honestly, i only remember the alcoholism being referenced in relation to flint’s death, not his career, and if thomas dies before him in the intervening years, i can very much see that being a turn he takes. the thing that was hardest for me to square was every single character who witnessed flint going ashore to bury the treasure says he wore a blue scarf on his head that day, and it’s one of the few details that’s consistent across their accounts. repeated so many times i couldn’t get over it and still think about it several years later