Whew, the mental strength I needed to gather to be able to restart ROTT season 3 and make this post.
Update drop day was โจtraumaticโจ for many of us Murphy lovers whose first touch (by said update and beloved goodest boy) was cold and NOT AT ALL what we had been manifesting for a month a half.
Emotions were running high 2 days ago, but today, knowing what we know now, I'm happy we can all laugh about that chaotic time and our own dramatic reactions.
My own emotions are still running high, but now for a different reason, among everything else, one is posted via collages above this text.
Playing through this wonderfully sweet opening scene after wrongfully convincing myself that my favorite LI ever was under character assassination legit made me tear up.
First of all, hello, we get to choose an outfit for our man? Don't even ask me, just take all my diamonds if that's what it'll cost me.
The fact he's the first one we see upon waking up and after what went down at the end of season 2? I could not ask for a more pleasant awakening tbh.
The ambiance Andrea/Artemis wakes up in, the music, the whole general vibe is so peaceful and legitimately feels like "the calm before the storm".
And then HE walks in, with his beautiful face, calming yet exciting presence, words of affirmation and promise of loyalty (something he's been expressing throughout his entire arc).
After barely having seen him in season 2, I was really hoping we would get more Murphy screentime in season 3, and only 4 episodes in, my expectations and hopes have been surpassed with this first scene alone, and the ones with him coming up later (yes, I'm looking at you, 2nd ๐ scene) left me speechless and more than satisfied after the loooooong wait.
It's a little bit funny that the first thing we see in this is Murphy mentioning a promise he gave to Andrea in high school because just a few days I came up with my own headcanon conclusion (which I've been meaning to make a post about but whoops) about Murphy being in love with Andrea since the beginning of time and through all of her past lives which only he remembers as he doesn't go through memory loss (as far as I'm concerned, this is even confirmed rn with him saying "and it feels like it was yesterday to me" and no I will not be taking questions at this time).
It's a well known thing among the fandom that we all agree ROTT is a proper mess of book not without its faults (I sympathize with everyone romancing the "forgotten LIs"), but I personally love and enjoy it so much, taking it for what it is: a relatively light breeze mythology fiction with top tier smutty scenes.
I'm a fairly new RC player and I got the app 2 months ago, during a heavy and transitional period in my life. I can honestly say the app has been one of my saving graces that helped me escape reality when I physically couldn't travel into more serene environments and kept me from falling into depression.
ROTT quickly became one of my favorite stories and Murphy became my comfort character. I'm IN LOVE with everything about him: his sprite, his arc, his behavior towards Andrea and their relationship, the way he calls her (us ๐) princess, his spicy scenes, the fact he's a confident bad boy who in reality only craves to be truly loved and he's not afraid to be open about it.
I could make this already too long post even longer by further gushing about how much joy this 2d man brings into my life, but I won't today (also because typing this all out on my phone was a pain in the ass).
I will instead just release my gratitude into the universe.
I'm grateful for discovering RC in the first place.
I'm grateful for the RC team and how hard they work to give us amazing stories, characters, art and music we can easily immerse ourselves in.
I'm grateful for the creation of this wonderful character whose scenes I go replay and reread whenever I feel like I need the kind of comfort and warm feelings I can't get anywhere else.
I'm grateful for the fandom and its efforts when it comes to creating new content with our beloved characters, making sure their stories go on even when the writers close their own final chapters.
I'm grateful to have found a community I can enjoy all of this and more with without judgement, only good vibes and screaming matches for 3 moods: happy, sad and horny (I will not tag each and every one, but you all know who you are).
I'll go wipe my tears now ok bye
