ninthfeather | Gundam 00: Tieria Headcanons (Reply)

Happy Birthday, @rinrinhime! Have some birthday headcanons.

Tieria got pretty involved in working on the Gundams after Fallen Angels. It was something to keep himself busy with. It was actually a pretty jarring experience for him, since, unlike operating Veda or piloting a mobile suit, he wasn’t particularly gifted at it from the start. But four years is long enough to get decent at just about anything, and he can manage basic repairs on his own, and most other things with supervision.

Tieria is so harsh with Saji at the beginning because he sees just a little too much of himself in him. Saji is absolutely convinced of his own ideals, and dismissive of everyone in Celestial Being for reasons that won’t hold up to scrutiny–and, certainly, they’re different reasons, but it’s still too familiar. In the end, Tieria had to scrape up his worldview and start from scratch; he’d like Saji to have it easier. That’s what the kind of human Neil was encouraging him to be would do, and that’s what would be best for Setsuna’s neighbor.

Tieria absolutely hides in Veda throughout the first round of interventions. He goes in and looks up random, irrelevant data when he’s fed up with Setsuna or Ms. Sumeragi; after bad missions, he looks up old files from ones that went better. He would never compare it to Neil’s smoking or Ms. Sumeragi’s drinking; it’s not a coping mechanism or an addiction. (Except that the emptiness when he tries to access Veda after Fallen Angels is almost aching, and he does try, again and again, long after he knows it won’t work.)

I’ve mentioned this obliquely in fic, but the pink sweater definitely survives Fallen Angels. Tieria doesn’t wear it often once the new uniforms are made and available to wear, but if he’s roused from sleep for reasons other than a battle, he throws it on over his sleep clothes–space is cold.

It takes him a little while to warm up to Milena Vashti. At first, he’s copying Neil, a little–semi-adopting the younger female crew member. But Milena is smart, and kind, and hardworking, and it doesn’t take him long to start liking her for herself. He watches out for her when her parents are busy with the ship’s administrative details–or when she’s got a problem she doesn’t think she can talk with them about. Though those problems usually end up being the kind that are out of Tieria’s depth too. He often ends up sending her to Lyle or Saji for those.

Bonding with Milena a bit brought some new meaning to Tieria’s long-ago reservations about Setsuna as a pilot. He remembers looking at 14-year-old Setsuna and thinking “too young to be competent”; now, he looks at Milena and thinks, “too young to be this close to war.” He never really got what Neil was so upset about, on that island. Now, he thinks he understands. This “learning to be human” thing is full of unpleasant revelations.

Becoming part of Veda isn’t the path Tieria would have chosen for himself. He was learning to become human, after all–not more of a computer. But at the same time, what he’s figured out so far indicates that the form he’s in isn’t the important part, it’s the way he conducts himself that counts. Maybe he’s being absurd–but maybe that’s human, too.