So, Just Keep It Noted?

"You know what drives me nuts? This whole Denny's versus IHOP debate. People act like it's some epic clash of culinary titans, but come on! Let's be so serious for a second. At Denny's, you get this no-nonsense, cushy vibe that's like comfort food central, especially at 3 AM when you're craving something hearty. Their Grand Slam is a classic for a reason. But IHOP? It's like the Disney World of breakfast joints. Sure, they've got a gazillion types of syrup and those ridiculous stuffed French toasts that are more dessert than breakfast, but let's be real—half the time it feels like you're in a sugary, pancake-fueled fever dream. And don't even get me started on the coffee. Denny's coffee might taste like it's been brewing since the cretaceous period, but at least it's strong enough to keep you awake. IHOP's coffee? It's basically warm, brown water. Don't even get me started on their customer service, I mean they've got no clue how to treat a customer. Imagine you were about to fall off a cliff, and I mean like you're seriously holding on by a single finger and about to go falling into nothingness. An IHOP employee would look at you and-"

"Farra, it's been an hour, shut the fuck up about that nonsense. You've been burning my ears with it ever since I agreed to go with you." 

The two girls were seated at the classic, budget-friendly diner. For no reason in particular, it seemed that other customers opted not to sit near their table, despite how packed the Denny's was. Some customers even asked to merge tables instead of sitting at the tables next to them. How odd.

As they spoke, Farra's phone received a notification. 

"Looks like the black suits finished up their search." 

After the conclusion of their encounter with the Hernandez brothers, it was procedure to report the encounter and have a serious search of the premises. Typically, Farra and Meiying would be on-site to supervise, but the sweet call of Denny's french toast and coffee was too overpowering. 

"Seems Carlos got most of the interesting stuff out of the apartment when you and David fought. The search came up pretty dry."

"Isn't that your fault? I mean, couldn't you have gone in and stopped him or something?" 

"No way! I was giving you back up with David!" 

"Huh? How so?" 

"I mean, wasn't my analysis of his spell totally amazing? After that, you had no issue dispatching him." 

"You're talking like I had issues before that."

"Well, you got hit in the stomach by that first orb. You were spitting out blood and everything."

"Tsk!" 

"Don't click your tongue in response!", Farra retorted. 

"He caught me off guard with the first one. After I got my defenses up his attacks were no problem." 

"Yeah, yeah, but-" 

"Can you shut your hole and get back to that damn report."

"Yes, ma'am. It's super basic though. Most of it is kind of worthless. Or- hmm." 

"What?" 

"Some of the stuff at the end is a little intriguing. There's a note with some info scribbled all over it." 

"Gimme a look." 

The picture on Farra's phone showed a small piece of paper with the following written on it: the words, "Veritas Potest Inveniri In Mendacio.", odd sketches of unknown meaning, and the location of a local fortune teller. 

"Sounds like we've got some leads.", Meiying remarked.

"Hold on a second. Is any of this even somewhat related to what was in the coffin?! We could totally pass this to someone else and have it be their problem! I don't wanna do this anymore, I just want to wrap this up and go home!" 

"Stop your whining! We can't know if this is unrelated unless we look into it. This would be easier if whatever was in that coffin made a huge scene or something, but there isn't much we can do. But think about it like this, if they did make a move, killing a bunch of people, for example, we'd be the first to know. With our information networks, killing people with magic is unlikely to go under the radar."

"Unless it was never reported or someone covered it up..."

"Hey... stop thinking about those scenarios. Anyway, we've still got four more mages to look over, right?"

"Three... The Hernandez brothers counted as two already." 

"Four, three, doesn't matter. Let's get this done so we can look into the other stuff."

-9:46 Veri's House

Today, I feel like I learned a lot about Cacophony and her behaviors. Given that it has been about a week since Cacophony began living with me, I think it's more than appropriate for me to compile a catalog of her behaviors.

Firstly, she's a serious talker! I mean, she'll go on rants about the most random topics and whatever comes to mind. She's really smart though and her hundreds of years of knowledge usually go over my head whenever she decides to give me a big lesson. It's not my fault though, I mean even Einstien would struggle to keep up, the speed at which she jumps from topic to topic is crazy. And let's get back to that smart part, she teaches like a smart person too. Because she picks up on things so fast, she doesn't understand how to explain things properly. I've found that I have a similar issue when it comes to schoolwork. Honestly, I still can't pinpoint the reason her explanations are bad, I just can't understand them at all. Like I'm missing some needed background information or she just doesn't understand how to simplify complex ideas, or something else entirely.

Oh, now that I think about it, she's got a bad tendency to tease me a lot. She's absolutely shameless with her approach, she does whatever comes to mind. Like how today she almost flashed me with her panties out in public! Maybe back in the day things were different?

No, I think it's a trait unique to her. 

There are a lot of traits unique to her. A bunch of which, I don't understand. Like her emotions for example. I can't read them at all. When she's sad, when she's nonchalant, when she gets all worked up over something I thought was trivial. I don't understand it yet. But, I want to understand. I guess I want her to understand me more too. Does she care for me? Does she only see me as her servant or does she see me as a comrade, or something else? 

I want to understand more.

Right now, she's bitten into my neck. Every time her fangs have pierced my skin, I felt that we drew a tiny bit closer.

Once she was finished, she gave me a soft smile. 

"So that's how you felt today." 

Ah, she did mention that she can tell my emotions from throughout the day from the taste of my blood. 

"Hey... I'm letting you drink my blood a lot. When am I gonna turn into a vampire?"

The smile on Cacophony's face disappeared. It was replaced with a bland look of compounded disbelief. 

"You... want to turn into a vampire?"

For some reason, I felt slightly embarrassed all of a sudden. "Well I mean, I thought it'd be a bit cool or something. I mean the powers and all..." 

I looked away from Cacophony's face but I couldn't do anything to stop myself from having to hear her booming laughter. 

"Sorry, sorry! It'll never happen though! Sorry to say, but you'll likely never turn into a vampire." 

"Why not?", there was a notable tinge of disappointment lingering in my voice.

"Well, it's a bit complex. Basically, to even become a vampire your soul has got to meet a couple of conditions-" 

Just like that, she went off on some long-winded tangent. I'll only record the parts that I understood. 

"-So yeah, your soul has got to be pretty special to become a vampire. You've gotta be a normal human, to begin with, no one is ever born a vampire, we can't even have kids anyway... Meeting these requirements basically depends on your environment, personality, and your natural predisposition... After that, there needs to be a catalyst for your transformation, that's where the bite comes in. It doesn't have to be a bite though, it can be-" 

That's the jist of what she told me. In a lot fewer words.

"Anyway, thanks to your blood I've gotten a whole lot stronger."

She jumped topics like it was nothing!

"Is that how it works? I guess we could say that you're just leeching off my great powers! Fear not, I shall allow it for a little while longer!"

"Hey now... Don't get so cocky."

Cacophony cracked her knuckles as she said that. Seriously, she can be way too scary sometimes! 

"Ah well uh, hey you know I gotta go back to school in two days so let's make the most of our free time together!" 

"...About that." 

"I refuse to skip school." 

"Don't assume what I'm going to say. You're wrong, I don't mind if you continue going to school. It'd be best if you continued your usual schedule anyway, it'll attract less attention. But, you should be careful from now on."

"And why's that?"

"Well, a while ago I took the liberty to drop by your school and snoop around." 

Hold on, that's something serious! How could she say something like that after talking about how we shouldn't be drawing any unneeded attention?

"Wha- how'd you even find it?!" 

"I followed your smell." 

"My scent is that strong?!"

"Not really, I've got to be pretty close to smell it. Plus, the only reason I can track you is that I've committed your scent to memory. That's why I always sleep so close to you!"

I wasn't sure how to reply. 

"When I got to your school, I was impressed. I didn't know schools in the modern era were so big!" 

"My school's actually pretty small. It's a charter school so it's way smaller than a public one." 

"No way!"

"No, really, it is," I replied, still grappling with the fact that Cacophony had been sneaking around my school. "But why did you go there?"

"No reason. It's just boring being home all day." Cacophony's expression turned serious. "I found evidence of a barrier spell around your school. A simple one, but it's definitely there."

Whatever thoughts I had in my mind suddenly ceased. Like a normally busy street suddenly being cleared for a brief time. It was after that, in my head, that I understood what Cacophony wanted to warn me about. 

"It's an alert spell," Cacophony explained. "It notifies the caster whenever a powerful presence crosses it. Given its simplicity, it's likely been set up by someone who wants to monitor activity without drawing too much attention. Since I'm so skilled, I noticed it before I triggered its activation."

"So, someone at my school is a mage?"

"Possibly," Cacophony nodded. "And not just any mage. This spell indicates a level of caution and awareness that suggests they're experienced. It could be a teacher, a student, or even someone outside the school who's using it to keep an eye on things."

 "So, what do we do?"

"For now, act normal. Continue your routine, but be vigilant. If they sense that someone is onto them, they could begin to target you, and even worse if they figure out your relationship with me. Still, I'm glad to have finally found another mage in this era. For a second, I was worried that it was a dead art!"

How should I be reacting right now? Should I be worried, glad, excited? Whatever the case, Cacophony had basically only told me to do one thing.

"So, just keep it noted?"

"I guess. If you run into trouble, run back home and I'll save you. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my precious blood source."