The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

"Job placement" microfiction

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Bad Alias:
I think you keep missing what I'm saying Harry should use S.I. for. You keep talking about literally fighting the supernatural. I'm saying S.I. would be useful as a source of information. They're often going to know what's going on because that's where weird cases go.

Murphy was constantly under pressure to stop the weird murders. That's why the position was a temporary one before Murphy hired Harry. No one in charge at S.I. was able to stop the weird occurrences. Stallings was probably able to stay in the position because of all the things that S.I. learned from Harry. S.I. called Harry in less and less as they could handle more and more. They come to Harry when it's urgent, something they haven't seen before, or something they've been told isn't a case.

The party in power in Chicago hasn't changed in about a century. The last Republican mayor was elected in 1927. Chicago's city council currently has 46 Democrats, 4 independents, and 0 Republicans. The political changes in Chicago are usually to do whatever was already being done, only harder.

Harry is officially alive. That's how he got jury duty. The Gatekeeper took care of it after he survived the events of CD.

Yuillegan:
I think we both just disagree on the future role of SI altogether. I get that you see their use as information gathers and analysers for Harry. I just don't see it happening myself, for the reasons I have previously outlined.

Yes and No. Murphy was under pressure to solve the cases in a way that was palatable to City Hall. Not the same thing as actually stop the murders. Murphy, being good people, felt it was her moral and legal duty to solve these cases and protect Chicago's citizens from the weird stuff. But many would not have. More political animals would have blamed it on easy scapegoats (like Dresden) and pointed to their number of "solved" cases.

All positions are temporary, at least in the mortal world. I think you mean the position was unstable. Most left the position quickly. Murphy might have been the longest serving Lieutenant (although I don't think that was ever stated), but she likely was the best. Stallings has done well because he knows enough from his time with Murphy to know where the weird is but is probably better at dealing with the politics better than Murphy was (being less of a hot head and a zealot). Not to mention he doesn't have the same bias against him. Murphy was shunted to SI because she had too much integrity and bucked the system, and also because she was a young female. Whatever your views on gender discrimination, there is definitely systematic bias in boy's clubs like the police force. Stallings has only been in the position for the last few years. He's hardly an outlier. Thing is though, SI doesn't call Harry anymore because a) without Murphy Harry loses his biggest advocate in the police, and b) because as of Changes he died. When was the last time SI actually came to Harry with something "urgent, something they haven't haven't seen before... something they've been told isn't a case". Not for many years now. I think the last one was Small Favor.

Forgive my lack of knowledge of Chicago politics, I don't follow it and don't live there. But politics is a convoluted and multi-tiered game that intersects in curious and interesting ways, like 3D chess. You don't just look at the elected councillors and mayors, you also have to consider the political appointments like Judges, DA's, Chiefs of Police etc. which then must be magnified and combined with the effect of the state and federal politicians and their various appointments. It all intersects and it's a brutal and tricky world as bad as anything the Fae could imagine. So even if Chicago is a blue city, that only effects so much. And since SF there have been significant political changes in America. 

I forgot about Jury Duty, but as I said he is still too busy for his old routine, and he hasn't fully reintegrated. He hasn't yet set up his old shop yet. And I put this question to you: If Dresden had so much spare time, and really wanted to get set up again, why has he not yet?

Bad Alias:
Love Hurts was the last time S.I. contacted Harry. That was one month before Changes.


--- Quote ---Karrin Murphy headed up Special Investigations, a post that head traditionally resulted in a couple of months bumbling and then a speed exit from the police force. Murphy hadn't bumbled-instead, she'd hired the services of Chicago's only professional wizard as a consultant.
--- End quote ---
Grave Peril, Ch. 11.

I guess they could have quit out of frustration, but that's never the impression I got. I always figured they'd quit before being transferred like that guy from TC if quitting the PD was their temperament.

Maybe Harry has opened up his office. Maybe he's setting up his personal life first. He's moving off the island, setting up a lab, maybe getting his own home, he's setting up his bank, he could be looking for where he wants an office, he could be liquidating enough diamonds to do all that, he's setting up Maggie in a new home and getting her into SMAGT. He's got a lot to do because of Changes. The kind of thing Harry is probably only going to have to do once.

And even if he doesn't start his business back up, he hasn't stopped being a warden. As long as he's a warden, it would make sense to keep in contact with S.I., as long as Stallings hasn't decided to burn him at the stake. It's part of warden training to manage relations with the police.


--- Quote ---Ramirez was going to cover the course on relations with mortal authorities, which made sense; Ramirez got on just fine with the cops in LA, and hadn't been shot by nearly as many law enforcement personnel as I had.
--- End quote ---

123Chikadee:
@Yuillegan: I think it'll be a slaughter either way. Doesn't matter where anyone goes or who they are, be it a mundane or a magical. There will be no safe places. By the time Peace Talks is over, the masquerade will break, it'll be obvious that everyone has to band together or the Outsiders will destroy the universe.
Yeah there will be clean up mode of course but there's a lot of people out there, so it'll be interesting to see global repercussions of this. Even if Chicago and the rest of the US is busy with clean up, the rest of the world is going to be reacting. I don't think the US is the only country that has an SI group. This could be where the Men in Black step in. {The comic Dog Men reveals them to exist, which is a bad place to put such a reveal because not everyone reads the comics. I only know it because I read the synopsis somewhere else. Drives me crazy it does}.
I wonder if Harry will even want to be a PI anymore.
@Bad Alias: Maybe SI will ask Murphy back?  Even if it's only in an information capacity.
I mean when the masquerade busts open, people, City Hall included will want real information and there are quite a few people who can provide that. SI will want to make sure that they are the ones who can do so instead of shadier folks.

Bad Alias:
If the masquerade breaks all at once instead of somewhat gradually, I think the response will be chaos instead of any sort of level headedness that would see Murphy or Harry vindicated. It'll be more like "burn the witch!" and "why have you been hiding witches from us!"

If it happens somewhat gradually, I think it's possible that they would get some measure of vindication, but not a lot. Something like the FBI asking Murphy/Dresden for help instead of the City of Chicago ever admitting they were wrong.

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