Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

Yep, I am certain Opa Richthofen can make a quite credible Wotan impersonation if he wants to. Or perhaps an aged Tyr Ziu.

Edit: When using Wotan instead of Odin, I should have used Ziu instead of Tyr. It is better to be consistent in such matters.
 
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So how long after Charlotte leaves before Mathilda starts calling him Opa and has him wrapped around her finger? Considering her upbringing the Kurfurst will be really interested in her, I think.
Mathilda will call the Kurfurst Opa before Charlotte says her goodbyes and the trip to his Estate is going to be filled with stories about a certain large dog that has become the favorite of all the dogs that the Kurfurst has had over the years and just coincidence there could e some new puppies that need to be loved.
 
The passages that have Manfred von Richthofen and his dogs have been some of my favorite s.
In my mind what could be a best selling book is by von Richthofen about all the dogs he had over the years, there will be thrilling stories, some funny ones and of course the inevitable tragic stories but the overwhelming theme is how much his life was enhanced by his dogs.
In a previous post his granddaughter Ina is working with the University of Breslau in developing the " Emperor Akita" breed (Named after the Emperor of Japan who's gift of an Akita to the Crown Prince of the German Empire is the start of one of the bloodlines).
 
To be fair to the Heer, those were different times back then. Aside from being nearly 60 years earlier (for Emil), the Heer was in somewhat desperate need for soldiers in WW1. Mind you, everyone but the Yanks were back then. As for Kurt, the Heer was still in the 'don't ask, don't tell' mind-set regarding eligibility that predated WW1, was reinforced by said war and a looming conflict with the Soviets. By the 1970s, even with the demands of empire, the need for so many warm bodies has waned.
On the other hand, if there's no more conscription (I think Germany has taken that step ITTL) in Germany and if it has remained a prosperous nation, the all volunteer armed forces may not have the same appeal (particularly the '3 square meals and a bed' aspect) as in harder times before the two World Wars - hence recruiters are back to looking for warm bodies to fill the recruiting quotas.
 
So how long after Charlotte leaves before Mathilda starts calling him Opa and has him wrapped around her finger? Considering her upbringing the Kurfurst will be really interested in her, I think.
3, 2, 1...

"What did your father say women's careers should be?... Really? I have a somewhat different opinion* on the matter. I think you should be here when my Daughter Helene visits..."


*A different opinion now after years of fighting Helene's career choices, her equally stubborn nature, reality, the loss of his son, the gentle guidance of his wife, and seeing how successful Helene has become. But it's an opinion he has always held apparently if anyone asks...
 
Part 127, Chapter 2162
Chapter Two thousand One Hundred Sixty-Two



7th August 1972

Potsdam

“I leave town for a few days, and you entirely take leave of your senses?” Kat asked.

“We have the matter well in hand” Freddy replied, “Manfred von Richthofen agreed to take the girl in until September and she is said to be enjoying herself there.”

“That is not the problem” Kat said, “The girl’s father is one of those people who blend Nationalism, Nordic Paganism, and crass bigotry into a religion. Even the fringe right Nationalists and Royalists think those people are nuts. And you just poked one of them in the eye.”

“We had to do what was best for the child” Freddy said, “Especially after she broke into what was supposed to be a high security facility and we found out what had been done to her.”

“I don’t disagree” Kat replied, “Just you should have thought this through before you acted. The BII are going to have their hands full containing this and the First Foot… Are you certain that the son can be trusted?”

“Unteroffizer Wulfstan Auer finds his father to be an embarrassment” Freddy said, “And even if he didn’t, you should know better than anyone that the conduct of one’s parent is hardly a reflection on them personally. When he was questioned regarding his father’s activities the investigators got the impression that in his personal beliefs keeping an oath is something Auer takes very seriously. As in, he would sooner kill himself than break the oath he swore to the Realm and Emperor when he joined the Heer.”

Kat was a bit stung by that, Freddy had never brought up what must be common knowledge about Kat’s father before. He did have a good point though. Children were not their parents, still she figured that she would need to have Wulfstan Auer subtly watched, just in case.

“Did you enjoy your birthday?” Freddy asked, changing the subject. “This is one of those that is considered a milestone, normally spent with close friends and family.”

“I spent it quietly with my husband at my house on Langeoog” Kat replied, “I didn’t want a big production and my children would have insisted that it became exactly that. It would have been even worse if I had involved my closest friends.”

“Doctor Holz did mention something about how you tend to get melancholy at times” Freddy said, “And like to be left alone.” That was a bit of an understatement. Kat wished that Peter had not said that though. She had not had a truly black mood in some time, but with the children getting older there would soon be less to occupy her mind. Would she find herself having the sort of depression that she’d had endured just after the Soviet War, when she had been unable to get out of bed for days at a time?

“That is not something that you need to concern yourself with” Kat replied.

“Very well then” Freddy said, “As you know President Rockefeller is coming in a couple days. Have you thought about what you intend to discuss with him?”

For the first time since Kat had been in school, faking illness suddenly held a lot of appeal.



Silesia

Women have a special connection to the Earth, that was what Mathilda’s mother had always told her. Laying on the grass on the edge of the forest having kicked off her sandals was a good way to feel that connection. The forest here being truly ancient, her nose was filled with the scent of soil, damp, and what could only be described as the green smell of growing things. Looking up through the trees at the sun, she listened to the wind and tried to discern if there were whispers riding on it. Instead, she could hear Anna and Gretchen listening to Rock & Roll music in the garden on the portable radio they had. Occasionally she heard the sound of Nikolaus and Sabastian debating this or that odd thing, sports, movies, or comic books were popular with those two. To Mathilda’s amusement, the two boys fancied themselves great outdoorsmen. Their inability to go more than five minutes without talking and they made enough noise tromping around that everyone and everything could hear them for kilometers all around.

That was when Mathilda felt something warm and wet touch her ear and had to stifle a giggle as the dog withdrew its nose. Turning her head, she saw that Freyja was visiting along with her seven puppies in tow. The Siberian Husky bitch had had no name a week earlier when Mathilda arrived, just a number, but she had decided that wouldn’t do and decided that naming her for the Goddess of Beauty was a good choice. She was beautiful, with silvery white fur where it wasn’t copper-red, and Freyja seemed to like the name, answering to it the instant Mathilda started calling her that. The puppies were offspring of Freyja and Opa’s dog Rust. Part of a program to improve upon bloodline of the Akita, a breed that Mathilda had never heard of before coming here, which was in danger of becoming inbred due to the small numbers within Germany.

It was then that Mathilda was swarmed by the puppies who were in a frenzy to be the first to kiss her face. Despite her desire not to make noise, she couldn’t help but laugh as this was happening.
 
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Great scene with Mathilda and the new puppies but my question is and excuse my ignorance what is the percentage of Akita is the new breed going to be?
The Siberian Husky is a good dog to cross breed with as they are strong, can stand extreme cold, and are great with children which will make a great selling point for the potential new Emperor Akita breed (I am just using the name as a placeholder) for families.
Are there going to be other breeds like from the Retriever family that are bred in to the new line?

I can see Opa von Richthofen becoming impressed with Mathilda field craft and discipline and may introduce new things along the line to her.
 
Great scene with Mathilda and the new puppies but my question is and excuse my ignorance what is the percentage of Akita is the new breed going to be?
Pretty sure Rust is a purebred.
The Siberian Husky is a good dog to cross breed with as they are strong, can stand extreme cold, and are great with children which will make a great selling point for the potential new Emperor Akita breed (I am just using the name as a placeholder) for families.
It's also a good breed for those who have time to play with them, (needed), and are willing to have lengthy conversations with, (recommended).
 
Rust was bred to the previously unnamed Siberian Husky as part of the project to create a new Akita breed, this new breed I think is not going to be 50/50 Akita- Siberian Husky mix but the new puppies are going to be bred to a purebred Akita in the next round, my question was how much Akita is the new breed is going to be as it should be very recognizable at first glance as an Akita but with other features from other breeds.
 
Never mind a sniper, bound to be at least one former hellcat who wouldn't mind adopting a child
Let’s face reality (according to this timeline) Mathilda has all the attributes of being the next Kat except for the intangibles that made Kat, Kat.
So yes Mathilda will probably be a natural sharpshooter that will make Opa von Richthofen very happy and the first time they go exploring the estate Opa will take notice of how she knows how to act in the forest and her use of noise discipline that he has without too much success try to teach Niko and Bas.
But Mathilda just doesn’t have the thing inside of Kat that let Kat do all the things she did, Mathilda if she wants still can do a lot of things Kat did but that extra thing that made Kat a legend is not going to be there.
 
Let’s face reality (according to this timeline) Mathilda has all the attributes of being the next Kat except for the intangibles that made Kat, Kat.
So yes Mathilda will probably be a natural sharpshooter that will make Opa von Richthofen very happy and the first time they go exploring the estate Opa will take notice of how she knows how to act in the forest and her use of noise discipline that he has without too much success try to teach Niko and Bas.
But Mathilda just doesn’t have the thing inside of Kat that let Kat do all the things she did, Mathilda if she wants still can do a lot of things Kat did but that extra thing that made Kat a legend is not going to be there.
I mean, I was more thinking if Schafer has any children, and if not, would he like some?

Any household Mathilda gets put into needs to be both patient and understanding, and I don't see off-loading her on von Richthofen being a long term solution. Take someone who trained with or under Kat that knows Mathilda's natural affinities and likes but knows how to combine them with the proper caring that the girl will need to function in modern society, and you have her best possible outcome.

Especially as anyone who trained under or with Kat will guarantee the various agencies stay far far away from trying anything stupid.
 
It's really great how often you can read this story and discover something new! And it is quite frustrating when you are waiting for a certain chapter, but at least you always have something to look forward to in the long run
 
Part 128, Chapter 2163
Chapter Two Thousand One Hundred Sixty-Three



10th August 1972

Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport

To borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, the Secret Service Agents looked as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. The instant they landed in the airport complex that served the Capital of the German Empire, they had made it very clear that they considered this hostile territory.

The Press was out in force, capturing every movement as President Nelson Rockefeller made his way from Air Force One to Customs, even though it was unnecessary there was a tradition of the President arriving like any other guest. Something else that was also apparently a tradition was that the Customs Agent was a young woman. Rockefeller knew that looks were deceiving, to even be here she would need to be a full-fledged member of the German Federal Police if not an Agent in the Federal Internal Intelligence Agency. Kurfürstin Katherine von Mischner-Blackwood had played the exactly the same role back when Harry Truman had visited Berlin back in 1950. Rockefeller had seen that in the background information as he had been prepped for tomorrow’s meeting with the Kurfürstin after his meetings with the Kaiser and the Chancellor of the Reichstag. The day after he was scheduled to meet with King Albrecht of Bavaria in Munich and with Princess Kristina along with an assortment of what had been termed Princelings at Berg Hohenzollern.

As the Customs Agent looked through his passport and asked the same questions she asked every passenger, she looked bored. However, Rockefeller caught the look she gave him and everyone who was traveling with him. She was memorizing every single detail she saw and seemed very practiced at doing that sort of thing. It was a reminder that this was the lion’s den they were walking into. Rockefeller’s party was to stay in a hotel tonight in the City Center and the advance team had swept the suit for bugs and had found none. It was a result that no one trusted, even for a second. It was figured that either their hosts had totally changed their ways or else were using some previously unknown technology. The Secret Service and the CIA were both in agreement that it was probably the latter.



Schwielochsee, Spreewald National Park

When Marie Alexandra had come home from Switzerland, she had thought she would finally be free. Apparently, she had thought too soon, because no sooner than she had stepped off the train then she was informed that her mother had arranged for her to attend camp in the Spreewald with Sophie and Ziska.

As a sixteen-year-old, Marie had been elevated to a position of responsibility. What that meant in practice was that she was tasked with keeping a close eye on the children who were constantly getting into trouble, or those in Sophie and Ziska’s cohort who had morphed into hormonal teenagers over the last year in Marie’s absence.

The boys from the camp a few hundred meters down the lakeshore were nothing but trouble. In the encounters that Marie had had with them, they had all been younger than her. Few things were more obnoxious than a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy mouthing off to her as she told them to go back to their side of the fence. The worst part was that Marie found herself inadvertently using words that she had last heard from the mouth of her mother when they had been directed at her when she discovered that some of these boys were sniffing around Sophie and Ziska. It wasn’t fair that this was how she got to spend the summer after spending an entire school year getting lectured about manners and etiquette. Those were two things that she found that there was no room for here.

Today, it had been Marie’s hope that she would finally be able to spend an afternoon relaxing. That hope was dashed when she had to drop everything when she had a group of the much younger girls come to her for help when one of their own had taken a bad spill, scraping both her knees and the palms of her hands. Marie had done her best to comfort the screaming nine-year-old as the Camp’s Nurse cleaned gravel out of the wounds.



Memphis, Tennessee

The summer of 1972 was proving to be a brutal one for Stax Records. The breakdown of the distribution partnership with Atlantic Records had thrown everything into disarray. The new distribution deal with CBS had proven problematic as CBS had a vast catalog of artists that they didn’t want Stax to undercut.

Then there was this new band, Big Star, making music that was difficult to define, which radio station directors hated, but had made a critically acclaimed record. The distribution of said record had proven difficult and the marketing department was at something of a loss because this band was outside their normal experience. To buy himself time Jim Stewart had been looking for a way out of this situation. They had a potential hot seller if only they could figure out how to go about doing it.

Strangely, the German label Electrola, Stax Records’ European partners that they had had some success selling copies of Big Star’s record. They said that they had even gotten endorsed by Marcella von Holz, whoever that was. The answer seemed simple enough for Stewart, send the band on a self-funding vacation in the land of beer, sausages, and lederhosen. They would have some fun and by the time they got back in a few weeks things might have worked themselves out.
 
Two terms Jim Stewart ought to learn are market research and target audience.

And why would he send Big Star to a tour of southern Bavaria? 🤔
 
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