The Coffee Shop Plague

[GM Kiersten]

Anyone coming into the Strange Brew coffee shop during the week before Valentine's Day will see a sad note on the espresso machine: "I'm terribly ill. Please leave messages by my door (up the stairs, first door on the right) - Teagan (P.S. I'm not contagious.)" There is also a folded and elaborately sealed envelope on a ledge behind the counter, addressed to Mr. London. It looks suspiciously like a valentine.

[GM Ellie]

The note is gone before the end of the day.

[Cassie]

Cassie knocks quietly on Teagan's door.  "Um?  Teagan?"

[GM Kiersten]

Teagan opens her apartment door. She's less well groomed than usual: her eyes are dull, her hair is lank and unwashed, and she is wrapped in an old quilt. She also looks as if she has either been crying or blowing her nose repeatedly, possibly both. She blinks in the light from the hallway and sniffs.
     "Oh...hello." She looks around the rest of the corridor as if expecting someone else to appear, too, but she only sees Cassie. Looking disappointed for a moment, she coughs and covers her mouth with a delicate lace handkerchief.
     "Is something the matter downstairs, Cassie?" she asks. She tries very hard to smile as brightly as she does when healthy.

[Cassie]

"I, um, no, nothing's the matter, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."  She pauses, twists her hands a little, and then basically tacklehugs Teagan. 

[GM Kiersten]

Teagan looks very surprised at Cassie's hug. She takes a step back after detangling herself from the other girl and brushes off the quilt.
     "I'm all right. I just had a bit of a shock a few days ago, and now I've gotten sick on top of it all..." Her voice trails off and she glances over her shoulder. There is a table visible from the doorway. A tattered notebook is open next to a book with a green cover - it looks suspiciously like one of the LARP books from Recent Relics.
     "Won't you come in, Cassie? I was just about to put water on for tea. I would...like some company. Yes, that might do me some good."

[Cassie]

"Okay, I can be company if it helps.  Do you want to talk about something in particular, or just stuff?"

[GM Kiersten]

(ooc: sorry it's taken me so long to reply, Betsy)

Teagan wanders back into the apartment, pulling out a spare chair for Cassie as she goes, and steps into the kitchen. She puts the water on and returns with two mugs of steaming tea.
     "I hope peppermint is all right," she says. "I used up all the chamomile." She shuts the books on the table and shoves them aside; the green one says "Vampire: the Masquerade" on the cover. Both it and the notebook have multiple bookmarks sticking out of them.
     Teagan sits down next to Cassie and sniffles.
     "Has...has Mr. London been asking about me? I haven't heard from him in a few days, not since Mr. Bosch's party. I'm...worried."
      She dabs at her nose with a handkerchief and sniffs again. "I feel so useless now. Oh, Cassie, it's horrible! Everything I thought I knew about vampires came from a LARP! My life is a LARP!"

[Cassie]

Cassie hesitates, then puts an arm around Teagan, more carefully this time.  "You're not useless!  You're still crazy smart, and really nice, and everything!  And besides, you've got friends who care about you, for you, not for the cool things you do for us.  So you don't need to be the one who knows stuff-  even though you still totally are- because you can just be Teagan and that's enough."