Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

Part 126, Chapter 2135
Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Thirty-Five



5th April 1972

Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport

Zella had come to the airport to see John Cleese and Graham Chapman off. This year they had come to assist her with the annual April Fool’s broadcast on ARD, mostly because they were looking to play to a German Audience. The trouble they had run into was that much of their humor didn’t translate well. A sketch they had done involving “Joke Warfare” in the trenches of the First World War that involved British Soldiers shouting German sounding gibberish, for example, would basically be picking a fight. A sketch making fun of news reports had been suggested by Chapman, he had already done one that was a serious sounding interview segment about men choosing to have the lifestyle of rodents. Zella was quite familiar with it and though it was quite hilarious, it had already been done.

It was to Cleese and Chapman’s surprise that Zella was familiar with everything they had done. The question was, if Monty Python didn’t translate well, how did a German woman like Zella come to love them so much? Zella had pointed out that she had originally come from Australia. Eventually, they settled on the appalling state of the rivers that flowed through the city of Berlin, according to Cleese the River Thames in London was just as bad, if not worse. A silly story about the Reichstag being attacked by giant mutant fish was what they had settled on. Getting an interview with the Chancellor who had swiftly realized that he was the straight man in a comedy bit had played along was the best part by far.

It had been during the conversation afterwards when they had discussed the cultural differences that were at issue over drinks. Zella had mentioned that there was a rich history of comedy on German television, the sketch shows that had poked fun at Kiki’s father or Dinner for One which was broadcast every New Year’s Eve. Then Cleese had questions. Just who was Kiki and what was this sketch that Zella was describing. Yuri had told him almost word for word the sketch about the former Emperor on the S-Bahn that had aired almost a decade earlier which had depicted Louis Ferdinand stuck in a train car alone with two men at opposite extremes of the political spectrum, chaos ensued.

That was when Zella made the mistake of saying that the writers had nailed how Louis Ferdinand could be at times. Picking a fight by agreeing and disagreeing in equal turns would not be something she would put past him. Chapman had asked how she was so familiar with Louis Ferdinand, and she had told the truth, that she had been an official friend and companion of Princess Kristina. So, she had spent the next few hours telling them about her unique experiences as a teenager, practically living with Kiki and her family. As she had done it, Zella had realized that while she had told other people’s stories her entire adult life, she had never told her own.

It wasn’t until Zella had dropped Chapman and Cleese off at the airport that it had occurred to her that John Cleese may have been paying a bit too much attention. She figured that nothing would come of it, but as Zella herself had experienced with the tabloid press you could never tell what they would try to blow up into a story. Kiki’s room looking like a tornado had hit it when she was teenager or Zella’s efforts to chase Ben Hirsch off were more than a decade in the past. Kiki didn’t deserve for those things to become someone’s cheap entertainment.



Tempelhof

It was all Kat could do not to curse aloud at being held to her promises this time. Sophie had told her that she just wanted a simple birthday party with friends and family, but then she had asked for something unexpected. Sophie wanted to know if she had other family out there beyond her estranged mother. When Kat asked what had prompted this, Sophie had mentioned that she had a chance meeting with a girl who looked a lot like her outside a clothier in the Central Shopping District of Berlin. She said that she had attempted to find this other girl on her own but had swiftly discovered that she didn’t have the first clue as to how go about doing that. Her friend Ziska had suggested that she ask Kat who would either have the answers or else would definitely know how go about finding one person in a city of millions.

The trouble was that Kat knew that it wasn’t just one person. It was three that she knew of. Sophie had a half-sister who lived in Mitte and another who lived in Karlsfeld outside of Munich, as well as a brother in Bautzen. Kat had only her own experiences to go by. Stefan, Ilse, and Heinrich were all wonderful people, Bruno wanted nothing to do with Kat, so she hardly knew anything about him, finally there was Urban who had proven to be an even worse monster than their father had been. A quick phone call had confirmed that it had been Gabriele Scharnhorst that Sophie had a chance encounter with. Listening to Jana Scharnhorst’s quivering voice over the phone apologizing for what she swore was an accident didn’t help matters. Reiner Blum had treated that poor woman like a doormat. Kat suspected that he had only married Jana because her family had money, only discovering after he married her that Jana’s father controlled the purse-strings. Kat also had to face up to how her suspicions about if Jana were somehow enabling her husband had probably played a role in Jana being absolutely terrified of her, even now.

For Kat it posed quite a problem until she had discussed the matter with Doug. His answer was simple and to the point, he had told kat that it wasn’t her choice to make, and it had already been made. All she could do is facilitate it and hope for the best.
 
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Yuri had told him almost word for word the sketch about the former Emperor on the S-Bahn that had aired almost a decade earlier which had depicted Louis Ferdinand stuck in a train car alone with two men at opposite extremes of the political spectrum, chaos ensued.
I would really love to see this sketch as real.
It wasn’t until Zella had dropped Chapman and Cleese off at the airport that it had occurred to her that John Cleese may have been paying a bit too much attention. She figured that nothing would come of it, but as Zella herself had experienced with the tabloid press you could never tell what they would try to blow up into a story. Kiki’s room looking like a tornado had hit it when she was teenager or Zella’s efforts to chase Ben Hirsch off were more than a decade in the past. Kiki didn’t deserve for those things to become someone’s cheap entertainment.
Yeah, Cleese is going to make this explode.

So, Kat is to Bond Movies is what Kiki will be to Monty Python?
 
So, it's "The Germans", except it's a group of young women on holiday and Basil thinks there a bunch of badly dressed nonentities . . .
 
So, it's "The Germans", except it's a group of young women on holiday and Basil thinks there a bunch of badly dressed nonentities . . .
It's leaked to him that some of his guests may be German royalty. There is an old lady there who acts in a most dignified manner and her eldest son who are mistaken for Royalty instead.

Bonus points if they know who the real Royalty are but run interference for them.
 
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Sounds like Sophie is going to meet at least one half-sister. It also sounds as if Kat is going to have to, very carefully, ease Jana's fear that Kat will disappear her entire family and that the Imperial Family doesn't hold a grudge towards her. Just her abominable ex-husband.
 
Sounds like Sophie is going to meet at least one half-sister. It also sounds as if Kat is going to have to, very carefully, ease Jana's fear that Kat will disappear her entire family and that the Imperial Family doesn't hold a grudge towards her. Just her abominable ex-husband.
I could see Kat doing this is a very Kat way and having the opposite effect.

Jana sitting at a cafe table, the seat opposite is empty. She picks up a menu looks over it, when she puts the menu down, Kat is sat opposite her, cue Jana's first heart attack.
 
The die is cast in Sophie and Gabi meeting each other but it is up to Kat and Jana to make sure that that the inevitable fallout is minimized.
It seems that Reiner Blum is manipulating Jana and if that the case is then the only solution I can see without massive loss of blood and a body to hide is for Herr Blum to be recalled to active duty at the lowest rank and sent somewhere that is not a tourist destination (except for extreme tourism) for "Permanent" Temporary Duty.
It seems to me that the Scharnhorst family has a bit of clout themselves and were able to prevent one of their members from being forced to move elsewhere.
 
I don’t remember who Sophie’s father was supposed to be. Was it mentioned or is it still being hinted at only?
He was last mentioned in Chapter 2088. His father-in-law secretly sent him to America under a false name, only for him to commit a crime and be deported back to Germany where Kat could reach him.
 
Part 126, Chapter 2136
Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Thirty-Six



7th April 1972

Mitte

Walking down the city street with Kage Akio, who had decided to accompany her on this errand. Kat came to the address which she had looked up the day before and felt a bit of trepidation.

The reflection in the glass door annoyed Kat, it wasn’t the right moment to get a reminder of how much time had passed. She still thought of herself as the young woman who Doug had photographed across the table on their first date all those years ago. The middle-aged woman whose reflection she saw no longer looked like that. Fortunately, Kat was saved from that when the door to the Parfumerie opened and two women who Kat recognized as the sort of housewives she had spent much of her life avoiding walked out. They instantly recognized her and even though they stepped aside, Kat knew that there would be a lot of tongues wagging about her presence here. The truth was that it was the sort of thing that she didn’t have much use for. When she was at a formal event, she could easily afford to have someone who was an expert on the subject deal in this sort of matter on her behalf. Today though, her business was with the owner of this establishment. She just hoped that her presence would cause more trouble than it was worth.

Kage held the door open for her as she stepped through, Jana and her assistant stared at her as Kat made her way to the glass case that held the high-end designer brands from Paris or Milan. Kat knew that those were for those that aspired for better things and wanted to be seen buying expensive perfumes or cosmetics. They were also the products that sold quickly and made this a modestly profitable business despite Jana living mostly off of a trust set up as a part of her father’s estate.

“If your assistant could help Herr Kage pick out a cologne, I would be grateful” Kat said, she wanted to have this talk with Jana without a third-party listening in. The assistant didn’t need much prompting, the same aura of danger that Kat projected was seen very differently when a man was involved, even if he was a Japanese transplant like Kage.

“You didn’t need to bring one of your leg-breakers into my shop to intimidate me” Jana said, anger overcoming fear. “I’ve kept my end of the bargain.”

“Kage doesn’t work for me” Kat replied, “He sometimes accompanies me when he feels like it. Mostly though, he works for the Japanese Embassy.”

As if to punctuate Kat’s comment, Jana’s assistant giggled at something Kage said. Kat wondered how she would react if she knew that Kage’s job title at the Embassy was Janitor, a job he actually worked most nights because he needed to keep up appearances. All because even the thickest bureaucrat in the BND or BII would take a dim view of a Ninja assassin entering the country. Kat on the other hand had swiftly learned from Fritz Schafer who and what Kage was and had made a deal with him. He would do her a favor from time to time when she needed someone outside her organization to do something and to never ask him to work against the interests of Japan. She had discovered since that he was less than thrilled with the arrangement forced on him by the Japanese Government and Kat had come along at just the right time to give him the means of subverting that mission.

“I don’t care why he’s here” Jana said, Kat noticed the fear returning to her voice. “Just what do you want?”

For Kat, this next part was not going to be easy. Years earlier, she had had landed hard on Jana without regard to the actual role she had actually played. She had also frightened the woman who had understood far better than her arrogant ass of an ex-husband the threat that Kat represented. At the time, Kat had wondered how she could not have been aware of just what Blum had been up to. Time had given her a bit of perspective, but that was a bit late.

“I am not threatening you again” Kat said, “I have a situation regarding Gabriele.”

“I told that girl that we wanted no part in her…” Jana started to say, and Kat just shook her head.

“Sophie is not so easily put off” Kat said, “She has not had an easily life and she asked me to find Gabriele as a birthday present.”

Jana gave Kat a confused look. “You are in direct contact with that girl’s family?” She asked.

“I have been a part Sophie’s family for the last few years” Kat replied, “Her mother had been using her for a punching bag and I took her in after she had been removed from that situation. The alternative was that she would probably have ended up in a State School.”

“I didn’t know” Jana said, surprised.

“You can see why she wants to meet Gabriele” Kat replied.

“But you said that there was to be no contact” Jana said, anger creeping back into her tone. “And you were very clear about what would happen if there was.”

“Things have changed over the last fourteen years” Kat said.

“No, I don’t think they have” Jana replied, “I heard from my father about my ex-husband getting run out of Berlin by your thugs a few months ago.”

“That is different” Kat said, “He is not someone decent people want to have around.”

“I agree with that and could say the same thing about you Katherine” Jana replied, “Please leave.”

“Before I go, just remember something, Sophie now knows about her sister” Kat said, “I don’t think she can let this go.”

Jana just gave Kat a glare. That was something that she obviously did not want to hear.
 
By now Kat’s reputation should be known that she has an expansive definition of what constitutes her family and how much she would do for them.
Jana should take this as an opportunity for her daughter to be included as family and that means that no matter how many doors Jana can open herself for Gabi it pales in the number Kat can.
 
By now Kat’s reputation should be known that she has an expansive definition of what constitutes her family and how much she would do for them.
Jana should take this as an opportunity for her daughter to be included as family and that means that no matter how many doors Jana can open herself for Gabi it pales in the number Kat can.
A smart move from Jana, especially if Kat can expand on her apology, (and for Kat, I think that qualifies as the start of an apology), this wouldn't just open doors for Gabi, it would open doors for Jana too. Doors into the Palace for example.

I mean, Parfumerie by Royal Appointment to the Kaiserin has a nice ring to it...
 
Part 126, Chapter 2137
Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Thirty-Seven



10th April 1972

Kiel

Things changed suddenly that Monday as Gregor arrived with the ML Epione along with Kiki’s Personal Secretary, Steffi Bader. Kiki had been studying for her Mariner Pilot’s Certificate which was Internationally recognized. Gregor had been planning on coming to Kiel as soon as the Epione was ready. Steffi arrived by train, having decided to come when Kiki had told her that the President of Argentina wanted to see. Like always, Steffi was somewhat exasperated that Kiki had not told her this before she had asked about the matter, but she had worked for Kiki for years and was used to how Kiki had a slightly different perspective than most people. Ben’s understanding was that Kiki had asked Steffi if there was any way to get Raul Martínez to drop the entire matter. Apparently, Steffi had not been pleased that Kiki had suggested such a thing and had started arranging for a flight in July and called Freddy in case Kiki continued acting like an idiot.

As far as Kiki was concerned, Argentina was way out of her way. She had plans for after she got the certificate in late June that involved the maps of the inland waterways of Russia that she had acquired and after the success of trip to the Netherlands last year it was her hope to repeat that bit of diplomacy. Looking around at the ash paneling and deep rugs in the spacious saloon of the Epione as well as the large table in the dining room, Ben had to conclude that she was absolutely perfect for that sort of thing.

Of course, there were other matters to attend to. The Medical Service was interested in Kiki’s idea for the Epione to be an Auxiliary Hospital Ship. She had invested a considerable amount of her own money into making it happen and Ben knew that eventually those facilities would see use. He had said that it was a small price to pay for goodwill for the House of Hohenzollern and Kiki had said that was a major part of her considerations, most of all though she wanted to actually help people. It would however change the crew requirements for the Epione. Kiki had already been looking at hiring two new crewmen and a cook. She would now be looking at a small medical staff as well. Ben knew that she had anticipated that and the cabins aboard the Epione had been fitted out accordingly.

The move from the hotel to the Epione had gone swiftly enough. Kiki and Fianna had a great deal of experience in doing that sort of thing. Ben had been expecting quarters similar to the cramped aft cabin of the Meta. He had been pleasantly surprised to learn that the master cabin aboard the Epione occupied a space near the bow and was the five-meter width of barge. That included space for sleeping, a study and it even had an actual bathtub. When Ben had first entered the cabin, all the portholes were open allowing a nice cross-breeze through.

What that meant was that the Epione was spacious at the moment, but it would get a lot more crowded in the near future. Not as crowded as Meta had been though. Looking around the barge, Ben realized that Kiki had made a place that truly could be home when they were out adventuring.



Mitte

People were often surprised to learn that the study and making of perfume is a skilled profession. It was one that Jana had devoted her adult life to. The trouble she ran into was that the process of making a unique fragrance that suited the individual was a painstaking process and the prices reflected that. Why pay for a premium product in a nondescript package when you could buy a bottle of name brand perfume that you could brag about to your friends. Jana did sell a lot of the name brand products even if it was not what she wanted to be doing.

Having Katherine von Mischner being seen entering her shop had been something that the people around the neighborhood were talking about. Everyone talked about Katherine as the Tigress, like if she were her namesake like one of the tigers in the Berlin Zoo, well fed, laying lazily in the sun, and occasionally stalking around to the amusement of the crowd. Jana had seen the truth nearly fourteen years earlier, the side of that woman that people couldn’t or didn’t want to see. Katherine was merciless, predatory, and utterly ruthless. Just like they would find out if they ever found themselves with the tiger they saw in the Zoo without bars, barricades, and moats to keep them separated.

Having Katherine turn up at her shop brought the memories of that time in Jana’s life back to the surface. Looking into those cold eyes, then as now, she had seen death. She had little choice but to accept the deal she had been offered. It was at that time that she had known that she had to think about far more than just herself. And Reiner, damn him to Hell, had cared more about a futile effort to lie his way out of the mess he had created. She had abided by that deal, but like all deals with the Devil, sooner or later the Devil shows up and changes the deal. Hearing about that girl, Gabi’s half-sister, had been excruciating. Jana had realized along the way that Reiner had a type, one that Jana herself fell into. Desperate for attention and already damaged in some way. Katherine had said girl’s mother had used her as a punching bag, when Jana heard that, she had one of those occasional moments of insight that were a curse. That woman was still in love with Reiner, she had blamed her daughter for him sending her away and it was reflected in her abusive behavior. This girl, Sophie, was someone both Katherine and Jana would want to protect apparently.

The trouble for Jana was right there inside what everyone was talking about. Katherine was the Kurfürstin of Berlin, so she was close to Charlotte, the former Empress, and Suga, the current Empress. One word from Katherine and Jana would find herself doing exactly what she really wanted to be doing with Royal endorsement. The Devil always offered you your heart’s desire, and the price was just a trifle.
 
Opportunities abound for Jana as top notch fashion designers are branching out to the upscale mass market with things like designer jeans and fragrances.

"Claude Voll the Internationally Acclaimed Designer presents 'Parfumes by Jana' the personally designed scents for the World Elite.
Her signature scent is 'The Tigers' A Wild Sensual fragrance that is only for Women who take charge in the Field, the Boardroom, in the Halls of Power, and most importantly in the Bedroom".
Magazine advertisements show a model with red hair and blue eyes in various situations that coincide with the text of the advertisement.
Kat may be upset with that or she could be an investor and be upset all the way to the bank.
 
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