Hello
Here's a thought experiment. Imagine that, in 2017, Activision did not publish Call of Duty: WWII but instead Call of Duty: Eternal. This is a story which is very much the same as what Call of Duty: WWII transpired as but with a couple of significant differences. For a start, it's not set during World War Two - it's set in a fantasy world with a 1940s/50s level of technology. A global war is raging between mankind and Orks, with the Orks having conquered great tracts of the world, and the story opening with the efforts by humanity to retake "Albion" from Ork occupation. I like to imagine the faces of Call of Duty fans when the first trailer came out and, seeing what looked like D-Day, got excited that at last the franchise was going back to its roots - only to see that the enemies are Orks and the main character is a Lenape woman.
To help with this imagining - below you'll find the full script for the first mission of Call of Duty: Eternal, based on the first mission of Call of Duty: WWII. The rest will gradually follow.
You might find it useful to follow along using this video - a walkthrough (no commentary, thank God) of the actual first mission in Call of Duty: WWII to help with visualising it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7y1bDQBEhA
Call of Duty: Eternal Mission 1 X-Day
Text slowly appears on-screen:
The world is bathed in flames.
The Ork clans, united for the first time in centuries, are on the march.
Man faces extermination.
A human skull is shown before an Ork boot comes down on it, shattering it.
Radio broadcast: With unmatched ferocity, the Ork war machine has launched its onslaught against the world… mankind faces the abyss.
The camera pans up on the Ork boot to show an Ork soldier as, behind him, Ork soldiers and tanks move through a devastated city.
Radio broadcast: As we brace for our darkest hour, we must summon our strength to be the bulwark against oppression.
Ork bombers are shown bombing London, recognisable for the Thames if not for the architecture. They are four-engine bombers, like B-17s, and the camera closes in on a propeller which shifts to a ceiling fan.
Radio broadcast: The Ork onslaught will be the greatest test we'll ever face.
The camera pans down from the ceiling fan Mona Kanti, a young Lenape woman and the protagonist, is shown joining the Imperial Armed Forces. She stands in a line in a recruitment office as a recruitment officer stamps her papers.
Radio broadcast: But face it and defeat it… we must.
To punctuate the “we must,” a sudden cut to black with the sound cut out. Then, we hear the voice of the Ork Primarch. A speech plays, meant to mirror FDR’s D-Day Prayer, with shots of the Ork war machine we’ve been hearing so much about.
Primarch: With this war we set upon a mighty endeavour.
Fade from black to show huge lines of Ork soldiers in formation, like big Nazi rallies, are shown.
Primarch: A struggle to restore our civilization…
Ork soldiers on one knee in this rally are shown, closer up, dressed in battle gear and their faces daubed in war paint.
Primarch: …and to set free a suffering people.
A view from the rear of the rally, with the vast architecture of the Primarch’s palace shown looming over it all, resembling the Palace of the Soviets.
Primarch: Our Sons. Pride of our Clans.
Another panning shot of the assembled Orks, this time from the side.
Primarch: May the Mother lead them straight and true.
An Ork mystic, on the balcony overlooking the assembly, blesses the troops with hands raised to the sky.
Primarch: The road will be glorious. Men's souls will be broken with the beauty of war.
A shot from behind the mystic, seeing the assembled troops stretching towards the horizon.
Primarch: In this time of fire and blood…
The face of one Ork soldier is shown up close.
Primarch: …we shall prevail.
With the slightest of grimaces, the Ork uses a knife – and, in the background, we see the others doing the same – to ritualistically slice his forehead and let blood trickle down.
The cutscene then shifts to the Imperial Navy ships, including battleships of a scale similar to the Super Yamato, that are heading for the beaches of Albion. Mona Kanti is writing a letter to her sister, Luna Kanti, and we hear her voice-over as we view shots of the fleet.
Kanti (narrating): Luna. Oh, I wish you could see this, sister. An armada from one horizon to the next. I turned sixteen too late to help free Ériu. But not Albion – and it’s gonna be tougher. Much tougher. You know, I think I could bear the blood, and the misery… and the Orks. But the waiting… well, that’s a whole other battle.
Inside the troopship living quarters. We are now in first-person as Kanti. Kanti is sat at a table, hanging out and talking with her squad-mates Kinsi Rei (female Somali; shaved head), Thea Adlai, (female Swedish; ginger, freckles, glasses) and Ren Tao (male Chinese). Ren Tao is eighteen – the others are all sixteen. Bunks are stretched out behind them and other soldiers, of all ethnicities and sexes, walk by throughout. Rei is holding court while playing with a knife, every now and then jabbing between her fingers.
Rei: So she asks me for my watch and I'm thinking, "what in the Nether do you want my watch for; your parents make like fifty times mine!" But I turn around, and I felt this punch. And it's cold like ice.
Some of the dialogue is drowned out by Kanti’s narration. Every now and then, Kanti glances down at her fingers as she snaps them, but whatever she’s trying to do with that isn’t happening.
Kanti (narrating): Believe it or not, I managed to make some half-decent friends in Basic. All scared as can be. But nobody’s letting on.
Rei keeps playing her knife game as she talks.
Kanti (narrating): I hated Rei when I met her – and now she's my best friend. Funny how that works. She's always looking for trouble. If there wasn't already a war on she'd be off trying to start one.
Rei offers her knife to Thea Adlai and, though we can’t hear her given the narration, seems to be asking her if she wants to try the knife game. Adlai refuses.
Adlai: Besides, I gotta keep all my fingers if I'm gonna take photo of the year.
Kanti (narrating): Adlai says she's gonna be a photographer for a fashion magazine. She’s got a good eye. Except when she takes off her glasses – then she can’t see shit.
Rei offers her knife to Kanti and Kanti turns to Ren Tao.
Kanti (narrating): Tao's the vet but, if I’m honest, he's what kokomi would call “a bit of a bumpkin.”
Ren Tao is tempted to play Rei’s knife game.
Tao: Okay, okay. Let's make this interesting.
Rei: It’s not interesting? Kanti – what’re you doing?
She says this in reference to Kanti’s finger-snapping.
Kanti (narrating): I swear I used to be able to do this…
Tao: So you keep saying.
Tao take off his talisman and dangles it in front of Rei.
Tao: Xu Yaling. Spirit of war.
Adlai: And sex, right?
Tao: Sssh. (Rei and Adlai laugh) He's had my back since Sabha. And, yeah, that’s real gold. (drops the talisman down on the table) Rei, three times in ten seconds, and he's all yours. (Sits back down)
Rei: I don't know.
Tao: Oh, you could always wimp out. That’s a choice, too.
Kanti: My money's on Rei.
Rei: Okay. Okay, I'm in.
Adlai: I can't watch.
Tao: I can.
Rei looks to Adlai.
Rei: Just time me when I tell you. Back to my story – me and my girls, we muscled our way into this chess game that the wrestling team had going. We had a bona-fide genius among us – but it was me playing. We worked out a system where she can signal to me what moves to make. You should have seen the Head Girl’s face when I took that pot. (To Adlai) You ready? That's what happens when you try to hustle a hustler. Now…
Rei plays the knife game while Adlai times her and wins the bet in a few impressive seconds.
Rei: Checkmate!
Tao: There ain’t no way!
Kanti (narrating): Tao had enough fight in him for two men.
Rei: Much obliged.
Rei offers to shake hands with Tao.
Tao: My mother told me never touch a Nube.
Rei doesn’t flinch but you can tell she’s ready to throw hands. Instead…
Rei: That's not what she said last night.
Rei winks and Tao shakes her hand.
Kanti (narrating): And enough bigotry for six.
Tao: Meh, who needs a stupid talisman anyway.
Rei: Apparently, you did. Here, have it back.
Tao: You won it.
Rei: It’s fake gold.
Tao: What? No, no, no, that’s as real as you or I.
Rei: A hustler always knows.
Tao: Ah, whatever, if it’s fake I don’t want it. I'm gonna get something better. A real trophy. You'll see.
Rei: Good luck with that.
Kanti snaps her fingers and finally produces what she wanted – a finger of flame, like a lighter, appears.
Kanti: I did it! Look, look, I did it!
Rei: Well, by Baphometh, isn’t that something?
Tao: That’s very pretty, Kanti. You’re ready to take on the Primarch, I should think.
Rei: She was always ready. Right Kanti?
Tao: You got any healing spells we could use or is it all evil magic with you?
Kanti: Well-
Rei: Oh, go on, tell him, Kanti! Tell him about that thing you can do!
Adlai: What thing?
Rei: And there’s no such thing as good and evil magic. Just good and evil people.
Kanti: It’s not that I can do it; it’s just that it happens sometimes. When someone’s dead I can kinda, you know, see into their past. But they have to of died recently. And I can’t do it with most people.
Tao: Well, we’re invading Fortress Albion, my friend. Good time to find yourself some corpses.
Rei: Maybe even your own.
Adlai: Hey, Kanti, do that spell again for the camera.
Adlai raises her camera then, seeing her watch, realizes that they are late for the mission briefing.
Adlai: Oh! Never mind, briefing’s at 18:00; we're gonna be late!
Adlai jumps up and runs from the room. The others also stand.
Tao: Run, little mouse.
Rei: I got us covered Kanti; don't worry about it (Showing the pendant to Kanti and winking). It is real gold.
As Kanti and Rei leave the living quarters, they encounter Khand, their turban-wearing sergeant, and in terms of personality very much a cranky sergeant stereotype.
Khand: Briefing's about to start; what in the Nether are you idiots doing?
Kanti (narrating): Then there's Sergeant Khand. He’s a sweetheart.
Khand: Oh, you think you're special, huh? The Orks are gonna eat you alive.
Rei: No, not me, sergeant. I’m high in salt.
Khand: Watch your lip, Rei. On me.
Khand leaves. The other two move to follow.
Rei: Since I'm obviously on a lucky streak, whatever happens, stay close. First Albion, then the Great Pale, then home in time for tea and medals. We got this, Kanti.
Scene fades out.
All of the 66th Infantry Division troops are on the deck of the ship as the rain pours down and Colonel Kitwana, a Swahili man, gives his pre-battle speech. As he does, we see the soldiers assembled watching him.
Kitwana: Today… we embark on an operation of unparalleled importance. To establish a beachhead in Albion… and roll back the Ork horde... that has terrorized the world since before many of you were born. We are all that separates the world from darkness. This is so much more than a chance to be heroes in our own lifetimes. If we prevail… our triumphs will be etched into the hearts and minds of a grateful world for untold generations. I'm talking about glory. True glory.
Kanti narrates her letter to Luna and soldiers begin to climb down the cargo net on the side of the ship into landing craft. These craft start making for the Albion coast.
Kanti (narrating): Colonel Kitwana can give a nice speech. His pep talk reminded me of the one Coach Pakwa gave us on our Mother’s Night game against Susquehanna. I'm sure you remember we lost by 67 points. (Focuses on Sokolov and Khand) Always looking over Khand’s shoulders is Lieutenant Sokolov. He's got him on a tight leash. But if Khand breaks free, we'll all get bit. Ever since I found my gift, I wanted to be like you, Luna. You've always been a tough act to follow. But I'll do my best.
Gameplay
We are now in first-person again as Kanti.
Kanti (narrating): It's now or never.
Kanti is writing in her notebook, the photo of Luna pinned to a page, as their landing craft drives for the Albion shore. Kanti is interrupted by Rei.
Rei: Hey! I wish I was coming home to her!
Kanti: That’s my sister! Just wait ‘til we hit Lutetia. Enough girls for the rest of your long life.
Rei: I’m starting to realise how far away it is.
Kanti take a quick glance at her notebook and closes it before tucking it into her pack.
Sokolov: Remember. No digging in at the shore. You advance. You need to stay low and do not bunch up. Stick to your training and you're gonna make it through.
Khand: Most of you, anyway.
Medium bombers pass by overhead, resembling the Junkers Ju 88 (in this universe known as Dragons) on a heading towards Albion.
Tao: Alright! Give em hell, boys.
Text appears across the screen.
X-DAY Lùnastal 17th, 397 NE Rheged, Northern Albion
Rei: The beaches are meant to be flattened, right?
Khand: You sound scared, Private.
Rei: No, sir.
Khand: You should be.
Driver: Hey, you! You!
Kanti turns to look at the landing craft’s driver behind her.
Driver: Got a light?
Kanti: Sure thing.
Kanti snaps her fingers a couple times and produces the flame again.
Driver: Oh – you’re one of them.
Soldier: Never trust a witch.
As the driver lights his cigarette on her finger, a bullet hits the boat’s machine gunner in the throat; he falls, flailing, with blood spurting out of his neck like in a Tarantino film. Shells start to fall.
Driver: Bastards!
Sokolov: Everyone down!
Rei: This is it!
Ork artillery lands in the grey ocean all around, spraying the craft with water. Kanti crouches with the rest of the troops.
Soldier: Watch out!
Bullets bounce off the landing craft’s armour.
Soldier: This isn’t fun!
Driver: Five hundred yards!
Another shell lands nearby and sprays the craft with water. Kanti trips but is held up by Khand grabbing her arm.
Driver: We’re gonna have to pull off!
Sokolov: No, we stay on mission! You're taking us in!
Driver: We must have drifted! I can't see the landmark!
Khand: You heard the lieutenant. Full speed!
Sokolov: Incoming!
An artillery shells blows up the neighbouring landing craft.
Soldier: By the Gods!
Sokolov: Hold tight!
An artillery shell, again, lands near the boat.
Kanti: Damn it!
Driver: Two hundred yards!
Looking up, a Dragon bomber is visible coming down with an engine on fire.
Driver: Twenty seconds!
Sokolov: Remember the plan! Get to the seawall!
Khand: Ceres! Aradove! Get the bangalore to the wire, fast! Everyone ready? Here we go!
Sokolov: Drop the ramp!
Driver: There's no cover!
Khand: That was an order, damn you! Drop it!
The ramp drops just as a landing craft consumed with flames comes crashing into theirs.
Rei: Oh, shit!
Kanti is knocked off her feet by the impact. Looking up, she watches as machine gun fire from the clifftops chops down a number of soldiers on the boat now that the ramp has been dropped. One has his head blown off and his neck is left spouting blood over Kanti as others are also cut down.
Sokolov: Over the sides! Now! Now!
Kanti follows as the survivors climb over the boat’s side. She stays underwater for a few seconds before being helped to her feet by Sokolov, spluttering.
Sokolov: I got you, child!
Just behind him, the beach is consumed by fighting and the noise of war is deafening.
Sokolov: Get your head down and keep moving!
Sokolov leads Kanti out of the surf, a burning soldier falls screaming from another landing craft and into the water, while carnage reigns all around. Bodies are floating all about and the water is red with blood.
Sokolov: Kanti; on me!
Running through the sand as explosions go off all around, artillery can be seen curling from the Ork lines towards the beach. Sokolov and Kanti hit the deck in front of some Ork tank traps.
Sokolov: Demolition team is dead! Take the bangalore and get to the seawall! We need to clear a path to the bunkers!
Kanti temporarily looks away, back to the water, and witnesses the bloodshed of soldiers dying, and a number running out of a landing craft on fire, while a warship close to shore opens fire on the coastal defences. Sokolov gets Kanti’s attention.
Sokolov: Kanti!
An explosion goes off nearby, half-soaking Sokolov’s face with gore. Someone just blew up.
Sokolov: This is your job! You got that?! Now pick up the banger!
Kanti moves the severed arm of a dead soldier to retrieve the bangalore. She looks upon the dead soldier’s corpse and, suddenly, her vision fades away and she sees his memories. This is the first of the Internal Vortex collectibles which can be found throughout the game, whereby additional lore is provided through Kanti’s ability to tap into the memories of certain corpses (human and Ork). In this case, the accessed memory tells a brief story of the soldier (Private Omid Afshani) and how he was part of a traditional military family and all his brothers have already fallen, told he would be a general someday, how he was born on a ship evacuating Persia (which goes some way to explaining why the Imperial military is so multiethnic – the whole world evacuated to the Americas) and how his last letter home from the ship told of how “I can’t wait to hear the birdsong again.”
Afterwards, she returns to lucidity.
Sokolov: Kanti! Kanti! You with me?!
Kanti: Yes!
Sokolov: You can do this!
Sokolov stands and starts running up the beach. Kanti watches after him.
Kanti: I hope so, sir!
Kanti looks at the dead soldier that was carrying the torpedo bangalore, and with one hand closes his eyes.
Kanti: Sorry.
Kanti takes the body’s R7 Remi rifle (comparable to the M1 Garand) and proceeds up the beachhead, trying not to get killed. The machine gun nests in the clifftop fortifications will open fire on the soldiers then wait for a few seconds to reload. This will be the player's chance to move up to avoid taking damage. The player moves from cover to cover – tank traps, the wreckage of vehicles such as half-tracks and light tanks, and shell craters, mostly.
Khand: Hurry before they reload! Move it!
Sokolov: Kanti! This way! Hurry! Stop and you’re dread!
Tao: Shit!
Sokolov: Those MGs are killing us! Get off the beach!
Khand: Private Kanti – get to the seawall!
Rei: Get to the seawall! I’ll meet you there!
A couple of armoured vehicles – light tanks resembling Soviet BT-7s, here called LT-5 Termites – are now also moving up the beach and providing fire support. One blows up.
Sokolov: Keep low. When there’s a break in the fire, run for it!
There’s a break in the fire – you run for it.
Sokolov: Kanti, get the bangalore!
When Kanti reaches the seawall, which is made up of a big mound of sand lined at its top by barbed fire and burning gasoline, she falls against it. Her fellow soldiers fall in alongside her or are already there. A lot of wounded are also there, being treated by medics as machine gun fire flies over their heads. Rei falls next to Kanti, her face covered in dirt and blood.
Rei: Kanti! Use the banger; I'll cover you! After we breach, keep pushing toward the bunker!
Kanti: You’re covered in blood.
Rei: It’s not mine. Focus!
Kanti sets up the torpedo bangalore, made up of two cylindrical rods, with the second able to fit inside the first. Her handling is shaky and she drops one rod. Rei picks it up for her and gives it back.
Rei: We're nearly there!
Kanti pushes the torpedo bangalore into the seawall.
Rei: Pull it! Pull it!
Kanti: Fire in the hole!
Kanti scrambles backwards and the bangalore explodes, tearing a hole in the seawall for the soldiers to pour through, dirt pouring down like rain.
Sokolov: Weapons ready! Fix bayonets!
Kanti fumbles for her bayonet and fixes it to her rifle. You can now use this as a melee weapon against enemy infantry.
Rei: Ready to see your first Ork?
Sokolov: Attack!
Sokolov leads the troops through the hole – and many, though not Sokolov, are cut down.
Rei: Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!
Sokolov: Push forward!
After passing through the hole, you are faced with a clearing sprinkled with tank traps and barbed wire. After that, trenches, and then the bluffs with fortifications spitting machine gun fire.
Rei: Into the trench! Hurry!
Soldier: Orks!
You now face your first Ork drones as you push towards the trenches. Once you get into the trench, you slowly clear it and a mortar position, presumably losing Health as you do. Once done, you turn a corner deeper into the trenches where Rei is located.
Rei: That wound looks bad! Here, take this!
Rei throws a health pack to Kanti. The player can now call on Rei, when the squad meter fills, to add a pack for a total of four.
Kanti: Many thanks!
The player moves through the trenches, clearing out Ork drones. Friendly troops leap across the trenches. The player then gets to the end of the trenches and reaches the bluffs covered by Ork fortifications. A slope goes uphill between the bluffs but machine gun fire pins the friendly troops down and makes it impassable.
Khand: We can't advance with those MGs firing on our position!
Sokolov: Hold tight. Fire support incoming!
Khand: Kanti, mark the target!
Khand throws a canister to Kanti. Kanti catches it and throws it uphill towards the Ork bunkers. Red smoke emanates. Sokolov is shouting into a radio.
Sokolov: Kestrel, target is lit up! Hit it now and hit it hard!
Radio: Roger, we have your smoke visual. Attack run inbound.
Explosions hit the MG bunker as rockets from a trio of dive-bombing jets which resemble de Havilland Vampires (in this universe called Banshees) come in and obliterate the fortifications. The jets pass by close overhead.
Tao: That's it! Let 'em have it!
Adlai: MGs are dead!
Kanti: (laughs) They tore them to shreds!
Sokolov: Get to the top!
You and your squad move up the hill – a wounded Ork, both arms missing, stumbles from the smoke and still tries to fight by biting at Sokolov. Sokolov shoots it down.
Sokolov: Crazy bastards.
More Ork infantry advance.
Ork: I shall wear your hide as a coat!
After defeating these Orks, the player advances to the top of the hill through which additional trenches burrow.
Sokolov: Kanti; I need you and Rei to take point and clear those bunkers! Go!
Rei: Had to be us!
You move in with your squad. There are five bunkers to clear. The first has a clearing full of mortar positions, where Ork infantry defend, and there’s more firing at you from inside the bunker itself.
Sokolov: Orks are dug in. Kanti, get a grenade in that bunker!
You break into the bunker and clear it out, including the machine gun post covering the beach.
Rei: First one’s down!
Sokolov: Bunker’s clear – everyone out.
You move on. Taking the adjoining trenches, you come across an Ork Officer – larger and more heavily armoured than the Drones you’ve been fighting so far – holding a human soldier by the neck. Assuming you shoot him in the head, the only non-armoured part, he’ll go down and the soldier is saved.
Soldier: Thanks! I owe you!
If not, and your bullets bounce off the Officer’s armour, he crushes the man’s neck in his hand and comes for you.
After that, you drive on through the trenches, killing a few more Orks, before turning and entering an underground bunker. Inside, the entry is covered by a machine gun post.
Khand: MG's pinning us! Someone toss a smoke!
You can do that, or you can perhaps kill the machine gunner. Up to you. Afterwards, you drive on through the underground bunker. It’s a bit of a catacomb full of dormitories and a radio room. Eventually, you clear it.
Khand: Bunker's clear. Let's go!
Sokolov: Everybody out, bunker's clear!
You head back outside, 2 of 5 bunkers complete. You continue through the trenches, meeting fresh Orks.
Rei: There’s artillery hitting the beach! The next assault wave won’t make it!
Khand: Keep pushing! That artillery is hammering our ships!
Kanti: On it, sir! Yeah, I can do this, I can do this…
You carry on through the trench. Some Banshee jet fighters screech overhead. Reaching the entrance to the next bunker, you see a friendly – Corporal Lieu – with an F3 Inferno – a backpack flamethrower. He fires it down the bunker at unseen enemy troops before being gunned down.
Kanti: I'm going in!
Rei: Careful!
You enter the bunker – you can pick up the F3 Inferno as you do, which doesn’t last long but which is fun to use.
Ork: Come, little men!
You clear the bunker. As you reach the machine gun post, you enter into a quicktime moment. Kanti gets ambushed around a corner by an Ork soldier, who grabs her by the throat and pins her to the wall, but she jams her combat knife into his neck. Falling from his grasp, she sees the machine gunner just as a shell from a ship offshore hits the bunker dead-on and blows it, and him, to smithereens. Rei appears from the dust and helps Kanti to her feet.
Rei: Shit! Fucking Navy. Don’t they believe in us?
Returning from the machine gun nest, some Orks have shown up to try and retake the bunker. Take them out and then the bunker’s cleared.
The next bunker is just a hop from this one – you enter, at first finding nobody, before discovering an Ork pinning an Imperial soldier to the wall.
Soldier: Somebody help!
You, I should hope, kill the Ork.
Soldier: Thanks! Oh, hey, a girl…
Kanti: You wish.
You drive into the bunker, in the heart of which is a mortar position, and take out the Ork defenders. With that, the bunker is cleared.
Khand: Move up, move up!
Everyone rallies at the big steel door at the end of the bunker.
Khand: Adlai. Tao. With me. Kanti, you and Rei clear the next bunker. Rally at the top of the bluff, and for fuck’s sake try not to get yourselves killed.
You interact with the big steel door and open it, before going with Rei down some more trenches.
Kanti: Alright, Rei. One more!
Rei: We got this!
You turn a corner into a clearing before the bunker. There’s Orks both defending it on the ground and a sniper on top of the bunker itself. After dealing with this, you head inside, Rei behind you.
As you enter the bunker, Kanti is ambushed by an Ork Major – she is thrown to the floor and the Ork stands over her, pulling out a knife.
Ork: Never did fear smell so sweet.
Rei jumps onto its back and holds onto him around the neck. The Ork manages to throw Rei onto the ground before stabbing her through the belly.
Kanti: Rei! Oh, shit, no!
The Ork soldier leaves the wounded Rei, knife still sticking from her stomach, and approaches Kanti.
Ork: Stand and face me, woman. Show some honour.
Kanti stands and fights the Ork, which through its superior strength easily ends up on top of her, taking away her knife and now pushing it down towards her with both hands. Then, Kanti’s hands light up and the flames return – her whole hands are on fire. The Ork roars in pain and surprise and backs away, looking at its burned hands, before Kanti runs at him as the flames go out and tackles him to the ground. The Ork is still stronger and goes back to throttling her – but they’ve fallen near Rei, who yanks the knife out of her belly and jams it into the Ork’s chest.
Ork: The glory…
The Ork dies. Kanti climbs off and approaches Rei, who suddenly brandishes a pistol.
Kanti: Whoa, Rei…
Rei: Duck!
Kanti does so and Rei shoots the unseen Ork which was behind her. Kanti looks back to Rei, who is dealing with quite a lot of pain.
Kanti: Come on, you’re okay, you’re okay.
Rei: I can't walk.
Kanti pulls up Rei’s uniform to see her stomach – the wound is gushing blood.
Kanti: Oh, shit…
Rei: That bad?
Kanti: It’s not great.
Rei: Would you mind getting me out of here?
An explosion, presumably artillery – Kanti looks down the bunker to see it shudder, rubble falling from the ceiling.
Kanti: Yeah, course, no problem Kinsi, just stay with me, okay? Can you do that?
Rei: I’m gonna have to try. Pulling that knife out was pretty fucking stupid, huh?
Kanti: No comment. Come on.
The player starts dragging Rei out of the bunker and outside. Across a pretty dangerous clearing are friendly lines.
Kanti: We've gotta get back to friendly lines!
Kanti starts dragging Rei across the grass
Rei: On your left!
Kanti shoots the Orks which appear from the left with her pistol and keeps going.
Rei: You’re gonna… have to tell me… how you did that fire thing.
Kanti: I will when I figure it out myself!
They keep going.
Kanti: Not much further. Just keep pressure on that wound.
Rei: I’m trying!
Kanti drags Rei to a wall of sandbags and clambers over them.
Kanti: We gotta take cover!
Rei, in what is pretty clearly a painful endeavour, follows suit and lays in the mud. With her pistol, Kanti faces the Orks now coming for them.
Ork: Tasty, salty man-flesh!
Rei: How many?
Kanti: Too many!
Once the Orks are dispatched, Kanti looks back down at Rei.
Kanti: We're clear! Come on!
Kanti starts dragging Rei through the mud.
Rei: You call that fuckin' clear?
They skirt the edge of the trenches – an Imperial soldier with a flamethrower is dousing a group of Orks in fire. They continue along the edge of the trench, which is lined with barbed wire and so inaccessible, at least for Rei.
Rei: I'm losing too much blood. I think. You need more than half, right?
Kanti: Just hang in there! I gotta find a clearing to get in the trench!
Kanti places Rei down as smoke canisters pop, obscuring the next Ork wave to come their way.
Ork (from somewhere in the smoke): The clan will feast on you!
Kanti: Keep your head down!
Rei: Did you get 'em?
Kanti: They keep coming! How many of these fuckers are there?!
After taking out four or five, Kanti turns back to Rei.
Rei: Watch out!
Rei, with her sidearm, shoots down an Ork drone running at them from behind.
Rei: Still got it.
Kanti: Now’s our chance!
Kanti keep dragging Rei along the edge of the trench, smoke from the Ork canisters obscuring everything. As she goes, an Ork grenade lands at her feet.
Kanti: Fuck!
Kanti throws grabs it and throws it away. She sees an open area in the trench.
Kanti: Bingo!
Kanti jumps down into the trench, up to her ankles in mud, then turns back to Rei.
Kanti: I got you!
Rei rolls off the edge of the trench and lands in the mud at Kanti’s feet. A few more Orks appear from the smoke and Kanti shoots them down. She then looks down at Rei, who’s on the edge of losing consciousness, and then looks down the trench where more Ork infantry are coming at them.
Kanti: Oh, give us a break!
Kanti takes them out. Then, she turns back to Rei and starts dragging her down the trench.
Rei: Oh, wow, I'm actually bleeding out.
Kanti: Just keep pressure on it!
Rei: I’m trying! I’m trying!
Kanti: Almost there!
They reach some concrete steps – a friendly soldier is at the top.
Soldier: Come on up here! Move, move!
Kanti starts dragging Rei up the stairs – the soldier runs down and helps.
Soldier: I got you!
Two Orks come around the corner – someone on the top of the stairs shoots them both down. They reach the top of the stairs and find themselves in the middle of a friendly improvised triage centre. Kanti lays Rei down, whose face is very dazed, as she flicks off her helmet, blood trickling from her mouth.
Kanti: Okay. Stay with me. Healer!
Nobody comes – everyone’s busy.
Rei: I need morphine. All the morphine.
Kanti takes out a syringe of morphine, pulls off the cap with her teeth, and injects Rei in the thigh. Rei’s breathing is strained and painful. Kanti puts a hand under her head as a pillow.
Kanti: You gotta hang on. Those girls in Lutetia are waiting for you.
Rei: Really?
Kanti: Of course.
Rei: I… uh… how about another look at your sister?
Rei manages a smile, sniggering through the pain, and Kanti laughs, too.
Kanti: You’re infuriating.
Rei: It's okay. I can't see shit. I'm just gonna rest right here.
Rei’s eyes close.
Kanti: No, no, no, you need to stay awake. Hey.
Kanti puts her hand against Rei’s face, slapping her awake, and Rei’s eyes open.
Rei: Mona…
Kanti: I'm here.
Rei makes eye contact.
Rei: Help me.
Kanti: I need a fucking Healer!
A Healer finishes treating a wounded soldier and rushes over, taking over from Kanti in trying to stop the bleeding.
Healer: I got this! Go!
Kanti looks back down at Rei.
Kanti: But… but I…
Sokolov appears, standing over them.
Sokolov: Kanti! He'll take care of her. I need you with me. (to others) Listen up! There's an Ork cannon just a little up the road. It's tearing up the beach – we’re gonna stop it. Let's roll!
Kanti looks back down at Rei, who’s reaching out to her. Kanti takes her hand for a moment.
Kanti: Just stay alive, okay?
For a moment, with Rei on the very edge of death, little flickers of her memories flash before Kanti’s eyes. We see her mother telling her she’s a disappointment, Rei sitting in a prison cell, and then being told by a recruiting officer that “the Army’s running out of men – we need some ladies ready to be heroes.” Then Kanti returns to lucidity and Rei’s face.
Rei: I promise.
Their hands part and Kanti stands, grabbing a rifle, and joins the rest of the squad.
Sokolov: Check your ammo and grenades!
Khand: You heard him! Up the road, now!
Kanti and the rest of the squad move out of the top of the bunker, along a field pock-marked with craters, then go onto a dirt road leading towards a farm.
Kanti: Moving up!
Khand: Let's move!
Sokolov: Be ready – these Orks don’t look like the surrendering type!
You keep moving up the road, finding some dead cows as you go.
Khand: Move fast! They're shelling the beach to shit!
You reach the target – a machine-gun nest is set up in a half-destroyed farmhouse and starts shooting at you as you appear.
Sokolov: MG in the hay loft! Take cover and take it out!
After taking out the machine gun, you keep moving up to fight Orks among the farmhouses and hay bales. A large artillery cannon is in the centre and you move to clear it and secure the area, moving in a couple of the farmhouses to do so.
Adlai: Where’s all the civilians?
Khand: In the Ork’s stomachs, probably!
Once you’ve cleared everything, silence seems to fall.
Soldier: Orks coming in from the south! A lot of them!
Sokolov: They’re gonna try to retake the cannon! We gotta hold this position!
Khand: Not a step backwards!
The squad defends the position as a couple waves of Orks swarm towards them. You can use the machine gun posts in the upper floors of the farmhouses to help fight them off.
Adlai: There’s too many of them!
Khand: Hold! Have courage!
Still the Orks swarm the field to the south – until explosions start to blow them away. Termite tanks appear from the left, their 45mm guns tearing through the Orks, which are either slaughtered or flee.
Tao: Our boys are coming in!
Adlai: Look at them scatter!
Sokolov: Alright, everyone. We mopped them up good. I don’t think they’ll be back.
Khand: Clear! Destroy that cannon!
Kanti goes to the cannon and crouches down behind it. An Imperial soldier appears next to her.
Soldier: Thermite!
The soldier carries a number of thermite charges inside his helmet like a bucket and empties them out in front of Kanti. Kanti lights one of them.
Kanti: Fire in the hole!
Everyone backs away – you probably should too – and the thermite explodes. The cannon is destroyed.
Sokolov: Excellent work, Kanti. Alright, everyone, rally on me to the assembly point. Khand, I'll need a casualty report. We lost so many.
Khand: But we took the beach.
Sokolov: What a price.
At the rally point, Rei is on a stretcher on the ground, a cigarette in her mouth as Tao is knelt next to her.
Rei: Kanti...
Rei tries to sit up and Tao puts out a hand to encourage her to lay back down. Given the pain on Rei’s face, that’s probably a good idea.
Tao: Man, I thought I'd seen everything…
Kanti: She gonna be okay?
Tao: Yeah. They taped her up pretty good.
Rei: I should’ve stayed on the boat.
Tao: Oh, now she tells us.
Kanti: Hey, what you did back there… I owe you. Big time.
Rei: I’d say we're even.
Kanti: We'll see this through.
Rei smiles.
Rei: To the end. I guess.
Kanti: Whenever that may be.
Sokolov and Khand walk by behind Rei; Sokolov addresses everyone. Kanti glances up at them, then back at Rei, who just gives her a knowing nod, then stands as she looks back at their superiors.
Sokolov: Beachhead's secured. We'll bivouac at the second hedgerow after the ridge. It’s not over, everyone.
Behind them, a couple of dead Orks are being examined. Adlai is taking photos of one while a soldier gently kicks the head of another.
Soldier: Stop kicking it.
Soldier #2: I don’t wanna.
Khand regards Kanti. There’s blood in his beard.
Khand: Welcome to the Smiling Sixty Sixth. You're a long way from home, farm girl.
Khand walks off. Sokolov watches Kanti, then approaches when Khand is out of earshot.
Sokolov: That’s his way of saying he’s grateful. You did well. Not bad for your first day.
Kanti: Thanks, sir. I, uh…
Sokolov puts a hand on Kanti’s shoulder.
Sokolov: You'll be alright, child.
Kanti: Yes, sir.
Sokolov pats her shoulder, nods, then walks off. Kanti looks down at her hands, covered in dirt and blood, which hold each other before slowly separating.
Kanti: Course I will.
The level ends.

Wales is a country in the United Kingdom known for its rugged and beautiful landscape. The hilly country is dominated by the Cambrians on the central and northern sides and the Brecon Beacons on the south. Therefore, if you’re an avid adventurer looking for a new challenge, the highest road in Wales should be at the top of your bucket list.
This article will go over the highest roads in Wales for anyone looking to enjoy a challenging drive and stunning views. These roads feature steep inclines and hairpin bends but no more than scenic views that will ensure an unforgettable experience as you navigate them.
https://sdvh.co.uk/highest-road-in-wales/

Several South Australian motorists have been slapped with hefty fines for speeding on the South Eastern Freeway but claim they are innocent and poor signage is to blame. Dozens of people have been hit with fines of almost $1000 for speeding on the South Eastern Freeway, but they claim reduced speed signage was not visible. Roadworks for the South Eastern Freeway upgrade project at the Heysen Tunnels temporarily reduced speeds along a section from 90km/h to 60km/h from late April to early May.
But regular users of the road say they were caught unaware, travelling at the normal 90km/h for the stretch at Crafers. The government has started an urgent investigation given the number of complaints. Mount Barker home support worker Hayley Hudson is facing a $952 fine and five demerit points after she was clocked at 84km/h down the road she uses regularly on May 1, unaware of the speed change. “When I got done it was 8pm and apparently the overhead speed thing was 60 (km/h),” Ms Hudson, 45, said. “When you come down the hill, it’s 90.”
She has been left distressed by the fine and is worried she will lose her licence as she can now only afford one more demerit point.“I have a child with a disability so I need my licence,” she said. She cares for her daughter, Lola, 8, and needs to take her children to school.
But she is not the only one who has been caught unaware of the speed limit change. Dozens of others have aired their frustration on the Adelaide Hills Chat Facebook page. “I got one too and have never had a speeding fine,” Kirrily Chambers wrote. Another person, Mandy Layden, said her husband was caught out by the reduction and now is on a “good behaviour agreement for 12 months to keep his licence”. Ms Hudson has disputed the fine and hopes the infringements can be overturned “if enough people come forward”.
A Department of Transport spokesman said in a statement that the cameras were working correctly. “The speed camera at Crafers is electronically connected to the Variable Message Signs and Managed Motorway located along the Freeway, and therefore cannot expiate offences for a speed limit other than what is displayed,” he said. The statement continued that the reduced speed limits were, on multiple occasions, “temporarily reduced for approximately one hour” in the early hours of the morning for the works. Due to the large number of people appealing their fines, an investigation has been launched into whether the speed camera and signage were working correctly.

ATS Homekraft Bonheur Avenue Plots Sector 35 Sohna Road, Gurgaon. ATS Plots Sohna Bonheur Avenue, Sizes Start 87-179 sq. yards Sohna Road South of Gurgaon. Call 7620470000 for more details Price. while you are at it, enjoy the absolute benefits of community living. Come, experience the pride of independent housing with the joy of an intimate neighborhood.

Hi all, my spouse and I are planning our honeymoon this Fall in Europe. We will be travelling from the west coast of the US, and we plan to want to spend a bit over 2 weeks there. We have a non-finalized itinerary, and we were hoping to get some feedback on our plan before we book the trip.
For context
- We enjoy road trips, bicycle rides, museums, beaches, hikes, sightseeing and fine dining.
- My spouse has been to most countries in Europe before, so we want to avoid touristy areas and try something new.
- We've also stayed in Europe for a month last year, but got sick halfway in our trip, so we were hoping to revisit some of the places we missed last time.
- I am fluent in French and my spouse speaks some German.
- Our budget is around $4,000 + $4,000 worth of credit card points that we can redeem for hotels and flights.
Trip details
Day 1: Fly to Paris
Day 2: Paris

• Arrive and check in our hotel.

Day 3: Paris

• Begin the day with a visit to the Eiffel Tower
• Take a leisurely bike ride along the Seine River.
• Visit the Louvre Museum in the afternoon.

Day 4: Florence: Fly to Florence in the morning.

• Visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as Duomo, in the morning.
• Spend the afternoon at the Uffizi Gallery, home to numerous pieces of priceless art.

Day 5: Florence/Cinque Terre

• Travel to Cinque Terre. Visit Riomaggiore, one of the five towns, and explore its narrow alleys and colorful houses.

Day 6: Cinque Terre

• Hike from Monterosso to Vernazza.

Day 7: Cinque Terre

• Enjoy a relaxing day at the beach in Monterosso.

Day 8: Nice

• Rent a car for a road trip along the south coast.
• Visit the Promenade des Anglais for a bike ride along the coast.
• Relax at one of Nice's beautiful beaches in the afternoon and drive to Toulouse.

Day 9: Toulouse/Barcelona

• Visit the Basilica of Saint-Sernin.
• Drive to Barcelona.

Day 10: Madrid

• Visit the Royal Palace of Madrid in the morning.
• Spend the afternoon at the Prado Museum.

Day 11: Madrid

• Explore the Retiro Park by bike, stopping at landmarks like the Crystal Palace and the Velazquez Palace.
• Take an evening stroll in the Gran Via.

Day 12: Granada

• Visit the Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex, in the morning.
• Spend the afternoon exploring the Albayzín, a historic district of Granada.

Day 13: Granada

• Take a hike in the Sierra Nevada National Park.

Day 14: Granada

• Explore the Generalife, the summer palace and gardens of the Alhambra.

Day 15: Madrid

• Take a day trip to Segovia, known for its magnificent Roman aqueduct, fairy-tale castle and beautiful Gothic cathedral.

Day 16: Copenhagen

• Fly to Copenhagen in the morning.
• Take a bike ride around the city, visiting sights like the Nyhavn harbor and the Tivoli Gardens.

Day 17: Copenhagen

• Visit Noma or Gerenium

Day 18: Fly back
Any thoughts on the plan? Tips or suggestions?

You don’t have to be from the SF Bay Area, ideally looking for someone from Cali, but I’m open to get to know people from other places! Would be down for a LDR
También hablo español! 🙂
Decent job, usually busy with work, side gigs and trying to stay fit! I’m always down to travel/hike. I’ve done several hikes in Yosemite, including Half Dome 💪
Average built, working on sliming down. Currently 200 but I’m trying to get down to like 170-180!
As mentioned earlier, I’m fluent in Spanish, bien bélico 😅 lol. I do think better chemistry could be built with someone from Latin America, but definitely not a requirement! No degree yet (working on getting it), Business Marketing!
I’ve traveled to Mexico and the Caribbean. I’ve also gone on some cool road trips! Want to visit Hawaii, other parts of Mexico and South America, Japan and Korea!
Catholic upbringing but don’t practice it as much as I used to. I respect all religions, they all something positive to bring to the world.
I’m usually not the funniest guy in every room but I try 😅
Used to play soccer and football! Currently love hikes and I’m trying to get back into medium distance running!
Hobbies include: working on a side business and content creation!
If you’ve read this far, just know I just got tested and result all came back negative 🔥🔥🔥🔥 no COVID 🚫 and no STD/STIs

I plan on checking out Udvar-Hazy on Tuesday. The plan is to metro on the silver line to the best stop, then bike to Udvar-Hazy, tour around for a bit and bike back to NoMa.
While it looks like Dulles would be the closest stop, I don't see an easy route from there to the museum. The next closest stop is Innovation Center, but again no clear routes to the museum. Should I get off at Reston and take the Fairfax County Pkwy Trail south until I can find my way to Sully and over Rt 28 to the museum?
I don't mind riding on the road, but would like to stick to paths/bike lanes as much as possible.
Also need to find my way back to the W&OD Trail from the museum, so if anyone has a good route for that I'd love to hear it as well.
Thanks for any help!

Has anyone recently had a child go for their road test in the last week? I’ve heard a new route was approved and believe it’s different than the one we had been practicing. My daughter goes in a couple weeks and we’d like to get more familiar with the area in advance. Thanks!

___________________________________________________
Taken from http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/12/14/when_jesus_met_buddha/ for the intellectual discussion purposely. Not for commercial gain
When Jesus met Buddha Something remarkable happened when evangelists for two great religions crossed paths more than 1,000 years ago: they got along By Philip Jenkins December 14, 2008
While few mainline Christians would put the matter in such confrontational terms, any religion claiming exclusive access to truth has real difficulties reconciling other great faiths into its cosmic scheme. Most Christian churches hold that Jesus alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and many also feel an obligation to carry that message to the world's unbelievers. But this creates a fundamental conflict with the followers of famous spiritual figures like Mohammed or Buddha, who preached radically different messages. Drawing on a strict interpretation of the Bible, some Christians see these rival faiths as not merely false, but as deliberate traps set by the forces of evil.
Being intolerant of other religions - consigning them to hell, in fact - may be bad enough in its own right, but it increasingly has real- world consequences. As trade and technology shrink the globe, so different religions come into ever-closer contact with one another, and the results can be bloody: witness the apocalyptic assaults in Mumbai. In such a world, teaching different faiths to acknowledge one another's claims, to live peaceably together side by side, stops being a matter of good manners and becomes a prerequisite for human survival.
Over the past 30 years, the Roman Catholic Church has faced repeated battles over this question of Christ's uniqueness, and has cracked down on thinkers who have made daring efforts to accommodate other world religions. While the Christian dialogue with Islam has attracted most of the headlines, it is the encounters with Hinduism and especially Buddhism that have stirred the most controversy within the church. Sri Lankan theologians Aloysius Pieris and Tissa Balasuriya have had many run-ins with Vatican critics, and, more recently, the battle has come to American shores. Last year, the Vatican ordered an investigation of Georgetown University's Peter Phan, a Jesuit theologian whose main sin, in official eyes, has been to treat the Buddhism of his Vietnamese homeland as a parallel path to salvation.
Following the ideas of Pope Benedict XVI, though, the church refuses to give up its fundamental belief in the unique role of Christ. In a widely publicized open letter to Italian politician Marcello Pera, Pope Benedict declared that "an inter-religious dialogue in the strict sense of the term is not possible." By all means, he said, we should hold conversations with other cultures, but not in a way that acknowledges other religions as equally valid. While the Vatican does not of course see the Buddha as a demon, it does fear the prospect of syncretism, the dilution of Christian truth in an unholy mixture with other faiths.
Beyond doubt, this view places Benedict in a strong tradition of Christianity as it has developed in Europe since Roman times. But there is another, ancient tradition, which suggests a very different course. Europe's is not the only version of the Christian faith, nor is it necessarily the oldest heir of the ancient church. For more than 1,000 years, other quite separate branches of the church established thriving communities across Asia, and in their sheer numbers, these churches were comparable to anything Europe could muster at the time. These Christian bodies traced their ancestry back not through Rome, but directly to the original Jesus movement of ancient Palestine. They moved across India, Central Asia, and China, showing no hesitation to share - and learn from - the other great religions of the East.
Just how far these Christians were prepared to go is suggested by a startling symbol that appeared on memorials and stone carvings in both southern India and coastal China during the early Middle Ages. We can easily see that the image depicts a cross, but it takes a moment to realize that the base of the picture - the root from which the cross is growing - is a lotus flower, the symbol of Buddhist enlightenment.
In modern times, most mainstream churches would condemn such an amalgam as a betrayal of the Christian faith, an example of multiculturalism run wild. Yet concerns about syncretism did not bother these early Asian Christians, who called themselves Nasraye, Nazarenes, like Jesus's earliest followers. They were comfortable associating themselves with the other great monastic and mystical religion of the time, and moreover, they believed that both lotus and cross carried similar messages about the quest for light and salvation. If these Nazarenes could find meaning in the lotus-cross, then why can't modern Catholics, or other inheritors of the faith Jesus inspired?
Many Christians are coming to terms with just how thoroughly so many of their fundamental assumptions will have to be rethought as their faith today becomes a global religion. Even modern church leaders who know how rapidly the church is expanding in the global South tend to see European values and traditions as the indispensable norm, in matters of liturgy and theology as much as music and architecture.
Yet the reality is that Christianity has from its earliest days been an intercontinental faith, as firmly established in Asia and Africa as in Europe itself. When we broaden our scope to look at the faith that by 800 or so stretched from Ireland to Korea, we see the many different ways in which Christians interacted with other believers, in encounters that reshaped both sides. At their best, these meetings allowed the traditions not just to exchange ideas but to intertwine in productive and enriching ways, in an awe-inspiring chapter of Christian history that the Western churches have all but forgotten.
To understand this story, we need to reconfigure our mental maps. When we think of the growth of Christianity, we think above all of Europe. We visualize a movement growing west from Palestine and Syria and spreading into Greece and Italy, and gradually into northern regions. Europe is still the center of the Catholic Church, of course, but it was also the birthplace of the Protestant denominations that split from it. For most of us, even speaking of the "Eastern Church" refers to another group of Europeans, namely to the Orthodox believers who stem from the eastern parts of the continent. English Catholic thinker Hilaire Belloc once proclaimed that "Europe is the Faith; and the Faith is Europe."
But in the early centuries other Christians expanded east into Asia and south into Africa, and those other churches survived for the first 1,200 years or so of Christian history. Far from being fringe sects, these forgotten churches were firmly rooted in the oldest traditions of the apostolic church. Throughout their history, these Nazarenes used Syriac, which is close to Jesus' own language of Aramaic, and they followed Yeshua, not Jesus. No other church - not Roman Catholics, not Eastern Orthodox - has a stronger claim to a direct inheritance from the earliest Jesus movement.
The most stunningly successful of these eastern Christian bodies was the Church of the East, often called the Nestorian church. While the Western churches were expanding their influence within the framework of the Roman Empire, the Syriac-speaking churches colonized the vast Persian kingdom that ruled from Syria to Pakistan and the borders of China. From their bases in Mesopotamia - modern Iraq - Nestorian Christians carried out their vast missionary efforts along the Silk Route that crossed Central Asia. By the eighth century, the Church of the East had an extensive structure across most of central Asia and China, and in southern India. The church had senior clergy - metropolitans - in Samarkand and Bokhara, in Herat in Afghanistan. A bishop had his seat in Chang'an, the imperial capital of China, which was then the world's greatest superpower.
When Nestorian Christians were pressing across Central Asia during the sixth and seventh centuries, they met the missionaries and saints of an equally confident and expansionist religion: Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhists too wanted to take their saving message to the world, and launched great missions from India's monasteries and temples. In this diverse world, Buddhist and Christian monasteries were likely to stand side by side, as neighbors and even, sometimes, as collaborators. Some historians believe that Nestorian missionaries influenced the religious practices of the Buddhist religion then developing in Tibet. Monks spoke to monks.
In presenting their faith, Christians naturally used the cultural forms that would be familiar to Asians. They told their stories in the forms of sutras, verse patterns already made famous by Buddhist missionaries and teachers. A stunning collection of Jesus Sutras was found in caves at Dunhuang, in northwest China. Some Nestorian writings draw heavily on Buddhist ideas, as they translate prayers and Christian services in ways that would make sense to Asian readers. In some texts, the Christian phrase "angels and archangels and hosts of heaven" is translated into the language of buddhas and devas.
One story in particular suggests an almost shocking degree of collaboration between the faiths. In 782, the Indian Buddhist missionary Prajna arrived in Chang'an, bearing rich treasures of sutras and other scriptures. Unfortunately, these were written in Indian languages. He consulted the local Nestorian bishop, Adam, who had already translated parts of the Bible into Chinese. Together, Buddhist and Christian scholars worked amiably together for some years to translate seven copious volumes of Buddhist wisdom. Probably, Adam did this as much from intellectual curiosity as from ecumenical good will, and we can only guess about the conversations that would have ensued: Do you really care more about relieving suffering than atoning for sin? And your monks meditate like ours do?
These efforts bore fruit far beyond China. Other residents of Chang'an at this very time included Japanese monks, who took these very translations back with them to their homeland. In Japan, these works became the founding texts of the great Buddhist schools of the Middle Ages. All the famous movements of later Japanese history, including Zen, can be traced to one of those ancient schools and, ultimately - incredibly - to the work of a Christian bishop.
By the 12th century, flourishing churches in China and southern India were using the lotus-cross. The lotus is a superbly beautiful flower that grows out of muck and slime. No symbol could better represent the rise of the soul from the material, the victory of enlightenment over ignorance, desire, and attachment. For 2,000 years, Buddhist artists have used the lotus to convey these messages in countless paintings and sculptures. The Christian cross, meanwhile, teaches a comparable lesson, of divine victory over sin and injustice, of the defeat of the world. Somewhere in Asia, Yeshua's forgotten followers made the daring decision to integrate the two emblems, which still today forces us to think about the parallels between the kinds of liberation and redemption offered by each faith.
Christianity, for much of its history, was just as much an Asian religion as Buddhism. Asia's Christian churches survived for more than a millennium, and not until the 10th century, halfway through Christian history, did the number of Christians in Europe exceed that in Asia.
What ultimately obliterated the Asian Christians were the Mongol invasions, which spread across Central Asia and the Middle East from the 1220s onward. From the late 13th century, too, the world entered a terrifying era of climate change, of global cooling, which severely cut food supplies and contributed to mass famine. The collapse of trade and commerce crippled cities, leaving the world much poorer and more vulnerable. Intolerant nationalism wiped out Christian communities in China, while a surging militant Islam destroyed the churches of Central Asia.
But awareness of this deep Christian history contributes powerfully to understanding the future of the religion, as much as its past. For long centuries, Asian Christians kept up neighborly relations with other faiths, which they saw not as deadly rivals but as fellow travelers on the road to enlightenment. Their worldview differed enormously from the norms that developed in Europe.
To take one example, we are used to the idea of Christianity operating as the official religion of powerful states, which were only too willing to impose a particular orthodoxy upon their subjects. Yet when we look at the African and Asian experience, we find millions of Christians whose normal experience was as minorities or even majorities within nations dominated by some other religion. Struggling to win hearts and minds, leading churches had no option but to frame the Christian message in the context of non-European intellectual traditions. Christian thinkers did present their message in the categories of Buddhism - and Taoism, and Confucianism - and there is no reason why they could not do so again. When modern scholars like Peter Phan try to place Christianity in an Asian and Buddhist context, they are resuming a task begun at least 1,500 years ago.
Perhaps, in fact, we are looking at our history upside down. Some day, future historians might look at the last few hundred years of Euro- American dominance within Christianity and regard it as an unnatural interlude in a much longer story of fruitful interchange between the great religions.
Consider the story told by Timothy, a patriarch of the Nestorian church. Around 800, he engaged in a famous debate with the Muslim caliph in Baghdad, a discussion marked by reason and civility on both sides. Imagine, Timothy said, that we are all in a dark house, and someone throws a precious pearl in the midst of a pile of ordinary stones. Everyone scrabbles for the pearl, and some think they've found it, but nobody can be sure until day breaks.
In the same way, he said, the pearl of true faith and wisdom had fallen into the darkness of this transitory world; each faith believed that it alone had found the pearl. Yet all he could claim - and all the caliph could say in response - was that some faiths thought they had enough evidence to prove that they were indeed holding the real pearl, but the final truth would not be known in this world.
Knowing other faiths firsthand grants believers an enviable sophistication, founded on humility. We could do a lot worse than to learn from what we sometimes call the Dark Ages.
Philip Jenkins is Edwin Erle Sparks professor of the humanities at Penn State University. He is author of "The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia -- and How It Died," published last month.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/12/14/when_jesus_met_buddha/

Rented car in Texas. Fully charged to (Canadian) Amex (canadian Amex are primary LDW coverage unlike in USA) with coverage up to $85k for the rental vehicle itself (standard such LDW policy included on that card).
Will do my best to explain the circumstances. At a 4 way intersection. North south directions are 2 way and have stop signs. East/West are 4 lane, very busy (35-40 mph limits) and have uncontrolled turn lanes in the north and south sides respectively. For those looking to to turn north or south from the east or west directions.
I am in the north bound, south side of the intersection, facing north direction, come to a stop, fully, at the sign, with my right turn signal on. At the sign and intend on making a right turn.
Now, a lot of Texas (Houston) is different than anywhere I’ve been before and trees line the road (or electrical/fiber junction boxes etc) such that your visibility when looking east and west is extremely hindered. You really have to look like 3 times and then one last time left if you are facing north but making your right hand turn to go east (hope that makes sense). You only have a very limited sight line and cars east west go fast. But you have to edge out to be able to see and give yourself more than 2-3 seconds of visibility. It’s wild. But, just is how it is there for anyone that’s spent time in Houston.
I make my checks and proceed to advance to make my right turn. A guy in another rental car heading west, in his left hand turn lane, decides to make a u turn and go from west facing, to u turn and proceed easterly.
He makes his turn into my lane as I am getting going and we connect.
U turns at uncontrolled intersections appear legal in Texas but the person making the u turn must yield. How exactly that works is outside of my expertise as it pertains to this case.
Damage is minor, everyone is polite, we file a police report etc.
His insurance company says after reviewing police reports and statements and dash cam footage that I am 100% at fault.
I follow all procedures, report to the rental company, my Amex insurance etc.
How does this play out? How could his company determine that I am at fault? Will Amex (my primary for my vehicle damage) fight this determination?
I understand Amex doesn’t have third party liability but they will not want to pay the $1500 damage to my rental so that has to be worth something? The other vehicle is estimated to be about the same but could be higher. It was very very low speed, like 5-8 mp mph (not relevant to liability probably).
For any Americans on here Amex Canada cc Ldw coverage is primary and not secondary like stateside. I will attach a diagram to help show the circumstances.
basic accident diagram
Additional context that may or may not matter: Guy apologized when he got out He had AirPods in and was on the phone to someone when he exited (probably 30 seconds after we connected) He was new to the area from elsewhere Driving for Uber and it was a rental
It’s a bad intersection and anyone local knows doing anything unconventional beyond right turns or left turns is taking your life into your hands.

Car accident (rental) in Texas with Canadian Amex
Rented car in Texas. Fully charged to (Canadian) Amex with coverage up to $85k for the rental vehicle itself (standard such LDW policy included on that card).
Will do my best to explain the circumstances. At a 4 way intersection. North south directions are 2 way and have stop signs. East/West are 4 lane, very busy (35-40 mph limits) and have uncontrolled turn lanes in the north and south sides respectively. For those looking to to turn north or south from the east or west directions.
I am in the north bound, south side of the intersection, facing north direction, come to a stop, fully, at the sign, with my right turn signal on. At the sign and intend on making a right turn. Now, a lot of Texas is different than anywhere I’ve been before and trees line the road (or electrical/fiber junction boxes etc) such that your visibility when looking east and west is extremely hindered. You really have to look like 3 times and then one last time left if you are facing north but making your right hand turn to go east (hope that makes sense). You only have a very limited sight line and cars go fast. But you have to edge out to be able to see and give yourself more than 2-3 seconds of visibility. It’s wild. But, just is how it is there for anyone that’s spent time in Houston.
I make my checks and proceed to advance to make my right turn. A guy in another rental car heading west, in his left hand turn lane, decides to make a u turn and go from west facing, to u turn and proceed easterly. He makes his turn into my lane as I am going and we connect. U turns at intersections are legal in Texas but the person making the u turn must yield and that is the law
Damage is minor, everyone is polite, we file a police report etc.
His insurance company says after reviewing police reports and statements and dash cam footage that I am 100% at fault.
I follow all procedures, report to the rental company, my Amex insurance etc.
How does this play out? How could his company determine that I am at fault? Will Amex fight this determination? I understand Amex doesn’t have third party liability but they will not want to pay the $1500 damage to my rental so that has to be worth something? The other vehicle is estimated to be about the same but could be higher. It was very very low speed, like 4-5 mph (not relevant to liability probably).
How does this play out for liability? My Canadian car insurance? My Canadian insurance record?
For any Americans on here Amex Canada I believe is primary and not secondary like stateside. I will attach a diagram to help show the circumstances.
basic accident diagram
Additional context that may or may not matter: Guy apologized when he got out He had AirPods in and was on the phone to someone when he exited (probably 30 seconds after we connected) He was new to the area from elsewhere Driving for Uber and it was a rental
It’s a bad intersection and anyone local knows doing anything unconventional beyond right turns or left turns is taking your life into your hands.

It’s been 3 years (end of the month) and she (40F) still hates being a mom (her words). I (40M) must admit it has been effecting me, seeing her lose her patience with our kid, yelling, etc so quickly. This happens in our marriage too, she becomes hostile seemingly out of nowhere, appears to shut down over nothing and when I inquire she never wants to talk about it. We've been in couples therapy since October, our therapist has encouraged us to either talk about things in the moment or pick a time to do so, but when these things happen I ask if we can talk about it now and she says no, I ask if we can talk about it later and she says no. After a difficult interaction with our kid, she doesn’t want to talk about it and so keeps doing the same things that lead to the same difficult situations. She sees talking about it as just rehashing a difficult conversations and reminding her of “all the ways she is fucking up” (her words), but then I don’t know what I did, so I don’t know how to do better. I just don’t know what to do.
I know she doesn’t want to feel this way. I know this is not her fault. I know she wants to get better. I know this can last 3 years (or more).
When things are good, we get along great. But it doesn’t take much for things to go south. It seems like we are operating under a permanent second strike. Sometimes it seems like the smallest thing causes a rupture.
Full disclosure, I'm not blameless in this, I did write her a letter back in August letting her know how I was feeling and how her anxieties were effecting me. It went as bad as it could have gone, though I did not know at the time she had PPD, had I know that, I would have approached this differently, but what's done is done. Since that letter she has been very cold to me, any gestures made are rebuffed or half-heartedly accepted and I wonder if I'll ever see her again. I feel like I'm doing a lot to make amends and be better, but it doesn't appear to have made a difference. Our last therapy session she said she doesn't see a path forward and has felt this bad every day since August. I don't want to leave, but if she believes there's no coming back from this, if she feels so betrayed by this letter, then I'm not sure what choice I have? I did recently apologize to her for my missteps and she seemed to accept it, not a lot has changed and I'm not expecting it to happen over night, but if this doesn't work, I will be out of ideas.
I read “The Postpartum Partner” by Karen Kleiman and that helped enlighten me to what she was experiencing. She is against medication and doesn’t feel like therapy works for her and I respect her decision, so I guess the only thing to do is wait, but it is hard. Without the right therapy or medication, I feel like the road to recovery will be even longer than it already is.
I try to be a very involved dad. I get our kid up, dressed, make breakfast, and to school every morning, pick up every afternoon, do the dishes every night. We have a joint email account so we can both be involved in school, appointments, etc. I give her as much non-mom time as I can, let her sleep in every weekend, take the kid to the playgrounds, give baths, encourage her to go out with her friends, etc etc etc. I’ve offered to do more, but she said I already do so much and she feels guilty having me do more. I say this not to brag or show off, but to get ahead of any comments that suggest I be a more involved parent and take more off her plate.
I guess I don’t know why I’m posting this, it just seems hopeless and I’m looking for any support, someone who has been through this and is on the other side.
TL;DR my wife is approaching 3 years of PPD and it doesn’t seem to be getting better and it’s taking a toll on our relationship, has anyone been where I am?

I tend to go camping a few times between May and October. I've been as far north as Acadia National Park and as south as the Great Smoky Mountains. Like everyone else who has ever been camping, I've been caught in rainstorms where the tent advertised as weatherproof starts leaking at the seams. Then the wildlife-- bears outside my tent rummaging for food, then leaving as the scent leads them to a backpack strung to a far-reaching branch high up a tree. Despite the uneasiness these scenarios create, it's part of what makes camping special: exposure to the wilderness. This vulnerability has never bothered me much-- that is, until recently.
I packed my backpack the night before with everything I'd need for a 7.5 mile there and back hike. I woke up to a call from my buddy who would be joining me, saying he caught a stomach bug and couldn't make it. I was bummed to hear it, but I've been solo camping a dozen times before. I had a protein bar to curb my appetite until I got to a diner in a small town by the edge of the national forest I would be going to. I've been once before and couldn't get enough of their blueberry pancakes. For a town named Sandwich, you know they know food. I accounted for Memorial Day traffic and gave myself plenty of time to leave, and in fact, arrived at the diner before my ETA. A weather-tattered missing child flyer was posted on the entry door. A 14-year-old girl, last seen in November, walking home from the bus stop. It noted, "a hundred yards from her home."
I sat at the counter and by my second coffee, was talking Red Sox with a local beside me. Looking better than last season, we both agreed. We talked about Bogaerts leaving and traded stories of Fenway. "I'd take my kids down to see them when they were younger..." He paused. "Well, Becca goes to games sometimes. She goes to college in Boston now." He seemed like he was going to go on, but got lost in his thoughts. I tried lightening things up and asked him what he thought of Devers' batting. "I don't want to talk about baseball anymore." The food was great and I stayed for another cup of coffee, but the atmosphere was heavy. I'm sure losing a child with no sense of closure will rattle a small town.
My car almost bottomed out on the road to the trailhead. Rocks bulged from the ground as I navigated the narrow passage with a steep drop to my right. The sign to the trail was up ahead. No other cars were parked. Though it was a holiday weekend, as the sign explained, this is a seldom used trail. "Be mindful and be safe." The first mile is a relaxing stroll that eventually comes up to a pond with a beaver dam stretching across. The ground becomes extraordinarily soft here. There's a meadow up ahead where I took a break and enjoyed the view of nearby Algonquin Mountain. A mile further, the woods become dense. Here, a sign reads, "The following portion of this trail is poorly marked. The route can be treacherous. Proceed with caution." Though I wasn't far from the lean-to I'd be camping at, there were portions where I questioned whether I was on the trail at all. I looked at my map, then at my compass. I felt assured and kept walking. I was right-- I came to the brook that crosses the trail. A fresh moose print in the mud. I clapped to let my presence be known. As I gained elevation, the trail became exceedingly narrow. To my left were boulders; to my right was a hundred-foot drop. There were steps carved into the dirt ahead. I took a moment to self-assure my balance and continued. The elevation plateaued and just ahead I could see the lean-to.
While gathering wood for a fire, I found some wintergreen that would be great for making tea. With the campfire crackling and my tea beside me, I opened a collection of Hermann Hesse fairytales I brought. I could still hear the stream faint in the distance. The middle of the forest is peacefully noisy. The whistles of songbirds, the caws of crows, the breeze through the trees. At the risk of sounding pretentious, it's like a symphony. The forest gets darker sooner than town, and by now the sun was largely blocked by trees. Baked beans simmer in my camping pot and are gone soon after. I lie in my sleeping bag under the lean-to without much on my mind. Then, the bellow of a moose echoed off the trees. I listened intently for footsteps, but the sound had probably traveled from a mile away. As the hours passed, I extinguished the fire and continued reading stories with my book light until I fell asleep.
A call from the woods woke me. I figured it was another moose. It's not unheard of for them to be roaming around at night. Then, it called again. This time as I listened more closely, something was off. It had an almost human quality to it, like a hunter's call. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it didn't sound close. Several minutes of quiet passed, then again. This time right outside my camp, followed by footsteps. Moose sound like big animals on all four-- these steps were bipedal. One after the other through the brush. A branch snapped and I shot up and grabbed my flashlight. I called out "Hello?" in case it may have been a hiker. I checked my watch. 1:00 AM. Shining my flashlight in the direction I heard it, there was nothing. Ten minutes went by as I listened for more footsteps. Whatever it was I figured must still be in the area. I took my bear spray from my backpack pouch and with my flashlight in the other hand, searched the perimeter of camp. I didn't find anything and went back to the lean-to. I turned on my LED lantern and lie quietly, unable to fall back asleep. I checked my watch again: 2:15 AM. Then another noise, this time hooting. Animals, I told myself. It could be an owl, but again I had my hand on the bear spray. Another hoot, followed by a cackle. Then the footsteps. "Who's there!?" I called out. A cackle responded. Suddenly, from the direction of the noises, a flashlight was shined on me. Out of fear, I sprayed the bear spray toward the light, but whatever-- whoever it was didn't retreat. The flashlight turned off, followed by human laughter. I shined my flashlight towards it and it did stand on two legs, but its proportions were off-- its thin legs seemed too tall for its body. Its eyes reflected the light like a cat's as it receded back into the darkness.
I would hear its demented calls throughout that night, never sure whether or not it was near or far. I'm not sure whether it was human, animal, or something entirely different. I wish my friend was able to make the trip, because sometimes, like this very moment, as I type these words, it's hard to believe them. But it wasn't a dream, as I never fell back asleep that night. The moment the sun rose enough to see, I hit the trail. And with each ambiguous path, and each carved cliffside footstep, the sights and sounds of the night rattled through my mind. My car was a sanctuary-- still the only one parked by the trailhead. When I think about the town that lines that forest, the same heavy feeling that surrounded me in the diner hits. I hope that child is found, but I know something more than a bear or moose lurks in those woods. I hope it's not human, but I shudder to think what else it could be.

Now that the Tish saga is done, it's time to move on to our landlord's retribution. This is a long one because I don't want to divide the story. TL;DR at the end.
Hubby and I lived in this apartment complex from 2016-2019. Until 2018, the apartment next to Tish's was rented by a Dominican couple who (apart from the Colosseum they erected in their living room every weekend for televised boxing matches) were very nice. So, Hubby and I were kind of bummed when the couple decided that they'd had enough of our complex. They came home one day to find at their doorstep a big-ass rat the size of a cat snacking merrily on some KFC bones that had dropped from Tish's garbage can. I would also argue that the couple probably found it hard to sleep with Tish's headboard slapping against their bedroom wall all weekend long (cue Vybez Kartel & Spice).
We were further disappointed when we realized they were being replaced by a mother and her two daughters. It's not that I don't like kids. I just that Jay wasn't exactly a model for confidence.
The family was quiet and timid, but it was clear they had problems. Big problems. According to what Tina would tell me in "casual" conversations in the laundry room, she had once sat upon her parents’ very high pedestal and - by her own account - had been violently shoved from that pedestal when she found herself pregnant with her first daughter. She'd tried to climb another very high pedestal and managed to stay there long enough to marry and have her second child, but "the cheating dog" had kicked Tina from the apex of prosperity to the pits of impoverishment once more. Heavy shit for laundry room talk.
But, it was hard to sympathize with Tina. The girls, unfortunately, seemed to understand all too well that they were Tina’s “burden”. The teenager (Mel) was ferrety and surly - which some would say is normal for a 15yo - but do 15yos spank their own sisters? Not fight - spank. As a parent would. And the 8yo, while sweet, tore through boundaries like acrylic nails through cheap toilet paper.
Tish immediately hated Tina because there was only enough room in this complex for one shit show at a time. Every time I saw Tish and Tina pass one another around the complex, the air would grow cold and the birds would flee to the West.
But, Tish and Jay left not long after Tina and her girls moved in. If y’all are looking for the catfight of the century, I am so sorry, but I must disappoint you. Jay's father returned from graduate school and got primary custody of Jay. That meant Tish was no longer entitled to child support, and she couldn't afford the apartment anymore. Hubby and I sacrificed a goat to the Most High in gratitude.
But then a few weeks after Tish and Jay left, Hubby and I noticed strange noises coming from the apartment upstairs. It should have been empty, but we heard chairs dragging against the floor at all hours of the evening. I called our landlord and asked if anyone had moved in, but she told us, "No."
"But there is someone upstairs," I told her. She dismissed me. Said there was no one up there.
Then why, only a few nights after that, was the security gate to Tish's old apartment open? And why were the lights on?
I called our landlord, but our landlord told me to take it easy, which was nice speak for "Leave me alone, you paranoid dumbfuck.”
Well, Hubby was sure some hobo was shacking up in Tish’s old apartment, which was highly likely considering where we lived. Our former apartment complex rests within one of the only remaining residential nooks in a fast-growing bacchanal city. On the street to the north is a string of touristy restaurants. On the street to the south is the sleaziest bar in five miles, and on the street to the right was a brothel masquerading as an AirBnB. It never once crossed my mind that the girls in 6-inch heels, batty riders, and lashes out to Wednesday walking up and down the road at 1:00 a.m. might were “working”…
Anyway, Hubby decided to go check on the apartment upstairs, and lo - the security gate and front door were both unlocked. Hubby figured Tish or our landlord must have left the doors open by accident, which allowed whoever the hell it was dragging chairs over our heads to enter the vacant apartment. I passed this knowledge on to our landlord, who assured me that she’d send a locksmith to change the locks.
It was an evening after the locksmith changed the locks that Hubby and I came home late to find ourselves face-to-face with the intruder upstairs. At the door to Tish’s old apartment was Mel. With her was a man who, though young, was clearly older than Mel, picking at the security gate lock.
When Mel saw us, she jumped so high she nearly took down some shingles from the roof. The young man, however, bid us a very cordial good evening. Then, he finished picking the locks to the doors and entered the apartment. Yes, my dear people. Mel had broken into the apartment upstairs and set up camp.
You better believe I called my landlord and told her about what we’d just seen. She was shocked. Was I sure that’s who I’d seen breaking into the apartment? Mel was such a mannerly, mature young woman. It must have been someone else! I guess I wasn't just a paranoid dumbfuck, but a blind one as well.
Anyway, a few days later, Mel and Tina started moving furniture into Tina’s apartment. They didn't say anything to us when they saw us. I wondered if I was the bad guy, but Hubby said no: I should call our landlord and report.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I told Tina that Mel could camp out there for a while."
What?
Well, friends, what happened was that our landlord called Tina to confront her about Mel breaking into the apartment. But then Tina told our landlord about her recent fall from grace and then lamented about the horrors of parenting a teenager all alone in a one-bedroom apartment. She cried so much that our landlord decided to make a deal. For $200 a month, Tina could rent the empty apartment for Mel under the condition that when a new tenant was found Mel would move out.
Okay, fine, I thought. If that's how you want to run your apartments, that's up to you. I'll stay out of your business next time.
And that's just what I did when I came home from work one day to find an American couple dressed in bathing suits trying to open the gate to the complex.
And I continued to do so the week after that when Hubby saw Mel cleaning the apartment while three Australian ladies grilled by the complex pool.
But, one night when a hooker knocked on our door, I'd had enough.
At first, I tried to give Tina and Mel the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this was something they had worked out with the landlord. Maybe this was actually the landlord playing her hand at AirBnB. So, I worded my texts carefully. Asked our landlord if she'd found a new tenant, since we'd seen some new people in the complex. If she'd been trying out short-term renting since so we noticed so many tourists roaming the complex. If she knew that there were strange people coming in and out every week. No reply.
Turns out we weren't the only tenants concerned - and ignored. Two of our other neighbors had also tried to contact our landlord to tell her about the strange tourists hanging bathing suits all over the fences and ordering "fair" company in the apartment above us. Our landlord, however, never responded to any of us. Didn't even blue tick.
By the time frat boys started renting the apartment, Hubby and I had had enough. We found a new apartment and gave notice. Oddly enough, our landlord got that message as soon as I sent it. She didn't bother asking us why we were moving out, and I didn't push the matter. I didn't even make a fuss when she didn't give us our security deposit back. In my city, it's rare you get that back anyhow.
But then a month later, I got a call from our old landlord. She said she'd assessed the apartment and found no damages, so she had our security deposit ready for us. I mean, money is money, and that was our money, so Hubby and I set a date to meet the landlord at the old place.
Our landlord was oddly chatty when we arrived. At first, we thought she was just excited because she was finally giving the complex a much-needed facelift. But then she started talking about Tina.
[Dramatization below]
Landlord: "Do you remember Tina?"
Hubby looks at me. I look at Hubby. “Of course."
Landlord: "Well, she doesn't live here anymore."
Crickets.
Landlord: "I evicted her."
Quizzical eyebrows.
Landlord: "You won't believe what she was doing."
Side eye-side eye.
Landlord: "Well, she was running an AirBnB! In the apartment right above you!"
Pikachu gasp: "No!"
Apparently, after we left, the landlord came to assess our apartment. When she entered the complex, who did she happen to run into?
A British couple in their bathing suits.
They asked her if she knew where the beach was, and the landlord gave them the directions in exchange for a glimpse at the AirBnB listing they'd contracted.
There it was - Tish's old apartment rented out at $800 a week!!! Take away the $200 a month Tina had arranged to rent the apartment, that was a $3000 profit!
The landlord confronted Tina, and as Tina packed her bags under the close supervision of a police officer, Tina railed on and on about how our landlord was being so cruel to a single mother. How could a fellow woman deny Tina the right to make a living for her girls? No one was using the apartment anyway! She'd sue, she sue for squatter's rights! She was a single mother!!!
So ends the Tina tale, but we have some extra credits. Our landlord realized how lucrative the AirBnB business could be, so she evicted all of the tenants and renovated the complex to open it up for short-term renting. That all came to an end when a 17yo boy drowned in the pool and the family sued the landlord for negligence.
All's well that end's well, eh?
TL;DR: Neighbor breaks into an empty apartment, manages to weasel the landlord into renting it to her for $200/month, and then sublets it on AirBnB for $800 a week!