( Backdated note to the Admiral )

[Public]

Thank you all for the gifts. Nice that we actually had a more or less quiet month, rather than being dumped in another Overlook Hotel-style port. [Which is being said dryly, but seriously. This is the first nice port they've had in months, mistletoe is pretty low on the totem pole in terms of horrible things that could have happened this month.

He almost looks like he's considering switching off the feed and leaving it at that, but reconsiders.] I had a discussion with Agent Carter while we were in port about how the city had changed over the years, particularly after the Blitz. For those of you unfamiliar with Earth history, from September of 1940 to May of 1941, Germany launched a series of strategic bombing raids against the United Kingdom, targeting ports, industrial centers and other civilian targets, killing around forty thousand civilians in the process. The goal was to demoralize the British populace, because at the time, Britain was one of the few powers standing against Nazi Germany.

Obviously, it didn't work, and Germany and the other Axis powers would lose the war four years later. After the attacks ended, people were left to pick up the pieces left behind and restart their lives. [Which he hadn't really been around for. By the time he'd seen London again, everything had been more or less tidied up.]

Rebuilding wasn't simply people trying to bury the bad memories or pretend none of it ever happened. Like any traumatic situation, what you get out of it depends largely on how you're willing to move forward. You can become bitter and jaded, or you can make peace with the memories without forgetting what happened and try to move forward and prove you're stronger for surviving. It all depends on how you choose to look at it.

That certainly doesn't mean it's easy, but it is possible.

( Notes for Erik, Tony, Pepper and Arkady + a Spam for Jean )