[Open] Thoughts

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

Erwin found himself on the observation deck again. He'd wandered the ship, seen the city, seen different places. It still took him time to adjust. It still took him time to fathom all of this. He'd ended up on the observation deck again - and luckily he had clothes now. A pair of jeans (relatively familiar to him - Americans wore them, not quite as popular in Germany) and a plain t-shirt. He kept his field cap on, though. It reminded him of home and where he came from. It kept him in the mindset that he was still a soldier and he would act like one as best he could, until he could go home. Or until everything here was resolved.

He frowned to himself, sweeping the field cap off as he walked inside (instinct, he supposed - there technically wasn't an 'inside' or 'outside' any more) and tucked it under one arm, staring out of the window at the strangeness outside. He couldn't contemplate all of it yet. It was too much. Well, he could, but it was still overwhelming. He sighed, speaking more to himself then anyone else around, "What do we do now?"

Comments

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

Robert had been very, very happy to get himself some clothes while on earth. It wasn't much: an ill-cut business suit, two pairs of shoes and some more casual attire. So, dressed in his suit he'd wandered down to the Obs Deck, pausing as he noticed the young man already there. He slipped inside quietly, not wanting to disturb him when Rob heard the other speak. He approached, piping up.

"I'm not sure. We do the best we can, I think." That hat seemed familiar...

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

Erwin glanced over at the other man as spoke - a business suit? Well, not quite. It was slightly different from the suits Erwin had been used to seeing. He straightened a bit, trying to make himself look presentable in his horribly casual clothes, "That sounds about right, yes. I am... ah... new, to the ship, I am afraid. Oberschütze Erwin Fischer."

He offered his hand in a friendly manner.

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Huh. Bundeswehr, or whatever they're calling it these days? Watching the Commies?" He shook the offered hand firmly.

"Robert Donovan. Private detective. Good to meet you."

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

Erwin frowned, brow furrowing in puzzlement, "...the Bundeswehr? No, it's the Heer, as it's always been. Although you could say we are watching the communists, yes."

He chuckled wryly at his own quip and gave Donovan's hand a firm shake, "A pleasure to meet you, Mister Donovan. You are... an American, yes?"

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Ah. Yes. I am American. From Boston, actually." Awkward.

"It's that...shit, I didn't think they'd take anyone from the past. I should have expected this..." He sighed. "What year is it for you? 'Cause it's nineteen sixty-six for me."

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

"Ah. I am from Frankfurt," Erwin replied. Then the next words of the American gave him pause. He should've expected this, especially after meeting the man from 2009. He frowns.

"...it is 1944. Why?"

He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Jesus." He ran a hand through his hair, the next words coming almost before he could stop them.

"Christ, I hope I didn't shoot you."

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

"...I am quite alive. I was shot once, but that was with a grenade."

Erwin frowned, "You fought in the war? Then it's over in your time, of course! It wouldn't go on another twenty years."

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. Same here. And an MG-42. Fucking buzzsaw." He shook his head, trying to shove the memories of those bad, bad days back out of his mind. He nodded at Erwin.

"Yep. 1945. S'all over. Hitler offed himself in Berlin. Germany surrendered." He wondered if he should really tell the younger (well, technically, not that much younger...a year or two younger than he had been in '44 if he remembered right) man all this. But than again, the chances of getting back home were fairly slim, it seemed.

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

"Ah," Erwin wondered for a moment if he should apologize for that. This man was - would have been - an enemy. Might've shot at him. He frowns, "...Hitler shot himself? Germany... Germany surrendered? I knew things were bad, but there was still hope..."

He sighed, "...at least our country survived. Or tried to."

He still remembered bombed out cities.

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Your country did a lot of things." He left it at that. Wasn't sure if telling him everything would be the best idea.

"Christ. This ship is messed up." He shook his head, suddenly feeling the need for a stiff drink.

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

Erwin stiffened. Another idiot who thought that Germany had wanted the war. That the Germans deserved it. He frowned, "...so did Stalin."

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Stalin wasn't exactly a nice guy either, but I don't think he ever rounded up people and put them in extermination camps for being Jews." Robert retorted.

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

"That... that's just Allied propoganda!" Erwin replied, voice snapping angrily. He didn't quite believe that. He just hadn't cared to think about it. He wasn't a Jew and he hadn't cared enough about them to think about it.

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Bullshit! I was there! I saw the camp, I smelled it, the filth, the burning bodies. I was fucking there. You were murdering those people!" He took a step forward, then visibly restrained himself. That kind of thing didn't exactly leave you.

"Men, women, kids. All of them. Because they weren't part of that Nazi 'master race' crap."

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

Erwin looked a bit shaken, "That wasn't my responsibility, even if it did happen! I'm a soldier! I don't-"

He swallowed his objection. He knew what he'd seen and done in Russia, "...I do what I have to do to protect my comrades and my country! I swore an oath to defend it!"

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"Yeah? Other soldiers tried to do something! They got hung off of meat hooks for trying to save their country from Hitler!" He shook his head. It wasn't excuse, not to him. They wouldn't let that happen in his country, why should Germany be different?

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

"If anyone tried, they would be executed for high treason!" Erwin practically shouts, "You cannot just overthrow a government! Not in the middle of a war for national survival! Not when the Communists are at your doorstep! I am one man, one soldier? What do you want me to do?! Get executed with the rest? Uselessly?"

[bostonbeatcop.livejournal.com]

"You--you could have done something! Others found a way to resist!" He shook his head in disgust. "It's not an excuse when you have industrialized murder going on in your country!"

[youngsoldat.livejournal.com]

"Like what? Simply refuse to obey orders? I would be shot on the spot! Oh, I know, I could just walk home from Moscow!" Now he really is shooting, gesturing with his hands, "It is easy for you to say that now, when there isn't 3,000 miles of snow-covered tundra between you and home! It wasn't my responsibility and it wasn't my problem!"