#didn’t think I had any more lined up but I just got tickets for franz ferdinand lol

[emilbh]

julie concert was wild. her new knife was opening & I haven’t listened to them before but I will now! julie sounded amazing live, the instrumentals were great. the number of crowd surfers and watching the mosh pits from above was funny lol

[nightcoremoon]

so for the first time I saw batman: the killing joke.

...

it was okay I guess. but massively overrated. I expected some fucking masterpiece of cinema but instead it was just two unrelated short films that were more style and flash than substance.

so first off, barbara's storyline was mediocre. franz wasn't a compelling villain; just a creep, and a trust fund brat. oh wow he's a mafia kid who stole his family's fortune by hacking. if it was the falcone family I'd have cared more but it wasn't so it's just some faceless deathfodder rando. who gives a shit. the whole situation was just a vehicle to shove batman's dick into babs. which kinda fucks over bruce's character here and judging by the timeline kinda makes him a bit of a groomer, yikes. bruce and gordon have known each other since bruce was a young boy and we know that bruce is way older than babs so yeah bruce totally knew her from birth until present day, he literally utilized an active power dynamic to police her crimefighting activities, and he should have fucking known better and stopped her when she kissed him because it would (and did) compromise their professional dynamic, but hey, batdick. and at least barbara recognized that she was behaving emotionally rather than logically when it came to bruce and paris and took the high road out. that would be a serviceable standalone episode to write her on a bus in a serialization but THIS IS A MOVIE. so for a waste of an already short runtime it's like having an appetizer before your meal but instead of something like a crab cake before stuffed flounder, you get greasy onion petals that are more fried batter than onion before getting a well done cheeseburger that's just a glorified hockey puck on a sponge with a kraft single on top. the animation and vocal delivery were excellent of course, not gonna disparage that aspect, so it was well made, but the writing was just not very good. a polished turd. quantic dream must have developed it then because it feels like I watched a david cage production.

so in a 78 minute movie, five of which were the credits, we had a half hour Disney/Pixar short except those bring joy and this brought boring. also there were a lot of shots of her ass tits and underwear that were obnoxiously male-gazey and there was a token gay for the sole purpose of dangling a carrot on a stick for the queers. look kids, warner brothers and dc comics cares about the lgbts! give us money! a waste of time before the real reason why anyone came to see the movie that literally only exists to pad out the runtime to make it a feature length (even though paying a full ticket would've been a total ripoff because, again, IT WAS ONLY 78. even 9 was 81 minutes long and that had an amazing storyline so I forgave it, but 78 minutes? ugh.

also, GOTHAM RAGE??? CRINGE. SO CRINGE.

alright now for the joker segment.

*ahem*

what the fuck? that sucked! *throws tomato*

mark hamill and the joker's lines and the art and the cinematography and the choreography was all good and the plot was cohesive. I get it.

but holy shit was the writing weak as fuck.

okay so some rando breaks the J-ster out of Arkham (already unlikely but ugh whatever), he didn't turn a trick or recruit or anything, he just went to purchase a carnival. or, steal one. but wait, he DID recruit, but he went to get all of the stereotypical Circus Freak™ stereotypes. little people, fat lady, bearded lady, wolf man, strongman, diaper man (wait, what?), and the two headed woman. I guess if you don't really think about why all of them were super readily available in the outskirts between arkham and gotham [i just realized they both end with -am] then it makes enough sense. and then literally right after that HE RECRUITS SOME GUYS TO HELP HIM KIDNAP GORDON. and then strips and photographs barbara. um. ew. you can tell the writer and director were men. Alan Moore is constantly molesting women in his comics and this one trick pony should be put down already. but whatever. the plot is weak and it only gets saved by the flashback sequences.

oh.

oh no.

they're not that great.

he's a failed unfunny comedian who just wants some money to move his wife to a better house so he turns to thievery with the mob. OR YOU COULD JUST STOP GOING TO THE BAR AND BLOWING IT ALL ON BOOZE. I mean the cops knew where to find him after all so clearly he's a repeat customer (or moore is a bad plot writer who relies on convenience and shut the fuck up and don't critically analyze it). alright so he gets wrapped up in the mob to perform a heist on a playing card factory. GET IT, BECAUSE HE'S THE JOKER??? and he uses the moniker of the red hood to retain his anonymity. I expected the mobsters to be working for francisco but no the paris storyline was only cooked up screenplay for passing the runtime so why would they do something clever and interesting and make the film cohesive? that'd be really stupid to make the movie feel more like one movie and not two short films. at least when grindhouse & planet terror did it they advertised themselves as an anthology film. whatever. he falls in the vat of acid which melts the red hood to his face and I gotta say that's actually a pretty good idea to get his face white and his hair green and his lips red. I like that part. oh wait I forgot about the most important part! his wife gets shoved in the refrigerator. OH WOW THAT'S JUST SO COMPELLING AND ORIGINAL, TOTALLY NOT SOMETHING THAT ALREADY HAPPENED TO GREEN LANTERN. TWICE. although she wasn't literally shoved into a literal refrigerator like alex was. rip in frozen pieces you absolute legend of a trope namer. alright, so... so the joker is sad because his wife died. you know, the wife we saw for two minutes and knew the moment we saw her drenched in sepia she was gonna die. and she died offscreen. kyle's gf died and he was fine. gordon's wife died and he was fine. batman's parents both died and he was fine. oh boo hoo someone I love died! fuck off. I am so goddamn sick of people trying to justify their evil with "I was sad once". it's a stupid trope and it's not compelling. the only valid version is doctor doofenshmirtz' evil(er) version in the PF movie because it's hilarious that it's because of a toy train because that's the emotional depth that fridgewomen is treated with in all of these storylines. but at least batman said so. oh yeah, I almost totally forgot, batman's in this movie.

batman punches people and nonlethally takes them out. by suffocating them and letting them get stabbed and throwing them into pits of spikes and HEY WAIT A GODDAMN SECOND! okay let's just ignore that bit and hope that the little people squeezed between the gaps in the spikes and the strongman could breathe in the face mask and the two headed women had KO gas and the fat lady was fat enough that the knives only stabbed her cellulite. it wouldn't be the biggest reach one would have to make in watching this fucking disaster of a plot mess.

now I did like that it was actually batman, and by that I mean he gave a shit about the insane because he recognizes that mental illness is not a cause of dangerous or criminal behavior, just a potential exacerbating factor if it wasn't treated. yeah he brutalized mobsters and crime lords but they were mostly in self defense while gathering intel. he politely asked sal maroni and the sex workers for information and they gave it to him without violence- he manhandled maroni but only after he reached into his pocket for a cigar which could've been a gun. also batman says sex work should be decriminalized if only by not ratting them out to the cops. he was a genuinely good person in the second half of the movie. too bad it was ruined by the shitty first half that made him a borderline groomer.

joker's song was... bad. mark hamill performed his ass off but the song wasn't that good. it just tried to be willy wonka if he was a voyeuristic monster. oh yeah have the only girl character be paralyzed stripped and photographed only to give her father ManPain™. again... the fuck? joker and batman were both gross but, again. male writers. if it was a one-off I could drop a thermian argument because, alright one and done makes sense, especially 1988 standards. but it saturated and soured the entire goddamn movie because of abhorrent pacing decisions. so you're goddamn right I'm gonna bring it up twice! joker was a creep, his plan was dumb, nolan and burton and lord/miller and even ayer had better motivations. YES I AM SAYING THAT JARED LETO'S JOKER HAD BETTER WRITING THAN MARK HAMILL'S JOKER. not nearly to the level of ledger nicholson or galifanakis but hamill didn't have a lot to work with here and I maintain that his performance was amazing; honestly I like his the best out of all of them but just... not here. but I think I can cut some slack to firelord ozai and luke skywalker even if he just phoned it in here which he didn't. writing was just weak. and that's all there is to it. don't anon me and threaten to remove my bones ok?

alright so batman and joker fought and joker got the upper hand and was gonna kill him but it was a prop gun. haha. they had a heart to heart and batman tells joker that he wants to help him get better, even after joker killed robin and molested barbara and traumatized gordon and did countless other travesties, he still said he would help. but joker said no, and told a joke that was good enough to make batman laugh. and then the credits rolled.

...

what a completely pointless and empty ending. oh it's deep and meaningful and poignant? ok sure, I guess, movie, but you didn't earn that. shyamalan did the same thing a dozen times. that doesn't make him any less of a shit writer.

I can understand the concept of batman laughing at joker's joke, humanizing him.

I get it. I see what they tried to do. I respect it.

but this movie was massively overhyped and overrated and I expected it to be so much better than it was. but overall to me it was just another batman cartoon to throw on top of the pile. maybe it was influential to graphic novels. maybe it shaped batman into what he is today. it published right as tim burton's movie and I can respect its place in the pantheon of comic history. but sometimes things that are classic...

aren't that great.

citizen kane, casablanca, the maltese falcon, the treasure of the sierra madre, gone with the wind, singing in the rain, all of them are classic and legendary pieces of art. but they're just not that good, interesting, appealing, watchable, or FUN. they were good at the time- I mean come on we all know them today- but on going back you'd have to really appreciate the finer details to still love the movies today. and this belongs there, in the vault, to be appreciated from afar. influential if dated.

but god am I still disappointed nonetheless.

TL;DR

it was just okay. had some good ideas, had some really bad ideas, had some ugly stuff. overall mediocre. first half 5/10, second half 7/10, overall 6/10.

[crimsonblackrose]

Because Big Bus didn’t open until 9:30am but most museums opened at 9am I decided rather than start my trip off at the Louvre like I had planned I would go to the Palace of Versailles. (This was also done because you can’t just go to the Louvre, you have to make an online reservation, even if you have a Museum Pass.)

Generally from downtown Paris to The Palace of Versailles it would take 1 hour and 2 minutes on the RER C line. However due to the strike this option was not available. So I took a bus to Gare Montparnasse and booked a ticket to Viroflay, only to realize at my transfer in Viroflay that my map had picked the wrong Versailles, at which point I took the bus. It probably took me over 2 hours just to get there. Due to the strikes and the rotation of which lines were running and which weren’t I highly suggest double checking everything on Citymapper. Again I hope everything is resolved by the time this post goes up, but just in case Citymapper gave me multiple routes while Google maps gave me one that I couldn’t use. Oh also, the Paris Pass public transit card didn’t go to Versailles. The Palace of Versailles is in zone 4. Which meant I had to keep buying public transit passes and wasting money when I got lost.

The first thing I did at the Palace was go through security and open my bag and show them what was in it before following people up to the gates and taking pictures. Beyond this was check-in where I scanned and started the 48 hour clock on my museum pass and was told that the palace of Versailles has a free audio guide. I highly suggest getting it if you’re not on a tour. Usually when I’m somewhere I don’t bother with audio guides but if you’ve got the time the audio guide is not only free but informative. And since I was by myself it was really nice to be able to pop into a room, look around while listening and duck to the next room, bypassing large tour groups. I’m sure the tour groups were getting a lot of unique information and any questions they had answered but I was able to get a tour and take pictures and take on the palace of Versailles at my own pace.

The palace was huge. And I was running on a pain aux chocolat, noisette, and a partially crushed croissant I’d bought at a bakery I got in Viroflay to make sure I had enough change for the bus. I stopped for a snack at the Versaille Angelina around 2pm. They had two options a side for snacks and a side for meals. Because I wanted to keep moving I decided to go down the snack route. I got a baguette sandwich and Angelina’s famous chocolat chaud. (A super thick hot chocolate). I will do an individual post on the chain Angelina’s later.

Note that there is not a lot of seating available in the snack section of the Versailles Angelina. If you are a large group and don’t see any available I suggest maybe looking at the menu again and trying the restaurant. When I arrived I was able to grab a seat by myself but in the interval it took me to start my sandwich the place filled up including all the available spaces at my own table.

There were two parts to Versailles that I managed to visit. Pre-Angelina I explored the palace itself. Post-Angelina I explored the gardens.  It took most of the day. If I had gotten their earlier, maybe not, it is possible to make Versailles a half day trip, but to give yourself time and to not stress yourself out because of how immense the grounds and everything is I highly suggest giving yourself a full day. That way if you end early then hooray you have surprise time to do something else. And if you don’t, then you prepared yourself for that.

The Palace of Versailles was home to the French monarchy for about 107 years. It lasted from Louis XIII to the French Revolution. Before, the area of Versailles, was a favored hunting ground of the previous kings, until once upon a time one decided to buy land in the area and build a small lodge. Later, after a barely avoided coup, a king decided to make it into a château. After awhile as kings came and passed Louis the XIV expanded it and hired André Le Nôtre to create the immense gardens.

The palace is symmetrical with one wing belong to the king and the other to the queen. The king’s area, much to my surprise was decked out with Roman gods. I had forgotten that Apollo was one of the few gods to not get a name change when adopted by the Romans and kept getting thrown when the audio guide would jump from saying “this room is designed with paintings of Apollo, while the next room had paintings of Mars” (Greek: Ares).

Louis XIV viewed Apollo as his own personal symbol, believing himself to be similar in many ways to the sun god. Each room was intensely decorated. Even if a lot of the actual decor from the time didn’t survive due to various wars and the revolution. The stunning art that remains though, the intricate sculptures and paintings that line every available part of the ceilings and most of the walls is due to Petite Academie, a collection of artists that the royal painter, Charles Le Brun was in charge of. The sculptures in the gardens and on the fountains are also due to him, which means I have him to thank for laughing for a good ten minutes outside one fountain in the garden.

In 1682 it became the kings primary residence and much later after some various changes and wars in 1783 it became the site of the Paris peace treaties where the U.K. signed that it recognized the United States independence. After the French Revolution and the fall of the monarchy, everything within the palace was either sent to the Louvre or sold at auction. All symbols of the monarchy (the fleur de lis) was removed (i.e. chiseled off the walls) and in 1793 it was opened for tours, while other rooms were used as a small art museum, storage and an art school.

Several French leaders thought about living in Versailles but the cost to repair the palace was generally too great to actually accomplish the goal. The 1830 French Revolution brought about a different idea. Louis-Philippe began in 1833 to change Versailles into a French Museum. He created the Galerie des Batailles (Hall of Battles) which is an immense hallway my audio guide called the Hall of Princess. Each side of the wall is filled with enormous paintings showcasing the important battles of France. It’s like a walk through history occasionally peppered with busts and statues of important people. Since then various governments have used it as a base and the current French government meets there for special occasions. It’s seen lots of treaties signed, from the aforementioned one that granted the United States independence to the treaty of Versailles which ended World War I. Many of these are signed in the stunning hall of mirrors.

The hall of mirrors is filled with beautiful chandeliers with one wall of mirrors that reflect the light and show the gardens in their beautiful glory. But also, if you go, a thing I learned early on in France, is to always look up. The ceilings are absolutely intricate and stunning with paintings and sculptures on every available inch. I have never had such a strong desire to just lay on the floor for awhile. But I figured people would look at me weird or security would yell at me so I didn’t.

After wandering the immense palace I headed out to the garden. The gardens are immense. I went with a goal to make it down to the Apollo fountain and back, which seemed like an easy goal but the large groves of trees which had a spooky air to them in winter was very alluring.

The garden is open earlier than the palace, opening at 8am, so one could technically visit the garden first then go back to the palace which is probably a very smart idea. The first thing you run into when you enter the garden is Parterre d’Eau which are two reflective pools surrounded by little maze like grasses with various statues. Down a set of stairs was my favorite fountain.

It’s called the Latona Fountain. There is no audio guide for the gardens which means you don’t get any of the history or stories for what all of the main sights are. Actually make sure you drop off the audio guide before you leave the buildings because they set off an alarm if you leave the building with it.

I found the Latona Fountain funny because from my angle I could see a bunch of regular looking people with their arms outreached above them and then one super buff frog man also reaching above him. Since I didn’t know any history. I just couldn’t stop laughing at the one buff frog man in a relatively normal fountain. But it turns out it’s based off a story, the Metamorphosis of Ovid. (Not to be confused with Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis) Apparently in this story the peasants of Lycia insulted Latona (Leto) and it angered Jupiter (Zeus) and so he turned them all into frogs. It seems it really depends on the angle in which you look at it. All six humanoid figures are suppose to be mid transformation into frogs. Just the one I saw was much more frog-like then the others and I found it delightful and confusing.

About halfway through the gardens is the Grand Canal. I didn’t make it that far, utterly exhausted by the point I made it to the Chariot of Apollo which is a large fountain right before the Grand Canal.

Among the tree groves there are various other fountains and spots to visit. However due to winter a lot of them were covered and locked up. Which was a pain since they were such a hike from one another.

I really think during other seasons the gardens must be absolutely stunning. But wear proper shoes and prepare for a lot of walking.

By the time I left the gardens I was in need of another break. Within the gardens themselves there are various places to take a break as well as places to buy a snack but I wanted, at that point, to be out of the gardens and on my way out. So I stopped only because it was on the way out, at Ore, which was having tea time.

Originally I thought stopping for high tea sounded wonderful. Though really all I wanted was water. I’d finished off my water bottle early on in the palace and hadn’t found anywhere to refill it or buy a new one.

The high tea being offered was called La Reine Marie’s Tea Time €35. It seemed like it included too much. And I wasn’t really willing to spend €35. I wanted something smaller and found Marie-Antoinette’s delight with a section called Versailles. I assumed, incorrectly that everything under the header for Versailles was a tea set. It was not. Each item below that header was €10. What I should’ve got was a sorbet or ice cream which was €7. But instead I decided to just pick something random and went with the Versailles delight and a green mint tea.

The Versailles delight was flaky with a thick sweet filling that had a slight nutty taste. I would’ve expected it to be mind blowing seeing as I had gotten flaky pastries about 30 minutes away for about €1.50.  But I also was still within the grounds of Versailles which allows people to hike up the prices, and it was a seemingly high class restaurant. (or do all restaurants in France feel high class????)

The pastry really was good. I just am super glad it fell apart so easily and that I was cutting myself small bite size pieces because there was what seemed like a fancy pastry weight in it. Also shortly after digging the pastry weight out and triple checking it wasn’t some fancy prize that I could eat without breaking my teeth I found a hair. Kinda ruined the lavish vibe the restaurant was giving off. That coupled with having to ask multiple times for water, the whole reason I went in in the first place.

There is a lot to Versailles, and I know I didn’t see all of it. I don’t think I even scratched half of the grounds. It’s busiest from April 1st through October 31st. During which time the palace itself is open from Tuesday through Sunday from 9am until 6:30pm and is closed on Mondays. During the off season from November 1st through March 31st the palace is open from 9am to 5:30pm.

The gardens are open every day from 8am to 8:30pm (busy season) and 8am until 6pm (slow/off season). The park, which I don’t think I saw opens at 7am during busy season and also closes at 8:30pm. During slow/off season the park has the same hours as the garden.

Another area I didn’t get to see was the Marie Antoinette Estate and  Palace of Trianon. These, unlike the gardens, but like the main building are closed on Mondays. They also don’t open until much later at noon for both busy and slow times of year. During the busy time they close at 6:30pm. During the slow time of year they close at 5:30pm.

Other things to note is that there is a high chance that they’ll stop letting you in up to an hour before they close so make sure you are there early. It’s so big that I would try to make sure I got there at least several hours before closing.

There are also various fountain shows and performances, depending on the time of year. None were happening though while I visited.

The Palace of Versailles/ Château de Versailles Because Big Bus didn't open until 9:30am but most museums opened at 9am I decided rather than start my trip off at the Louvre like I had planned I would go to the Palace of Versailles.

[canaryatlaw]

ok, I need to get this post written and get to sleep because I’m way tired. Today of course was another awesome day, to finish off three awesome days of the weekend. My alarm went off at 7:30, 15 minutes to get out the door since I was gonna do my make up in the car, then 15 minutes to walk to Jess’ place at 8 (it doesn’t usually take that long, but I try to budget in extra time incase I run into some complications). Got there, got in the car and headed off to HVFF. This convention center is off by O’Hare, which is pretty much in the northwest corner of Chicago, so a bit of a drive even for those of us who live on the north side as we do. But we got there in pretty good time then tried to figure out will call to get our tickets. I had a VIP badge because I bought it on sale for super cheap sometime last summer, even though it was a two day badge and I only ended up using one day because I wanted to be at C2E2 with Caity yesterday, lol. So I got whisked off to a special VIP line because we got into the show floor a full hour and a half before the general admission people. So I got in and looked around, there were a few celebrities out but not all that many, and not many of the vendors were open yet, so I decided to venture over to the “Walker Stalker” side of the con, which is a whole Walking Dead con basically, Chicago is apparently the only city that does HVFF and walker stalker together, but it was basically an entirely different space with its own vendors and celebrities. I was going over there because one of the celebrities they had who’s apparently on the walking dead is Sarah Wayne Callies, also known as Sara from Prison Break. She was the only celebrity on my list that Jess didn’t want to also meet, so I figured I’d get her done while I was alone. We had to wait a little bit, I struck up a pleasant conversation with the woman in line behind me who had also not watched any of the walking dead and was getting this autograph for a family member, so it was nice to know I wasn’t the only person who felt soooooo out of place there, lol. literally have not ever watched an episode and I’m not terribly interested in doing so, but Prison Break, so here I was. Once she came out the line started moving pretty quickly, so I got up there pretty soon. She was super lovely, I told her I had mixed feelings about a possible season 6 because I just wanted the writers to let them have their happy ending they got at the end of season 5 and not make their lives more miserable, which she thought was very valid lol. She said it wasn’t confirmed yet (apparently “Dom talks like it’s alright a done deal when it’s not even written”) but they should know soon. So that was a nice pleasant interaction. After that Jess had gotten in with the general admission people, so we went to hit up Emma Dumont from the gifted. I’m not going to share too many details of the interaction because part of it involves a surprise for a friend, and even though I don’t think she’s on tumblr I don’t want to risk her somehow finding out and ruining the surprise. But basically Emma Dumont is the COOLEST. Like, I obviously adore Caity and think she's awesome, but like, for someone who’s not my favorite I think she had the best fan interactions of any celebrities I’ve meet so far. She was so chill, she spent so much time talking to every person on line, and at one point wanted to edit the sign stating her autograph schedule because it said she was supposed to take a break and she didn’t want to, so she crossed it out and just wrote “NO BREAKS” across it and it was so so funny. She was such a delight, and the surprise portion of the interaction went over SO well, I had no idea how she was gonna react, but it was legit the best case possible, so I was very thrilled with that. After that we decided to go to Franz table and chat with him, he didn’t have much of a line so we got up there pretty quickly. I had him sign my legends poster, which now has his, Brandon’s, Caity’s and Dom’s autographs on it. When I was talking to him I was saying how sad I was when they wrote Jax off and that I really didn’t like how they did it, with all the press surrounding Victor Garber leaving and then he was written off without so much as a warning, and he was like “yeah, you’re not alone in thinking that” haha but I told him I was very much looking forward to seeing him return in the finale tomorrow. After him we went over to Katrina’s table, she hadn’t come out yet so we waited for a little bit until she came out. We decided to split a selfie, and then each get polaroids with her because they’re doing the adorable little polaroid pictures for $10. We also wanted to talk to her about our idea for the photo op later in the day, because the actual photo op is so rushed there’s really not much time to explain something like that. So we brought up the appropriate meme and showed it to her, and she was totally in for it and thought it was great, so I was happy about that. After that we took a break for lunch for a bit, then wandered around the vendors and artists until about 1:30, then got in line for Emily Bett Rickards, since she was coming back at 2 to start signing, her general admission line was crazy long, but luckily there were only two people in front of us in the VIP line. Jess wanted to meet her because she wanted to get her Felicity funko pop signed for her brother. She took until like, 2:15 to come out, but we got to see her pretty quickly. She was very sweet, and I’m not at all insulting anything about how she acted, but you could kind of tell she had had some bad experiences with fans doing really awful things and just how that can make someone have a lot of hesitance about this stuff. Her board of prices for stuff also stated *no hugs please* at the bottom, which just tells me how bad previous interactions had gone that she would now need to post that. Apparently this was one of the first times she was even doing selfies. So I felt bad for her over all of that, but she was lovely and sweet and I have no complains about her behavior. After that we went to the bathroom so Jess could change back into her Ava cosplay for the photo op. We stopped at one of the booths and I got a green shirt that says “star city archery club” because why not. We then went to the booth that had some wigs on display and asked about a blonde one, because we wanted the photo op to be easily identifiable to people. I did manage to find a blonde wig that I was actually alright with how it looked, so that was a win. It doesn’t really look like Sara’s current white canary hair, but it actually looks a lot like her season 2 of Arrow Canary wig, so that works. Then we went over to the photo op area and ran into some bitch Jess hates which we had to act civil towards and make awkward small talk, but I mostly just stared her down the whole time, lol. Once we made it into the photo op area we got called in pretty quickly, we showed Katrina the meme again so she would know exactly what to do (it’s the distracted boyfriend other girl meme if you didn’t see me reblog it earlier) so we got into those poses and oh man, it came out so awesome, I loved it. Jess snapped a photo of the print out, not even the digital copy, and posted it on twitter and it now has like, 700 likes lol so my mentions have been blowing up all day about that, which is cool. After that we ran back to Katrina’s booth just because we wanted to show her how it turned out, and she loved it and hugged both of us and was just generally very sweet. We were more or less ready to go at that point, but Elodie Yung’s table was pretty much empty, so we kinda worked our way in there and were just like “I don’t have any money left but I wanted to say I love you and you’re awesome as Elektra” and she was very sweet. After that we headed out, walked over to the parking garage and then through that to where there are some attached restaurants, because apparently if you eat at one of the restaurants they’ll validate your parking. So we went to a cute little place where we had a nice meal, Jess had the biggest plate of nachos I’ve ever seen, so she wasn’t quite able to finish all of it, lol. After that we headed home, she dropped me off and I just took the costume off, got into comfy clothes, and sat down to binge some tv. I watched the episode of Riverdale that was first on the list of episodes I’d missed, and I was really like.....I don’t find this very interesting, which is kind of a shame because Madelaine Petsch was at the con today and I did get to see her from a small distance. Oh well. At 7:30 I turned on Brooklyn 99, which was excellent of course, then started to finally start Rise, which I watched the first 3 episodes of, and I have to say I really like it so far. I know it’s supposed to be based on true events, but the Glee parallels are like, REALLY obvious, the teacher is completely Schuester 2.0, they recruit the football player, the threatening football coach, and just stuff like that. but it was definitely excellently cast, Auli’i is incredible of course, and the girl they cast as Gwen, when she did the “soft” version of purple summer, I was seriously getting chills- like the depths they went to to cast that character is nuts, and they did it very, very well. So I’m looking forward to watching more of that. And yeah, then I got in the shower and got ready for bed and here I am, did I mention I’m TIRED?? So I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight dolls. Happy start of your week.

[jeff3]

 “How do you know Maria Ankömling?”  “I don’t know a Maria Ankömling!”  The officer to his right slapped him out of his chair, another kicked him in the stomach and they sat him up in the chair again.  “Herr Schmidt, it’s best that you cooperate, it will only get worse from here.”  “I swear, I don’t know anyone by that name!” He cringed as the officer raised his hand. The interrogator showed him a photograph.  “Why, she looks like the mad girl! The Doktor’s men took her away years ago!”  “Which doktor?”  “Herr Brüning.”  “Dr. Franz Brüning, ja?  “Ja, Herr Brüning.” Two hours later he was dumped uncerimoniously in front of his farmhouse. From inside he could hear Minnie sobbing. Dabbing at his split lip with a handkerchief he opened the door.  “Ach woman, what are ya blubberin’ for now?”

The minute Klaus walked in the door he knew something was wrong. Maria sat in the darkening kitchen staring off into space, a barely touched glass of schnapps by her elbow. Outside the sun set tingeing her face scarlet and black. The hair on the back of his neck stood up at the sight of her, she looked dead.  “Leibling, is something wrong? why are you sitting in the dark?” She slowly turned her head and looked into his eyes with an intensity he’d rarely seen before. Unconciously, one hand slipped to his luger.  “Klaus, I have a favor to ask.”  “What is it? Surely it can’t be so terrible you have to drown sorrows in the dark.” He laughed. She hesitated, noticed the schnapps and downed it in a burning gulp.  “A man was arrested last week.”  “Just one? I think it was more than that. So, who’s this man who’s caught your interest, your favorite dress maker?” He grinned at her and was surprised to see her blanch.  “No, a rabbi. I’ve known him for a while, he was kind to me, he gave me advice sometimes, helped me to understand things, to know that there’s a purpose to life, he is my friend. Can  you have him released?”  “A rabbi,  picked up last week.” He opened his briefcase and riffled through some papers, pulled out a file.  “Biblowitz, Jacob Jabez,” he paused, reading. His brow furrowed and he frowned.  “I can do no such thing.”  “But Klaus, you’re a high ranking officer, you must!”  “No Maria, he was arrested in possession of forged transit papers. He is being held in Dachau until we can find out why he had them, where he got them from  and what he was planning to do with them.”  “Maybe he didn’t know they wwere forged, maybe he’s innocent!”  “He’s not innocent, he’s a Jew! They’re all criminals, animals, they can’t be trusted.”  “I trust him!”  “Then you’re a fool. Its a charade, they are born deceivers, on  the outside they ‘re ingratiating and servile, but on the inside they are devious, sly, theiving, greedy murderous bastards!”  “What?” But it was no use, he’d worked himself into a rant and went on and on about the Jewish threat and how they’d corrupted Aryan purity and how they needed to be “delt with”. The more she pleaded, the louder he became, flacks o spittle sprayed when he shouted, his breath smelled of absinthe and vodka, he grabbed her by the arm and shook her, she sl;apped him hard, rocking him back on his heels. As he gaped at her, she burst into tears and fled into the bedroom, slamming the door and locking it.  After a few moments of roaring at her through the locked door, he stormed out.

They stood in line for ten minutes looking at the crowd. The air was damp and chill, threatening to drizzle, Maria drew her stole tighter around her shoulders and shivered when Klaus leaned close to her. There came the familiar tingling under her skin when a storm approached. A light sprinkle misted the air, the lights from passing cars caused the drops to sparkle in Maria’s auburn hair. Klaus thought she was the most beautiful thing on earth; she turned her back on him and stared off across the street.  “I’ve had enough of this!” he snarled, grabbed her cold hand in his and barged to the head of theline. Maria shimmered, an argent figure in the gloom with an auburn crown of perfectly coiffed hair, her eyes wide and saddened.  “Give me two tickets.”  “I’m sorry herr major, but the show doesn’t start for another thirty minutes, I can’t do that.”  “Do you see this uniform?”  “Ja.”  “Do you know who I am”  “Of course Leutnant Küfstein.” Klaus pulle a small pad and pen from his coat.  “I am Major von Küfstein. What is your name please?”  “M-my name?” The young man paled and began to fumble with the stack of tickets before him.  “Here are your tickets Herr Major.” The yhouth shook so hard he nearly dropped the now damp tickets into Klaus’ hand.  “I said, your name please.”  “Please Herr Leut…Major, I could not go into service, I’m blind in one eye!” A woman behind Maria spoke up; “He is Ernst Häcksel, a useless layabout!” Klaus noted it next to his name and put the note pad away.  “Don’t worry, you won’t be going into service.” They youth began to look releived.  “We have camps for people like you.” Klaus took up Maria’s hand once more and sauntered into the warmth of the theater. Maria tried to close her eyes to the angry stares of those who still stood in line and the wind grew stronger and the rain began in ernest. Klaus hustled her down near the front row and chose a seat directly in the middle with her comfortably ensconced beside him. Soon the theater began to fill with the rustle and drone of the crowd. Amongst the chatter Maria could feel the resentment of many people, and yet there was an under current of pride from some and jealousy from others. The lights dimmed and the movie began. “Die große Liebe” (The Great Love) starring Zarah Leander and Viktor Staal, although widely accaimed and despite the applause from the crowd, i the end it left Maria feeling cold and empty.

Franz Brüning heard the rumble of trucks. Through the window an SS officer stepped out of his staff car followed by a junior officer and a squad of Wehrmacht with weapons at the ready. Franz rubbed his eyes, feeling old and tired. Karl knocked on his door.  “Herr doktor?”  “Yes Karl, I know. Come, lets greet our guests.” They met the officer in the courtyard, he was dapper, aristocratic and held his nose and chin quite high.  “Gut nachtmittag Major, how may I help you?”  “You may begin by gathering your patients together so that my men can load then into these trucks.”  “And why should I do that Major…Strasser is it?”  “This building is being confiscated by the SS.” He reached into his coat, Karl came up on his toes, eyes wide. The Major favored him with a cool look and pulled a few folded papers from and inner pocket, which he handed to the Doctor.  “It saus here you’re turning my hospital int a concentration camp!”  “Yes, that is corect.”  “What about my patients?”  
“They’re being sent to Auschwitz and interred there.”  “No!” Karl barked, steppign up beside the doctor  “Excuse me?”  Strasser actually looked confused for a moment.  “Karl is right, they cannot be move, it will cause them too much stress and confusion, you’ll destroy months and in some cases years of progress.” The Major raised a leather gloved finger, twitched it at Karl who recieved the butt of a rifel to the gut. He folded up like an old steamer trunk and fell over. Two of the  Wehrmacht began to kick and stomp him. Franz turned, a hand outstretched to the soldiers when he was stopped by the icy barrel of a pistol against his head followed by a loud click. The soldiers stopped kicking Karl, who lay groaning in the dirt He stared up at them with a bloddy grin.  “I win Hans, I won’t lick their boots.” A pistol shot stilled him forever. Franz was horrified.  “No!”  “Sinced you are so concerned about your patients, you may join them Herr Doktor.  Put him in the truck.” TRhe Wehrmacht men boiled around the Major, two thre Franz face down and  tied his hands behind him then tossed himinto the nearest truck. He was shortly joined by the wretched shrieking, gibbering mass of people as they were crammed in and hauled away. After the trucks departed Strasser caught the eye of one of the men.  “Get your men, go through the place floor by floor. It there are any straggelers, shoot them.” In the bedlam of the truck, amidst the stench of feces and fear, Klara discovered her husband and freed him. They clung to each other in stark terror.

It was spring of 1945 when they got the news of Klaus’ father. They’d been arguing all morning, August and Debora remained scarce. Maria stood at the sink washing dishes while Klaus finished his breakfast. Maria was in a foul mood, she’d been sleeping badly the past few nights, plagued with nightmares of being trapped in a burning building,of being buried alive with Klaus, who pointed a gun at her over and over and she knew he hated her.  “Why do you keep defying me?”  “Why can’t I make my own decisions?”  “That’s not a woman’s place.” he slapped the table, jostling the cream pitcher and sugar bowl.  “And what would a man know about a woman’s place?”  “I am your husband. You made a promise of obey, so obey!” He pounded tha table, the pitcher jumped up and fell over spilling its dregs in a shallow pool.  She threw a dishcloth in his face.  “How’s that for obedience, clean up your mess, I’m tired of doing it for you!”  “How dare you! Do youl know what you’d be if I hadn’t come along?”  “Don’t play the fool Klaus, I was no orphaned Dickens waif you dredged up from the gutter.”  “Common, a common washer woman, a…a chambermaid!”  “Oh, so now I’m Cinderella, swept off her feet by the handsome Prince, I’m the humble peasant girl whom fortune favored is that it?  Well young prince, I beg to differ.” The telepohine jangled breaking into the melee. Klaus snatched the reciever to his ear.  “Ja?” The turned white and sat down heavily.  “Alright, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up.  “My father…his heart, he may be dying.”  “Klaus, you should go, they need you.”  “Come with me.”  “I don’t think so, they don’t like me.”  “I don’t care what they think, I’d like you there for moral support if nothing else.” She thought a moment.  “Alright, let me get my coat.”

Once more they arrived in Ravensberg. This time the house was silent. Dorthe sat outside the bedroom sniffling and dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. She rose when Klaus appaears and hugged hm tightly and the hugged Maria.  “Klaus, go inside, Katarina and Freidrich are already there.” With a mixed look of shame, fear and sorrow he quietly entered. His father lay still, wrinkled and greyish, looking tiny  in the large four poster bed. Klaus had been born there as had Katarina and Freidrich. The room smelled like death. The old man opened his eyes. “So, come crawling back have you?” he wheezed.  “Gloating about the house aren’t you.”  “No father, I just came to see you.” He took the old man’s hand, it was cold, the skin papery and dry.  “I changed the will.” he winced in pain. “You’re out, it’s all Freidrich’s (kaff, kaff)!” Klaus held a glass of water to his father’s parched lips. He sipped, sputtered and coughed more. Klaus kept pouring, water ran down the corners of his father’s mouth.  “Klaus, stop it!” Katarina snatched the glass out of his hand. The coughing fit passed, the old an’s eyes bulged.  “Freidrich’s and Katarina’s, all of it, none for you!”  “That doesn’t matter now.”  “Nothing matters to you except fame and glory! Getting our name in paper, kissing the as of the Fuhrer, that’s all that mattered!”  “I was trying to make you proud of me.”  “Proud of a peacock like you? Don’t make me laugh, you’re nothing to be proud of, nefver were, never will be. You make me puke, been married now for how many uyears and stillno choldren, can you get it up? Are you even a man?”  “You evil old bastard! On your deathbed! Mein Gott how I hate you! Die you corrupt old unehelich, just die!” Klaus shot to his feet, shove Katarina out of his way and barged out the door.  “We’re leaving.” he snarled at Maria who gave Dorthe a stricken look. The old man’s coughing laughter mocked him through the ouse and out into the waiting car. It wasn’t until they were home before he slumped into a chair and wept. A few hours later the doorbell rang. Debora answered it. A soldier stood there looking a bit forelorn with a yellow piece of paper in his hand.  “A telegraph for Major von Küfstein.”  “Danke, I’ll give it to him.”  “Do you want me to wait?”  “Wait, for what?”  “I’ll wait out here.” She shrugged, shut the door and crept intothe kitchen, not wanting to disturb or embarass the Major. They both noticed Debora shifting uneasily from foot to foot in the doorway.  “Stop twitching girl, what is is?”  “Telegram for you Herr Major.” He took it from her and read it. His hand shook as he set it opn the table. Maria craned her neck to rwad it.  “Oh no.” Three days later after fighting through the heaviy traffic of a paniced nation they arrived at the cemetary. Black umbrellas warded off the icy drizzle but could do nothing to prevent the evil glares of Katarina. Her face was puffy, eyes red and swollen she looked haggard as if she hadn’t slept since the old amn’s death.  After the coffin was lowered into the ground, Freidrich, with Aunt Dorthe holding his arm, came over and shook Klaus’ hand.  “He was bitter right up to the end. I hate to say it but Katariuna just kept egging him on about you. She’s changed over the past year, ever since his last heart attack. She’s been angry, frightened.  Write or call when you can brother.” They hugged. Aunt Dorthe hugged them both weeping the whole time.  Now…now you’re all orphans.” she sobbed into her soaked handkerchief.  Friedrich took her to the waiting car and helped her in. Katarina stalked up to Klaus, her face more pinched and drawn than usual.  “Murderer.” she hissed. “He’s dead because of you!”  “Me?”  “You set him off, if you hadn’t fought with him like you always do, he’d still be alive! I hate you, I’ll hate you ’til I die!” She spat i his face. Without thinking Klaus slapped her hard, staggering her. Hysterical, she ran to the car. Klaus wiped his face off and watched his siblings drive off in the rain.

At home Maria crept about the house. Klaus sat at the dineingroom table drinking heavily and muttering to himself. At six o’clock she went to him.  “Klaus, are you hungry, would you like some supper?”  “Supper? My father’s dead, my sister hates me, how the hell can I think about food?”  He fumbled with the glass as he sloshed more whiskey into it.  “Klaus, you’re pretty drunk, are you sure…”  “Why don’t you shut the hell up and leave me alone!” he slammed the whiskey bottle on the table.  “I just…”  “You just nothing! I’ll tell you what you are miss, you’re trouble, you’ve been nothing but the worst Gott verdammt thing that’s ever happened to me, why don’t you get the hell out!” he knocked  the bottle over splashing whisky on the table. Maria grabbed the fallen bottle and set it upright. Klaus grabbed hold of her wrist.  “Oh no you don’t Sie meckern!” and backhanded her with his left hand. Her head snapped back and her nose started to bleed, he slapped her again and shoved her backwards. She fell with a crash. Klaus knocked over his chair as he jumped to his feet. She scrambled to get away from him, but he was infuriated now.  “Never and children, never any warmth  from you, just coldness, heartless cold. How dare you, I’m a Major of the Third Reich!” The leather belt slithered out of his pants, he doubled it and began to whip her.  “Klaus, stop! No! Klaus!”
  “It’s your fault the hate me! It’s you! Even my dogs hate you!”  “No!” She gained her feet and managed to catch the belt in one hand, yanking it from his grasp. Outraged he punched her in the mouth staggering her back. She flung her arms up to cover her face so he punched her in the stomach. She doubled over, retching and gasping for air. He tipped an end table and lamp over on top of her, on his way out the ottoman had the audacity to trip him up so he hurled it through a window. Lying on the floor she heard the front door slam, the car starting and the spray of gravel as he drove off into the night. Slowly she crawled out from under the broken furniture.  “Ahh!” she hissed, cutting her hand on some shattered glass. Sobbing, she went tot he bathroom and began the long process of cleaning herself up. She awoke to the sound of a car coming up the drive. Gingerly she made her way downstairs, grabbing a frying pan as she passed by the kitchen. Footsteps crunched in the gravel as they approached the door, there came a light rapping, a pause, a second rapping. She opened it.  “Oh Rachel, thank god its you.”  “Why do you…Oybershter in Himmel, what happened to you?”  “Klaus. He was drunk, his father died, we went to the funeral yesterday. He started drinking when we got home and then he hit me.” She broke down and cried letting the pan slip from her finger with a dull thud. Rachel hugged her rocking back and forth. Rachel helped clean her up and after a time the women set the house to rights. In between the small talk and the girl talk, Maria asked about the Rabbi and his needs. They were always few and usually more about the welfare of others. When two weeks had passed with no sign of Klaus, Maria made up her mind to go find him. She called upon August to driver her to the concentration camp.

The corporal pried his bleery eyes open just enough to see Frau von Küfstein stroll in, moaned to himself and passed out. She took in the scene. The two corporals were snoring, shirtless and reeking of booze, a deck of cards were scatterd on the floor. The younger of the two had lost his pants during the game and looked ludicrous slumped in his boxrs and black socks. Maria heard a pain filled shuddering moan and followed it through the unlocked door. Shock held her statue still. A middleaged woman, nose broken, face bloody and bruised, was tied to a chair, a muscular hulking leutnant clasped her head tightly, her eyelid pulled open. Tears washed thin gullies through the blood and snot. In one corner a middle-0aged man lay dead his blood spattered agaunst the wall. Less than five feet before her a anude girl no more than fourteen was sprawled, her muscles taut with pain, her ueseless fists clenched, her theighs smeared with blood.  “Biteh, biteh.” she pleaded, tears coursed their way across her face. A half dressed man staggered away from the girl, slipping suspenders over hs shoulders. Maria’s blood ran cold as Klaus turned, undershirt pulled out, pants undone, smeared with blood and who knows what else, glanced aaround the room looking for his drink. His bloodshot eyes met Maria’s.  “Monster!” she husked, backing towards the door. The child curled into a ball and whispered “Biteh.” sobbing. Unnoticed in a shadowed corner, Major Strasser leaned forward, the lamp highlighted his angular face.  “Von Küfstein, you’d better see to your wife.” He leered as he slowly looked Maria up and down. Klaus stood stuinned, not understanding how Maria could be here. Strasser shovd past him and grabbed the nude girl on the floor by her hair, dragging her over to the bound woman. Wrapped in arrogance, he demanded; “You have the Shöenburger gold. Tell me where it is and nothing further will happen to your daughter. If you do not, Leutnant Neitzel will have a go at her. He is not a considerate lover, she will probably not enjoy it, but then again who knows.” At a sign from Strasser the behemoth released the woman’s head and began unbuttoning his shirt.  Klaus stumbled towards Maria, who’d gone a terrible white, her eyes huge and bulging.  “Go home Maria, forget you ever saw this, go home!”  “Forget? This?!” her voice was piercing, Strasser shot her an evil glare, then returned to his victim. Leutnant Neitzel’s belt buckle made a dull thud as it hit the floor. Maria’s head was pounding, Klaus  made to grab her arm, propel her out of the room; she yanked away from him then shoved him hard, he stummbled and fell across the bound woman then crashed to the ground.  The bound woman whispered something.  “What?” snapped Strasser. Wrenching her head back by the hair he snarled “What?!”  “N-no gold. Lies. We spent it years ago.”  “Lying bitch!” he struck, she lolled and sagged.  Strasser released her hair, strode to a table and began drinking from a wine bottle.  “Von Küfstein, get up off the floor and get your lovely wife out of here, unless she’d like to join our little party?”  Stepping over the still prone Klaus, Maria staggered out the door.  “I’m going to be sick!”she thought, looking for someplace to do it.  Klaus stumbled up behind her.  “Maria, listen, Strasser, Neitzel, they’re being transfered, headed to Morocco in a da opr so and this…this insanity will go with them.  Maria!” Unshed tears burned his eyes, making her look small and utterly beautiful to him.  “Home.” she husked.  “Yes, I’ll be there soon, I promise, as soon as its safe.” He reeked of drink and blood, she flinched when he tried to touch her and fled into the crisp air outside. Klaus returned to Strasser holding the mother’s head. Neitzel knelt on the girl’s spread legs, holdiong the immobile, in one hand he clutched a wine bottle. As Maria stumbled towards August’s car, the girls shrieks rang in her ears. Maria hunched her shoulder and ran.

The next few days were filled with a heavy silence. She slept in bed behind a locked door, he slept on the couch on the nights he bothered to come home. She’d confided in Rachel and the two women grieved once more. Maria made sure the young woman left each time with some food hidden in her clothes and a bit of money to bribe the guards if they caught her.  Then one day the truck that brought rachel didn’t arrive, nor did it the next day. Nearly a week passed before Klaus was sober enough for her to talk with him and she asked about the girl’s absence. They were sitting at opposite ends of the dining room table and had just finished a light supper.  “She was caught smuggling contraband to a prisoner and was shot.”  “She wouldn’t do anything like that, she was a good honest girl!”  “I was there when she was caught, she ws then strip searched, examined and executed. I wqnted no mistakes, because I knew you were fond of her so I did it myself.”  “You…yourself?” Maria froze, a thrill of horror ran through her like the  lightening strike so long ago.  “Yes, a single shot to the back of the head, it killed her instantly, there was little pain, if any. Like I said, I knew you were fond of her, but after all she was only a Jew and not worth your consideration.” Maria set her fork down with a trembling hand and pushed away fom the table.  “Are you alright dear?”  “No, I need to lie down.”  “Of course, shocking news, I understand.” He waited until she reached the foot of the stairs.  “You didn’t ask about ththe other prisoner.” For a second she didn’t understand.  “Who?”   “It seems she was contriving with your friend the Rabbi.” He paused deliberately drawing it out as he sipped his wine.  “He was shot trying to escape. I had the bodies cremated.”  “Oh.” was all she could manage in a throat gone tight with grief.  “Yes. funny thing, she had several bisquits and two apples in her clothes when we caught them together. I wonder where she got them from?” he took another sip.  “Sleep well my dear, see you in the morning.” A confused smile touched his lips when she walked up the stair, each of her steps ponderous and reberverating as though she were weighed down with all the grief in the world. As much as he strove to savor this victory, there was no satisfaction in it, inside all he felt was shame. He wonered if this would have made his father proud, if anything he did would have made his father proud.

The mantle clock struck five. Morning birds were up and singing when she heard the drunken fumbling at the door. Klaus staggered in, trailing his  coat along one shoulder. He stopped short at the sight of Maria sitting on a trunk and made vague attempts to straighten up.  It ewas then  he noticed the suitcase and bag. It sunk in.  “What’s all this?”  “I’m leaving you.”  “No! You can’t!”  “August will be here soon to take me to the train station.”  “I won’t  let you!” He staggrered sideways a few steps.  “I don’t kniw how I came to love you, it makes no sense to me now.”  “Maria, if this is about that evening, it was Strasser!”  “Stop. Save that argument for God, maybe it’ll work with him. Anger and frustration tore at Klaus, rage building, burning him frfom within, fueled by shame and and grief. His temples pounded, his heart thundered as his shaking hands snapped open the holster where the oiled luger rested.   He drew it out admiring the sleek beauty. She rose and went upstairs, dropping the telegram she’d recieved earlier. Klaus picked it up, it was from Irma, she’d been in touch with a friend who worked at Buchenvald, it told of how both Doktor Brüning and his wife hasd been sent to the gas chambers. He could hear Maria rummaging through the closet and the hollow echo of it’s slammed door. It was that sound, the empty hollow echo mimicking their life together that triggered her. She began to scream, a scream that became a roar of primal rage. He heard a deep thud followed by a crash that shook the house, the roars went on, windows shattered, Debora, who came in to tell them her father was here, crouched in the doorway, hands at her mouthm stifling her frightened cries. Klaus lept up the stairs two at a time until he reached the bedroom door. It wouldn’t budge. Leaning his shoulder into it he forced it open inch by inch until he could see inside. The bed was flung up ended against it, the room itself was destroyed, broken glass, wrecked furniture, gashes in the walls. The lone light from the cieling illuminated the scene, it swung back and forth shwoing Marai amidst the wereckage. Her hands were bloody, fingernails torn and ragged, her hair was a wild halo about her head and hanks of it torn out lay on the floor. Her eyes ow=verflowed with tears of rage and sorrow, her mouth lay agape and drooling. At the sight of him she pinted a bloodied finger and roared. In sheer horror Klaus drew back. With a terrible scraping noise she daragged the bed from the door and wrenched the door from its hinges. He drew the luger in a shaking hand.  “Maria, what’s wrong with you?” She glimpsed her reflection in tha shattered  bedroom mirror, clothing torn, flesh ripped and bleeding where she gouged at herself, a clump of bloody hair clung to her arm, trickles of crimson crossed the broken landscape of her face.  “Monster!” She lunged at him. Klaus, totally unnerved shot wildly, grazing her shoulder. She dove on him, flailing with all her might, his collarbone shattered, she clawed at his face, he clubbed at her head with the butt of the gun, she paused in her attack, sagging. Klaus threw her off. Through her pain and rage she saw the unsteady pistol in his hand moving towards her, groping, her hand closed on something cold and heavy. She reared up and swung. The last thing Klaus saw was the flash of the bronze Venus he’d bought her in Paris. August arrived and pulled her off of him before she could stave in his skull. Dragging her down stair, he dropped her in an arm chair. Debora brought some warm water and towels. While his daughter ministered to Maria, August checked on Klaus and found him still alive. Coming back down stairs, he he;lped Debora finish cleaning and bandaging Maria.  “I’ll bring the car around herrin, we should go now.”  He hefted the trunk and went out the front door.  
“Yes.  Go.”  hey arrived at the train station moments before the train’s departure. She tunred and took August’s hand.  “Thank you for everything you and Debora have done for me. Here.” She pulled a thick envilope from her purse.  “The two of you should lesve that house. When Klaus finds out you helped me, he’lll probably have you both killed. Go far away and hide somewhere, go to the country and be sadfe.”  She gave him a peck on the cheek as the porters took her bags. Boarding the train she watched August and Debora grow small i the distance..  “Going far herrin?” the poorter asked.  “Hamburg perhaps, but Iwas thinking of going to Denmark to see the sights.” “Vvery good herrin. This way to your berth.”

The train was detoured towards Berlin, stopping five miles ouside the city. Civilians flooded the streets being driven by rumors of advancing Allied troops, Maria managed to hire a to bring her things to and put up in a small apartment until the trains started running again. However, she was forced to settle for life in Berlin as she soon came to understand that she was trapped in a city under seige. The bombings began once more, she saw buildings crumble and burst into flame, people trapped int he rubble, the stench of rotting dead was overwhelming. Frightened people ran screaming through the streets, soldiers and police strove to maintain order, then the Russians came. She hid in her rooms and managed to stay out of sight. Food and water became scarce and like many others she began hoarding both. sipping tepid water she’d saved, she didn’t dare drink whateer trickled out of the tap and was doing what she could to keep from starving. The worst was keeping away from gangs of roving Russians, who raped anything that resembled a female. In desperation she began searching the other apartmens in the building, but the Russians had gotten there first, mostly what she found were decomposing bodies. She could smell gas, but couldn’t tell where it came from and in her delerium she wept and began to scream just to express her fear, her deprivations, her frustration at being out of control. There was a instant of silence  and a voice she thought called her name. A thin whistle cut the air and a wall exploded. She was flung aginast a far wall, a bed crashed against her, partly crushing her partly saving her. She groaned and pushed the bed once, twice. There was smoke, something was on fire. She pushed against the bed once more and it moved and she was able to crawl out from behind it.  She could see outside. Broken and torn pipes were spraying water, one burned like a torch and she knew she had only moments to get out of there. She heard an echoing voice calling to her, somehow, from nowhere stood Klaus, one arm in a sling, the other held his luger aimed at her. Dust sifted down from the broken ceiling. Outside they could hear gunfire men shouting.    “This is it, it’s over, the Reich, our lives, everything. The Fuhrer shot himself yesterday, Goebbles commited suicide inthe Fuhrerbunker, the Rudssians run the streets and the Allies are here to take over the whole bloody mess. There is nothing to live for, nothing. Goodbye Maria, it was beautiful once.” Theres a hiss as he aims the luger she gets a queer feeling as the floor drops out from under them and sheets of flame appear around them. The weight of the world collapses on her, pressing her to the bosom of the earth once more and after a while it grows cold.

Its quiet in Berlin. Russian soldiers walk patrols, stop the looting when they can (when they’re not looting themselves), moonlight shines down on one more ruined building amidst the many. A white hand, filthy and bleeding scrabbles out from under the rubble. She is free.