Dresden Files Reread - Fool Moon Chapter 23

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Harry figures he's basically dead, but then Marcone and Hendricks show up, in what would feel like one hell of a coincidence if their impending arrival hadn't been announced at the beginning of the previous chapter. Hendricks has a very large gun, one Marcone is pretty sure will do enough damage to overcome the accelerated healing. Parker would really rather kill Dresden and, y'know, not back down in the face of Marcone's threats. Harry can see him struggling with the violent spirit within him, but that hard-won self control wins out, and he backs off. 

Marcone describes how Harley MacFinn called him, blamed him for damaging the circle, and made threats. He gets a little closer to acknowledging that he's out of his depth, saying that his parents weren't in a position to leave him anything, much less silver. This is one of the only concrete pieces of Marcone's backstory we get, excepting his history with the Becketts. It isn't a huge surprise that Marcone's parents were poor, but it's interesting to have it confirmed. It's also interesting that when he speaks of them he says "God rest their souls". This suggests at least a modicum of fondness and respect for his family of origin, and that he's at least not deeply averse to ideas of religion. The surname "Marcone" is Italian, and it seems likely that he would like people to believe he's Catholic, but since "John Marcone" is not the name he was given at birth (confirmed in "Even Hand" in Brief Cases), it wouldn't surprise me if both these aspects of his presentation are merely part of the "movie monster but better" image he's been cultivating since attaining his current position. 

He offers Harry the contract again, and adds that, to sweeten the deal, he will arrange for CPD to take the pressure off of Murphy. Harry seriously considers this. In a rare moment of insight, he observed that Murphy is still his friend, then corrects himself, deciding instead that he is still her friend, thereby reflecting at least a vague awareness that she's the one being awful here. It's still Marcone trying to hire him though, so of course he's not actually going to do it. He tries to use magic to throw tools at everyone, but he gets is a half-hearted wiggle and a splitting headache for his trouble. This is unusual. Harry runs out of magical batteries plenty of times in the series, but he usually isn't caught quite so off guard by it. I'm guessing this is an aftereffect of the potion, or at least that showing away while under it's influence drained him in ways that he can't usually accomplish without losing consciousness. 

Parker objected strenuously to Harry's leaving with Marcone under any circumstances, and that gives Harry an idea. He asks Marcone for a pen, and when Marcone expresses understandable surprise, goes so far as to say explicitly that he'll sign. Parker, as Harry had hoped, is not having this, and goes after Hendricks with the tire iron. Hendricks starts shooting, and Harry uses the chaos as cover to run for the door. I think there's probably an interesting AU to be had in a world where Parker kept it together and Harry had to go through with signing. I've been getting back into doing fan fiction, sk I might even take a stab at writing it at some point. 

Outside, Harry is immediately confronted by Agents Denton, Benn, and Harris of the FBI. Denton tells the others that they can't let Harry get away, and they shift, revealing themselves as hexenwulfen. Harry, very sensibly, goes right back inside, and when they try to get in after him, Hendricks shoots at them through the door. So now it's a three way fight, two sides of which want to kill Harry. Our Hero does the smart thing and, grabs a wrench, and heads for the shadowy back of the room, where he hopes no one will notice him while he tries to think of a way to get out of this in one piece. 

My Laptop Died

More specifically, my laptop was killed. By my cat. She peed on it. Yeah. The odds of successfully saving it are low. Honestly at this point I'd take getting the files off it as a win, but even that is gonna take time and money which I do not currently have. 

I can type the posts up on my phone, but if there's a way to properly add and caption photos on mobile, I haven't found it yet, so actually posting them will require that I get to the library or borrow someone else's computer. I won't use pictures without crediting them, and social media doesn't like it when my posts don't have pictures. (The above is a picture I took myself of a wild raspberry plant in my yard). 

The post for Fool Moon Chapter 23 is done, and has been for a while. It will be posted sometime this week. In early October, you'll still get the usual year in review post and the new goals for the 2021-2022 Eeveeyear. If you want me to get back to a more reliable schedule, this would be a great time to consider supporting the Patreon. 

Dresden Files Reread - Fool Moon Chapter 22

Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash

Harry wakes up in the Full Moon Garage, bound hand a foot with duct tape. Despite the restraints, his wounds have been treated, he's getting an actual blood transfusion, and there's a blanket over him. Human blood suitable for transfusion, especially O-, which this must be unless the lycanthrope power set includes blood typing by scent, is expensive and kind of a pain to steal, especially compared to saline, which would have worked just as well here, so either Parker keeps blood on hand to treat his own people's injuries, or he keeps it on hand because the consumption of blood is part of what feeds the spirits to which they play host. I think both possibilities are reasonably supported by the text. Parker is an actual alpha wolf, a provider and protector to his pack, not the violent, hypermasculine stereotype perpetuated by the vast majority of urban fantasy series that actually focus on werewolves. 

Harry's probably in better condition than he has been since leaving MacFinn's house, since the last person to patch him up didn't replace any blood or fluids. But he doesn't have any way to make a circle, and without one he can't work magic delicate enough to get out of the duct tape. At this point we're reminded that his father was a stage magician, with the new detail that he had an actual white rabbit, I would just like to note here that this means Harry's early childhood was traveling the country with his father was also spent in close proximity to a live rabbit which, as far as I can recall, is never mentioned outside of this chapter. He was like, six when his father died - did he really not have any feelings about being separated from the bunny? Or did the state of Missouri actually allow him to take it with him into foster care? In any case, Harry learned some tricks from his dad, including how to escape from various restraints (although not, as we learned in Storm Front, from handcuffs). It takes some time and wiggling, but he's able to get his arms free, and get started on his legs, before he hears people coming and has to get back under the blanket before they notice he's escaping. 

It's Parker and Flat Nose, the latter of whom wants to know why they fixed up Dresden's injuries instead of just shooting him. Apparently it's because Marcone wants to see Harry, which is new information and seriously Marcone if you could just be a little less ambitious and a little more straightforward about what you want, you might actually be able to work with Harry. Flat Nose is pretty dismissive of "not bothering Marcone" as a priority, and question Parker's fitness to lead the Streetwolves if he's gonna be all cautious and reasonable and aware of long-term consequences. Apparently Flat Nose would prefer the hypermasculine stereotype to the real thing, and he hints that Parker used to embody that stereotype a lot more closely. Parker does something violent that we don't see, and very calmly explains that if Flat Nose challenges Parker again, Parker will rip his heart out. 

Photo by Natalino D'Amato on Unsplash

Harry would like to resume his escape attempt, and he can't do that if Parker's gonna keep babysitting him until Marcone shows up, so he tries his hand at antagonizing Parker, hoping to get him to go get a baseball bat or something, leave the room for a second. Parker, unfortunately, is hard to antagonize, and he laughs off Harry's first few attempts, confirming in the process that the moon plays a role in lycanthropic accelerated healing. What are the lycanthropes? How do they work? Anyway, eventually Harry starts poking at Parker's insecurities about getting older and losing control of the pack, and that does work. But the plan falls apart when, instead of leaving the room to get a weapon, Parker just picks up a tire iron and swings it at Harry's head. 

This was a short chapter. Expect the next one in probably a couple days. Wheel of time posts are on hiatus until I find an approach that doesn't take 10+ hours per section. Until next time, be Gay, do Crimes, and read All The Things!