I had SUCH a fun time dancing today!!!!! AAAAH I wish I could’ve stayed forever, I knew like all of the line dances and hung out with so many friends and I love them all so muchhhhh!!!!! <333333
I just.... you know??? Love you??? Ur great???? ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤????? Congrats on being a good human being???? I'm sometimes not so good at articulating overwhelming love and emotion for people, but uhhhh, yeah ❤
JFKLSDJFLSJKLDJFLS THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
It makes me feel so special when you guys say stuff like this ; u ; Thank you anon!
I just wanna rant about how much I love Murphy and Blood Rites, OK?
Note: This mentions the shit that went down with Lord Raith, so just a heads up if that part is triggering for anyone. :)
Every time I re-read this book (and I’ve probably re-read Blood Rites more than any other DF novel) I’m struck my how much character development Murph gets and how, amazingly, most of it has nothing to do with Dresden whatsoever. She probably overcomes more obstacles than Harry does, and she tackles situations that are more-or-less alien to her up until this point - putting her life in Harry and Kincaid’s hands twice (the bike and the bomb respectively), coming to terms with the killing of innocent people (the Renfields), wearing feminine clothes/dealing with sexual attention (the dress, and her pink panties), dealing with her personal life, having Lord Raith exert control over her mind and body... I really, really love the sheer variety of the trials she faces.
I also find it really interesting how her sexuality is kind of a big deal in this book, even though she doesn’t feel anything overt for Harry himself at this point. Rich has nothing to do with Harry. Kincaid has nothing to do with Harry (and I love that she says, ”I’ve never reacted that strongly to a single touch”, because it seems like a really personal comment that she feels able to simply admit, because her friendship with Harry is that strong). And then there’s the “you were right about that vibrator thing!” which again has nothing to do with Harry - just Murphy talking about her sexual/romantic experience like nbd. I can’t get over how cool it is! And the boss fight of Murph’s arc in this book is her being held hostage by Lord Raith. NGL, that scene never fails to make me feel sick and terrified, but I just love how Harry acknowledges that it’s Murph’s fight and that he can’t save her from it, because again it’s something that takes Murph way outside her comfort zone and, most importantly, it has nothing to do with him. It gives Murph a chance to be the hero of her own story!
Also I strongly headcanon that Murphy actually agreed with Raith on some level, namely in these two quotes:
“Warrior women are all the same. ... You all know your way around struggling with other bodies. But you know little about the needs of your own.”
“I can always tell when a woman feels desire, Ms. Murphy. I can feel yours. Part of you is so tired of being disciplined. Tired of being afraid. Tired of denying yourself for the good of others.”
Especially that second part. I mean, during the picnic she realized that Lisa got to go to Mardi Gras and gets the kind of validation from her family that Murph herself has tried and failed to maintain... In other words, Lisa doesn’t deny herself anything, no matter how much she knows it’s illegal/might hurt her sister - in fact she gets rewarded for that behaviour. And in contrast, Karrin puts her job before anything else. Of course she likes it that way, but it means she also misses a lot of opportunities in her personal life - like staying with Rich, and having a good relationship with her mom. (Incidentally I love love love that in Mavra’s lair, Murph gets to be both job-obsessed fighter whilst also experiencing some personal feelings for Kincaid. The Kevlar and panties seems to sum it up - she can be both, and it is awesome!)
And I think that instead of feeling ashamed about what Raith said, Murph probably decided to take control of her desire. Maybe she does deny herself. Maybe she is tired. But that doesn’t make her weak. And instead of letting Raith cause her fear by dictating to her how to think and feel about herself, she decides to ask out Kincaid, who solves so many of her problems - she can tell him about supernatural stuff, he has two working hands (always a plus), he’s not up for long-term commitment, he respects her skill in combat... Also considering that she had issues with killing that Renfield and all the madness that went down at Mavra’s lair, I think Kincaid would probably have helped her through that trauma too, what with the practical views he voiced back at the IHOP.
I just really, really love that Blood Rites is so unbashedly Murph-centric, to the point where Harry is just a spectator to her amazingness. Gods, it’s so awesome. (SO AWESOME!!! >w<)
