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>Nem, would you be interested in popping in to examine this death curse?
Nem is interested. It will take her a couple of hours to reach you.
In the meantime, you text Samantha. She doesn't respond right away; she could be busy.
While you wait, you and Paula dig into the picnic lunch. The food is excellent, and Paula knows quite a lot about it. She explains how to eat certain foods, and which pair better with the wine. She asks your relationship with Nem, to which you reply "It's complicated" because really, it is pretty complicated.
You notice that while Paula very much enjoys the wine, she does not drink to excess. Despite the situation, she does have the wits of an adventurer about her. While you wait, she shows you the contents of her backpack -- it includes rope, a ball gag, one vanilla scented massage oil, a short crop, switchblade, a vial of pixie dust (she says it detects magic), lock picks, a small tin of black powder ("for stubborn locks"), compass, pens, paper, WD40, waterproof matches, hairspray, duct tape and an iron sapper.
Paula: None of which is useful against a witch.
Nem blips on your phone that she's about to arrive, and she will arrive from the shadows, instructing you to inform Paula so she does not freak out.
Nem arrives from the shadows. Despite being instructed not to, Paula freaks out. But just a little -- grabbing your arm and pushing herself against you.
Paula: God damn! You've got...
Nem: The chill of death about me, yeah I know. When it's time for business I kinda do that, plus the cape seems to really have that effect for some reason.
Nem attempts in vain to brush her hair out of her eyes, then looks Paula dead in her eyes.
Nem: OK, let's see what kind of curse we're dealing with.
She fiddles in the air, tracing patterns that mean things only to her, and reading things that are only visible to her eyes. At one point, she traces a couple of fingers towards Paula's abdomen, and makes a stretching motion that makes the batgirl shift uncomfortably.
Nem then seems to check a number of things on her hand mirror, fiddling with it in much the same way she was with her fingers in the air before.
Nem: All right. So if I'm reading this correctly, it's a "Mayfly" curse. You have an egg implanted in you that's basically going to make a copy of your body. The Curse is set up so the egg will go bad soon and turn into an aggressive cancer. The act of sex will basically temporarily turn off the timer. Once sperm hits the egg, it sets off phase two which will siphon -- well basically your soul -- into the egg. You won't be able to take your memories with you, but you will be able to keep most of your muses. Your body will keep going for awhile, lay the egg, and then die. The end result is that you won't be the same person because you'll have lost your memories, and you'll have to grow up all over again.
Nem sighs.
Nem: Killing people directly through unnatural means tends to attract attention from unwanted spiritual elements. But curses like this shifts the blame, because they give you a choice, and if you take rebirth it doesn't have the same price as murder. And if it weren't for the fact that you could call someone like me, Razzay wouldn't have had to worry about anyone tracking her for awhile.
She fiddles a bit more with her mirror.
Nem: Did you know there are basically spiritual cops? Not just Redeemers either. It's probably why there's so many contracts and rituals and stuff like that. Anyhow, I'm only mentioning it because one of you mentioned an STD curse. That kind of thing tends to be illegal, but I'm glad you were paranoid about it -- better safe than sorry.
Paula gives a confused look between you and Nem.
Paula: Who mentioned it? I didn't, Johnny didn't...
Nem waves her off with an "It's complicated".
Nem: Anyhow, I have to go -- but I'll be in touch if you need me to look up anything.
(Continued)
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