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Questions Needing Answers

  • Apr. 23rd, 2008 at 2:06 PM
royalsongstress: (Default)
Doing one of my question round-up posts, this time RE: the Dresden Files bookverse. Spoilers for up to and including White Night.

PSA: I haven't read all of Small Favor yet, so please don't spoil any plot points in the comments. I know some of the answers might be found in Small Favor and I just haven't reached them yet, but I'm working at reading it in bursts and I want to make sure I have some idea of the answers in order to have enough time to finishing writing before my ficathon deadline.



1. I know that the White Court vamps feed on lust/fear/pain and sort of charge themselves up on it, then go berserker. Thomas is a Raith, so he feeds on lust/intimacy/etc. I know he generally goes for women, though I'm sure he can get the same result from men. What I'm wondering is, when he reaches that point where he's completely running on empty and needs to charge up on lust, would everyone around him be in danger? Woman and men? I know he nearly killed Justine when he was near death or whatever and in White Night, he separated himself from the coven folks so he wouldn't do something nasty to them. So, if you were Harry and Thomas was in that half-crazed, post berserker state, would you fear for both the men and the women nearby, or just the women?

2. My books are currently out on crusade for the cause, so I don't have them handy. Does anyone know off-hand how many piercings Molly has and where they're located? I know she has that dragon tattoo that goes from her neck down to her hip or so, and I think Harry implies her nipples are pierced, and he mentions her slushing because of a tongue stud, but what sort of piercings does she have on her face?

3. When Harry took on Molly as his apprentice, they both have the Doom of Damocles over them, right? How long does that last on his part? His own Doom was removed after Storm Front, so it's sort of a reissue of it now. Does that only work while Molly is studying under him or does it last for the rest of her life? Like, if, twenty years from now, she breaks the Laws, does that mean Harry gets killed as well? Or, when she and he part ways as mentor/student, does the Doom come off of him?

4. I think in one of the books, Harry calls Ramirez up and reaches some people for whom English sounds like their 'third or forth language' (or something to that effect). Have I invented the idea that he reaches a restaurant in L.A., or is that mentioned? Also, I have it in my head that Ramirez has a bunch of brothers and sisters. Is that also my own invention? One of the problem with writing fanfic is that you tend to invent things in your mind and then don't know if they're canon or not. In fact, I may have invented the phone call altogether or he might have been calling someone else. Who knows?

Thanks for any opinions you can offer. I'm willing to hear any and all. :-)

Comments

[identity profile] tigerkat24.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:11 pm (UTC)
I don't have the answers myself, but I shall summon the canon goddess, who probably does. If she doesn't know 'em, nobody does. *trots off to link*
[identity profile] tigerkat24.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:12 pm (UTC)
Also, judging by someone else I know, you did not make up either the restaurant in LA or the bunch of brothers and sisters. I know LA is right, and I think that the restaurant and the tribe are too.
[identity profile] awanderingbard.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:23 pm (UTC)
Well, at least if I'm crazy, I'm crazy in company. Thanks for the prompt response. You guys rock. :-)
[identity profile] priscellie.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:16 pm (UTC)
*zooms to action*

On it!
[identity profile] awanderingbard.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:19 pm (UTC)
Wow, you people are efficient. What do you charge?
[identity profile] priscellie.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 07:30 pm (UTC)
All we desire is your love.

And your fanfics. :D
[identity profile] priscellie.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 07:14 pm (UTC)
Okay, Canon Goddess, reporting for duty!

1. If I were Harry, I'd probably be 99.99% concerned for the women, because this is Harry we're talking about. :D I imagine men could be in danger as well, but all we've seen of Thomas indicates a definite preference towards womenfolk--probably because Jim is terrified of what will happen if he gives slashers a freaking inch. :D


2. Circa PG:
Her blond hair had been dyed, parti-colored, one half of her head bubblegum pink, the other sky blue, and it had been cut at a uniform length that ended just below her chin and left most of her face covered by a close veil of hair. She wore a lot of makeup; way too much eye liner and mascara, and black lipstick colored her mouth. Bright rings of gold gleamed in both nostrils, her lower lip, and her right eyebrow, and there was a bead of gold in that little dent just under her lower lip. There were miniature barbell-shaped bulges at the tips of her breasts, where the thin fabric emphasized rather than concealed them.

(snip)

She had a tattoo on the left side of her neck in the shape of a slithering serpent, and I could see the barbs and curves of some kind of tribal design flickering out from the neckline of her tank top. Another design, whirling loops and spirals, covered the back of her right hand and vanished up under the sleeve of the jacket.

(snip)

“Hello, Harry,” she replied. The words came out a little thick, and I saw more gold flash near the tip of her tongue.


Circa WN:
Her hair had been cut into a short, spiky style and dyed peroxide white. A tattoo on her neck vanished under her shirt, reappeared for a bit on her bared stomach, and continued beneath the pants. She had multiple earrings, a nose ring, an eyebrow ring, and a silver stud through that spot right under her lower lip. On the hand Murphy had twisted up behind her back, she wore a bracelet of dark little glass beads.


At the end of WN:
She'd ditched the Goth-wear almost entirely. She didn't sport any of the usual piercings—nose rings are great fashion statements, but in anything like a fight, they just aren't a good idea. Her clothing wasn't all ripped up, either. She wore heavy, loose jeans, and not slung so low on the hips that they'd threaten to fall off and trip her if she twitched her spine just right. Her combat boots had been divested of their brightly colored laces. She wore a black shirt with a Metallica logo on it, and a web belt that bore a sheathed knife and the small first-aid kit I'd seen her mother carry into battle. She wore a dark green baseball cap, with her hair gathered into a tail and tucked up under it, where it wouldn't provide an easy handle for anyone wanting to grab it.


3. The way I understand it, Molly is under the Doom, and Harry is only under it by proxy. Like, Harry isn't technically under the Doom, but if Molly screws up, Harry dies as well. (I could be completely wrong here, but that made the most sense to me.) I assume this only holds for the duration of her apprenticeship, until she is inducted into the White Council. Harry estimates her apprenticeship will extend another 6 or 7 years after WN.


4. Yup, Ramirez's family owns a restaurant. From WN: "Ramirez's contact number went to a restaurant his family ran in eastern Los Angeles. I left a message with someone whose English sounded like a second or third language. It took Ramirez only about ten minutes to call me back." I have no idea where I got the idea that he has a bunch of siblings--I guess it's something widely considered fanon, but with no actual canonical basis.
[identity profile] awanderingbard.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 09:10 pm (UTC)
*worships obediently at your altar*

1. That makes sense and was pretty much what I was thinking, too. If Harry was really worried, he'd be inclined to get all the women out of there first and leave the men to fend for themselves, anyway. ;-) Or just get Thomas out of there.

2. Great! Quotes are love! I'd forgotten about her de-punkifying herself a bit at the end of WN. That's good to know.

3. That also makes sense. Harry and Molly are a package deal with the Doom. It's over her head and if he's standing next to her, it's likely to hit him too. The thing I was the most curious about was how long it lasted, but her entrance into the White Council makes very good sense.

4. It's always nice to know you aren't crazy. I'm wondering if 'his family ran' makes other people besides me think of many Ramirezes (Ramirezi? beaucoup des Ramirez?) all putting in shifts at the restaurant and that's the reason it's sort of fanon. In any case, at least I can use it without too many people calling my bluff.

Thank you so, so, so much for your efforts on my behalf. I very much appreciate it. You have my love and, hopefully soon, my fanfics too. ;-)
[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:19 pm (UTC)
My understanding is that the Doom of Damocles is there until it's officially removed- so it's hanging over both Molly and Harry's head right now.

I don't believe it's still over Harry's head once she's no longer her apprentice, but I'm basing that off of my vague recollections of conversations between Harry and Ebenezer, (since Harry was McCoy's apprentice they would have the same relationship/rules and whatnot as Harry and Molly, right?)
[identity profile] awanderingbard.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:22 pm (UTC)
Well, that's what I was thinking, myself, but McCoy is the Blackstaff, right? So I thought it might be different circumstances on his part, since he has a very important role in the council. My impression was that one of the reasons he took on/was assigned Harry was so that he could kill him if he tried anything else.
[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:24 pm (UTC)
hmmm- that's a good point, I hadn't thought about that. but how long has he been the Blackstaff? If Harry had messed up really badly I can't imagine that the council would have spared McCoy just due to his blackstaff status
[identity profile] tigerkat24.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 07:34 pm (UTC)
Well, technically (hi, I'm butting into your conversation, don't mind me), if Harry were to screw up under Eb's teaching, Eb would deliver the Doom.
AFAIK, regarding the Doom, that only applies if the wizard speaks for the kid. We don't actually know if Eb spoke for Harry or not (given the way he talked about Harry's mother, I'm inclined to say he did). That might make a difference. If he didn't speak for Harry, and just had Harry sort of dumped on him for watching, I don't think he'd be subject to the Doom.
[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com wrote:
Apr. 23rd, 2008 07:37 pm (UTC)
oh- that's a good point (McCoy speaking for Harry vs not) Butcher sidesteps telling us if he did or not by Harry not understanding Latin so not knowing what was going on during his hearing