<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=313762.msg15185840#msg15185840">Quote from: Callie Del Noire on 01-12-2019, 00:23:47</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><strong>Name:</strong> Wallace Aiden Burthold-Campbell<br/><br/>“I know.. I’m British.. I should be drinking tea but it was a horrid night last night, I need the energy.” </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>She responds, standing near the door of the briefing chamber, perhaps so she can see someone else arriving at the gate, or perhaps because she is timid alone in a room with a man. "<br/><br/>"They say that the coffee is now only 1/3<em>koffeeerstatz</em>, but I can taste the acorn. The only tea in the city is either in the British Black market, and too expensive, or the Soviet Black market." She flushes slightly. "That... ...is also too expensive. But perhaps we can borrow some from the Allied Council, upstairs."<br/><br/>There is a low buzzing sound, and she nods quickly and heads off to the gate at a quick pace.<br/><br/>It is not news that rationing is tight in Berlin. The promised amounts of goods never quite seem to be available. The military, with robust logistic chains, have successfully bartered personal surplus for jewelry, heirlooms, and personal favours. The thousands of British, French, and American soldiers certainly have taken advantage of this, however their military police take an active role in complaints from the community, and excess debauchery is quickly weeded out, the soldiers in question sent packing with a long list of disciplinary charges. The Soviet commissars, NKVD, and the Red Army police seem to turn a blind eye to such excesses, and thus the black markets on the Eastern Zone have garnered a salacious reputation.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=313762.msg15187258#msg15187258">Quote from: Metraxa on 01-12-2019, 22:08:58</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><strong>Name:</strong> Gordon Briggs<br/><br/>"Good morning Frau Meyer," he said to the woman waiting for him with a nod of his head. "I hope the weather hasn't been giving you too much trouble." <br/><br/>On like that he would continue to converse about things of mild importance. At the same time he'd take the opportunity to test the German phrases he had picked up last night, even if she already spoke in English. There was no harm in a bit of practice, as far as he was concerned. Not with the opportunity to do so before it mattered. </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Frau Meyer is happy to play along. You sense she is speaking German a bit more slowly than she normally would. Finally she returns to English.<br/><br/>"Your German is progressing, Herr Kapitan. However you must work on your 'ch' -- too soft and you will sound Swiss. Too hard and you will sound like a Bavarian. A Berliner speaks exactly so."