My honest take for Kotor 2 is that Handmaiden and Disciple should have been alignment locked instead of gender locked.
Not only is that just a more interesting motivation for the characters than heteronormative oh the girl goes with the boy and the boy goes with the girl but it also circumvents the massive plot hole that is the writers expecting me to believe Atris isn't also crushing on female exile.
It's already perfectly set up too. You're on Telos station so the republic can monitor you and in the game as it stands nothing comes of that.
Like if you're light side the republic goes "All good here go on your way exile" meanwhile Atris feels legitimately shaken in her beliefs by the fact she can't sense any dark side in you and is like "no no no I can't be wrong they must be corrupt I just need to prove it. Handmaiden go spy on them and confirm my biases."
Then if you're dark side the Atris goes "Ha just as I suspected no need to look into this any further go off and die" while the republic is like "Hey the exile did a lot of shady shit while we were watching them on Telos and then escaped we should probably send someone to keep an eye on them"
Because as it stands for the male exile it's like
Atris "I totally don't have a crush on him I'm just spying on him for other reasons baka"
Republic "We have complete faith and trust in you Exile"
And then for the female exile its
Atris "I will not help you on this dangerous quest I have set you on go die"
Republic "Mical! We need you to spy on the Exile Mical! No no Mical you don't understand! She's a woman Mical! She can't possibly be trusted!"
This change would also make the two dark side characters the mind broken savage wookie slaver and the most Mormon possible jedi and that's objectively hilarious.