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Having read a majority of The Happy Return, I understand now why so much non-show fanart of Hornblower involves Lady Barbara, literally a certified bad bitch.

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Okay so on the whole I know that the Hornblower book series isn’t that gay most of the time, but that won’t stop me from reading into minor things. And throughout The Happy Return there are a lot of little moments of Bush fiercely and unabashedly admiring Horatio, as well as expressing worry and concern for him in moments of danger, uncertainty, or ill-health. It’s all so very sweet and gay, but there is one particular moment that really stood out to me in this regard. 

The context for this is that they’re in between battles with the Natividad, and Horatio hasn’t had any rest in quite some time at this point. Bush is recommending that he rest, Horatio refuses of course, and this happens:

“Bush found his hand twitching--he had been about to commit the enormity of patting his captain’s shoulder, and restrained himself just in time.” From chapter 16, Evening and Night. 

I’m not sure what it is, but there is something so tender, so intimate, and so beautifully tragic about the urgent need to offer comfort to someone, who is clearly in distress, with a minor physical gesture, but having to withhold from doing so due to societal conventions. This moment is so bittersweet in a way that I don’t think I can fully describe, and to me, despite how simple it is, I think it truly expresses Bush’ affection for Horatio in a very profound, uncomplicated way. 

It’s just, ugh, the need to sincerely show someone you care about them, but knowing that it’s not really proper to express that, especially in the way you want to express it, in the current society you live in/the social dynamic you have (since Horatio is his CAPTAIN) is such good shit, I love this, angst for days. 

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“‘And if “Lady Barbara” does not come easily to you, Captain, and you wish to attract my attention, you can always say “ha--h’m.”’” From chapter 11, More News from Europe. 

Lady Barbara making fun of Horatio is my new favorite thing. 

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“What mollified Hornblower was Lady Barbara’s little slip in speaking of the ‘floor’ of her cabin instead of the deck. It showed that she was only a feeble woman after all.” From chapter 9, Lady Barbara Comes on Board.

Horatio can you shut the fuck up lmao

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Is it weird that I find Horatio’s blatant misogyny extremely funny. Like it’s frustrating, but also really, really funny. He’s all like “the sea is no place for women,” presumably because he thinks they can’t handle it, but then he gets mad when Lady Barbara can handle herself just fine on a ship. 

Like my god please read this:

“‘There will be no room in your cabin for a tenth of that baggage, ma’am,’ he snapped.

Lady Barbara nodded gravely.

‘I have dwelt in a cabin before this, sir. The sea chest there holds everything I shall need on board. The rest can be put where you will--until we reach England.’

Hornblower almost stamped on the deck with rage. He was unused to a women who could display practical commonsense like this.” From chapter 9, Lady Barbara Comes on Board. 

He’s so angry that she’s being practical that he has to “stamp on the deck with rage” fgdshjfgdsh. Horatio literally throwing a temper tantrum because Lady Barbara is being reasonable vbgdhfdjhjdf. 

Good news is that by the end of the book he’s learned to respect her abilities and doesn’t care anymore, so character development I guess woooo

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“If I hadn’t been born a bloody fool I shouldn’t be here” From chapter 7, El Supremo’s Fleet Sails. 

Mr. Marsh is a mood. 

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“Two years as a prisoner of Spain had given him the opportunity of learning the language” From chapter 3, The Orders. 

I know this is wishful thinking, but the mention of Horatio having learned Spanish while he was a prisoner of Spain gives me the slightest bit of hope that Archie’s storyline from The Duchess and the Devil, in the show that is, is still present in Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. No one tell me whether it is or not, I want to be disappointed on my own terms. 

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Viewing from a modern lens, Hornblower, from what I’ve seen at this point, is far from perfect, but I have to give props for Horatio having way more progressive values (as a male character written in the late 30s) than I was expecting him to have. He doesn’t think physical punishment is necessary, or even effective at all in the first place, and is very compassionate, despite how much he describes himself as “weak” for caring about people. 

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Going into the books from the show, I was worried Horatio wouldn’t be as dorky and awkward and relatable as he is in the show, but no he absolutely is lmao, or at least for me. 

Not only is he super worried and self-conscious about literally everything, but my man also does frantic pacing. This is a huge deal to me because I also frantically pace back in forth whenever I’m deep in thought, and I also hate it when people interrupt me in my pacing hgdfkhjdf. 

I love that he paces, I love that he has a set time during the day for pacing, and I love that everyone on board understands how important and sacred the pacing is and wouldn’t dare speak a word to him during it bcdsjhdsfds. 

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Okay so like the first thing that jumped out at me when reading The Happy Return was my complete misinterpretation of a physical gesture, which led to me laughing every time it was brought up again lol.

Here is a quote of the first time it happens, as an example:

“It was not long after dawn that Captain Hornblower came up on the quarterdeck of the Lydia. Bush, the first lieutenant, was the officer of the watch, and touched his hat but did not speak to him” From chapter one, The Captain.

So I believe “touched his hat” is supposed to mean Bush touching his own hat, either tipping it slightly or like saluting, to greet the captain nonverbally. However, I first interpreted this to mean that Bush touched the captain’s hat, because the text doesn’t clarify whether “his” is referring to Bush or Hornblower, so I thought Bush just like, patted Horatio on the head or something and that was a perfectly acceptable way for him to greet the captain nonverbally agdhsjbfhddh. 

This same thing happened with this slight variation:

“The moon was setting fast, but there was ample light still as soon as the eye grew accustomed to it. Bush touched his hat to the captain” From chapter 6, The Coming of the Natividad.

Pretty sure this is supposed to mean the same thing that I mentioned earlier, but this time I misinterpreted it as Bush bonking his hat against the captain’s hat cbfhjfdsj.

Suffice to say, I find my interpretation far funnier and more entertaining, so every time they mention “touching his hat” I imagine a pat on the head, and then a head bonk if it says “touching his hat to the captain” 

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Me and the boys about to drop a new sea shanty album

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@abyssalcaptain's autocorrect speaks the truth.

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I’ve just been in the mood to draw chicks lately and play with body types. 

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the way ivan aivazovsky looks at the sea…i think…i think that’s what love looks like.

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Hornblower book liveblog!

Hey gang, I have risen again lol. I apologize for lack of activity, I started community college a few months back so I’ve been very busy. I’ve had the first Hornblower book on hand for a while now, but I hadn’t started reading it until a few weeks ago. And that was because I had a bunch of books that I had started reading...at some point...but never finished, so I wanted to finish all of those so that I could start an 11-book series with a clear conscience hfjdkfhsd. 

Anyway, I finished all of those books now, so I’ve started diving into Hornblower, and I thought it might be fun to do a liveblog as I read the series, or whatever you call a liveblog with books, a read-along? Maybe something more like reviews or thought posts, I’m not sure. I’ve already been marking things up with mini post-it notes, to the point where I had to color-code them...so I think I have enough thoughts for this to be a long-term thing lol. 

For clarification, I’ve decided to read the books in release order rather than chronological order, because I think that will make it easier for me to keep track of any retcons that occur. I think it will also give me a better sense of the characters, since I believe the first three released books are meant as introductions to them overall. 

I had planned to make this post sooner, but procrastination set me back, so I’m actually almost done with the first book now, and I think I’ll probably be queuing up, or attempting to queue up, my thoughts up until this point. Everything will be tagged “hh book liveblog,” so it can be filtered it out if needed. Stay tuned!

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Mr Bush 💬

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I guess I’m confirming @fyeahmeninroyalnavy’s suggestion that I’m a masochist, because I’m sharing an Archie/Horatio fanvid to “My Immortal”. As you can imagine, it’s a DKU, so watch at your own risk 😅

I started this project months ago, then it got left behind because of lack of time and/or inspiration. I finally got back to it and I had almost finished it when the software decided to crash on me and I lost everything!! I had to start from scratch all over again, and even if it was an editing nightmare, I finally got it done. All of this notwithstanding, I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Hopefully you will enjoy it 😊

Also tagging fellow Indy Husbands shippers @ailendolin and @professorlehnsherr-almashy