Ned is extremely relieved by the fact that Jaina seems like a nice person who's willing to help out with Heliodor's crisis without asking too many uncomfortable questions, so the circumstances are coloring what would already be a positive impression to make it extremely positive. She just seems like such a nice, helpful, knowledgeable lady who knows cool things and uses the word "droids," which will tickle him more when he gets his pop culture skill back than it does now (he wanted to be a Jedi knight as a child, this is canon), but that hasn't come up yet. Also she seems to have a sense of humor and be calm and competent, for which he is extremely grateful at the moment. Also she's NOT A TEENAGER, so she gets bonus points for that. Ned is a little bit boggled by how he seems to be surrounded by kids.

Reverse?

He seems like a nice guy, as well as...hmm. Harmless? Like he's an adult and seems mature and all that but that he'll just lay right out there that the idea of robots being around is surreal and may make him act silly both speaks to her of self-awareness...and, well, being silly. Which made her feel safe about teasing some.

She also appreciates that there's another sane adult around because yeeeeeah kids. Being on Iolite, she has a little bit of a "oh no Lord of the Flies" view of things from time to time.

Also Heliodor has a droid and she has the opportunity to poke at it huff, huff Heliodor is so nice. THIS WILL PROBABLY COLOR HER ENTIRE FIRST IMPRESSION OF CHURCH. Oh he's just like that because it's his programming. :|

So I am canonblind for the moment, how has amnesia changed the dynamic between Ned and Chuck?

I think amnesia has made both of them more likely to blurt out big awkward chunks of truth at one another. Also they can touch, that's a big deal -- they can't in canon. They keep giving each other feelings in Aather, but they do that in canon too -- I think the biggest difference is that they have more external pressure and external responsibility to their teams here. There's not as much of a chance for codependency? They're not quite as much priorities with one another -- that's not to say their feelings are less strong, it's just that there's more outside stuff that comes first. If that makes sense!

but they're still super into each other, that happened... surprisingly fast for me.

How are Mitchell and Jaina doing?