okay i just had to make an actual post about this vignette because its GENUINELY probably one of my favorite rook vignettes so far and i think it goes a lot deeper into this character than people realize
to give a synopsis of this vignette, while lost in the book, rook discovers a poetry reading event in the city. the goal of the event is to write about the city with tanka, a type of poem consisting of 31 syllables and 5 lines (arranged in 5-7-5-7-7).
while rook is excited for this, he quickly begins to struggle to write something that fits within the confines of the poem. it's not that he can't, but he either ends up going over or under the syllable count when he tries to write authentically, or ends up focusing so much on the syllable count that he loses sight of what he wanted to actually say.
he wants to write something that speaks genuine, but he composes about 10 poems and none of them feel right at all. he's getting tired and can't figure out why it isn't clicking, but after having baymax scan it (and being given a candy since he just. doesn't have a critique feature), rook finally realizes what's wrong
he's been focusing so hard on writing passable tanka that everything he's been writing isn't HIS poetry. the syllable rules of the poem don't allow him to properly express what he wants to say no matter what he writes, and that's why everything he's written feels off.
rook finishes working on his tanka and hands it in before the group reads everyone's poems, getting a bit nervous when the group gets to his for review. when his poem is shown, we can see the route he decided to take: he completely discards adhering to the rules and staying in rhythm altogether, choosing to speak purely from his heart instead
after it's read out, everyone is entirely silent. rook is still on edge, but after a moment, the group erupts into discussion and admiration over the creative choices he took, much to rook's pleasant surprise. he tells them they may interpret the words however they'd like, and remarks about learning a profound lesson.
knowing the context of rook's background, it's easy to see why this vignette is particularly meaningful - rook is someone who we've seen be consistently alienated for his oddities by others. he places a large emphasis on staying true and expressing himself however he can, regardless of the opinions of others. he doesn't adhere to just what people consider admissible forms of expression.
rook's authenticity in being truly himself is often what other people judge and avoid him for. there's a high likelihood that this is also partially why rook was nervous during the review, which is quite rare to see for him (as he says himself). especially since all of these people are entirely strangers to him, he has no way of knowing if or how they'll potentially criticize him.
but in the end, they accept him. instead of judgement, his work is met with intrigue and admiration; rook isn't used to having things like this being so embraced in it's reception, so it makes sense that he'd appear surprised at first to this response.
all around this vignette felt pretty refreshing!!! it's rare to see rook's choice of expression be so positively received by others, especially it being from people he doesn't know. the event organizer also tells him that the type of tanka he wrote is actually it's own separate form called free verse tanka - his deviation from the "standard" form of tanka makes it all the more unique
