"Blood magic, you say?" Now I was genuinely curious. I knew someone who worked with flesh, one proficient with manipulating bone, and now someone who dealt in blood. Lock them in a lab with some spare parts and a few bottles of strong liquor and who knows what would come out of there.

I held out a gloved hand, expecting Nevin to present his own. He did. I leaned forward in my seat, mindful not to bump into my tea cup with my knees as I drew closer for a good look. Sure enough, there was something that bonded with his skin, spiderwebbing out across the back of his hand in dark tendrils. I knew a few things about symbiotic parasites, but this one was foreign to me.

"Can you tell me a little more about this... thing they bonded you with? Do you remember anything about it before the process was complete? Or who did this to you?" I glanced up, meeting his gaze. "Or maybe why?"

I could see it in his eyes that Nevin was not accustomed to discussing this sort of thing with others. I gave his hand a quick, reassuring pat.

"I'm simply wondering, is all. I'm a poisonous, bipedal houseplant with glow-in-the-dark eyes that have seen some weird shit in their time. Nothing you can say will weird me out."