“Kringles merry balls!”
Bob is referred to as “Bob the Castle” on several occasions, he does seem to have levelled up to become a mini Alfred. Effectively the Castle has become a smart house, so it is operating exactly the same as the sanctum skull. Did Bob agree to it because it mean’t Harry couldn’t carry him into horrifying battles again, or that it would take some time for Harry to realise it would allow Bob to spy on any woman in the Castle? “Bob the Laser Pointer” might be more appropriate. I note Bob’s signal colour is now blue, not orange I would be concerned if Evil Bob took over the Castle no one would immediately know.
The appliances would confirm that Marcone was indeed practicing magic in secret, burning out of appliances etc would have indicated to others that a mortal practitioner was in residence. This suggests he took up the coin when building the Castle, just after Changes. Previously he moved round from renovation to renovation, and that would have been an obvious tell.
I made a joke about Marcone leaving Stainless steel toilets to discomfort Harry, the Armour may have been exactly that. Marcone would like nothing better than for Harry to try it on. He otherwise moved his stuff out promptly, so it being left would be deliberate. Harry strikes me as the type of person that if you left him alone in a room with a pot of tea, he would put the tea cosy on his head even though he doesn’t like hats.
You do realise that following this Lacuna is now literally sporting a Pixie Cut? Definitely intended.
Toot isn’t just growing in size, he is growing in emotional maturity, the small sprites have no concept of death, but Toot realises that recently he has gained this concept and is starting to exhibit empathy towards Harry, much more than in Battle Ground, and that growth is visible over this story, at the start he didn’t know how to comfort Harry and the end he makes a stumbled but heartfelt attempt.
People are noticing Mister’s age (he should be 17 - 18 at this point) BUT that he is also very spry, and has maintained his weight and strength, older cats lose weight. If Mister is more than he seems Jim is putting out breadcrumbs, his apparent condition and the calendar are starting to get out of sync. He should be partly Gremlin at the end of this story.
Minor theory on Michael confirmed, he is a living saint (together with Father Forthill) so his work for the White God is not over. This makes him more than ever before a future candidate for the Kringle mantle.
Another one-eyed villain, as I anticipated this was indeed Battle Ground deliberately writ small. In this story Toot is definitely Harry writ small, and Lacuna Murphy writ small, which makes his sudden appreciation of mortality very poignant, he is starting to realise his loss of others can affect him, and a near miss means he can understand what Harrynis going through. No Rudy writ small though, thank god, obviously sentient cockroaches do not exist in the Dresdenverse. Mister is Butters? Both are Tomcats, apparently.
Lacuna eats Pizza!
