Karrin Murphy

[ Player Information ]
Name: Erica
Age: 25
AIM | Plurk | Email | Journal:
BouncyErbear | BouncyErbear | BouncyErbear@gmail.com
Current characters, if any: None

[ Character Information ]
Character Name: Karrin Murphy
Canon: The Dresden Files
Age: 30s?
Gender: Female

Appearance: Karrin Murphy is what some might describe an ‘All-American’ girl in appearance. She has soft features that are only marred by her typical scowl and eyes that have seen a lot more than most. She has blonde hair that is cut short and frames her face and hard blue eyes. Karrin is not very tall, standing just over 5 feet. Her training in martial arts keeps her from being frail, giving her a nice muscle tone as well as a trim build. Harry's described her as springy steel and that is a very apt description. Her skin is on the light side (its not like she has time to go to a tanning booth…nor would she care to). Harry has also described her as “looking like a cheerleader” but the effect is often ruined by her tough girl attitude and no nonsense look she often gives. Despite her lack of height, she has a rather commanding presence about herself. You are not going to look over her if she’s in front of you. Her typical outfit consists of comfortable jeans, a plain shirt, and the occasional Cubs regalia in terms of baseball caps or jackets.

Personality:
The first thing anyone will say about Karrin is that she is stubborn. She had to be to get to where she is (and to live as long as she has working with someone like Harry). Even when Harry has asked her to let him work alone she has made up her mind to help him. She stands her ground on matters she is passionate about and will not back down easily. As she puts it to Harry, it's her call what happens to her and no one else's and this influences a lot of what she does for him. It's always about HER opinion and choice in the matter, though she will listen to Harry's thoughts on it if it's supernatural in origin. Karrin is also very serious about most things, her job and duty for one, but also most matters concerning the magical world she has found herself coming across.

This doesn't mean she is closed minded, in fact just the opposite, she takes everything Harry tells her about what is going on in the ‘magical’ world very seriously and this serious understanding of what she is getting into has also helped her to survive. She has a good sense of humor though, often relying on sarcasm, much like Harry, and dry wit. Just don't make jokes about female issues or her height...because she might kick your ass for it. She can be quick to irritate, especially if you cross her or press her buttons (like being a chauvinistic pig). She also does not take jokes about the law well. She may no longer be a cop, but she still has her own rules and morals that she lives by and she will not compromise then (though she will toe the line for a good friend...as has been seen numerous times with Dresden). She's just a very dedicated individual.

Karrin is a very tough female; she has been through quite a bit of stuff, even more than most of the cops in her city (trolls, chlorofiends, and vampires to name just a few). She's even been broken a few times, namely when she was mentally violated by a malicious spirit and later she had to pick up the pieces when Harry supposedly died. However, Karrin came out of those experiences all the stronger and tougher for it. It's also made her much more cautious about people and especially those she knows has ties to the spirit world. Karrin was never gullible, but now she is even slower to trust someone. Recent events have even brought Karrin's trust of Harry and some of her friends into questions, especially as things get murkier in regards to loyalties and people's agendas. She's even gone so far as to hide the two swords entrusted to Harry from him, reasoning that as the Winter Knight she couldn't let him have the swords.

However, even before those events Karrin had her issues: her mother concerning her job, two failed marriages, a father who committed suicide, and scars from being mentally messed with at one point (as mentioned already). This is on top of her recent cases and incidents with Dresden that have pushed her to the edge. However, for the most part, she keeps these to herself and doesn't let it get to her when she is "on the job." Karrin can keep her head very level in a fight, which is good when you want to keep your gun hand steady.

Her dedication to her job is also an intimate part of her own identity of herself, stemming from her admiration of her father who also worked for law enforcement. She hardly ever shows any emotional weakness because she feels that can be used against her to bring her down. She will also not back down from a fight or in helping those in need, it is part of her duty as a cop and no one is going to take that from her, even if she gets her badge taken away. Karrin's sense of duty is that strong, as is her faith in those she counts as her friends.

History:
Karrin Murphy is the oldest child born to Collin and Marion Murphy and she has two brothers and one sister (at least). Karrin’s interest in law enforcement stems from her respect and love for her father, Collin, who was a senior detective in the Chicago PD, covering a lot of the same stuff as the S.I. department she would eventually work in. Karrin had your typical childhood until she was about 11 when her father committed suicide (related to his work?). She got married at the young age of 17 to a man 13 years her senior and he eventually left her, making for her first divorce. She later married another man, but also divorced him because he wanted to start a family in an effort to keep her at home and away from her job at the police force. That didn't fly with Karrin of course because her job was everything to her.

Karrin, as stated, worked for the Chicago Police Department and was eventually put in charge of the Special Investigations division (S.I.), this is where all supernatural cases or cases without an explanation get filtered to and most of the people in this department are officers who are “out of favor.” S.I. gets little respect by the rest of the CPD but Karrin doesn’t let that stop her, and in fact, used it to her advantage when she sought out and hired a consultant in the form of Harry Dresden, wizard, for most of her tough cases.

In the beginnings of their relationship things were rocky. Harry kept information from Karrin leading to a lot of trust issues between the two, not to mention a lot of strife and probably problems that would have been avoidable otherwise. The more instances he doesn’t give her information the more she tends to lash out against him, both physically and with the law (going so far as to attempt to arrest him, several times). Eventually, Harry started to learn to trust Karrin with information that was usually very secretive and she started to become closer to him. It is because of Harry that Karrin got involved in a lot of the cases she does, handling everything from vampires, to werewolves, fae, demons, and even a giant tree monster (with a chainsaw no less).

While it is true that Karrin was usually the one calling in Harry for help this situation was sometimes flipped later on when Harry turned to Karrin for support, because he knew she could handle it (and would probably kick his ass for not asking other wise). It is this help that Karrin gives her friend that eventually lead to her demotion in S.I. She went from Lieutenant to Sergeant, because she missed an entire day on earth to storm the Winter Court’s fort with Harry. This is a huge blow to Karrin because she worked HARD to get to that position, even in the backwater division of S.I., and she also know that she will never be able to (or at least it is very unlikely that she will) get promoted back to the position she was once in, mostly due to police politics. As she tells Harry though, that is her own choice to make.

Karrin has often expressed a suppressed romantic interest in Harry as well; several characters have brought this up (especially after Harry lost Susan and started trusting Karrin more). Karrin, however, had many problems with a relationship with Harry like that and eventually told him flat out why it could never work. Thankfully, their relationship remained a taboo subject for both of them and something Karrin didn't like bringing up if she could.

Eventually, Karrin helped Harry and the Knights of the Cross take on beings known as Denarians (fallen angels, essentially). Briefly, she even came into the possession of one of the Knights of the Cross’s swords and used it to defend Harry and save his life. This was basically a job offer from the ‘Big G’ himself to take up the sword to defend the innocent, but Karrin declined it, saying that she had already made an oath to protect Chicago.

If she thought this was bad, it was nothing compared to what was to happen later. She was again called to aid Harry after she found out that he had a daughter. Karrin was not going to let her friend down even though her job was on the line as Internal Affairs had taken notice of her relationship with the "troublesome wizard". This particular adventure cost Harry everything he had and Karrin was there for him as much as she could be. She even ventured with him to South America, taking up the sword again (if a bit reluctantly). Karrin kicked a lot of vampire ass and was essential for destroying the Red court. Harry's family was saved but at a great cost to everyone involved, even if they didn't realize it at the time.

She returned to Chicago, of course, and the first thing to happen was Karrin's status as a police woman was revoked. She was told to turn in her badge. This was a devastating blow to her, but she did not regret her decision to help Harry and told him this flat out. She took the time to see Harry since he had lost a lot more than she did. They agreed to go on a date strangely enough and Karrin left to meet up with him later.

She found an empty boat and blood everywhere when she returned. Karrin looked into his death and things in Chicago started to change. She immediately ended up teaming up with Will, a werewolf, and several others to do for Chicago what Dresden used to do: protect the weak. They joked that it was like the Justice League of Chicago. They set up shop, worked with Marcone, the Paranet, and every ally they could muster to keep the streets safe in Harry's absence (and that is all Karrin would admit it was).

Six months passed and Harry returned as a spirit on her front door, requesting her help. Even after confirming his spirit was him several times Karrin STILL didn't want to believe and didn't honestly accept it was truly him until the end of his time as a ghost. He helped her fight the Fomor and get rid of a bad spirit Corpsetaker once and for all. Harry was then revived into his role as the Winter Knight by Mab and didn't let Karrin know about this until months later after he had healed and was put on his first job. Again, Karrin helped him and discovered that things were not going to be any easier with Harry back since now there were Outsiders at the gates just begging to be let in and they had tainted an unknown number of people. They won a battle, but the war with the Outsiders is far from over. Karrin told Harry she'd help him, even if it was to lead into hell itself.

With that being said, when a message fell out of the sky going on about an alien invasion and brain slugs Karrin wasn't as doubtful of it as she probably should have been. It was just another sign that things were going from bad to terrible.

[Karrin is taken Post-Cold Days.]

Abilities: Karrin is trained in hand-to-hand combat via several years as a martial arts student and a black belt (styles that include Aikido, Wing Chun, Jujitsu, Kali, Ssavate, Krav Maga, Tae Kwan Do, Judo, boxing, and Shaolin Kung Fu). Because of her work in the dojo she is also very physically fit which gives her great endurance, flexibility, and strength...but that doesn't exceed the normal human bounds. She has also had a lot of practice with a variety of weapons from swords, staffs, and guns. The sword and staff come from her martial arts background. The gun skills come from her years as a cop. She even has several awards for her sharp-shooting. Another ability might be to keep her cool in a tough situation, she's had a lot of experience with the strange over the years and knows that it does no good to loose your cool in such situations. Her years of being a cop have also given her great observation skills since she had to investigate a variety of crime scenes. Of course, she is a normal "vanilla" human, so while she is quite skilled and a bad ass she can be beaten. It's hard to do since she's been training to fight things stronger, faster, and more powerful than she is but there's always a first time for everything.

First-person sample:
[There's several seconds of silence. The person on the other end can't seem to decide where to even begin. There's the sound of someone taking a deep breath, preparing herself, and then a voice.]

If this is some sort of prank, so help me. I don't know where to start in asking for proof...in asking for more information. It's not that I'm unfamiliar with the weird things that happen out there but this...this is pushing it even for me.

[Tapping fingers. The sound of someone shifting.]

Jake or whoever else is listening. I'm Murphy. I don't know if you need coordinates or what but I'm willing to listen to this problem you suggest is out there. If what you say is true and if I decide to believe you...it could mean very bad things given the kinds of creatures that already exist where I'm from.

[She sighs.]

Just...get me some more proof or come talk to me in person. I need to know this isn't some kind of sick joke on top of everything else batshit that's been going on lately. I need something more to go on than just your word.

Thanks.

[Click. End.]

Third-person sample:
Karrin wouldn't have believed the message if she hadn't seen the damn thing fall out of space herself. She might have attributed to the fae if it hadn't also been made of metal and steel, technology a fae wouldn't touch. It was an enigma. One minute she'd been walking to her car after a morning at the dojo and the next there'd been a smartphone falling out of the sky.

Karrin just starred at it for a moment, her eyes moving from it to the docks and various boats around her. Thomas had tied the boat on a relatively empty dock and there were no other ships around that someone could have legitimately dropped it from. That didn't necessarily mean that someone hadn't lost it, but it made it seem a little odd that such a device would just be sitting in the middle of a dock. What was also odd was that it had, literally fallen before her eyes and not in such a way that suggested it had been thrown.

"What are you staring at Karrin?" a voice asked from the boat behind her. Karrin picked up the phone and tucked it into her pocket before turning to face the Water Beetle. Thomas jumped down onto the dock with Mouse at his side. They'd just returned from leaving Harry on his island to wait for Molly to wake up. Harry had said a storm was coming and looking back towards the ship and out onto the lake Karrin couldn't help but agree.

"Cell phone. I'll run it by the dock's main office and see if anyone has reported one lost," she replied, deciding not to mention that it had fallen out of the air. They'd dealt with enough batshit insanity in the past 24 hours alone. The cellphone didn't pose an immediate danger and Karrin was willing to bet she was just being a little too paranoid and around too much weirdness. She'd probably just imagined it falling out of space and she just needed some sleep.

Yeah...right.

Thomas shrugged, "All right. Well, do you mind taking Mouse back to the Carpenters' for me?"

Karrin glanced passed Thomas to see Justine coming off of the Water Beetle as well. She kept her face neutral and nodded, "Sure. I'll call a cab and take care of it." Mouse trotted over to her side and Karrin couldn't help but reach down and scratch him behind his ears. Actually, it wasn't really down so much as leaning sideways a bit. The dog was nearly as big as she was and probably one of the few big dogs she could actually handle. Karrin then turned and headed for the main office and, as she walked, produced the phone from her pocket.

It looked very much like a smartphone but Karrin noticed now that it didn't have any sort of brand name on it or logo. She couldn't tell if it was a Samsung or an Apple or something else entirely which struck her as odd. She also noticed that there was a message on it. Karrin knew it probably wasn't very professional but over the past year she'd grown rather far from the "by the books" cop she had once been. She'd grown, in fact, to be very paranoid about the world around her and that included strange technology.

Before she looked at the message she, first, tried finding some sort of indication of who the phone might belong to: pictures, texts, notes, anything you'd find on a phone like this. It was either new or it belonged to someone who didn't know how to use the phone they'd gotten because there was nothing like that on it. There was nothing except the message icon blinking saying there was a message stored on the phone. Karrin sighed, 'Well, I've got nothing else on this thing,' she thought and hit play, bringing the phone up to her ear.

She'd stopped walking as soon as the message began. Mouse came to a stop as well and looked back to the former cop with what could best be described as worry. Karrin lowered the phone from her ear after a moment and debated chucking the phone back in the direction she'd found it. Karrin stared at it and knew she couldn't do that. She also debated just ignoring it but she knew she couldn't do that either. It was also not a message she could listen to again, not out here. Her mind raced back to Harry's talk of the change in fae and the Outsiders. Was this related to that? She'd need to listen to it again, compile the facts, and get in touch with---no, no she couldn't take this to Dresden. Not until she knew more about the nature of all of this. She wasn't even sure she could take it to the BFS, not if the contents were even the least bit true.

Karrin shoved the phone back into her pocket and tried not to think about the fact that her hand was shaking as she did so. Mouse let out a little whine and she looked down at the dog, "Trouble. Come on Mouse. I need a drink and a cab...not necessarily in that order."

Additional notes or questions: Not that I know of.