tl;cr meme

[marriagebroker]

post your character, people reply, give them the deets. you know how this goes.

Comments

holds head in hands .............. 1/3

[phenomerom]

Edamura … sweet Edamame-chan … where do I even begin with what I already know is going to be a disgustingly long spiel, closes eyes ………

Okay, just gonna start from the top, which is that Rom actually kind of liked Edamura from the word go! Just, in a rather distanced and utilitarian way, of course.

For as generally unflappable as Rom acts, it’s not like he doesn’t have his own comfort zones where he feels more in his element. And given everything about AYTO – from the game’s premise, to the required activities, to the very fact that he was in the company of fellow non-normies – was far out of his regular territory, of course he immediately honed in on something he could use to ground himself back into familiar territory: bullying the resident normies, Edamura and Poppy. The push-and-pull of prodding at normies and being treated with suspicion isn’t necessarily something he enjoys intrinsically, but it is kind of like a comfortable form of enrichment for him? It’s familiar and rote and mildly entertaining for him, while also giving him a chance to play things up for the camera (but, like, without having to do weird romance-y stuff, which was still foreign territory for him), so of course as soon as he cottoned onto the two of them appearing to be normies, he started poking at them for the expected reactions. This adds an admittedly selfish element to the little pep talks and crumbs of encouragement he tried to give them when appropriate – like, yes, he did genuinely hope they’d feel a bit more at ease, but he also hoped they’d stay in good spirits instead of getting discouraged, because otherwise it just wouldn’t be as fun prodding at them.

Anyway, turns out Poppy is kinda hard to bully because she just bullies back preemptively … Which Rom doesn’t, like, mind, but it wasn’t what he was looking for? And that’s how Edamura became his prime enrichment/poking target, tehe! In part because of when he managed to catch Edamura (during his non-participation in spin the bottle), Rom clocked on pretty quick that Edamura was someone smart but maybe a bit too quick to run his mouth, very expressive, and trying charmingly hard to acclimate to unfamiliar surroundings – extremely cute and perfect for poking at, 10/10.

And honestly, I think the fact that Rom got to approach Edamura from an angle that was comfortable for himself (even if it wasn’t necessarily comfortable for Edamura, sorry Edamame-chan) helped a lot in transitioning their relationship from that cat-and-mouse type one-sided toying to something more genuine. Rom’s just not used to connecting meaningfully with people, after all, so I think someone more directly approaching him to try and form a connection would have just had him putting up his usual walls even higher out of unfamiliarity and nerves. Instead, the way that his interactions with Edamura wove sincere-ish discussion in between bouts of the more familiar push-and-pull meant he felt like he was learning more about Edamura on a personal level in a comfortable context, and thus didn’t feel as vulnerable reciprocating with his own tiny glimpses of honesty.

I think in a kind of macabre way, it also helped that they could have a very serious conversation about seeing Edamura’s mother’s “ghost.” While Rom’s certainly capable of being thoughtful or insightful in general, he’s ultimately most experienced dealing with the dead and the many complicated feelings surrounding that subject. It’s within that familiar territory that he felt he could offer genuinely useful counsel to Edamura, and it also helped him get a better glimpse of Edamura, too – the complicated tangle of his emotions, glimpses of what a troubled life he seemed to have led (despite presenting as a pretty milquetoast everyman at first glance), and a touch of something more strong-willed and conniving under that easy-to-provoke fluster. Again, charming and appealing to him, though at the moment, Rom still didn’t give it too much thought beyond a vague comfort and fondness. But maybe it’s because he’d been eased into things to that point that he felt it was permissible to talk about his responsibility for Towako’s death – a subject that’s affected him deeply, which he’s normally loathe to discuss.

And that brings them to the end of week two. It’s so funny to me that you mentioned in the CR chart that Edamura found Rom kind of broody after the second match ceremony, because he really was feeling kind of cornered by that point.