#joiedecombat

Yeah, uh, I feel like there was a lot that could have been done better about how Edelgard's story was handled that would have made me more sympathetic to her.

It’s interesting coming into this route from Silver Snow, because this one feels so much more calculated in how much it tries to paint Edelgard in the worst possible light. Like she’s just as much of an antagonist in Silver Snow, but you’ve also got moments like Seteth expressing wonder when they get to the Empire and discover that the populace isn’t controlled by fear, and actually seems to really like their emperor? Moments like that, where the characters’ negative assumptions about her are challenged, never make it into AM. 

Professor Robot really doesn't seem calibrated for analyzing fiction, despite ostensibly having it as a setting. I ran a couple of my fics through and a lot of the stuff it picks out seems very much about blanding the verbiage down for "readability."

Yeah, that’s I think one of the issues with most of these AI-powered copy editors. (Or perhaps, just a bias of their programming.) EditMinion, Hemingway, and AutoCrit similarly ding me when I start to get florid or wordy.

(But they don’t understand! I need those words. All of them. I mean, all of them except for the ones that shouldn’t be there because of grammatical or spelling issues.)

Theron watched as Kira left the old abandoned Jedi Temple on Coruscant.  They had agreed to meet here for a few brief moments and she had promised data on the Eternal Empire, the new enemy that threatened the galaxy.  She’d returned his red jacket to him, that he’d left on the Defender the last time he’d seen Jyana, er… the Jedi Battlemaster. T7 remained behind, apparently upon Jyana’s own request, to stay and work with Theron in case anything had happened to her.

“Theron = Loved her?”

He blinked.  He didn’t realize he had buried his nose in the collar of his jacket and closed his eyes for a few minutes.  He could brush it off as he’d just really missed his red coat. The leather felt still warm and loved, a bit of security in how it fit around him.  But there was a lingering scent there that wasn’t his that he was drawn to, that he couldn’t truly avoid.

What did a droid know about feelings anyway?

But he couldn’t just dismiss what T7 had questioned.  The poor droid had lost his closest friendtoo.  And it was her wish that they help each other.  T7 definitely had skills the SIS could use as well as some previous experience working with them.  

Theron looked down at the droid and gave him a small smile and patted him on his dome.  He couldn’t really find the words to respond to him, but the droid didn’t really push the issue either.

“The Director needs me in an hour.  You said you had some data from the attack on Darth Marr’s ship?”

T7 beeped his confirmation, though the beep wasn’t the typical cheerful tone Theron had gotten used to when they worked together on Ziost.  When he thought T7 was trying to keep his spirits up for the most part.

As they moved towards the speeder he’d come here on, which thankfully was equipped to take on an astromech droid, his mind kept wandering back to that question.  T7 helped himself to his spot and Theron straddled the speeder and fiddled with the controls.  He hesitated for a few moments, rubbing his nose again against the collar of his jacket.

He did love her.  Her scent, her smile, the way the color red adorned her ears when he’d embarrassed her somehow.  Maybe he had loved her since she waltzed into the briefing room on Carrick Station when they were about to send her to Korriban or since she rampaged through the lab on Manaan when he’d thought she was nearly lost to him that first time.  Or how she had nearly torn down the Revanite facility on Rishi to rescue him.  Or those private moments in his shuttle on Yavin and then later on her ship months after Ziost’s demise.  

He shook his head and started the speeder.  Kira was certain she was still alive.  Kira had promised that if Jyana was in any way able to, she’d come back to him. Theron felt himself holding onto those words, terrified to even have hope.  Maybe that small sliver of hope could keep him going forward. It wasn’t the first time he’d lost someone who cared for him, that he cared for.  It wasn’t going to be the last.

I WAS WONDERING if he’d just go on being the lone Shitennou nobody asked me about thank you. 

How I feel about this character:

I’ll be honest, it took me a long time to really get Nephrite. My thoughts on him were a loose jumble of “cars, I guess, and stars?????” Now he’s totally my fav to write. He’s such a big, warm, overdramatic, charismatic asshole. I love his buff warrior-poet vibe.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Makoto/Nephrite - Actually, this may be a rare time when my multishipper heart can only see one path here, and it’s Mako/Neph. They’re just so sweet and warm and full of life together. They’re all sky symbolism and the heavy hitters of their respective teams but also they’re both so open and down-to-earth and loving and yeah.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

All the Shitennou, but man do I love the dynamic of Kunzite/Nephrite friendship, because they are the perfect Odd Couple. Neph loves to piss off Kunzite both because it’s funny and it makes him less of an uptight jerkwad.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

Brown eyes > blue eyes

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon:

(only you would request a three-sentence fic that required RESEARCH)  

The Right Honourable Mary Theodosia Patience Elizabeth Cavendish-King bent to arrange her skirts in the carriage with terrible irritation, just as the infernally rattletrap vehicle ran over a deep rut across the road. She was flung with some force and exponentially growing alarm and horror directly across the cabin and into the lap of Sir Neville Edward Naesmythe-Maxwell, 6th Baronet of Eccles, who caught her as delicately as possible and tried not to look amused as he told her, "I'd do quite a bit worse, dealing with skirts like those."

Well, Ellie could somehow manage to burn water, so there’s that. Corey can cook but doesn’t particularly enjoy it, so they go out/order takeout a lot... or have C2 make meals

No, you’re not wrong. Even Juven seems to be frustrated with his father in some of his high favour dialogues. To be honest, a lot of what we see from Juven is him playing up the dumb playboy image to avoid scrutiny from the other 3 families and noble society in general.

Duke Sakan though? Let’s see - he basically dumped all responsibility for running everything on his then teenage son and younger brother and buggered off to god knows where doing god knows what. He never writes, never calls and when he does come back he immediately runs away when he sees paperwork waiting for him.

I am 100% here for sad Pluto death girl villain romance, you know I am. BRING IT ALL TO ME.

you will get it!!! once the WIP ennui leaves and i become a functional human being, lol