What's in a Name?

Robin Sepp

Robin Sepp- Estonian/German ancestry; Robin is an enigmatic youth Emma Tran encounters while attending New York University who is characterized for his apathy and quiet, keen observation his surroundings, as well as his nonchalant demeanor during social interactions. A highly unique, offbeat individual, he tends to speak little and has a hidden for fascination for both "cute dog videos" and gaming. Although appearing to be his near opposite with her straitlaced, feminine demeanor, Emma was immediately intrigued by Robin's alternative appearance, with his dyed shoulder-length aqua-colored hair, thin frame, and sallow complexion, along with a pair of sunken, penetrating hazel eyes that had dark circles underneath due to a lack of sleep. Seeing this as both an opportunity to rebel against her family members and shed some of her reputation for being overly proper and poised, as well as make a possible new friend, Emma proceeded to approach Robin and try to befriend him. Robin in turn merely perceived her as a "nice enough" acquaintance to talk to between classes and maintained a neutral perception of her, as he did with most others. Despite having relatively little in common with him, Emma quickly bonded with Robin over a shared interest in psychology, showing interest in his knowledge of different psychological and personality testing theories as he tried to experiment psychologically with Emma. Upon seeing that she was experiencing a sense of confusion with understanding her identity and life purpose, Robin subconsciously began to psychoanalyze Olivia and engage in the role of being her "therapist", listening to her as she would vent her problems and trying to apply his knowledge of psychology in his interactions with her. 

While Emma admitted to feeling lost and uncertain of her role in a predominantly white culture in America and claimed to hate the reputation she'd created for herself of being "perfect and poised" all the time, Robin shared some personal insight into his background story and admitted to have had a "crazy ex-girlfriend" throughout his freshman and sophomore years of high school who had psychologically and physically abused him with her volatile moods, culminating in a nasty break-up. He admitted he was used to people approaching him with their problems and that with his calm, apathetic demeanor and impartial stance of things, he often served as the therapist between his small group of friends. Feeling liberated by the feeling of defying her parents for once in her life by interacting with someone she knew her family would not approve of, she confused her growing interest in Robin for being of romantic nature and became deeply infatuated with him, making continuous efforts to sit by or wait for him between classes that made her "crush" on him even more apparent. Believing that Emma had developed a romantic attraction for him, Robin dismissed what he assumed were romantic feelings for him by claiming Emma "wasn't his type" due to her ethnic features, hinting at her obviously ethnic appearance with her Southeast Asian features. He claimed that he didn't find her pretty and wasn't usually attracted to girls who looked like her and instead preferred more Caucasian features on females that resembled those of his family members. Though hurt by his declaration, she nonetheless continued the unhealthy cycle of continuously approaching Robin and developed what could be considered a toxic friendship with him. 

Their interactions became increasingly psychologically based and felt more like "therapy sessions" and a series of repetitive conversation topics, and they both gradually tired and grew bored of each other's company due to a lack of shared interests. Meanwhile Emma had a passion for helping others and interest in her Asian heritage that she felt she had to restrain from Robin, Robin's passions lay in playing video games on apps such as Twitch and pursuing other alternative interests that Emma did not particularly care for. Feeling concerned over the growing distance between him and his best friend, Emma's father tried to reconnect with her after noticing how isolated his daughter had become from the family.He asked her why he felt they were slowly growing apart, after which Emma admitted her social struggles and proceeded to show her parents her photo of Robin. The image of Robin's face angers her father, who claims Emma "deserves so much better than that", meanwhile her younger sibling Stephanie and brother Connor, who walked in at around the same time, fell into a fit of laughter after Connor joked that Robin looked like "a 60-year-old drug addict" and Jenny compared him to a gremlin after seeing his older-looking appearance. With the support of her family, she attempted to pull away from Robin for some time, yet the unhealthy cycle of emotional codependency she had created with him prompted her to spam his phone with a series of texts instead upon getting no response from him, a fact he confronted her over. Despite her family's insistence that she was way out of his league and deserved better things, Emma proceeded to initiate interactions with him and became disgusted and incredibly disillusioned once she accidentally came across his social media and found saved images and videos of pornography featuring "hot", sexualized young women with red hair. 

Robin becomes increasingly dismissive of Emma and flippantly began to avoid and ignore new interactions with her, becoming increasingly psychologically manipulative as he would respond to texts laconically and neglect her in favor of other people. Once she walks in on Robin making a snide remark about her appearance and making a suggestive remark on her appearance with his close friend, a curly-haired Romanian girl named Aelita Popescu, that bordered on being racist, she took the iced mocha she was drinking and poured it down his shirt, telling him that "maybe that would cool him off" and calling him a pervert. With effort, she decided to cut off all communication with Robin and block all form of contact with him, while trying to make amends with her old friends and admitting to her family that she felt "emotionally drained" and wanted somebody to talk to. Showing support of their daughter's choices, Emma's parents offer to have her see a counselor to help her resolve her identity issues, with the sessions lasting several weeks as she began to clarify her thoughts about her situation. Emma ultimately learned that in victimizing herself in her own problems, she had subconsciously fallen into a pattern of self-loathing that made her codependent on the wrong person and that before seeking the love and acceptance of anybody, she had to first come to terms with loving and accepting who she truly was. She also learned that people like Robin are simply apathetic creatures who take relationships at surface level and don't truly seek strong connections or serious bonds with anyone. After admitting her own wrongdoings and learning to accept both hers and Robin's personal faults in the situation, she was able to set herself free and realize her true worth. INTP 9w1