#giant Wellington

[bethel05]

Vegan Wellington Recipes

>>>Get FREE 198 pg Delicious Meat-Free Assorted Recipes EBook<<<

Giant wellington is a showstopping centrepiece packed with roasted red peppers, cooked beetroot and kale. Plus, we've made a vegan stuffing and glazed the pastry in marmite to take it to the next level

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

250g kale, tough stalks removed

250g pack cooked beetroot, thinly sliced from a jar 3 roasted red peppers, drained and halved PASTRY

500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

210ml olive oil

7 tbsp aquafaba, see notes below

STUFFING

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

150g swede, coarsely grated

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped a few sprigs thyme, leaves stripped a good grating nutmeg

200g pouch ready-cooked puy lentils

1 apple, coarsely grated

30g hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped

50g breadcrumbs

1 lemon, zested GLAZE

1 tsp Marmite

GRAVY

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

100ml brandy

1 tbsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed

3 tbsp vegan gravy granules, see notes below

50ml soya cream Method

STEP 1

To make the pastry, mix the flour with 1 tsp salt then stir in the olive oil and 5 or 6 tbsp of aquafaba until it comes together as a dough, then knead lightly for 30 seconds. Cut 1/3 of the pastry from the block, then wrap and chill both blocks for 30 minutes.

STEP 2

Meanwhile, make the stuffing. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onion and swede for 5-10 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, thyme and nutmeg, and cook for a further minute. Tip in the cooked lentils, apple and hazelnuts, and cook for 1 minute before stirring through the breadcrumbs and lemon zest.

>>>Get FREE 198 pg Delicious Meat-Free Assorted Recipes EBook<;<<

STEP 3

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan and cook the chopped garlic for 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the kale and a splash of boiling water, and cook until the kale has wilted and the water has evaporated. Season and cool.

STEP 4

On a lightly floured piece of baking paper, roll out the 1/3 of pastry to a 25cm x 15cm rectangle, then slide onto a baking sheet. Spoon ½ of the stuffing onto the pastry in an even layer, leaving a 1cm border. Add ½ of the kale mixture, ½ of the beetroot slices and all the pepper slices, so that you have clear layers. Spoon the remaining stuffing mix on top of this, then repeat with the remaining beetroot and kale.

STEP 5

On another lightly floured piece of baking paper, roll out the remaining pastry to a 35cm x 30cm rectangle. Carefully flip the pastry onto the wellington and peel off the baking paper. Use your hands to mould the pastry round so it is tight to the filling. Use your finger and thumb to crimp the edges of the pastry so it’s completely encased, then trim any excess. Roll out any excess pastry and decorate, if you like. Chill for 30 minutes.

STEP 6

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Mix the Marmite with 1 tbsp aquafaba and use this to glaze the entire wellington. Put into the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden.

STEP 7

To make the gravy, heat the vegetable oil in a small pan and cook the shallot for 5 minutes until soft. Tip in the brandy and pink peppercorns. Mix the gravy granules with 350ml water and pour in. Simmer for 5 minutes until thickened slightly, then stir through the soya cream. Keep warm but do not boil. Cut the wellington into thick slices and serve with the gravy.

>>>Get FREE 198 pg Delicious Meat-Free Assorted Recipes EBook<;<<

[drhoz]

#2545 - Hieraaetus moorei - Haast's Eagle

The largest eagle ever known to exist. Almost certainly the pouākai of Māori mythology. They certainly would have paid attention to it since it was big enough to consider humans as particularly stupid Moa who stood around in the open.

Here's some talon marks in a Moa hipbone.

Originally described as Harpagornis moorei by Julius von Haast in 1871, from the Greek harpax, meaning "grappling hook". DNA analysis later showed that this bird was actually related to the much smaller little eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides) and booted eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) and not the large wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) of Australia.

It probably evolved from the little eagle 1.8 million to 700,000 years ago, which means it increased ten to fifteen times in size - the largest, fastest evolutionary increase in average weight of any known vertebrate species. There were no other large predators in New Zealand, and an abundance of giant flightless prey.

It had a relatively short wingspan for a bird in its weight class. Females were estimated to span 2.6 m, possibly up to 3 m. It seems likely they pursued prey into dense forests, like the goshawks and harpy eagle.

The eagles most likely became extinct in the 1400s, after the Māori hunted their usual prey to extinction. Maori oral tradition about the birds persist to today, with late 1800s records saying it had red, black and white plumage with "black feathers tinged with yellow or green" and "a bunch of red feathers on its head".

Te Papa, Wellington, New Zealand.

[icewindandboringhorror]

More misc. daily life pictures and such

[randompiggy]

oh my god???? aotearoa oh my god

first ever world cup win. finally earning it as world cup hosts, in front of the biggest ever football crowd in their country’s history, against fucking norway. norway who are starting a fucking ballon d’or winner, who are one of only 4 countries to ever win the world cup, and who are ranked 14 places higher than them. holy shit, the ferns

[andromedasummer]

secondhand bookshops rule so hard esp my fav one in town. there are such specific sections for everything. in the scifi shelves theyve organized things by space sci-fi, sea sci-fi, dystopia etc. there's a paranormal romance section in the romance section. they have 3 shelves longer than i am tall dedicated to the star trek novelizations organized by series and 3 under that dedicated to dragonlance books. i went to look at their craft section and they had subsections for eras and styles of embroidery. i can look for motorsport books by series or manufacturer without coming across top gear books or car manuals, which have their own sections. i can find poetry by nz poets in their own bookcase and books by māori authors all over the shop because they've been marked by a specific tag on the binding.

[bakuvex]

Quick fisherman Grian (giant wellingtons is peach fashion trust me i was fishing since I was 8)

[bunniesandbeheadings]

If napoleon had a Death Star, which of these problems could he still not solve?

[reasonsforhope]

"A coral reef with flourishing marine life has been discovered off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands.

A scientific expedition traced the 1.2-mile-long (2km) reef to the top of an underwater mountain formed by volcanic activity - 400m (1,300ft) deep.

Ecuador's environment minister, Jose Davalos, said the exploration team "found the first totally pristine coral reef... on the summit of a submarine mountain".

The previously unknown underwater colony comes as a surprise to scientists, who believed only one reef existed in the volcanic archipelago - Wellington - along the coast of the tiny Darwin Island.

Reefs in the area were severely degraded during El Niño weather in 1982-83 when the ocean surface warmed to devastating levels.

However, the newly discovered reef survived the event and has more than 50% living coral.

Mr. Davalos tweeted: "Galapagos surprises us again."

Senior marine researcher at the Charles Darwin Foundation and expedition participant, Stuart Banks, said: "This is very important at a global level because many deepwater systems are degraded."

He added the coral dated back several thousand years.

Ecuador expanded the Galapagos marine reserve by more than 20,000 square miles last year to protect endangered migratory species between the archipelago and Cocos Island in Costa Rica. Many endangered animals live on the islands including giant tortoises, albatrosses and cormorants."

-via Sky News UK, 4/18/23

[tloaak]

today we lost the great Efeso Collins, during a charity event to raise funds for clean drinking water for children in the pacific. here is his incredible parliamentary maiden speech from just last week (transcript below). i encourage you to listen, and if you can, donate to childfund's water fund here

Tēnā koe, Mr Speaker. Mai i ngā hau o Ōtāhuhu-nui-a-Rangi, o Maungarei, o Motukaroa; mai i ngā awa o Hikuwaru, o Tāmaki e rere ki te Waitematā, kei te Mānukanuka-o-Hoturoa, ko Kaiwhare, ko Taramainuku kua tau, kua tau ki ngā whenua o Ngāti Toa Rangatira, o Taranaki Whānui ki Te Ūpoko o Te Ika. Tēnā anō tatou.

[From the winds of Ōtāhuhu, of Mount Wellington, of Hamlin's Hill; from the rivers of Hikuwaru, of Tāmaki flowing to the Waitematā, to the Mānukau Harbour; Kaiwhare and Taramainuku have arrived, have arrived to the lands of Ngāti Toa Rangatira, of Taranaki Whānui in the Wellington region. Greetings to us all.]

E fakatālofa atu ki te māmālu o koutou na tamāna ma na mātua, vena foki na uho ma tuafāfine kua mafai ke fakatahi i te po nei. Vikia te Atua ko tātou kua mafai ke fakatahi venei. Mālo ma fakafetai.

Fai mai ina ua teʻi ae Iakopo i le mea sa moe ai, ona ia fai ane lea, e moni lava e i ai Ieova i le mea nei. E moni lava e i ai Ieova i le mea nei. Faafetai le Atua aua e le faaitiitia lou viiga. Ua ifo i ati malie tuʻumoega o le taeao le sa tafa i vanu tafaoga o manu sisina, ae sa faalepa le au pea, sa fili ma le manoa le fetu taʻimatagi, ae sei faalaolao le puli matagi aua ua nofoia vao tutuʻi i le malumalu ma nuʻu malumau o le maota.

Ou te le fagota la i le sao aua ua uma ona fili le utu ma uu le vao fofou. Fai mai le matematega nai tumua, ua pei o se iʻa e moemauga o le atuolo, o foliga matagofie ia ma le maualuga, maualuga lava o lenei aso aisea, ae a lea ua malutaueʻe le tiʻa sa maluʻia, ua tapu lalaga foʻi le vaʻa o le Tuimanʻua mamana ua atoa laʻau i fogaʻa.

Faafetai le Atua le Tama, le Alo ma le Agaga Sa, aua sa tu i Fagalilo tapaau o le alataua, ae sa matemate foʻi aiga sa Tagaloa pe tua ma ni a lenei aso. Ae faafetai i le Atua, aua ua tepa i ula, tagaʻi i ula, foʻi atu lou viiga e faavavau. Faafetai i le tapuaʻiga a oʻu matua ma oʻu aiga, faafetai tele i matua o si oʻu toʻalua ma ona aiga, i le latou lagolago aemaise talosaga molia. Faafetai i uo ma e masani, aemaise o le paʻia o le aufaigaluega totofi a le Atua, i soʻo se fata faitaulaga—Faafetai tatalo. Ae faapitoaugafa saʻu faafetai i si oʻu toalua Finevasa Fia aemaise si aʻu fanau pele Tapuiela ma Asalemo faafetai tatalo, malo le onosaʻi. Ae tapuaʻi maia ma le manuia.

Mr Speaker, it is an indescribable feeling to stand up and address this House. As a son of Samoan immigrants who made the mighty Ōtara 274—Southside hard—their home, I am well aware of the giants whose shoulders I stand on and the masters whose feet I learnt at. The courage, foresight, entrepreneurial spirit, and hope of our ancestors who journeyed thousands of years ago through the vast waters of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa brings me here today.

My parents arrived in New Zealand in the early 1960s, told that this was the land of milk and honey. Dad started off as a taxi driver with South Auckland Taxis, and mum on the factory floor at New Zealand Forest Products in Penrose. We lived in a four-bedroom State house on Preston Road in Ōtara, and I attended local schools: East Tāmaki Primary, Ferguson Intermediate, and the great Tangaroa College. We're forever grateful for the State house that was our home for around 20 years, and the quality public education we received from our local State schools.

I did try my hand for a short period at a decile 10 school outside of Ōtara, but that experiment lasted only two weeks. It was during the time in the late 1980s, when families from poorer areas were being discouraged from going to local schools because they weren't considered up to scratch. I'm glad we changed course and decided to high school it in Ōtara, where the motto of our school was "Waiho i te tokā tu Moana"—"Steadfast like a rock in the sea".

Later, at university, I went on to write my Master's dissertation on brown flight, critiquing the Picot reforms that have wreaked havoc on our public schooling system. That period was also a challenging time for my family because we were being told by our teachers to stop speaking Samoan at home and only to speak English. My parents didn't want us to fail at school, so we were allowed to speak English at home and over time we stopped speaking Samoan altogether. In the end, I lost my language. I struggled, I was embarrassed, and I felt incomplete. Even speaking to you in Samoan this evening gives me major tremors.

There's a saying in Samoan: "E le tu fa'amauga se tagata"—no one stands alone, no one succeeds alone—and, for me, no one suffers alone. Over the past years, with the support of my family and friends, I've taken to trying to converse again in Samoan, reading more texts in Samoan, praying in Samoan, and sending our youngest to a local Samoan early childhood centre. Our beautiful language, Gagana Samoa, has returned to our home and is helping to overcome the inadequacy that had taken root in my soul.

As I speak this evening, I'm mindful of the many young people who are navigating these at times treacherous and unsettled waters in life, filled with so much potential, energy, and hope, yet too often misunderstood. In my time as a youth worker in South Auckland, I've spoken with hundreds of young people with massive dreams for the future. We need youth workers, we need social workers, and we need mentors to walk alongside our young people, and, yes, we want our youth to be responsible and caring and considerate. So it's our job in this House to resource the people and organisations who will model the behaviour to them that we expect, but who also won't give up on them and won't come with a saviour mentality.

Many of our societal challenges are driven by poverty. We can achieve greater social cohesion and lift our sense of belonging by addressing poverty. I've been honoured to run youth mentoring programmes for nearly 25 years—that's about how old I am—and to this day I mentor young people. When we undertook and published research on youth gangs some years ago, the youth we spoke to had the solutions and just needed the means to make it happen. Too many of our young people are filling our prisons, and it is wasted human potential. Give them the tools, the resources, and the means to make a meaningful contribution to the world, and they will. I was at a conference recently about the threats to democracy and an attendee spoke about their work in developing nations and used the familiar retort, "You can't eat democracy." And I couldn't agree more. This House, this centre of democracy, needs to do more to engage our people, all of our people, so that they can see this House is not just relevant but an essential part of their lives.

The greatest challenge facing our generation is climate change. The Pacific Islands nations are among the most vulnerable to climate change in the world. The world's continued reliance on fossil fuels, loss of coral reefs, rising sea levels, and increasing severe weather patterns means that our extended whānau in the Pacific are in immediate danger. We, as a collective, must do all we can to do as we say out south "flip the script". Truth is, those who've done the least to create this predicament are being the hardest hit. Our challenges, whether ecological, geopolitical, or cultural, are diverse, but we're bonded by the inextricable ties we have to our lands and our oceans. We've inherited philosophies, knowledge systems, and profound ecological wisdom that holds the answers and drives our collective resilience—from West Papua to Hawai'i. Our fight for a climate resilient, nuclear-free and independent Pacific remains as strong as ever. We are not drowning; we are fighting.

I haven't come to Parliament to learn—learning happens as a matter of course through reflection. I've come to this House to help. Helping is a deliberate act. I'm here to help this Government govern for all of New Zealand, and I'm here to open the door, enabling our communities to connect better with this House. During the election campaign, I spoke to people frustrated about their lot in life, scared for their and their children's futures, and feeling their dreams were slipping away. The people I spoke to expect the Government to do more and move faster. And I know that there are some in this House who believe Government is not the answer to these challenges and that less Government is better. But here's the thing: the Government cannot be a bystander to people suffering confusion and disenfranchisement. New Zealand must close the divide between those who have and those who have not, because the reality for my community is that those who have more money often wield more power, more health, more housing, more justice, more access, more canopy cover, more lobbyists with swipe cards, and more time. And the opposite is true for those who have fewer resources.

It's hard to be poor, it's expensive to be poor, and moreover, public discourse is making it socially unacceptable to be poor. Whether it's bashing on beneficiaries, dragging our feet towards a living wage, throwing shade on school breakfast programmes, or restricting people's ability to collectively bargain for fairer working conditions, we must do better to lift aspirations and the lived realities of all our people. To that end, I want to say to this House with complete surety that the neoliberal experiment of the 1980s has failed. The economics of creating unemployment to manage inflation is farcical when domestic inflation in New Zealand has been driven by big corporates making excessive profits. It's time to draw a line in the sand, and alongside my colleagues here in Te Pāti Kākāriki, we've come as the pallbearers of neoliberalism, to bury these shallow, insufferable ideas once and for all. And this, sir, is our act of love.

Paolo Freire, in his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, said love is an act of courage, not fear; love is a commitment to others. No matter where the oppressed are found, the act of love is a commitment to their cause, the cause of liberation. The most recent election campaign left many in our Māori communities bruised and targeted for the perceived privileges supposedly bestowed upon them. Shared governance is a rich concept about how we include those who've been excluded for far too long in the work of this House and the democratic institutions that are fundamental to our collective wellbeing. We are Tangata Tiriti and we have nothing to fear. As a New Zealand-born Samoan living in South Auckland, I've experienced, written about, and spoken about racism in this country. I've also been on a well-publicised journey in understanding the needs and views of our rainbow communities, and I have a long way to go. And my message to whānau who often experience the sharp end of discrimination—disabled, ethnic, rainbow, brown, seniors, and neurodiverse—is thank you for trusting us with the responsibility of facilitating a new discussion on how we move forward together and make possible what was once deemed impossible.

The American civil rights activist James Baldwin said, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." We commit to working across this House as a nation and with each other irrespective of our post code, income bracket, skin colour, or level of qualification attained. But, in order for that work, we must come with humility, the desire to listen, and dare I say it, maybe speaking last. If I was to inspire anyone by getting to this House and my work over the next three years, I hope that it's the square pegs, the misfits, the forgotten, the unloved, the invisible—it's the dreamers who want more, expect more, are impatient for change, and have this uncanny ability to stretch us further.

[rivalsforlife]

Ace Attorney News Roundup

Very behind on several of these, but news doesn't always cross over from twitter to tumblr, so I thought I'd recap some things here:

AAI 15th Anniversary

First: today marks the 15th anniversary of Ace Attorney Investigations! Tatsuro Iwamoto, the art director for AAI, made a celebratory sketch of Kay to commemorate the occasion (link to tweet):

Iwamoto has also been drawing fanart of minor characters throughout the ace attorney trilogy on his twitter page. These include: April May, Dee Vasquez, Yanni Yogi (and Polly), Richard Wellington, Turner Grey, Moe the Clown, Max Galactica, Oldbag (alien mode), Matt Engarde, Doug Swallow, Luke Atmey (and Mask☆DeMasque), Viola Cadaverini, Valerie Hawthorne, Lisa Basil, and Glen Elg. Technically these aren't official art, but it's always good to have more art of obscurer characters!

The Great Ace Attorney Hit A Million Copies

Some big news: The Great Ace Attorney's 2021 port hit a million copies sold, making it the second ace attorney game to hit Capcom's platinum titles list, the first being the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trilogy from 2019! This comes just under 3 years since the release of the duology in July 2021. In comparison, the original AA trilogy hit a million copies in December 2020, shortly under two years since the release of the game in February 2019.

The update to the platinum titles sales shows that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy has reached 3.3 million copies sold, which means that it has sold over a million copies in less than a year! (My last post that had information on sales, where I said the trilogy had sold 2.3 million, was in September 2023.) It also makes it the 30th highest selling title for Capcom, which I think is pretty impressive considering giants like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter are making up the majority of the top 30.

So, the AA trilogy made its first million in approximately 22 months, but now it has sold a million over the last 8 months. I don't know anything about game sales and so this next part is just speculation, but I wouldn't expect it to be very common for games to sell more years out from their release compared to at release? I think that's really saying something about the long-term staying power of this series, and its increasing popularity over the last few years despite not having any new releases (aside from ports - and porting the series to all platforms probably has something to do with the popularity.)

The AA Twitter Is Very Active Right Now

Here are a couple of bullet points with no relation to each other:

-The official ace attorney twitter has been VERY active, particularly the last week. They've been doing the same "weekly book club" for each case that they did for the Great Ace Attorney duology, but that wrapped up last week and now it's just been memes, at least one a day. In most of my time following this account over the last uhh six years, they mostly ramp up marketing around new releases but are kinda silent the rest of the time, with the occasional meme, but definitely not at this frequency.

-Summer Game Fest is next week.

That probably means nothing, as it has every other time I thought we might get some big ace attorney news, but I think it's worth noting.

So, lots of stuff happened this week! Thanks for reading.

[aeriona]

This took forever, but here is Harlow’s Salmon Running team!

EVP Grizzco. Employees often work in tight-knit teams of 4-7, depending on stage size and the pre-calculated hazard level.

This team has gone through a quite a few members over the years (through quitting or unfortunate, salmonid-related circumstances), but they still remain one of the most reliable teams in the Splatlands.

From left to right:

Delle Enigmata (Hawaiian Bobtail Squid), a relatively new member to the team with a background in automotive mechanics. She can quickly fix weapons and gear when they're in a pinch.

Lucien or “Lucy” Vespinia (Emperor squid), originally from the Deepsea Metro, they’re also an unlicensed helicopter pilot. They help take out boss salmonids on the shoreline, they manually count every flyfish they've ever shot since their first deployment.

Harlow Wellington (New Zealand Arrow Squid), best girl, she’s been Salmon Running for most of her life now. It's rough. Her fast swimming speed makes her great for collecting eggs.

Tangle Longfin (Caribbean Reef Squid), being denied from the military for his hearing loss, he opted to work for Grizzco. instead. He's quite resilient and can handle hordes pretty well.

Cherry Dofeini (Giant Pacific Octopus), A former high-ranking officer in the Octarian Army, she ran away to the Splatlands. Her understanding of the Inkling language is limited, but she's likeable and gets the job done.

[czenzo]

Watch Out for Skull – Chapter 1

[ao3] chapter links: [ 1 ] [ 2 ]

summary: Lucy takes on a cat-sitting job for a stranger, hoping for a quiet week in a nice London flat, with free food, no bills, and enough time to finish an art commission. But the cat is a menace, and the stranger’s friend is ridiculously charming—and a huge distraction.

rating: T words: 1,669

note: heyy it's me again back with ANOTHER au with Skull as a cat, because it's so damn fun to write. a huge shoutout to my friend @vryfmi for being the sweetest guy ever—his responses to the WIP snippets I shared and his amazing drawings of cat!Skull are things I keep going back to every time writer's block rears its ugly head again, so thank you vry! <3

“How do you feel about cats?”

Lucy looked up. “Cats?”

“Cats,” Holly repeated. She reached out one manicured hand to roll the die and move her piece across the board (Lucy was losing miserably, but it came as no surprise. Holly was a beast at board games). “My friend’s going on a trip this weekend and is looking for someone to cat-sit for a week. He asked me first, but I’m terribly allergic.”

“Which friend?”

“Someone I know from school—George?”

Lucy shook her head. Holly had many connections from her school years (‘posh southern school’, as Lucy once called it, much to Holly’s chagrin) and Lucy was quite content with keeping her distance from them. “Never heard of him.”

“He’s an incredibly smart man. I think he’s going on some sort of research trip.”

As she mulled it over, Lucy rolled the die (a measly 1). “Will he pay?”

“Oh, yes. And he’s promised to stock his kitchen up with nice meals and baked goods.”

This caught her attention. “How long is he away for?”

“A week.”

“What’s the cat like?”

Holly cocked her head. “He’s… interesting.”

Lucy considered this. “And how’s George’s cooking?”

“To die for.”

“I’m sold.”

–––

Lucy checked her phone for the hundredth time.

She stood in front of the door to a flat, overcome with the feeling she was at the wrong place. There was no way an academic who ventures out on research trips would decorate his front door with a sign that said FUCK OFF, I’M WORKING, with a sticker beneath that said COME BACK WITH A WARRANT, right?

Someone loudly cleared their throat behind her. “You gonna knock, or what?”

Lucy whirled around to find a woman—or at least, she assumed it was a woman, but it was somewhat hard to tell beneath the obnoxiously bright puffer coat and wide-brimmed hat. She wasn’t dressed for the weather at all—or, perhaps, she was trying to dress for every single kind at once, if the wellington boots were anything to go by. One of them was tap tap tapping against the floor.

“Er—sorry,” Lucy said, heat flooding her face. “I wasn’t sure if I had the right address. Do you know if a guy named George lives here?”

From beneath the giant hat came a vaguely amused look. One wellington boot took a great big step over to the door, and out of a coat pocket came a fingerless-gloved hand which rapped against the door in a quick, much-too-loud tune. “Let’s find out.”

After a long moment of silent tension (in which Lucy considered whether the cat-sitting gig was worth suffering through the potential social humiliation of it being the wrong door), the door creaked open, revealing a bespectacled man with rather unkempt hair. He squinted at Lucy, but let out a smile upon spotting the puffer coat behind her.

“Flo,” he said in a simple greeting, before turning back to Lucy. “And you are…?”

“Lucy,” she said hurriedly, “Carlyle. I’m here for cat-sitting. We spoke over the phone?”

“Oh, yeah, of course. You’re Holly’s friend. I’m George, and”—an ear-splitting, impertinent meow came from behind him, making him wince—“and that’s Skull. Come in, both of you, but be careful. He’s not meant to go outside.”

“That’s understandable,” Lucy said as she squeezed through the gap he left with the ajar door. “The city can be quite dangerous for cats.”

“Oh, it’s not that I’m worried about. He’s just so fucking annoying, I’d get endless complaints from the neighbours.” George paused. "And, yeah. He'd probably get squashed by a car in the first five minutes.

“He’s a little shit,” the woman—presumably Flo—said as she entered after Lucy.

“Holly did say he was… interesting.”

“That’s one word for him,” George grimaced. “But it’s why I offer food and money for it. Can’t complain about an attention-seeking cat when your mouth’s full of a good curry.”

A small, dark mass circled George’s legs. Skull was a rather lithe cat, and remarkably swift, but what most caught Lucy’s attention was the peculiar markings on his face. Amidst the short, black fur was a cluster of white patches, making his face look like—

“Ah,” Lucy said. “I understand the name now.”

George scooped the black hole into his arms—his sleeves rucked up, revealing an array of undeniably claw-shaped scratches etched across his skin—and gave him a blank stare. Skull stared back, then looked at Lucy, and let out another long yowl.

Both George and Flo frowned.

“He’s usually dead quiet,” Flo said, reaching a hand into her hat to scratch.

Skull continued to stare at Lucy and let out a series of little chirps before wiggling out of George’s grip. Lucy rested her art case—a large, terribly inconvenient thing to carry on the tube, but it was the only thing that would carry all the supplies she needed to work on her current commission—against the wall to free her hands, which she held out to Skull to show him her scent. He gingerly sniffed them before letting out another strange noise.

“He’s usually completely silent,” George agreed. “I’ve never seen him like this before.”

“Does that mean he likes her or hates her?”

George mulled this over. “Maybe both. But before you have a chance to scamper, Lucy, let me show you the kitchen and the freezer stuffed with Tupperware.”

He wasn’t kidding; the freezer truly was jam-packed with servings of various home-cooked meals, ready to be reheated and scoffed. In the fridge was a Swiss roll, freshly baked this morning with the cream still setting, and on the counter was a cooling loaf of bread.

Flo scoffed. “Bloody hell, have you even had time to pack or have you lived in the kitchen for the past week?”

“I’m a master at time management, thank you very much. Use anything you want in this kitchen, Lucy. Also, feel free to use my room for your art stuff. I tidied best I could, but frankly I don’t really care if you get paint anywhere." He eyed her over the rim of his glasses. "As long as it doesn’t get on my comics.”

Lucy blinked in disbelief. A whole week in a nice flat, with a fully-stocked kitchen, no bills or rent, just for looking after one little cat? She couldn’t help feeling like she was swindling this poor man.

George talked her through Skull’s feeding times—a pouch of wet food in the morning, a bowl of biscuits in the evening, be sparing with treats or he’ll just start begging for them 24/7—and pointed out his favourite spots to cause mischief.

“If he gets on the bookshelf, try and get him down, or he’ll gnaw on my books. Also, try and keep him away from the kitchen in general, if you can. He once somehow turned on the hob and almost burnt the place down. And never leave food unattended for long, because he will gobble it all up in a second flat—shit, I need to put that loaf away, actually. Oh, and he can be very trigger-happy with his claws. Try not to startle him.”

Lucy nodded along, wondering if she should be making a note of all this, until George pointed to the small table in the kitchen. “It’s all written on there, in case you forget.”

“…On the table?”

“The cloth,” George clarified. “That reminds me…” He rummaged around in a cupboard and produced a pen, which he handed to Flo. She took it from him with glee and made a beeline to the table. “She likes to leave something on it every time she visits. It’s practically tradition, now. Don’t draw another dick, Flo, be more creative.”

“Fuck off. I’m drawing another dick.”

Lucy felt a weight against her shin and looked down to find Skull head-butting her. When he caught her eye, he let out another yowl.

“That really is weird,” George mused. “You’ve got my number, just in case. The numbers for the vet and their emergency line are on the fridge, too.”

Lucy sucked her teeth. “Hopefully I won’t need those.”

“Nah. You’ll be alright.” He pointed to Skull. “Don’t be a knob. I’ll only be gone for a week.”

Skull head-butted Lucy’s leg again.

Flo rucked up one puffy sleeve to reveal a watch. “We need to get a move-on. Train’s leaving soon.”

“Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute.”

“Oh, are you going with him?” Lucy said, glancing between the two of them. Holly had mentioned George had a research partner. She was certain they were shagging—though she’d phrased it in a politer, more Holly way (something along the lines of “more than platonic”, or “having intimate relations”, or a similarly silly roundabout way of saying it). It only just dawned on Lucy that this may be the shagging research partner in question.

“Yeah. He’d be lost without me.”

“I heard that!” George called from the bedroom. He emerged soon after, sporting a large bag on his back not dissimilar to the one currently weighing Flo down. Stood together, they were an interesting, but definitely odd pair.

Lucy narrowed her eyes. Yeah, she could see it.

She followed them as they waddled to the door, eyes bright and ready to make new contributions to the academic world.

Flo reached for the handle, but George held up a hand in warning. “Watch out for Skull.”

Right on cue, the creature sped for the door. He attempted to whizz through Lucy’s legs, but in one swift motion, she plucked him off the floor and into her arms. In response, he looked her dead in the eyes and screamed.

“Oh, that was smooth,” George said, with a hint of admiration. “Yeah, you’ll be just fine.”

She waved them off down the hallway as George reminded her to call if anything went wrong.

Then suddenly, she was alone.

Skull cried out again and butted her arm.

Well, not quite.

end note: don't worry, Lockwood fans—he may not be present now, but trust me when I say those lanky legs appear in literally every chapter after this one thanks for reading! comments/reblogs are always appreciated, and my ask box is always open! :)

[airandangels]

I regret to inform you that this guy is moving across the ditch, where I’m sure he’ll be enjoyed.

Let’s all give him a big hand.

[gaslightgatekeepgirlbosscombat]

Group A, Round 2, Poll 1:

Propaganda under the cut

Emma Frost

Telepath, which is *the* gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss superpower, especially when you’re a supervillain! Emma’s rich, grew up rich, left her shitty abusive homophobic dad, and then proceeded to lie steal manipulate and leave brain dead everyone in her way to become a millionaire and one of the heads of the rich people kink club that secretly runs the world. Yes this is 100% canon since 1980 thank Chris Claremont. She’s a Bitch (affectionate, self identified). She mindwipes people all the dang time. She once blew up a horse to convince a teenager to murder her coworker. She is girlbossing so close to the sun (Dark Phoenix) she ends up comatose and nearly dead like multiple times and then just gets up and keeps Girlbossing! Her secondary power is to turn into literal diamond, which she learns after she’s like the only survivor of a six-million person genocide, and then uses entirely to fuck people up. I’d say she’s definitely girlboss 1st, there are no limits to the things she can’t girlboss, and her real superpower is being rich and ruthless, gaslight 2nd, because she is a telepath who constantly manipulated people for fun, and then gatekeeper 3rd, because, well, she is trying to build a community for all mutants, so her hate keeping is very much telling humans to fuck off (when not manipulating them for money) but justified gatekeeping is still gatekeeping. Kick Tony Stark and Carol Danvers off your property when they try and moralize at you Queen.

She’s a mutant telepath who started off as a super villain and now uses that bitchiness and moral grayness to serve her ethnostate…for the children

She's da blue print babeey

Lady Ethel Mallory

Lady Ethel is the marketing specialist for an evil corporation that's trying to put everyone in these dreaming boxes, all of her broadcasts are about how the boxes are great and the company is great and it's a whole nice family in there but it's just fake dreams and she also met with the guy that put people's ghosts (including his son) into a bunch of instruments to make an army and she wanted his methods of doing that, great lengths are taken to keep everyone in the dreaming boxes, all of her broadcasts are hijacking the actual narrators broadcast, and she's really tall/has sharp teeth/big heart shaped sunglasses/and has giant flies for pets and surveillance. seems pretty gaslight/gatekeep/girlboss to me

Important Lady Ethel facts you need to know: -She's 9ft tall ...nope, that's it, that's all you need to know.

she's the marketing executive of a company that gaslights millions of people a day. She is IN CHARGE OF THE GASLIGHTING DEPARTMENT. She is also in charge of writing the gatekeeping guidlines. There is no character on this planet more gaslight gatekeep girlboss than her

artist: @ a-duck-of-wellington

[rulers-of-the-sky]

Giant statute of the extinct Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei) "greeting" travelers at Wellington airport.

[artemis-potnia-theron]

UPG things I personally associate with different deities -

(color, flower, food, animal, song)

☀️ Apollon:

- Orange

- Daffodils

- Glazed donuts

- Cardinals

- 'Inkpot Gods' by The Amazing Devil

🌙 Artemis:

- Gold

- Dandelions

- Crawfish boils

- Wild horses

- 'The Horror and the Wild' by The Amazing Devil

🗝 Hekate:

- Silver

- Lavender

- Gumbo

- Possums

- 'Black Water' by Reuben And The Dark

🐉 Tiamat:

- Ebony

- Irises

- Squid ink pasta

- Blue whales

- 'God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot' by Buffy Sainte-Marie

🌹 Aphrodite:

- Periwinkle

- Carnations

- Oysters on half shell

- Seahorses

- 'Love Like This' by Lauren Daigle

🧚🏼‍♀️ Aine:

- Teal

- Wisteria

- Candied apples

- Hummingbirds

- 'Flowers in my Hair' by Wes Reeve

🔥 Brigid:

- Maroon

- Sunflowers

- Shepherd's pie

- Rabbits

- 'The Bones' by Maren Morris

🐦‍⬛ The Morrigan:

- Crimson

- Jasmine

- Stuffed peppers

- Turkey vultures

- 'White Winter Hymnal' by the Fleet Foxes

⚔️ Ares:

- Bronze

- Snapdragons

- Beef wellington

- Hippopotamus

- 'Lion' by Saint Mesa

🐈‍⬛ Bast:

- Magenta

- Hydrangeas

- Sushi

- Mountain lions

- 'Metaphor' by The Crane Wives

🏵 Freyja:

- Violet

- Peonies

- Chocolate

- Parrots

- 'Dance in the Graveyards' by Delta Rae

🦢 Caer Ibormeith:

- Ivory

- Water lilies

- Angel food cake

- Herons

- 'Winter Song' by Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles

🌌 Nyx:

- Dark blue

- Orchids

- French onion soup

- Fruit bats

- 'Saturn' by Sleeping at Last

🌾 Demeter:

- Chestnut

- Cornflowers

- Eggplant parmesan

- Foxes

- 'Hallelujah' by Leonard Cohen

🥀 Persephone:

- Indigo

- Baby's-Breath

- Jambalaya

- Owls

- 'The Rockrose and the Thistle' by The Amazing Devil

🦁 Kybele:

- Burgundy

- Daisies

- Kebabs

- Elephants

- 'Sleeping Giants' by The Crane Wives