#like he borders on Work Dad- he's preoccupied by business but he also knows how to make time for his kid

[todayisafridaynight]

okay so this feels like many eons ago, but I was the anon who asked if Daigo was a dilf (what a fool I was) now I have another question what do you think Daigo would be like as a father?

daigo as a dad doesn't sound like the worst reality for once. he'd probably be like. a standard dad if that makes sense ?? he's not overly doting but that doesn't mean he won't remind his kid how much they mean to him whenever the opportunity arises and he's sure to be there for them whenever they need him

#snap chats #like he borders on Work Dad- he's preoccupied by business but he also knows how to make time for his kid #definitely doesnt want to project his childhood onto his kid yk he wants to be there for them unlike his parents #this is going off the assumption he's a Single Father Making A Difference if that wasnt evident #but yeah he'd probably be a nice dad he's generally got his head on his shoulders and he's a smart man #this ask makes me cry cause i have twitter mooties who like. gush about daigo being a dad every other week #and then i sit here having absorbed none of their chatting going 'yeah what WOULD that be like.... #wheres my text support for the claim im about to make' #like daigo likes kids we know that from RGGO and he's willing to go the extra mile for them #id imagine he'd do more for his own child so #like kiryu was a great dad When He Got The Chance I See You Typing Put That Ask Away #and kiryu was definitely handed a weird deck to play with so daigo would probably fair better if we're just talking one kid

[bellamyblake]

For the prompt:  “Are you cold? Then why are you shivering?”

A/N: Hey, guys! Something short I wrote the other day following a prompt I stumbled upon. There’s a part 2 I finished today that mirrors this one, only it’s about Bell being sick! Thanks for reading!

Things at camp were never calm. 

There could be less busy days or extremely horrible days but there was never peaceful days, at least not for Bellamy and Clarke.

Despite their mutual disagreement they worked very well especially during the hard days and without having to say so they were always there for each other, taking off some of the weight or forcing the other to take a few minutes off before completely going insane.

So when Bellamy starts feeling a headache forming before it’s even noon, he’s pissed off because there’s no sight of his princess and things were piling up at camp-kids ran from every direction asking him about hunting, water, wood chopping, herbs gathering and who’s to stand on watch today and he felt like digging a hole in the ground and hiding in it; 

Finally, when he snaps at Jasper who has decided that now is the time to ask about whether or not he and Monty can make more moonshine using the fire in the middle of camp and Bellamy gives him a hard “No!” and a speech that makes the kid’s eyes fill with tears, he decides it’s time to find Clarke;

He checks her tent, then the mess hall in case she miraculously decided to get lunch on her own without him having to shove her down there before finally heading to check the dropship. 

After calling her name a couple of times, he hears some commotion in the stock room where they kept all the medical herbs and supplies and finds her curled up in the corner, knees up, head buried in them.

“Clarke?”

“Go away!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’ll be out in a second.” he takes a moment to estimate whether or not she’s telling the truth and when she sees he’s not moving, she lifts her head up and snaps at him.

“I said go away, Blake, I’ll be there to hold your hand in a minute.”

He’d almost let his anger get the better of him when he notices how tired her eyes are and how red her nose is. 

He takes a step forward and realizes she’s shivering and bad.

“Are you cold?” she shakes her head at that “Then why are you shivering?” he prods curiously and when she opens her mouth to give him one of her flashy retorts, she sneezes not once but twice and groans frustrated, burying her head back in her knees.

He smiles-she was adorable like that-all messy and beautiful in all her sick glory, something tugged at his heart and he recognized it easily because it wasn’t the first time it happened, but for the sake of everyone and herself, he ignored it, came close and knelt, gently touching her shoulder.

“Princess....will you look up at me?”

“No.” she grunts back and he wants to laugh but holds it for her sake more than anything else. 

Carefully, he reaches and cups her cheek, picking her head up and looking at her estimating how bad it is.

It was pretty bad.

Her skin was clammy and warm, bordering on hot, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glassy. 

Her nose ran down, the liquid gathering above her lip even if she tried to suck her snort back in quite unsuccessfully, which made her even more miserable and frustrated. 

She tried to pull away from his grip and take care of it herself but he stopped her with a firm grip of his hand on her chin after which he pulled his sleeve up and brushed it away.

For a moment they just stare at each other’s faces and she can feel his breath fanning her hot face, her nose, though pretty stuffed, could detect the smell of him-of chopped wood and fire and as much as she was scared before, for being the one to get sick now, she feels a little comfort knowing he’s there.

“Think you can stand up?”

“Of course I can stand up!” she huffs, pushing him away, breaking the moment. 

She didn’t need Bellamy “asshole” Blake worrying over her. 

She could walk this off, keep doing her job even if she had a minor cold. It was nothing and she couldn’t leave him to deal alone with everything in camp.

She stands up so abruptly, though that she sways on her feet and staggers to the left. 

She thinks that’s it, she’ll hit the ground when his strong arm slides on her back and under her feet before she can say anything and he’s picked her up bridal style.

“You were saying?”

“Let me go!”

“No way, princess.”

“Bellamy, I mean it, I was just...it’s the blood pressure, when I stood too rapidly I lost my footing, you can let me go now.” he ignored her and kept walking straight ahead, exiting the storage room and heading to the line of cots on the left of the dropship, carefully placing her on the closest one. 

“Bellamy-”

“First of all, princess, it’s called iron deficiency and not blood pressure. You should know that, you’re the doctor around here.” he mocks her when he places her down on the cot “Alleged doctor I guess.”

“Doctor in TRAINING!” she huffs in his face but is interrupted by a cough that shakes her entire being and though she was holding onto his shoulders and trying to keep herself upright, she absolutely fails now, falls on the pillow with a thud that springs another joke out of him but she’s too dizzy and delusional to know what he’s saying. 

Her head falls to the side and she coughs her lungs out.

“Here-” he brings a glass of water to her lips and she takes a few sips after which she feels the gentle way of his hand on her neck, putting her carefully back on the pillow. 

When she opens her eyes and forces them to focus on what’s before her, she almost regrets it, because she’s never seen Bellamy Blake that worried before unless of course Octavia was missing or hurt. 

She covers her mouth when another cough interrupts her thought process and he curses quietly.

“What can I do?”

“Thought you knew more than me, jackass.”

“Come on, princess,now is not the time to be smart. Just tell me what to do.”

“Put more pillows behind my back so I don’t choke to death here.” she instructs and he quickly grabs the extra pillows from the other cots and puts them behind her, raising her up a little. 

She’s still shivering too badly so he picks another blanket and throws it over her. 

What she doesn’t expect is to feel his big hand on her forehead.

It’s actually so enormous, it’s covering her eyes too and she breathes in that familiar scent again, that calming one of woods and fire even if for just a brief moment.

“Dammit, princess, you’re...you’re burning.”

“I’m fine...just-” she coughs again and he winces at the sound of it cause it is bad. 

When did she even get so sick? How did he not notice it earlier? 

She did seem a little off last night...sleepy and leaning onto Raven’s shoulder a bit too much, trying to keep herself together. 

He had given it out to her being tired and swore that tomorrow he’d take on more tasks than her and force her to have an early evening but...why hadn’t he seen her red cheeks or her stuffed nose?

Why hadn’t he done something about it. 

“Just get me some seaweed tea and I’ll be fine.”

He sighs and runs his hand through his hair.

“I’ll make the kids bring some water and get it boiled in a minute,princess.” he’s surprised when she opens her eyes and he sees fear there. It takes him a moment to realize what it stemmed for until he remembered the empty medbay they were in, the big cold stony walls of the drop ship and her...lying all alone there, in all her princessy sick adorable glory.

She was afraid of being alone.

And he knew that despite everything she...didn’t have anyone else to ask to be here for her.

Wells was gone and she got along well with the girls but none of them were truly close to her. 

His sister was too preoccupied with Lincoln and Raven...things with her would always be hard because of Finn, no matter how much time had passed. 

The rest of them-Monty, Jasper, Harper, Monroe...they looked up to her but that was it...she was like a mom to them, he had even heard the kids calling the two of them mom and dad and as much as it annoyed him it was in ways true-she took care of them-she patched up their injuries, listened to their problems, gave advice, taught them which plants to use for eating and which to gather for her so she can use as medicine. 

They weren’t her friends...they were her younger siblings and all they’d do if they came here was worry and ask him a bunch of questions about “When will she be fine?” and “What are you doing about it?” that would surely make her recovery and his headache worse.

But he...he understood what this was like-they were leaders and though they carried it all on their shoulders and handled this camp in the most badass of ways, they could also...be vulnerable with one another. 

She may be a little shy having him see her like this, she may have tried to hide it but both of them knew that him finding her in that storage room was the best scenario.

“Or I could just radio them and we’ll tell them you feel a bit under the weather.”

“You don’t have to stay.”

“I want to.” he promises, reaching to squeeze her hand and giving her a light smile. “And trust me...this is fun for me too. Seeing the princess brought down to her knees-”

She slaps his arm and he chuckles.

“Shut up, you ass.”

“At your services, doc.” he salutes her and picks up the radio, before heading for the corner where he gives Monty and Jasper specific instructions without freaking them too much. 

When they come ten minutes later and try to barge in, he stops them at the dropship door and takes the steaming hot kettle from their hands before instructing them what needs to be done before dinner and making sure they don’t forget to bring Clarke some food as well.

By the time he comes back to her, she’s asleep, curled up on her side and still trembling really badly, her nose running and her cheeks flushed. 

He finds some clean rags and a bucket of cold water and he uses it to ease her fever, placing a cold cloth over her forehead. 

She exhales in her sleep and it’s one of the most adorable sounds he’s ever heard.

That is until she starts quietly snoring too. 

Her nose is stuffed but her mouth is opened and at first she begins it ever so quietly but at some point it raises to a louder pitch and he has to cover his mouth so as not to laugh at how a small creature like her can produce such a loud noise. 

Like a badass lioness, he thinks as he tucks a wet strand of hair from her cheek behind her burning ear. 

At some point an hour or so later, he wakes her up and forces her to drink some tea. 

Though she’s weak she still tries to boss him around, saying that they had to check on the wall and change Monroe’s wrist bandage and then something else he couldn’t make out but which makes his heart clench at the sight of her yet again-despite her condition, the kids and this camp were still her number one priority.

When the evening falls Monty brings up a bowl of soup and tries to convince Bellamy to let him see Clarke but he’s relentless.

“Monty, no and don’t even try to get in here, not you or the others. We don’t want you getting this thing and I have it handled.”

“What about you?”

“I don’t get sick.” he waves his hand “Now listen, send Miller here later so I can give him instructions for tomorrow” and once again reiterates how important it is that no one sets food inside the drop ship.

Monty gives him a weird look but nods once again before leaving. 

Soon after, Miller comes by and Bellamy makes him write down what needs to be done, tasks that will keep them busy for at least the next few days but that weren’t too dangerous or hard. 

It’d be enough to stir them away from trouble or drinking themselves to oblivion and give Clarke the time she needs to recover.

The next time she wakes, he tries to force her to eat some of the soup but she’s too weak, so the best he manages to do is give her more tea and lift her up enough to help her clear up some of the snots clogging her nose. 

“I’m so gross...I can’t believe hot shot threesome Bellamy Blake of all people has to see me like this.”

He wets yet another rag and carefully wipes her face from the sweat and awfulness of the disease and she leans a little too much into his touch, exhaling in relief. 

“I’m not that person anymore.”

“Huh?” she asks and it’s the most adorable cute huh in the world, he thinks, with her nose all stuffed and her eyes barely opened but pinned on him.

“I don’t sleep around.”

“Well congratulations to you.” he smiles “Is that why you’ve been so uptight lately? Haven’t had the chance to fuck it off?”

“Oh please, if someone needs to have sex it’s you, princess.”

“I’ll consider this an offer.” that makes him stiffen, mouth agape and she actually laughs at his face “That was rude, princess.”

“Don’t act like you haven’t thought about it, Blake. I know you see women as something to conquer.”

“That’s not true.” he shakes his head and she must detect the anger in his voice because her eyes open a little wider and she gives him a curious look.

“In fact, I hate that...my mother she...when we were on the Ark she had to sleep with guards to know when there’d be a surprised inspection. Sometimes she’d come back with bruises and I just-”

Clarke reaches to touch his wrist.

“I’m sorry, it was wrong of me to say that.”

“I don’t see women as something to conquer.” he says quietly “Only as something to admire because you’re badass.”

“Damn right we are.” she smiles and finally so does he.

“I can see why you made that assumption, though and I don’t blame you for it. If anything, it is my fault and my cross to bear.”

“Stop being so hard on yourself.” she scolds mildly when she turns to the side and he tucks her back in “We all make mistakes, it’s important that we learn from them.”

He nods and while he’s too busy thinking over her words, he misses how she fell asleep. 

A smile plays on his face when she starts snoring again but it quickly disappears when at around midnight her fever spikes too much and she’s shaking so bad, he has no idea what to do. 

The best he can come up with is change the cold rags on her forehead and force her to drink tea even if she’s barely conscious but it’s the worst when her snores quiet down and she starts coughing in her sleep. 

He’s afraid she’ll choke on it, suffocate so he does the best thing he can think of-he carefully moves her into a sitting position and slides behind her, pushing her back to his chest and holding her tight, trying to provide both the much needed warmth she so desperately craved and ease her breathing.

It works, she actually manages to fall into a fitting sleep but she’s still hot as hell and he’s starting to get really scared that her fever’s not breaking.

A few hours later he rolls them over to the side and covers her up with three blankets and his jacket wrapped around her shoulders. 

He smiles when her fingers reach and wrap around his collar, pushing it to her face and...smelling it in which makes him tilt his head in surprise before he remembers what he was about to do. 

He tries to cool her down as best as he can and at some point he’s so desperate he takes her hand in his and closes his eyes as he kneels by the cot.

“Come on, princess, I know you can do this...I know you can kick this stupid fever in the butt, alright? I know it. You’re damn Clarke Griffin...you’re stubborn and strong and beautiful and...and you never give up, alright? You can’t give up...those kids out there, they need you...they love you so much. And I need you too. I know I rarely admit it but...I’d be a fucking mess without you there to kick my ass, okay? So please just...get it together and stop playing with my poor heart here.”

There’s a silence for a few minutes and then he feels her fingers squeeze his hand back.

“You’re...telling me...you actually...have one?” he looks up all wide eyed and finds her eyes barely opened lips parted in a small smile and he can’t remember ever feeling so worried as when he reaches to touch her forehead and feels her skin having cooled down even if a bit.

“Your fever’s breaking.”

“It had no choice...I couldn’t leave you to deal with those insane kids on your own.” he smiles and actually cups her cheek with his big hand which is hot and feels good against her still shivering body even if she was technically feverish. 

She leans into his touch and smiles, allows herself this short moment of peace and quiet, a moment of vulnerability with the only person she knew she could show it to. 

He doesn’t make a snarky remark, doesn’t say something stupid, but just stays there and lets her act like a kid. 

She almost scolds herself for it, tries to pull away but he moves his hand to her neck and keeps her still, as if having read her thoughts.

“Hey, no...none of that.” he scolds mildly “I said you’re a badass but you’re allowed to feel...weak, you’re allowed to cry and be sick and feel vulnerable, okay? Just because you’re a leader doesn’t mean you can’t have feelings. Let’s not forget the fact that you are more or less a child like those idiots out there who call you mom just because you’re a few years older than them.”

“They need someone to look up to.” she says pinning her eyes to the cot.

“And you’re a great example but...what I mean is, you can let go a little, Clarke, you can...live your youth, alright?”

“And you can’t?” he furrows his eyebrows at that and she reaches to wrap her clammy hand around his wrist.

“You’re not seventy Bellamy...as much as your back says otherwise.” he huffs a small smile at that “I can’t imagine what it was like growing up with Octavia, having that responsibility but...I assume it forced you into adulthood way too early. You can ...relax a little too.”

“When I can go around camp and scold the kids for being stupid idiots...nah, this is more fun” he gives her a half smile but she sees through him and tightens her grip.

“You can let go for one night...the world won’t stop spinning if you have some fun.”

“Ahh, that drink you so much insist on us getting comes up yet again, Griffin?” he plays it cool again and she shakes her head, deciding she’ll pick this serious subject again another time,when she’s not too sick and barely keeping herself awake and he’s not insistent on holding the world, this camp and all the children in it on his shoulders.

“Well you did promise...all those months ago.”

“I’ll let you drink a barrel of that moonshine shit as long as you get better.” he must’ve realized what he said cause he stiffens at the words but he decides not to beat him up for it now, not when she’s about to doze off again, so she simply pulls at his hand and looks up with big bright blue eyes “I mean-” he tries to shrug it off but she just smiles.

“Come to bed, Bellamy.”

“But you’re...I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“You kept me warm and I am still cold and feverish so I need you to keep doing what you did before okay? No funny business!”

He chuckles and relents, carefully peeling off the blankets and sliding behind her, putting his hand on her stomach and pushing her to his chest. 

There’s something so comforting about being in his embrace-his big arm holding her tight, making her fears about disappearing into the sweaty nightmarish darkness of this sickness go away and his warmth...he’s like a fire that’s just been started, the freshly chopped woods catching the flames with ease, spreading a softness in her body that she didn’t expect, warming her up to the core, all the way to her toes that were always freezing and even though he makes a joke about her snoring, when he drifts off, she hears him snore too and thinks of woods cracking in the fire and how they sound like the deepest and most honest of belly laughs and she wonders...if she had ever actually heard Bellamy Blake laugh.

But she thinks she’ll make it her mission to witness it at least once, with or without the involvement of a barrel full of moonshine.

#bellarke fanfiction #bellarke #bellamy blake #clarke griffin #hurt/comfort #sickfic #my writing

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Since I love reading your opinions, could you talk a bit more of why you like Bradley? :) Also, what do you think of Norman's other love interests as characters? (Cody, Emma, Madeleine).

Of course! A large part of the reason I like Bradley is because most people don’t and I feel like there’s a double standard placed on her as a female character. As you said, Bradley and Norman’s gender roles were reversed (particularly in season 1) and Bradley was branded the good looking, popular girl that takes nerd boys virginity and breaks his heart by rejecting him. It’s a very popular trope but it’s usually applied to male characters and those male characters (although they may be disliked by some people) generally get a pass because it’s just what they do or as jock-types they have deeply complex emotional issues which mean they use sex as a defence mechanism, so therefore it’s okay. Also, a lot of the time those guys are given some half-assed redemptive arc which allows them to make amends for their actions. 

A lot of people dislike Bradley for her actions towards Norman in season 1, but in my opinion, that’s unfair. Firstly, Norman is not some precious little bean that deserves to be loved and treasured - he’s a cold blooded killer and his feelings for Bradley bordered on obsessiveness. Secondly, context is very important here and at the time they slept together, Bradley was in a deep emotional state and grieving the loss of her father. In sleeping with Norman, Bradley didn’t deliberately seek to hurt or exploit him, she just desperately needed comforting in that moment. Let’s also not forget that Bradley genuinely liked and cared for Norman and had a strong connection to him (although it was only as a friend), so her intention would never have been to hurt him. It was wrong of her to sleep with him knowing that he had romantic feelings for her when she didn’t return them, but that doesn’t make her a bad person. Also, Norman went over to Bradley’s house knowing she was fragile and clearly suspected and/or expected that they would sleep together. Norman wanted it to happen regardless of how it happened because it was wish fulfilment for him. After they slept together Norman’s sense of entitlement after they slept together was worse than what Bradley did. Whilst Bradley was fragile and grieving, Norman took a situation and made it all about him and painted Bradley as an awful person who had purposefully and cruelly hurt him. The problem with that is that Bradley was under no obligation to enter into a relationship with Norman after sleeping with him. Also, she never gave him any inclination that that’s what would happen. She didn’t lead him on or make him false promises, Norman - influenced by his feelings for her and perhaps naive and inexperienced in love/sex - made those assumptions himself. Afterwards Bradley was never rude or harsh towards Norman, she calmly explained that she didn’t have romantic feelings for him and demonstrated a great level of care towards Norman, despite his fit of anger towards her. 

I definitely feel like Bradley gets a lot of flack for her actions towards Norman because she’s a girl and that male characters that have behaved the same way haven’t been treated in the same way. Also, in comparison to the other awful things the characters on the show did, Bradley’s actions do not even come close. From the beginning Bradley was a very sweet and compassionate person. Despite being popular and pretty, she welcomed Norman with open arms and involved him with her friends. I also think that Bradley struggled with mental health from the beginning of the series, but that it didn’t fully come into view until after her father’s death, and that needs to be taken into consideration when analysing her character. I don’t really think Bradley gets the understanding she deserves (particularly when it comes to her mental health) and is just written off as being Norman’s bitch-ex-friend/lover who went crazy. There’s a lot more to Bradley if you just dig beneath the surface, but because we aren’t handed everything about her on a plate people dismiss her as minor characters often are. I think Bradley’s popularity was her attempt to make up for the lack of attention/love she got at home (we know her father worked a lot and was having an affair, so he clearly wasn’t around much and their home couldn’t have been happy; we also know that her mother moved on very quickly after her “death” suggesting she didn’t love Bradley as much as a mother should), but that her popularity actually fed into her loneliness and sense of isolation. There’s a quote from Coredlia that sums this up perfectly actually: 

Cordelia: Hey! You think I’m never lonely because I’m so cute and popular? I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone. It’s not like any of them really know me. I don’t even know if they like me half the time. People just want to be in a popular zone. Sometimes when I talk, everyone’s so busy agreeing with me, they don’t hear a word I say.

Buffy: Well, if you feel so alone, then why do you work so hard at being popular?

Cordelia: Well, it beats being alone all by yourself.

This explains why Bradley feels such a profound connection to Norman when he first arrives in White Pine Bay. He’s another lonely soul and he’s not preoccupied or concerned with popularity, so she can be herself with him. She attaches herself to him because she recognises something in him that she sees in herself. Norman also provides her with the attention, affection and love she craves, but it’s actually genuinely and unlike the attention she might get from her other friends or people at school who do it just because she’s popular and not actually because they care about her as a person.

When her dad died, I think that really opened the flood gates to all of the issues she’d been carrying around with her. The fact that her dad died at all and particularly that he had died so horrifically was obviously a huge trauma for her, but I think the biggest trauma was that it placed the unhappiness of her family into the spotlight. It seems that her mom didn’t particularly support her through her grief (we can assume her parents relationship was loveless since her dad was having an affair) and she was likely regretful of the lack of time she and her dad spent together when he was alive. His death essentially amplified the sense of loneliness she already felt to the extreme. This also explains why Bradley slept with Norman, the only person with whom she felt a genuine connection with, at this particular time. When Bradley was desperately searching for answers about her father’s death, she was practically alone in her mission. The only people that helped her were Norman and Dylan, which speaks volumes to just how alone she was. Although she was friends with Norman, they hadn’t known each other long and Dylan was nobody to her except Norman’s brother. Yet these two young boys were the only ones that even attempted to support her through the ordeal. It’s no surprise that in her heightened emotional state that her mental health deteriorated, particularly since no one showed her any real love, support or understanding. I don’t condone her murdering Gill, but she was a person who was at her wits end, suffering with her mental health and had no guidance or help at all. 

The saddest part is how she died. I sincerely believe she felt a strong connection to Norman and I even believe that when she returned she realised her feelings for him went beyond friendship. There was a reason Norman was the only person Bradley trusted, why he was the one she turned to when she was in trouble and why he was the only one she felt she could open up to. It’s really sad that she was killed by Mother for the same reason most people hate her - for being a “whore” and seducing Norman. It really invalidates her character and the struggles she went through and reduces her to a shallow (and untrue) stereotype that’s so often attached to beautiful girls and women. 

So yeah, I like Bradley because I think she’s incredibly misunderstood, the nuances of her character aren’t recognised and she’s unfairly branded a slut just because she’s a beautiful young girl. Bradley actually reminds me of Effy from Skins, but a less developed version because she was only a minor character on Bates and not given the same time and attention that Effy was. But I see a lot of parallels between the two characters, which is interesting because Effy is such a well-loved character and Bradley is generally disliked. 

Wow, that analysis ended up being so much longer than I expected. I had more to say about Bradley than I realised. 

As for Norman’s other interests, I didn’t particularly like any of them. I never particularly liked Emma because I found her to be really judgemental and have a holier-than-thou attitude. She treated Norman the same way Norman treated Bradley - as though he owed her something because she had feelings for him. I generally think she lacked in personality, particularly after she became involved with Dylan. 

I really disliked Cody. I know the abusive father thing is supposed to make her more sympathetic, but it just doesn’t. She behaves like an asshole because she chooses to behave like an asshole. She’s rude, disrespectful, reckless and self-indulgent. She was bad for Norman and almost treated his mental health like a game at times. 

Madeline was sweet and I don’t dislike her, but we also don’t really know enough about her for me to have strong opinions about her. I just think she was sweet but that her actions regarding Norman were questionable. Like, she was married but willingly flirted with Norman and invited him around to her house for dinner. She clearly had an attraction to him or liked the fact that she knew Norman wanted her, and she indulged in that despite being married. Of course, her husband was cheating on her so that makes it seem more acceptable, but in reality she didn’t know her husband was cheating and still should’ve been faithful to her husband. 

Thanks for asking, lovely! Sorry, this ended up being waaaay longer than I thought it would be (nothing new there) haha.

#answered #my meta #bates motel meta #slayers-every-one-of-us

[parkrangercirca2016]

North Cascades; Season Two, Episode One

The weather in Rockport, Washington is 81 degrees right now. It’s sunny with the occasional breeze to cool things off. Washington and Rainy Passes have been open for less than a week, and the Cascades received--for the first time in several years--a typical winter snowfall. The Skagit River and it’s tributaries are swollen with spring runoff, the rhododendron are in full bloom, and State Route 20 is packed with bicyclists enjoying the weather. 

Tomorrow I start my second summer season at North Cascades National Park. This past winter I worked at Mount Rushmore, which was good. I was lucky to have a winter job with the Park Service, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to go back to South Dakota for the winter again. The winters there are much nicer than back in Illinois. Sure we had a few days of below zero temperatures compounded with frigid wind chills, but when it snowed, it didn’t stick around for long and the temperature didn’t really stay below freezing for long. There was also very little to do with my time off over the winter. The Black Hills area shuts down for the most part once the tourists leave for the year. One bar stays open in Keystone, and a Subway stays open in Hill City. Other than that, you are on your own. 

Chapter One, The Surprise

On May 11th, at 5:01 PM, I left work at Mount Rushmore and started driving home. Earlier that day I had checked out of housing and turned my keys in. I had told Jillian that I would be leaving South Dakota on Friday the 12th, the same day as her Honors Convocation, and that I would try my hardest to make it back to the Quad Cities for dinner with our families that night. Unbeknownst to her I was going to surprise her at her Honors Convocation by making it to Macomb by 2:00 when the program started. It was a long drive to make, especially after having worked for 8 hours earlier that day. My plan was to drive for as long as I could (safely, mind you, I’m not a maniac) and then find a place to stay for the night.

As it turns out I made it to just about halfway to Macomb that night. I ended up getting a hotel at just a little past midnight in a town called Worthington. It’s located in Minnesota on Interstate 90 and gets most of it’s business, I’d imagine, from travelers on I-90. The hotel clerk didn’t seem too pleased to have been woken up, but I got my room and had a nice night’s sleep until 6:00 AM when I hit the road again. It’s probably good that I was tired enough to sleep so well because the smoke detector in my room needed a new battery and chirped every fifteen minutes. I slept through all of the chirps. 

The drive to Macomb was mostly uneventful. I turned on my little GPS unit so that I could keep track of what my estimated time of arrival was, and battled it the whole way down, it seemed. First it told me that I’d be arriving at 1:40. then I stopped for gas and it said I’d be arriving at 1:47, then I’d battle it back down to 1:40, and so on and so forth. My stops for gas were a little like pit stops in an IndyCar race, although mine were considerably longer. 

Cedar Falls, Iowa was my last stop at around 10:15 that morning (Jillian and her family, it turns out, had left only an hour before that.) While I was topping my tank off in Cedar Falls I grabbed a piece of pizza to tide me over until dinner. That pizza was the only thing that I’d had to eat that day because the stores in Worthington, MN aren’t open as early as I was up. Luckily I made it to Macomb with plenty of time to spare for the Honors Convocation. When I came in I didn’t see where Jillian’s family was so I grabbed a seat all to myself in the back and settled in to enjoy the convocation. It was a good convocation. Jillian was recognized for graduating Summa Cum Laude, for graduating as an Honors Scholar, for graduating as the RPTA Departmental Scholar, and for graduating as the College of Education and Human Services Scholar. She sure did make a lot of noise with all those medals around her neck as she walked off stage. 

One of her sisters had noticed me sitting on the other side of Western Hall just before the ceremony began, but Jillian didn’t see me until I hunted her down after the program. The look of surprise and joy on her face was well worth the drive after work, and the hours of driving that day. (Her graduation was good, too, although she was the second to last person to receive her degree during the commencement and the audience had already lost focus by that point, so they all started standing to stretch and blocked most of our view of her receiving her degree.) 

Chapter Two, The Plan

Once Jillian was a college graduate, the two of us could go ahead and celebrate with a small vacation before I started my summer season. For many weeks the two of us had planned on having her ride with me from the Midwest to Washington State, and now we could put the plan into action. The day after her graduation, May 14th (Mother’s Day), each of us were in our respective hometowns packing. Jillian had less to pack than I did because she would be flying home after I made it Washington. I spent part of my Sunday unpacking my winter stuff and packing my summer stuff, but the rest of that day was family time. 

Tami, Manny, Maximus, and Hudson came to visit for the day. It was good fun, although it had been so long since Maximus had seen me that he was unsure about me. Hudson was too little to notice, and far too preoccupied with his newfound ability to pull himself into a standing position and then look around until somebody could sit him down. He hasn’t figured out that part yet. 

After Tami and her boys left, I packed my car. Thank’s to Dad’s due diligence, the oil had been changed and it had received a new right side tie rod end. The trip to Washington will use most of that new oil change’s 5,000 miles. I will also need to buy new tires for the car in Washington. These are starting to wear thin. 

Jillian and I’s itinerary was thus: 

Monday-pick Jillian up in Cedar Falls and drive to the Black Hills, camp.

Tuesday-pick up the rest of my stuff from fellow Mount Rushmore Ranger Jeanie in Keystone, then drive to Yellowstone, camp.

Wednesday-spend the day having fun in Yellowstone, camp.

Thursday-drive to Glacier National Park, camp.

Friday-drive to Spokane, WA, find a hotel to shower.

Saturday-move in to my summer home in Rockport, WA.

Sunday-Jillian flies home. :(

Pretty much all of that worked.

Chapter Three, On the Road

I picked Jillian up in Cedar Falls just a little after 9:00 in the morning. Unfortunately no members of her family (besides her dog, Bella) were around to see that I really do know how to find their home when I drive through Cedar Falls. From Cedar Falls we set out north, towards Minnesota and I-90. I had planned on listening to several episodes of the podcast Harmontown during the drive, but as we approached Waverly some sort of poltergeist possessed my iPod and turned on the aid for the visually impaired. There was a voice reading all of the episode titles out loud to us, and in addition to that, it started to play whatever songs it felt like, and not my un-listened to podcast episodes. Jillian plugged her iPod in, and the same poltergeist took up residence there, too.

We did what any young, hip Millennial couple would do and googled the problem on a smartphone. No help was found there for our very specific problem. I took the auxiliary cable out of my car’s dash, unplugged the iPod, and flipped the cable around. Everything worked after that. 

We grabbed some lunch in Sioux Falls and stretched our legs after the grueling drive across Minnesota’s stretch of I-90. (Minnesota, if you’re reading, get your act together and up your speed limit; that part of your state is no different from South Dakota and you should be able to drive more than 70.) Then we put the hammer down to get to the Black Hills before sunset. 

We took a short detour through the Badlands so that we could stop looking at flat grassland out the car window’s, and so that we could get out and walk around for a little bit. During our brief stop in Badlands National Park we saw a couple of bighorn sheep, and a few bison. Then we went in to Rapid City for dinner. Dinner was at a Tex-Mex place called On the Border. The food was good, but we were also comparing it to what we had gotten at a fast food joint. 

The plan we had made called for camping somewhere in the Black Hills that night. By the time we made it to Ellsworth Air Force Base we had a pretty good idea that camping wasn’t going to happen. The Black Hills are so named because, with the ponderosa pines growing on the slopes, the hills look black from a distance. That night, as we made our way towards them, they seemed blacker than usual. And that was because of the storm clouds coming in over them. Knowing South Dakota’s propensity for hail, we decided to not stay in a tent and to find a hotel instead. So we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Keystone, just a short way from Jeanie’s house. It was good that we did, because it hailed as we ate breakfast the next morning. The hail finished before we checked out, but the rain and fog stayed.

After breakfast we crammed a couple of my totes into the back seat of my car and stopped to see Jeanie at her museum in Keystone. Allow me to briefly plug it: The Keystone Historical Museum is a good museum that celebrates the rich history of the town of Keystone, and even houses a few artifacts from our favorite Little House on the Prairie. Go and visit. 

It was a little after 10:00 that morning when we left Keystone and bought groceries at the Krull’s in Hill City. After that we set off through the fog and rain that still hadn’t cleared up. This was our longest day of driving, and also some of the best. The road was boring from Deadwood to Sheridan, WY. We stopped in Sheridan for lunch.

And let me say something about Sheridan. I don’t understand that town. There are 17,916 people that live there, which is less people than Macomb has when WIU is having classes. I have stopped in Sheridan a total of three times, and every time I have stopped, traffic has been nonstop, bumper to bumper. It’s a nightmare trying to get somewhere there if you can’t check all of your blindspots. What is Sheridan’s problem? 

Jillian and I ate Taco Bell for lunch, but got it through the drive through so that we could keep driving. We bought one big soda to share. I spilled some of it on my pants because the lid leaked. I don’t think that I’ll ever stop in Sheridan again. I always have bad experiences there. 

After Sheridan we exited the interstate for Highway 14 and started driving into the Bighorn Mountains. That was an excellent drive. As we moved up into the mountains we both saw half a dozen moose. At first, from a distance, I thought that there was a horse on the side of the road, but Jillian corrected me and said that it was a moose. And she was right. Then I saw another moose out the left side of the car, but I thought that it was dead because it’s rear was up in the air while it had both of its forelegs outstretched with it’s head down to the ground as it faced us in the car. Eventually it stopped bowing to us and stood up. In the middle of the mountains there, Jillian saw a wolf. I was not fast enough to see it too. We also saw three moose standing well of the road near some trees. Then we saw a baby moose on our way out of the mountains. 

Once we were out of the Big Horns, we drove through rangeland until we got to Cody, Wyoming where we bought gas before entering Yellowstone National Park. We got through the east entrance before dark when there was just enough light to see two young men give us a heart attack. As we approached Yellowstone Lake we saw a bison on the side of the road. One of these young men was getting his picture taken with it. As we came upon them we both thought that he was too close. Once we drove past he ran right up to the bison and touched it. Thank the good Lord that he didn’t get gored. Never get close to a bison. They can out run and out turn a barrel pony. You won’t escape it. 

After we both thought that we were going to witness a death, it started to rain. Then we climbed higher in the park and the rain turned to snow. Our campsite at Madison was at 6,800 feet, and it was raining there as we pulled in. We pitched the tent quickly before making some macaroni and cheese for dinner. Jillian was cold, so she got into her sleeping bag and left me to finish the big pot of mac’n’cheese, which I did not because there was a lot. 

At some point in the night the rain stopped, and turned into snow. Getting ourselves up that Wednesday morning was hard. Our sleeping bags were warm, and it was cold and white outside. Eventually hunger got the best of us and we got up to make some oatmeal. Our neighbors were brushing their cars off and warming them up. It had only snowed an inch or so, but it was still coming down. 

The snow kept falling all day. Unfortunately that meant that neither of us was comfortable with finding snow covered trails to hike so we spent the day driving from boardwalk to boardwalk and checking out the thermal features in the park. We also watched many bison. Even though it was May and snowing, there were dozens of tour buses in the park and all of the boardwalks were crowded. I’m glad that I don’t have to work there in the summer. 

At lunch time we decided that we would go and get some food at Old Faithful. Lunch was wonderful in the old lodge there, and I filled myself up at the buffet while Jillian ate a bison burger. I texted Tami during dinner and told her about the live webcam at Old Faithful. We made it from lunch to the geyser just in time to see it erupt. Unfortunately it took Jillian and I forever to figure out where the webcam was pointing so that Tami could see us online. We disappointed her by not striking a pose or waving to the camera. We also couldn’t figure out where the camera was, because the one you see online is not the camera that you see in the window of the Old Faithful Visitor Center. 

There was more snow Wednesday night. We had to clear off about four inches from the car on Thursday morning and put my tent away wet. But that was okay, because Yellowstone is, I think, much prettier in the snow than it is in the green. You can pick out thermal features from a distance, because of the vast plumes of steam spewing from the ground, and the bare, snow-free patches of earth that are too warm for snow to stick to. It’s an American treasure. 

Our drive out of Yellowstone and towards Glacier was dandy. The snow turned to rain, and then the rain cleared up by Bozeman, Montana. We even had good enough cell service for Jillian to watch her youngest sister run at the state track meet in Iowa. (They got third place, or so I hear.) 

We had beautiful weather in Glacier National Park, and took a wonderful drive as far up Going-to-the-Sun road as we could. Both of us decided that we would plan a trip just to Glacier sometime in the future to enjoy it more. And May was a great time of year to go since there were so few people there. We got to walk down by Lake Macdonald all by ourselves. 

Friday was a little sad because we wouldn’t have any more National Parks to drive though once we left Glacier. It was just the open road until we could get to Rockport, WA. The two of us decided to stick to Route 2 and cut across Idaho’s panhandle. That was a good choice, it was a scenic drive that was only broken up by a large stretch of road that the state’s Department of Transportation had torn up, left, and then posted 35 MPH speed limit signs. 

Spokane later that afternoon was a wake up call. It was the biggest town we’d been in since Rapid City and had traffic that was almost as bad as Sheridan’s. We grabbed a room at a Holiday Inn Express and showered. I had been worried going into that hotel because, after we parked, I raised my arms and caught a whiff of my body odor after three days of driving and staying in parks. It was not good. Thankfully the attendant at the counter, who is my new best friend because of how nice and cheerful he was, either didn’t notice or didn’t say anything. Jillian and I felt like new people after we’d showered. 

Dinner was at Chili’s down the road, and then, because we had so much time on our hands what with the time change to Pacific Time, we took a walk through one of the most beautiful parks we’d ever been to, Riverfront Park. It was within walking distance of the hotel and we spent a few hours checking out the new construction in the park, and enjoying the waterfalls that ran through it. It ended up being quite a bit of walking because we slept like the dead once we got back to the hotel after sunset. 

Saturday was short. The drive from Spokane to Rockport is only five hours or so, and the scenery in eastern Washington isn’t anything to write home about. Coming over Washington Pass was incredible, though. It had only just been opened on Tuesday and the road crews had dug out 45 to 50 feet of snow from the avalanche zones. There were places were the snow had fallen as deep as my car was tall. It was just like driving through a tunnel, or between two cornfields on a narrow road. 

Chapter Four, A New Home

All of the snow in my part of the valley is gone. Flowers are blooming, the trees are leafed out, and it’s almost hot. The house I’m staying in is a delightful little place. Two stories, wood floors, three couches, a wood burning stove, long dining room table, big kitchen, and a full-sized bed, unlike the little twin beds the Park Service has in their housing. Lots of windows in the house, too. And a great big porch. (Three of  them, actually.) I think that this will be a nice place to live for the next few months.

Today, though, was the saddest day. Because Jillian and I had to be on the road by 6:30 in time for her to board her flight at 10:47 AM. She goes back to spend her summer at a girls’ camp in Wisconsin, and I probably won’t get to see her again until I’m home at the end of September. It would have been nice if the week had been able to stretch out just a little bit longer. But I guess that you can’t always get what you want. 

I hop into training tomorrow. It’s already been going on for a week, so I suppose I’ll see what I’ve missed so far. I can’t imagine it was anything I didn’t know from last year. 

Anyhow, I’ve procrastinated long enough. I’ve got to go and get my stuff together for tomorrow, and get lunch made, too. Then go to bed and rest up.