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Theo and Jennifer looked at each other over the kitchen table, wondering how long they should wait for Laurel for breakfast.

She crept into the room like a timid animal, with sunken eyes and bed head, wearing sweats. She sat at the table. “It hurts when I pee,” she said softly. Then she bawled. “I think I’ve got an STD.”

Jennifer stood up and moved beside her. With a hand on her shoulder, she said, “It’s probably just a urinary tract infection. You’ve been sleeping with the Diplomat’s Blanket, right? That will have protected you from STDs.”

Laurel’s face was buried in her arms on the table. Jennifer patted her back. “I can teach you a spell to speed up your recovery.” She turned to Theo. “We’ll need some supplies from Salt Lake City.”

“I’ll hit the road after breakfast. You can text me what you need and where to find it,” he said with a nod.

Laurel texted Steve that she wouldn’t be meeting him. Her plan was to stay in bed sulking for at least as long as it took her to recover, but she couldn’t concentrate on videos or reading. She needed a project to keep her distracted - something that had nothing to do with sex.

“Can I use some of your craft supplies?” She asked Jennifer.

“Of course - use whatever you need.”

There was no reason that a hair-drying spell needed to be so complicated. It could actually be quite simple with some material aids. Those would need to be enchanted, of course, but that could be done ahead of time, instead of while rushing to get dressed after taking a shower.

She began picking out materials, laying them out on the table, and trying to imagine how they all might fit into her puzzle. Frequently she ran to the bathroom and soaked her hair so she could test this property or that. A plan started to form in her mind for a simple apparatus and an even simpler spell that could be used together to dry hair.

Jennifer’s craft room was quite well stocked, but it didn’t have everything she needed. There were many types of wood, and various tools for shaping them, although she didn’t know how to use most of those. There were several different types of sand and even dried seaweed. She couldn’t find any natural sponges, and at first, Laurel thought she could use wool as a substitute, but that ended up causing too many complications. Sea salt would be essential, and surprisingly she couldn’t find any of that.

As much as Laurel wanted to avoid people, the puzzle had taken hold of her mind and it wouldn’t let go. She decided to make a trip to the crafts store.

Bruce texted her while she was in the checkout line.

Bruce: The guys said I should leave you alone - that you wouldn’t want to hang with us before practice today. But I figured maybe you and I could meet up somewhere private. What do you say?

Laurel: No thank you.

When she emerged from the store she found her car had been vandalized: written in lipstick on her windshield were the words, “Jizz fetish all cox welcome.”

Bruce texted again while she was staring at the message.

Bruce: It doesn’t have to be about sex. We can just talk or listen to music.

Laurel: OMG! PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!

After Theo’s return, Jennifer taught Laurel a ritual to speed her recovery from the UTI.

“Why isn’t someone selling this?” Theo asked. “Make a lot of money and help a lot of women out.”

“She has to cast it herself,” Jennifer explained. “So it’s only available to women with proper magic training. It’s pretty well known among our kind though.”

Laurel’s body felt healthy again the following morning, but her mood wasn’t so easily repaired. She decided it was best to take another day off from sex and Spermamancy. In the early afternoon, Theo and Laurel began washing her car. That task evolved into a water fight - albeit a short one due to the cold - that lifted her spirits considerably.

For most of the rest of the day, she refined her magical hairdryer ideas, and in the early evening, she went to Jennifer. “I made you a gift,” she said, handing her mentor a gift bag.