I'm kinda thinking they're just town. I'm compelled by the reasoning of like them not really being that compelled to trust me when they did if they were scum. It's WIFOM but I'm also not convinced they think the self-promotion of that idea would do good things for scum!patchwork. They're just generally feeling pretty genuine as well on an ISO.
I'm also getting a bit bored and want to move on. Sorry if wrong, but I think this is favorable.