"Yay, I'm glad to hear that! I always have a little worry in the back of my mind that while I'm loving the RP, they'll be like "UGH, I had to RP with that Thistle again! Blech!". "

Not at all.

Also, yeah. Not looking forward to the flight in SMC- for exactly the same reasons. At least in UC it's pretty impractical to fly around because of the way the place is built, but I imagine SMC will look like rush hour on Coruscant with a seizure-inducing riot of mounts cluttering up the air. And the lag! Ughh.