Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Things from the next post.
Mauser Anti-Tank Rifle
And this pleasant creature.
Mauser Anti-Tank Rifle
And this pleasant creature.
Part 133, Chapter 2276
Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seventy-Six
11th February 1974
Trebbin, Brandenburg
A lot of work had gone into recreating a World War One battlefield and almost as much work needed to go into keeping looking so bad. Jost had suggested that while they had the assistance of the Heer, they ought to just let them use it for artillery practice and a few live fire exercises. The Director had just shaken his head and said that it was not that simple. Modern Armies used tracked vehicles and the artillery tactics had changed considerably over the last sixty years. Saturation bombardment had given way to precision strikes and if massed artillery was used, it was of the “Walking” variety where shells were dropped just ahead of advancing Armored and Infantry Units. Basically, they just didn’t chew up the landscape the way that they used to.
Still, as Jost looked across the five square hectares of denuded landscape covered in shell holes filled with icy mud, rusted barbed wire, and trenches, he was reminded of how his father had said that he would have done anything to get out a place that had looked exactly like this. The only thing that they had been unable to duplicate was the smell. Jost’s father had said that there was always the smell of putrefaction in the air, something or someone was always rotting nearby. It didn’t matter if it was a week-old corpse or your own feet. There were also the smells of shit, burnt cordite and fuel oil mixed in. Jost knew that smell quite well having encountered it many times in the past, especially Russia and Mexico.
All of this had been done for a film that he had been cast in. When Jost had read the script, he had seen the slogan that was going on the film’s posters; When nations went to war, an ancient evil followed. He had found that intriguing. The story was set sometime in 1917 and started with a British Patrol in No-Man’s-Land that ended with the men later found torn to pieces. Over the coming days, the men on both sides of the line find that they have a common enemy that is stalking them across the battlefield, a supernatural entity that takes the form of a monstrous black dog with glowing red eyes called the Black Shuck. This leads to a temporary truce as men from both sides attempt to kill the beast, using whatever heavy weapons they can bring to bare after ordinary rifles and machine guns prove inadequate for the task.
Jost had gotten himself cast as Oberst von Fürst, the Commander of the German Regiment depicted in the film. And immediately found himself at loggerheads with the “Military Advisor” on the set, an American named Jamison Parker who had been one of the few people who both the German and British portions of the Production Team had agreed upon to fill that role. By hiring Jost to play the role of one of the supporting actors UFA had sidestepped that argument, not that Jost was complaining. It had gotten him a big role and he had other things to irk him. Like most of the extras in the film being from the 2nd Army, the 4th Division in particular, which was garrisoned in Wunsdorf-Zossen which was extremely close to Trebbin.
“Hey, Schultz, they know you are impersonating an Officer?” One of the wisenheimers yelled at him as he walked past with one of the heavy Mauser Anti-Tank rifles from the film on his shoulder. “Or an Actor!”
Jost gave the crumb a murderous stare as the others laughed. They thought he was no longer in a position to extract his revenge, so they stood there with a smirks on their faces. He understood that it was all in good fun but whatever it was that made them feel safe enough to make a comment like that, shouldn’t.
“Yeah, laugh it up punks” Jost said as a strap from the rifle sling was digging into his shoulder. 13-millimeter machine guns had been mounted on vehicles for decades. His father had told him about how they had been issued to infantry as well as the single-shot bolt action rifles like the one he had now. It wasn’t hard to see why they had fallen out of favor despite packing one Hell of a punch, their weight would cripple whoever had to carry any one of them for any distance. He was intending to shoot the rifle later that afternoon so that he could get a feel for the thing. “I’m going back to my caravan for now, enjoy eating your lunch in the mud and did you hear, it is supposed to snow later.”
The men gave Jost dirty looks as he walked to his caravan. Slamming the door behind him, he saw that food was on the table and that one of his assistants had turned the heat on as he placed the heavy rifle in the corner. It was the sort of thing that he could get used to. There were some things that he would never delegate or trust to others though. The character he was playing, Oberst von Fürst, was an aristocrat who would not tolerate a speck of dirt on his uniform and his boots needed to have a mirror polish. That made for a bit of work for Jost. There was also the bit about remembering to always walk like an asshole, but he had never had a problem doing that.
11th February 1974
Trebbin, Brandenburg
A lot of work had gone into recreating a World War One battlefield and almost as much work needed to go into keeping looking so bad. Jost had suggested that while they had the assistance of the Heer, they ought to just let them use it for artillery practice and a few live fire exercises. The Director had just shaken his head and said that it was not that simple. Modern Armies used tracked vehicles and the artillery tactics had changed considerably over the last sixty years. Saturation bombardment had given way to precision strikes and if massed artillery was used, it was of the “Walking” variety where shells were dropped just ahead of advancing Armored and Infantry Units. Basically, they just didn’t chew up the landscape the way that they used to.
Still, as Jost looked across the five square hectares of denuded landscape covered in shell holes filled with icy mud, rusted barbed wire, and trenches, he was reminded of how his father had said that he would have done anything to get out a place that had looked exactly like this. The only thing that they had been unable to duplicate was the smell. Jost’s father had said that there was always the smell of putrefaction in the air, something or someone was always rotting nearby. It didn’t matter if it was a week-old corpse or your own feet. There were also the smells of shit, burnt cordite and fuel oil mixed in. Jost knew that smell quite well having encountered it many times in the past, especially Russia and Mexico.
All of this had been done for a film that he had been cast in. When Jost had read the script, he had seen the slogan that was going on the film’s posters; When nations went to war, an ancient evil followed. He had found that intriguing. The story was set sometime in 1917 and started with a British Patrol in No-Man’s-Land that ended with the men later found torn to pieces. Over the coming days, the men on both sides of the line find that they have a common enemy that is stalking them across the battlefield, a supernatural entity that takes the form of a monstrous black dog with glowing red eyes called the Black Shuck. This leads to a temporary truce as men from both sides attempt to kill the beast, using whatever heavy weapons they can bring to bare after ordinary rifles and machine guns prove inadequate for the task.
Jost had gotten himself cast as Oberst von Fürst, the Commander of the German Regiment depicted in the film. And immediately found himself at loggerheads with the “Military Advisor” on the set, an American named Jamison Parker who had been one of the few people who both the German and British portions of the Production Team had agreed upon to fill that role. By hiring Jost to play the role of one of the supporting actors UFA had sidestepped that argument, not that Jost was complaining. It had gotten him a big role and he had other things to irk him. Like most of the extras in the film being from the 2nd Army, the 4th Division in particular, which was garrisoned in Wunsdorf-Zossen which was extremely close to Trebbin.
“Hey, Schultz, they know you are impersonating an Officer?” One of the wisenheimers yelled at him as he walked past with one of the heavy Mauser Anti-Tank rifles from the film on his shoulder. “Or an Actor!”
Jost gave the crumb a murderous stare as the others laughed. They thought he was no longer in a position to extract his revenge, so they stood there with a smirks on their faces. He understood that it was all in good fun but whatever it was that made them feel safe enough to make a comment like that, shouldn’t.
“Yeah, laugh it up punks” Jost said as a strap from the rifle sling was digging into his shoulder. 13-millimeter machine guns had been mounted on vehicles for decades. His father had told him about how they had been issued to infantry as well as the single-shot bolt action rifles like the one he had now. It wasn’t hard to see why they had fallen out of favor despite packing one Hell of a punch, their weight would cripple whoever had to carry any one of them for any distance. He was intending to shoot the rifle later that afternoon so that he could get a feel for the thing. “I’m going back to my caravan for now, enjoy eating your lunch in the mud and did you hear, it is supposed to snow later.”
The men gave Jost dirty looks as he walked to his caravan. Slamming the door behind him, he saw that food was on the table and that one of his assistants had turned the heat on as he placed the heavy rifle in the corner. It was the sort of thing that he could get used to. There were some things that he would never delegate or trust to others though. The character he was playing, Oberst von Fürst, was an aristocrat who would not tolerate a speck of dirt on his uniform and his boots needed to have a mirror polish. That made for a bit of work for Jost. There was also the bit about remembering to always walk like an asshole, but he had never had a problem doing that.
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Putrefaction is the word you were looking for...stench of death and rotting flesh
The real horror begins when the director notices the mirror-like shine on Jost's boots and has him sent over to the costume department to teach them how to do it.
It would be easier if Jost were to supervise a group of Sodaten detailed to the movie to polish the over hundred pairs of boots that the cast and extras needs every day of production.
It would be easier if Jost were to supervise a group of Sodaten detailed to the movie to polish the over hundred pairs of boots that the cast and extras needs every day of production.
Honestly, if Jost suggests that to the Soldaten's CO as a punishment when (not if) one of them fucks something up, that CO would probably jump to it in a heartbeat.
Needless to say, add me to the choir hoping the movie does well, Lord knows I'd want to watch it.
I cannot think of any NCO that would not pay attention to Jost if he called them and told them they had a problem with their troops. He is a known Senior NCO with lots of credit that would have the higher ups in the Division, if not the whole Heer, listening to him if he explained the error of the ways for the Soldaten. Imagine if they were to invite him to be a guest to attend training and critique them and offer suggestions to help them improve.
I am sure the shade of Schultz the Elder is looking on from whichever part of the afterlife he‘s in with a big smile. Taking young Jost to the B-reel horror movies back in the 1930s set him up for a good career outside the Army.
Actually it is based on an old English legend about a demon in form of a large black dog roaming the countryside and, yes, when England went to war there were rumors of such a dog attacking soldiers on the Western Front.
Black Shuck - Wikipedia
Part 133, Chapter 2267
Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seventy-Seven
14th February 1974
Tempelhof, Berlin
It was quaint tradition in America and Canada, one which Doug insisted on bringing to Germany. Not that Kat minded. Every year he brought her a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates with the promise of doing something romantic later that night. That was why she had Suga looking quizzically at the vase that Kat had put the roses on the coffee table in the parlor.
“It was a gift from Douglas” Kat said, “A gesture of love that I appreciate that is part of an unofficial holiday, he does this every year.”
Suga just smiled and took a sip of tea after taking a bite of the toast with fig jam and a ham slice on it. Petia and Darya had thrown together a charcuterie plate for tea. Suga had grown up with the austere sensibilities of Post-War Japan where even in the Residences of the Royal Family extravagance was avoided and everything needed to serve a function. It was a sensibility that she had brought to the design of the New Winter Residence in Plänterwald, and Kat thought that the Residence was better for it. One of the ways that it manifested itself was that Suga rarely indulged in eating a large meal, mostly for appearances sake. Even after almost two decades living in Berlin, she still felt that people were watching and judging her. Empress or not. In Kat’s parlor, Suga knew that no one was watching her, so she could indulge a little bit. The one thing she avoided was the cheese slices. They were aged white cheddar that crumbled in your mouth and were wonderful with the fig jam. Suga said that cheese simply didn’t agree with her, and Kat was content to leave it at that. Now that they had exchanged pleasantries and had tea, Kat had a few questions. Like why Suga had decided that she needed to speak today? She figured that Suga would get to it, eventually.
“I am worried about Marie” Suga finally said, “She is troubled, having trouble figuring out who she is.”
“This is not exactly news” Kat replied, “I often have no idea who she is going to be from hour to hour, she changes personas the way most of us change our clothes.”
“I am aware she does that” Suga said, “But this goes deeper than that, Marie told me all about how she has no idea what she wants to do with her life and is being pushed to make choices she either isn’t ready for or else feels would be a mistake.”
“Why hasn’t she said anything to me then?” Kat asked.
“She doesn’t feel she can” Suga said, “That you would not understand.”
Kat almost told Suga that was garbage, of course she would understand… But then it occurred to her that it didn’t matter. Marie thought that she wouldn’t and that was enough for her to avoid the conversation. Kat was also aware that this shouldn’t be a surprise. She knew that most of her difficulties with Tatiana were because they had very similar personalities and that was a source of irritation. For years Aunt Marcella had warned Kat that Marie Alexandra was likely what Kat herself would have been like if things had been different. She didn’t need to know what her Aunt meant by that, if Kat’s mother had lived and her father had been someone else.
“I see” Kat replied in an icy tone. She was aware it was probably not wise use that tone of voice with Suga, who was powerful enough in her own right to make Kat’s life difficult even without getting Freddy involved.
“I am not trying to tell you how to handle your daughter” Suga said, “I just felt that you should know that she confided this in me, that you deserved to know.”
“Thank you” Kat replied, but even as she said that she realized something important. “If Marie trusts you enough to talk to you, please make sure that it is not misplaced.”
There were a few minutes of awkward silence as Kat and Suga seemed to have exhausted that line of conversation. The only sound was the ticking of the clock on mantle which Doug had acquired somewhere along the way. At that moment, Kat had the sudden urge to smash the thing to pieces. Suga finally broke the silence.
“I suggested to Marie that perhaps like me, studying abroad might be a good idea” Suga said, “I am aware of the consequences of that course of action, for all of us. I value to role she plays in the Imperial Court, and you might seldom see her if that happens. That is on top of the imposition that I already caused when she attended that school in Switzerland. For that I apologize.”
“There is no need for you to apologize” Kat replied, “She needed to learn how to function in that environment. I know that places like the Imperial Court are not the pressure cookers that they were back in the days of autocrats, but still…”
Kat just shrugged.
To get an apology from someone like Suga was rare, there wasn’t a whole that she could do over this matter though. So much was up to Marie and Kat understood that her daughter could be incredibly flighty even in the best of times.
14th February 1974
Tempelhof, Berlin
It was quaint tradition in America and Canada, one which Doug insisted on bringing to Germany. Not that Kat minded. Every year he brought her a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates with the promise of doing something romantic later that night. That was why she had Suga looking quizzically at the vase that Kat had put the roses on the coffee table in the parlor.
“It was a gift from Douglas” Kat said, “A gesture of love that I appreciate that is part of an unofficial holiday, he does this every year.”
Suga just smiled and took a sip of tea after taking a bite of the toast with fig jam and a ham slice on it. Petia and Darya had thrown together a charcuterie plate for tea. Suga had grown up with the austere sensibilities of Post-War Japan where even in the Residences of the Royal Family extravagance was avoided and everything needed to serve a function. It was a sensibility that she had brought to the design of the New Winter Residence in Plänterwald, and Kat thought that the Residence was better for it. One of the ways that it manifested itself was that Suga rarely indulged in eating a large meal, mostly for appearances sake. Even after almost two decades living in Berlin, she still felt that people were watching and judging her. Empress or not. In Kat’s parlor, Suga knew that no one was watching her, so she could indulge a little bit. The one thing she avoided was the cheese slices. They were aged white cheddar that crumbled in your mouth and were wonderful with the fig jam. Suga said that cheese simply didn’t agree with her, and Kat was content to leave it at that. Now that they had exchanged pleasantries and had tea, Kat had a few questions. Like why Suga had decided that she needed to speak today? She figured that Suga would get to it, eventually.
“I am worried about Marie” Suga finally said, “She is troubled, having trouble figuring out who she is.”
“This is not exactly news” Kat replied, “I often have no idea who she is going to be from hour to hour, she changes personas the way most of us change our clothes.”
“I am aware she does that” Suga said, “But this goes deeper than that, Marie told me all about how she has no idea what she wants to do with her life and is being pushed to make choices she either isn’t ready for or else feels would be a mistake.”
“Why hasn’t she said anything to me then?” Kat asked.
“She doesn’t feel she can” Suga said, “That you would not understand.”
Kat almost told Suga that was garbage, of course she would understand… But then it occurred to her that it didn’t matter. Marie thought that she wouldn’t and that was enough for her to avoid the conversation. Kat was also aware that this shouldn’t be a surprise. She knew that most of her difficulties with Tatiana were because they had very similar personalities and that was a source of irritation. For years Aunt Marcella had warned Kat that Marie Alexandra was likely what Kat herself would have been like if things had been different. She didn’t need to know what her Aunt meant by that, if Kat’s mother had lived and her father had been someone else.
“I see” Kat replied in an icy tone. She was aware it was probably not wise use that tone of voice with Suga, who was powerful enough in her own right to make Kat’s life difficult even without getting Freddy involved.
“I am not trying to tell you how to handle your daughter” Suga said, “I just felt that you should know that she confided this in me, that you deserved to know.”
“Thank you” Kat replied, but even as she said that she realized something important. “If Marie trusts you enough to talk to you, please make sure that it is not misplaced.”
There were a few minutes of awkward silence as Kat and Suga seemed to have exhausted that line of conversation. The only sound was the ticking of the clock on mantle which Doug had acquired somewhere along the way. At that moment, Kat had the sudden urge to smash the thing to pieces. Suga finally broke the silence.
“I suggested to Marie that perhaps like me, studying abroad might be a good idea” Suga said, “I am aware of the consequences of that course of action, for all of us. I value to role she plays in the Imperial Court, and you might seldom see her if that happens. That is on top of the imposition that I already caused when she attended that school in Switzerland. For that I apologize.”
“There is no need for you to apologize” Kat replied, “She needed to learn how to function in that environment. I know that places like the Imperial Court are not the pressure cookers that they were back in the days of autocrats, but still…”
Kat just shrugged.
To get an apology from someone like Suga was rare, there wasn’t a whole that she could do over this matter though. So much was up to Marie and Kat understood that her daughter could be incredibly flighty even in the best of times.
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With the IOTL Academy Awards nominees just announced, I am going to speculate on the 1974 IOTL Best Picture nominees for films released in 1973 and if they are made ITTL.
American Graffiti: With George Lucas already having made his "Space Opera" movie ITTL, he might not make this one and with no Baby-Boom and the vastly different evolution of Rock and Roll this would be a much different movie ITTL.
Cries and Whispers: Ingmar Bergman film, still made and nominated.
The Exorcist: First Horror film nominated for Best Picture, became a cultural event still made and nominated.
The Sting: Staring Paul Newman and future President Robert Redford, a classic '70's era studio production still made and just like IOTL the winner for Best Picture.
A Touch of Class: Old Hollywood's idea of a "Hip Romantic Movie" great performance by Glenda Jackson but otherwise nothing special, something else made ITTL would be a better choice.
American Graffiti: With George Lucas already having made his "Space Opera" movie ITTL, he might not make this one and with no Baby-Boom and the vastly different evolution of Rock and Roll this would be a much different movie ITTL.
Cries and Whispers: Ingmar Bergman film, still made and nominated.
The Exorcist: First Horror film nominated for Best Picture, became a cultural event still made and nominated.
The Sting: Staring Paul Newman and future President Robert Redford, a classic '70's era studio production still made and just like IOTL the winner for Best Picture.
A Touch of Class: Old Hollywood's idea of a "Hip Romantic Movie" great performance by Glenda Jackson but otherwise nothing special, something else made ITTL would be a better choice.
I can't believe I missed Tuesday's update...
I think I'll have to go and rewatch that. Dog Soldiers has so many quotable lines, very, very few of them would work ITTL as the cultural references aren't there.
Love that film.
I think I'll have to go and rewatch that. Dog Soldiers has so many quotable lines, very, very few of them would work ITTL as the cultural references aren't there.
Love that film.
Part 133, Chapter 2278
Chapter Two Thousand Two Hundred Seventy-Eight
16th February 1974
Tempelhof, Berlin
“You do know that they have been arguing about you?” Angelica asked Marie Alexandra from the doorway of her bedroom. Curiously, Sophie’s dog Sprocket had evidently decided that Angelica was his person while Sophie was away, and he was sniffing around Marie’s room.
She was going through the extensive collection clothes and makeup with the intention of taking a walk to the market as someone else. It only took a bit of work, but the pale young woman with red hair who Marie saw in the mirror could vanish for a little bit. Of course, the old joke about how wherever you go, there you are had grown increasingly apparent as time wore on. This wasn’t helped by the University students who made up much of the staff of the market making a game of seeing through her various disguises. The trouble for Marie was that she didn’t want to be recognized, she just wanted to feel anonymous for a short time. The University students quickly figuring out who she was happened to be a reminder of how there were aspects of herself that she couldn’t change, which she found annoying. Marie also lacked her mother’s obsessive need for fitness, something that had infected Sophie. All of that combined to make Marie’s appearance, well… average. There was no other term that could be used, something which Marie found annoying.
Now Angelica, who meant well but was going about it the wrong way, had just reminded her that her parents had been arguing about what was going on with her. For the life of her, Marie could not understand why Suga had decided to act as an intermediary between her and her parents a couple days earlier. That had disrupted the equilibrium of this household.
“I know Angi” Marie replied, “And I wish they wouldn’t.”
With that, Angelica walked up and hugged Marie. She was rather surprised by that kind gesture. Marie supposed that it was an Italian thing, but they tended to like large families and Angelica had been alone for most of her childhood. She had delighted in finding herself the youngest in a large diverse family, taking things like Sophie’s inferiority complex or Tatiana’s need to be a complete bitch at times, and lately, Marie’s own drama in stride. She even got on well with Gretchen Schultz who stayed with them when Nancy Jensen was out of town.
“I cannot believe all of this is yours” Angelica said, her attention instantly diverted by the things that crowded every horizontal surface. Like every other girl who had set foot in Marie’s room over the last few years, Angelica found the collection that Marie had amassed over the last decade irresistible. It wasn’t just the various costumes and theatrical supplies, but books, toys, and various items that had just interested her at the time.
Marie could only hope that Angelica didn’t become a constant nuisance like Sophie had been before she had found other interests.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The conversation had consumed every moment they had been together for the last two days after the Empress had decided to get involved on Valentine’s Day. Doug had tried his level best to make that day special. His plans that had been unfortunately dashed and every difficulty and frustration had come to the fore. Tatiana was following in Kat’s footsteps, much to her profound disappointment. Malcolm seemed to have vanished. And now there was this problem with Marie Alexandra.
What was unsaid was that Marie was special to Kat in ways that the others were not, even Tatiana and Malcolm. Before she had been born, Kat had made some serious choices and that was reflected in how they interacted with each other. That also made Kat a bit resistant to letting her go.
“I made some calls today” Doug said, “The Canadian Embassy and the Dean of Admissions at my old University. They would be overjoyed to have Marie, especially with her being a legacy admission. This is one of the top Universities in Canada and they have a Liberal Arts program that seems like it was made with her in mind.”
It was the same University that Doug and his father had attended. That made it extremely easy, but there were other considerations though. He was aware that he had only mentioned this as a possibility, not that he would go ahead and make those calls. There was also one other thing that Kat brought up herself.
“Margot will see this as some kind of victory” Kat muttered, “Her living in Montreal.”
Margot, Doug’s mother had never liked her. To Margot, Kat was one of those hated Huns who had killed thousands of soldiers from the British Empire, including more than fifty-thousand Canadians, radically altering the composition of the country in the process. Not that Kat had passed up any chances to needle Margot over the last three decades either.
“I wouldn’t go that far” Doug said, “You know as well as I do just how difficult Marie can be at times. With how she delights in being unconventional she will drive my mother up the wall. McGill was also affiliated with the Presbyterian Church until fairly recently, knowing that Marie has no issues going there will also be like an itch she cannot scratch.”
Kat was amused by that, but there was a bit of sadness.
“It would have to be up to Marie though” Kat said, “Living an ocean away for several years might not suit her.”
Her, or you? Doug thought to himself but didn’t say it aloud.
“Of course,” Doug said, “She will have a chance to go there this summer to take the tour, she might still decide to stay closer to home.”
Even as he said that Doug knew that Marie Alexandra would probably jump at the chance. What Suga had told Kat about Marie needing some distance to figure out the direction of her life was something that was impossible to ignore.
16th February 1974
Tempelhof, Berlin
“You do know that they have been arguing about you?” Angelica asked Marie Alexandra from the doorway of her bedroom. Curiously, Sophie’s dog Sprocket had evidently decided that Angelica was his person while Sophie was away, and he was sniffing around Marie’s room.
She was going through the extensive collection clothes and makeup with the intention of taking a walk to the market as someone else. It only took a bit of work, but the pale young woman with red hair who Marie saw in the mirror could vanish for a little bit. Of course, the old joke about how wherever you go, there you are had grown increasingly apparent as time wore on. This wasn’t helped by the University students who made up much of the staff of the market making a game of seeing through her various disguises. The trouble for Marie was that she didn’t want to be recognized, she just wanted to feel anonymous for a short time. The University students quickly figuring out who she was happened to be a reminder of how there were aspects of herself that she couldn’t change, which she found annoying. Marie also lacked her mother’s obsessive need for fitness, something that had infected Sophie. All of that combined to make Marie’s appearance, well… average. There was no other term that could be used, something which Marie found annoying.
Now Angelica, who meant well but was going about it the wrong way, had just reminded her that her parents had been arguing about what was going on with her. For the life of her, Marie could not understand why Suga had decided to act as an intermediary between her and her parents a couple days earlier. That had disrupted the equilibrium of this household.
“I know Angi” Marie replied, “And I wish they wouldn’t.”
With that, Angelica walked up and hugged Marie. She was rather surprised by that kind gesture. Marie supposed that it was an Italian thing, but they tended to like large families and Angelica had been alone for most of her childhood. She had delighted in finding herself the youngest in a large diverse family, taking things like Sophie’s inferiority complex or Tatiana’s need to be a complete bitch at times, and lately, Marie’s own drama in stride. She even got on well with Gretchen Schultz who stayed with them when Nancy Jensen was out of town.
“I cannot believe all of this is yours” Angelica said, her attention instantly diverted by the things that crowded every horizontal surface. Like every other girl who had set foot in Marie’s room over the last few years, Angelica found the collection that Marie had amassed over the last decade irresistible. It wasn’t just the various costumes and theatrical supplies, but books, toys, and various items that had just interested her at the time.
Marie could only hope that Angelica didn’t become a constant nuisance like Sophie had been before she had found other interests.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The conversation had consumed every moment they had been together for the last two days after the Empress had decided to get involved on Valentine’s Day. Doug had tried his level best to make that day special. His plans that had been unfortunately dashed and every difficulty and frustration had come to the fore. Tatiana was following in Kat’s footsteps, much to her profound disappointment. Malcolm seemed to have vanished. And now there was this problem with Marie Alexandra.
What was unsaid was that Marie was special to Kat in ways that the others were not, even Tatiana and Malcolm. Before she had been born, Kat had made some serious choices and that was reflected in how they interacted with each other. That also made Kat a bit resistant to letting her go.
“I made some calls today” Doug said, “The Canadian Embassy and the Dean of Admissions at my old University. They would be overjoyed to have Marie, especially with her being a legacy admission. This is one of the top Universities in Canada and they have a Liberal Arts program that seems like it was made with her in mind.”
It was the same University that Doug and his father had attended. That made it extremely easy, but there were other considerations though. He was aware that he had only mentioned this as a possibility, not that he would go ahead and make those calls. There was also one other thing that Kat brought up herself.
“Margot will see this as some kind of victory” Kat muttered, “Her living in Montreal.”
Margot, Doug’s mother had never liked her. To Margot, Kat was one of those hated Huns who had killed thousands of soldiers from the British Empire, including more than fifty-thousand Canadians, radically altering the composition of the country in the process. Not that Kat had passed up any chances to needle Margot over the last three decades either.
“I wouldn’t go that far” Doug said, “You know as well as I do just how difficult Marie can be at times. With how she delights in being unconventional she will drive my mother up the wall. McGill was also affiliated with the Presbyterian Church until fairly recently, knowing that Marie has no issues going there will also be like an itch she cannot scratch.”
Kat was amused by that, but there was a bit of sadness.
“It would have to be up to Marie though” Kat said, “Living an ocean away for several years might not suit her.”
Her, or you? Doug thought to himself but didn’t say it aloud.
“Of course,” Doug said, “She will have a chance to go there this summer to take the tour, she might still decide to stay closer to home.”
Even as he said that Doug knew that Marie Alexandra would probably jump at the chance. What Suga had told Kat about Marie needing some distance to figure out the direction of her life was something that was impossible to ignore.
Zella's film on Kiki in Russia as Best Foreign Documentary? What would be the title? A German Princess in the Motherland (Kiki would kill her); Rapprochement: Germany and the New Russia or On the River, an Exploration of the Unknown Russia.
Considering we are right now seemingly transiting to a new generation, a thought.
OTL among Berliners this would have been very much the generation that was depicted in the book "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo". And considering the background of several characters, they might have actually belonged to that drug and prostitution milieu in a different world.
Now TTL doesn't have a divided Berlin with all that trouble that brought. It doesn't have a parent generation that themselves are often damaged in one way or another by WW2 and the aftermath in quite the way of OTL. It also doesn't seem to have the social tensions that led to the OTL formation of the Rote Armee Fraktion.
We also don't seem to have the slum clearances into social housing blocks of OTL - at least looking at the various developments among Tempelhof and the insights into Sepp's family. (Though there might be an increase in sprawl on the other hand?)
Anyway, thinking about things, even reaping the long term benefits of Langists planning I would expect some internal trouble to cook up again. And at least some of them coming from the left - considering nationalism seems to have caught a dampener over things in Poland.
OTL among Berliners this would have been very much the generation that was depicted in the book "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo". And considering the background of several characters, they might have actually belonged to that drug and prostitution milieu in a different world.
Now TTL doesn't have a divided Berlin with all that trouble that brought. It doesn't have a parent generation that themselves are often damaged in one way or another by WW2 and the aftermath in quite the way of OTL. It also doesn't seem to have the social tensions that led to the OTL formation of the Rote Armee Fraktion.
We also don't seem to have the slum clearances into social housing blocks of OTL - at least looking at the various developments among Tempelhof and the insights into Sepp's family. (Though there might be an increase in sprawl on the other hand?)
Anyway, thinking about things, even reaping the long term benefits of Langists planning I would expect some internal trouble to cook up again. And at least some of them coming from the left - considering nationalism seems to have caught a dampener over things in Poland.
What Kat doesn't know but we do, is that Marie is convinced that Oma Margot hates her and with the declining health of Margot I can see Marie trying to reach out to her grandmother before it is too late only to have Margot reject her.
If Marie does go to McGill University (most probably will) there are going to be a lot of interested foreign intelligence services who are going to keep tabs on her not just because of who her mother is but also because of her place as a translator/advisor to Empress Suga.
Which brings us to a couple of more points, with Marie's prodigious talent in picking up languages and her being a trusted member of Empress Suga's Court, the University administration may call on her to act as a translator/guide to important (Rich) visitors from other countries and second Marie should be told in no uncertain terms that she is never to cross over the border into U.S. territory without Diplomatic Immunity and protection because she will be stopped and detained by the INS and turned over for questioning by the FBI.
That has been part of the challenge lately. No divided Berlin or East Germany, the near leveling of the city by the USAAF and RAF never occurred. While the social housing blocks you mentioned do exist, they are not to the extent of OTL. The borders of Berlin are not as clearly defined. You also don't have the social implications of long term military occupation and an entire generation traumatized by a Fascist dictatorship followed by near annihilation of society.