#full disclosure Fierce Valor was pretty informative

[historyherstory]

I love your story! What's your take on Speirs' personality and particular brand of leadership? From the scenes he's been in, you write him very well and seem to have a solid grasp on his behavior. (Also it's funny that more often than not Eleanor walks away from her interactions with him feeling nettled or annoyed; he's one of the few we've seen that can genuinely prick her composure.)

oooh, this is a good question. In general, I think one of the things that characterizes my understanding of his nature is that he isn't interested in compromising, he's not interested in "playing nice" (so to speak - if there's a fast way to say something that might step on someone's toes, so be it - consider the toes crushed) as he is in being efficient. He's very task oriented and is notoriously not easy to distract (on D-Day he had the opportunity to synch up with other paratroopers who had gathered and were taking action against German armor and guns, but he remained focused on the goal that they had been given prior to boarding the planes). In my eyes, we have a bit of the Band of Brothers' characterisation as a bit of a nihilist (when he's speaking with Blithe comes to mind) but also, he's never going to ask someone to do something he himself wouldn't do (often resulting in him participating in dangerous activity that wasn't necessarily required of him). This comes up in Holland and I am very excited to be slowly meandering towards that point. He also definitely had his favorites - people who knew him seem divided (some liked, or if not liked, quite respected him. others outright admit they struggled working with him) so I think that probably says a lot about his nature...

He definitely leaves Eleanor with ruffled feathers! She can get one up on Nix because Nix's game is verbal sparring. Speirs doesn't care if she tries to take a pound of flesh with her tongue, as long as she's doing what he wants (often, moving to a position of comparatively more security) she can snark off as much as she pleases and he's not particularly provoked. Her inability to really needle him in that way is leaving her a bit wrong-footed. (She'll find her stride though. While Ron does get to claim the upper hand for now..it doesn't last forever!)