Personal opinion on Skip 8643--Sunset on Horizon Boulevard
Overall, I think it's fine as a Murphy Law story (to me, it's about 6 or 7 out of 10). The case itself is interesting, and it is enjoyable to see new elements like GOI and such. The mention of 2747 is also a cool point. However, the romance part really bothers me.
I'm not against the "Murphy having a close relationship with a lady" idea or the "heroic seductress" trope--but I'm not really a fan of "love at first sight". It works on romantic kind of protagonists, but there are no evidence in the previous stories (3043, 3143, 7043) that ever suggest Murphy would fall in love with someone so quickly. In the previous stories, Murphy had interacted with female characters, he never showed this much passion, giving so much compliments.
She had a bit of wholesome interactions with Murphy when he is vulnerable, yes, but I don't feel that much love/romance (Murphy described her as goddess, the one that's there when no one else does. He used a lot of strong words, so I expected a long-term, powerful relationship that would have a deep effect). She faded away in front of him and Murphy kind of just got angry and then put that behind.
(If I have understood the ending correctly,) I believe that woman is an anomaly, she didn't really die, and Murphy was kind of being emotionally toyed with...? Judging by how Law smiled at the letter from her after her "death" and Placeholder's words in the end, I personally want to headcannon the romance part as "Law knows the romance is just an act, but he decides to be a part of it since he believes adding this element in his tale would make it more dramatic".
scp-8643 is such a waste and an accidental bad thing (i forgot the term) for barbara because the evil witch (EVIL WOMAN ACTUALLY) trope is rooted in misogyny and making her the love interest of murphy doesn't subvert that. it only accidentally plays into that further, and it also drags murphy down because his noir doesn't rely on femme fatales or push women into that role whereas normal noir would.
so you could argue that "oh, but wouldnt murphy helping barbara break from that misogyny instead be very very ironic?" i believe no. you could interpret the foundation as society and them trying to contain murphy is them trying to forcefully follow society's norms. (do you see what im trying to say) them trying to make him Lawden could follow the same interpretation as well, hell you could even argue.....conversion therapy.
so focusing the second act on Lawden in scp-8643 is not only unnecessary, i believe it is DISRESPECTFUL to both murphy and barbara and who they are as a person and takes away attention from both of them (and reduces barbara instead into the "caring/supportive love interest"), and so we're now focusing on the MAN, the EVERYMAN TROPE (may i remind you of the everyman loser x woman overused trope...), INSTEAD OF THE TWO CHARACTERS WHO BOTH DEFY SOCIETY IN DIFFERENT WAYS AND HOW WE COULD'VE SEEN THEM WORKING TOGETHER AS EQUALS AND HELPING EACH OTHER BREAK OUT OF THE CYCLES/NORMS
the story ironically pushes BOTH of them into their respective tropes, whereas their stories are focused on slightly BREAKING said tropes, with 7632 trying to find a way to break out of the cycle (kind of? in the ending of her story she accepts her role while also knowing there will be stories where she will be the hero) and murphy being an accidental parody of noir
(AND HEY?? ?THE INCLUSION OF THE FUCKING CHURCH?? THE LESSON THEY TEACH OF "BE A SERVANT TO OTHERS" WHICH WOULD BE A GOOD LESSON IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE FACT WOMEN ARE ALREADY TAUGHT TO DO THAT IN TRADITIONAL SPACES FOR ALL THEIR LIFE??? AND BARBARA, THE EVIL WOMAN, WHO IS EVIL BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN WITH POWER AND DOESN'T BOW DOWN TO THE PATRIARCHY NORMS??)
id literally go on and on further on this but i dont want to like clog up shit so here's the very shortest rundown of what i wanted to say. so thank you for reading all of this, if you did :) love you platonically
Summary: After the events of SCP-3143 Murphy Law’s story was permanently altered on a fundamental level. Originally, he Murphy Law; a metafictional detective who temporarily altered reality wherever he went.
Now Murphy Lawden exists as a fragment of Murphy Law. Lawden didn’t exist until the Foundation made him but now, he’s a part of the story.
This story is set at some point in the future when Murphy has managed to reconcile his two halves and how he/they spend their days.
Word count: 1,013
Author’s Note: In SCP-8643 a Scranton Reality Anchor temperedly turned Murphy Law into Murphy Lawden. However, we know Murphy was Law before he was Lawden. This is just a short fic exploring how Murphy is now both Law and Lawden.
Murphy is always Murphy. He/they think of themselves as two people sharing a body and they chat to each other. However, it could be argued that Law and Lawden are simply points of view. Law is the ‘original’ and they both prefer it that way.
SCP-3143 in… Jekyll, Hide-and-Seek
In a small messy office, a man leans forward in his chair, as his fingers fly across the keyboard of his laptop. He has a dozen tabs open and from time to time, he opens a new one, googles something and then get back to writing his story. His name his Murphy Lawden and he both is and isn’t the man you’d expect to find in this office.
Murphy is a light-skinned, average looking man with messy, brown hair and he wears a pair of reading glasses. Depending on your point of view, the story he’s currently writing is either his first or latest one.
In another life, that wasn’t real until it was, Murphy remembers writing a screenplay for a noir inspired detective film. It Always Rains was never written. Other than in his memory, the story doesn’t exist outside of a few mentions in some old files in the SCP Foundation’s database.
Still, Murphy like to believe that – if the vague backstory he was given was real – it must have been a pretty great script. It must have been because, in the narrative where he wrote it, it turned Murphy into a better version of himself. One that can actually help people.
Of course, in reality, Murphy knows that he’s the fictional character and his ‘better’ version, is the original. He tries not to let it get him down.
Shortly after Murphy was first created, the Foundation’s plan failed and his original self was able to reassert himself. Murphy had assumed that meant he would disappear but he had been wrong.
Murphy hated what his existence represented; an attempt to make the other Murphy into someone normal and containable, in effect killing the original him. When he hadn’t just disappeared naturally, Murphy had tried to help the process along.
The Foundation had made him a writer so he’d tried to write himself out of the other Murphy’s story. Unfortunately, it never stuck for long. Next, he’d tried to fade into the background but outside forces kept dragging him back to the forefront. Eventually, he gave up hiding and tried talking instead.
Surprisingly, his other self doesn’t hate him and never has.
“Why would I?” he’d asked. “You didn’t do this to us. I just not want to be replaced.” When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, the two of them came to an understanding.
Original Murphy still gets to be the main Murphy most of the time. However, Murphy Lawden is no longer hiding and sometimes, in between cases, he even stretches his legs a little.
Murphy is not used to being in the forefront, unless forced to be there by others. He rarely leaves the office as himself. He’s used to staying in the background and often finds the world outside to be overwhelming. Besides, it’s not like he’d know how to help in a real case.
As he writes, Murphy is aware of the reassuring presence of his better self at the back of his mind. He isn’t alone. He’s choosing to be here, rather than having the decision made for him and that makes all the difference.
For the new story he’s writing, Murphy has picked a different genre and formant to the fictional It Always Rains. It’s a happy, light-hearted, cosy historical romance novella.
In theory, there’s nothing stopping him from writing another detective story but both Murphys don’t like that idea. Besides, there’s a chance however small, that writing another detective story could alter his other half’s ‘canon’ and neither of them want to take that risk.
A knock at the office door startles Murphy out of his concentration. He blinks; sits up straight, hits save, closes his laptop with a snap and puts it into the top draw of his desk. He pulls off the glasses he no longer needs and…
SCENE SHIFT:
…puts on his trademark trilby hat.
A man sits at his desk. He’s just heard a knock at the door and something in his face shifts. Perhaps it’s his expression, the way the camara frames his face or simply the audience’s perspective but one second, he looks like any other person and the next he looks like a classic old-school leading man.
His hands automatically reached for a cigarette which he lights and takes a drag of, completing the transformation.
His name is name is MURPHY LAW and he is ready to give anyone a bit of the business.
He’s also our NARRATOR. His voice is a rough almost grating rumble, like he chain-smokes firelighters and takes his whisky with actual rocks.
NARRATOR
In my line of…. Our line of work…
MURPHY’S face shifts back.
NARRATOR
(The voice has shifted slightly too. It’s slightly softer and quieter)
You don’t need to change your narration to acknowledge me.
MURPHY’S face shifts again.
NARRATOR
(MURPHY’S voice shifts back as he sighs. He is still new to not pretending to be alone in his own head.)
I… We…
(He shrugs, and starts again)
In my line of work, you see a lot of things you wish you could forget; things that make a peaceful night sleep impossible. I’ve had to deal with things that would rewrite the words in your head just because they can and things that can erase even the memory of your existence from the face of the Earth. However, true nastiness comes from people. Some people will do anything to be noticed and others will put you in a box if you don’t conform.
The knock at the door comes again, louder this time.
From the bottom draw of his desk, MURPHY pulls out a .44 magnum which he looks at pensively.
NARRATOR
The person at my door probably isn’t here to kill me. If this is a hit, then the would-be killer is awfully polite, which seems unlikely. That’s no guarantee of course but if you start jumping at shadows, it’s harder to react to serious threats.
MURPHY slides his magnum into his shoulder-strapped holster.
MURPHY
Come in.
The door to Law and Lawden’s Detective Agency swings open.
