existential--mess

Ok so. remember when I said I'd found a historically plausible reason to shove these two idiots into Naples in 1946? Well. It is literally all I have lived, beathed, slept since then.

As usual, hyperfixation gonna hyperfixate. This fic has taken over my entire nervous system. I am telling my mum about postwar Naples, my boyfriend about Nazi hunting, I am writing during my lunch break, I wrote on the bus the other morning standing up. it's like the whole thing is already fully assembled somewhere in my head and I just have to get it out fast enough before it starts leaking out my ears.

Anyway. I was going to share some of the rabbit holes I've fallen down during this time. I tried to do it all as one post but it was unhinged levels of long. so first: Why postwar Naples was such a specific kind of devastated, for anyone wondering why I picked this particular ruined city out of an entire ruined continent (apart from the fact that I just had a long weekend there): heavy Allied bombing all through the war, then German occupation, then - this is the bit that I got fixated on - Naples liberated itself, before the Allies even got there.

the Four Days of Naples, 27–30 September 1943. the Germans occupying the city ordered every man aged 18–33 rounded up for forced labour, and Naples said no, actually, and rose up. Armed civilians, kids (scugnizzi - street children) throwing homemade bombs, no organisation, no real weapons, and they drove the Germans out of the city before the Allies arrived on 1 October. The city got a Gold Medal of Military Valour for it and I am never getting over the fact that Naples liberated itself.

And THEN - honestly, this is REAL, I did not make this up for drama - six months later Vesuvius erupted. March 1944. Lava, ash, evacuated towns, the US Air Force lost the better part of a hundred planes because the volcano buried the airfield. A city that had just fought off the Nazis with kitchen knives got maybe half a year to catch its breath before an active volcano decided to remind everyone who's actually in charge around here.

so by the time Erik and Charles are standing on a pier hunting Shaw/Schmidt in 1946, they are walking around in a city that survived total occupation, liberated itself with its bare hands, got bombed within an inch of its life for years, and then got volcano'd for good measure. no wonder nobody in this fic can agree on anything LOL

this is just one I found at work at the library but I have seen many more!

We found it. We found the dinosaur that says Rawr.

Constellations. Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia. v.2. 1924.

Gooseberries in a Bowl

George Forster

oil on canvas, 1870

Aaaaaaaaaa

For days that felt like years far too long, Roman remembers holding onto that fanciful Prince in front of him with feral claws and the terror of not knowing life without it as it hugged him tight and close. Each moment feeling as though something was pulling him away, forcing a wedge between them. Then one morning waking up as that Prince, alone.

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), family Ardeidae, order Pelicaniformes, FL, USA

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus), family Ardeidae, order Pelicaniformes, WA, USA

When you're talking about the design of the boat, you say "it".

When the boat is still being built, your say "it".

When the boat is nearing completion, you can say "it" or "she".

When the boat is floating in the water you probably say "she", unless there is still a lot of work to be done (e.g. no engine yet) then you say "it".

When the boat is officially launched and operating, you say "she". If you continue to say "it" at this point you are not incorrect but suspiciously untraditional. You are not playing the game.

If you are referring to a boat you don't really know anything about you may say "it" ("there's a big boat, it's coming this way"). But if you know its name, it's probably "she" ("there's the Waverley, she's on her way to Greenock").

If you are talking about boats in general, you say "it" ("when a boat is hit by a wave it heels over")

If you speak about a boat in complimentary terms, it's "she" ("she's a grand boat"). If you are being disparaging it may be it, but not necessarily ("it's as ugly as sin", "she's a grotty old tub").

If she has a boy's name, she's still she. "Boy James", "King Edward", "Sir David Attenborough"? The pronoun is she.

If it's a dumb barge (no engine), you say it. But if it's a rowing boat (no engine), you say she.

I hear many fear you or find you a pest to remove, but for me? You are the only thing scurrying around in this inbox. The first contact I quite some time.

I have beckoned for others to come and grant me a silly note upon this box but they never do.

You give me great joy, inbox gnome, I offer you sweet berries for your lovely visit to my lonely box

🍇🍓🫐🍇🍓🫐🍇🍓🍇🍉🍓🍓🍒🍓🍇🍓🫐🍇🫐🍇🍒🫐🍇🍒🍒🍒🍓🫐🍇

Patton: but feelings

Roman: but dreams

Virgil: but danger

Janus: but consequences