#Romarriche - “Change... But change in what way?”

[maxiwaxipads]

Romarriche - “Your company is one of a kind… I would never lie to you. I would never say a half-truth or be quiet.” “What is it in your mind, Merold?” “Hearing your voice, complaint or not—it is music to me either way.” Merold - “If there is one constant in this world… Let it be you.” “You’re the cruelest and the kindest thing that happened to me.” “…If only you continued to look at me like that.” Romarriche - “…Merold?” Merold - “But~ It’s only a minor case of bad-mood-itis.” “So Romarriche, spoil me with a spar, will you?” Romarriche - “Merold.” Romarriche - “Look at me.” Merold - “…” Romarriche - “Is something… Wrong?” Merold - “Instead of a spar…” “I might want to lie down on your lap after all.”

[dimmestmorn13]

"...Come here for a bit." "...Okay."

based on the mukuyuki story cg bc the mental image wouldn't leave me alone after ryu-san said romamero were like mkyk in a different font

mini-ficlet under the cut

notes: uses concepts from the timeline theory and the idea that merold remembers timelines with my own spin on it (HCs and such), needless to say it's a bit of an AU/canon divergence from what little we know in fragmem canon

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It starts with the Red Bouquet's first roundtable meeting as a complete unit.

Merold had greeted Hallritt with the typical easygoing callousness Romarriche had expected from his childhood friend. What he hadn't anticipated was that brief flash of animosity. It was a familiar sight, if an oddity by the time and place, because Merold had tensed up as if he'd been in the middle of battle.

Whatever it is that Merold saw in the rookie knight, it bleeds through his actions, and Romarriche can tell that Merold, consciously or not, viewed the man as a threat.

"I would like to think that despite our time apart, I'd still be the one to know you best."

This weariness that looms over his friend is coming to be familiar to him. It's minute. He's seen this before. If it were anyone else other than him, one would be bereft of suspect of Merold ever being in anything else than tip-top shape.

Merold turns to him, that strand of pink hair on top of his head bouncing with the sharp movement as he tilts his head at him with what could be construed as confusion. He knows better, however. "Romarriche? That's pretty sudden to drop on me~" Merold's eyes crinkle with amusement. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you're feeling some jealousy."

"Yes, yes," he humors him, the smile that leaves him is unerringly fond. "However, you do know better."

Romarriche halts, lays his palm flat against his chest, determined. In the middle of the hallways of Lord Marroncream's castle, the two come to a standstill.

"I'm worried." About you.

"You always are. That's just the type of guy you are."

Here's the thing: Merold knows Romarriche just as Romarriche knows Merold. They've known each other since childhood, long before there even was a Merold, the Fragaria of My Melody, and Romarriche, the Fragaria of Marroncream.

"You've been having nightmares." He says slowly. It's come back to him. This had happened before Merold left to travel around the continent. There hadn't been a cure then, he hopes there would be a cure now.

There's a small breadth of distance between them, and yet somehow, Merold seemed no less further away than when he'd been out and about and doing his work. Yet, most intriguingly, "And Hallritt seems to be the trigger, however odd that notion be."

Merold does not respond.

"…Come here for a bit."

Until he does, and Romarriche has always been weak for his childhood friend, and so, he obliges him.

"…Okay," Romarriche says, stepping forward until he and Merold were face to face. Or as much as they can be, when Merold hadn't grown since the last time he'd seen him, leaving the gates and waving goodbye to fulfill the duties expected of the Greatest Knight.

They had been the same height, then.

Merold places his head onto Romarriche's shoulder, hands shaking where he held onto Romarriche's pink coat. His neck tickles at the shuddering breath Merold releases.

Romarriche figures he wouldn't say anything about the sniffles. Nor the wetness that spreads across his shirt.

"Okay," he repeats, wrapping his arms around his friend. "I'm here."

(Romarriche felt real.

In this world that continued to change, Romarriche felt real and alive. He may not remember like he did, but his presence was a comfort that Merold never realized he'd taken for granted, much in the same way those instances of losing Kurode continued to haunt him.

He doesn't know what tipped the man off in this run of events. He'd confronted him before, in the past timelines, but ultimately left the matter well alone before Merold could succumb to the notion of telling his childhood friend anything.

Perhaps, it was Merold himself that had changed. Whichever it was, one thing was certain.

This warmth…

I won't forget this.)

[coffeelomort]

Red Bouquet Ep 2 Part 2 Watch Party Livestream Summary

Most of the information from the livestream will be about the first live concert

It's already going downhill

There's a little campaign for a t-shirt for the first live going on at the moment.

They went over a brief overview of the last Red Bouquet episodes. (Seems like during the first episode, fans were calling Hallritt "Magoritt", a play on "mago" (grandchild) + "Hallritt".)

They're playing a game again...

I think they have to draw whatever was written on their card? Which seemed to be "a senpai (upperclassman/senior at work/etc) that you look up to"

(Brief explanation about the button on the jacket thing: if I remember correctly, while in school, graduating students would give the second button on their jacket to underclassmen? Don't quote me on that, that's a cultural thing I'm not entirely sure about.)

Break for the actual episode

They changed into the live concert shirts!

They're showing off merch for the live concert.

They're discussing Ep 2 Part 2, they enjoyed the "gap" between Romarriche's appearance and his strength. (Some comments were calling Romarriche a "noukin" (musclehead))

Rimicha's "shabababa" was a reference to Saba-kun, it seems!

They also really enjoyed seeing Hallritt as a greenhorn, and the way he butted heads with Merold.

Blue Bouquet Ep 2 Part 1 will premiere on YouTube early August, and Part 2 will come out with a livestream on August 6!

They're chatting about Your Melody and what they liked about it, and how they feel about it.

The new Blue Bouquet song will be coming out on Friday (July 12)! There's Arupek's song coming later this year, and the first cross-Bouquet song seems to be coming out after that...!

More information about Wish is! They showed previews of the 3D live! (I think? I started freaking out when I saw the 3D silhouettes and didn't catch everything that was being talked about)

It looks like the mascots are also coming on the days! Hello Kitty on Day 1, Badtzmaru on Day 2 Day, and Cinnamoroll on Day 2 Night!

They're showing off more of the goods you can get at the live concert! It looks like there's going to be 18 colours in the pen light! So you only need one to support all of characters!

They talked about the new wafer card packs! They're being sold all over Japan. (I may have bought a box of 20.)

They're doing a collab with WEGO in August! They showed off all the goods they'll have for the collab. (That's a really short cropped shirt...)

This week's Knight Link is Tuxam and Pikero!

They showed a roadmap up to November! Check out the stream archive for that.