12181/The Case of the Kitty Kurse

The Case of the Kitty Kurse
Date of Scene:	15 September 2020
Location:	Harry Dresden's Office, Kingston Falls
Synopsis:	Selina Kyle stops in to Harry Dresden's check out a strange wound on her arm from the cat at the gala. Karrin and Mouse pop by because Mouse has a hunch...
Cast of Characters:	Catwoman, Harry Dresden, Karrin Murphy

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Catwoman has posed:
Although she had taken a while to resort to a 'Wizard's' help, Selina had actually kept Harry's business card in the purse since the night of the attack on the charity event. Okay fine, so she was initially hesitant to believe in magic, furthermore to believe in an actual, honest to good wizard.

But given that she'd recently made acquaintance with a *vampire* of all things, Selina was starting to realize that truth really *was* stranger than fiction.

Soo, here she is, right outside Harry's office, where she hesitantly knocks on the door, and of course she is having second thoughts - was she imagining the claw marks? Was she taking this too far? Was she being paranoid? Oh well, better safe than sorry, right?

Harry Dresden has posed:
Sitting at his desk, Harry sighs and looks up from the paperback he is reading at the moment to glance through the glass of the door. Obviously not expecting a client, he starts to straighten up a bit at the sight of Selina on the other side. Waving her in as he shoves some paper into the drawer of the desk, he smile "Hey there! Ms. Kyle, right? Please..come in, come in. Have a seat. Coffee?"

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle opens the door and steps in, relieved to see he is there. She is dressed in a crisp black business blazer and skirt, with a pale pink blouse underneath, and heels. She's looking a bit tired, a bit pale too, almost as if she was feeling..Unwell.

"Mr. Dresden. It is good to see you again.." she smiles faintly and nods to him as she sits before him. "A cup of coffee would do me good.." Is she..Shivering? Even though it's not that cold in here? How odd..

Harry Dresden has posed:
Nodding, Harry gets up from his seat behind the desk and moves to the almost antique looking coffee maker. He picks up the glass pitcher and brings it up to his nose, sniffing at the dark liquid inside before he makes a face and dumps the offending liquid into the small sink before starting up a fresh batch. "Coffee will be a minute, I need to make some fresh," he tells Selina with an apologetic smile. "While that is brewing, why don't you tell me what brings you by my office today. I must admit I didn't think I would see you again after that meeting at the gala. I kinda figured that was a one and done kind of meeting."

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle frowns, rubbing her left forearm, the same place where she was attacked and scratched by that giant cat the other night at the fundraiser. "Indeed..It might be a stretch, and perhaps I am slightly paranoid, but.."

She sighs and shrugs out of her blazer, pulling up the left sleeve of her blouse to reveal three angry red clawmarks on her left forearm.

"The night of the fundraiser, that giant cat must have scratched me. At the time, I thought it was just a minor scratch but.." Selina frowns. "It's been more than a week now, and it's still as fresh as ever. If anything, it's getting worse. I feel..Tired, irritable, shivery. I saw my doctor of course, he prescribed antibiotics, but..They did absolutely nothing."

Harry Dresden has posed:
"You mean that big black jaguar or whatever it was?" Harry tries to remember. "That thing I was getting a weird vibe from?"

Harry wanders over closer towards Selina and motions to her arm, "May I? I'd like to take a look at your scratches."

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle nods slowly and grimaces. "Yeaaah, I figured I was seeing things at first. But no, it really WAS a bit black panther. Just, where on earth did it come from?" she smirks at the 'weird vibe' thing. "So what do you suppose it is, exactly? One moment it was a black cat..The next a giant panther..?"

It was pretty dark in there at the time, but a few people had witnessed the same thing, a giant shadowy catlike creature, leaping at Selina before seemingly vanishing.

"Of course." she nods, holding up her arm for him to inspect.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Reaching out gently to take the arm, Harry looks down at the scratches on it and hrms quietly to himself. He slowly raises his right hand over the wound, letting it hover there just centimeters over the skin as he closes his eyes. "Tell me again what symptoms you are having, Ms. Kyle? I want you to be specific, or as specific as you can be."

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle sighs, watching him thoughtfully as she thinks. "Hmm, kind of, flu-like symptoms I suppose. Tired, shivery, lethargic..As well as really..Moody, flighty, angry, irritable. Heck, I'm starting to feel more and more like a moody, skittish cat, day by day. If I didn't know better, I'd say I just have the common flu, except I just feel really jumpy and anxious from time to time."

She smirks, "Heck, let a dog in this room and I'll probably freak out. Good thing there are no dogs here.." right..?

Harry Dresden has posed:
Mumbling a low chant that sounds like some sort of quasi-Latin, Harry continues to hover his hand over the scratch marks. A warm feeling radiates from Harry's hand as it starts to glow with a gentle yellow-white light before suddenly turning darker as Harry lets out a yowl of pain and snatches his hand back, waving it like he is trying to put out a fire. "Oh...that's NASTY...whatever it was certainly did something, and they don't like me poking at it."

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle blinks slowly, peering curiously at his strange quasi-latin, then frowning down at his hand as it starts to..Glow? "What? What just happened? Is it worse than I thought?" she's not really sure what to think at this point, the concept of magic is pretty much alien to her.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Of course, the universe is funny that way. Murphy doesn't always take Mouse for a walk but sometimes the big guy wants to drive and she's off work today (after a pretty sleepless night the one before). So, for whatever reason, Mouse has navigated the way down the several blocks between Harry's apartment and office. The sound of heavy, horse-of-a-dog footfalls can be heard in the hallway and the short cop makes her way into the room. "...I don't know *what's* up with him, Harry, he wanted... Oh. Hello..." Murphy has control of Mouse's leash. Barely.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Continuing to shake his hand like someone just bashed one of his fingers with a hammer, Harry shrugs and looks down at Selina, "I don't honestly know. Normally I see that kind of thing with a ward on a door, not with a wound. I don't know /what/ you got yourself involved with, Ms. Kyle, but whatever it is, is certainly magical in nature. Not something I am ultimately familiar with either. What was the thing that cat grabbed? That statue you had?"

As Karrin wanders in, Harry lifts his hand in a wave, giving the small cop a hesitant smile. "Hey there. Hey Mouse, how you doing boy?"

The large dog patters over to Harry, cautiously looking over at Selina as a low rumble emits from its throat. Not a growl per say, but something leading up to one.

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle sighs, "Oh dear, are you going to be alright, Mr. Dresden?" she frowns, clearly concerned as she watches him and frowns a little. "What indeed. I have no idea. As for the statue, it was just a cat statue made of obsidian with ruby eyes. I suppose it held considerable monetary value..You don't suppose this panther creature was some sort of glorified thief, do you?"

This does have her rather worried though, moreso when she realizes how that scar affected Harry too. "So..What can be done? How can I get rid of this..Whatever it is..Magical cat scratch? Curse?" She's really not sure how these magical marks work.

And then comes the dog. Eyes widen sudenly, instinctively, hairs standing on end. It's like she's not really thinking as she jumps out of her seat and..And snarls and hisses, baring her teeth even, as the big dog enters.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
That was *not* what Karrin expected to see when Mouse entered the office. She stares between Harry, Selina, and the dog on his lead. She lets Harry pet and try to keep Mouse calm, though the big fluff of a dog isn't attacking. Something is definitely wrong, she knows that much. "Ms. Kyle. Uh...I'm... sorry. I didn't realize you weren't.... Great with dogs. I don't know why Mouse insisted..." Karrin falls quiet then, looking back to Harry.

"Something's wrong, isn't it? It generally is, when Mouse insists..." The tone in Karrin's voice is less friendly affection and all work now.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"Something being the right word..." Harry says as he takes a step back away from Selina, grabbing ahold of Mouse just to make sure the dog behaves, "Mouse, settle down."

Harry looks at Selina and calmly says, "Ms. Kyle, he isn't going to hurt you. Mouse is the best trained dog I have ever seen. He isn't going to go after you, I promise....are you Mouse?" Harry looks down to the lion of a dog and places his hand on the pooches head. "But I need you to settle down yourself. This isn't going to help..."

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle sneezes and chuffs a bit, covering her mouth as she eyes the dog warily. It takes her a moment or two to snap out of it, and if anyone is particularly keen, they may notice the three clawmarks briefly seem to glow for a moment before she takes a few deep breaths, calming herself down.

"Ah..My apologies..I don't know what came over me. That's...That's an incredibly large dog.." she continues to eye Mouse rather nervously, and seems to calm down a bit herself, although hesitant to return to the chair. "Ms. Murphy. A pleasure to meet you again.."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
The short blonde really isn't certain what is going on, but her instincts are sharp and she trusts Mouse. She carefully releases one hand from his lead, burying small fingertips into the back of his fur and giving a few reassuring, deep scratches there to help calm the huge creature. "Ms. Kyle...How are you feeling after... Everything?" Her eyes drop to that scratch, frown deepening just a bit. Karrin isn't certain what she saw, but she definitely saw *something*.

As for Mouse, the huge temple dog slowly melts from a growl into a bit of a whimper. Something concerned and curious. He's not barking, but his head is up and he's sniffing the air in the direction of Selina's wound. No attack seems imminent from him. If anything, he's acting like a therapy dog around a sick individual.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"I'll be blunt." Harry says as he eyes the wound on Selina's arm. "You've been manipulated somehow. I don't know if it is a curse, I don't know if it is a magical infection akin to a cat scratch fever, I don't know if it was a were-cat and you are in the process of turning, which by the way is not how were creatures usually are formed but I am not ruling anything out. I don't know what it is, but something has taken hold of you and it is related to that scratch. I don't have any answers for you, not off the top of my head, but I will damned well try to find some. What can you tell me about that statue the cat stole? Any background information on it? Photos? Documentation that it came with? Anything?"

Catwoman has posed:
Selina Kyle sighs, pulling down her sleeve and nods. "Look, I should probably get some rest, I'm pretty anxious right now..This is all a little bit much, but." after a thought, she pulls a little baggie out of her purse, containing a cat collar, with tufts of black fur stuck to it. "I got this from the pound, perhaps you can learn more about the cat from it? As for that statue.." she shrugs, "there's not much to say. But thanks for your help, I hope you can get something from the collar at least..I'll be in touch.."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Karrin frowns a bit more, "Sorry, Ms. Kyle. I...didn't meet to spook you." Even if Karrin looks incredibly perplexed. Mouse never reacts like this unless something is quite wrong. She keeps stroking small fingers across his fur as Selina heads for the door, the whimper of a worried Foo dog following her rather noticably. "It'll be okay, boy... It always somehow is." She reassures the last few left in the room.