Not the same person, and that joke is the sort that's funny until someone's crazy enough to do it.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance.
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Not the same person, and that joke is the sort that's funny until someone's crazy enough to do it.
Part 55, Chapter 760
Chapter Seven Hundred Sixty
10th October 1949
Jena
“Hans and Helene are good examples of opposites attracting” Kat said, “I won’t go into what this astrologer that Gerta knows said about them, that they were totally incompatible. Goes to show what a bunch of garbage that is. Kurt and Gerta are sort of strange, she says that she thinks that monogamy is a sick joke, but she doesn’t have eyes for anyone other than Kurt and she obviously misses him when he’s away. The two of them were made for each other.”
Peter was letting Kat carry on at length, he knew that she was avoiding several uncomfortable topics by doing this. It was also interesting to see how she saw things. Helene was also one of Peter’s patients and he knew that Hans and Helene had a turbulent relationship at times. On bad days they had a somewhat unique ability to aggravate each other. Kat had received a letter from her American friend complaining about how everyone thought that she was in a relationship with a mutual acquaintance named Dietrich Schultz. Kat had mentioned her experiences of her friends who were in relationships themselves.
“Is there a point to all this?” Peter asked.
“You remember Tilo and Nancy from my wedding, don’t you?” Kat asked in reply, “He wasn’t such a prick after he got back from the Pacific and they were good friends from instant they started working together in the museum. I don’t know if there is potential for more than that.”
“It’s noticeable that you aren’t mentioning your own marriage” Peter observed.
Kat sat silently as she thought of how to answer the question. “I can’t imagine life without him, but things have been strained since last June” She said, “That brought a lot of things to the surface that have been there for a long time.”
“You are still torn on that question?”
“Aunt Marcella said that I would have chosen to have had that baby” Kat said, “Because of my love for Douglas.”
“Does he know that?” Peter asked.
“I haven’t told him” Kat replied, “Should’ve I?”
“He can’t read your mind Katherine” Peter said, “Would you mind telling me why you didn’t.”
“He might want to try, for real this time.”
Peter saw Kat’s face when she said that, she was attempting an air of nonchalance, but flashes of fear were slipping through.
“And you don’t think you are ready for that” Peter said. He doubted that she would ever be but that was probably the truth.
“How can I have a child?” Kat asked, “Depression and children are a horrible mix. Then there is that terrible photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“It’s in the police archives” Kat said, “I saw it last week, I had no idea it had even been taken. It’s of my face when I was twelve, right after…”
She trailed off, unwilling to continue.
“You are never going to be completely at peace with what happened” Peter said.
“Yes, but the Polizeihauptmeister is waiting for us to investigate a rape and then seeing if I break the rules to get at the perpetrator” Kat said, “I know it.”
“If you know this then don’t do it” Peter replied, “We’ve been working for a long time to get you to control your anger.”
“What if it’s someone like Merten Beck? He bragged about what he did to me and thought it was funny.”
“And who exactly told you that?” Peter asked.
Kat went still, realizing that she had just said way too much.
“Kat, everything said in this room is confidential, unless I feel that that you are a danger to yourself and others I have no obligation to report it” Peter said, “This isn’t the first time you’ve let slip that you know who killed the man who assaulted you.”
She’d also witnessed that murder and lied about that entire portion of her life for years afterwards. Peter let that slide for now, but he had felt that she needed to deal with that part of her life for a long time. Otto Mischner wasn’t his patient and he wasn’t sure what he would do if Kat ever admitted that she saw him commit that murder. How far did confidentiality extend in cases like this?
“Still though” Kat said, “What if I can’t control myself?”
“It’s not difficult in theory, the division you are currently working with is called Crimes Against Persons” Peter said, “You’re expected to learn from officers with far more experience than you. Follow their lead and keep your focus on the Persons in question. Not the crime or certainly not the perpetrator.”
“You make that sound easy.”
No, I think I will be one of the hardest things you will ever have to do” Peter said, “You’ll have the victim there with you while the emotions are still raw and that will bring out your own personal demons. You can’t surrender to your anger at that moment, instead you’ll need to be a shoulder to cry on. You’ve had enough experience doing that with your girls.”
They sat there in silence for a few moments before Peter changed the subject. “I know that you’ve already got a full plate, but Doctor Brandt and I have been conducting long term follow up on the experimental PTS treatment that you were a part of” He said, “We would like it if you could give us time for an interview in the near future.”
“Doctor Tangeman was a part of that” Kat said, “I miss her.”
“We all do, but you owe it to her to keep moving forward.”
10th October 1949
Jena
“Hans and Helene are good examples of opposites attracting” Kat said, “I won’t go into what this astrologer that Gerta knows said about them, that they were totally incompatible. Goes to show what a bunch of garbage that is. Kurt and Gerta are sort of strange, she says that she thinks that monogamy is a sick joke, but she doesn’t have eyes for anyone other than Kurt and she obviously misses him when he’s away. The two of them were made for each other.”
Peter was letting Kat carry on at length, he knew that she was avoiding several uncomfortable topics by doing this. It was also interesting to see how she saw things. Helene was also one of Peter’s patients and he knew that Hans and Helene had a turbulent relationship at times. On bad days they had a somewhat unique ability to aggravate each other. Kat had received a letter from her American friend complaining about how everyone thought that she was in a relationship with a mutual acquaintance named Dietrich Schultz. Kat had mentioned her experiences of her friends who were in relationships themselves.
“Is there a point to all this?” Peter asked.
“You remember Tilo and Nancy from my wedding, don’t you?” Kat asked in reply, “He wasn’t such a prick after he got back from the Pacific and they were good friends from instant they started working together in the museum. I don’t know if there is potential for more than that.”
“It’s noticeable that you aren’t mentioning your own marriage” Peter observed.
Kat sat silently as she thought of how to answer the question. “I can’t imagine life without him, but things have been strained since last June” She said, “That brought a lot of things to the surface that have been there for a long time.”
“You are still torn on that question?”
“Aunt Marcella said that I would have chosen to have had that baby” Kat said, “Because of my love for Douglas.”
“Does he know that?” Peter asked.
“I haven’t told him” Kat replied, “Should’ve I?”
“He can’t read your mind Katherine” Peter said, “Would you mind telling me why you didn’t.”
“He might want to try, for real this time.”
Peter saw Kat’s face when she said that, she was attempting an air of nonchalance, but flashes of fear were slipping through.
“And you don’t think you are ready for that” Peter said. He doubted that she would ever be but that was probably the truth.
“How can I have a child?” Kat asked, “Depression and children are a horrible mix. Then there is that terrible photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“It’s in the police archives” Kat said, “I saw it last week, I had no idea it had even been taken. It’s of my face when I was twelve, right after…”
She trailed off, unwilling to continue.
“You are never going to be completely at peace with what happened” Peter said.
“Yes, but the Polizeihauptmeister is waiting for us to investigate a rape and then seeing if I break the rules to get at the perpetrator” Kat said, “I know it.”
“If you know this then don’t do it” Peter replied, “We’ve been working for a long time to get you to control your anger.”
“What if it’s someone like Merten Beck? He bragged about what he did to me and thought it was funny.”
“And who exactly told you that?” Peter asked.
Kat went still, realizing that she had just said way too much.
“Kat, everything said in this room is confidential, unless I feel that that you are a danger to yourself and others I have no obligation to report it” Peter said, “This isn’t the first time you’ve let slip that you know who killed the man who assaulted you.”
She’d also witnessed that murder and lied about that entire portion of her life for years afterwards. Peter let that slide for now, but he had felt that she needed to deal with that part of her life for a long time. Otto Mischner wasn’t his patient and he wasn’t sure what he would do if Kat ever admitted that she saw him commit that murder. How far did confidentiality extend in cases like this?
“Still though” Kat said, “What if I can’t control myself?”
“It’s not difficult in theory, the division you are currently working with is called Crimes Against Persons” Peter said, “You’re expected to learn from officers with far more experience than you. Follow their lead and keep your focus on the Persons in question. Not the crime or certainly not the perpetrator.”
“You make that sound easy.”
No, I think I will be one of the hardest things you will ever have to do” Peter said, “You’ll have the victim there with you while the emotions are still raw and that will bring out your own personal demons. You can’t surrender to your anger at that moment, instead you’ll need to be a shoulder to cry on. You’ve had enough experience doing that with your girls.”
They sat there in silence for a few moments before Peter changed the subject. “I know that you’ve already got a full plate, but Doctor Brandt and I have been conducting long term follow up on the experimental PTS treatment that you were a part of” He said, “We would like it if you could give us time for an interview in the near future.”
“Doctor Tangeman was a part of that” Kat said, “I miss her.”
“We all do, but you owe it to her to keep moving forward.”
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An action film set in Italy is far more plausible than The Conqueror.
Yellowstone erupting is more plausible than "The Conqueror."
A Benz in the backyard of Ferrari and Lamborghini, heresy of the highest order.
The racing division of Alfa Romeo split off from them in 1939 to become Ferrari. Lamborghini wasn't founded until 1963 in OTL. Maserati has been around since 1914. Alfa Romeo since 1910. The prospect of a film that could include a whole lot of vintage sports cars from this era should have every car guy drooling. Not just a Benz but a whole lot of cars from Italy, England and Germany. 
At first I thought, "Round up some Kar98Ks to shoot back with," and then "Or maybe machine guns. They still use full-power cartridges, don't they?"
And them I realized Kar98Ks or machine guns are still playing by the same rules. Better to plaster them with 50mm mortar rounds that they can't reply to.
Kurt's a really good officer, going out and seeing what's going on.
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Part 55, Chapter 761
Chapter Seven Hundred Sixty-One
13th October 1949
Potsdam
“I’ve no idea how to do any of that this Freddy” Gia said, “Matthias is the one you need to ask, him being a Jäger and all.”
Freddy frowned. Since he’d been going to the Gymnasium he’d also been encouraged to get involved in other things as well, in this case scouting. The trouble was that he was supposed to figure out most of this stuff through study and with his friends with minimal adult input. Asking Matthias could be considered violating the ethos of self-reliance, whatever that meant. He had spent years playing in the forests around the palaces and on the banks of the Havel river. He’d thought of the manicured nature of it as a joke, now he was starting to see it’s parklike aspect. The idea that there was this entire skillset that he didn’t know and may just not have any talent in.
“If you were having troubles with this. Why didn’t you ask sooner?” Gia asked.
“I thought you grew up in a real forest?” Freddy asked trying to change the subject. Asking Gia had been sort of a last resort. Even if she was an adult, she was his cousin and a girl.
Gia sighed, “There’s an enormous difference between living in a house in the middle of nowhere because you are trying desperately to hide and knowing about wilderness survival” She said, “My mother told me to always keep the house in sight and other than knowing that the road was downhill from the house in case I got lost, I didn’t need to know much more than that. The one time I tried to walk into town it ended badly.”
“How badly?” Freddy asked.
Gia stared at him for a long moment like if he’d just said something that he shouldn’t have.
“I nearly died from hypothermia and blood loss” Gia said flatly, “If Matthias can’t help, don’t you have the study material and friends you can ask?”
Freddy didn’t know what to tell Gia and what she said was terrifying. The problems with that were obvious, the material in the books was dry and not always complete, also the way he lived sort of made having friends who could help a difficult prospect. Sure, he had friends at school but the instant he left there he was right back to the reality of being Prince Friedrich. He suddenly had an education as to why Gia had fought for so long to maintain her old life and had run away when she was forced to give that up.
“It’s not like I can ask them” Freddy whined.
Gia tried to hide her annoyance with Freddy. She had spent a good portion of the summer having Judita and Kris angry with her because she didn’t ask, she just assumed and everyone else was forced to catch up with her. Eventually she’d been forced to apologize for disregarding the others and making her problems everyone else’s. I wasn’t a happy memory. Now her and Judita were having to take every class this University term together. Kat was seriously getting the last word on this matter. Now she was seeing the same behavior being exhibited by Freddy and she would have wondered if someone had put him up to it if she hadn’t seen him struggle with this over the last few weeks.
“Have you asked any of them?” Gia asked. She watched as Freddy stood there blinking.
A demonic little voice whispered in the back of her mind that this was what it was like for others to deal with her.
“I’m the wrong person to ask” Gia said, “You have resources that most people can only dream of and your friends would be thrilled if you offered to share. Matthias, Schafer, even Ilse know loads about this stuff and no one expects you to learn this stuff on your own.”
“But I was told that I needed to be self-sufficient” Freddy replied.
“That’s an ideal” Gia said, “The truth is that none of us do everything on our own and occasionally need to ask for help.”
With that Gia felt a stab of guilt. As she thought through the implications of what she was saying. It was what everyone had been trying to say to her until she’d picked that fight with Judita.
Kleinberg, Silesia
Another rotten day in a rotten life, Lothar thought to himself as he staggered out to the car. He’d been cut off in the middle of what had been an enjoyable evening. That had resulted in him shouting at the bartender who had said that he was banned forever from the tavern. That was a load pure horse shit, he was friends with the owner. Tomorrow he’d have to come back and see to it that the useless slug tending bar was sacked. As he fumbled for his keys of his car he dropped them in the gutter.
Earlier that day his father, the great and wonderful, Graf Manfred von Richthofen had learned that he’d been grounded by Lufthansa until he got his drinking under control. What a sick farce that was. He’d seen the photographs of his father’s outfit in the First World War, none of them had been teetotalers. Total hypocrite.
Picking up his keys he managed to get the door of his car unlocked. He sat in the seat there for a long time. He’d have to go home and face his father. Eventually he’d fallen asleep. A couple hours later he woke up to having a constable tapping on the window of his car a few centimeters from his face. Probably just as well, he’d been in no state to drive earlier.
“I’m fine, just sleeping one off” Lothar said. The constable moved on. Putting the car into gear he backed out and turned onto the road towards home. As he left Kleinburg proper the road grew dark once he was beyond the streetlights, he’d have to sneak into his room like if he was some stupid kid in the early morning hours. Tomorrow he’d have to deal with his father’s disapproval again, this time for coming home late.
Lothar came around a bend in the road and saw two eyes glowing in the headlights of his car. It resolved into a brown body, pointed ears and a wide spread of antlers. Stomping on the brakes and trying to swerve away he overcorrected even as he hit the deer. He made a sharp right hand turn off the road and through a fence before the car high-centered on something. He sat there for a few seconds, marveling that he’d been unhurt. This time anyway. His father would probably have a few words for him over wrecking his car. Reaching for the handle he started to open the door as the car was bathed in a white light and he heard the blast of a steam whistle…
13th October 1949
Potsdam
“I’ve no idea how to do any of that this Freddy” Gia said, “Matthias is the one you need to ask, him being a Jäger and all.”
Freddy frowned. Since he’d been going to the Gymnasium he’d also been encouraged to get involved in other things as well, in this case scouting. The trouble was that he was supposed to figure out most of this stuff through study and with his friends with minimal adult input. Asking Matthias could be considered violating the ethos of self-reliance, whatever that meant. He had spent years playing in the forests around the palaces and on the banks of the Havel river. He’d thought of the manicured nature of it as a joke, now he was starting to see it’s parklike aspect. The idea that there was this entire skillset that he didn’t know and may just not have any talent in.
“If you were having troubles with this. Why didn’t you ask sooner?” Gia asked.
“I thought you grew up in a real forest?” Freddy asked trying to change the subject. Asking Gia had been sort of a last resort. Even if she was an adult, she was his cousin and a girl.
Gia sighed, “There’s an enormous difference between living in a house in the middle of nowhere because you are trying desperately to hide and knowing about wilderness survival” She said, “My mother told me to always keep the house in sight and other than knowing that the road was downhill from the house in case I got lost, I didn’t need to know much more than that. The one time I tried to walk into town it ended badly.”
“How badly?” Freddy asked.
Gia stared at him for a long moment like if he’d just said something that he shouldn’t have.
“I nearly died from hypothermia and blood loss” Gia said flatly, “If Matthias can’t help, don’t you have the study material and friends you can ask?”
Freddy didn’t know what to tell Gia and what she said was terrifying. The problems with that were obvious, the material in the books was dry and not always complete, also the way he lived sort of made having friends who could help a difficult prospect. Sure, he had friends at school but the instant he left there he was right back to the reality of being Prince Friedrich. He suddenly had an education as to why Gia had fought for so long to maintain her old life and had run away when she was forced to give that up.
“It’s not like I can ask them” Freddy whined.
Gia tried to hide her annoyance with Freddy. She had spent a good portion of the summer having Judita and Kris angry with her because she didn’t ask, she just assumed and everyone else was forced to catch up with her. Eventually she’d been forced to apologize for disregarding the others and making her problems everyone else’s. I wasn’t a happy memory. Now her and Judita were having to take every class this University term together. Kat was seriously getting the last word on this matter. Now she was seeing the same behavior being exhibited by Freddy and she would have wondered if someone had put him up to it if she hadn’t seen him struggle with this over the last few weeks.
“Have you asked any of them?” Gia asked. She watched as Freddy stood there blinking.
A demonic little voice whispered in the back of her mind that this was what it was like for others to deal with her.
“I’m the wrong person to ask” Gia said, “You have resources that most people can only dream of and your friends would be thrilled if you offered to share. Matthias, Schafer, even Ilse know loads about this stuff and no one expects you to learn this stuff on your own.”
“But I was told that I needed to be self-sufficient” Freddy replied.
“That’s an ideal” Gia said, “The truth is that none of us do everything on our own and occasionally need to ask for help.”
With that Gia felt a stab of guilt. As she thought through the implications of what she was saying. It was what everyone had been trying to say to her until she’d picked that fight with Judita.
Kleinberg, Silesia
Another rotten day in a rotten life, Lothar thought to himself as he staggered out to the car. He’d been cut off in the middle of what had been an enjoyable evening. That had resulted in him shouting at the bartender who had said that he was banned forever from the tavern. That was a load pure horse shit, he was friends with the owner. Tomorrow he’d have to come back and see to it that the useless slug tending bar was sacked. As he fumbled for his keys of his car he dropped them in the gutter.
Earlier that day his father, the great and wonderful, Graf Manfred von Richthofen had learned that he’d been grounded by Lufthansa until he got his drinking under control. What a sick farce that was. He’d seen the photographs of his father’s outfit in the First World War, none of them had been teetotalers. Total hypocrite.
Picking up his keys he managed to get the door of his car unlocked. He sat in the seat there for a long time. He’d have to go home and face his father. Eventually he’d fallen asleep. A couple hours later he woke up to having a constable tapping on the window of his car a few centimeters from his face. Probably just as well, he’d been in no state to drive earlier.
“I’m fine, just sleeping one off” Lothar said. The constable moved on. Putting the car into gear he backed out and turned onto the road towards home. As he left Kleinburg proper the road grew dark once he was beyond the streetlights, he’d have to sneak into his room like if he was some stupid kid in the early morning hours. Tomorrow he’d have to deal with his father’s disapproval again, this time for coming home late.
Lothar came around a bend in the road and saw two eyes glowing in the headlights of his car. It resolved into a brown body, pointed ears and a wide spread of antlers. Stomping on the brakes and trying to swerve away he overcorrected even as he hit the deer. He made a sharp right hand turn off the road and through a fence before the car high-centered on something. He sat there for a few seconds, marveling that he’d been unhurt. This time anyway. His father would probably have a few words for him over wrecking his car. Reaching for the handle he started to open the door as the car was bathed in a white light and he heard the blast of a steam whistle…
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It's a crushing disappointment, approaching.
If he'd been bothered to read his horoscope it would have said "Keep an eye out, something big is coming your way."
Lothar winds up as a crushed disappointment to Manfred.
Gia and Freddy interaction is interesting.
Oh well.... You know, Manfred for once will break down a bit if he died.
Behind the Old School Junker that forged the Luftwaffe, behind the disappointment and anger of how his son's life went, he still cared in his own way.
And now there is no second chance to fix his life, no explanation of why Luther, even with all the disappointments, he STILL could return to his father's house.
In a sense, it was relieving, yet doubly bitter that his younger son unexpectedly found his own path as a man and now was following a career in the Kaiserliche Marine , under the wing of the Admiral Schmidt, and from the likely talk (Because with Schmidt's reputation it's highly likely that he and Manfred must have gotten a talk about his son at least).... as It made Lothar's faults shone even more in hindsight.
And that its going to break down the mask of the old Junker......
Behind the Old School Junker that forged the Luftwaffe, behind the disappointment and anger of how his son's life went, he still cared in his own way.
And now there is no second chance to fix his life, no explanation of why Luther, even with all the disappointments, he STILL could return to his father's house.
In a sense, it was relieving, yet doubly bitter that his younger son unexpectedly found his own path as a man and now was following a career in the Kaiserliche Marine , under the wing of the Admiral Schmidt, and from the likely talk (Because with Schmidt's reputation it's highly likely that he and Manfred must have gotten a talk about his son at least).... as It made Lothar's faults shone even more in hindsight.
And that its going to break down the mask of the old Junker......
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He may not get squooshed. If it's a double track line, it could be on the other track. Of course, he could stumble out of the car and into the path of the train. If it's a yard, and the locomotive is a switcher (shunter for non-Americans) it could be going slowly enough to stop, or to hit at a survivable speed. Perhaps only one end of the car is on the tracks, and it'll get spun about--survivable or not, could be either way. Was he wearing a seat belt, and did he get it off in time to get out of the car?
Of course, it also could be a fast express that broadsides the car at high speed, sending debris, organic and otherwise, flying.
Of course, it also could be a fast express that broadsides the car at high speed, sending debris, organic and otherwise, flying.
Are their any seat belts? Regardless, I think this thread is being derailed by all the train puns.
In OTL SAAB introduced seat belts as a standard feature in 1958. They were an option by some manufacturers prior to that.
Right, I knew they were an option, but I wasn't sure if there would be any in the car, though.
I figured that, being from the family he's from, Lothar would have something close to a racing car, and they might have had seat belts earlier. Not banged up at all--pretty good--so far.