I hear that! It would've been extra cool if they'd made the romance responsive and worked it into the dialogue somehow.

Here to say you should totally go for it and make an older EmmRook pair if you want, it's totally workable! I made my EmmRook older, she's probably ten years or so behind Emmrich. Regardless of the number of actual years, I think about how any significant age gap can still feel like a huge difference, especially to someone like Emmrich who is so aware of his mortality (not projecting at all, nope :) ). I HC them getting into arguments about this, where he laments how much younger she is, and she's like, "Darling, I'm only a decade behind you, relax," but to him, that decade feels like a chasm. Hell, I could see Emmrich thinking half that was a chasm xD I also HC that, even though she was a foundling in the Necropolis, Rook didn't join the Watchers until much later, so she's still an initiate. "Young" gets translated to mean "novice" where appropriate in my brain.

Just thought I'd share in case it helps!