Poem: "An Air of Reflection"
Dec. 18th, 2017 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the December 5, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It also fills the "service animals" square in my 3-1-17 card for the Disability Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Berettaflies thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"An Air of Reflection"
[Week 1, Day 5]
Timone looks at her friend Paulina, who
is wrapped around her therapy cat Flopsy,
huddled in the activity room staring out at
the calisthenics gym in the courtyard.
Nobody's on the equipment, because
the whole courtyard is still cordoned off
while SPAZMAT cleans up after
the berettafly swarm yesterday.
Flopsy had gotten outside,
fallen asleep in a sunbeam, and
everyone was searching for her.
They had just spotted the cat when
the berettaflies descended, which is when
Paulina had grabbed a can of wasp foam
and Booyah had grabbed a flyswatter and
they both went ballistic on the berettaflies.
Timone had grabbed Flopsy and then
rolled them both to safety, winding up with
a rash that might be from loose berettafly scales
or just from kissing pavement in the courtyard.
It hadn't been any more dangerous than
a regular firefight, really, and all of them
(except Flopsy) had survived those.
Only now Paulina is crumpled
in a chair, looking morose instead of
victorious, and that worries Timone.
"We need to get the hell out of here,"
Timone decides, and stands up.
"What? Where?" Paulina says.
"I've got an idea," Jaimeson says,
picking up the thread. "Let's go out
to the Dumont Veterans Retreat.
That place is fantastic."
"But the berettaflies ..."
Paulina says, fisting a hand
in Flopsy's long soft fur.
"Fuck 'em," Timone says.
"Dumont is outside city limits.
They're basically evil butterflies,
how far and fast can they fly, really?
It should be a lot safer out there."
"Besides, there's plenty of stuff
we can do indoors," says Donjae.
"Holden and I play basketball in
the Tesla Gymnatorium there. You
could come try to kick our asses."
That rouses a spark of interest in
Paulina. "Oh, you are on, homeboy."
So everyone scurries back to
their rooms to pack in a hurry.
They bundle up Paulina's cat Flopsy
and Jaimeson's guide dog Buttercup,
park Holden and Donjae in the back
of the LaGuardia shuttlebus, and then
Timone, Paulina, Booyah, and Jaimeson
all pile into the other seats along with
some other veterans who think that it's
a grand idea to get out of Easy City.
The ride is lazy and beautiful
along the tree-lined streets.
They practice situational awareness
by playing the Sign Game until
they finish the whole alphabet
just before the city limit.
Then they play the Rule Game
from the exit ramp all the way to
the Dumont Veterans Retreat.
When they arrive, Burley Desbois
insists on putting Paulina and
Booyah in the Wanderer Suite,
as the heras of the day.
Donjae and Holden have
the Hoptree Cabin, which has
its own access ramp right near
the Levin Hospitality Center
for people with special needs.
Timone and Jaimeson
wind up sharing one of
the two-person cabins.
The grounds are gorgeous,
full of fields and forests and
all kinds of amenities, but
as agreed they start out
in the Gymnatorium.
They play game after game
of basketball, even shuffling
the people on the teams, but
nobody ever pulls ahead.
In the end, they declare it a tie
and then troop over to the lodge.
"There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection,
about a rocking chair that attaches itself
to no other moving object," Burley says.
"Why don't y'all sit a spell while I go
rustle up some lunch for everyone?"
The veterans cheer as much as they
have the breath left for, and then flop
into the long row of rocking chairs
that lines one side of the porch.
High overhead, tucked under
the eaves of the porch, someone
has installed yards of netting in case
people feel a need for protection,
but at the moment it's all rolled up.
Every screening business in Easy City
has been working spang out ever since
the incident, replacing window screens
and enclosing porches in fresh mesh.
Some of them have made so much money
that they're donating some to fundraisers
for the berettafly victims and their families.
Burley wheels out a cart crammed with
a big-ass bucket of fried chicken, a platter
of tuna salad sandwiches, another one
for Creole deviled eggs, an oval plate
with celery nut butter boats topped
by raisins or whole roasted nuts.
There are two huge bowls,
one full of herbed potato salad
one with fruit salad and yogurt.
A pair of big frosty pitchers hold
regular and electrolyte lemonade,
already sweating in the warm breeze.
Everyone descends on the food
with profuse thanks and then heaps
their plates with some of everything.
The food is delicious, hot crispy chicken
contrasting with sweet, juicy fruit and
and cold, creamy potato salad along
with tall glasses of tart lemonade.
Donjae and Holden sit together, rocking
as they analyze the basketball games.
Timone is just happy that no one
is staring at her scars out here.
They're veterans. They all
have scars, somewhere.
She pushes her feet against
the wooden floor of the porch
and leans into the motion.
Jaimeson, with Buttercup at
his feet, has hooked up with
a woman named Liv Dunwoody,
who has a sketchpad on her lap.
The two of them are discussing
sniper techniques of observation
and illustrations, plus engineering.
Liv describes the scene while
Jaimeson asks questions
and adds a few details.
They pick out the birds and
the leaves of the trees and
the shallow rock-ringed pool
of Hope Springs Eternal.
The covered entrance leads
down to the Greenway, and
the arch holds a carving of
the word JOY in bright colors.
A squirrel runs down a tree,
crosses the Greenway, and
runs back up the other side.
All of these things make their way
onto the page under Liv's hands.
Now and then Booyah chips in
with an observation, but mostly
she just watches Paulina.
The rocking chairs squeak as
they move, contented whispers
urging everyone to relax.
Since Paulina is sprawled
in a rocker with Flopsy
pancaked across her lap,
their eyes half-closed and
more than half-asleep,
Timone calls this a win.
* * *
Notes:
Burley Desbois -- He has ebony skin, brown eyes, and nappy white hair with a mustache and beard. He served in the Vietnam War. Currently he supervises the Turing Lodge at the Dumont Veterans Retreat. That provides guidance for the residents and guests from someone who knows what it's like to go to war, and come back changed. As a hobby, Burley carves figurines and makes dioramas, often of military or historic scenes.
Qualities: Master (+6) Leadership, Master (+6) Marine Veteran, Expert (+4) Bravery, Expert (+4) Peer Counselor, Good (+2) Critical Thinking, Good (+2) Still Tough as Nails, Good (+2) Whittling
Poor (-2) Not as Fast as He Used to Be
Timone Evans -- She has medium brown skin, brown eyes, and curly brown hair. She is homosexual but bisensual. Her favorite color is pink, especially the deep hot pinks that look good with her bold coloring. Timone served as a Staff Sergeant. She has extensive burn scars across her chest and belly, with a few others scattered beyond that, from an incendiary device. They impair her flexibility a little, although she does exercises to minimize those effects. This scarring has wrecked her body image, and she has trouble feeling beautiful now. She keeps trying different ways to fix that problem, such as buying herself a pair of diamond stud earrings.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Army Veteran, Good (+2) Conversationalist, Good (+2) Logical/Mathematical Intelligence, Good (+2) Strength
Poor (-2) Body Image
Paulina Contreras -- She has light brown skin, brown eyes, and straight black hair to her shoulders. Her favorite color is olive green, such as her "Believe in Heroes" t-shirt from the Wounded Warriors Project. She excels at spotting patterns and imagining how things will turn out. Paulina has PTSD from her service as Airman First Class in Afghanistan, primarily from heavy gunfire and explosives. She does not deal well with loud sudden noises anymore. To cope with this, she has a therapy cat named Flopsy. As long as she's holding the cat, she feels relatively okay. Paulina is working hard to overcome the trauma and hopes to go into civilian search and rescue eventually. She is currently taking classes one at a time at Loyola University.
Qualities: Good (+2) Agility, Good (+2) Air Force Veteran, Good (+2) Cat Lover, Good (+2) Civic Duty, Good (+2) Extrapolation
Poor (-2) PTSD
Flopsy -- She is a Ragdoll cat, primarily light brown with white face, underbelly, and feet. She weighs 15 pounds. Flopsy is gentle, compassionate, and wise. She loves people and enjoys lying in someone's lap or draping over shoulders. She is smart enough to walk on a leash. As a therapy cat, Flopsy belongs to Paulina Contreras and helps soothe her PTSD.
Qualities: Master (+6) Therapy Cat, Expert (+4) Cats Are Liquids, Good (+2) Leash Walking
Poor (-2) Sense of Self-Preservation
Booyah (Maeve Hannigan) -- She has fair skin, green eyes, and straight strawberry-blonde hair cut to chin length. She is tall and muscular. Maeve uses her knowledge of feminine makeup to apply excellent camouflage paint, first to herself and then to her squadmates, later expanding to camouflage netting and other materials. Her hobby of tombstone rubbing has led her through many battlefields and civilian cemeteries, so she knows a lot about related history and cultural material.
Origin: When Maeve was sixteen, she was held hostage by a supervillain. Her superhero boyfriend rescued her. But her father, a policeman, forbade her to see him again because he didn't want her to be in danger. On her eighteenth birthday, Maeve joined the Marines and became a superhera through intensive training.
Uniform: U.S. Marines uniform. Even off-duty, Maeve favors Marine colors and casual clothes.
Qualities: Master (+6) Teamwork, Master (+6) Tough, Expert (+4) Marine, Expert (+4) Strategy & Tactics, Expert (+4) Strength, Good (+2) Americana, Good (+2) Courage, Good (+2) Makeup & Camouflage, Good (+2) Soup Friends, Good (+2) Tombstone Rubbing
Poor (-2) Daddy Issues
Motivation: "Freedom is not free, but it is worth fighting for."
Holden Morrisett -- He has fair skin, blue eyes, and light brown hair. He is missing his left leg near the hip and uses a wheelchair. He served in the Marines for three and a half years prior to his injury. Now he lives in Suite 107b of the Laguardia Residence Hall in Easy City. He enjoys playing wheelchair basketball and memorizing the stats of other players.
Qualities: Good (+2) Marine Veteran, Good (+2) Followship, Good (+2) Honorable, Good (+2) Memory, Good (+2) Wheelchair Basketball
Poor (-2) Choosing His Own Path
Donjae Roberson -- He has brown skin, brown eyes, and very short black hair. Both legs were severed near the hips, so he uses a wheelchair. He served in the Navy for just over two years prior to his injury. Now he lives in Suite 107b of the Laguardia Residence Hall in Easy City. He enjoys playing wheelchair basketball and collecting basketball cards.
Qualities: Good (+2) Dependable, Good (+2) Leadership, Good (+2) Navy Veteran, Good (+2) Spatial Intelligence, Good (+2) Wheelchair Basketball
Poor (-2) Hates Flying
Jaimeson Tate -- He has brown skin, one brown eye, and nappy dark brown hair worn short on top and shaved at the sides. He is fully blind, his left eye missing and his right nonfunctional. He navigates with a guide dog, Buttercup, and wants to learn how to pinpoint people with his other senses. Buttercup is a golden retriever, and she shares her owner's bubbly personality. Prior to his injury, he served as an Army sniper, but it wasn't even a year before he was sent home with a medical discharge. Now he lives in Suite 107a of the Laguardia Residence Hall in Easy City. Jaimeson prefers playing dice to cards, and particularly excels at Pirate Dice.
Qualities: Good (+2) Dice Games, Good (+2) Keen Senses, Good (+2) Making Friends, Good (+2) Sense of Humor, Good (+2) Veteran Sniper
Poor (-2) Fully Blind
Liv Dunwoody -- She has tawny skin, streaked blonde hair, and green eyes. As an engineer, building things makes her feel useful. After leaving the army, Liv feels adrift in the world, like nothing she does really matters. Currently she is staying at the Dumont Veterans Retreat just outside of Easy City in Louisiana.
Qualities: Good (+2) Army Engineer Veteran, Good (+2) Body/Mechanical Intelligence, Good (+2) Moxie, Good (+2) Strength, Good (+2) Teamwork
Poor (-2) Loss of Purpose
* * *
"There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection, about a rocking-chair that attaches to no other moving object ..."
-- Wallis Simpson
Laguardia Residence Hall serves Easy City veterans at Loyola University. See the exterior and the floor plans. The courtyard includes picnic tables with umbrellas, gym equipment for calisthenics, a shuffleboard, and raised bed gardens full of herbs and flowers. The staff housing room on the first floor is a library, with the staff instead occupying Suite 103 at the top side of the map. The maintenance room next to the elevators on the first floor, and the small room next to the laundry on each of the upper floors, are quiet rooms. Most of the suites have four bedrooms (single or double) plus a common room. On each floor there is one suite at the top of the map with two double bedrooms plus a common room, and one more elsewhere in the layout. These are reserved for individuals who need completely private space. There are also a few suites with three double bedrooms and a common room. These are reserved for couples or families. The third floor is the quiet floor, with only one person per bedroom.
This is the first floor activity room. The two doors on the right lead into the restrooms. The door to the outside is hidden behind one of the columns toward the left. The brown shutters are covering the windows into the courtyard. Between the two easy chairs, the coffee table top is reversible for chess and backgammon. Not visible to the left are the ping-pong tables.
LaGuardia Residence Hall has a 2007 Ford E450 Wheelchair Shuttle Bus. See the outside and inside.
The Dumont Veterans Retreat has a variety of buildings. This is Turing Lodge and its porch full of rockers. Just outside it lies Hope Springs Eternal. Here is the view down the Greenway with the JOY sign. The Wanderer Suite has a bed plus a kitchenette and bathroom.
There are clusters of 12' x 12' cabins meant to house two people. Each cabin has a pair of bunk beds, a table with three chairs, a porch swing, and a fire grill. There are also solitary ones, furnished for one person like Crusoe Cabin. A few of the solitary ones have a double bed instead, for couples. These can be used for short-term or medium-term housing, often intended to foster unit or family cohesion. Outdoor furnishings include a cabin planter, porch swing, easel, and fire grill.
The Hoptree Cabin is one of several ADA cabins with private ADA parking, a wheelchair ramp, a porch with a bench, a living room with a twin-size futon, a table and three chairs, a full kitchen, an accessible bathroom, and a bedroom with a closet, a full bed, and two nightstands. See the flat and 3D floor plans.
The Levin Hospitality Center comes with a wraparound porch with accessible picnic tables and rocking chairs, a trading post with concession stand, a quiet room / counseling room, a full bathroom, a half bathroom, a staff bedroom on the corner, a staff bedroom in the middle with ensuite, and a staff breakroom in the loft. Although most of the visible food here is junk, the concession stand does carry things for special dietary needs. The trading post stocks adaptive clothing and other items for special needs in addition to general camping supplies. The quiet room / counseling room has a full-size futon, a matching twin-size chair futon with footstool, and an end table between them. It is used as a quiet room and also for private counseling. On this floor plan, you can see that the storage room has been converted to a quiet room / counseling room. See a 3D floor plan.
The Tesla Gymnatorium is a multipurpose building for athletics, conferences, and worship services. On the ground floor, the board room is a quiet room. This is the upper floor. See the main gym.
Butterfly speed varies by species. Skippers are small and fast; they can reach up to 30mph (48.28 kph). Monarchs average around 2.49 mph (4 kph) in general. The overall migration pace is about 19.88 miles per day (32 km per day). Assuming monarchs fly for 10 hours per day, the overall average translates to 1.99 mph (3.2 kph). The rose butterfly, which berettaflies closely resemble, has a slow fluttering flight close to the ground; at higher altitude, they fly faster and stronger; and they're prone to dropping from heights. This early in the timeframe, people have not yet realized that berettaflies inherited the migratory tendencies of their ancestors, the monarchs and rose butterflies.
Situational awareness can be developed and improved in many ways. Snipers work on theirs with techniques such as sketching. It is important to avoid mistakes when increasing your situational awareness. Explore some exercises.
Bus travel games include the Sign Game and the Rule Game. These are popular in Terramagne-America, both for group cohesion and honing mental skills.
SPANG all the way, expressive of distance
-- Gullah Words
Good post-workout refreshments include chicken, tuna, eggs, nut butter boats, potatoes, fruit and yogurt. Traditional lemonade can be boosted into an electrolyte drink.
"An Air of Reflection"
[Week 1, Day 5]
Timone looks at her friend Paulina, who
is wrapped around her therapy cat Flopsy,
huddled in the activity room staring out at
the calisthenics gym in the courtyard.
Nobody's on the equipment, because
the whole courtyard is still cordoned off
while SPAZMAT cleans up after
the berettafly swarm yesterday.
Flopsy had gotten outside,
fallen asleep in a sunbeam, and
everyone was searching for her.
They had just spotted the cat when
the berettaflies descended, which is when
Paulina had grabbed a can of wasp foam
and Booyah had grabbed a flyswatter and
they both went ballistic on the berettaflies.
Timone had grabbed Flopsy and then
rolled them both to safety, winding up with
a rash that might be from loose berettafly scales
or just from kissing pavement in the courtyard.
It hadn't been any more dangerous than
a regular firefight, really, and all of them
(except Flopsy) had survived those.
Only now Paulina is crumpled
in a chair, looking morose instead of
victorious, and that worries Timone.
"We need to get the hell out of here,"
Timone decides, and stands up.
"What? Where?" Paulina says.
"I've got an idea," Jaimeson says,
picking up the thread. "Let's go out
to the Dumont Veterans Retreat.
That place is fantastic."
"But the berettaflies ..."
Paulina says, fisting a hand
in Flopsy's long soft fur.
"Fuck 'em," Timone says.
"Dumont is outside city limits.
They're basically evil butterflies,
how far and fast can they fly, really?
It should be a lot safer out there."
"Besides, there's plenty of stuff
we can do indoors," says Donjae.
"Holden and I play basketball in
the Tesla Gymnatorium there. You
could come try to kick our asses."
That rouses a spark of interest in
Paulina. "Oh, you are on, homeboy."
So everyone scurries back to
their rooms to pack in a hurry.
They bundle up Paulina's cat Flopsy
and Jaimeson's guide dog Buttercup,
park Holden and Donjae in the back
of the LaGuardia shuttlebus, and then
Timone, Paulina, Booyah, and Jaimeson
all pile into the other seats along with
some other veterans who think that it's
a grand idea to get out of Easy City.
The ride is lazy and beautiful
along the tree-lined streets.
They practice situational awareness
by playing the Sign Game until
they finish the whole alphabet
just before the city limit.
Then they play the Rule Game
from the exit ramp all the way to
the Dumont Veterans Retreat.
When they arrive, Burley Desbois
insists on putting Paulina and
Booyah in the Wanderer Suite,
as the heras of the day.
Donjae and Holden have
the Hoptree Cabin, which has
its own access ramp right near
the Levin Hospitality Center
for people with special needs.
Timone and Jaimeson
wind up sharing one of
the two-person cabins.
The grounds are gorgeous,
full of fields and forests and
all kinds of amenities, but
as agreed they start out
in the Gymnatorium.
They play game after game
of basketball, even shuffling
the people on the teams, but
nobody ever pulls ahead.
In the end, they declare it a tie
and then troop over to the lodge.
"There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection,
about a rocking chair that attaches itself
to no other moving object," Burley says.
"Why don't y'all sit a spell while I go
rustle up some lunch for everyone?"
The veterans cheer as much as they
have the breath left for, and then flop
into the long row of rocking chairs
that lines one side of the porch.
High overhead, tucked under
the eaves of the porch, someone
has installed yards of netting in case
people feel a need for protection,
but at the moment it's all rolled up.
Every screening business in Easy City
has been working spang out ever since
the incident, replacing window screens
and enclosing porches in fresh mesh.
Some of them have made so much money
that they're donating some to fundraisers
for the berettafly victims and their families.
Burley wheels out a cart crammed with
a big-ass bucket of fried chicken, a platter
of tuna salad sandwiches, another one
for Creole deviled eggs, an oval plate
with celery nut butter boats topped
by raisins or whole roasted nuts.
There are two huge bowls,
one full of herbed potato salad
one with fruit salad and yogurt.
A pair of big frosty pitchers hold
regular and electrolyte lemonade,
already sweating in the warm breeze.
Everyone descends on the food
with profuse thanks and then heaps
their plates with some of everything.
The food is delicious, hot crispy chicken
contrasting with sweet, juicy fruit and
and cold, creamy potato salad along
with tall glasses of tart lemonade.
Donjae and Holden sit together, rocking
as they analyze the basketball games.
Timone is just happy that no one
is staring at her scars out here.
They're veterans. They all
have scars, somewhere.
She pushes her feet against
the wooden floor of the porch
and leans into the motion.
Jaimeson, with Buttercup at
his feet, has hooked up with
a woman named Liv Dunwoody,
who has a sketchpad on her lap.
The two of them are discussing
sniper techniques of observation
and illustrations, plus engineering.
Liv describes the scene while
Jaimeson asks questions
and adds a few details.
They pick out the birds and
the leaves of the trees and
the shallow rock-ringed pool
of Hope Springs Eternal.
The covered entrance leads
down to the Greenway, and
the arch holds a carving of
the word JOY in bright colors.
A squirrel runs down a tree,
crosses the Greenway, and
runs back up the other side.
All of these things make their way
onto the page under Liv's hands.
Now and then Booyah chips in
with an observation, but mostly
she just watches Paulina.
The rocking chairs squeak as
they move, contented whispers
urging everyone to relax.
Since Paulina is sprawled
in a rocker with Flopsy
pancaked across her lap,
their eyes half-closed and
more than half-asleep,
Timone calls this a win.
* * *
Notes:
Burley Desbois -- He has ebony skin, brown eyes, and nappy white hair with a mustache and beard. He served in the Vietnam War. Currently he supervises the Turing Lodge at the Dumont Veterans Retreat. That provides guidance for the residents and guests from someone who knows what it's like to go to war, and come back changed. As a hobby, Burley carves figurines and makes dioramas, often of military or historic scenes.
Qualities: Master (+6) Leadership, Master (+6) Marine Veteran, Expert (+4) Bravery, Expert (+4) Peer Counselor, Good (+2) Critical Thinking, Good (+2) Still Tough as Nails, Good (+2) Whittling
Poor (-2) Not as Fast as He Used to Be
Timone Evans -- She has medium brown skin, brown eyes, and curly brown hair. She is homosexual but bisensual. Her favorite color is pink, especially the deep hot pinks that look good with her bold coloring. Timone served as a Staff Sergeant. She has extensive burn scars across her chest and belly, with a few others scattered beyond that, from an incendiary device. They impair her flexibility a little, although she does exercises to minimize those effects. This scarring has wrecked her body image, and she has trouble feeling beautiful now. She keeps trying different ways to fix that problem, such as buying herself a pair of diamond stud earrings.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Army Veteran, Good (+2) Conversationalist, Good (+2) Logical/Mathematical Intelligence, Good (+2) Strength
Poor (-2) Body Image
Paulina Contreras -- She has light brown skin, brown eyes, and straight black hair to her shoulders. Her favorite color is olive green, such as her "Believe in Heroes" t-shirt from the Wounded Warriors Project. She excels at spotting patterns and imagining how things will turn out. Paulina has PTSD from her service as Airman First Class in Afghanistan, primarily from heavy gunfire and explosives. She does not deal well with loud sudden noises anymore. To cope with this, she has a therapy cat named Flopsy. As long as she's holding the cat, she feels relatively okay. Paulina is working hard to overcome the trauma and hopes to go into civilian search and rescue eventually. She is currently taking classes one at a time at Loyola University.
Qualities: Good (+2) Agility, Good (+2) Air Force Veteran, Good (+2) Cat Lover, Good (+2) Civic Duty, Good (+2) Extrapolation
Poor (-2) PTSD
Flopsy -- She is a Ragdoll cat, primarily light brown with white face, underbelly, and feet. She weighs 15 pounds. Flopsy is gentle, compassionate, and wise. She loves people and enjoys lying in someone's lap or draping over shoulders. She is smart enough to walk on a leash. As a therapy cat, Flopsy belongs to Paulina Contreras and helps soothe her PTSD.
Qualities: Master (+6) Therapy Cat, Expert (+4) Cats Are Liquids, Good (+2) Leash Walking
Poor (-2) Sense of Self-Preservation
Booyah (Maeve Hannigan) -- She has fair skin, green eyes, and straight strawberry-blonde hair cut to chin length. She is tall and muscular. Maeve uses her knowledge of feminine makeup to apply excellent camouflage paint, first to herself and then to her squadmates, later expanding to camouflage netting and other materials. Her hobby of tombstone rubbing has led her through many battlefields and civilian cemeteries, so she knows a lot about related history and cultural material.
Origin: When Maeve was sixteen, she was held hostage by a supervillain. Her superhero boyfriend rescued her. But her father, a policeman, forbade her to see him again because he didn't want her to be in danger. On her eighteenth birthday, Maeve joined the Marines and became a superhera through intensive training.
Uniform: U.S. Marines uniform. Even off-duty, Maeve favors Marine colors and casual clothes.
Qualities: Master (+6) Teamwork, Master (+6) Tough, Expert (+4) Marine, Expert (+4) Strategy & Tactics, Expert (+4) Strength, Good (+2) Americana, Good (+2) Courage, Good (+2) Makeup & Camouflage, Good (+2) Soup Friends, Good (+2) Tombstone Rubbing
Poor (-2) Daddy Issues
Motivation: "Freedom is not free, but it is worth fighting for."
Holden Morrisett -- He has fair skin, blue eyes, and light brown hair. He is missing his left leg near the hip and uses a wheelchair. He served in the Marines for three and a half years prior to his injury. Now he lives in Suite 107b of the Laguardia Residence Hall in Easy City. He enjoys playing wheelchair basketball and memorizing the stats of other players.
Qualities: Good (+2) Marine Veteran, Good (+2) Followship, Good (+2) Honorable, Good (+2) Memory, Good (+2) Wheelchair Basketball
Poor (-2) Choosing His Own Path
Donjae Roberson -- He has brown skin, brown eyes, and very short black hair. Both legs were severed near the hips, so he uses a wheelchair. He served in the Navy for just over two years prior to his injury. Now he lives in Suite 107b of the Laguardia Residence Hall in Easy City. He enjoys playing wheelchair basketball and collecting basketball cards.
Qualities: Good (+2) Dependable, Good (+2) Leadership, Good (+2) Navy Veteran, Good (+2) Spatial Intelligence, Good (+2) Wheelchair Basketball
Poor (-2) Hates Flying
Jaimeson Tate -- He has brown skin, one brown eye, and nappy dark brown hair worn short on top and shaved at the sides. He is fully blind, his left eye missing and his right nonfunctional. He navigates with a guide dog, Buttercup, and wants to learn how to pinpoint people with his other senses. Buttercup is a golden retriever, and she shares her owner's bubbly personality. Prior to his injury, he served as an Army sniper, but it wasn't even a year before he was sent home with a medical discharge. Now he lives in Suite 107a of the Laguardia Residence Hall in Easy City. Jaimeson prefers playing dice to cards, and particularly excels at Pirate Dice.
Qualities: Good (+2) Dice Games, Good (+2) Keen Senses, Good (+2) Making Friends, Good (+2) Sense of Humor, Good (+2) Veteran Sniper
Poor (-2) Fully Blind
Liv Dunwoody -- She has tawny skin, streaked blonde hair, and green eyes. As an engineer, building things makes her feel useful. After leaving the army, Liv feels adrift in the world, like nothing she does really matters. Currently she is staying at the Dumont Veterans Retreat just outside of Easy City in Louisiana.
Qualities: Good (+2) Army Engineer Veteran, Good (+2) Body/Mechanical Intelligence, Good (+2) Moxie, Good (+2) Strength, Good (+2) Teamwork
Poor (-2) Loss of Purpose
* * *
"There is a peacefulness, an air of reflection, about a rocking-chair that attaches to no other moving object ..."
-- Wallis Simpson
Laguardia Residence Hall serves Easy City veterans at Loyola University. See the exterior and the floor plans. The courtyard includes picnic tables with umbrellas, gym equipment for calisthenics, a shuffleboard, and raised bed gardens full of herbs and flowers. The staff housing room on the first floor is a library, with the staff instead occupying Suite 103 at the top side of the map. The maintenance room next to the elevators on the first floor, and the small room next to the laundry on each of the upper floors, are quiet rooms. Most of the suites have four bedrooms (single or double) plus a common room. On each floor there is one suite at the top of the map with two double bedrooms plus a common room, and one more elsewhere in the layout. These are reserved for individuals who need completely private space. There are also a few suites with three double bedrooms and a common room. These are reserved for couples or families. The third floor is the quiet floor, with only one person per bedroom.
This is the first floor activity room. The two doors on the right lead into the restrooms. The door to the outside is hidden behind one of the columns toward the left. The brown shutters are covering the windows into the courtyard. Between the two easy chairs, the coffee table top is reversible for chess and backgammon. Not visible to the left are the ping-pong tables.
LaGuardia Residence Hall has a 2007 Ford E450 Wheelchair Shuttle Bus. See the outside and inside.
The Dumont Veterans Retreat has a variety of buildings. This is Turing Lodge and its porch full of rockers. Just outside it lies Hope Springs Eternal. Here is the view down the Greenway with the JOY sign. The Wanderer Suite has a bed plus a kitchenette and bathroom.
There are clusters of 12' x 12' cabins meant to house two people. Each cabin has a pair of bunk beds, a table with three chairs, a porch swing, and a fire grill. There are also solitary ones, furnished for one person like Crusoe Cabin. A few of the solitary ones have a double bed instead, for couples. These can be used for short-term or medium-term housing, often intended to foster unit or family cohesion. Outdoor furnishings include a cabin planter, porch swing, easel, and fire grill.
The Hoptree Cabin is one of several ADA cabins with private ADA parking, a wheelchair ramp, a porch with a bench, a living room with a twin-size futon, a table and three chairs, a full kitchen, an accessible bathroom, and a bedroom with a closet, a full bed, and two nightstands. See the flat and 3D floor plans.
The Levin Hospitality Center comes with a wraparound porch with accessible picnic tables and rocking chairs, a trading post with concession stand, a quiet room / counseling room, a full bathroom, a half bathroom, a staff bedroom on the corner, a staff bedroom in the middle with ensuite, and a staff breakroom in the loft. Although most of the visible food here is junk, the concession stand does carry things for special dietary needs. The trading post stocks adaptive clothing and other items for special needs in addition to general camping supplies. The quiet room / counseling room has a full-size futon, a matching twin-size chair futon with footstool, and an end table between them. It is used as a quiet room and also for private counseling. On this floor plan, you can see that the storage room has been converted to a quiet room / counseling room. See a 3D floor plan.
The Tesla Gymnatorium is a multipurpose building for athletics, conferences, and worship services. On the ground floor, the board room is a quiet room. This is the upper floor. See the main gym.
Butterfly speed varies by species. Skippers are small and fast; they can reach up to 30mph (48.28 kph). Monarchs average around 2.49 mph (4 kph) in general. The overall migration pace is about 19.88 miles per day (32 km per day). Assuming monarchs fly for 10 hours per day, the overall average translates to 1.99 mph (3.2 kph). The rose butterfly, which berettaflies closely resemble, has a slow fluttering flight close to the ground; at higher altitude, they fly faster and stronger; and they're prone to dropping from heights. This early in the timeframe, people have not yet realized that berettaflies inherited the migratory tendencies of their ancestors, the monarchs and rose butterflies.
Situational awareness can be developed and improved in many ways. Snipers work on theirs with techniques such as sketching. It is important to avoid mistakes when increasing your situational awareness. Explore some exercises.
Bus travel games include the Sign Game and the Rule Game. These are popular in Terramagne-America, both for group cohesion and honing mental skills.
SPANG all the way, expressive of distance
-- Gullah Words
Good post-workout refreshments include chicken, tuna, eggs, nut butter boats, potatoes, fruit and yogurt. Traditional lemonade can be boosted into an electrolyte drink.
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Date: 2017-12-20 11:01 am (UTC)