Oh no, here we go again.

Otago Uni, you're so pretty 😍 miss you xx

I will never be over the romance arc of Shards of Honor tbh. testament to the characterization and the book's way of saying a lot with few words/small actions that it actually works, because the timeline is bananas. Cordelia takes like a week to go from believing this man is a war criminal to helping him resolve a mutiny and contemplating saying she loves him. Aral doesn't make it 24 hours from when they meet before he's planning how to propose to her. by all rights this should trip my "this is ludicrous" sensors but instead I'm not only going "yeah that makes sense for these people to be like this given the circumstances and who they are as characters" but actively rooting for it.

“Sergeant Bothari!” Koudelka leaned forward, appealing into the intercom. The front canopy was also silvered, now. “Yes, Lieutenant?” Bothari’s bass monotone returned. “I order you to turn this vehicle around.” A slight pause. “I’m not in the Imperial Service anymore, sir. Retired.” “Piotr didn’t order this! You’re Count Piotr’s man.” A longer pause; a lower tone. “No. I am Lady Vorkosigan’s dog.” “You’re off your meds!” How such could travel over a purely audio link Cordelia was not sure, but a canine grin hung in the air before them.

*pastel cartoon of artfully mud-splattered Cordelia Naismith and Aral Vorkosigan smirking at each other, arms crossed*