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von Gustedt Blog Entry |
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November 29, 2024, 12:00:15 AM 11/29/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Herr von Gustedt (first name never given). He's the father of Gesine von Gustedt and is deceased not long before the main story begins; his death plays a big role in Gesine's own unfortunate fate. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding his design, he's a black-and-silver German shepherd. TUMBLR EDIT: Herr von Gustedt is referred to by the deceased Gesine in the "In Heaven (Part One)" section of Gunter Hesse's profile. I wrote this with my own dad's death in mind, so it's a bit of a tough read: ...He finds himself staring across a large parlor. It's familiar. Brow furrowing, he looks around--the interior of a mansion--expensive furniture--a huge winding staircase--then gasps and jerks back. A woman is standing several paces away, staring at him silently. Hesse blinks a few times, heart hammering in his throat, but this time instead of calming down, he finds his bewilderment and fear growing. This woman can't be here staring at him. He remembers executing her. "I can see you remember me," Gesine von Gustedt says mildly. Hesse says nothing, just stares. After a moment when nothing more happens he slowly gets to his feet, not taking his eyes off her. Long stare. She has the same cold glare as in...life? "What is this...?" Hesse whispers. Stare. Silence. Gesine takes a step forward and Hesse a step back, bumps into a table--gasps and jerks away--it's solid--then gasps and jerks away--Gesine is standing right there. She nods up toward the landing at the top of the stairs, overlooking the parlor. "That's where I found him. Not up there, there." Nods toward the ceiling. "He must have jumped from there. Still don't know how he rigged the rope. I imagine you people figured that all out, in the investigation. You investigated, ja? You people investigated everything." She holds her arms as if cold, looking up. "Up there. That's where I stood and watched him die. He wasn't dead yet when I found him, you know. I think he expected his neck would break. Quick. Painless." Her voice cracks and falters. "He strangled instead. Slow. Painful." She takes a shaky breath. "I think he changed his mind. Right after he jumped. Right before I found him. But you don't get to change your mind. I tried to find a way to help him. To get him down. But I couldn't reach him. All I could do was scream at him. And watch." She turns and meets Hesse's eyes. Her own are full of tears, anguished. "I watched my father die. Saw the fear and pain and regret in his eyes the whole time. It felt like hours. Part of me wished it would just be over. Part of me wanted to hold him forever. Give him my breath. Hold on to him a little while longer. Hear him say goodbye. I don't know how long I sat on that landing, after he was finally gone." She blinks; tears fall; the coldness returns. A bite in her voice. "He died having me, having everything left. He jumped thinking he had nothing. Nothing but endless rumors. Accusations. Investigations. Always investigations." The coldness turns to anger. "That's what you people do best, ja? Ruin lives. Only call it 'investigating.' All you need is a rumor. One little rumor. To destroy a life. That's what you did best, ja--?"... Okay...so how did we get here? Herr von Gustedt is a minor, posthumous character who plays a major role in Gesine's own actions, and his death directly contributes to her own. As the above says, Lt. Hesse is the one who kills her--murders her, then lies about it to Adelina Dobermann, in fact--though he himself, ironically, isn't the cause of Gesine's woes, and in fact he rather sympathizes with her, up until the end. This final confrontation between the two is also recounted in his profile, as he experiences a barrage of his own awful actions in flashback form after his own death: ...Hesse softly asks, "Am I in Hell...?" Gesine says nothing at first, though her eyes flicker, as if vaguely amused. "Do you think you're in Hell?" "It's...not what I was taught to expect." More silence. Gesine makes a noise, like a small snort. "Nein. Not Hell. The Jews are right about that. There's no such place...not the one you've learned of, at least." Hesse blinks, furrows his brow. Looks around at the mansion. "Then..." Looks at her again, increasingly confused. "Am I a ghost--?" Gesine paces around the room. "Not a ghost. A ghost haunts a place, ja...? You forget what you did? The last you were here...?" She halts in front of him, giving him a challenging stare. The dim lighting shifts, brightens. Hesse blinks; his view of Gesine doubles, and a shudder passes through him; he pulls aside, gasps startled when he finds he's standing beside himself--a perfect double, arm outstretched, gun pointed, eyes glittering with hate. He glances where he'd just been looking; Gesine remains, but she's staring at the other Hesse, her eyes matching his. She speaks. "Long live the Jack of Diamonds!" Hesse's heart thuds. He glances back at the other Hesse, sees his eyes widen, then his nose wrinkle, his teeth bare just slightly. That's what I look like--? he thinks, just as he swings out, grasping at the gun, but his hands go right through it. He sees the flash, the plume of smoke, before he hears the shot--sees the bullet spinning in slow motion--sees the tiniest fraction of reaction in Gesine's eyes, surprise, as if some part of her had thought he wouldn't go through with it. Feels his lungs empty, his breath leave him, as the bullet meets Gesine's forehead, her neck arching, mouth opening, the small scarlet bloom in front, the crimson bouquet exiting in back. Her shoulders, arms, torso going loose, knees buckling, the graceful fall--for some reason he reaches out for her, thinking maybe if he breaks her fall, everything will reverse itself, he can make it undone--yet his fingers pass through her as through smoke--Gesine settles to the floor feather light--eyes staring at the ceiling vaulting overhead, the pain and beauty of it all, a lifetime of struggle, the pointlessness at the end. Breath dissipating into the universe. Everything. Nothing. Life ending, life going on. Without her. Hesse stares at her, turns, looks at himself. The other Hesse still scowls at where Gesine just stood, a second ago, a lifetime ago. Lowers his pistol still smoking, slips it back in the holster, snaps it shut. Raises a hand, swings it, a short gesture, turning his head--Gesine is forgotten already. He still moves as slowly as in a nightmare, though his voice is normal, if faint and echoing, as if faraway. "Tear this house apart...and catalog every passage...then burn it all to the ground." Let's rewind again. I don't yet know all the details. Just that Herr von Gustedt, a minor Junker and widower living with his daughter not far from the Dobermann estate, makes some kind of small, stupid mistake, and somehow runs afoul of the Nazi Party, who deem him disloyal to the Reich, and order an investigation opened. Basically, this entails the Allgemeine-SS making his life a living hell. They dig into and pick apart EVERYTHING about him to the point that he ends up estranged from his former friends and acquaintances, who want nothing to do with him for fear of getting caught in the harassment themselves. Even his fellow Junkers mostly turn their backs on him; the only two who remain at least cordial are Katharina von Thiel and Louis Dobermann, yet even they keep a bit of distance, though by now it's mostly von Gustedt who does the distancing; he doesn't want to bring the wrath of the SS down on anyone else, either. Result is he's forced to deal with the issue mostly alone. Gesine tries to do what she can--every time officers from the Sicherheitsdienst arrive she's ready with a tongue lashing. They don't intimidate her; she's far too pissed off for that. She promptly gets in their faces and spits invective the entire time they repeatedly search the manor, and even refuses to let them search her private quarters, which of course opens her up to suspicion, as well. Of course the officers ignore her protests, and end up searching her rooms anyway. Herr von Gustedt runs himself ragged every time, in between trying to placate the SS, and insisting that Gesine calm down; he's normally quite indulgent with her, yet her wrath does nothing to help with the situation, and he's desperate for her not to get in trouble the same way he has. He ends up raising his voice to her for the first time in his life when, on one particularly stressful visit, she smacks an officer across the face. It's only Herr von Gustedt's angry rebuke--followed by a string of profuse apologies and offers to let them search and do whatever they like, go ahead, go ahead--that lowers the temperature a bit, and the officer's hand, which had crept toward his holster, moves away. SS Officer: "I suggest you get your child under control." Gesine: "Do I look like a child to you, Arschloch--?" Herr von Gustedt: "Gesine--" Gesine: "Or maybe children are what you like--?" Herr von Gustedt: "GESINE! Enough!" *glares at her so hard she flinches back* "That's enough! Let them do their job!" *turns back to officer* "Bitte, she's just...she doesn't mean it." *jerks up his hand to silence her before she can protest* "My home is open to you, as always. I have nothing to hide. In...in fact, I...I have to confess, I haven't shown you a few things, but I'll show them now, goodwill, so you know I'm an open book, and bitte, let her be, she doesn't know anything." SS Officer: "She talks a lot for someone who doesn't know anything." Herr von Gustedt: "She's never really gotten over the loss of her mother, bitte, forgive her. Gesine!" *jerks up his hand again when she opens her mouth* "Enough. I've coddled you too long, now do as I say!" *to officer* "Bitte, let me show you, follow me. I have nothing to hide, let me prove it." Herr von Gustedt turns and with a gesture to follow--"You can come along, Gesine, if you hold your tongue"--heads down the hall; the officers and Gesine follow. He stops at the end of the hall--a full-length mirror hangs here--and glances back at them, anxiously wringing his hands, before turning back to the mirror, and pressing carefully against one edge of it. Everyone else blinks and takes a step back when the mirror makes a popping sound and the other edge comes loose from the wall; it's hinged on the back, and when Herr von Gustedt pulls on it, it swings open like a door. A dark narrow passageway is revealed behind it. Herr von Gustedt steps aside as the lead officer moves forward to peer inside. "Vater...?" Gesine says, in a voice that makes it clear she had NO idea this was here. The SS officer, meanwhile, seems both vindicated to learn of its existence, yet still surprised as well. "Where does this go?" he asks; Herr von Gustedt explains that, similar to the other Junker houses in the area, the manor is riddled with concealed passages behind the walls, and while most have fallen into disrepair and become inaccessible by now, a few lead to the cellar and outside. He offers to show them the remaining ones as a gesture of goodwill. The officer is rightfully skeptical--why did he never show them before now, why should they believe he's hiding nothing else?--and Herr von Gustedt agrees, it was foolish of him to not tell, he just honestly didn't think it mattered, in fact he forgot, he's just a foolish old man, please don't hold his daughter responsible for his own mistakes. He steps back without protest when the officer sends one of his inferiors into the passage to check it out; the junior officer returns a few moments later, coated in cobwebs, and says it's just as Herr von Gustedt claims, he managed to traverse through the passages for a few turns before reaching a dead end where some bricks and debris had blocked the way. They examine a couple of other passages Herr von Gustedt shows them, and the result is the same; perhaps they were useful once, but now they're too decrepit for anyone to reasonably make their way through. The lead officer seems rather frustrated by this, yet can tell it's true, and finally relents...a little. He orders the search ended, though just for now, and rebukes Herr von Gustedt for holding out so long; this has damaged his already fragile credibility, and they'll need to continue their investigation (Herr von Gustedt wilts a little on hearing this), but for now at least, he's in the clear. The officers depart, and Herr von Gustedt slumps into a chair, head in his hands. Herr von Gustedt: "I don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm glad your Mutter isn't here to go through this." Gesine: "Vater..." *kneels by him* "These have been here the whole time? My whole life? Why did you never say?" Herr von Gustedt: "It never mattered. We never used them. And I'm being honest, I forget about them at times, I mean every house around here has them! I figured if the SS really wanted to know, they would have found them on their own...frankly...I can't figure out why they never did." Gesine: "You have any idea...?" Herr von Gustedt: *shrugs* "I don't know...maybe...maybe part of me wondered if it was a test of some kind...? To see if I'd show them. And I took this long to do so so who knows whether I've passed or failed!" Gesine: "You really think they'd use a ruse like that? Pretend they had no idea all that time, just to test you?" Herr von Gustedt: "Who knows? Of all the tricks they've..." *cuts himself off, shakes his head* "Listen to me blither! Like a senile old man." Gesine: "Vater, you're not old and you're not senile." Herr von Gustedt: "I forget things so easily lately. Like these damned passages. Don't make excuses for me, Gesine. My absent mind nearly gets us in trouble. What do I know about how the SS does things, I'm just a silly old man who should know better." Gesine: "Vater..." Herr von Gustedt: "That's enough arguing, Liebe. Now let's shut this door and get preparing dinner, it's late and I really should get to bed soon. What do I know. The next time they show up--and there WILL be a next time--you'll behave and mind your tongue, do you hear? No more talking back. I mean it." As the time goes on--and as predicted, the visits and interrogations continue--the toll it's all taking on Herr von Gustedt becomes painfully obvious. He eats and sleeps little, loses weight, is fatigued and constantly on edge and looking over his shoulder. His face gets an anxious, glassy-eyed look. He jumps at small noises and constantly second-guesses his own experiences. The SS is subjecting him to constant psychological warfare without even needing to lay a finger on him. In fact, he becomes even more rattled when they're NOT around, because that's when he never knows what to expect or what's about to come. His own mind wears him down relentlessly. Despite all this, his fragile mental state isn't what makes him decide on drastic action (though it does contribute). It's the fear that the SS will turn its attention to Gesine that agonizes him the most. His thoughts are so scattered that pure emotion takes over, and reason goes out the window; all he can think is that, if only he were no longer the focus of investigation, Gesine would be safe. It honestly doesn't even occur to him that they might just shift their focus to her in his absence anyway. He really does convince himself that he's the cause of all their woes, and the solution is obvious. He's careful not to mention any of this to Gesine, who still tries to comfort and reassure him. She barely holds her tongue during the SS's harassment, steaming the entire time they're present, yet does her best, to try to keep her father calm. Late one night, however, Herr von Gustedt's own tongue loosens a little after he has a drink, and he finally shares a secret that briefly leaves her speechless. Herr von Gustedt: "I'm such a fool. All the trouble I've brought on you for nothing. Absolutely nothing!" Gesine: "Vater, you have to stop blaming yourself. This isn't your fault." Herr von Gustedt: "Except it is. I haven't done anything! Not a thing! All I've done is have thoughts. Yet they know anyway. Somehow, they know!" Gesine: "What are you talking about...?" Herr von Gustedt: "All I did was think about it. That's all. I never DID anything. You believe me, ja, Liebchen...?" Gesine: "Vater, you're not making sense. Think about what?" Herr von Gustedt: "The passages." *voice drops to a whisper & he leans close* "I never forgot they were there. How could I? I never thought about them, though. Not until...not until everything changed. I heard rumors. What others are doing. With the hidden passages. What they can be used for. You know?" Gesine: *shakes head, confused* "Vater, I..." Herr von Gustedt: "Hidden passages can move hidden things...you know?" Gesine: "I..." *trails off; eyes widen* "Vater--" Herr von Gustedt: *puts finger to his mouth* "The less said the better. I thought it, Gesine, but I never did it. I swear on your mother's grave. I only thought. Yet...somehow, they know! It's as if they got in my head!" Gesine: "Vater, it's not possible. They're not...supernatural!" Herr von Gustedt: "And yet, they know. My thoughts! Like they read my mind! They're supposed to hold ceremonies--rituals--the old gods. Who knows? Maybe they can conjure something up? Some demon that sees and knows all!" Gesine: "Vater, that's nonsense. They're just men. They can't do that." Herr von Gustedt: "So then how do they know? How did they find out my thoughts?" Gesine: "You...you must've told somebody. Like you're telling me. And then that person told." Herr von Gustedt: "Except I've never told anybody!" Gesine: "You must have, Vater, even if only in passing--" Herr von Gustedt: "I didn't! I SWEAR it! Who on Earth would I tell when it's just you and me? Nobody else will even talk with me anymore! And I'd certainly never talk with them! I'm telling you right now, Gesine, I don't know how, but they read your thoughts, they find things out. It's too late for me, but for you, watch what you think! They'll find it out, I swear. I can't bear for you to go through the same things I have. All over nothing but a thought!" By now Gesine's just about certain her dad is losing it, but she decides it's best not to confront him about it further. He obviously needs rest and calm. She does what she can to try to keep him settled, but it's difficult, with the continued visits and questioning from the SS. While she's out one day fetching something in the city, Herr von Gustedt determines that it's time to put an end to the matter, before whatever ill luck that curses him settles onto her. He digs out a sturdy rope, fashions a noose, and heads up the stairs. Manages to secure the rope to a ceiling fixture before heading back to the landing at the top of the stairs...climbs atop the railing...cinches the noose around his neck...and jumps. His neck doesn't snap; he doesn't die instantly. And immediately, it's like his mind clears of the fog that's been filling it for so long, of course they didn't read his mind, of course it must be something else, if he thinks it over long enough he'll figure it out. And he also realizes that this will solve nothing, they'll still turn their attention to Gesine next, all he's done is guarantee that it'll happen sooner, he needs to correct this. Except there is no time to think it over and there is no chance to correct anything, the rope is already around his neck and he's already jumped and already he can't breathe. He grasps the rope and tries pulling at it, tries getting his fingers under it, but it's too tight, he can't do anything to fix it now. And then, below, he dimly hears the door open, hears Gesine calling out, sees her step into the middle of the room far below with a puzzled expression. She must hear him struggling, for she looks up and they lock eyes. Disbelief flits across her face--then panic. "Vater!" she screams, and races for the stairs. I don't want to go into excruciating detail...not sure how well I'd handle it, anyway. True to the story Gesine gives elsewhere, though, she tries to reach her father from the stairway landing, fails, and has no choice but to watch as he dies. Strangulation doesn't happen as fast IRL as it does in films. And minutes seem to stretch out forever when you need to witness--or go through--something like that. Gesine spends a long while afterwards curled up against the railing weeping. She doesn't understand why her father did what he did. But she can tell that, too late, he'd changed his mind and desperately wished he could take it back. As shadows grow long, she forces herself to get up and act. Herr von Gustedt's death must be reported, so the authorities can get him down somehow and prepare him for burial...and for the ensuing investigation. She KNOWS there will be an investigation. So before making the call, she scours the house, seeking a note, a hint, anything to explain what happened, yet finds nothing...until she slumps down at the desk in her father's study, crying anew. There's a framed photograph of the family--Gesine, her father, and her mother--from happier days, and she reaches out to draw it near. As she picks it up and presses it to her breast, however, there's a soft noise, and something falls to the desk. Gesine stops sniffling and blinks the tears from her eyes; lying on the desk is a tiny, odd object, a little bigger than a button, with a wire coming from it; it apparently fell from the back of the photo frame. Gesine very carefully picks it up between thumb and forefinger, turning it left and right; she's never seen anything like it, but somehow, she's pretty sure she knows what it is. "I thought it, Gesine, but I never did it. I swear on your mother's grave. I only thought. Yet...somehow, they know! It's as if they got in my head...!" Suddenly, Herr von Gustedt's paranoid words...don't sound so paranoid anymore. Gesine feels a chill settle over her. Keeping perfectly silent, she rises, and starts searching the house again, only this time, she looks in completely different places...behind photos, under furniture, in flowerpots. Anywhere one of the small buttonlike devices would make the most sense. As soon as she reminds herself they need to be near places her father spent most of his private time, she starts getting results. She locates one under a telephone, one under the nightstand...she leaves them where they are, as by now she's near frantic with paranoia herself, suspecting that if she removes them all, they'll catch on. For surely this is the SS's work. While they were ostensibly searching the house themselves, they bugged it. Any and everything Herr von Gustedt might have said aloud--whether on the phone, to a rare visitor, or even just musing to himself--they heard. They really DID get in her father's head. Gesine takes a moment to pull herself together before calling authorities to come collect her father's body. As expected, they're followed by a few SS officers, who offer condolences (Gesine seethes inwardly) and ask a few desultory questions before departing. Gesine doesn't let on that she knows about the bugs, and they say nothing about them. In the flurry of the next week, funeral plans are made, Herr von Gustedt is interred in the family plot beside his beloved wife, and life goes on. Until a sharp knock comes at the door one day. Gesine physically flinches at the sound. Only one kind of person knocks like that, and she'd tried to fool herself into believing that, now that her father is dead, they wouldn't return. Yet of course that was a stupid thought. She steels herself again, and heads for the door. A small group of officers in black is there to greet her when she opens the door and sighs in resignation. These aren't the same officers as the previous visits, however; the previous leader of the group was a major, young, arrogant, almost dismissive even while forcing himself to be just barely polite. The officer standing at her door now is only a lieutenant, but he's older than she's used to seeing, has a world-weary look about him, and though his knock was the typical harsh SS knock, when he introduces himself he's oddly soft spoken despite his intimidating looks. "Herrin Gesine von Gustedt...?" he inquires; when she gives a sullen, "Ja," he says, "Obersturmführer Gunter Hesse, Sicherheitsdienst. We have some questions we'd like to ask." Gesine lets them in, though she's steaming inside. Lt. Hesse is courteous--nearly apologetic, even--in everything he says and does, but by now she's just so sick of it all that she snaps angrily at him every time he makes a request. She forces herself to calm down after exploding at him in a brief rage, and even apologizes herself, as she knows it's a stupid idea to get on their bad side. Lt. Hesse never loses his temper or even gives her a sour look, though he doesn't back down either. It's obvious by now that exactly what Herr von Gustedt had hoped to avert has come to pass, and now the SS's attention is focused on her. Hesse asks to search the manor and although she wants little more than to strangle him, Gesine swallows her fury, steps aside, and waves them through. "You're welcome to follow and make sure we don't disturb anything too much," Hesse says, to which she grumbles, "A bit late for that," but follows anyway. Hesse inquires about the passages the SS was shown before, and Gesine shows him to the one behind the mirror; he peers inside, asks how far back it goes, Gesine shrugs sullenly, resigned to being as unhelpful as possible. She's a bit surprised when Hesse steps into the passage rather than ordering one of his underlings to do so, like the major had; he disappears from view, though they can hear him scuffling and grunting as he tries to make his way through; he's rather tall and sturdily built, so it's a tight fit. "Kamerad...?" a second lieutenant calls; after a few moments Hesse comes back out, his uniform and spectacles coated with dust and cobwebs. As he brushes himself off he says the passage goes back a bit before becoming impassable, just as previously reported. He personally investigates the other passages Gesine points out and the results are the same for each; she rather wishes she knew more to show him to, perhaps one with a nice hole in the floor, yet after she shows off what passages she's aware of he then asks to search through the main rooms, particularly hers. Gesine bites down a protest, glowers, turns sharply to show them to her private quarters. Stands by the door clasping her elbows in her hands and feeling violated as Hesse looks through her things; he's careful not to muss anything, closes every door or drawer he opens, but still. When he accidentally knocks a photo of her and her father off the nightstand, she bristles; he promptly drops to his knee and reaches under the table to retrieve it. Then pauses. Even at this awkward angle she can see a frown come to his face; he reaches up under the nightstand and then withdraws his hand, pushing himself to his feet. He peers with furrowed brow at something in his fingers; "Were you aware of this?" he asks, but Gesine has lost her voice, her face white as a sheet. Pinched between Hesse's thumb and forefinger is one of the tiny bugs. Gesine shakes her head, then nearly collapses; the second lieutenant hastens to help her sit. Hesse gestures the second lieutenant forward, shows him the bug, makes a signal with his hand--telling the others to search the rest of the house for more of the bugs, while signing for them to keep quiet. He continues searching Gesine's room, finding a second bug behind a painting; the others start filtering back, and the second lieutenant holds up his hands, fingers spread, indicating that they've located seven bugs so far. Gesine makes a muffled sound and puts her hands to her face; "Let's get her some air," Hesse says, and they head out the back to stand on the veranda. Once there Gesine sinks into a chair, feeling faint. "Did you know about these?" Hesse asks, and either he's an excellent actor, or he's just as surprised as she is. Gesine half-lies and shakes her head--she knew about the ones meant for her father, but not these new ones obviously meant for her. She has to assume the officers left them while offering their condolences, and that realization infuriates her. Hesse seems equally perplexed--not by the fact that she's been bugged, but that he wasn't informed. He collects the bugs--"They're compromised now, anyway"--and says he'll try to figure out what's going on. Gesine loses her temper--"There's NOTHING going on, how many times do I have to tell you people!!"--and unleashes a flood of suppressed invective, she's just so frustrated and pissed off and full of grief. She defends her father's innocence and her own, rails at the SS for helping to kill him all for nothing, as Hesse just stands there and lets her, saying nothing. She's in tears by the time she runs out of words, furiously wiping at her eyes; previously, she figures she would be in manacles by now, yet Hesse gives her a moment to collect herself before saying they're done for the day. He admits that they're near certain to return, however--that can't be helped--and Gesine grits her teeth, forcing herself not to yell again as they leave. She breaks down sobbing--from despair but also from pure rage--once left alone. And after a long night, the thought occurs to her...if she's going to keep being accused of doing things she's never done...maybe she should just start doing those things, after all. (Unknown to Gesine...Hesse and his men were assigned to her case following her father's suicide and the closing of his case. Hesse was not thrilled about this but is simply following orders. He now goes to his boss and the chief of the Allgemeine-SS and the SD, Lt. Col. Rupprecht Heidenreich, and asks about the bugs. Heidenreich is incensed that he's removed them all; Hesse protests that Gesine is a German citizen with a clean record, and nothing concrete in her father's file points toward him betraying the Reich. Heidenreich reminds Hesse that the mere appearance of impropriety is enough for an investigation, and to just do his damn job. Hesse bites down his own frustration--recognizing creeping corruption when he sees it, yet helpless to do anything about it--and, as always, obeys.) Gesine takes several days to head into the few passages she knows of--those which her father showed to the SS men--and sets to work clearing them out. She removes the fallen debris, braces the crumbling sections the best she can, places boards on weakened sections of floor. She's surprised by just how far within the house they go, upstairs and downstairs, and when she finds herself exiting, after a very long crawl under what she's certain must be the ground itself, into what looks like the cellar of someone else's house, she hurries back immediately, heart pounding with fear. She wants to do something, but she doesn't know how to start, and this is all way too terrifying. She decides to visit the Dobermann estate. She can't help but suspect the cellar she ended up in, based on direction and proximity, must have been his. She dares to hope that maybe he can help her; he's one of the very few others who remained on courteous terms with her and her father, plus she knows his wife was killed in some sort of altercation with a Nazi who broke into his house. I. e., he too lost someone to these monsters. Maybe he'll understand. As she's let in and then led down a hallway to the parlor to speak with Freiherr Dobermann, however, she's stunned to run across Lt. Hesse, who looks equally stunned to see her. Instantly, a wall goes up; Hesse is as polite as ever, excuses himself quickly as if aware that he's disturbing her, but the damage is done. She tentatively asks the Wehrmacht guard leading her through the house what Herr Hesse is doing there. The guard replies that Hesse has a room at the estate--he lives in the city, but has kept residence here as well, since well before the guards arrived. "An old family friend," the guard says, and now Gesine knows she can't trust Dobermann, either. She has plenty of time for her anger and anxiety to rise while waiting for Dobermann in the parlor. By the time he arrives, apologizing for making her wait, she's decided to just excuse herself and go, but his offering of condolences over her father's death triggers another wave of rage. Gesine: "That SS man, he lives here?--in your house?" Dobermann: *puzzled* "Herr Hesse? He stays occasionally, ja, but as a guest." Gesine: "So you let one of them stay as a friend and a guest. Willingly, even." Dobermann: "Pardon...?" Gesine: *lowered voice* "That Arschloch's comrades harassed my father into his grave and now he's trying the same with me. And you LET him in as a guest! As a friend! After what they did to your wife, no less!" Gesine bites her tongue hard, cutting herself off; Dobermann flinches as if he's been punched. She can tell the comment wounded him and she immediately regrets it, yet can't think of what to say, especially since her anger is genuine. She almost expects him to order her out, yet he seems to collect himself and simply says, "I wasn't aware of Herr Hesse's interactions with your family. I'm sorry he's caused you distress, yet I have nothing to do with his work. As for why he sometimes stays here...Inga considered him her friend, and invited him to stay." He pauses to give Gesine a moment, then adds, "You came here for a reason, is there anything I can help you with...?" Gesine hesitates. Dobermann owed her no explanation after her outburst, yet gave it anyway, and he seems sincere; she gets the sense that he doesn't exactly care for Hesse himself, just tolerates him, because his late wife was once his friend. And she's SO tempted to ask him about what she's there for, about the passages, their use, and if, maybe, he himself has a use for them...he seems to notice her hesitation, for he says, "I promise nothing you say will leave this room." She opens her mouth, bites her lip...then shakes her head. She just can't bring herself to take the risk. "It's nothing," she says. "I'm sorry for taking up your time." Dobermann doesn't press; they share a few words of farewell and she heads back home. She spends a while crying to herself...it's hard not having even a single soul you can trust. She rather gives up on her spite-fueled thoughts of becoming who the Nazis have already suspected her of being. Time passes. While she's busy sorting through some papers one night, a noise startles her--it sounds like something in the wall. She thinks of pests, fetches a broom, heads into the hallway to try to determine where it came from. And comes across a strange man she's never seen before, right there in her house. She lets out a short, sharp yelp of terror--only for the man to raise his hands, looking just as startled. Gesine holds the broom aloft, feeling utterly stupid that she thought it might protect her--for the man has a knife in one raised hand--but then he says, "I won't hurt you--look," and very slowly bends forward to place the knife on the floor. He stands back up, arms still raised, as Gesine tries to force her hammering heartbeat to slow. This guy is obviously not a Nazi--he's painfully thin and dark complected, has odd eyes--one blue and one brown--and is wearing a striped shirt under his oversized coat. She realizes part of his attire is that of the people in the camps. Gesine: "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Stranger: "Lukas." *points toward mirror* "I came through there." Gesine: "That." *waves broom at the colored badge on his shirt* "What does that mean? Are you a criminal?" Lukas: "It means I'm Sinti." Gesine: "Sinti?" Lukas: "Zigeuner." *pause* "I'm not interested in robbing you. I won't take any of your things. I was checking out the passage. It led me here." Gesine: "The passage." *steps past him to peer at the mirror* "You came in through here--?" Lukas: "You don't know about the passages--?" Gesine: "I know about them, I just--no one's ever used them, that I know of." Lukas: "I just came across this one. It's always been blocked before now." Gesine: "I cleaned them out." Lukas: "You did?" Gesine: "But I don't understand how you got in here." Lukas: "They're all connected. Between the houses. Not everybody uses them or keeps them opened. I check them out every so often, see if any aren't usable anymore, but this time I found this one cleared out. I add them to the map." Gesine: "There's a map?" Lukas: "The less you know, the better." Lukas explains further: While exploring all passages branching off of one of the primary tunnels under the ground--the same one Gesine found, which connected with what might have been the Dobermann household--he noticed that her formerly inaccessible passage had been opened up, and went to see where it led--into her house, behind the mirror. He assumes she had a reason for clearing out the passages. Feeling a spark of hope, she asks why he's interested in using them--to which he again replies that the less she knows, the better. "I want to help," Gesine blurts out, steadies herself, and says, "I don't know what to do. This--" she gestures at the passage "--this is all I have. I don't know what else I can do." "No one person does everything," Lukas says, "it's everyone working together that counts. You're saying your passageways are open...? I can put them on the map?" And Gesine nods. Lukas asks if there are any other passages; she points out the other two she knows, but "My father showed these to the SS, they know about them. I'm not sure if they're safe." Lukas offers to take a look and see what else he can find. Gesine grants permission; he retrieves his knife and heads into a passageway. Gesine waits. And waits. She's just about certain that Lukas has left when a thump comes from behind the wall and a panel opens--further down the hall. She watches wide eyed as Lukas crawls out of the wall, then goes to look within the opening--she never knew it was there before. Lukas says there are indeed more passages than the three her father revealed; they need repairing, but he can handle that, if she grants access to pass through her house. She again agrees; Lukas says she should hardly know anyone is there, that'll mean it's working as intended. "How do I get in touch with you?" she asks; "You don't," Lukas says, yet then, "If and when we need to talk to you, you'll know. It might not look like what you expect, but you'll know." Lt. Hesse and his team arrive a few days later; Gesine frets a little, but his comments make it clear he has no idea about Lukas's visit, and is just following up on her case as he'd said he would. She's relieved when he doesn't request to examine the passages again--their renovated state would surely tip him off that something is up--though he does suggest that she permanently block them off, as "some undesirable elements might get through." He explains that he isn't authorized to act on the issue regarding the bugging of her house, so she should keep aware that whatever she says might be overheard. He also apologizes for startling her at Dobermann's house--"I hope you don't allow my presence there to color your opinion of Herr Dobermann"--and Gesine finds his straighforwardness and near-apologetic manner odd, yet is determined not to fall for it. His men do a cursory search, he asks some questions about her recent activities, they leave. The end. Gesine washes up and with a heavy sigh heads to bed. Before she can doze off, though--a knock comes at the front door. She nearly misses it, as it's rather quieter than she's used to; wondering who might be visiting so late, she gets up, heads to the door, unlocks and opens it. Her heart nearly stops when she sees a man in a peaked cap and long coat, lightning bolts on his collar; "Herrin von Gustedt?" he says in a soft voice, and she doesn't even bother nodding, just swallows hard and steps aside to let him in. He follows her to the parlor where she gestures at a seat, but before he can sit down she wobbles and her legs nearly give out; "Easy, easy," he says, taking her arm, "maybe you should sit instead," and he sits her down. "Let me show you something," he says, and kneels in front of her, unbuttoning a sleeve and pulling it up. He has to get her attention to make her look; he's extended his left arm, and she sees a number tattooed on it. She has to stare at it a minute before it sinks in what she's looking at; she glances up and he removes his cap. Dark complected, dark hair, dark eyes. Gesine opens her mouth, but he quickly puts a finger to his own mouth, gestures around the room, and says, "Perhaps we should get you some air," and helps her to her feet. They head through the house and out the back, onto the veranda; he again has her sit down. "My name's Josef Diamant," he says. "You might know me as the Jack of Diamonds. Herr Lukas said you were interested in getting in touch." Diamant apologizes for the SS uniform, but "I've found it opens the most doors and shuts the most mouths." He's the one in charge of the effort to shuttle prisoners and refugees through the system of hidden passages and, with hope, get them out of the country and beyond reach of the Nazis. He's been working especially hard to coordinate escape attempts through the sprawling network of passages and tunnels connecting the Junker homes; while not all estate owners are involved in or even knowledgeable about these efforts, he still tries to make what use of their property that he can, it just facilitates the process for the homeowners to be on board. Gesine asks who else knows; he advises that if she and her fellow collaborators haven't confided in each other, it's better for them not to know each other's identities. "That way, you have no information to offer up under questioning," he says, and the seriousness of what she's getting into hits her; he notices her discomfort and tells her she can still back out if she wishes, but she shakes her head. "Those bastards killed my father," she mumbles, eyes watering; "The least thing I can do is offer my house. I don't have anything else." Diamant assures her it's enough. Lukas told him about the three compromised passages, yet they can still use the rest. All she has to do is make sure the passages stay open, and run interference for the SS. "That one who lives at Herr Dobermann's place keeps pestering me," Gesine says, "he pretends to be all polite but I'm positive he knows more than he lets on." "Herr Hesse?" Diamant says, and makes a mild amused sound; "Let me worry about Herr Hesse. He's smart but he lets his own morals get in the way. Believes he's actually doing a greater good. As long as you're as honest with him as you can possibly be, he shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just keep doing what you're doing." While Diamant is correct in his assessment of Hesse's attitude, he too often operates with blinders on; Lukas takes him to task for downplaying the SS's power at times. Hesse and Diamant share an odd hate/respect relationship; while they both utterly detest each other, they can't help but admire each other's resolve and cleverness. Hesse's maladaptive response is to overestimate Diamant in a way, letting him consume his thoughts to the point that he obsesses, blames him for everything, and loses all reason; whereas Diamant's maladaptive response is to underestimate Hesse, teasing and prodding him and turning him into a joke. In other words, these two are each other's biggest blind spot, and people around them are often dragged unwittingly into their rivalry, sometimes in really bad ways. As Gesine ends up finding out. She takes Diamant's advice, lets his Diamond Network use her house, and puts on the same disgruntled face every time Hesse and his guys show up to ask questions. Hesse seems genuinely apologetic to keep bothering her, insisting he's only doing his job ("Don't let his nice act fool you," Diamant says, "he'd lie to and murder his own mother if she was still alive and harboring Jews"); and meanwhile, Hesse urges her to take caution ("You should close those passages if you haven't yet. Herr Diamant and his gang are active in this area, and they'd think nothing of murdering innocent citizens like yourself to get what they want"). Gesine's already picked her side--what happened to Herr von Gustedt burns always in her mind--so she easily brushes off Hesse's warnings. Hesse is right that somebody will think nothing of murdering her...he just doesn't know that it isn't Diamant who'll do it. For a time this is the situation, Diamant's people furtively passing through Gesine's property (all goes as it should, so she barely notices they're there), Hesse continuing his occasional questioning. Hesse privately protests again to Heidenreich that the only signs he finds in Gesine's home are those left by the SS itself, and there's just no indication that she's betrayed the Reich, yet Heidenreich curtly reminds him that his job isn't to defend her, keep doing what he's doing, and Hesse resigns himself to continuing the harassment, though he does grumble about it to his associates, 2nd Lt. Wozniak and Master Sgt. Schulte. "Like we can't find any better use of our resources than pestering some poor woman who just lost her father," he mutters; he's a lifelong orphan himself, so he feels a bit of sympathy for Gesine over this. Reports of Diamond Network activity, especially out in the country, only increase, however, and he's accordingly ordered to step up the pressure on questioning the Junkers. He always grants Dobermann plenty of leeway out of loyalty to Inga; Dobermann is expert at giving no sign that he's actively working against the regime. Herrin Katharina von Thiel uses her charm--and her own acting skills--to keep suspicion off her collaboration with the enemy; she always greets Hesse pleasantly, chats him up about the state of the Party, and sees him off with an enthusiastic "Sieg Heil!" Gesine, well...she's never accommodating. Hesse easily chalks this up to her grief and anger, and dislikes having to repeatedly subject her to such treatment, yet Heidenreich seems convinced there's something there, and although Heidenreich is wrong about a lot of things, he ends up being right about this, just not for the reasons he'd think--the SS pretty much made Gesine's collaboration into a self-fulfilling prophecy, after all. Hesse arrives one day with his guys. Gesine is especially short tempered this time, cutting him off more than once by jumping in front of him to argue right in his face--she even jabs a finger at his chest and calls him some choice vulgar names. (Wozniak is good at keeping a poker face in front of the others, though the moment Gesine steps away, Schulte elbows Hesse and stage-whispers, "She's feisty, Boss, I think maybe she likes you!"--when Hesse gets a dirty look, Wozniak adds, "She really does seem fixated on you, Kamerad.") Hesse has a distinct, nagging feeling that something is off--underneath Gesine's vitriol, there seems to be a trace of fear he's not used to seeing, she's never shown any fear of him before--and her more aggressive than usual attitude appears geared to distract him from something. It's rather working, though; numerous times her ranting thwarts him from looking around the house, until he finally loses his temper and snaps, "If you don't let my men do their job, I'm going to have to take you back to headquarters in shackles, and let them pick your house apart! Do you really want that?" This at last manages to somewhat subdue her; she bites her tongue, crosses her arms protectively, glowers, yet stops arguing and getting in the way. Hesse makes himself take a deep breath to steady his nerves, modulates his voice, says, "I apologize, the hundredth time, for inconveniencing you. Yet I've told you the situation, and even if you're in full compliance with the law, these undesirable elements have a way of getting through. They could be using your property without you even knowing. We're doing this not only for the safety of the Reich but for your own safety, as well." "Even you don't believe that bulls**t," Gesine mutters, yet offers no other protest, so he takes that as a win. He gestures at his men, pointing out which parts of the property to search; when he sends Schulte upstairs, Gesine's face pinches with anxiety so much that he takes pause; "Is there any reason you don't want Kamerad Schulte up there?" he asks, at which Gesine gives him a venomous glare and says, "That's where I watched my father die. Maybe it's fine for your sort. I don't appreciate your men's filthy boots treading around there." This time Hesse bites his tongue, feeling his neck grow hot; "We'll do what we can to be quick and be out of here as soon as possible," he says, earning a scornful snort. He can tell Gesine is getting even more stressed out--she looks almost ready to cry--so starts to suggest that she go to the parlor to sit and wait, when a loud yell comes from upstairs. Everyone turns to look up the staircase. "Kamerad--?" Hesse calls; there are sounds of a struggle, another, even louder yell, and Schulte abruptly appears and falls backward, tumbling head over heels down the winding stairs. Everyone watches dumbfounded until he lands in a crumple at the bottom, groaning in pain; "Schulte!" Hesse exclaims, hurrying forward and gently grasping his arm. Schulte pushes himself half upright, grimacing and rubbing his neck; "Are you all right--?" Hesse asks, to which Schulte responds, "Nein, I'm NOT all right! That Schwanzlutscher (very dirty word I can't spell out here) attacked me! Hiding up there in the bathroom wall!" Gesine goes white. And immediately, Hesse knows he's been had; he rushes up the stairs, gun drawn, locates the bathroom just to the side of the landing, enters and looks around--seeing the bathtub curtain pulled to the floor and the linen closet door askew, he yanks aside the latter, and sees how the back of the tiny closet yawns into darkness. He sticks his head inside and can feel a breeze but hears nothing, and knows better than to enter; fury boiling up in his breast, he holsters his pistol and storms back down the stairs. Wozniak is tending to the battered Schulte and the rest of his men have since filtered back into the room, looking puzzled; "You!" Hesse shouts, his voice pure venom, and Gesine flinches as if slapped. Hesse halts in front of her, barely able to contain his rage. "You disavowed all knowledge of any other passages in your house! If you think I believe for one moment you were unaware of this, you're stupider than I thought! If you want the slightest chance of getting out of this mess, you'll tell me where that passage leads and who was in your house!" Gesine swallows visibly, yet says nothing, just keeps her arms crossed defensively and glowers at him. Hesse can't believe how stupid he feels, that he ever allowed himself to feel a shred of sympathy for a filthy collaborator, how she was even willing to use her father as a cover; he fights down a snarl, unsnaps his pistol and draws it again, pointing it at her forehead. Gesine's eyes flicker with fear; "Final chance!" Hesse says, "Swear your loyalty to the Reich and tell me who that was, or face the consequences. Answer me!" For just the tiniest sliver of a second, he's sure Gesine's resolve is vanishing, she'll offer up an answer, swear her loyalty, please don't hurt her, she's a good faithful citizen--they say this, all of them, whenever Hesse threatens and pulls his gun, why should she be any different. He fully expects to get a confession, a plea for leniency, she'll be threatened with prison until she points out the other passages and gives up all the names she knows, then she'll be let off relatively easy as she's a Junker and the rich get away with almost everything, it's a shame but it's true, he'll take her statement and give it to Heidenreich who will be proven right, and then he'll ask to hand off the followup investigation to someone else because he's just so tired of the lies, everything would be so much easier if people were only honest. Which is why he genuinely doesn't expect it when the look on Gesine's face subtly shifts; she lifts her chin and looks him straight in the eyes, as if the gun isn't even there. And... Gesine hisses, "Long live the Jack of Diamonds!" Hesse blinks. Time stops. ...You've already seen the outcome. Even Schulte and Wozniak seem stunned, seeing Gesine's lifeless body hit the floor. She may be a criminal, a collaborator, yes, but you don't just go executing Junkers, they have the right to a trial, and friends in high places. Hesse's reaction might have technically been justified...but the plain truth is he lost his temper. He hates being lied to, and this, this was especially egregious. He'll deal with whatever penalty Heidenreich decides to dish out when it comes. In the meantime, he orders his men to tear the place apart to locate the rest of the passages--this may lead them to yet more collaborators--and then, as a warning to the other Junkers, to burn the whole place to the ground. His anger is so overwhelming that this final bit of irony escapes him, how he lost his own parents in this same manner, how fire was what orphaned him so long ago and now he unleashes fire on the orphaned Gesine as a final act of just plain spite. Far under the ground, unnoticed in the tumult, Lukas Mettbach hastily pulls soil and rocks and boards loose from the narrow tunnel sides. He successfully undoes Gesine's previous efforts, closing the passage behind him as she once opened it up. He takes an alternate route from the one she once took, knowing it's far too dangerous to go to the Dobermann estate right now; Dobermann, and Inga before him, has been one of the Network's most powerful allies, and that relationship can't be jeopardized. Gesine was unfortunately expendable...yet Lukas will end up cursing himself for his negligence anyway, nothing Diamant or his fellow Network members can say that will assuage his guilt. He vows he'll find a way to kill Hesse someday. From a distance, Dobermann and Katharina and the rest watch the smoke plume into the air. Hesse's message gets through loud and clear. Adelina Dobermann, when she learns of the incident, is struck with fear that whoever burned down Herrin Gesine's house might come for them next, and for reassurance she turns to...Hesse, who's always looked out for her. He expresses dismay over Gesine's mysterious fate, but reassures Adelina that whoever harmed her won't harm Adelina. Hesse despises people lying to him...but he's an excellent liar, himself. Gesine ends up hardly a blip on the radar, one tiny snipped thread in the web, but she plays her part, and Herr von Gustedt plays his own inadvertent part before her. "No one person does everything," Lukas told her after all, "it's everyone working together that counts." And although Hesse would never admit it, the von Gustedts play a significant role in his life as well; he learns exactly how far he's willing to go, how much of a monster he's willing to be, in the course of his work. It's an unpleasant realization that doesn't fully strike him until much, much later. [Herr von Gustedt 2024 [Friday, November 29, 2024, 12:00:15 AM]] |