......
1980.
Wow.
Then you realise our first and primary Main Character from part 1 of this timeline, Emil Holz, is now nearing 80 years old.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
1980.
Wow.
Then you realise our first and primary Main Character from part 1 of this timeline, Emil Holz, is now nearing 80 years old.
The circumstances that led to the war are not there. In OTL it was a military Junta trying to cling to power, there's no such thing here. There's also the fact that Britain's power has not decayed quite as much as IOTL and decolonization has been slower, so it would be even madder than it already was to try and force the issue.
The Germans would also be stabilizing force here, since they would probably pressure Argentina if they somehow still got the idea to, if only to spare themselves the diplomatic crisis.
That isn't what they are actually doing, just what Kiki is randomly guessing. It isn't very far from it though.
They're recreating the winged hussars as a ceremonial unit, aren't they?
What is happening is that the Coffee Table book, The Castles and Palaces of Bohemia with photographs by Douglas Blackwood and text by Elizabeth of Bohemia, with an Introduction by King Michael of Bohemia was a big international best seller this Christmas, which is being credited for the increase in advanced international tourist bookings for this summer.
Meanwhile Kiki is going to find her brother, Michael knee deep in his plans for Prague's bid to be the host the 1992 Summer Olympics.
And then there is Michael's pride and joy, the annua Bohemia International Air and Arms Show which showcases the Bohemian arms industry.
Every year the show honors as the Grand Marshal someone who is recognized for their contributions to the "Advancement of Military Science and Exploration", this year he wants his Brothrt-in-Law Ben to be this year's honoree,
For the spectators, the highlight is the performance of the precision flying team from another country, this year it is the Winged Gauchos of Argentina.
Of course this is all in my mind...
Actually, it is called Escuadrón Acrobático Cruz del Sur (Southern Cross Acrobatic Squadron) the demonstration team of the Argentine Air Force, it was formed in the early 60's and at this point in TTL they would be flying a locally produced, early version of a Mirage 2000. Michael would be happy to have them.
Part 154, Chapter 2815
Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifteen
28th January 1980
Tzschocha Castle
It was the sort of winter afternoon where little was going on. A real howler of a storm had blown in and all Gretchen could see were snowflakes spiraling in the wind every time she looked out a window. The rooms in the castle that made up the student dormitories didn’t reflect what was going on outside, instead the common room had a fire going and Mathilda had a dozen of the first-year students enraptured with the stories that she told as the television wasn’t working and no one in their right mind was about to go out into the storm to fix the antenna. It was a sort of a fractured fairytales mishmash of Norse, Old German, Celtic, and Greco/Roman mythology. Mathilda’s stories were pretty silly but they did logically flow from their source materials. For example, what would happen if Siegfried met Achilles and the two supposedly invulnerable warriors fought and their massive egos wouldn’t let them back down? The result was a whole shouting after their weapons had all been broken, and their respective Pantheons still working to game the battle. With the large number of heroes and villains, Gods and Goddesses to work with, it wasn’t like Mathilda would ever be short of material. Presently, Mathilda was telling her own version of the Battle of Troy where Helen, disgusted by the bloody carnage, listened to Cassandra, and told Menelaus to go get stuffed. Then when the Greeks brought their famous horse around the Trojans had a nice cookout as they marveled at the sound of the horse screaming as it burned outside the city walls. Mathilda made it clear that she might have taken a few liberties with the story. That was met with laughter.
Gretchen knew when Mathilda and Eddie had studied the Iliad, Mathilda had been annoyed by Helen. Mathilda had explained to Gretchen at length about how she was depicted with no real thought or agency beyond how beautiful she was. Apparently that was all there was to her. This was doubly true after Paris managed to get himself killed. It was no surprise that she had made a few changes to make Helen less of a doormat. It was then that Mathilda launched into her version of Siegfried and Gretchen knew that they were probably in for a wild ride. She had once told Gretchen that she loved to tell these stories, twisted beyond all recognition, knowing that her father would be aghast and that was what made it so much fun for her.
The reason for all this today was because Vera Kappel, the Headmistress’ Assistant, had recommended Mathilda for this role. Most of the first-year students had never been away from home before they had been sent to Tzschocha and it was felt that seventh year students like Mathilda and Eddie would be perfect to introduce them to student life in the castle. What had been left unsaid was that Anna had pointedly been rejected. Anything Mathilda had she wanted. On this case though her past actions and petty cruelty came back to haunt her. Vera had told Anna that she would not be the appropriate mentor for the younger students and when Anna had pressed the matter, she had been shown her rather voluminous disciplinary record. And that was just comprised of the things that facility knew about. Vera had somehow learned about some of the other things that Anna had done over the last seven years that everyone had mostly remained quiet about. Gretchen had found watching her older sister finally getting a long overdue comeuppance for once extremely satisfying.
At the same time, Mathilda was extremely good at it. At first with the handful of first-year girls who Vera had referred to her and later with many of the others. Gretchen remembered her first, rather disastrous, attempt to leave home by being one of the first girls to go to the Wahlstatt Institution. That had not worked out, but Gretchen had realized that if she’d had someone like Mathilda there she probably wouldn’t have left at the end of the first year. Or at least would have effectively guided her past the foolish schoolgirl’s crush that she’d had on Nikolaus von Richthofen.
The thought about Wahlstatt was a reminder about what most everyone in her class had been aflutter about since it had been announced. The Spring Formal Dance was coming up in March and the Prussian Institution at Wahlstatt was going to host it this year. For Gretchen it would mean returning there for the first time since she had left and that was a source of embarrassment for her. Sure it had been five years, but what if someone remembered her? For the others, it was all about the pretty clothes that they were going to wear if they could convince their parents to pay for them. Gretchen had written all about that in the letter she had sent to Erich, in the response he had joked about whether or not he should be jealous about her dancing with the Cadets. The truth was that if Gretchen had her way, she would go down to that place in Italy where Erich said that he trained with the “Frogmen” of Regia Marina. He had described in vivid detail what it had been like to be in the blue water of the Mediterranean as sunlight had filtered down. It just sounded magical and that couldn’t be any further from Gretchen’s present reality. Tzschocha Castle might as well be on Mars.
28th January 1980
Tzschocha Castle
It was the sort of winter afternoon where little was going on. A real howler of a storm had blown in and all Gretchen could see were snowflakes spiraling in the wind every time she looked out a window. The rooms in the castle that made up the student dormitories didn’t reflect what was going on outside, instead the common room had a fire going and Mathilda had a dozen of the first-year students enraptured with the stories that she told as the television wasn’t working and no one in their right mind was about to go out into the storm to fix the antenna. It was a sort of a fractured fairytales mishmash of Norse, Old German, Celtic, and Greco/Roman mythology. Mathilda’s stories were pretty silly but they did logically flow from their source materials. For example, what would happen if Siegfried met Achilles and the two supposedly invulnerable warriors fought and their massive egos wouldn’t let them back down? The result was a whole shouting after their weapons had all been broken, and their respective Pantheons still working to game the battle. With the large number of heroes and villains, Gods and Goddesses to work with, it wasn’t like Mathilda would ever be short of material. Presently, Mathilda was telling her own version of the Battle of Troy where Helen, disgusted by the bloody carnage, listened to Cassandra, and told Menelaus to go get stuffed. Then when the Greeks brought their famous horse around the Trojans had a nice cookout as they marveled at the sound of the horse screaming as it burned outside the city walls. Mathilda made it clear that she might have taken a few liberties with the story. That was met with laughter.
Gretchen knew when Mathilda and Eddie had studied the Iliad, Mathilda had been annoyed by Helen. Mathilda had explained to Gretchen at length about how she was depicted with no real thought or agency beyond how beautiful she was. Apparently that was all there was to her. This was doubly true after Paris managed to get himself killed. It was no surprise that she had made a few changes to make Helen less of a doormat. It was then that Mathilda launched into her version of Siegfried and Gretchen knew that they were probably in for a wild ride. She had once told Gretchen that she loved to tell these stories, twisted beyond all recognition, knowing that her father would be aghast and that was what made it so much fun for her.
The reason for all this today was because Vera Kappel, the Headmistress’ Assistant, had recommended Mathilda for this role. Most of the first-year students had never been away from home before they had been sent to Tzschocha and it was felt that seventh year students like Mathilda and Eddie would be perfect to introduce them to student life in the castle. What had been left unsaid was that Anna had pointedly been rejected. Anything Mathilda had she wanted. On this case though her past actions and petty cruelty came back to haunt her. Vera had told Anna that she would not be the appropriate mentor for the younger students and when Anna had pressed the matter, she had been shown her rather voluminous disciplinary record. And that was just comprised of the things that facility knew about. Vera had somehow learned about some of the other things that Anna had done over the last seven years that everyone had mostly remained quiet about. Gretchen had found watching her older sister finally getting a long overdue comeuppance for once extremely satisfying.
At the same time, Mathilda was extremely good at it. At first with the handful of first-year girls who Vera had referred to her and later with many of the others. Gretchen remembered her first, rather disastrous, attempt to leave home by being one of the first girls to go to the Wahlstatt Institution. That had not worked out, but Gretchen had realized that if she’d had someone like Mathilda there she probably wouldn’t have left at the end of the first year. Or at least would have effectively guided her past the foolish schoolgirl’s crush that she’d had on Nikolaus von Richthofen.
The thought about Wahlstatt was a reminder about what most everyone in her class had been aflutter about since it had been announced. The Spring Formal Dance was coming up in March and the Prussian Institution at Wahlstatt was going to host it this year. For Gretchen it would mean returning there for the first time since she had left and that was a source of embarrassment for her. Sure it had been five years, but what if someone remembered her? For the others, it was all about the pretty clothes that they were going to wear if they could convince their parents to pay for them. Gretchen had written all about that in the letter she had sent to Erich, in the response he had joked about whether or not he should be jealous about her dancing with the Cadets. The truth was that if Gretchen had her way, she would go down to that place in Italy where Erich said that he trained with the “Frogmen” of Regia Marina. He had described in vivid detail what it had been like to be in the blue water of the Mediterranean as sunlight had filtered down. It just sounded magical and that couldn’t be any further from Gretchen’s present reality. Tzschocha Castle might as well be on Mars.
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I wonder what "Hell week" is in Italian?
Although it's more likely to be a month or so.
And then after that I suppose it will be off to the Welsh Border in the company of a bunch of short, triangular Scotsmen to be taught close quarters shooting by an Anglo-Peruvian comedian...
Looking at this timeline moving into the 1980s, I find myself thinking about this being a major point in public television in the US IOTL. Bob Ross' Joy of Painting, Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Pinwheel, Electric Company (admittedly this was 70s not 80s), Mr Roger's Neighborhood (late 60s actually all the way to the early 2000s), and on and on. I would think with this timeline's general German society's views toward social responsibilities and indeed greater Europe as well with the cases Kennedy has been pursuing (and I'm sure others have pushed these type cases in his footsteps in other countries) that there would be something similar here. It'd be interesting to see the variations and twists to it all and it'd been an interesting thing for Zella to get involved in to get her away from the band that is driving her crazy.
I just keep thinking that if Gerta was to hear Mathilda's take on the various mishmash of,myths with a very feminist bent, she would encourage Mathilda's to adapt them in to the modern world, which then becomes either hit movies or highly rated television shows that are sold to networks around the world.
It could end up as a whole genre of cinema.
[Narrator] "Well, it was like this, Odin was a bit of a dick really..."
Or, TTL’s version of Xena is German…
EDIT: Or she uses it all as inspiration to create an altogether original fantasy world and becomes a popular new fantasy writer.
Assuming she does go - she was thinking of quitting as Kammerfraulein, after all…
"... then Loki & Zeus started a betting pool and... well... things happened..."