"Thanks."

"I think it's to the point where a second reader would help, actually... Though it does still contain a good bit of notes to insert a section later..." Small shrug. "Here, let me..." She loads it into a datapad and passes it over. "I have today off from work, too - we can spend the day just resting, or exploring the city, or - anything you want."

"Let's see where things take us."

She settles in to start reading.

It's in some ways reminiscent of the wild ideas Anakin would have for 'an ideal philosophy' as a new padawan. Flexible. Based around an idea of questioning. 'Wisdom is not a possession; it is a process' is both an explicit note - possibly to be actually included in the final - and an overarching theme. 

But - the idea has matured. Anakin has learned to question herself, if nothing else, and to understand the concept of people reaching conclusions she never would, and not being inherently wrong in this. 

She weaves discussion of philosophy, theory, skill instruction, and history together by thematic or causal groups, though currently each type is highlighted with notes about how she might reorganize it, such as if she splits it into discrete units by category - history with history, philosophy with philosophy - and there's a large set of central notes with thoughts on that sort of thing. Benefits and drawbacks of each way of presenting information. 

There's parts of history in a depth Elesse's never encountered, stretching back far into the past - Anakin has a wealth of information kept by the Sith, relayed with notes about any given fact's supporting evidence and any source's reliability. She has archeological findings the Jedi hadn't stumbled on - also with notes about reliability of evidence and interpretation. 

(The discussion of what evidence they have for history is fairly deftly woven into the general questioning philosophy. She treats theories of how the Force works the same - we do not know this. We have guessed this. We have created this model from what we have observed, and it has predicted new observations better than chance, but we cannot say it is true. We do not have the tools to know that truth; perhaps we someday will, and it is worth pursuing, but Anakin expresses the opinion - with discussion of evidence drawn from an array of fields - that a unified theory can never be found, but that rather we will find ourselves with many overlapping models which describe only some of the universe.)

(She fundamentally treats the Force as a thing of physics. Harder to do math to than gravity, but if it is a thing with mysteries, that is because our instruments aren't very good. Every Force tradition has had its own view. Most of these were at least sometimes - frequently often - decent predictive models. None of them have been broadly predictive enough, in Anakin's experience, to justify a central place in every description. She outlines quite a few in neutral tones, with a heavier focus on Sith and Jedi beliefs. They are, for the most part, not 'vague mysticism,' she makes a point of saying. They're models of reality that can demonstrably be used for millenia without massive contradictions with observed reality.)

She discusses, too, the history of Force use and organizations. She discusses the light and dark side - 'It is not,' she writes, 'That the light side is good, and the dark side is evil. Both have their own strengths and their own failure modes...' This seems to be one of the sections that needs expansion, pending discussions with various historians. (She does think the Sith usually win at 'most fucked up,' though; you have to get into extremely niche cults to get more fucked up than any system some group identifying as Sith have ever used.)

(Anakin does get up to go dote on her girlfriends after about an hour - she lets Elesse know they won't be down right away, maybe not for another hour or two.)

Elesse becomes engrossed in the writing. Anakin has developed her ideas since the last time they had spoken on the subject and Elesse finds that she agrees with many or even most of Anakin's thoughts. She makes notes of some more esoteric bits of Jedi philosophy Anakin hasn't included, some that support her thinking and others that argue against her points.

Some of the discussion of Banite Sith training methods - even clinically relayed - does have an echo of... Grief. Rawness. A note attached of 'need to edit to sound less traumatized and also less doxing myself ffs.' And, in a slightly shaky handwriting - 'I want current users to read this. Lots of the cults are shitty. I should offer resources or something. Maybe a separate work? Full discussion is a lot.' (She's rather frank about how those methods engender feelings of hate, gratitude, fear, attachment, rage, desire to please, desire to flee...)

That's the only section with notable emotional bleed in it, though - most keeps to a more playful or serious tone. She does have a lot of notes of extra sources she needs - the texts she'd asked Elesse for help tracking down are mostly in these.

And then about two hours after Anakin went upstairs - when Elesse is about halfway through the draft and notes - she comes back down, trailed by her girlfriends. 

"Good morning," she says, still reading.

"Good morning."

"I hope you haven't found too many glaring errors so far," she teases. 

"None you haven't already noted yourself."

"Catching my mistakes seems much easier than not making them, so far."

"That is how learning works."

Grin.

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"I have not, no."

"I'll cook something for you three, then."

"Good girl."

Giggle kiss. "Make yourself comfortable, Mistress."

Ellaita goes to flop with her girlfriend.

She snuggles in pretty close on the couch catty corner from Elesse, maneuvering the snuggle a teensy bit so the only real gap is between Elesse and Ellaita. 

"Morning, Elesse," she says, cheerfully.

(Anakin heads into the kitchen to start breakfast.)

"Good morning, Anathema." She keeps reading.

Breakfast seems quicker than dinner, at least today - Anakin's bringing drinks and food out about fifteen minutes later, floating tray tables over since the coffee table isn't the best place to put food. 

She glances at her girlfriends, at the way they're glued to each other... And kneels in the gap between Ellaita and Elesse as the food settles in place. 

Oh, feeling special this morning, aren't we? Ellaita grins and pets the top of Anakin's head.

Mmmm.

She leans into Ellaita's hand with a happy little sigh. 

"Hungry, sweetheart?"

"No, ma'am."

"Just going to sit and watch, then? Fair enough."