The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Two plus two is Starborn
Mira:
--- Quote ---We know the infection happened about the time that Justine started working for Lara. Therefore, sometime after Blood Rites. We know from the Marcone story that Justine was sent as Mab's envoy to other accorded nations. She could have been infected on one of these trips away from the White Court or, as suggested, by Nemesis influence in the White Court seeking a closer connection to the queen.
--- End quote ---
Do we? The assumption is that Thomas stopped short of killing Justine when he fed upon her to save his life in Blood Rites because of his true love... There is a couple of things wrong with that, the first being "true love." Did it become that after Thomas nearly killed her? Or did he stop because he truly loved her? Either way, how come neither suffered from third degree burns or any burns at all? Justine just ended up with white hair.. The other is Thomas was under the impression that he had indeed killed Justine.. Only later if I remember correctly did he find out that he hadn't.. So if Thomas stopped feeding to save Justine at the risk of his own, it wasn't a decision he was aware of.. So he involuntarily stopped feeding while he was out of it because he loved her? Wow, Justine survives, she becomes Lara's secretary, deeply embedded in White Court affairs and much closer to the star born Harry Dresden because of Thomas.. Just a wee bit pat, don't you think?
As for Lara not being infected, who knows? I mean until the victim of the infection starts to act totally out of character, there are no real symptoms.. Lea went along for a while undetected until she actually told Mab herself. Mab didn't realize that Maeve was infected until it was too late to save her.. Nobody realized that Aurora was infected until she started a war with Winter.. Harry had no clue that Cat Sith was infected until he started acting crazy, and none at all that Justine was until it almost ended in disaster.. So is Lara infected, I doubt it, but at the same time it is hard to tell whether she is or not..
g33k:
--- Quote from: Talby16 on June 10, 2025, 01:10:34 AM ---We know that infection is not simple. Otherwise, why did the White Court vector (whatever it was) not go after Lara? They got to Justine and theoretically should have been a step closer to getting Lara. As far as we know, Lara is free from infection. It is not as simple as person to person because then Justine should have been able to infect Lara while serving as her personal assistant. I assume that at some point we will learn the whole story. My guess is that Harry/Lara will capture Justine and in the process of trying to cure her interrogate her to learn more and fill in some of the gaps in their knowledge.
...
--- End quote ---
I'll suggest that Nemesis hasn't taken Lara because it doesn't want Lara.
It wants Justine.
It wants the lover of the Starborn's brother -- Harry is (was) protective of Justine. He saw her as fragile, helpless, and vitally-important to his only blood-relative. That made Harry ripe for manipulation by Justine.
But Lara? Please. An apex-predator, direct threat/foe to Dresden, known manipulator. Harry is maximally on-guard. Lara has almost no value in this context.
--- Quote from: Talby16 on June 10, 2025, 01:10:34 AM --- ...
We know the infection happened about the time that Justine started working for Lara. Therefore, sometime after Blood Rites...
--- End quote ---
No: we only have the word of Nemesis that that's when it happened!
And... um... Nemesis probably isn't the most reliable informant; just sayin'
--- Quote from: Talby16 on June 10, 2025, 01:10:34 AM --- ... We know from the Marcone story that Justine was sent as Mab's envoy to other accorded nations...
--- End quote ---
I think you mean Lara's envoy! But yeah, about that: Justine's revelation as Nemfected actually resolved an issue that had been nagging at me from that story...
Justine was too reliable, too focused, too competent -- in fact, hypercompetent -- in the scene with Marcone. The Justine that Harry saw was only ever "focused" when she was with Thomas (and then focused mostly upon Thomas). The Harry-visible Justine seemed incapable of the trip to Corb, or Marcone, let alone performing the negotiations she did.
We've never had the slightest hint that Justine might have the kind of training she'd need to perform at that level. But if it was Nemesis acting? Yeah, that tracks. 100%
peterwiggin94:
In that scene Nemesis itself says that it doesn't interact with time like mortals so it'd have a hard time explaining to Dresden. Even if Nemesis isn't lying, it might still be wrong.
Regarding Lara's apparent immunity, I think there's a couple of possibilities. First, White Court Vampire demons, whatever they are, happen to be good at resisting Nemesis. I don't think that this is likely because I would assume that Lea and the Summer Lady would be more resistant than those demons. Second, Papa Raith could have struck a deal to protect himself and his immediate family from possession. We know he made some sort of deal with the Outsiders and we know that he is immune to magic somehow (per Eb). It stands to reason that that Outsider deal caused his immunity to magic and I could see Raith including some clause like "You guys aren't allowed to possess me or any of my immediate family". Even if he doesn't view her like we would want him to, she was a trusted lieutenant for centuries. Third, Lara is more likely than Justine to be examined by beings capable of detecting Nemesis and Nemesis wants to remain hidden.
Mira:
--- Quote ---Third, Lara is more likely than Justine to be examined by beings capable of detecting Nemesis and Nemesis wants to remain hidden.
--- End quote ---
I think there is a lot of truth in that. However not so much because she is high profile but because she generally acts very sane and predictable.. Nemesis has infested other high profile people, Aurora, Maeve, Lea, but went undetected for quite some time.
Tinfoil hat:
--- Quote from: Mira on June 15, 2025, 11:58:54 AM ---I think there is a lot of truth in that. However not so much because she is high profile but because she generally acts very sane and predictable.. Nemesis has infested other high profile people, Aurora, Maeve, Lea, but went undetected for quite some time.
--- End quote ---
I agree with is assessment.
So far the 3 people nemesis has infected that we have spent the most time with have not been bastions of sanity. Lea is erratic and chaotic, she wants to take down Mab. Any strange behavior she exhibits can be written off. Maeve was already a poor WL. Molly says she was not doing her duties properly for sometime. Any change in a behavior was again easy to overlook as her laziness. Aurora was probably of the same cloth. Not sure about her before hand. Every little evidence for her state of mind before nemfection.
Same with Justine any erratic behavior from her will not raise any eyebrows. She cra cra
But with Lara miss cold and efficient, any erratic behavior will probably raise alarms from not just her court but everyone who interacts with here
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