Kincaid microfiction "Goodbye"

[morriswalters]

Harry could have scratched a note in the ice of Arctis Tor, written it in the steam on the glass in a shower, or wrote a note in the air. Harry didn't do it because Jim forgot.  I wouldn't be surprised if that note doesn't end up in a future micro fiction.

[spiritofair]

I was very sad about Kinkaid and I really hope they can compose their relationship. And I do wish Harry has written something to Ivy perhaps even to tell Kinkaid (as Harry probably does not know what happened between them).

Still, I am glad we now know why Kinkaid shot to the chest, and I agree with Kindler, she told Mab.

I really, really hope Harry has not broke Ivy's heart for ever. I want them to have a few cute interactions yet. In fact, I wish Ivy meets Maggie Jr. someday-

@spiritofair: Harry was not selfish! He was misguided, yes, but his actions were not inspired by selfishness but love. Still, he was unfair with Molly. He did not realized how much he will be hurting her.

Suicide is a selfish action. It may not seem like it is to the person contemplating it, but it is. I am forgetting about the push he got from Lasciel, though, so maybe I'm being too harsh on him.

But, honestly, the more I re-read the books, the more I get annoyed by Harry's martyr complex. He's such an idiot some times. I guess that makes him "real", but it is the same thing over and over and over. But then, it's part of his character I guess, and a story requires drama.

[prince lotore]

Harry (at peace talks): hey ivy, wheres kincade?
Ivy :I let him go
Harry : I'm sorry to hear that by the way have you heard about my daughter who is about the same age you were when we first met and who is the most important person in the world to me
Ivy : explosions

[Dina]

  I get the feeling that the Archive knew all along what was going down, and it and Mab, perhaps with some help from Uriel set it all up.  That is why Ivy insisted on a chest shot knowing that Mab would be waiting in the icy water to catch Harry and wisk him away to the island before he expired beyond retrieval..  Uriel may have made the wind blow just enough to throw the bullet off a couple of critical millimeters so the shot didn't cause instant death, perhaps even giving Harry a bit of a push so he'd land in the water as opposed to on the deck where he would have bled out in seconds and became all dead.

So no doubt, Ivy knew he wasn't dead..  Kincaid may not know, nor Eb, but think of the events of Cold Days, Harry was pretty busy at the time with more important things than letting his friends know that he was alive.

I don't think Uriel is allowed to interfere like that, but you don't need it. Mab is the Queen of the Air, so she could have done the wind thing you propose 

And yes, in CD Harry was busy but still, writing a small note only takes a minute. And then, you have free time until SG.

[Bad Alias]

I think the main import of the story (outside of why Kincaid shot Harry in the chest and that Ivy (almost certainly) fired him) is that Kincaid is much less of a mercenary than he thinks he is. Imo, you can scratch out every "if I wasn't just a mercenary" or it's functional equivalent in the story.

I'm also going to say it here: Ivy contacted Mab and told her what was going to happen, but waited until Kincaid's flight landed or something. That's how Mab knew to save him, and that's why Ivy insisted on a center-mass shot instead of a headshot.

Ivy works through proxies.

@Yuillegan: The Archive wasn't built to be neutral. That's a lie. It's the Archive's cover. Now, the Archive may have been built to maintain the appearance of neutrality, hence proxies.

Why is everyone saying Harry is a bad friend? As magnuskn points out, up until Skin Game, Harry has largely been kept in isolation. We don't see what Harry's doing on a day to day basis often. In at least five of the stories in between we see Harry being involved with friends and family. (Day Off, Zoo Day, It's My Birthday Too, Something Borrowed, Christmas Eve). You could count Jury Duty with Billy helping him move. That's not counting any stories where he's hired by a "friend." The only "friends" he doesn't seem to keep up with are the ones who tell him not to try to contact him.

Harry, and everyone else on Earth, is basically in constant contact with Ivy. The difference between Harry and everyone else is that Harry knows it, and Ivy knows Harry knows it. If Harry made a banking transaction, Ivy knew he was alive. When Harry showed up for jury duty, Ivy knew Harry was alive. Honestly, I would be surprised if Harry didn't think about it every other time he wrote something that he would be embarrassed to say in front of Ivy. Also, how do we know he hasn't dropped Ivy, or anyone else for that matter, a line? We know Butters has his presumably new phone number. We didn't see Harry give it to him. He's clearly in contact with Billy. Things happen off page. Reading all of them would be annoying. Like when certain writers take a few pages every chapter or two to write about certain things that in now way advance the plot.

I agree with g33k's reading that it is possible, but unlikely, that Ivy didn't fire Kincaid.

[Dina]

IF Harry let her know that he is alive, all is well. I have no problems with that happening off screen.

[Mira]

I don't think Uriel is allowed to interfere like that, but you don't need it. Mab is the Queen of the Air, so she could have done the wind thing you propose 

And yes, in CD Harry was busy but still, writing a small note only takes a minute. And then, you have free time until SG.

  However who made sure he fell in the water?  Realistically a small note wouldn't do it, it isn't like Harry came back unexpectedly from Egypt or something.   EVERYONE thought he had died, he was given a funeral, he was mourned, it takes more than a small note to explain that and he just didn't have the time.

[g33k]

However who made sure he fell in the water? ...

I find it persuasive that one of Mab's titles is "Queen of Air and Darkness."  I think deflecting a bullet is well within her capabilities.

But the angle at which he fell... yeah, that's a tough one.  Not gonna put it past Mab, however.  Couple of dozen of the Wee Folk, lurking on nearby boats... a Nereid (or maybe one of Jennie Greenteeth's kin) in the water below... it could be accomplished.

... Realistically a small note wouldn't do it, it isn't like Harry came back unexpectedly from Egypt or something.   EVERYONE thought he had died, he was given a funeral, he was mourned, it takes more than a small note to explain that and he just didn't have the time.

"Hi, Ivy, it's Harry.  I just got out of a very twisted rehab, back in Arctis Tor.  First day back in Chicago.  Turns out, she and Mr. Sunshine were running a deep-cover op, and my preemptive self-retirement didn't take.  If I worried you, I apologize.  This is my first chance to let you know that things have turned out OK... ish... depending, I guess, on the next day or two.  As usual."

Takes... what... a few minutes' thought (pre-considered during the downtime of rehab).  And maybe half a minute to write, when he was alone in the Munstermobile, or etc...

"Oh, yeah -- stars and stones, but I've always wanted to say this! -- this message will self-destruct in ... five - four - three - two - one - "  FUEGO!

[Dina]

Even "Hi Ivy! I'm Harry and I am alive. I was in a sort of coma for months but now I am back and I wanted to tell you". It's shorter.

[morriswalters]

Hi Ivy. 
I know I claimed to be your friend, but I needed your bodyguard to do a solid for me.  I'm sorry if it causes grief, but shit happens. 
Harry.

The problem with the setup is the causes grief part.  He takes a child who is fragile and removes a measure of her support.  However this is the pre Ghost Story Harry before Uriel rubs his nose into what a selfish dick he is.

[Dina]

I don't think Harry is aware that Ivy knows about Kinkaid.

[morriswalters]

I don't think it would have made any difference. Obviously he was influenced by a Fallen.

But Jim writes him as a man with a monomania focused around a child he had never seen.  He blames Susan for being rational and hiding Maggie, throws Molly under the bus, and after it's all said and done, does what Susan did, try to hide Maggie from himself, and then goes and makes her an orphan by committing suicide by proxy. Which causes a breakdown between the Archive and her companion. 

The monomania was why it took only seven words.  Having said that, it gave Jim an excuse to write Ghost Story, which is a 51 chapter apology to Molly.

[forumghost]

I mean being entirely fair, the only person Susan was actually hiding Maggie from was Harry.

Even without Martin turning traitor, the Red Court would have found her, seeing as Susan's "Brilliant Plan" was to "hide" Maggie In Red Court Territory, where she would go to visit her, while actively battling the Red Court, and being a known ex-lover of Dresden, who was in Chicago around 9 months prior to her Birth.

It's almost as moronic as her plan to break in to a Vampire Masquerade Ball, and proves that she learned nothing from that whole endeavor.

[Mira]

I mean being entirely fair, the only person Susan was actually hiding Maggie from was Harry.

Even without Martin turning traitor, the Red Court would have found her, seeing as Susan's "Brilliant Plan" was to "hide" Maggie In Red Court Territory, where she would go to visit her, while actively battling the Red Court, and being a known ex-lover of Dresden, who was in Chicago around 9 months prior to her Birth.

It's almost as moronic as her plan to break in to a Vampire Masquerade Ball, and proves that she learned nothing from that whole endeavor.

  Yeah, it is sad how Susan was portrayed when you think about it.   Harry kept saying how smart she was, but in reality she was merely ambitious, that led her to her first mistake going to that party that was a den of vampires..  Then she had the audacity not to tell Harry about little Maggie because she claimed he'd put her in danger.   Yes, I can understand a mother's need not to want to give up her child, but in truth she was only thinking of herself and not the danger she opened her daughter up to. 

Suicide is a selfish action. It may not seem like it is to the person contemplating it, but it is. I am forgetting about the push he got from Lasciel, though, so maybe I'm being too harsh on him.

It has often been said that suicide is a selfish action, but the ones saying it usually are the ones left behind and expressing anger towards the one who took his or her own life for causing them pain.  It isn't so simple, it is more of a terminal mental illness, the pain is so great the person who does it sees no other way out.    Harry's reasons are a bit more complex, he only knew Slate and he didn't want to become like him or be Mab's toy, but he had no options if he wanted to save his daughter.  I believe that he believed that by killing himself he save lives in the long run.

[morriswalters]

I mean being entirely fair, the only person Susan was actually hiding Maggie from was Harry.

Even without Martin turning traitor, the Red Court would have found her, seeing as Susan's "Brilliant Plan" was to "hide" Maggie In Red Court Territory, where she would go to visit her, while actively battling the Red Court, and being a known ex-lover of Dresden, who was in Chicago around 9 months prior to her Birth.

It's almost as moronic as her plan to break in to a Vampire Masquerade Ball, and proves that she learned nothing from that whole endeavor.

Jim has Uriel call out Harry's behavior in Ghost Story. And Mab puts a coda on it in Cold Days. Unless I went off the rails in my understanding of what Ghost Story and Cold Days were supposed to represent in Harry's development as a character, it is about choices both good and bad that Harry makes and what it costs those people around him. 

If you devalue Susan's choices, you devalue what it cost Harry to make his.  The Archive's interaction with Kincaid is just another example of that. Jim has Harry's friends pay high prices to be associated with him.

Suicide, normally, is a uniquely personal act, taken in isolation. Harry's isn't that and it's unfair to compare it to some person who just can't see a way forward.  Harry's is calculated, and involves people outside of himself who pay a price to help him get out from under.