Tom

Tom is Emily's father with a bad gambling addiction.

## Background

### Pre-game

Tom and his wife Yvette used to partake in drugs, at first dabbling in narcotics to manage the stress of hard times after he became unemployed. But upon gaining a significant sum of money via her daughter Emily's band, Tom and Yvette began experimenting with more expensive and presumably more potent drugs. When Emily turned 18, she gained full control over her bank account and Yvette and **Tom** were forced to quit their habit, as they didn't want to ask Emily to fund their addiction. Thus, Tom and Yvette attempted to quit cold turkey.

Unfortunately, Yvette was incapable of doing so, and needed to be weaned off drugs by gradually decreasing the dosage. They refused to ask Emily to fund the narcotics Yvette needed, as her band had broken up and thus she no longer had a large source of income to draw from. This caused Tom to attempt to fund her rehabilitation himself.

He was informed by a drinking buddy of his that a boxer was planning to throw a fight. Thinking that this would be an opportunity to fund his wife's rehabilitation, but lacking the credit, cash or collateral to even make the bet, Tom decided to take a loan from Polo. Unbeknownst to him, the deal the boxer previously had fell through at the last minute. When the boxer Tom bet on to lose instead won, he was trapped deep in $100,000 of debt and his advancing age meant he stood no chance in maintaining a job without being let go, let alone earning enough to pay his debt. He had no choice but to pressure Emily for money to stave off criminal retribution upon him and his family - the one thing he never wanted to do in the first place.

### During Emily's substory

Tom is first seen meeting up with Emily for brunch. He insists the MC come along with him and his daughter to brunch. Upon arriving, he waxes about how good the food was and how he hasn't had a meal like it in a while, to which the MC concedes that the meal was good. He mentions to the MC that Emily was a talented musician that was about to make it big, then insists that Emily doesn't need her fellow band members Christie and Ella Vulpe and that she could branch off on her own. The conversation then branches off to more mundane things, during which the MC notes that Tom is genuinely interested in how his daughter's doing at college. When it comes time to pay the $40 bill, should the MC pay it himself he'll remark to Emily that she should snatch the MC up as her boyfriend. Right before he departs, he asks Emily for extra money this week, insisting that despite her providing money for food and rent it isn't enough due to additional costs. He begs her until she relents and agrees to pay him extra, after which he leaves promising to repay her.

The next time he meets Emily he's once again in need of money, but she reminds him that he's supposed to be paying the rent himself; she's not making much money herself, and at some point offscreen he was told him that a payment would be the last one she gave him. The arrival of the MC lets Tom embarrass and guilt-trip Emily into giving him another month's rent money, departing as he asks the MC to look after Emily and making a promise that it'll be the last time he asks.

The third time he's seen he's yet again asking for money. Emily, having had her confidence bolstered by the MC, presses Tom to tell her where all the money's going as things aren't numerically adding up to her. When Tom attempts to deflect and lie, Emily reveals she knows he's deceiving her because she spoke to her mom Yvette. After this, he accidentally lets it slip that he's in debt, insisting he can't tell her about the situation for her sake. Emily refuses to accept this, and gives him an ultimatum: explain what's going on or she's not giving him the money. He refuses once more, and after several unsuccessful attempts to persuade her to restart her band and drop her interrogation, he resorts to threatening to take Shadow from her. This finally gets her to give him the money.

Later, the MC hatches a plan to work out what exactly Tom is doing with the money he's being paid. After having Emily deliver $20,000 to in-person, Tom leaves to pay his debt after an offer for a family dinner is turned down by Emily. The MC discretely follows him using his shapeshifting to keep hidden, until he witnesses a meeting between Polo and Tom. After Tom gets blackmailed with an implicit threat towards Emily for even more money, the MC can either slaughter every criminal at the meeting in his heroic persona or wait until after the meeting to ask Tom what exactly is going on and then steal the $20,000 back from Polo.

Notably, depending on the MC's choice, Tom will withhold the information about Yvette's drug addiction, likely out of fear for her safety considering he was under the impression that the MC's heroic disguise might kill him too. The MC then can choose to either entrust him with the money to return to Emily or deliver it to her himself. The former ensures Tom finally tells Emily about his situation and leaves them on more cordial terms with a chance for reconciliation, while the latter leaves how likely it is for them to reconcile a bit more ambiguous.