BOOK TWO: putting out your fires with gasoline (12/?)

[lucia_tanaka]

Table of Contents

Title: putting out your fires with gasoline, Book Two of The Matter of Chicago
Rating/Warnings: PG, no warnings.
Word Count: Apparently my wordcounter on Google Docs is massively inaccurate, so I'll have a new, revised count next chapter.

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six |

Comments

[lerabird]

I read two chapters at once because... Well, I just do. Two is better than one. So! I loved the sexy boat fun and I'm very glad they managed to get back into their roles. I can only imagine how awkward it was for Harry to be hearing all about John's businesses.

As for this chapter... loved it, but I have to admit I'm pretty nervous. I mean, yay Mouse, but Susan getting involved will probably spell trouble for the guys' realtioship. When she left they weren't together yet (maipulative Marcone is amazing) so I wonder how she's going to react. Although I suppose she may already know. Who knows what papers are printing about John's relationhip with Harry. Also, considering how much you hate what JB did with Molly (wholehearted agreement here) I'm nervous about what you're going to do to fix it. I mean, Charity was amazing in PG, but otherwise the book was difficult to read because of the multitude of bad dicisions made across the board.

I'll stop ranting now, but I'm going to be waiting anxiously for the next two chapters!

[lucia_tanaka]

I was just rereading a bit of PG to help me work on my map of Occult Chicago okay right

and early on Harry apparently calls Molly "Frankenhooker"

every time I look at PG, it's like a perpetual motion machine of fail. it's an mc escher staircase one continuous fail. i can't even. i so can't even, i cannot find the strength to use my shift key

[lerabird]

*snort* "mc escher staircase of continuous fail"? that's awesome! i approve of shift key fail to protest PG. it really truly sucked. i managed to get one of my friends into dresden, but during summer knight and proven guilty she couldn't handle it. i had to summarize those books for her because she hated them so much. unfortunately she's a dresden/murphy shipper so i get no support from her... but that's why i'm here!

i do feel like i need to mention that it isn't entirely harry's fault. in the books charity is so very negative towards magic every time harry's around that i can only imagine how much worse it is when he's not around. and molly has had to listen to that for over half her life. as much as i grew to appreciate charity's opinion after she explained her past, i still think it's stupid of her to take that opinion and make her daughter hate herself for something that charity gave to her.

[lucia_tanaka]

One day I will get over the fact Murphy committed an act of police brutality against Harry and then joked about it later. Today is not that day.

I have no qualms with the Molly-Charity thing in PG. My issues come from the really gross Harry/Molly shit going on and the way he talks to her, describes her, and treats her. The sexism is off the charts.

[lerabird]

Harry is definitely.... patronizing toward women, to put it kindly. That is one of the reasons I like him with John. John's strong enough both in personality and physical strength that Harry can't do that to him. I love John......

As for the Murphy stuff, I'm pretty sure I blocked that from my memory because I don't remember it even happening. Perhaps that's why I can never ship Murphy with Harry, though. I'm interested to know what you'll think of Changes since you don't like Murphy. (mostly she's just in the book a lot) Oh, and if it helps, I acutally liked Turn Coat. Molly was actually pretty cool.

[lucia_tanaka]

Harry's a heteronormative sexist in canon, but given his background with consent and rape, I actually think it makes sense. I just don't think Butcher intended all of that. So. Yeah

[gwendolynflight]

Hey, since Harry's a wizard would his tooth eventually heal? [/random]

[lucia_tanaka]

I don't think so. Humans don't have the means to fix their teeth, and all a wizard's increased health does it improve on the existing model, so to speak.

[gwendolynflight]

But you can restore enamel with that toothpaste. If Harry used the toothpaste, would it work even better? Or not at all?

[lerabird]

I actually really like the way you write Murphy. So often she manages to stay friends with Harry even though he's with John and it doesn't make any sense. She's got way too many morals to keep a friendship with someone when she'd see his association with a crime lord as defection to the dark side. So I appreciate that she and Harry do have issues

[lucia_tanaka]

I think it miiiiight be possible for Harry and Murphy to remain "friends" if Harry got tied up in the mob post-Summer Knight, but before that point I don't see a lot of trust or a strong connection between the two. SK is the moment when Harry stops being a dick for a moment and trusts someone for five minutes. in MoC, he and Murphy never got to that point.

I thiiiiink Demonreach may play into Book Three. I'm not sure yet. I know what Book Three is about, but I have not drawn up a precise outline for it (like I have for Book Two).

Oh, thank you! Glad you liked it. 8D

[lerabird]

I have to admit, I really liked that part in SK. The creepy fog and the plant monster (the clever name Harry came up for it is escaping me). Awesome. And I agree about the lack of connection before that. I went through the books so quickly the first time I read them I can't remember my initial reactions to the characters and situations, unfortunately, so I can't say what I felt about Murphy before then.

Honestly, I'm totally fine with lack-of-outline. I mean, I'm dying to know what happens the whole way through, but then it'll be over and I'm not sure I ever want that to happen. I have an alert for when you update MoC, but I still check about twice a day just in case..... *so embarassed*

[gwendolynflight]

Not really. Frankenhooker? Seriously? Okay, not rereading that one. D: