#and i cannot drive. and the closest thing to me is a cow farm

[nyxi-pixie]

i need to get sloshed i cannot TAKE this anymore

[bruceandthor]

ThorBruce headcannons

Thor fell in love with Bruce first. He realized the moment Bruce told him he was coming with him to fight Hella even though he was basically powerless.

The act of kindness wrecked Thor and he fell in love so quick

When they made it back to earth and found each other again everything felt like it was in slow motion.  

Thor wasn't sure about anything and he had been so scared he'd lost Bruce too and he just kissed him so hard he couldn't breath

When he pulled away, Bruce was crying.

He thought he messed up but Bruce kissed all over his face saying stuff like ‘I'm so happy you're okay’ and ‘I couldn't wait to finally kiss you’

Thor took this as obvious exception and they finally became a couple

After everything they grieve together

Bruce knows he could never understand what Thor is going through, but he also knows that Thor needs him

They stay in bed together and they talk about everything.

Some days they don't talk at all, but stay together and listen to the silence.  

After a couple months they start to move around again. they start going out and helping people.

After awhile though, they both decide they want more.  

They leave the Avengers and move out into the country

They have a small farm

Thor loves animals and working out in the barn

Bruce likes the quiet and how the days flow together.  

They keep in touch with everyone of course, and they sometimes even visit, but most days they spend with each other

They watch movies and dance

They make dinner together every night and go for walks

Thor loves taking pictures and he does constantly.

Anytime Bruce is cooking, or when they walk along the lake, or when he thinks Bruce looks beautiful while they are making love.  

He loves Poliarads, and they have a wall in the house dedicated to them

not the naughty ones but most of them

They want kids, but that would be much later in their marriage.  

Oh btw they are married

For now they have a cat named a Socks, a dog named Benjamin, a few cows, some chickens, and a horse

Socks is a black cat with white paws and a big white belly

He like sunbathing and sitting on Bruce's lap

He can be an asshole to Thor because he can be a little rough but most of the time he just wants to be pet

hella sassy cat

Benjamin is a German Pointer Lad mix

Basically 15 pounds of pure muscle and fur

He's also pure good boy

He helps around the farm with the chickens and cows

Thor adores this dog like loves him so much

Bruce walks him in the mornings when he wakes up and he's super chill

Thor does most of the work for the animals, as he likes the structure of getting up in the morning and going to work

Bruce sometimes helps, though he finds that he only gets into Thor's way.

He did help a lot with the building of the actual barn though.

Turns out Hulk really likes building.

Thor is super happy that they found at least one positive outlet for Hulk and he tries to help Hulk find more things he likes.  

Hulk really likes gardening

He has a green thumb (I hate me too) and Thor makes his wear a sunhat and he looks super cute in it.  

Husband Thor!

They grow a lot of their own food thanks to Hulk, but oddly enough, Bruce cannot garden for shit.  

Usually this means he hulks out once a day

Bruce finds its a lot easier to switch back and forth, and the transitions are a lot less painful

He feels like being able to be hulk out in such a safe place helps.  

He doesn't have to worry about people seeing him and judging him or getting scared

Soon hulk barely has to ask to switch

Bruce tells Thor it's kinda feels like taking a nap but he wakes up tired after hulking out

It's a good tired though, and he sleeps really well after letting hulk out to garden or do work around the barn

Thor loves that Bruce finally feels safe, and he loves that he finally feels safe

They make love all the time

Like everyday tbh

They just can't help being all over each other

They're also in the middle of nowhere so loud sex is great any time of the day

They have sex with the windows open, and when the air is getting cooler it bites at their skin

Bruce loves the way Thor looks when he pulls his hair or kisses his neck

Thor loves the way Bruce looks when he talks dirty to him, or when he leaves hickeys on his shoulders

They kiss constantly.

Like actually constant

Wake up kiss, get out of bed kiss, getting back in bed to have sex kiss, breakfast kiss so on.

Thor loves kissing Hulk too.  Hulk get all squirmie with affection, but when Thor kisses him Hulk always kisses back

Thor loves to compliment his just to make him blush

Hulk loves to pick up Thor and spin him around.

Big Hulk hug

Hulk grows his own weed 2k19

Thor finds the habit to be smelly, but it makes Bruce giggly so he's alright with it

Weed doesn't really affect Thor in the way it does Bruce

It makes him much more mellow, and while he enjoys the feeling, he doesn't smoke as much as Bruce

Him and Bruce like to go for long walks every night.

Usually they bring Benjamin and explore the forest they live in

Thor knows the whole place like the back of his hand, while Bruce still sometimes gets a little lost

Benjamin knows how to get him back though if Thor isn't there

When they do go into the closest town they ride on Bruce's motorcycle

Thor loves the motorcycle and loves being on the back of it

Bruce got his license when they moved, seeing as Thor couldn't actually drive, and they didn't really need a car.

Bruce also loves riding.  

The wind in his hair and Thor's warm body on his back

They usually leave the house once or twice a week

On Friday they have date night and grocery shopping

The normality of it all is amazing to them

Sometimes people spot them and ask for pictures but mostly people leave them alone.

Bruce thinks it's because most of the people in the town don't have internet

That was sorta the point of moving there.

When they do leave leave, the usually bring Socks and Benjamin and have someone stay and keep up the barn

They visit the Avengers, mostly Tony, Natasha and Steve

They always bring stuff for the garden to everyone and let them play with Ben and Socks

Steve loves Socks so much he is constantly loving on him

Nastasha on the other hand is always playing when Benjamin.

She takes him on his nightly walks so Bruce and Thor can relax

or at least that's what she tells them

morning jogs with Benjamin is her favorite

Benjamin enjoys it as well

Tony makes dinner for everyone with stuff from the garden and they have dinner together at the tower

[heartslogos]

newfragile yellows [63]

“I feel like you’re not giving me enough credit,” Lavellan says, “Sera, I feel as though you are being incredibly judgemental of me right now.”

“That’s because I am being incredibly  judgmental of you right now.”

“Oh, well then. Could you stop?”

“Give me one reason.”

“You’re making me very uncomfortable.”

“You’re making me very uncomfortable.” Sera closes her eyes and turns her head away, pulling the lip of her cap lower over her eyes. “Don’t stand next to me. If we weren’t fucking roommates, I swear I’d bolt right now.”

“I don’t know why you’re uncomfortable,” Lavellan says.

“You just,” Sera quickly lowers her voice, leaning in towards Lavellan, “You just stole someone’s dog.”

“This dog has no person,” Lavellan says, adjusting her hold on the dog in her arms.

Its fur is matted, almost black with dirt, and it looks like a moving mass of actual garbage. It smells worse than one, though.

Sera cringes.

“It has a collar.”

Granted, you can barely see it underneath the fur.

“You cut it off a leash.”

“Does it look like its been taken care of? Does this look like a dog with a person?” Lavellan says, “Of course I cut it off its leash. Look at this dog.”

“Listen, I get where you’re coming from, but I just bailed you out of prison and the first thing you did was cut a dog off a leash,” Sera points out.

“It was a minor infraction.”

“It’s assault and frankly, we’re both lucky that you’ve somehow managed to get some really scary and powerful people on our side so that it wouldn’t stick on your record. This is the shit you get kicked out of school for. I’ve poured too much money into my degree to get kicked out now.”

“You can’t possibly be getting mad at me - I’ve seen on on TV,” Lavellan points out.

“Those are protests. That’s different, you got into a bar fight.”

“In protest of discrimination! They asked me and the Iron Bull to move to the back of the bar! We were basically going to be seated by a urinal. That’s disgusting.”

“I thought you weren’t trying to fuck him?”

“I’m not, Sera. Don’t use such coarse language in front of the dog, it’s been through enough.”

They actually can’t tell the gender of the dog because it’s so dirty. Sera casts a nervous glance around - the second she sees a cop she’s out of here.

That’s sort of a lie - she’d try to drag Lavellan along. They’d both be arrested, probably.

“We just met there because it’s close to campus and kind of quiet,” Lavellan says, “Also all of our friends were there, too. The friends we share, I mean. Surprisingly, we have a lot of shared friends and I don’t know how we haven’t met before now.”

“Really?” Sera blinks, raising her eyebrows, “Aside from Dalish, your old RA?”

“He knows Leliana and Josephine,” Lavellan ticks off on her fingers, hefting the dog up higher as if it were a baby and not a giant matted garbage pile, it quietly licks her cheek and snuffles at her ear. “He also knows Sutherland, and I know a few of Sutherland’s crew from when I used to do track.  It was a nice surprise reunion.”

“Cool, I guess, easier in for you?”

“Definitely. I knew he’d be a good person to have as a friend, you’d like him, Sera. He’s very interesting.”

“He’s old, of course he’s interesting,” Sera replies. “Are you going to carry that dog home?”

“As opposed to what, Sera? Leaving it?” Lavellan tightens her hold on the dog.

“Giving it a bath somewhere? Dropping it off at a vet? A pound? Someone qualified to check if it has something?”

“I’ll give it a bath at home. And we can ask Cullen. He’s from a farm.”

“That just means he can tip cows. Nothing about dogs.”

“A farm in the Ferelden countryside, Sera, get with it. Of course he can diagnose a dog. It’s in his blood. Ask anybody.”

-

Cassandra does not like to use the word nervous. She does not like to be nervous, she does not like being called nervous, she does not like the word nervous in application to either herself or any situation she finds herself in.

So she is not nervous when she gets a phone call to bail the Iron Bull out of jail, again. She is not nervous as she drives to the police station closest to the campus he is currently lecturing at, she is not nervous as she walks into the police station and begins the now routine ritual of getting him out of jail and starting the process of covering for him.

The fights are, almost always, not his fault and in Cassandra’s mind, provoked and or deserved on the other person’s behalf.

One probably should not be provoking the large, well fit man, with only one eye and obvious scars from combat, and being surprised when they lose miserably.

Cassandra does get nervous, when she sees the Iron Bull walk out of holding, waving at someone she cannot see; he’s smiling as he waves, and as he turns she sees a glimpse of his face. He looks dopey.

Now, now, she is possibly nervous.

She waits until they’re outside.

“Swear to me that you did not find a possible booty call in jail.”

“I swear to you that I didn’t pick someone up in jail,” He says. This is mostly for Cassandra’s comfort. It works. A little.

“She picked me up on campus,” Bull says and Cassandra reflexively punches him at about a quarter strength to make sure it gets through. “Ow. She’s not my student, she’s a legal adult, and she picked me up in not the way you think. No exchanges of bodily fluids. Promise, Pentaghast. Relax.”

“You can walk home,” Cassandra says, but she waits for him to slowly get into her car and adjust the seat before reversing out of her parking space and driving out of the lot.

“She’s one of Dalish’s friends,” Bull says, “Dalish brought her along last night when we went to try out a new bar. And it just so happened that while the drinks were pretty good the management was racist. She’s really interesting, I think you’d like her.”

Cassandra grunts.

“She’s Cullen’s house mate,” Bull adds on. “We actually know a lot of the same people.”

“Is she the blonde one?”

“No.”

“Lavellan?”

“Yeah?”

Cassandra groans, “You’re dating Solas’ child? He hates working with law enforcement as a consultant as it is. You had to go and start courting his pride and joy?”

“I’m not dating - Solas has a kid?”

[indochine-moto]

The Road to Siem Reap

The road to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh is National Highway 6. It is a pretty straight shot from our little place by the riverside to the highway, and it was not too much trouble to escape the city at 6 AM. Had we left any later we would have been threading a needle between a sea of motorbikes and tuk tuks. As we got onto the highway, I was delighted to see that there were two lanes going in both directions with a substantial island in the median. This (mostly) protects drivers from oncoming traffic. Occasionally there will be a motorbike that has decided to go against the grain and ride down the wrong side of the road just to add a modicum of challenge to the commute. In general, however, it is much less threatening than having an SUV come straight at you and drive you onto the soft shoulder.

A few hours up the road, there is a fancy, almost European-style rest stop with a diner and a coffee shop. There we had breakfast and continued on. Unfortunately, this is where the fancy highway stopped, and we were back to traversing rice paddies with buffalo and cattle on the side of the road. The traffic was far lighter than we had found on the roads in the south, although there were still dangerous head-on overtakes from time to time. We stopped one time for gasoline only once and then continued on our way. It was relatively uneventful, but that one fuel stop got me thinking quite a bit.

Back in the US, as I rode my Triumph Tiger around San Francisco and Oakland, I would constantly have the same thought rushing through my head: This is unsustainable. I am not an active environmentalist, but I try to be conscious of the impact I have in the world. The roads in the US are seas of cars, and I have particularly seen the roads in the San Francisco Bay Area reach maximum density. Twenty years ago, there were two hours in the morning and two hours at night where one could expect to be significantly delayed. Today one can expect to be delayed if they are driving a car across the bay bridge at any time within a 24 hour period. So what got me thinking about this? Cows… The cows in the picture below.

What you see in the above picture is a Cambodian farm truck hauling a livestock trailer with three cows. The “truck” part is a little 125 cc motor scooter, and the trailer is something locally fabricated out of handy bits of metal and recycled wheels and whatnot. At first this seems a totally absurd agricultural implement. In fact, it appears laughable. Then you have to use a frame of reference; the Khmer farmer needs a tiny motor scooter and a makeshift trailer to haul around his life’s work, namely cows, while the American needs a Cummins diesel 4×4 truck to haul around, well, nothing at all most of the time, and maybe a jet ski on the weekend and an AM/PM Thirsty-Two ouncer full of Mountain Dew during the week.

Again, I don’t mean to be pointing fingers, and I am sure I am a hypocrite in my own ways, but really, which is more laughable? How long can US society keep giving every sixteen year old a car for their birthday? When is the point of critical mass? The funniest thing is that the Khmer farmer is far more practical and efficient than virtually anyone  I know in a “developed country,” myself included, and I have never even bought a new car, choosing to ride motorbikes instead. Here’s the thing; if you were to work at an engineering firm and told your boss that you were going to invest 40,000 dollars in a machine that will only run 2 hours out of 24, your boss would laugh at you. If you told your boss that this machine depreciate by 20% in the first year, and another 10% every year thereafter, your boss would indeed be right to fire you for buying this wingless albatross of a machine! Now which is more laughable? The point is, I think we have to meet in the middle somewhere.

I apologize for my digression, but the rest of the ride was really quite lovely as I contemplated my culture’s wastefulness. As we went further north, the air became cleaner and the fields and aromatic rice paddies so much greener than they are in the south. There were several weddings happening in the small villages along the road, all of which were far less congested than the southern villages. At  one point, I nearly crashed because Shalma got so excited about one of the Buddhist weddings that she began ululating in typical Persian fashion. I appreciate the beauty of Shalma’s native culture, but it truly frightened the Jesus out of me! I will take an oncoming Lexus SUV (in beige with gold trim) aiming to collect me head-on over the fear of that noise directly in my ear while riding a motorcycle!

We arrived in Siem Reap after a total of 6 hours on the road, including about an hour of rest stops. We checked into a lovely little place called Velkommen Boutique Villa. Our $15 room was comfortable, well manicured, and included air conditioning, cable TV, and a delightful little balcony. There is a quiet patio area where they serve three meals a day. Most of the food is quite decent by the standards expected here, but we did have a hamburger, and they put a ton of ground rosemary in it, which we both found to be a little off-putting. However, that was really our only complaint. The staff was friendly and very helpful. The place even has a very nice pool that we never bothered to use.

After we checked in and had lunch, we decided to see the town of Siem Reap. We headed over to the downtown area and a street that has now been dubbed Pub Street. After searching my memory over the past week, I cannot think of a more touristy place on the face of this Earth. Maybe New Orleans is as touristy, but I have never been there. I guess Disneyland is the closest I can think of.  It was so American/Euro/Australian-centric that it was almost a joke. It felt to me that there was a subtle bigotry and ignorance in the way that this area seemed to teeter between exploitation and apathy. This was a town within a town, one that is especially for privileged white people. Maybe I just felt like there were a bunch of white Americans and Europeans capitalizing on an ancient and beautiful culture. It felt like neocolonialism to me, and there I was, drinking a fifty cent beer and feeding it.

The prices were closer to US prices, and most of the food was either a poor take on American food or set to exploit Western prejudices about Asian foods. At the time we were there it mostly reminded me of a drunken sorority block party. I say sorority because the foreigners I saw there were overwhelmingly white women with expensive sunglasses who were often wearing the same baggy cotton blue trousers with elephants on them. Many of the establishments appeared like any of the little bourgeois boutique-style overpriced restaurants that pepper every Western urban area on the planet while offering avocado on toast for $9.

Pub Street at night

Angkor Wat

The next day Shalma and I decided to go and see the famed Angkor Wat. This isn’t exactly as easy a task as it seems. Although the temple is only a couple kilometers from our hotel, one can no longer pay at the gate. You have to go to a separate destination that is several kilometers away from the temple grounds. Also, this past February, there was a price increase from $20 to $37 per person. I have to admit, $74 for two seemed like a hefty price after being in Cambodia for a month. Nonetheless, it became immediately obvious why they had to sell tickets at a separate site; there just isn’t any place to stage all the tour busses near the temple itself, nor to have the 15+ windows open to sell tickets to the throngs of tourists. After all, roughly a million tourists pass through the temple in a year. While in Siem Reap, I learned that the rise in tourism has something to do with a movie called Tomb Raider.

The great thing about the million tourists who go through Angkor Wat every year is that they all pretty much leave by 11 AM. We arrived at about 9:30 that morning, and you’d think that it was Coachella by the masses of people in their cultural appropriation costumes; one woman was even dressed in what early 20th century orientalists might describe as a genie costume. They rushed to the most prominent features of the monument and began their photo shoots. Again, it appeared that the majority of tourists were women, and when there was a boyfriend around, he seemed like little more than an attention-starved tool whose only purpose in life was taking Instagram photos. I understand how this may seem like a sexist trope, but I arrived at Angkor Wat to see a monument and strangely got sucked into the sociology of 21st century tourism and its repeating patterns within this setting. Someone should write an ethnography!

Angkor Wat is an extremely large 12th century compound sitting on more than 400 acres. In the middle is the largest structure, a temple built for the Hindu god Vishnu. The compound is surrounded by a wide and perfectly square moat that stretches for almost 4 kilometers around the temples. The main temple is a massive structure that one can walk around in for hours. It is multi-storied with a galleries of intricate stone carvings in halls that run the circumference of the outer building. In the centre is a large structure. Upon it is built a massive tower. Only 80 or so tourists can climb to this tower at a time. Before 11 AM, the queue wait is up to an hour long. Shalma and I decided to pass on this and went to explore the surrounding jungle inside the compound.

There are hidden temples around the compound. Subsequent kings also built temples there, and they are serene and interesting–and completely void of tourists who tend to go for the big and obvious stuff that lies right in the middle. Shalma and I walked around and found ourselves all alone. We ventured down a dirt path and found a quite little temple. It was green, the birds were singing, and insects were making all kinds of buzzing and chirping noises. It was peaceful and almost as if were weren’t at the same Angkor Wat where everyone else was. But Shalma did get bit by ants, and that was a bit of a bummer for her.

The quiet little temple all alone in the jungle and away from the tourists.

The morning masses who are all gone by 11 AM

Shalma and I spent a bit of time by the little temple and continued to walk around and quietly converse for a while. There are beautiful green swamps in the jungle, probably part of the original moat system judging by their squareness. After a little while, we headed back toward the temple. We were walking toward the west side of the main temple, and I spied the most beautiful view. I don’t use Photoshop or filters when I take pictures because I am just not that much of a photographer, but once in a while I do like to capture something that I think looks nice. And here it was, a completely unobstructed view.

Green swamp and someone’s hat

As we approached, I pulled my camera out and was about to take this amazing photo. Right then, a young American woman came into the frame with her boyfriend. They walked up onto the steps and she began to pose in front of one of the seven-headed cobra  statues that are situated on either side of the staircase. She then engaged in contorting herself into ridiculous yoga-style poses while quietly barking orders at her photographer. Her most favorite pose appeared to be the kneeling position on one knee in front of the statue with her hands in a Y formation as though she believed that she was some Hindi goddess presenting the multi-headed cobra god. We stood and watched this go on for at least ten minutes. All the while, we were amused if not slightly embarrassed for them. We did end up taking a picture from this perspective. It is the one just below this paragraph. It was even better than originally intended because this colorfully clad woman zoomed through on her motorbike! Braaaaaap!

  After capturing this photo Shalma and decided to seek some lunch and a bit of water. It turned into lunch, water, iced coffee for Shalma– she is a huge fan of Khmer iced coffee and never drank coffee before–and I had a Cambodia beer. We both had a delicious noodle plate for lunch. The whole thing cost $18, which again is really expensive for that kind of food pretty much anywhere in Cambodia aside from Angkor Wat. Despite being expensive, we met a young kid called Thai who was selling Angkor Wat pins for a dollar. He spent some time talking to us about his life in spite of the fact that we weren’t buying anything from him. By the time we finished lunch it was almost noon. I looked over my shoulder and witnessed an exodus reminiscent of a California nightclub at 2 AM. I leaned over to Shalma and asked, “So, want to try this again?” She replied with a yes, and we headed back to the main temple. However, first I wanted to go down one of the dirt paths on the other side of the temple.

As we headed toward the dirt path, we spotted some critters, Macaques, actually. As we were observing them from a respectful distance, some young Spanish lads happened along and decided to taunt the monkeys with coconuts. I told them that they shouldn’t do that. One of them sincerely asked me, “Why, are they dangerous?” I said, “Yeah, dude, one of those monkeys has the strength of a two-meter-tall man and has teeth like daggers.” The monkey started coming toward the Spanish guys pretty aggressively and insisting that they give them coconuts. The fellows decided that maybe they shouldn’t try the will of the monkeys and conceded the fruit. Here is a picture of one of the monkeys enjoying a refreshing beverage.

Nothing like a refreshing beverage on a hot day!

Here is another one just being a badass.

After seeing the primates, Shalma didn’t want to walk into that part of the jungle anymore, so we headed to the main temple.

We wandered around the entire thing and looked at all of the detailed reliefs on the outside walls. Many are original, but there is a lot of restoration going on as well. Fortunately, 19th century French archeologists took plaster castes of the artwork, which allows them to be accurately restored today. The most damage had come to the site during the 20th century. Cutting back the jungle had led to much of the degradation through erosion. The Khmer Rouge didn’t help, nor did American artillery shells that had fallen within the temple grounds.

Shalma and I took our time. Sure, there were a few stragglers, but very few. We decided to go back to the tower in the center of the temple, the one I mentioned before with an hour wait. When we got there, it was like being there after closing time; the line was gone and we could just ascend the extremely steep stairs. At the top there are more carvings and depictions of gods as well as intricate filigree. The views from the highest point in the temple were absolutely stunning.

The view from the highest point in the temple.

  When we were up there, we could really take time to look at the intricate details. I found a not-so-obvious bit of graffiti that was scrawled by a French Legionnaire in 1929. I have included the picture below.

French Legionnaire grafitti (circa 1929) carved right into the temple wall.

  Shalma and I spent the the next several hours walking around the temple in relative peace. It was hot and humid, but an overall wonderful experience. For the most part, Shalma and I have climatized well to this environment. For example, we have an air conditioner in our apartment that we never really use anymore. Walking around in the heat was really no big deal to us and worth it for the solitude. Overall, we really enjoyed having a chance to see the temple, but decided that we wanted to head somewhere far from tourists the next day. We decided to head to a remote village without any formal hotels. My next post will be about staying with a Khmer family in a small village. In the meantime, I have posted a gallery below with a few more of the photos from Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

  Angkor Wat: Eat, Pray, and Be A Total Poseur The Road to Siem Reap The road to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh is National Highway 6.