#padeen

[theleseroftwoweevils]

ok so you guys remember when imade a like which of my favourite characters is your favourite poll ok doing that again but its basically just what's ur fav master andcommander character (doing who was in the movie cuz there r like a million books)

(pics of characters so anyone who hasn't seen can vote off vibes under the keep reading (in the order they're in on the poll))

^ above are three pictures of my boy Peter cuz he's my favourite

[gigamuffinsofie]

autism to autism communication

[firstofficerrose]

The platypus plot of The Nutmeg Of Consolation is absolutely unhinged to me. Steven has been wanting to see a platypus for ages. They foreshadow The Platypus. There is banter with Jack about the nature of The Platypus ("It's a mammal!" "Didn't you say it laid eggs?"). Steven and Martin go off looking for The Platypus and do not find it. They're about to leave Australia. At the last moment, there is another chance to go and look for The Platypus.

And then! They find it! Hurrah, a real Platypus! What a cute little guy! Amazing!

And then it stings Steven and he's allergic to Platypus venom and that's where the book ends?!?!?

[jus-alilcomforblelad]

cause of death: the deleted scene from m&c where padeen is quietly drawing the monkey over and over in a notebook

[thiefbird]

Time to shed a little tear over Padeen and Brigid

[gigamuffin]

got back into drawing jack aubrey again today babeyyy back in the box!!!!

[the-dog-watch]

I've had to stop reading these books at night before bed because occasionally I will read a passage and it will make me feel like I just downed a cup of espresso and I need to pace around my house for a lil bit. When I realized the person doing the "convulsive trembling" wasn't Padeen. 😭 "I KNEW YOU WOULD COME" shut the fuck up!!!!!!!!!!

[benjhawkins]

Happy St. Pádraig’s Day!

[heathcliffgirl1847]

started the commodore at work and cried at padeen's gentleness with little brigid. sitting next to my coworker. tears

[maraschinocheri]

Going through subfolders upon subfolders on my laptop while looking for something else, I tripped and fell over a bunch of drunken sailors enjoying some downtime during the filming of Master and Commander: Joseph Morgan (Warley), Max Benitz (Calamy), William Mannering (Doudle), Lee Ingleby (Hollom), and John DeSantis (Padeen). And what shall we do with the drunken sailors, what shall we do.

[incorrect-aubreyad-quotes]

Jack: Stephen ran off and nearly got himself killed! All because you couldn’t control him.

Padeen: Since when is babysitting Dr. Maturin my-ohh… that is exactly my job, isn’t it?

[thiefbird]

A study in extremes

[ltwilliammowett]

Galapagos

[the-dog-watch]

The Nutmeg of Consolation

I was talking on twitter how I have an nonspecific affection for all the boats in this series, so I suppose I was destined to love this one regardless. This book is both sweet and nutty to me, just like the ship of its namesake. It’s sentimental, but its sentimentality is shot through with a tinge of unease; enjoy these good times while they last, it seems to be saying (I have learned to always do this, in these books.) There's a sense of foreboding or oncoming disaster—which isn't new; both The Ionian Mission and Treason’s Harbour were suffused with dread—but it’s also planting the seeds of upcoming discord, both among the crew and between Jack and Stephen themselves, which is somewhat novel. 

Jo Walton said in her review this book lacked a clear shape and could have been split up and added to books before and after it but I very much disagree. Joy is the keynote of this book; unconstrained, pure joy is a part of this book in a way that is not present in either the preceding or succeeding novels, a joy that's made more vivid by its contrast with some very dark moments--an island in Melanesia that has been decimated by smallpox but for two small children, or the Botany Bay penal colony where we catch up with poor Padeen.

The strength of this book is Stephen’s character arc. It forces him to step up and take responsibility, for those two little girls I mentioned, and for Padeen, and these sort of messy demands for emotional attachment and connection are something that a Stephen from earlier in the series might have shied away from, especially when he’s under stress. He’s worried about Diana, he’s worried about their baby, he’s worried about his financial situation. It’s hard not to feel a little proud of him for how he handles everything (no laudanum this time!) and of course it’s impossible not to feel extremely happy for him when he finally learns that he has a daughter.

“Why, Doctor,” [Tom] said, his face brightening, “how happy I am to see you back. You look as gay as a popinjay, as cheerful as if you had found a five pound note. I hope you brought the poor old barky some good luck at last. God love us, what a week!”

Perfect Girlfriend Tom Pullings reacting to Stephen’s face after he gets the news, confirming what I have always known about Stephen: that he is cute, despite his constant insistence that he’s the ugliest girl in school.

We start on the beach with the erstwhile Dianes (RIP Diane!!!) shipwrecked in the South China Sea. After a rough start and a pirate attack, they are rescued and their fortunes turn around when the governor of Batavia gives them a new ship, The Nutmeg of Consolation. What a name! She is my new best friend in all the world.

It'd be hard to dislike this book, even if I wanted to. Joy is its keynote, as I said, starting with the fortuitous reunion early on with Surprise and culminating with Stephen finally receiving the word that his daughter has been born back at Ashgrove Cottage. Between this and the reunion with Padeen in the hospital in Botany Bay, the climax of this book sees Stephen at maybe the most emotional we've ever seen him, and the highest pitch of his spirits coincides with a nearly fatal rupture with Jack.

Their disagreement is over Padeen, whose imprisonment in the penal colony Stephen feels responsible for, for the reason that he kind of is. He feels guilty enough about it that he almost doesn't want to see Padeen at all, just wants to arrange Padeen to have a less abusive work environment from afar, but of course after a very touching reunion with a flogged and emaciated Padeen, he promises to help Padeen escape and is then shocked when he learns that Jack has no intention of allowing any convict, even Padeen, to escape on the Surprise. After wrestling with himself all night (and remembering, "Hey, I became insanely wealthy five books ago,") Stephen resolves to leave the ship rather than abandon Padeen, as he sees no use in reasoning with Jack.

"Middle-age has come upon Jack Aubrey at last, the creature. I never thought it would."

MEOW. God both Stephen and Jack so bad at being mean to each other, even at their most pissed off.

The break-up is narrowly avoided same as it always is: by some absolutely goof-ass near-fatal cataclysm that befalls Stephen, rendering him utterly adorable and winning him his point assuming he doesn’t succumb to his injuries, which of course he doesn’t. This time the cataclysm is a platypus sting, last time it was nearly OD'ing on opium and falling off a tower, and the time before that it was falling out the stern window into the fucking ocean. Stephen is near-death but he wins the argument with Jack in absentia; Padeen carries him back to Surprise, Jack is in no state to object, and the other Surprises naturally don't even think it's a question; of course Padeen is coming with them.

Is this cheap? Am I sick of conflict being obviated each time by Stephen nearly dying? Honestly...your Honor, his bisexual airs and swagless haplessness have bewitched me body and soul. He can fall off as many towers and get poisoned by as many monotremes as he wants as long as it keeps being so fucking funny, and as long as it keeps reminding Jack not to be an asshole and to remember the power of friendship and camaraderie and all that gay shit. Usually when Stephen and Jack are fighting about whatever I don't feel compelled to take sides but in this case it's Padeen all the way, baby. I don't fuck around, Jack can eat it.

My advice to Jack: maybe fix your liver, balance your humors, get fat and happy again?? Maybe experience the redemptive power of love and you'll calm down??? Spoilers: that is basically what happens (the book ends with him and Stephen literally holding hands) but he's still smarting from the disagreement at the beginning of the next book, with my new NEW best friend Clarissa Oakes, who for once is an actual woman and not a boat like I assumed she would be when I first saw the title of the book in the UK. I don't hold her not being a boat against her, though, and neither should you. See you next time!

Personal Ranking

The Far Side of the World (10) > HMS Surprise (3) > Desolation Island (5) > The Nutmeg of Consolation (14) > The Reverse of the Medal (11) > The Ionian Mission (8) > The Fortune of War (6) > Master & Commander (1) > The Surgeon’s Mate (7) > Treason's Harbour (9) > The Letter of Marque (12) > The Thirteen-Gun Salute (13) > Post Captain (2) > The Mauritius Command (4)

[gigamuffin]

im thinking about the monkey Padeen drew in a deleted scene from master and commander

:)