#Unsure about New Zealand

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

One day it will be an interesting piece of trivia that the Canadian monarchy used to be the British monarchy too

[irawhiti]

kia ora! i would like to suggest the coining of a term that would hopefully help a large demographic of mostly-forgotten-about māori to connect with each other and share our experiences to feel less alone, congregate around a concept regardless of country of origin and upbringing, and organise as activists.

i politely ask as many people to spread this as possible to help indigenous people organise with each other and to get the largest amount of interactions possible.

anyway, with all that being said,

i would like to coin the term "ngāti rangiātea" for māori who do not know their iwi to use.

this is based on the well known whakataukī/proverb, "i will never be lost, for i am a seed which was sown from rangiātea." i chose this whakataukī due to the spiritual significance of rangiātea as a place in māori culture, as well as to emphasise that no matter how it feels, we are not lost, we can find ourselves in each other, we can experience strength and self-realisation, and that we will exist with mana and without whakamā as rightful tangata whenua.

i've put my reasoning, personal experiences shaping my viewpoints on the matter, and various statistics under the cut to make this post reblog-friendly and i would suggest fellow māori read it regardless of whether or not they know their iwi. i also ask for the opinions of other māori, ESPECIALLY AND SPECIFICALLY other māori who do not know their iwi. in fact, i politely ask māori to share this with their whānau and people in general to share this with māori they know, especially any they know who do not know their iwi. a wide reach is what i am going for to get the largest amount of voices, critiques, and opinions on the topic and to avoid this from just becoming a very small thing that stays in an online echo-chamber.

to begin, the 2018 aotearoan census shows that, of the 775,836 people identifying as māori in aotearoa, roughly 17% are unable to identify their iwi in the census. this has gone up by 1% since 2006, showing that we are a considerably stable percentage of people. along with this, there are more than 170,000 māori living in australia and, while there are no solid statistics, there are an estimated 8,000 māori living in the UK, 3,500 in the US, 2,500 in canada, and 8,000 in other countries where there's no option for māori or any polynesians on the census.

this number adds up to 967,816 total māori and while there's no census in these countries asking for your iwi, i would go as far as to assume that there's a larger number of diaspora māori who are no longer able to identify their iwi than there are in aotearoa. of course, this is just speculation based on my lived experiences and conversations with other diaspora māori, however even assuming that it's the exact same amount globally, 17%, this is roughly 164,532 māori worldwide who do not know their iwi. nearly one in five māori do not know their iwi.

regardless of the specific statistics, the hard fact here is that there is a large percentage of māori who are unsure of their iwi for whatever reason. it's extremely easy to feel unsure of yourself, lost, disconnected, and uncomfortable speaking on issues regarding te ao māori when you're unsure of your iwi (or your hapū, whānau, waka, or anything else, but there is heavy emphasis on the iwi) and it's very easy for whakamā to take hold, especially when many māori who can recite their whakapapa aren't very polite or understanding about your situation to say the least.

and there are a lot of those people.

unfortunately, i've spoken to many māori who are of the opinion that not knowing your iwi due to colonialism, assimilation, forced disconnection, etc. means that you should not, cannot, call yourself māori. this is a disgusting viewpoint to have and in my opinion it spits on the fundamental concepts of māori culture and worldviews. thankfully this is a small yet vocal group of people, but even so, they add to the collective experience that makes it extremely difficult to navigate a world while full of whakamā and internalised racism. it can feel like there's no space for you, no term you can use, nobody you can relate to, no mana you can claim, nothing. when you cannot recite your whakapapa, it can feel like there's a part of you that's fundamentally missing.

as well as this, even when people mean well, when you are in this situation, you're usually told to just do some genealogy work, do some research, ask your family what they know. sometimes, these steps are simply not possible. other times, we've already done everything suggested over and over and over again. we're generally told "oh, that sucks, but one day you'll find out, keep looking!" in response to our lack of iwi. sure, they mean well, but i have never once been told anything along the lines of "that's okay, some things are lost to time through no fault of your own. don't beat yourself up over something your whānau had to hide to survive, what you do now to uphold your family's mana, what you do know about your whānau, and who you ultimately become is more important than what you no longer know."

and why? why is it seen as shameful to say matter-of-factly that i don't know my iwi? i'm not looking for comfort, i'm not looking to be told that, aww, there there, i'll find it eventually. i'm stating a fact. i do not need pity, i need my mana and voice to be respected.

this concept is what i want to emphasise by coining ngāti rangiātea. some things are lost to time, but we aren't. our loss of knowledge does not mean that we are unworthy of being māori, that we are unworthy of basic human respect. it does not mean that we have lost everything that our whānau knows. it is a scar, a reminder of what colonisation took from us, yes, but we cannot allow it to continue to be an open bleeding wound. we will not be lost to time and we should not bow our heads and act like we do not exist, that we're inconvenient, that we damage the "image" that māori have. in fact, we are an important aspect of māori culture and ignoring our existence does harm to everybody.

and of course we can't speak on some topics regarding te ao māori. this seems to be a topic that comes up frequently as a strawman. yes, there are some topics that would be irresponsible to speak on when we have no experience with them. this doesn't mean we can't speak on anything. having a collective identity, an "iwi" to congregate around even just politically, would help us speak on topics that we are more qualified to speak on than māori with knowledge of their iwi (yes, those topics exist, shockingly.)

we will never be lost, for we are a seed sown in rangiātea.

by identifying as ngāti rangiātea, i wish to emphasise that it's important to accept that sometimes, someone just won't be able to find every piece of information. loss of family knowledge is literally one of the primary goals of forced assimilation! we all went through it as colonised peoples, why must we continue to attach shame to those of us who were forced to obfuscate our history to keep our children alive? it's not a personal flaw, it's not a dirty secret, it's a fact of life that must not continue to be kept quiet out of shame, and the sooner we can focus on healing this subsection of our community, the stronger māori as a whole will become.

so, this is why i'd like to coin a term for māori who are unsure of their iwi. this is what i intend to achieve by giving us a name, our own "iwi" to congregate around, to identify ourselves as. instead of hanging my head and saying "i'm not sure what my iwi is, i'm sorry", instead of feeling inclined to beg like a dog to be treated with respect, i would like to look people in the eye and tell them that i am ngāti rangiātea. i would like this label to be synonymous with strength and not shame, that i refuse to let my whakamā swallow me, that i am just as worthy of calling myself māori as anyone else, that there are many others in my iwi (or lack thereof). i would like other people to have that as well and i would like those like me to feel less lost when all they've been told is "well, you'll learn your iwi eventually!" as if that's going to help someone feel better if they can't find their iwi.

and even if a person finds their iwi eventually, it's absolutely disgraceful that people are treated that they're not allowed to access many basic parts of te ao māori until they discover something they are not even 100% destined to find. i think that this view contributes to a lot of people who eventually find their iwi becoming unnecessarily arrogant towards those who truly cannot find this information, that they're just not putting enough effort in. if a person finds their iwi after identifying as ngāti rangiātea, they are fully welcome to continue to identify as this political label along with the iwi they now know they belong to as i wish for it to be a term that describes your experiences, your upbringing, and your community. you don't suddenly lose your whānau or your lived experience when you discover your whakapapa.

finally, this hopefully goes without saying, but ngāti rangiātea is not meant to function as a real existing iwi does. the term will hopefully be used as a way to identify yourself and other people and organise but i don't expect nor do i want this to be treated like a coordinated iwi. i expect and hope for this to be a decentralised way of identifying and experiencing community to make it easier to organise as a people. think of this the way the terms ngāti kangaru, ngāti rānara, ngāti tūmatauenga etc. are used.

-----

so, the tl;dr is that i feel like coining a name for a phenomenon that nearly one in five of all māori experience in quiet shame, to make it easier for us to congregate and find each other, speak on our experiences, organise as activists, feel less lost, and ultimately give us the ability to regain our mana as a community with shared goals and experiences. i have spoken to many māori who feel this way and my suggestion for this term is ngāti rangiātea, to show homage to the well known whakataukī, "i will never be lost, for i am a seed sown from rangiātea", to give us a community to work with, and to give us an "iwi" to list when asked instead of fumbling for words and feeling whakamā.

i would like to take the emphasis off of constantly looking to the future for what you may or may not even find with this identity. we are not broken, we are not lost, for we are seeds sown in ngāti rangiātea.

tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa, and if you got this far, thank you for reading.

[hetagrammy]

I know you haven’t talked about it in a bit but I’m the regency au will the fact that Arthur’s children can’t inherit ever be a thing that causes resentment from the kids? (Far in the future of course)

Hi, so the biggest reason I haven't talked about it in a while is that uni is kicking my ass lol. That's why I haven't posted art in a hot minute, let alone any writing. When I'm out of paper hell and on break, I'll hopefully be back at it! I actually wanted to draw some of the kids circa the 1820s when they're older for shits and giggles.

So here's the thing about Regency inheritance, his kids do get something! So, the estate itself and the title the Kirklands hold is entailed. An entail means that only the oldest, closest, legitimate male family member can inherit that title and estate. If you've ever read Pride and Prejudice or seen Downton Abbey, this is why Mr. Collins and Matthew Crawley are relevant. This just means that Alfred will not inherit Alwyn's title and the land.

However, money and non-entailed property is a different story. The land that came from Alasdair, Seán, and Molly's father is not entailed, it was simply property Alwyn and Arthur's father took on when Igraine remarried. It was also common in cases where illegitimate children were acknowledged for their father to put aside money in a trust for their children.

In the case of the Regency AU, Arthur and Alwyn have arranged a trust for each of his children (and a dowry for Eleanor that is ultimately never used). When he's older, Alfred cares less about getting a title and more about being trusted with some responsibility. I'm undecided about whether he'd follow Arthur into the military or if he'd seek employment elsewhere (leaning toward the latter as his little "rebellion"). Matthew is a lot more passive, and I think he's content knowing he's not going to be left out to dry. Similarly, Ralph just wants the freedom to be himself. They're both younger sons anyway, so they never had any of the expectations Alfred might've had. Similarly, Eleanor would not have been up to inherit land anyway, as the youngest and as a woman. She at least has the fortune of having a father who isn't keen on forcing her to marry.

Long story short, while I can see Alfred developing some resentment regarding the lack of trust Arthur puts in him, the inheritance isn't necessarily an issue. They're provided for, they just don't get that title or the estate.

[xclowniex]

I just saw the dumbest fucking video of all time.

There is currently a racist anti Māori bill which had its first reading the other day in parliment.

There has been so much opposition to it as it is anti Māori.

In parliament, a Māori MP, Hana Rawhiti, who is 22, ripped up the bill and started a Haka. I cannot put into words how amazing what she did was, and the fact that another member of Te Pati Māori called David Seymour, the person who proposed the bill a cunt. The Haka was beautiful and I hate how she has been suspended from parliment because of it.

Onto the video I saw.

Someone from the US, who is not Māori nor from New Zealand and has never met or spoken to any Māori before claimed that the reason why the ripping of the bill and the haka was done, is because they were inspired by the Palestinian cause.

And this just makes me sooooo mad. Like can't Māori do these frankly impressive acts of activism for their own rights without any other group being the cause?? Like Māori history is rife with actions like this against oppression. It's not something new to Māori.

Its just the absolute ignorance of Māori history and then claiming to care about Māori history and rights. This person doesn't truly care, they just care about furthering one cause.

And initially I was unsure if this next interpretation of what he said was correct or not as not all people who support Palestine support hamas. But I checked out his other videos and he called hamas a resistance group and supports them so I think this next bit is a far understanding of his words.

Hamas raped people. Your average Palestinian is not hamas. But comparing Māori to hamas, is fucked up. You are implying that Māori are on the same level as rapists and murders. Māori already have an unfairly high incarceration rate, and now you think it's okay to compare them to rapists and murderers???? Comparing them to your average Palestinian? Fine and okay. Comparing them to hamas? Fucked up and racist.

[cissyenthusiast010155]

Finally, Always, & Forever ~Dark!Miss Peregrine xFem Immortal!Reader

@athenodora-sulpicia-writer Request- Miss Peregrine; If you do can you write a one shot with the numbers, 2, 60 and 62 from your Mummy Masterlist all for a female reader/character? And if you write it about Miss Peregrine can you make it dark Miss P?

Hey @athenodora-sulpicia-writer !! Thanks for the request and your patience 😊 I had fun researching Miss P and now I’m happy to say that I can write for her! I got some inspiration from @valentineisrotting on this one 🙃 And I also found a Stela Cole song to go along with it! To me, Love Like Mine appeals to the dark and sacrificial nature of Miss P’s love in this plus the “I’m so good that I’ll make you wanna stay up” line😫 (and much more but that’s the main point). Hope you Enjoy 💋

Mommy… Master List

Requests & Prompt-List

#2. “Be a good girl and tie yourself to the bed posts”

#60. “You broke the rules…”

#62. “I might do something I’ll regret…”

Warnings: NSFW, 18+!!, smut, little angst, little fluff, forbidden love (sort of but not really), kissing, eating out, fingering, punishment, overstimulation, gagging, mistress kink, praise kink, implied degrading kink, implied age gap (all legal), etc.

Enjoy (;

She’d told you to never visit. Not that she didn’t want you to… Hell, she longed for you to. No, because she was afraid they’d catch you.

See, you had what the scientists longed for… True Immortality. That was your peculiarity. You weren’t a simple child anymore, and if had gotten harder and harder to conceal with time. So out of preservation of both your lives, Alma had forbid you from coming to see her in her loops. It was letters only.

But once you’d heard of her loop nearly being damn near destroyed… You couldn’t help the urge to run into the arms of your lover to see if all was well.

You had heard from a friend that Miss Peregrine and her peculiar children had found a new home near New Zealand. So you travelled there and lo and behold, you found the rumored loop and house corresponding with it. You entered and walked through the front gate.

And next to the front door, talking to one of her children, stood the one and only, Alma Peregrine. You suddenly felt all childish again. You’d broken her only rule. But you didn’t care enough about that right now.

As you stood there from afar, mouth agape at your lover, Alma sensed something in the air had changed. You had started to walk up the front path to the house, when her gaze caught yours. A myriad of emotions washed over face.

Anger. Sadness. Pure joy. A little lust…?

As you walked up the house steps, Alma sent her child inside.

Before she could say anything, you began, “I know you told me… not to come… but…” you found yourself a stuttering mess, “but then I heard about you almost getting killed…?! And I just thought that I needed to know you were alright…”

Your gaze met hers as you hit your lips and blushed, unsure what she would do. Suddenly, it was like something broke inside the raven haired goddesses eyes. You gasped lightly as you were suddenly in her tight embrace.

“I was so worried for you…” she whispered.

Your eagerly returned her hug. Her lips peppering kisses all over your face and neck.

“Me? I was worried for you… Are you safe now…?” You whispered.

She nodded and pulled away slightly, growing more distant all of a sudden. Her gaze becoming darker.

“Love…?”

“Even though we’re safe now… You still broke the rules, my dear…”

Your breath hitched slightly. Light blush crept up your cheeks as you apprehensively nodded in recognition of your disobedience.

“I might do something I’ll regret…” She warily warned you.

Afterall, she hadn’t seen you in ages. And now she was getting a chance to lay hands on you once more. At her full Control. She wanted to check in with you first.

“I don’t care.” You whispered, “Use me. Fuck me. Edge me. I’m yours.”

At that, she smirked and nodded, her hand crept up your shoulder, as she brought her lips to the shell of your ear.

“Second floor, last door on the right…” she husked, “Be a good girl and tie yourself to the bed posts…”

Your breath hitched yet again.

“Yes mistress…” you whimpered, scurrying into the house and up the stairs.

You didn’t even register to explain your presence to her children, whom you passed along the way. Luckily, Alma had you covered on that front. As you stripped and dug around her closet for her signature black lace ties, Alma explained to her children a bit about you and your presence here.

When she came into her room, you were struggling in tying your second wrist to the bedposts. You’d already ties both your feet and your left wrist. The raven haired beauty chuckled lightly, and shutting the door, she came over to you.

“Let me help you, dear…” she purred, easily tying your wrist to the bedpost.

You and she both knew this was the nicest she was going to get tonight. After that, her tone and gaze went straight dark. The kind of darkness that made your thighs clench and your breath shallow… She then moved to the edge of the bed, taking in your entire form.

“You broke the rules…” she repeated, this time with an sharp edge to her tone.

You gulped.

“I did, mistress.” You whimpered, squirming under your restraints.

She hummed in satisfaction of your recognition.

“I haven’t touched you in ages…” she wickedly purred, licking her lips.

Even after all this time, it wasn’t hard to remember that she liked verbal answers…

“No, you haven’t, mistress…” you breathily whimpered.

“Safe words?”

“Green for good, yellow for pause, red for stop, and three taps for stop if I can’t speak.”

The raven haired woman hummed in recognition and then began stripping in front of you without another word. You whimpered lightly at the sight of her body, adorning a jaw-dropping sleek, black lingerie set. Your little sounds did not go unnoticed by the other woman. She then climbed on the bed, crawling on top of you.

“You’ll have to be quiet. I won’t have the children hearing your leud sounds.” She warned, “I will gag you if you can’t keep those pretty lips closed.”

You nodded vigorously, pursing your lips together tightly.

~~~

You knew she would punish you for breaking her rules, but fuck…

Why did she have to be so fucking skilled at it…?!

Her tongue dipped into your precious cunt tasting the juices of yet another orgasm which she had pulled out of you. You were a shaking, stuttering mess, who was desperately trying to stay quiet. But your head fell back in pure bliss as her tongue slotted itself inside your core once more.

“Fuck yessssss…” you hissed, tugging on your restraints.

At this, Alma cocked her head up and removed her tongue fully from your heated center. You hit back the whimper which was bound to try and escape you. The raven haired goddess then got up without another word and grabbed your knickers, shoving them in your mouth and effectively gagging you.

~~~

The stamina of this woman, you couldn’t…

She’d been bringing you over the edge for hours, punishing you with the double edged sword of overstimulation. One particular lick to your sensitive and puffy clit, sent you spiraling and spasming. Your back arched and you screamed into your knickers in response.

“Yes, sweet girl, I know your mistresses tongue feels so good. But why are you crying, sweet thing…?” She taunted.

She wasn’t wrong… Your mascara was running down your face. All from the pure utter, overstimulating bliss the woman as bringing you.

“You asked for this when you decided to break the rules…” she wickedly purred, attaching her hot mouth to your clit and sucking harshly.

A desperate cry of painful pleasure left your throat.

“Is this too much for you…?” She taunted, attaching her mouth back quickly on your clit.

You nodded vigorously, pulling tightly against your ties, your body spasming at her touch. But she firmly held your thighs for her easy access.

“That’s odd… look at how your dripping on my tongue…” She chuckled wickedly.

You let out a particularly desperate whine, which was easily muffled by your make shift gag.

“But that’s ok, sweet thing…” She lustfully purred, “If you keep crying like that your mistress will let you cum in her mouth however many times you’d like…”

New tears of pleasure streamed down your face as she brought you to yet another climax, leaving your throat sore and your legs trembling.

“My pretty crybaby…” she cooed while cleaning you up only to go down on your dripping cunt once more.

~~~

Aftercare was a staple for Alma. So when she was done with you, she gently scooped your fragile form up and carried you to her bathtub. She ran the water and then promptly joined you, making sure to live on you and clean you up proper. Then, the two of you snuggled in the water for a while. You nuzzled into her form lovingly.

“Missed you so much…” you murmered into the crook of her neck.

“I missed you too…” Alma whispered, kissing your nose affectionately, “You don’t ever have to leave again, my Dear…”

“I’m yours. Always and Forever…” you murmured, drifting off into a light slumber in Alma’s arms.

~~~

[madhatterbri]

All Around Me | D.P.

Summary: Y/N dreams of Damian Priest and knows she must protect him.

Taglist: @magicalbuttertarts @theworldofotps @mrsarcherofinfamy @brideofinfamy @smallestsnarkestgirl @terrortwinunicorn @miss-kuki-nz @new-zealand-chic

Despite the darkness in her dreams, Y/N could see the former El Campeon clear as day. He had his hair up in a ponytail. A cocky smirk pressed to his lips. He wore all black with chains perfectly placed in his clothes. His vest was her favorite.

Carefully, she walked around him in a circle. Her hands begged to touch him. To know what it was like to feel him against her skin. She reached her arm out slowly. Her fingertips grazing his tan tattooed skin. The electricity that ran through her body at the simple touch was her new high. An addiction that she knew she needed more of.

She had never felt this way about anyone before. Before him, she was a shell of a person. Now, she felt like a moth drawn to the flame. Nothing would ever be able to extinguish her fire that burned for him. Something about him made her feel alive. A feeling she hadn't felt in a while.

Y/N knew this was a foolish girl's dream. She was part of the new Judgment Day. A pact that she was forced to uphold. They could never be together. Damian could barely hide his disdain when he saw who she was aligned with. The look on his face burned in her memory.

Like usual, she started to walk away from him. Her heart couldn't take the rejection in fantasy and reality. Except this time, Damian grabbed her wrist. He pulled her towards him. Her back pressed against his chest.

The air felt thicker. It felt as if she couldn't breathe. She tensed against him, unsure of what to do. His hands rested around her hips as if he were afraid she'd run. Y/N allowed the feeling of being truly wanted to wash over her. The feeling was not one she had ever experienced.

Y/N turned around to look at him. His face was softer than the rough appearance he gave in the ring. Her hands touched his face gently. As if the simplest of touch would cause him to shatter like glass. He whispered he loved her.

She swore she could hear soft music from instruments play around them. Their eyes locked together. A single tear fell down her cheek. He brushed it away with his thumb.

The darkness around them started to fade away. The darkness replaced by a bright light. Her breath was caught in her throat. No one had ever made her feel like this. She knew no one ever could again.

Damian took her hand in his. His fingers locked in hers. Her heart felt alive. No longer would she be loyal to the new Judgment Day. She would only be loyal to Damian his needs. He told her before that he would never leave her. Y/N laughed it off to herself at first, but now she believed.

Their faces started to lean closer. Her breath hitched in her throat. This was finally happening. After she waited so long for him. Her heart pounded loud enough that she could hear. They closed their eyes about to kiss.

Y/N woke up and sat up. She was covered in sweat and gasping. Much to her dismay, she was back in her hotel room alone. Today was the day Damian Priest would fight against Finn Balor. A single tear rolled down her cheek. She knew she had to protect Damian.

[charlidos]

THE CHRONICLES OF THE CUNTYBAGO

I love the lore of the Fellowship, I can't get enough of it. And it's really turned into a kind of myth, hasn't it? The stories have been established, from being told again and again. Regardless if it's not the whole truth, or even not true at all. The lore has a life of its own. And it changes, depedning on who's talking, and over time.

The lore of the (inappropriately named) Cuntybago is a favourite; that famed make-up trailer bus where Orlando spent so much time with Viggo (hours and hours for years and years if you listen to Orlando) absorbing everything Viggo did.

So here's the Ultimate (very long) Cuntybago Post.

The Cuntybago is apparently where all the after-work parties happened. Most of what actually happened on it is still secret, private events not to be shared; after hours, after some wine/whisky drinking. What kind of special stuff was in the drawers? What did they really smoke? And, most intriguingly, who exactly was left onboard when everyone were ordered to get out... (Erm, V&O, perhaps?)I'm sure there are many more photos from the bus. Like a photo of Viggo & Orlando - which has yet to be seen. Oh, to have been a fly on that wall!

(A clip from the last day of the reshoots, in 2003. Because it's the time the bus has been talked about the most. Even if I'm unsure if this is the actual Cuntybago or not. Since it doesn't look green...)

Mortensen and Orlando Bloom spent much of their off-time on a green bus they named the "Cunty-Bago." Instead of the standard luxury lodging demanded by most stars on set, Viggo and co-star Orlando Bloom shared a converted bus while filming Rings. Viggo stocked the bus with a wine cellar and wallpapered the inside with candid behind-the-scenes photos. A source on the set said the bus was the site of frequent cast parties, with the motto, "Everyone is welcome, but when it's time to go, get out!" Indeed, they formed a club — The Cunty-Bago Club. [Viggo, Sean and Orlando] shared a make-up Winnebago, and through hours of beard and pointy-ear application formulated the rules of their society — most of which boil down to getting gossip and posting it on. [on what? I think the text is cut?]

There are very few quotes from Viggo. If you read his old interviews about life on set it sounds like he mostly worked 6 days a week, 14 hours a day. And in his free time, he went camping and fishing by himself and just drove around to get some me-time. That's it. It all sounds like mostly work and no play for Viggo. Cementing this image of him being ever serene, wise and a hard working method actor who never stopped being Aragorn. But then, we have the stories of this bus, which shows his wilder side...

(Viggo in ponytails, with a glass of wine and banana, in front of that mirror covered in photographs. They both took a lot of photos on set, so I guess a bunch of those photos are Orlando's.)

All Viggo's said is this:

"It was a crazy small bus." "Everything had cunt. It was 'cunt this' and 'cunt that'. We had a cuntmas tree, and we had cuntmas angels."

(Orlando on the makeup bus. )

Orlando has mostly mentioned the bus in passing, as he loves on Viggo, his great hero. And in his words, it always sounds like it was just the two of them... (when in fact it was from time to time also shared with Sean B, Bernard and Liv - but only Viggo & Orlando were there the whole time).

[Me and Viggo would] sit next to each other for a couple or hours each morning in a make-up truck. You get to know someone that way, more than by being in scenes with them. I used to sit next to him on the make-up bus, and find myself just staring at him while he was having his make-up done and drawing in his book or writing his notes. I would find myself fascinated. When I went back for re-shoots, I was on my own and he wasn't sitting there, and I suddenly was sitting in the makeup bus that we'd been driving around in for 18 months in New Zealand and got really emotional and felt that it was kind of weird to be there without him there and sort of reflected on all of the happy conversations and chats and glasses of wine and talks that we would have at the end of the day or whatever. He really had a huge impact on my life as an actor.

But he did say a few specific things too:

"Ahhh yes, the bus. It was mine, all mine. It was my precious." Bloom christened the bus the "C-word" when the makeup artist was fuming about someone and asked Bloom's advice. "You should kick him in the cunt and tell him to fuck off!" Viggo just lost it for half an hour. He kept saying, 'What did you say?' [The bus] became all about "the word. We took that word and took all of its power away. We made it the most loving word in the world. If you were a true cunt, you were the most amazing person in the world. It was a very free-spirited bus. It came about because me and Viggo kept being moved around, and we ended up on this bus one day. And the actors were fed up and we said, "This is it. This is our home and we are not moving. If they come, tell them to go away."

And finally from Orlando's IG in 2019 (obviously, to this day, a very important part of his life):

Our fondly named makeup bus, christened by Noreen my makeup artist and Viggo Mortensen, was, and remains in my heart and memory the most female and male empowered, joyful, disreputable and yet totally respectful place of work and creativity ever. Hours spent in the the makeup chair to apply ear’s and wigs and contacts." (They can't even agree who named it, Noreen never got any credit back then...)

(From the reshoots in 2003, Viggo gives Orlando some love and points out the photo message from Orlando on the mirror. But I want to know, who put up the pic of O with Brad Pitt? From this clip.)

The comments from everyone else in the cast about life on the Cuntybago are actually more enlightening. The rowdy gang reveal another side of life on set and of Viggo: as a drinking, partying prankster who loves crude language. It's definitely part of the fascination with Viggo. He's never one to talk about these things himself.

(I think they're wearing the special cuntebago t-shirts here. No idea from whence.)

Bernard Hill:

You are not supposed to know about it!" "There were five or six of us - Viggo, Orlando and Sean [Bean]. Liv came in and out [of the group]. Viggo has this special kind of crudeness that he is capable of. We were in the same make up bus [along with Bloom]. When I came back [from a break] it was called the Cuntybago. It was our private club. We had wine tasting sessions and had lots of parties. We also kept lots of food in there. Anything that was out [on the table], you could have. You could drink it, eat it, borrow it, smoke it… but don´t go looking in any drawers. That´s where we kept our 'special stuff'! [The Cuntybago bar would on occasion open very early] like 6:30am. There were days that we needed it. [I've made life-long friends with] everybody who was in the Cuntybago. Leaving the first time was such a huge wrench. Especially because of the Cuntybago, it was like our club. Fortunately we managed to get it back for Return of the king reshoots, so ROTK was the Return of the Cuntybago. We actually drove it out onto the streets for Viggo’s farewell. Viggo didn’t know we were going to do it, and when it started moving, you should have seen his face. I kept shouting, “Cunty libre! Cunty libre!” And the bus start leaving—we were breaking free. For propriety’s sake it was called the C-Bago Club, because you couldn’t put Cunty on the call sheet. Sean Bean came in, Liv was also a part of it. As soon as I get back to England I’m going to start the C-Bago web site: Orlando will do fashion and Viggo will do current affairs. I’ll probably do gossip — you know, the social calendar. Liv will do Hollywood and Sean Bean will do the art of war. It’ll be our little corner of the world.

(Bernard & Orlando Bloom getting make-up done. Here's the green bus again.)

Elijah:

Cuntybago is an amalgamation of 'Winnebago' and Viggo Mortensen´s cuss word of choice. I've gained an appreciation of the word cunt. Negative words - the best thing is to diffuse them by using and taking the meaning away. Cunt! Cunt! It's a great, great word. Very forceful. [Viggo] became utterly fascinated with it and it became the word of the film. Their Winnebago for makeup was called the Cuntybago. I was not a part of the Cuntybago unfortunately - it was the makeup room of Orlando, Viggo and Sean Bean - but it was a lovely place to visit. Cuntybago T-shirts were made up. There was a Cunty Christmas and we had a Cunty Christmas tree, all this stuff. Cate Blanchett [who plays the elf queen Galadriel] was deemed Her Cuntliness. I think we were all secretly jealous of the Cuntybago. I was anyway. I loved the atmosphere. Any place that had Viggo in the centre was always an interesting place to be… And that was where all the alcohol was. It was just spending all of that time with brits and Aussies. The word ‘Cunt’ came up quite a lot. I was fascinated by that and how it could become not so dirty. It’s one of the few swear words that still shock people." Is that why you called Cate Blanchett “Her Cuntliness? “Not my creation. She was called that by Viggo Mortensen. I put the blame on him. It was used during the making of the movie and seems a bit silly now. Wood says that his Cuntybago T-shirt is home in a drawer. "It's too big for me. I'm a small guy."

(A few photos up on the mirror in front of Viggo. I'm guessing it's Henry on the toilet (aww!), and Viggo and Orlando doing something something... Sharing a cigarette? Extinguishing a cigarette on Viggo's tongue? It looks kind of erotic. And who's the other dude?)

Billy:

"On Lord of the rings we'd go to Viggo and Orlando's trailer which was called The Cuntybago. Viggo was good for getting Irish whiskey, which was great but I keep trying to educate him on malt whisky. (To Billy it was just V&O's trailer. Like it's where they lived together...) Hobbits, an elf, a King of Men, maybe a dwarf. And quite a few times a wizard, sometimes a princess. Ha ha! That's enough to make anyone feel pissed. We had some good times on that one, some great times."

Peter Jackson:

"The actors had a spiritual connection to it. I liked the way they had photographs [Mortensen and Bloom] taken behind-the-scenes, plastered all over the walls."

(From the reshoots, I think. Beautifully blurry.)

Liv Tyler:

I can't believe he [Mortensen] talked about that. That was our private world. There was a lot of liquor on that bus. But the funniest thing about this bus is that this thing was a beast. It was so tiny; nothing worked. If they ever washed our hair it would go from scalding hot to freezing cold. There was no heat. Our makeup trailer became the center of things. It was given a really bad name that I cannot repeat. There were pranks, most of them also too dirty to tell. I love them all, all my costars. We would hang out mostly in the hair-and-makeup trailer, and after work at dinner. We would eat all the time and drink wine and laugh.  I think that a lot of that was the friendships that we made with each other and the fact that we all needed each other. It was vital that we all had each other to survive and to be able to laugh. Everybody had a really good sense of humor, thank God. We'd be constantly making jokes and decorating the trailer with ridiculous things and being rude and that was our sort of little bubble of escape in our makeup trailer.

(Photo by Liv, in the bus. You can see all the polaroids and stuff behind the unicorn elf.)

Cate Blanchett:

Viggo is the funkiest person I've ever met. I am far too polite to . . . he had this thing he called "the cunty-bago" . . . no, I guess I shouldn't go into that. So, yeah, he's incredible, very funny.

So, I can't quite figure out which bus The Cuntybago actually is: the green one Orlando is seen exiting? Or the yellow-ish one seen in the vids from the reshoots? Because they aren't the same. And in the vid from the final day, Bernard says the bus he drove on that last day was the same they'd had "for years" and which never moved before. While Orlando said they drove The Cuntybago around "for 18 months". So which bus was it? And did they drive the bus around or not? Or was it stationary? It's a mystery.

(This is the green bus - but is it the make-up trailer? Same as in the vid with Bernard.)

(Here in the reshoots, the bus is yellow-ish? And completely different. Looks more like a Winnebago than the green one really... So which one is The Cuntybago?)

ETA: it's the green striped one! Here's it's on the Cuntybago shirt:

ETA 2:

All my memories from that time is filtered through our bus, the famous C-bago. That was our haven, our social club and our home: it was our special place. We christened it the Cuntebago, but it had to be shortened to C-bago because Cuntebago couldn't go on the call sheets. It was a big make-up bus, and in one of its previous existences it obviously took people to and from places on a commercial basis, so it had the little place in the front that said where it was going, and we wanted Cuntebago on there: "Cuntebago - everywhere!" That was me, Viggo and Orlando. We were the cunts in the Cuntebago.

-Bernard Hill in Empire Magazine 2011.

That's all I have found about this infamous, mythical place, where all the magic happened, as they say. If anyone has info to add, please do! I want this post to be comprehensive!

[mengjue]

What's Happening in China? The November 2022 Protests

Hello! I know that there's so much going on in the world right now, so not everyone may be aware of what is happening in China right now. I thought that I would try to write a brief explainer, because the current wave of protests is truly unprecedented in the past 30+ years, and there is a lot of fear over what may happen next. For context, I'm doing this as someone who has a PhD in Asian Studies specialising in contemporary Chinese politics, so I don't know everything but I have researched China for many years.

I'll post some decent links at the end along with some China specialists & journalists I follow on Twitter (yeah I know, but it's still the place for the stuff at the moment). Here are the bullet points for those who just want a brief update:

Xi Jinping's government is still enacting a strict Zero Covid policy enforced by state surveillance and strict lockdowns.

On 24 November a fire in an apartment in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, killed 10. Many blamed strict quarantine policies on preventing evacuation.

Protests followed and have since spread nationwide.

Protesters are taking steps not seen since Tiananmen in 1989, including public chants for Xi and the CCP to step down.

Everyone is currently unsure how the government will respond.

More in-depth discussion and links under the cut:

First a caveat: this is my own analysis/explanation as a Chinese politics specialist. I will include links to read further from other experts and journalists. Also, this will be quite long, so sorry about that!

China's (aka Xi Jinping's) Covid Policy:

The first and most important context: Xi has committed to a strict Zero Covid policy in China, and has refused to change course. Now, other countries have had similar approaches and they undoubtedly saved lives - I was fortunate to live in New Zealand until this year, and Prime Minister Ardern's Zero Covid approach in 2020-2021 helped protect many. The difference is in the style/scope of enforcement, the use of vaccines, and the variant at play. China has stepped up its control on public life over the past 10 years, and has used this to enforce strict quarantine measures without full regard to the impact on people's lives - stories of people not getting food were common. Quarantine has also become a feared situation, as China moves people to facilities often little better than prisons and allegedly without much protection from catching Covid within. A personal friend in Zhengzhou went through national, then provincial, then local quarantines when moving back from NZ, and she has since done her best to avoid going back for her own mental and physical health. Xi has also committed China to its two home-grown vaccines, Sinovac and Sinopharm, both of which have low/dubious efficacy and are considered ineffective against new variants. Finally, with delta and then omicron most of the Zero-Covid countries have modified their approach due to the inability to maintain zero cases. China remains the only country still enacting whole-city eradication lockdowns, and they have become more frequent to the point that several are happening at any given time. The result is a population that is incredibly frustrated and losing hope amidst endless lockdowns and perceived ineffectiveness to address the pandemic.

Other Issues at Play:

Beyond the Covid situation, China is also wrestling with the continued slowdown in its economic growth. While its economic rise and annual GDP growth was nigh meteoric from the 80s to the 00s, it has been slowing over the past ten years, and the government is attempting to manage the transition away from an export-oriented economy to a more fully developed one. However, things are still uncertain, and Covid has taken its toll as it has elsewhere the past couple of years. Youth unemployment in particular is reaching new highs at around 20%, and Xi largely ignored this in his speech at the Party Congress in October (where he entered an unprecedented third term). As a result of the perceived uselessness of China's harsh work culture and its failure to result in a better life, many young Chinese have been promoting 躺平 tǎng píng or "lying flat", aka doing the bare minimum just to get by (similar to the English "quiet quitting"). The combination of economic issues and a botched Covid approach is important, as these directly affect the lives of ordinary middle-class Chinese, and historical it has only been when this occurred that mass movements really took off. The most famous, Tiananmen in 1989, followed China's opening up economic reforms and the dismantling of many economic safety nets allowing for growing inequality. While movements in China often grow to include other topics, having a foundation in something negatively impacting the average Han Chinese person's livelihood is important.

The Spark - 24 Nov 2022 Urumqi Apartment Fire:

The current protests were sparked by a recent fire that broke out in a flat in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province. (This is the same Xinjiang that is home to the Uighur people, against whom China has enacted a campaign of genocide and cultural destruction.) The fire occurred in the evening and resulted in 10 deaths, which many online blamed on the strict lockdown measures imposed by officials, who prevented people from leaving their homes. It even resulted in a rare public apology by city officials. However, with anger being so high nationwide, in addition to many smaller protests that have occurred over the past two years, this incident has ignited a nationwide movement.

The Protests and Their Significance:

The protests that have broken out over the past couple of days representing the largest and most significant challenge to the leadership since the 1989 Tiananmen movement. Similar to that movement, these protests have occurred at universities and cities across the country, with many students taking part openly. This scale is almost unseen in China, particularly for an anti-government protest. Other than Tiananmen in 1989, the most widespread movements that have occurred have been incidents such as the protest of the 1999 Belgrade bombings or the 2005 and then 2012 anti-Japanese protests, all of which were about anger toward a foreign country.

Beyond the scale the protests are hugely significant in their message as well. Protesters are publicly shouting the phrases "习近平下台 Xí Jìnpíng xiàtái!" and "共产党 下台 Gòngchǎndǎng xiàtái!", which mean "Xi Jinping, step down/resign!" and "CCP, step down/resign!" respectively. To shout a direct slogan for the government to resign is unheard of in China, particularly as Xi has tightened control of civil society. And people are doing this across the country in the thousands, openly and in front of police. This is a major challenge for a leader and party who have prioritised regime stability as a core interest for the majority of their history.

Looking Ahead:

Right now, as of 15:00 Australian Eastern time on Monday, 28 November 2022, the protests are only in their first couple of days and we are unsure as to how the government will respond. Police have already been seen beating protesters and journalists and dragging them away in vehicles. However, in many cases the protests have largely been monitored by police but still permitted to occur. There seems to be uncertainty as to how they want to respond just yet, and as such no unified approach.

Many potential outcomes exist, and I would warn everyone to be careful in overplaying what can be achieved. Most experts I have read are not really expecting this to result in Xi's resignation or regime change - these things are possible, surely, but it is a major task to achieve and the unity & scale of the protest movement remains to be fully seen. The government may retaliate with a hard crackdown as it has done with Tiananmen and other protests throughout the years. It may also quietly revamp some policies without publicly admitting a change in order to both pacify protesters and save face. The CCP often uses mixed tactics, both coopting and suppressing protest movements over the years depending on the situation. Changing from Zero Covid may prove more challenging though, given how much Xi has staked his political reputation on enforcing it.

What is important for everyone online, especially those of us abroad, is to watch out for the misinformation campaign the government will launch to counter these protests. Already twitter is reportedly seeing hundreds of Chinese bot accounts mass post escort advertisements using various city names in order to drown out protest results in the site's search engine. Chinese officials will also likely invoke the standard narrative of Western influence and CIA tactics as the reason behind the protests, as they did during the Hong Kong protests.

Finally, there will be a new surge of misinformation and bad takes from tankies, or leftists who uncritically support authoritarian regimes so long as they are anti-US. An infamous one, the Qiao Collective, has already worked to shift the narrative away from the protests and onto debating the merits of Zero Covid. This is largely similar to pro-Putin leftists attempting the justify his invasion of Ukraine. Always remember that the same values that you use to criticise Western countries should be used to criticise authoritarian regimes as well - opposing US militarism and racism, for example, is not incompatible with opposing China's acts of genocide and state suppression. If you want further info (and some good sardonic humour) on the absurd takes and misinfo from pro-China tankies, I would recommend checking out Brian Hioe in the links below.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a grass-roots protest made by people in China, who are putting their own lives at risk to demonstrate openly like this. There have already been so many acts of bravery by those who just want a better future for themselves and their country, and it is belittling and disingenuous to wave away everything they are doing as being just a "Western front" or a few "fringe extremists".

Links:

BBC live coverage page with links to analysis and articles

ABC (Australia) analysis

South China Morning Post analysis

Experts & Journalists to Check Out:

Brian Hioe - Journalist & China writer, New Bloom Magazine

Bonnie Glaser - China scholar, German Marshall Fund

Vicky Xu - Journalist & researcher, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Stephen McDonnell - Journalist, BBC

M Taylor Fravel - China scholar, MIT

New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre - NZ's hub of China scholarship (I was fortunate to attend their conferences during my PhD there, they do great work!)

If you've reached the end I hope this helps with understanding what's going on right now! A lot of us who know friends and whanau in China are worried for their safety, so please spread the word and let's hope that there is something of a positive outcome ahead.

[theworldofotps]

Under The Mistletoe With Him

Pairing: Hook x OC Rose Word Count: 1, 527 Description: Rose goes on a trip down memory lane about having Tyler's name for the company gift exchange.

So, her birthday isn't till the 24th but we agreed to just post this now! So a very very early happy birthday to my dear friend @writtingrose I hope you enjoy your birthday fic love! So thankful for you and your friendship I love you bunches! Never forget how loved you are ❤️

Thank you so much to @omg-im-such-a-masochist for help getting the idea rolling because I couldn't choose between the choices, I created for myself. You're the best babes x ______ Tag List: @omg-im-such-a-masochist​ @melissahausen​ @new-zealand-chic @writtingrose​ @99hook @sjwrites22​ @sassymox​ @mrsacklesevansmgk​ @xladyxfatex​ @biforrollynch​ @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch​ @demonqueen29​ @itsicantbelievethis666​ @lilred91​ @rebellious-desires​ @claymorexpunisher @letsgivethisonemoreshot @ava-valerie​ @shortyiceheart @serpantscorpio8497​ @thatpanpal @thatnerdwriter @wrestlersownmyheart​ @vebner37​ @auburnwrites​ @aews-four-pillars​ @seeingstarks​ @whenimakeitshine1234​ @legit9thlunaticwarrior​ @blaquekitty​ @ironshamelessyouth @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin @ripleyswhore @moonrosekk @xbreezymeadowsx @elevennbloom @melblacc @alliwant456  @mcreignsera If you wanna be added to the list lemme know. ______

“Baby, where do you want these bags of icing.”

Turning from the oven with a pan of fresh gingerbread cookies you point to the farthest corner of the counter.

“Over there please Ty, I want to be sure we have plenty of room to do this and hopefully we can avoid a big mess.”

Placing the icing bags on the counter he stood back watching his girlfriend lay them all out and then got bowls of small candies out.

“What are those for?”

“The cookies and if we manage to get around to decorating that house, now let me just put in this next batch of cookies. Then we can get started would you please put on some Christmas music? I have the playlist already set up on my phone.”

“Sure can.”

Using her spatula Rose carefully places each gingerbread person on the tray popping them in the oven and setting the timer. Wiping off her hands she grabs the pan with cookies already cooled, carrying them over to the counter where Tyler had gotten the music to play.

“Okay babe here we go decorate it however you want but please do try and not get icing all over I don’t want to run out.”

Tyler chuckled thinking about the last time they tried this and how more icing ended up on the two of them then on the cookies.

“Don’t worry I’ll behave.”

Pressing a kiss to her temple Tyler grabbed a cookie and picked a color to outline with. Rose watched him decorate, this was a moment she’d remember for the rest of her days. Picking up an icing bag she grabbed a cookie of her own to start decorating. The two silently worked for a few minutes listening to the music playing in the background as they enjoyed each other's company.

“You know something, this time of year always remind me of how our relationship started.”

Rose spoke softly as the memories from a few year prior played through her head causing her to smile.

“You mean that time I got caught under the mistletoe with your fine ass?”

He smirked leaning forward to steal a peck from her lips.

 “I can’t believe I got Tyler.”

“What’s wrong with having Tyler I imagine he’d be pretty simple to shop for.”

“That’s easy for you to say Orange you’re actually friends with him, he hates me.”

“He does not hate you.”

“Oh yes he does he’s always glaring in my direction and when I tried to be polite or say hi, he just walks away.”

“To be fair he does that with everyone he’s just not a super expressive guy when it comes to being at work. But trust me he’ll love whatever you get him even if he doesn’t say it out loud.”

James assured her as the two walked down the hallway, it was a week before their company gift exchange and Rose was still unsure of what to get Tyler. He was serious when he said that Tyler would love anything she bought given the fact he was absolutely smitten with her. Not that Rose would know that given Tyler’s silent nature at work and don’t mess with me attitude. But the whole locker room and even some of the women knew about his feelings for her.

“What am I going to do?”

“Why don’t you go ask his dad? It wouldn’t hurt to give that a try maybe he can help you think of something. It’s better than stressing yourself out more than you already are.”

“I hadn’t even thought of asking Taz, you’re brilliant I’ll text you later.”

Rose smiled before scurrying off hoping to find the man in question to ask for help with his son’s gift.

‘Please don’t let Tyler be around.’

She silently begged walking into the ring area where a few of the guys were doing some practice moves. Spotting Taz speaking with Jack she made her way over and gently tapped on his shoulder.

“Rose, nice to see you.”

“Hi um could I please speak with you in private about something?”

Relief flooded her when he nodded, excusing himself from the conversation with Jack, the two walked a little bit away from the ring.

“Sorry to disturb you but I need some help, I got Tyler’s name for the gift exchange, and I still haven’t been able to find anything for him. Could you maybe give me a couple ideas? I just want it to be something he’ll like and find useful or something.”

“Ah I was wondering who got him well I guess it depends, what’s the budget limit?”

“Actually, I don’t know I didn’t realize there was one.”

“Okay, something simple yet useful. How about a gift card somewhere? There’s this steak place he absolutely loves going to whenever we’re around. You can’t really go wrong with giving the kid food.”

“That’s a great idea um what’s the name of the restaurant?”

“STK it’s a steakhouse I’ll give you the directions just give me a moment.”

Rose smiled, nodding as she waited patiently for him to look up the directions and texted them to her phone.

“There just text me if you have any other questions and I’d be more than happy to help you out.”

“Thank you so much Taz I appreciate this.”

“Anytime kiddo.”

Leaving the ring area Rose went out to her car and after putting the address in her phone made her way to the restaurant. After getting the gift card she picked up one other thing then placed them in a gift bag. When the party night finally arrived, she nervously carried the bag inside looking around, spotting Renee she rushed over to her.

“Hey Ree where do we put the gift exchange bags?”

“Hi sweetie they changed it up this year, you’re just going to give the gift to whoever you have.”

“Oh gods.”

“Who do you have?”

“Hook.”

“He just got here about ten minutes ago he’s there by the snack table probably trying to find a bag of chips to eat. I’ll just text Jon that way he can tell Tyler to come over this way, so you don’t need to push through the crowd.”

Renee hooked her arm with Rose’s and led her away from the crowd off to the side where they wouldn’t be bumped into.

“Alright Jon is bringing him over don’t worry this is going to be great he’ll absolutely love whatever you decided to get him.”

Renee winked quickly walking away as Jon shoved Tyler over to her Rose covered her mouth to stifle a laugh at Tyler’s curse but cleared her throat when he looked at her. Holding the bag out she looked at the floor then up at him.

“I know we hardly ever talk but um I got your name in the gift exchange, so I got you this family size bag of chips and a gift card to a steak place your dad said you liked.”

She rambled letting him take the bag from her hand and opened it a slight smile crossing his face as he looked at the gifts.

“Thank you Rose.”

“How.. I didn’t know you knew my name.”

“Of course, I know you’re name why wouldn’t I?”

“Because we never talk, and I figured that you hated me given the fact you glare at me a whole lot.”

“Not glaring at you just the way I look is all.”

“Hey! You two instead of babbling to each other why don’t you look above your heads.”

Jon called out causing them both to look up seeing a spring of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Rose felt her heart pick up in speed as Tyler’s eyes seemed to darken when he looked back at her, a smirk crossing his face. Rasing a brow he stepped closer waiting for her to reject him.

“Is it okay?”

“Yes it is.”

Rose said a little too fast causing Tyler to laugh quietly before his lips pressed against her’s and she melted into the kiss.

“I still can’t believe you thought I hated you.”

“Well, you acted like you did you weren’t really throwing out smiles or talking to me apart from the occasional grunt here or there.”

“It was all just a show baby I didn’t know how to admit to the most beautiful girl that I had the hots for her.”

Tyler said as he washed his hands then dried them before he hugged Rose from behind kissing her cheek.

“It would have saved me a lotta stressing out if you had.”

“True but that doesn’t matter now because you’re mine and I don’t plan on letting this sweet ass go.”

He said, grabbing her hips and pulling her into him the two laughing as she turned around wrapping her arms around his neck.

“We need to finish these cookies and I just put a fresh batch in.”

“We have a couple minutes besides I don’t need that long.”

“You’re awfully cocky you know that?”

“It’s my speciality.”

Tyler smirked cupping her cheeks as he captured her lips in a kiss much similar to their first.

[bangtanhoneys]

BTS MOMENTS: Jungkook & Grace - MUM!!

Jungkook didn’t want to admit it but he was lost. Lost inside a supermarket in the middle of the South Island of New Zealand, with his phone still inside the campervan and completely unsure of where the other members had gone. It wouldn’t have been too bad if everyone spoke Korean but he was in a country that spoke mainly English and he just about knew enough to get by. 

This wasn’t going to go well. 

He went up and down each aisle, trying to spot either a cameraman or even one of the members but no luck. He knew he was going to get a massive scolding from this but right now, he had to find everyone. 

Jungkook headed to a customer service desk and asked the lovely woman at the desk if she had seen a woman, matching Grace’s description but in his broken English, he was describing every woman in the store. 

Giving up, he left the actual store and if he had turned right and walked a bit further, he would have seen everyone enjoying the local coffee. He walked further away from the store and every person he came across, he asked if they had seen his mum. 

Of course, they hadn’t because his actual mother was in Korea, where he should be right now, but his second mother was in New Zealand with him. 

It wasn’t until someone tapped him on the shoulder and pointed in the direction of where the other members of BTS were gathered that Jungkook finally relaxed. After thanking the person in every way he knew how, Jungkook spun around and yelled, “Mum!!!”

There was only one person who Jungkook called that and that person in question jumped in her seat, glancing up from where she had been looking at the map with Jin. “What the heck?” she muttered, ignoring Jin’s laughter from beside her.

It was perfect timing - one camera catching Jungkook running up to Grace, yelling Mum, another camera capturing Grace’s reaction and it created the perfect moment as an elderly woman was coming past. She stopped for a moment, wondering what was with the camera crew but simply took one look at Jungkook then Grace. 

“He’s a good-looking boy, he clearly takes after his father,” she said nodding in Jin’s direction which caused him to stop laughing. “You both look good for your age with a young son like that.”

She then toddled off, not realising who she had actually spoken to. 

It became such a popular fan moment that it was clipped and posted to Twitter at every chance and with it, BigHit acknowledged Grace as Jungkook’s honorary mother.

[megamindfandombookclub]

Megamind Rules! Is now streaming through Apple TV for Australia, the US AND New Zealand! (unsure what service in NZ.)

Thanks for finding these links, @buginateacup !!

Great news for our friends on the other side of the globe! They can now watch our Blue Bad Boy on their own!! Please give it a watch! It's a fun show that left off on a MAJOR cliffhanger!!

Feel free to join our Evil Lair server and yell about it with us!!!

[sushiikinsss]

~If you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog!~

aw, so many questions i have to respond to because i've been so unbelievably lazy since findin' out i'm pregnant but here we go. 1. i'm a cancer sun ☀️, aquarius moon 🌜 and aquarius rising 👆.. not sure how that goes but there you go. 2. i live in a little country in the tasman sea called new zealand, not sure if anyone's heard of it? hehe. 3. i am currently pregnant with my first child (not fur child as i already have two kitties, one is called luna & the other is called bubbles - rest in kitty treats mew) -- his name is going to be river.

unsure who hasn't done this but who hasn't done this, reply below with three facts about you <3

[arminreindl]

Palaelodus, the Swimming Flamingo

Another post for fossil flamingos since I just finished the page yesterday. Palaelodus is a genus of early flamingo relative belonging to the family Palaelodidae, which can be aptly described as swimming or straight-billed flamingos.

Palaelodids are the sister family to Phoenicopterids, the modern flamingos, and already show a bunch of similarities to them like a deeper bill, long legs and neck and saltglands. Other elements meanwhile are more similar to grebes, which are the closest living relatives to flamingos. This has caused some debate on how Palaelodus would have behaved. Early research proposed that they may have been early filter feeders, but a closer look at the bill shows that they lacked some adaptations that hold the keratinous lamellae in flamingo beaks. Consequently, it has since then been suggested that they fed on insect larvae and snails that live in salt lakes, which may have been an early step for phoenicopteriforms to become filter feeders. The next question regards their legs. Early on people suggested they may have been divers, but that simply didn't make sense due to how strangely long they are. Others suggested wading habits, but their feet are strangely stiff. Mayr's hypothesis seems to make the most sense, arguing that they were swimmers, using stiff webbed feet as paddles. Megapaloelodus goliath (=Palaelodus goliath?) by Scott Reid

Despite their very different lifestyle, Palaelodus actually had similar habitat preferences to flamingos, inhabiting salty and brackish lakes and having nearly global distribution. The most well known species, Palaelodus ambiguus, Palaelodus gracilipes and Palaelodus crassipes were incredibly common in Oligocene to Miocene Europe, especially France and Germany, the former country having over a thousand bones of them. In France, all three species (which some have suggested is only a single species of varying size) coexisted with the large Megapaloelodus goliath and the true flamingo Harrisonavis. Images by Alphynix, Ceratops Yuta's Dinosaur Travel Blog and Torres et al. 2015

Outside of Europe, fossils from Brazil are known and tentatively assigned to Palaelodus ambiguus as well. Indetermined palaelodids are known from the early Oligocene of Egypt (Jebel Qatrani Fm), one species named Palaelodus kurochkini stems from Mongolia. Three species are known from Oceania. Palaelodus pledgei and Palaelodus wilsoni are the smallest and largest species respectively, having been found in the Oligocene to Miocene deposits of the Lake Eyre Basin in Australia. A single species, Palaelodus aotearoa, is known from the paleo-Lake Manuherikia in New Zealand, known for its extensive fauna of waterbirds. Much like the European species, the two Australian taxa coexisted with true flamingos, Phoenicopterus novaehollandiae and Phoeniconotius eyrensis. Palaelodus cf. ambiguus by Felipe Alves Elias, Lake Eyre flamingos by Frank Knight and Palaelodus aetearoa by Tom Simpson

So all things considered, palaelodids and Palaelodus specifically did really well during the Oligocene and Miocene. What happened then is not known as they just disappear from the fossil record, unlike flamingos. Well, mostly disappear from the fossil record. There is one exception. A single isolated bone initially assigned to Palaelodus wilsoni was discovered at Cooper Creek in Australia, indicating an age of no more than 200.000 years. Since then its been suggested that it may not be P. wilsoni or even Palaelodus at all, but from the most recent publication I've seen on it the idea that its a palaelodid is still maintained. I am unsure on this one, as it is a massive gap in the fossil record, but there would be something tragic about it. Assuming that palaelodids survived in Australia, they would have been at home in a place that for a long time was a paradise for flamingos with salt lakes covering whats now the Tirari Desert. And then, during the Pleistocene when Australia got more arid and the lakes dried up, the former diverse flamingo fauna was gone for good, leaving Australia (and Antarctica) the only continents without flamingos, all because of some relatively recent climate change.

As always this is brought to you by me going down a wiki editing rabbit hole, the final result of which can be found here Palaelodus - Wikipedia. That article has all sources and information and then some more stuff that I didn't go in here (like the history and some anatomical lingo) Chances are that Megapaloelodus will be next, at which point I'll have written the pages for all fossil phoenicopterids and palaelodids.

[ourdreamsareneon]

!! Photo for Attention !!

Kia ora e te whanau, I'm once again asking you for financial assistance because the government is useless and all we have is each other. If you don't know me, hi! I'm Cal (Orphan if ya nasty), I'm a 24 year old genderqueer gay nerd with chronic depression, PTSD, and PCOS. Due to my disabilities I am moving from full time work to part time in July and I am in dire need of financial assistance.

As is, I am living paycheck to paycheck due to rent and cost of living being so high in Aotearoa/New Zealand (per month - $1,260 rent, $90 gas, $40 public transport, $120 phone bill etc). In conjunction with this, I have to pay $280 a month for therapy, $90 a month for health insurance, and the government is threatening to remove the government subsidy for prescription medication which could make it impossible for me to be medicated.

I am currently going through the process of applying for the benefit (work and income), but due to how busy they always are and the tightening restrictions, I'm unsure how long it will take to get approved - if it ever does.

I understand it's hard for everyone right now, and there are way more dire things to worry about like the ongoing quest to free Palestine and care for those in desperate situations. There is no pressure to give anything, but if you could boost this post I would greatly appreciate it.

Buy me a coffee @ ourdreamsareneon (link in bio)

P4yP4l: justthecoffeeboy(gmail)

I don't have much to offer in return other than undying gratitude, and my 12+ years of service to the niché fandoms on Tumblr

Thank you <3

[fantasiac]

hey,

so I thought I'd clear up some stuff because it's been all over the place for months and I think I finally got a grip on it. I guess this is my official "coming out" lol

my name is Raya (Ray-uh), I'm trans mtf and I use she/her pronouns 🏳️‍⚧️

I was going by genderfluid for a while, and it felt right at the time to just pick whichever gender I felt most like at the time and forget about it, there was definitely something missing. at one point I made a set of profile pictures, a boy and a girl, I thought I would be able to use them interchangeably, seeing as I didn't really feel like I was set on one at the time. but I hated the boy one, there wasn't really a specific reason I thought, it's not a bad drawing, I just didn't like labeling that as me. so I just kept using only the girl one, I talked to some friends about this (which I recommend, socializing and hearing them use pronouns out loud is incredibly helpful if you're unsure) and on the 1st of March I came to the conclusion that I just prefer being a girl, it felt right.

but I didn't rebrand right away, of course I still had some doubts, I would use he/him and other boy terms out of habit when using my old name (Logan) and I still had genderfluid in the back of my mind, I heard that it's normal for a preferred gender to last up to a month, so I waited, in case it suddenly shifted back to male, but it never did, and I'm officially going by trans, and actually knowing what gender I am has put me in such a better mindset for everything, I'm more forgiving to myself with my art, I'm motivated to draw for longer, and I actually want to experiment with stuff.

I'm still really new to all of this, and LGBTQ stuff isn't exactly normalized in my part of New Zealand yet, but I'm super excited to see what happens in the future, the weird cloud has parted to reveal hopes of a bright future :)

I hope at least one person reading this will see me as a girl.

[madhatterbri]

Unbothered | F.B. Part 2

Summary: Y/N goes to his hotel room with a "get well soon" card. She just leaves everything by the hotel room door with a card that has her name and a single number from her phone number that Damian brings in for him 😂

Author's Note: Thanks, @theworldofotps , for the idea. This one is short. Just trying to think of ways for him to get all the numbers.

Finn Balor Masterlist

Unbothered Part 1

Tag List: @plentyoffandoms @new-zealand-chic @theworldofotps

Y/N grumbled to herself how this had to be her worst idea ever. Her slipper covered feet slid against the carpet below. She wore a hat and sunglasses to hide from any wrestling fans. There had to be a better way for her to spend her time in the early hours of a Tuesday.

Something inside of her told her to get Finn a get well soon card, so she did. Once she left RAW, she stopped at a local pharmacy and picked up the necessary materials. A card, envelope, and two different colored pens.

Y/N drove to her hotel room. She dropped her purchases on the desk. It had to be something nice. Something that would tell him she was interested, but that she wasn't totally bothered about it. After staring at the blank card, she decided to write something short and sweet.

Wishing you 24/7 comfort and healing.

The 7 was written in a different color and slightly bigger. She signed her name and placed the card in the envelope. Still unsure of what came over her, she walked to his hotel room. Y/N stood in front of the door. It was late at night. Finn needed his rest.

"He's probably already asleep," she told herself in an attempt to talk herself down. Y/N left the card by the door and walked back to her room.

A few minutes later, Damian walked to the room he was sharing with Finn. The champion needed to burn off some steam at the hotel bar. After a few drinks, he figured it was time to get some sleep.

He smiled at the card left against the door. That ring announcer had plenty of surprises in her. The archer of infamy picked up the card and tapped it against his fingers. His friend would be happy to see this.

"Hey, Finn. You got a letter from a secret admirer," Damian told him once he opened the door. At the increase in Finn's curiosity, he handed the envelope to him.

The Irish man grabbed the envelope quickly. He scowled, thinking it was from a crazed fan that knew their room number. His roommate couldn't help but laugh at his apprehension.

"Open it. It's from Y/N," Damian urged. Finn immediately brightened up.

The envelope was ripped open without a care. He opened the card quickly. A smile crept on his face when he saw the 7. For someone who didn't have care, Y/N made sure to let him know the next number.

"Got another number?" Damian asked.

"Yup, only eight more numbers to go," Finn answered. He placed the number under Y/N's contact and smiled. Satisfied with how the night went, Finn rolled over and fell into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning, Finn saw Y/N at the airport. She was always one to be super early to any event she had scheduled. The airport was no different. People watching, she would tell him, would make the time go by faster.

"Lovely card last night," Finn complimented her.

Y/N smiled. "Thanks. Could you tell my pen ran out of ink while I was writing in it?"

Finn couldn't hide his chuckle. "Less than a few hours, and I got 2 numbers I need. Only 8 more. Maybe you are a little more bothered about me than we thought,"

"I guess we will see," she shrugged. "Have a safe flight,"