Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

“But once upon a time, we felt like the rest of the world overshadowed us, they have no choice now. The whole globe is watching.”
This is the real celebration of the victory that Germany is having about ITTL WW II.
Not only is the globe is watching, the world is coming to Berlin to honor the next emperor and this is the greatest gathering of Heads of States since the funeral of Queen Victoria.
I have no doubt that President Harriman is attending as it would be seen as an insult to the German government and people if he didn’t go, plus it is a great way to mend some fences with other countries.
The Wedding is also is great way for German corporations to showcase their products and services to the world.
Of course there are some jokes that this wedding is more about the merger of Germany Inc. and Japan Inc. then the traditional concept of dynastic marriages.
 
It would be really anti-climatic and satisfying if Mithras/Lothar's mom accidentally busted him (and thus the entire plot) wide open when she goes into his room trying to find his porn stash after he made one too many hateful/obsessive/weird and creepy comment about Kiki but instead she got a boxful of blueprints, building schematics and manuals to making IEDs.

She then gets the civilian equivalent of EK/Blue Max and inducted into an appropriate chivalric order.

Meanwhile Lothar suffers a fate worse than death. The hell known to us as General Population.

Marc A
 
I know it's probably not a TTL thing, but I'm picturing Mithras/Lothar as a stereotypical edgy basement-dwelling misogynistic keyboard warrior with a touch of creepy-ass stalker vibe.

Marc A

I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just wondering why, in the name of all that is good and holy, would his mother be looking for his porn collection? Excluding the whole slew of questions I have with regards to the porn industry TTL now (thanks for that) what makes you even think she'd know it exists as, last I checked, this is the 60's.
 
I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just wondering why, in the name of all that is good and holy, would his mother be looking for his porn collection? Excluding the whole slew of questions I have with regards to the porn industry TTL now (thanks for that) what makes you even think she'd know it exists as, last I checked, this is the 60's.
Porn magazines seems to be a thing at this point ITTL, to the point where one of New Furies - forgot was it Kiki, Zella or Aurora - got offers to take a set of nudes (or at least extremely suggestive swimsuit pics).

Marc A
 
I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just wondering why, in the name of all that is good and holy, would his mother be looking for his porn collection? Excluding the whole slew of questions I have with regards to the porn industry TTL now (thanks for that) what makes you even think she'd know it exists as, last I checked, this is the 60's.
She is cleaning his room and if she is like how my mother was she is checking underneath the mattress when she come across something that is disturbing, in my case it was literally the money underneath the mattress that I was saving for a car, my parents “ barrowed” the money for a trip to Vegas and said that they would pay me back with their winnings .
 
Porn magazines seems to be a thing at this point ITTL, to the point where one of New Furies - forgot was it Kiki, Zella or Aurora - got offers to take a set of nudes (or at least extremely suggestive swimsuit pics).

Marc A

Said magazines existing is not the problem, whether or not his mother would know said magazines do exist is.

She is cleaning his room and if she is like how my mother was she is checking underneath the mattress when she come across something that is disturbing, in my case it was literally the money underneath the mattress that I was saving for a car, my parents “ barrowed” the money for a trip to Vegas and said that they would pay me back with their winnings .

Well mate, no offence, but you had shitty parents. The only time my mother has ever come close to cleaning my room since I was 8 is as a threat, and even then it is an empty threat as she is very well aware that I'd have no bones with having a bare mattress as my only worldly possession.
 
To put it in context I was 15 at the time and while I was very angry at the time now I look back and laugh about it because in the end it is just money and there are far more important things in life.
BTW it was about $175.00.
 
Part 99, Chapter 1571
Chapter One Thousand Five Hundred Seventy-One


21st June 1963

Mitte, Berlin

The first part of the rehearsal had been a walkthrough of the Berlin Cathedral, for Kat it was a reminder of her own marriage. It had been with a considerable amount of disbelief that she realized that it had been sixteen years. Then they had got into cars and had gone to a Buddhist Temple in Spandau that Kat had no idea existed until Suga had suggested that it play an important role in the marriage between her and Freddy a few months earlier.

The location was surprising considering the history of that Borough, the prison there had been closed recently and the Government was trying to figure out what to do with it because only the worst sort of criminal had ever been sent there and seldom for long. It was the place where capital punishment had been carried out, with dozens having been sent to the guillotine, shot or hung depending on the nature of their crimes. Kat remembered when the tribunal had rendered its verdict on Lavrentiy Beria. He had been ordered hung so that his blood wouldn’t pollute the soil of Germany after his execution. The look on his face when he heard that was almost as delicious as months later when Kat implied that Gia was still alive and that his entire spy network in Europe was hopelessly compromised. Baria’s death had been exactly the sort of undignified spectacle that he deserved in Kat’s opinion. It had been worth the amount of trouble that she had landed in because of it.

By the time Stalin had followed his henchman to the gallows, Kat had found that she was no longer interested. Gia had gotten her own pound of flesh by then. Her prediction that he would get burnt up with the trash and be thrown into the midden had been very close to what had happened. Kat had been in Canada at that time and even if she had Margot to contend with, it had still been a better use of her time. The thought of Gia reminded Kat of what had happened earlier the day before when Gia had stepped off the plane that had transported the Russian Czar. Her victory had been in far outliving Stalin and if what Kat had noticed bore out then she would have one last victory over the long dead Despot in the near future. Kat needed a chance to talk to Gia alone before she went back to Russia for that very reason.

Suga’s reasoning for bringing a portion of the wedding to the Buddhist Temple was extremely good though. She said it was because to a certain extent she represented all the recent arrivals to Berlin from Japan, Korea, China and even the Russian Far East. They were a variety of religions, but this was a way of acknowledging that they were a part of life here. It was a smart move, except Kat understood just how fractious city politics were. Whoever had coined the term, you cannot please everyone, might as have been talking about Berlin. Tonight’s rehearsal dinner was a good example of that. While it was considered a family event with only selected guests that had been invited, there was no escaping that it was a royal function. There were those here who happened to be of paramount importance and had to be present for political reasons. Because Kat was one of the few living nonroyal full members of the Order of the Black Eagle, her and Douglas were seated with the Imperial Family. By comparison, the Governing Mayor of Berlin was seated halfway down the table.

Sitting closer, immediately to Kat’s left, was an icy presence that she wished that she didn’t have to put up with, Franz von Papen. As the Chairman of the Board at the Imperial Bank of Germany, he was not someone who even Louis Ferdinand could afford to ignore. As Kat had told Douglas, even Emperors have creditors and they need to receive their due. Kat’s experience of dealing with him personally had come after she and Jack Kennedy had completed the arduous task of making the lifetime of illicit wealth that she had inherited from her father look legitimate. It had been von Papen who had insisted that she be repeatedly audited. When nothing had come up the first time, he had ordered that his people start anew. It was just as well that Kat had left a considerable amount of money in the numbered accounts. The real totals would have probably caused him to have a fatal fit of apoplexy on the spot. There was also von Papen being outspoken in his personal belief in the superiority of the aristocracy over commoners. The mere existence of Gräfin Katherine von Mischner was a direct challenge to all his longwinded claptrap. Of course, someone either had not paid attention or had a twisted sense of humor when they arranged the seating. The decrepit pompous windbag was well over eighty and by some miracle still alive. In Kat’s experience, whoever said that evil never dies was wrong. She knew for a fact that evil people died all the time. Just for those who had to deal with them, it certainly felt like forever.

With that thought, Louis Ferdinand stood up and started to give the speech that he was going to give for the toast. This meant that the evening was drawing to a close, something that could not come soon enough to suit Kat.
 
Hm. Hints. A bit obvious, though...

The decrepit pompous windbag was well over eighty and by some miracle still alive. In Kat’s experience, whoever said that evil never dies was wrong. She knew for a fact that evil people died all the time. Just for those who had to deal with them, it certainly felt like forever.

You know you're going to live forever if everybody wants you dead
 
It would be ironic if von Papen were to be abducted by another terrorist group because they see him as part of the System and wanted to blackmail the German government into releasing the arrested terrorists. (Perhaps similar to the abduction of Hans Martin Schleyer by the RAF).
 
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