[He chuckles in response, mood lighter than it's been in a long while. Not just because of Alec's disappearance, either: the port was hellish to be sure, but besides arguing ad nauseum with Archer, he was able to do some of the things he's good at there.]

I definitely wouldn't want to know if you decided to start. You could have picked Steinbeck as a questionable authorial role model.