jade and I took out the majority of its soul-matter… but. Without a more permanent solution, it'll regain its strength and it might even be able to take over Penny, putting her back into a nightmarish limbo.
Caffeinated Report: C-TBC-13
"while True: result = get_next() if found in x or taurus: continue"
Synonym Trivia | 1 Word
Caffeinated Report: C-CCM-04
"Keep an eye on the time: 5:26 9:48 7:52 5:53 5:18 7:18 9:40 5:06 5:40 7:36 9:02 5:06 5:30 7:23 9:20."
Cipher | 3 Words
BARISTA: FELIX BLACKWOOD
CAFE: REQUIEM
DATE: LATE MARCH
RECEIPT ID: TBC-14
What an utter failure, eh? Perhaps if the Auditor was here they would've seen the danger in involving Ms. Barre with Ms. Sandiego's service. Or... perhaps not. I later learned that our service could've worked out as expected, but the method of "sealing" time, that was where we lacked some critical communication. Involving one of the Eight Keys... Well, we can't blame ourselves or Tesseract's sponsor, Sara.
Elizabeth has also gone missing.
Concerning, of course, but—ah—I trust her to take care of herself. It's very possible she sensed Ms. Sandiego's return and decided to put herself somewhere safer for the time being. Perhaps she went to La Belle Pleureuse? Which, speaking of, the status of La Belle Pleureuse is also unknown at the moment. But, due to the nature of our incompetence, Ms. Sandiego no longer needs that venue, eh? And if she no longer needs the venue... does she still need the singer as well? If Nickels no longer has a part to play, which side do you think he'll sing for? Those are the questions we must answer next.
And now that Ms. Sandiego is here to stay, we'll need to devise a proper menu for her. I suspect she enjoys most of the same things as Ms. Bradbury does, though with the added wrinkle that she is far more picky than her sister. …Or maybe it is time for us to throw in the towel and call on the original Cafe and Diner for their help. No, no. We can't think like that, can we? They are more than busy with Behram. Though, it is certainly disheartening to know that Requiem has now ushered in the return of not just one Cresset but two. Perhaps it is all just continuing karma from using the Cane of Fate.