scuba soph: ...okay. I am having a moment of intense, blinding rage and I'm not sure I can pinpoint what it is about this scenario that is triggering it
scuba soph: 1) it is stupid
scuba soph: 2) you are dressing up as the premier elected official of our country and crawling along the road dragging a bag of fucking potatoes

Well, I would scarcely have credited it - and it may well be the rum¹. But in the space of the last fifty(ish) pages of The Surgeon's Mate, and the first twenty-five of The Ionian Mission, Patrick O'Brian has contrived to make me discover une espèce de... how to say. Of fond tolerance, bordering on genuine liking, for one Diana Villiers. I KNOW, WHAT. Possibly it is the fact that, the way PO'B writes them, Sophie/Jack and Diana/Stephen are both wholly valid and endearing and adorable, and in no way an obstacle to the true OTP of Jack/Stephen. That said, I am not 100% sure if I have been spoilered for [future event], so let's call this Diana's probationary period.

¹jaa;lskdsdlkas thanks boxchat, for nattering on at length about Captain Morgan's. Resistance level for both alcohol and Age-of-Sail-related things = severely diminished at the moment.

Meanwhile, later Valentine's post will be... later. After I have ceased to be confounded by Captain Morgan technical difficulties, and all that.

P.S. ♥♥Jagiello♥♥ I gurgle in delight.