Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Time to haul out the heavy duty clue stick. At this rate future textbooks in psychology classes are going to include her as a case study.
Clue sticks don't seem to work with Kiki. I think something more substantial might be needed. Anybody know how to summon a thunderbolt from the Gods?
As for Tatiana, she is FINALLY realising that her mother was not 'out to ruin her life' and that she has just broken her mother's heart. The mother who desperately wanted to protect her children from that line of work because she knows the cost. While it is hard living in the shadow of a living legend, she has been pushing far too hard and doing so to spite her mother. The damage can be repaired, but she will be forced to realise that her childhood has just ended, forever. Things between Tatiana and Kat will be strained for a while as they both try to work out the basis for their relationship going forward and I don't think Tat will like being treated as a fully-fledged adult at home from now on. I also think that she won't particularly enjoy how her siblings are reacting. It is obvious that none of them have been happy with how she has been treating their mother for some time; now she has to face the fact that they all think she's being a bitch. Then there will be the eye opening experience that will be BND training. She will be forced to recognise more than a few home truths about herself during it. Both Asia and Kris will make sure of it; they owe it to Kat to puncture her illusions.
And then there will be the conversations with both her father and her Aunt Marcella.
Mind you, it could turn out Tatiana thrives in training and is a natural fit for the BND.
Kat was a natural fit with the Abwehr... until Shultz & Pujol fucked it up. Kat learnt early what the costs of intelligence work were.
I have always thought it a 'great' shame that Kat has consistently overlooked the inherent potential of the simple cheese-grater as an alternative interrogation tool to her karambit.A Cluegrater, perhaps?
ferdi254
Banned
Germany in the early 70s was above 20k roadkills per year. Given more wealth and a much higher population that should be the case now ITTL.
And then politicians acted. DUI was more and more restricted, safety belts became mandatory (later not wearing them got a fee) and crash tests for cars as well. Now we are at 3k.
And then politicians acted. DUI was more and more restricted, safety belts became mandatory (later not wearing them got a fee) and crash tests for cars as well. Now we are at 3k.
So Kiki hates that people think she gets everything from being a princess...why coudn't she "abdicate" her position? Cut off (or donate) the royal allowance and pay her own way. Or is that the plan after all her internships? Her royal fiefdom (can't think of the name of the province) could be put in trust.
You can file that under "I may be crazy, but I am not stupid." Kiki knows that her ability to make a living comes partially from being Princess Kristina and as annoying as she finds it, she is not about to make such a rash move.
I’d have thought that between Korea and her work at home her CV - so to speak - would be enough to let her write her own ticket even without royal rank.
Yes - this is what I was trying to say. She could give up the royal title and benefits and go forward on her proven abilities. But declare to the world that she doesn't need or want the royal privileges.
Pretty sure that wouldn't help. At this point she is so invested in this worldview that she would think that people would defer to a "former" princess just as much as she thinks they do now. I don't think that she will ever be able to shake this view but might be able to learn to live with it.
That's a fair point, actually.
Heck, they would. Like, even if she abdicated and she wasn't making money from the Hohenzollern estates, etc., people would be like 'No, we don't want to offend the Kaiser's daughter/sister'.
On the other hand, she'd know that she was supporting herself just from her work, not from the family wealth. And so would anyone who cared to look at her life.
But is she really taking much if anything from the family's wealth now? I get the impression that its not the money that's driving this but the idea of being in a position of unearned privilege. We know that she earned what she has achieved but all she can she is the deference to her title and assumes that everything else flows from that. The irony is that she has chosen a career path that reinforces that deference by others. The deference shown to doctors by older central Europeans of my parents acquaintance was quite striking.
Fair point.
And yeah, it's true about doctors. In Ireland, the 'Holy Trinity' of important people in the average small town was the doctor, the lawyer and the priest
Part 114, Chapter 1895
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety-Five
15th December 1968
Mitte, Berlin
Nella and Nan had promised to moderate their intake of sweets this year. Nan wasn’t the issue. Instead, it was Nella who had made herself sick year after year when they had gone to the annual Christmas market in the Alexander Marketplace. So much so that when Nan had come along Kiki had been afraid that she would end up having to contend with two sick little girls. Just in case, Kiki was keeping Nella under tight rein as they worked their way down the lines of stalls.
This year they were joined by a larger than usual crowd of friends and family. Zella and Yuri, who were there recording everything for the ARD news that would probably air that night. Freddy and Suga had decided that Mirai was old enough to come. Even Kiki had to admit that it was delightful to see her niece’s reaction to the Marketplace as it was done up for the holidays. Finally, Louis Junior and Anya had tagged along. Kiki found it funny that Louis and Zella were spending the afternoon pretending that they didn’t know each other, as if they were fooling anyone. Anya had been invited because her entire family was in Moscow and Kiki felt that she shouldn’t be alone this time of the year.
That was why Kiki found herself chatting in Russian with Anya as they followed Nella and Nan.
“I can’t believe I asked Doctor Holz why he wanted to go out for a drink to celebrate” Kiki said, “Why else would he have come to Berlin other than to tell me that my Doctorate had been conferred?”
Anya smiled.
“You have got be the most Russian German woman I know” Anya replied, “Every silver lining is attached to a storm cloud that will wash everything away.”
“I am not like that” Kiki said. This wasn’t the first time that Kiki had been called something like that. She had been referred to as Germany’s Russian Princess for years and she had never liked it.
“Here you are with the highest academic degree possible, magna cum laude no less, and you were so wrapped up in being depressed and miserable that you didn’t even recognize it when your Doctorial Advisor told you” Anya said.
Kiki started to say that it might have been summa cum laude except she was terrible as a public speaker but thought better of it because that would just confirm what Anya was saying.
Fortunately, she was saved by Freddy. Which was the first time that had ever happened. Earlier in the day on the car ride to the Marketplace he had said that he could no longer call Kiki by the nickname Whippet, from now on it was Doctor Whippet. And she contemplated opening the car door and shoving him out into traffic. Not that she wanted to see him killed, just hurt really bad. Freddy having both his legs in plaster casts for the next eight weeks or so was a delightful thought. Suga had told Freddy to stop acting like a child and he had, for a few minutes anyway. Their father had told her that Freddy was so serious most of the time these days and that poking fun at his little sister was a bit of an escape for him. So, Kiki tolerated it for now.
“Take a look Kiki” Freddy said handing her a purple and yellow striped knit hat and matching scarf. “Like when we were children.”
“Thank you” Kiki said, and then noticing that Yuri was taping this replied. “Except when we were children you would have snuck up behind me, put it over my head, completely covering my face and calling that a vast improvement.”
“I only did that once” Freddy said indignantly. “Just try on the hat Kiki, please.”
Looking at Suga and Mirai, Kiki realized that they were wearing hats and scarfs that Freddy must have picked out. Suga with green and white stripes and Mirai with red and blue. For years Kiki had wondered if there must be some sort of significance to the colors, but Freddy had never explained. Putting on the hat and scarf, Kiki felt silly. Freddy looked happy as he went back to give hats and scarfs to Nella and Nan.
With that Kiki and Anya resumed walking down the rows of stalls. That was when she came to the stall run by the Russian woman who sold pickled vegetables and preserves. She smiled when she saw Kiki and Nella, the two of them had gotten the pickled ginger root that had helped Nella when she had over-indulged in years past from her.
“You have gotten big” The woman said in Russian to Nella, who didn’t understand.
“Nella doesn’t speak Russian Grandmother” Anya said, “We do what we can though.”
The woman who ran the stall chuckled at that while Kiki looked at a jar of rosehip preserves. It was a good example of products of medicinal value that Kiki had been keeping an eye out for. As she grabbed that and several other jars, she made a point of getting a jar of ginger root because she would probably need it later.
“Kristina and Antonia have come here in the past?” Yuri asked.
The woman gave Yuri the look that often greeted him when he spoke Russian with a Berliner accent. He might as well have waved a flag that said Son of Exiles on it.
“Yes” The woman said as she deliberately avoided being framed in the camera that Yuri was carrying. He might be an ethnic Russian, but he revealed himself as being not from there when he did things like this.
15th December 1968
Mitte, Berlin
Nella and Nan had promised to moderate their intake of sweets this year. Nan wasn’t the issue. Instead, it was Nella who had made herself sick year after year when they had gone to the annual Christmas market in the Alexander Marketplace. So much so that when Nan had come along Kiki had been afraid that she would end up having to contend with two sick little girls. Just in case, Kiki was keeping Nella under tight rein as they worked their way down the lines of stalls.
This year they were joined by a larger than usual crowd of friends and family. Zella and Yuri, who were there recording everything for the ARD news that would probably air that night. Freddy and Suga had decided that Mirai was old enough to come. Even Kiki had to admit that it was delightful to see her niece’s reaction to the Marketplace as it was done up for the holidays. Finally, Louis Junior and Anya had tagged along. Kiki found it funny that Louis and Zella were spending the afternoon pretending that they didn’t know each other, as if they were fooling anyone. Anya had been invited because her entire family was in Moscow and Kiki felt that she shouldn’t be alone this time of the year.
That was why Kiki found herself chatting in Russian with Anya as they followed Nella and Nan.
“I can’t believe I asked Doctor Holz why he wanted to go out for a drink to celebrate” Kiki said, “Why else would he have come to Berlin other than to tell me that my Doctorate had been conferred?”
Anya smiled.
“You have got be the most Russian German woman I know” Anya replied, “Every silver lining is attached to a storm cloud that will wash everything away.”
“I am not like that” Kiki said. This wasn’t the first time that Kiki had been called something like that. She had been referred to as Germany’s Russian Princess for years and she had never liked it.
“Here you are with the highest academic degree possible, magna cum laude no less, and you were so wrapped up in being depressed and miserable that you didn’t even recognize it when your Doctorial Advisor told you” Anya said.
Kiki started to say that it might have been summa cum laude except she was terrible as a public speaker but thought better of it because that would just confirm what Anya was saying.
Fortunately, she was saved by Freddy. Which was the first time that had ever happened. Earlier in the day on the car ride to the Marketplace he had said that he could no longer call Kiki by the nickname Whippet, from now on it was Doctor Whippet. And she contemplated opening the car door and shoving him out into traffic. Not that she wanted to see him killed, just hurt really bad. Freddy having both his legs in plaster casts for the next eight weeks or so was a delightful thought. Suga had told Freddy to stop acting like a child and he had, for a few minutes anyway. Their father had told her that Freddy was so serious most of the time these days and that poking fun at his little sister was a bit of an escape for him. So, Kiki tolerated it for now.
“Take a look Kiki” Freddy said handing her a purple and yellow striped knit hat and matching scarf. “Like when we were children.”
“Thank you” Kiki said, and then noticing that Yuri was taping this replied. “Except when we were children you would have snuck up behind me, put it over my head, completely covering my face and calling that a vast improvement.”
“I only did that once” Freddy said indignantly. “Just try on the hat Kiki, please.”
Looking at Suga and Mirai, Kiki realized that they were wearing hats and scarfs that Freddy must have picked out. Suga with green and white stripes and Mirai with red and blue. For years Kiki had wondered if there must be some sort of significance to the colors, but Freddy had never explained. Putting on the hat and scarf, Kiki felt silly. Freddy looked happy as he went back to give hats and scarfs to Nella and Nan.
With that Kiki and Anya resumed walking down the rows of stalls. That was when she came to the stall run by the Russian woman who sold pickled vegetables and preserves. She smiled when she saw Kiki and Nella, the two of them had gotten the pickled ginger root that had helped Nella when she had over-indulged in years past from her.
“You have gotten big” The woman said in Russian to Nella, who didn’t understand.
“Nella doesn’t speak Russian Grandmother” Anya said, “We do what we can though.”
The woman who ran the stall chuckled at that while Kiki looked at a jar of rosehip preserves. It was a good example of products of medicinal value that Kiki had been keeping an eye out for. As she grabbed that and several other jars, she made a point of getting a jar of ginger root because she would probably need it later.
“Kristina and Antonia have come here in the past?” Yuri asked.
The woman gave Yuri the look that often greeted him when he spoke Russian with a Berliner accent. He might as well have waved a flag that said Son of Exiles on it.
“Yes” The woman said as she deliberately avoided being framed in the camera that Yuri was carrying. He might be an ethnic Russian, but he revealed himself as being not from there when he did things like this.
Last edited:
And if I remember correctly, isn't Kiki a Russian Orthodox Christian too?
I think she needs to be sent to Russia to see Gia.
It's looking like the Rus disporia in Germany will soon begin to diverge from Russian Rus to the extent that they are their own branch. Much like Irish Americans have diverged from the Irish.
I think she needs to be sent to Russia to see Gia.
It's looking like the Rus disporia in Germany will soon begin to diverge from Russian Rus to the extent that they are their own branch. Much like Irish Americans have diverged from the Irish.
Kiki doesn't like being called Germany's Russian Princess because its true and she knows it, deep down inside.