minaminokyoko replied to your quote: Murphy leaned down and rested her forehead against…
Cannot tell you how many times I’ve read this scene, and when the Denarian dead guy spooks him and he pulls her into his lap to protect her on instinct and then doesn’t want to let her go. *squees*
That bit’s kind of scary, IMO! D: Like, I think I get where you’re coming from, but also the thing I love most about that part is that it’s such a good way of demonstrating the dangers Harry & Karrin could face were they to pursue a proper relationship.
I really, really like how the books don’t gloss over the fact that Harry is huge in comparison to Murph, and how dangerous he could be if she was to be close to him. It reminds me of that bit in Cold Days, where they have an argument in his room and Harry slams the wall by her head and towers over her… (btw the idea of her having to stare at the evil Spider-Man symbol on his t-shirt in that scene makes me squee because seriously… it’s so unsubtle but so good).
Like, OK, Harry can be sweet and cuddly, but he also has this side that is fiercely possessive and unpredictable, especially now he’s the Winter Knight. Moments like the one in Small Favor serve to remind us that Murph’s reservations about being with him are incredibly sensible, because 5 seconds ago they were making adorable jokes about fruit punch, and all of a sudden he’s got her in a vice grip and she’s having to talk him into letting her go. And IMO stuff like that is why the question of ‘will they won’t they’ doesn’t get stale even after fifteen books, because if Harry was nice all the time it’d be frustrating seeing them so hesitant to get together if there wasn’t a really, really good reason for it.
I also interpret this scene as Harry still subconsciously trying to save Ivy, which takes the ahadflfadskfdahasd to a whole new level. ;_;
Beautifully said.
But no, what the thing is with me is that it’s a blessing and a curse that Harry can actually be a danger to Murphy. What sets them apart is that Murphy recognizes this quality in Harry and she always acts appropriately to it.
In that very same scene of Small Favor, she talks him down from the panicked state he’d been in after the Denarian corpse spooked him. She didn’t try to fight her way loose because it would upset him even more. She knew that.
In Cold Days, when he slammed his hand against the door, she didn’t move and she didn’t do anything aggressive. She didn’t get angry with him because she understood that he’s in emotional turmoil and he’s acting irrationally because he’s still trying to get his bearings. She just gently takes his hand and talks to him, touching that human part of him that brings him back to himself.
And then there’s that discussion about sometimes people become monsters because we treat them like monsters.That, to me, is why Murphy and Harry becoming lovers is worth the risk. Murphy will never treat Harry like he is beyond saving. She trusts him completely, even when he could endanger her. She knows that he’ll do the right thing in the end, and if she ever starts to doubt him, it would mean the end of a friendship and love that is honestly the largest part of their personalities, imo.
That’s why I reread those scenes. It excites me that Murphy is the only one to react to Harry’s Winter Knight instincts this way, or his violent, aggressive nature. She doesn’t flinch. She’s his light, and she knows he’ll lose his way if she stops shining, even for a second.
I just have a lot of feelings about this okay.
