#his version of flirting is beating the shit out of shitty ex boyfriend

[meguwumibear]

tw: mentions of intimate partner violence (NOT between togame and reader), reader has a black eye as a result of the IPV

The streets of the city come alive at night. There’s a buzzing in the air that isn’t present in the morning. Shops and restaurants turn on their bright, neon signs that thrum audibly with electricity. People move about chatting and laughing with each other about the latest workplace scandal or other idol gossip.

The streets are crowded tonight too, despite the weather. Thick, heavy drops of rain fall from the dark night sky, pattering against the soft awning you’re crouched under. The storm came on suddenly; the weathermen didn’t predict it. When you ran out into the night, you did so without your shoes let alone an umbrella.

Absentmindedly, you picked your way towards the nearest convenience store, planning on buying something frozen to ice your eye with. A pint of ice cream, most likely. Two birds one stone or what not.

Problem is not only are you without your shoes or umbrella, you’ve left your wallet at his house too. After he raised his hand at you–not for the first time–you simply ran from his apartment as fast as your legs could carry you. His temper has always been bad, but it’s gotten much worse these days. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of it anymore.

A blast of cold air hits you as the convenience store’s automatic doors slide open. You don’t pay any mind to the man who walks out until he joins you under the awning. He too, it seems, is without an umbrella.

It doesn’t take long for you to get the feeling the man is looking at you. Just your fucking luck. Got away from one asshole only to have to deal with another. You look up at him and shoot him the meanest glare you can manage. Soaked through as you are, you figure it doesn’t amount to much.

“Ouch,” is all he says, staring directly at the growing shiner your (ex) boyfriend gifted you with. “Hope you returned the favor.”

“Tsk,” you huff with a roll of your eyes, “do I look like a fighter to you?”

The man continues to look at you through a pair of yellow tinted shades. After a moment passes, he shrugs. “Looks can be deceiving. You’d be surprised.”

It’s then you notice the orange jacket the man is wearing. Two twin lions embroidered on the breasts of the jacket.

Shishitoren.

Shit.

You look away.

If you don’t engage with the guy, maybe he’ll just up and leave you the hell alone. You stare at his sandalled feet, tracing the rigids of the shoes with your eyes to distract yourself from the fact that the guy is still fucking staring at you.

When the dude finally looks away, it’s to root around in one of his bags for who knows what. There’s a rustling sound as the guy picks through the plastic. When his hand emerges again, it’s holding a can of soda.

“For the shiner,” he adds when you don’t immediately reach for the can. “Gotta ice it so it doesn’t puff up.”

Fuck, why can’t the guy just leave you well enough alone? You gingerly take the soda from him, nodding your thanks, though your eyes don’t leave his toes. Is it possible the man recognizes you? It’s possible he passed pics of you around the gang.

You press the perspiring aluminum against your cheek and focus on the cold radiating from the can. You really should head back to your apartment. You haven’t really put much distance between you and him.

There’s quiet hum above you before the man lowers himself to a crouch in front of you. It’s harder to ignore him now he’s this close to you. Can’t the motherfucker take a hint?

“Can I see?” he asks.

“Why.”

He shrugs, “Had my fair share of black eyes. Just wanna assess the damage for ya.”

An exacerbated huff escapes you. Dude’s either the dumbest man in Japan or intent on ignoring social cues. Either way, fastest way to get away from him is to let him give you a once over. So you do. You drop the can from your face and briefly try to meet his gaze. It’s gentler than you expect it to be.

Your eyes find the orange of his jacket again. You stare at the dark threads of the embroidered lion’s eyes. A hand raises, moves towards your injured cheek, and you flinch away.

The man curses under his breath and tears you didn’t even realize you were holding back begin to fall.

“Who did this to you,” the man asks, voice hard and firm. When you turn to face him again, there’s something in his eyes that wasn’t there before.

“What’s it matter?” you sigh. “Your kind protect their own.”

The man’s fingers ball into tightly clenched fists at his side. His hands are huge and scarred at the knuckles. They’re hands that have known violence. When he notices your eyes drift to them, he makes a visible effort to unclench them.

“Name,” the man repeats, struggling to keep the urgency out of his voice. Then, “Please.”

The next time you see Togame, he’s tossing the jacket of your ex into your lap.

“I don’t protect woman beaters,” he says. Followed by, “Would you like to go for dinner? I’m starved.”

[gotatext]

hello, it’s swamp witch nora again…. i couldn’t stay away.... hitting u with a tiny baby boy who is also terrible (sometimes).  musical softboi who loves karl marx and hates children dying in cobalt mines to make smart phones. as is tradition, here’s the pinterest board, have a peruse. fyi sorry for those of u who have read this intro a thousand times i literally.... can never b bothred to change it n i think thats really sexy of me x

CHARLIE PLUMMER / DEMI-BOY — don’t look now, but is that rory bergström  i see? the 23 year old music student is in their junior year and he is a rochester alum. i hear they can be whimsical, impassioned, self-indulgent and nitpicky, so maybe keep that in mind. i bet he / they will make a name for themselves living in griffin street. ( nora. 24. gmt. she/her. )

aesthetics.

bed hair from a permanent state of slumber, calloused fingertips from strumming bass into the early hours and djing into the blacklit night, self-help books thumbed once and thrown beneath your bed, battered copies of choose your own adventure books, spliffs passed half-arsed across rooftops while light pollution obscures low-hanging stars, marxist literature in stacks against your bedroom walls, a burner phone twice-shattered and a stash of replacement sim cards.

tw ocd, anxiety, drugs

half-swedish, half-british. the swedish is on his mother’s side. he’s bilingual but thinks in english. only really speaks swedish around his mother. only child, and kinda put a lot of pressure on himself to be the perfect kid when he was young, but his parents are honestly, quite decent? and just want him to have a nice life, they don’t care if he isn’t successful or rich or anything, they’re honestly rather solid. (wow imagine having nice parents, a first for all my characters, im literally this meme)

grew up in peckham, a suburb of london. growing up, his mum was a model / actress / waitress who later retrained as a speech therapist and his dad worked in her majesty’s service at buckingham palace. his dad wasn’t allowed to tell his family what his job entailed but rory suspects it’s probably very boring and just involves a lot of…. logistics n security.

was bullied a lot at school. [cole sprouse voice] he didn’t fit in and he didn’t want to fit in. unironically wore a trenchcoat to school every day of his life. spent most of his lunchtimes in the library because it was his safe space. as a result he knows…. loads of useless information because 30% of his school years were spent reading anthologies on space and the vikings etc. would be good on a game show. obsessively recorded every episode of university challenge as a child.

middle-class and lowkey quite wealthy but rarely talks about money, one of those well-off people who still wears really old shitty shoes and only spends money if they absolutely have to

virgin who can’t drive

into star wars, not into the big bang theory. feminist. can’t watch horror movies

favourite film is where the wild things are. also loves the florida project. thinks kids are the sweetest thing and can’t wait to be a dad to some

has been musical for as long as they can remember. first picked up guitar because he thought it would make this girl esther who he was in love with like him, but he just ended up falling in love with music instead.

formulated several different bands as a kid but ultimately had to give it up cos he was quite controlling and got fixated on making a certain sound so it wasn’t really fun for the others. got into electronic music because it was something he could do basically on his own and keep tweaking until he got it perfect

always drumming their fingers or strumming invisible guitar strings. tends to avoid parties bc he has quite has specific tastes when it comes to music and doesn’t like listening to r&b for eight hours while people throw up into plastic cups.

a techno connoisseur. has been making electronic music since he was about twelve.

after his parents divorce, when he was fourteen, rory & his mother moved to run-down suburban neighbourhood, pittsfield, massachussets.

big into photography. he mostly uses a canon 35mm camera, but occasionally uses disposable ones when he wants that more rustic feel.

moving to the states, their photography became more focused on suburban neighborhoods and are often quite dark and cinematic (think gregory crewsden). here are some shots of pittsfield i really like which rory has on his wall [1] [2] [3]

falls in love 12 times a day. never had a girlfriend or boyfriend. gets sweaty when someone cute looks at him. flirting?? what?? would prefer to idealise them from a distance

gender??? hm. rory don’t really know where they fit yet, sometimes he feels like a guy and sometimes they dont feel like anything at all!! slippin out of his physical form into the spirit realm! isn’t really bothered, cos they think it’s a social construct anyway. uses he/they pronouns interchangeably, but currently feels like ‘he’ is more fitting. won’t necessarily pull anyone up on it cos he knows having an identity that’s constantly…. in flux.. can be annoying for others … and doesn’t want to be a burden even tho it isn’t at all?? rory internalises guilt

everything is socially constructed. mirrors let you move through time. the whole thing’s a metaphor. he thinks he’s got free will but really he’s trapped in a maze. in a system. all he can do is consume. people think it’s a happy game. it’s not a happy game — it’s a fucking nightmare world, and the worst thing is, it’s real and we live in it!!!!

has ocd. tries to let it affect his life as little as possible, but obviously it’s incredibly hard to control a compulsive disorder. was teased for it at school when other kids started to notice. he was obsessed with the number five, would wash his hands five times, count stairs i groups of five, he could only use the corridors in one direction and always had to keep his hands busy. it manifests itself in hyper-fixations (trains when he was a child – specifically steam engines – then later he became obsessed with space and the patterns of constellations, and now he’s obsessed with synthesizers) and repetitive behaviours like counting stairs. doesn’t really affect his social life at all, he can jst get a bit locked-on n hyper-focused sometimes.

has insomnia. barely ever sleeps. finds it hard to switch off from work / writing / gaming / whatever’s preoccupying him in that moment. he’s always awake at 5am and quite often sleeps in through classes but still gets really good grades because he’s very good at his course. rarely attends classes. prefers to work independently. doesn’t really trust his tutors are intelligent enough to be teaching him, and is particularly suspicious of the lockwood tutors. a music snob tbh

occasionally deals weed n pills when strapped for cash, but only 2 ppl he knows, and on a very small scale grass-roots level!! (so its ok???) rollerskates around campus dealing cos they dnt have a car. we love to see it

aesthetics: bed hair from a permanent state of slumber, calloused fingertips from strumming bass into the early hours and drumming into blacklit night, self-help books thumbed once and thrown beneath your bed, watching vine compilations until your eyes turn square, battered copies of choose your own adventure books, spliffs passed half-arsed across rooftops while light pollution obscures low-hanging stars

likes: techno, the webpage cats on synthesizers in space, allen ginsberg, vintage gramophones,  floating points, lcd soundsystem, marijuana, soft dogs that let you pet them, late-night strolls talking about the universe, independent films, cigarettes, herbal tea, gallows humour, long showers, brown eyes, tchaikovsky, dr. seuss, constellations, photography, late night jazz, vintage game boys and girls who could rip his still-beating heart out of his chest and use it as an ashtray. dislikes:  weddings, funerals, formality, button-up shirts that people actually button-up, bananas, hot coffee, social media, people who watch and play sports, rap music – especially of the misogynistic variety, indie wankers in wire-framed glasses that play ed sheeran songs at open mic nights.

plot ! with ! me ! i’d say all the usual “exes fwb hookups spiel” but rory… has never hooked up with anyone… i feel like a deer in the headlights of love……. so give me

study buddies,

people who are also into techno and are music snobs about it,

people who love all kinds of music,

people who are in bands that maybe rory’s recorded and produced stuff for,

people he actually jams with (he plays bass and synth),

unrequited crushes!!

actually i think rory had sex w delilah in the last version of this rp so if u want a hook up plot its possible just unlikely. they’d hav 2 be the driving force i reckon cos rory doesn’t really act on impulses like desire or anythin.... jst bottles that shit up !!! but yea we could do a spicy hook up plot maybs, depending on the person

someone they met at a knitting club in freshman year and have remained friends with despite no longer going to it

people rory knows from open mic nights and gigs

library girlfriends / boyfriends that he stares at longingly while paging through leatherbound volumes

gamers !!! social recluses !!! hermits !!

people he deals weed to on his rollerskates (why r all my characters obsessed with rollerskates)

skaters. rory is really shit at skateboarding. like really shit. help the smol