[ she shakes her head, knowing the feeling all too well. but she's never had very good luck to begin with. ]

No, I know exactly what you mean. Even when you've cut them out of it as literally as one possibly could, somehow they seem to latch onto your life and never release themselves. Like one of those aquatic things, the ones with all the teeth.

[ she pauses, her eyes rolling upward. ] Lamprey, or maybe it was Remora. The second sounds frightfully appropriate.