#but it gives me ideas for writing stuff and working on Mira/Aric communication stuff in future

[literaryscribs]

Long wall incoming because character breakdown for mr Aric of Jorgan today.

Sooo I cheated a bit and looked up the Aric date night stuff since I'm holding off for special reasons.

I found his responses rather interesting, particularly when the initial flirty mood subsides a bit and he voices some of his feelings. Actual concerns and worries. Fears that he'll someday miss a vital shot and someone he cares for will get hurt.

This wasn't the kind of thing he'd used to voice, much less write more that a quarter of a page's worth about in letters.

Which in turn, leaves some implications in it's place instead.

I've noticed a shift in his attitude pre and post KotFE/ET. Pre Kotfe he was much less willing to be open for fear of appearing soft in front of the eyes of others.

When it came to his feelings and expressing them it was always on the ship when he and the fem-trooper were near guaranteed to be alone. Flirting he was confident with, implying that he'd done such things before and probably had experience in at least the tension release aspect of things.

Go further and he starts expressing insecurity, he's not sure how to handle himself when things get serious. Much less know how to act considering the person he really really likes is also his CO which in RL military their relationship would get them automatically split up, if not thrown out due to conflict of interest and issues with the power dynamic. Doubly so if you chose him for promotion over Dorne.

Though he's largely unaware of his own emotional impact on his partner. How they'd feel if he was suddenly lost in the line of duty. The game unfortunately doesn't capture this aspect well but I'll save the rant on the player character's emotional range to the end.

Anyway despite that, he knows what he wants and is unwilling to let you go but prefers expressing it physically over fancy language. Waiting until the very end before saying that he loves you. His gifts are things that're useful and in one case, also appealing to him (if that body suit attachment gift is still present).

But hey, the future's bright and he can dream about kids and a white picket fence maybe ten years down the track yeah?

Nnnnope.

During Kotfe/et his personality shifts a bit. He's become disillusioned with the Republic, not enough to fight against them but enough so he can't fight with them either at current. Upon reunion with his wife (who he wasn't told by Theron that she survived) his first immediate reaction to being hugged is to respond in kind.

Toward the end of the chapter when all hope seems lost, he'll actively say he loves her in front of others. One last set of words to make up for what he missed last time.

As chapter 11 goes on you can see his leadership style has also changed from how you met him on Ord Mantell to something mimicking yours (interpretation can be seen differently depending on if light or dark choices were made in leadership). Either way he's more calm and authoritative rather than the usual order barking he used to do to you. Seems like he's done some reflecting.

At the camp he's more open to expressing himself to his wife. What he'd been up to. How he'd been losing sleep, implying that he missed her immensely. Even going to active reassurance that her nightmares weren't real when continuing their relationship.

He almost punches out Theron to go look for you on Iokath claiming that he just "wanted to go for a walk with his *favourite* commander". He'll also threaten to grab you from the giant droid during that segment on open comms so everyone definitely heard him.

He'll do it again but in front of the entire Alliance during chapter...12 or 13 (I think, it's been a while) provided you choose Kaliyo over him and try ordering him to stay back. He'll also do it once more if you execute him which...that option can go die in a hole. Sorry I hate the fact that it's there and that it exists.

That aside, as the chapters go on his attitude shifts from simply majority expressing his feelings physically to actually saying them. He worries before you go to fight Arcann that she's not going to make it and gets annoyed when you try to deflect with humor.

You can inspire him or kiss him for luck on the Gravestone as he tells you to be safe, something he hasn't done before. Come post Umbara he'll send mail noticing the irony of the situation with spy boi and comparing him to Tavus. However he'll state that he "always fought for you" making clear where his allegiance is, not just in reassurance but in telling his wife that he always has her back no matter what.

Then cue a long long radio silence until date night.

Don't get me wrong, I was well aware of Timothy Omundson's stroke and health issues. The poor guy's been through the wringer in not just recovery but also GETTING work in general. I'm just wishing there was more mail from all love interests in general to see their views on things as they happen since I feel their input can be valuable. If not just limited to support.

Now we come to date night and I'm glad for the gold mine of feelings. I love the dynamic he and his partner have, I like the fact they're actually joking and tormenting one another. He teases, she responds and vice versa. I like the fact that they clearly have a healthy sex life to boot. But I like the fact that here and via his letter after the date, he's actually expressing himself.

However, he also expresses fear. Concern that he'll miss a vital shot and someone will get hurt. The pressure and what's riding on him is getting heavy since he didn't quite anticipate things going to the degree they have been. The Alliance, regardless of who they've allied with, is still a military group flying by the seat of it's pants despite it being shredded somewhat by the loss of the Eternal Fleet, people who weren't willing to defect from the Empire and now currently the Mandalorians being in shambles. There's a possibility our original faction might likely get sick of the Alliance existing as well.

On the positive, Aric actively states that he tries to emulate and live up to his partner's example of leadership and command. Still overworking the troops a bit since he and Aygo get on like a enabling house on fire but a leadership style that's calmer without the belittling or insults attached.

He admires his partner and he beams with pride as he watches her take her shots. But there's no mocking or anything if they choose to relax and miss a few. Just some light teasing instead since he knows how good they can be when the situation counts for it. He also knows damn well how he can get under his partner's skin if he wants to, saving that round 3 privately for inside.

The pressure's real heavy and it's something he warned his partner about all the way back in vanilla.

Regardless he appreciates his partner's support, reassurance and general presence despite how busy they are off screen (presumably. I'm hoping that dev department isn't keeping the 1:1 ratio of RL = Game time passing at the moment). He makes it clear as such in his letter. But he's never expressed how lonely he's been at times, he's aware of his attitude tending to cause a level of distance between himself and others, but he's never let on how isolated he's felt despite making no apologies for it.

Particularly when in class story Aric romance he gets heavily injured but all parties just shrug it off and continue like he didn't almost die on the floor that afternoon and spent a solid week in the medbay afterward. I get remaining stoic for the job but just...something extra in the worry department.

This kind of self assessment never happened before and I find that I like the change. He's aware of his faults but also appreciates his partner for making up for what he lacks like two halves of a whole. The same but also completing one another.

I also have a hunch he has a degree of survivors guilt over what with the Deadeyes despite the arc with Zane finishing, what happened to their partner when Arcann first attacked, as well as what happened with Havoc twice over. With the trooper's Havoc basically falling apart or being ripped apart by Saresh and his Havoc basically sacrificing themselves for a near fool's errand due to mismatched team personalities. It doesn't surprise me he's trying to make up for lost time as well as live up to the lives that were lost.

I like on the end how he wants to make more time more frequently for his partner too. I'm hoping that it leaves some implication that we'll see and have more content with him yet even though it's slow. Though at this rate I'll happily pay for more date night content if it means it goes to where it should be in the dev process, hiring more people and just providing game support.

Anywho, onto the player character. Even though a lot of people hated Kotfe and Kotet for what it did to their toons, I liked what it set out to do. I also liked that it gave the player character a bit more of a personality in terms of teasing, being afraid or in pain which vanilla did a bit of but not enough. Though this was dependent on class story and even then what I deem as emotion depiction is very...subjective. What I see won't be what someone else does. Since then I'm reminded of having the emotional range of a brick with a face pasted on outside of specific moments in time.

However I do miss something that was present in kotet that i really really wish was available through all game content where comps have a active role. Quick example: "Aric Jorgan is amused". It appears in chapter 11 of Kotfe where you make jokes about being rusty taking his orders again.

I MISS THIS. I WANT THIS BACK.

Reason why? So, I'm on the autistic spectrum. Part of this lovely condition is that other than being relatively face blind, I have difficulty reading facial expressions. I know the big happy, sad, angry ones. It's the finer ones in between.

I was so happy seeing those little pointers telling me someone's mood. Particularly Aric being happy besides approving about something. It gave me silly excited giddy feelings and I want those back. The notes, the giddy feelings also help hah. But mainly so I can understand how the companions are feeling about things rather than just guessing by tone or looking at the scene context.

For extra bonus have a clip with Tim/Aric singing about a little dragon from 8 years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iCzOllSjLU