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catdotjpeg · 7 months

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The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ordered the owners and operators of 14 Bay Area Subway restaurants, including six in Sonoma County and three in Napa, to pay employees nearly $1 million in back wages and damages.

In a rare action, the consent order — meaning all parties agree to its directives — also requires the owners to sell or shut down their businesses by Nov. 27, a term the U.S. Department of Labor said it insisted upon to resolve the case.

The actions against John Meza and his wife, Jessica Meza, follows a Press Democrat investigation that revealed a long trail of abuses by the Subway franchisees.

Federal investigators confirmed much of the reporting, finding that the Mezas directed children as young as 14 and 15 to use dangerous equipment and assigned minors to work hours not permitted by law; failed to pay employees their wages regularly, including by issuing them hundreds of bad checks; and illegally kept tips left by customers.

“Thanks to some very brave young people who stood up to their employers’ exploitation and attempts to intimidate them, the Department of Labor and a federal court are holding these business owners accountable,” Ruben Rosalez, the department’s wage and hour regional administrator in San Francisco, said in a statement.

One of those young people sounded satisfied to hear the news.

“Honestly, I’m just grateful something has actually been done,” said Lorenza Tapia, one of three students at San Antonio High School in Petaluma who first spoke to The Press Democrat about their troubling experience working at local Subways. “People haven’t been paid their money. This feels pretty good.”

A year after her last day punching out at Subway, Tapia is still trying to make sense of her treatment there. She went to work at 15 to help support her single mother and three younger siblings.

“Who wants to take advantage of a kid like that, who is trying to work hard, out there trying to do something?” she asked Friday. “Studying and working is pretty hard.”

The consent judgment and permanent injunction, signed by U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria on Wednesday, orders the Mezas and their limited liability corporations, Crave Brands and MZS Enterprises, to pay 184 workers a total of $475,000 in minimum wage, overtime and tips, and an equal amount in liquidated damages. The agreement also stipulates they must pay $150,000 in penalties.

Investigators found the employers interfered with the Wage and Hours Division’s review by coercing employees not to cooperate, and by threatening children who raised concerns or tried to exercise their legal rights. The Mezas and their site manager, Hamza “Mike” Ayesh, are ordered to pay $12,000 in punitive damages for threatening at least one employee who had complained about a payroll check bouncing.

John Meza, Jessica Meza and Mike Ayesh did not respond Friday to requests for comment.

The money owed by the defendants will begin accruing interest at an annual rate of 10% beginning Sept. 27, 2024. Any proceeds for the Mezas from a business sale under the order must be forwarded to the Department of Labor.

How much money eventually winds up in the hands of the affected teenagers and young adults, many of them immigrants or the children of immigrants, remains to be seen.

“Any payments will be subject to my client’s ability to pay, which is quite modest for the foreseeable future,” Arkady Itkin, the defendants’ attorney, said in an email.

It is noted in the judgment that the Mezas and Ayesh have asserted “under penalty of perjury that they, collectively, cannot produce more than $12,000 in cash funds as of September 25, 2023.”

Under the agreement, the Mezas cannot open another Subway franchise or other food franchise for three years.

People directly impacted by the wage theft were pleased by that provision.

“Either way, if they have to close stores or give them up, that’s a big thing,” said Ein Hill, a Rohnert Park resident who worked at the Cotati Subway franchise for several months earlier this year and wound up being owed close to $4,000 in unpaid wages.

Hill, 21, said he did eventually receive a couple of checks that did not bounce, but they fell far short of what was owed to him. The experience has colored his view of employers.

“It’s nerve wracking anytime you’re gonna go work for someone,” he said. “You always worry it might happen again.”

Not long before the three San Antonio High students went to work for John Meza, three of his companies — Crave Brands, MZS Enterprises and Apex Brands — received just under $190,000 in federal pandemic-era loans, according to data from the U.S. Small Business Administration. That money was meant to keep employees in their jobs. About $66,000 of Meza’s Paycheck Protection Program debt was forgiven by the U.S. government.

In 2011, Meza was sentenced in Contra Costa County Superior Court to 120 days in jail and $163,000 in fines for two felony counts related to tax evasion. He and Jessica Meza were accused of failing to report $800,000 in income, and opening a bank account using fake Social Security numbers to hide earnings.

If working for the Mezas and their company was a bitter introduction to the labor market for the affected teenagers, the Labor Department action was seen by some as a more satisfying lesson — in the power of self-advocacy.

“Even though they didn’t mention my name, I know deep down that thanks to something I said, it helped a lot of people,” Tapia said.

-- "Bay Area Subway franchisee fined $1 million, ordered to sell businesses after wage theft investigation" by Phil Barber for The Press Democrat, 29 Sep 2023

#labor rights #santa rosa #windsor #cotati #petaluma #napa #vallejo #san pablo #concord #clayton #antioch #california

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avenuetattmo-blog · 1 year

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Cris’s work! Follow @cfarwelltattoos @anchorrosetattoo #avenuetattoo #anchorrosetattoo . . . . . . . . . #tattooshopsantarosa #sonomacountytattoo #ssu #srjc #sonomastate #sonomacounty #northbaytattoos #explorepage #floraltattoo #anchorrosetattoo #trad #bayareatattoo #tradworkers #tradition #flowerstagram #bayareatattoo #cotati #rohnertpark #windsor #petaluma #sonoma #healdsburg #sebastapol #novato #bayarea #northbay #anchortattoo #flowers #allseeingeyetattoo #avenuetattoo #anchorrosetattoo #classic (at Anchor Rose Tattoo) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqLt-AcvQa0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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hho7hvfgxyok15 · 1 year

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Orgasm with carrot insertion♡Japanese Amateur Hentai Sex Filthy white bitch pleases a bunch of big black cocks Cougar likes big tit teen Sensual babe toys pussy with huge dildos solo Attractive tiny teen craves for huge dick in her twat Gay teen boy ass videos xxx Trick Or Treat PISSING in Panties, WETTING PANTIES, Pee in Doggy Style, Sexy White Lingerie Skinny teen writhes on webcam Desi wife mast chudai Seizing the moment with my horny stepsister, before she changes her mind

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divineconversations · 2 years

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Accordion Festival - Bonny Meyer 🌿 DiVine Conversations

Accepting an invitation to The Cotati Accordion Festival introduced me to an international cornucopia of music. The tunes ranged from Classical to Texas Country tunes, Polka, Zydeco, French country, Mariachi classics, Tango and more. The festival was way more fun and the music way more diverse than I had imagined. I am definitely returning next year!

#AccordionFestival #Cotati #PerfectlyPaired #StorybookRomance #NapaValley #BonnyMeyer #JustinMeyer #BonnyVineyard #Vineyard #ConsciousAwareness #MeyerFamilyCellars #SacredRelationship #SilverOak #Cabernet #Wine #California

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thebibliomancer · 8 months

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Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #39: UPSET!

December, 1988

Swordsman’s Corpse: “So, Avengers, you thought you’d buried me for good, but you were wrong -- DEAD WRONG!”

Damn but if this isn’t the type of cover I love. A superhero team reacting to something and with dialogue right on the cover.

This is also the end of Englehart’s run. Or half of this is the end of Englehart’s run. I’ll get into it.

Lets last time so we can dig in.

Last time on West Coast Avengers: Well, directly last time Wonder Man just sat remembering stuff we’ve never seen before for the entire issue.

But in a broader sense.

Mockingbird hiding some cowboy manslaughter blew up in her face when the ghost of the cowboy revealed it to her husband/boss Hawkeye. Irreconcilable differences ensued and Mockingbird quit and took half the team with her. Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Mantis cycled in so the West Coast Avengers wouldn’t just be two sad dudes. Also, Mantis is here now. She has amnesia and wants the Avengers to help her find the son she may or may not have. Its pretty potent amnesia.

But in a narrower sense, last time, after Wonder Man remembered some new stuff for a while, the Quinjet started crashing.

As the Quinjet tumbles, rattling the Avengers around like peas in a tin there’s one of those action scenes I can’t help but love. Where each member of the team does their own thing in a situation.

Here, Mantis just has the reflexes to grab onto the seat belt that she should have had buckled. Scarlet Witch can use her hex to float in place long enough for Wonder Man to grab her using his belt jets. And Vision just intangibles enough to float but not so much he falls out of the Quinjet.

Good job everyone.

So what caused this aviation near-disaster?

Hawkeye was calling in a Savage Land report to the East Coast Avengers team (but who though?) and they said they’d already heard about it from Mockingbird.

And hearing Mockingbird’s (code)name was enough for this pre-divorcee to almost crash a jet into the ocean.

Hawkeye, I don’t think you’re okay.

I would also like to know who you spoke with since the East Coast Avengers disbanded thanks to Thor. Mostly Nebula and Dr Druid but some Thor.

There was an ad hoc team for the purposes of Evolutionary War and that’s going to get super funny in a second.

Wonder Man correctly guesses that Mockingbird somehow got involved in the Savage Land business and Hawkeye gets into a funk about it.

Vision asks whether the West Coast Avengers will work with the East Coast Avengers and Hawkeye goes “I’d rather not!”

His thought is that if Mockingbird’s group is already helping, the West Coast Avengers can get on with helping Mantis.

SO THE REASON WHY THE WEST COAST AVENGERS DIDN’T HELP THE AD-HOC AVENGERS AND DIDN’T RESPOND TO THE SPECIAL ALERT

was because Hawkeye felt it would be too awkward if his soon-to-be-ex-wife was there.

Fucking amazing.

Remember how a big deal was made out of the Avengers being so hard up for people responding to the super special emergency beacon that Yellowjacket II was a good option to bring along?

Turns out that the West Coast Avengers got the same alert and Hawkeye just ignored it.

The world was almost turned into furries because Hawkeye can’t be an adult.

Regarding helping Mantis, Scarlet Witch chimes in to say that if they’re doing that, they really need to stop in Paterson, New Jersey. They’ve been having Ma Williams watch the twins and one of them really should relieve her.

Scarlet Witch: “We don’t mean to slight your problem, Mantis!”

Mantis: “Of course not, Wanda! This one became the Celestial Madonna to have a child, though she doesn’t know now if she did or not! Naturally, you must see to yours!”

“As a potential mother, I understand your mother concerns. I potentially have a child!”

Cool contribution, Mantis.

Anyway. New Jersey!

Vision tells Ma Williams that they’re relocating to Los Angeles to join the Avengers and of course taking the kids. But Ma Williams is welcome to move with them.

Ma Williams: “I’m a little old to join the Avengers, Wanda -- and a little old to tear up my roots here! No, I’ll watch you on TV -- but don’t forget to call!”

Cool old lady.

Wanda takes the time to announce out loud to the audience and to Ma Williams, that she and Vizh aren’t going to sell their house in Leonia since they like it too much. But they will rent it out while they’re in LA.

Hawkeye gets so bummed out at seeing a family scene that he sighs and goes outside for some air.

Refusing to read the room, Mantis follows him and tells him that they can be miserable together.

Although she also insists that her misery is worse because she has no idea what she’s lost. Could be one-hundred children wondering where their mom is! So clearly she has it worse than Hawkeye who knows exactly what he lost out on by being too stubborn for couples counseling.

Thanks, Mantis.

The team jets out in the Quinjet but Wanda stays in New Jersey, probably to arrange the move.

And apparently she told Ma Williams all the hot goss because the old lady asks wasn’t that the Mantis homewrecker lady?

Which Wanda confirms but she’s not worried that Vision is going off with Mantis (and also Hawkeye and Wonder Man) because she trusts their marriage is solid.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Newark Airport, Tigra complains. Because the East Coast Avengers didn’t let them land at Hydrobase.

Considering the East Coast Avengers don’t exist right now...

Who do you guys keep talking to??

Giant-Man Bill Foster asks whether they should have helped fight against the High Evolutionary and Mockingbird says she doesn’t want to deal with Hawkeye if he showed up so she made the executive decision to skip the event.

Oh my god.

Both Hawkeye’s team and Mockingbird’s team decided helping stop the Gene Bomb was someone else’s problem and just went on with their day.

Amazing.

Giant-Man Bill Foster is still giant so Tigra asks... why? Bill explains the thing with the cancer. And being giant isn’t supposed to cure the cancer that should have already been cured. But all this extra mass from the mass dimension will replace his damaged tissue or something if he stays big long enough. Or something.

Look, they wanted the “stuck big” status quo for a size-changing character. That’s all.

Bill Foster Giant-Man takes off, going to find Hank Pym and help him cure his giant-brained wife. Aw, what a good friend.

Meanwhile, Moon Knight sounds racist by saying Giant-Man is not their kind. But what he means is that this is the murder is good group and Bill is too idealistic.

And they’ll need to be ruthless to stop Phantom Rider! Who is still totally haunting her and oh hey speak of the devil.

Seriously. Was he just hanging around invisibly waiting for someone to mention him so he could pop out and go boo?

This is a stupid way to spend an afterlife.

Tigra didn’t know about Mockingbird being haunted by Phantom Rider. She’s just confused by this new detail. I love her surprised kitty face.

She asks why Phantom Rider helped in Budapest if he’s a revenge-fueled dick but Phantom Rider said that was helping himself.

Phantom Rider: “I only pretended to help you, TIgra -- in order to destroy Barbara’s marriage!”

And then he shoots Tigra a whole bunch with ghost bullets.

What a dick.

The bullets don’t injure her. Because they’re ghostly. But she’s stunned.

Although, it’s unclear whether that’s an inherent property of them or whether getting shot a whole bunch will just throw you off your game.

Moon Knight tries to get Phantom Rider but the ghost punches him in the face and then has his horse kick him.

What a dick.

But getting clobbered knocks Moon Knight the fuck out and Khonshu pops out to play.

Which is actually good. Khonshu possessing Moon Knight can’t do a lot against a ghost. But freed of his meat puppet, he’s a lot more mighty.

Phantom Rider even recognizes it, fleeing when this new factor joins the battlefield. But he muses to himself that he wasn’t prepared for Khonshu this time but he’ll definitely be ready other times!

Unable to see Khonshu, Mockingbird comments that Phantom Rider sure fucked off a lot sooner than she expected.

Moon Knight wakes up and announces he knows how to solve Mockingbird’s Phantom Rider problem.

Over in Connecticut, the West Coast Avengers search the home of Mrs. Mandy Celestine trying to find clues about Mantis’s lost memories.

Mantis woke up in this house and Mandy Celestine is the kind of name Mantis, Celestial Madonna, might come up with if she had absolutely no imagination at all.

Which, I guess she doesn’t.

Someone knocks on the door so Mantis turns her green skin to be human Vietnamese/German skin tone instead to answer.

Yeah, she can do that. She just wants to be green. Are you going to tell her she can’t be green?

Anyway, it’s just the mailman needing her to sign for a package. And him recognizing her as Mrs. Celestine confirms she’s been living a life here.

So, that’s useful.

But Hawkeye is tired of this location and proposes they go and visit

The Vietnamese temple of the Priests of Pama.

Remember Mantis’ wacky backstory?

She was taken as a child and raised by the Priests of Pama (who were secretly Kree pacifists who were friends with tree people), trained in martial arts and MIND POWERS, mindwiped on her 18th birthday and given false memories of growing up as an orphan, before dumping her in a city where she eventually became a sex worker? This last part was essential because it meant she stayed humble unlike Moondragon. Or something. Anyway, she met Swordsman and swooned over the broken man, helped him clean himself up and join the Avengers, and then started trying to hit on Vision instead because he was emotionally unavailable.

Yadda yadda, Avengers stuff, Kang tries to figure out if Mantis, Scarlet Witch, or AGATHA HARKNESS is the Celestial Madonna by kidnapping them all and trying to decide which one he should date. Avengers stuff, Avengers stuff, Swordsman dies, Mantis learns she’s the Celestial Madonna, Immortus shows up to dump a whole bunch of exposition, Mantis marries a tree possessing her dead boyfriend in a double marriage with Vision and Scarlet Witch, then Mantis and Tree Boyfriend blast off into space.

God, Mantis’ life is weird.

So, remember how I said this is half of the end of Englehart’s run? Or I guess more specifically that half of this issue is the end of Englehart’s run?

Englehart himself has complained that half of this issue was re-written by editorial against his wishes. He has also complained that he was fired from West Coast Avengers supposedly for deadline issues but that also Marvel wouldn’t send him the pages he needed to work.

So I don’t even know if the back half of this book was even in Englehart’s script.

At least according to Englehart, Tom DeFalco had it out for him. And would do stuff like withhold the letters column.

Given that he also cites the missing text bubbles for Mantis in the previous annual, I dunno, he may be onto something.

That said.

If half of the book was rewritten, I’m guess that Marvel Unlimited pg 13 is where it starts. Because it has that hallmark of retcons.

The walls of text.

The West Coast Avengers and Mantis find where Swordsman was buried and have to clear the area since its overgrown. Hawkeye cracks a joke about the Priests of Pama not being much for lawn maintenance, perhaps forgetting the big plot point that they all died.

Wonder Man gets a bee in his bonnet about the specific way that the tree marriage and tree honeymoon played out, claiming that despite what everyone saw that day, it made a lot more sense that Swordsman’s body was just left to rot on Earth instead of being turned to energy.

And this is important because, somehow, Wonder Man has cracked this whole case wide open.

But first,

A corpse, of course.

I guess the body was left to rot. And not turned into pure thought or energy or whatever.

I hate it when Wonder Man is right about things.

Cotati Swordsman is here to Explain It All.

By stabbing Mantis.

She doesn’t much like that so she dodges out of the way and now there’s a fight. A fight that the West Coast Avengers jump into to protect their good friend Mantis.

Cotati Swordsman is one dude against a team and has a gimmicked up sword so he’s in full on stomp mode. Its like conservation of ninjas.

He shoots nerve gas out of the sword at Mantis that works on skin contact so she can’t just hold her breath. He hits Wonder Man with a force blast to mess up his ionic body. And when Vision blocks the disintegrator beam with a SOLAR BEAM, Cotati Swordsman just hits Vision with another force blast. Good enough for Wonder Man, etc.

Hawkeye is able to fight him for a bit due to his familiarity with the guy but the same is true reversed. Swordsman easily cuts a bunch of arrows out of the air.

Vision pops out of the grave intangible-style to grab Cotati Swordsman’s ankles so Wonder Man can try to disarm him.

But remember the conservation of ninja? Swordsman is able to bat Wonder Man out of the air with his sword - just the sword, not any of its built-in powers - and smack him into Vision.

Both fall against the Swordsman’s grave so Wonder Man can have a moment where he rehashes his fear of death.

Well, I guess fears don’t just go away.

Mantis recovers from the nerve gas and side kicks Cotati Swordsman.

Mantis: “You have something this one wants, Prime One -- desist in this pointless scuffle and deliver!”

I mean, she has a point. I looked ahead and there’s no reason he couldn’t just explain what he’s going to explain without all of this fight scene.

What he does do is promise what she wants is in the temple and baits her into following.

Then he traps her and throws his sword into her gut.

Oh no!

Good thing she has an extra guy!

So apparently the real Mantis has been buried alive in a grave this whole time.

Half of this book being an uncredited rewrite, I’m pretty sure this is a retcon.

Mantis going around in a plant simulacrum is from Englehart. In his Silver Surfer book, that’s how she was hanging around in space. Formed a body out of alien plants to go on space adventures.

But when she blew up and ‘died’ in the fight against the Elders, she woke up in her Connecticut home with AMNESIA. The implication is that the body in Connecticut was her real body because why wouldn’t it be? Why make this convoluted?

Well, we’re making it convoluted.

Also, Mantis is not green anymore. She could turn herself not green. But since this is her original body, I guess she’s just not green.

Except later, when she helps form the Guardians of the Galaxy. Where she’ll be green again.

Shrug.

Since Mantis has her memories back, she Explains It All.

After the tree wedding, Mantis and Prime Cotati ditched their bodies and flew off into space to fuck a Celestial Messiah into being.

Mantis: “Love, after all, is for souls, not bodies.”

Well, you clearly don’t know how fucking works. Because that’s very much for the bodies.

While Mantis and Prime Cotati are off in space fucking with their souls, the Priest of Pama bury the abandoned bodies.

The Priests of Pama were definitely dead by this point but we’re in uncredited rewrite territory. The goal is to wrap this up and fire Englehart.

After getting soul pregnant, Mantis returned to Earth to make herself a plant body because her special hybrid baby is part tree so needs a tree womb.

Sure!

Then the rest of what’s happened since the tree wedding happens.

Mantis gives birth to Sequoia, her future dirtbag son. She raises him in a Connecticut suburb so her former superhero life doesn’t disturb the air of tranquility she’s going for.

When Sequoia is old enough, the Cotati come and take him off Mantis’ hands to teach him his tree heritage.

Left with nothing to do, Mantis decided to go exploring space. We know this part. She made a plant body to hang out with Silver Surfer. Died in one of his adventures and woke up in her original plant body in Earth with AMNESIA.

The Cotati Swordsman explains that he was pretty sure that killing her near her meat body would jog her memory and force her spirit back into her original body.

Cotati Swordsman: “I am glad I surmised correctly.”

Hell of a thing to gamble on, asshole.

Then he tells Mantis to go live her best life. Because she’s done Celestial Madonna-ing. She made the Important Baby she needed to make. She took care of that pesky baby stage of things. Now she’s not needed anymore. “The child no longer needs a mother.”

And Prime Cotati wearing Swordsman is basically telling her to fuck off, she doesn’t get anything to do with her kid anymore.

Mantis tries to object or ask follow-up questions but Cotati Swordsman just moves on to talking to Hawkeye.

He bequeaths Swordsman’s sword to Hawkeye and then immediately crumbles to corpse dust and plant matter.

Hawkeye is clearly a bit perplexed by the ending of this Mantis quest but, well, it did end. Amnesia cured. He implicitly invites her to keep hanging out with the West coast Avengers.

But she needs time to process all this biz so she stays in Vietnam to meditate on a grave.

I have no doubt that if Englehart had remained as writer, Mantis would have stayed on the team. It also seems likely that if he remained as writer, the Mantis quest would not have been wrapped up this quickly. Not a single subplot in this book has wrapped up quickly.

What’s there to say here?

The rewritten part of this issue was meant to get Mantis out of the book as soon as possible because nobody likes her but Englehart and he has a habit of putting her in one of his books if he can get away with it and even if he can’t.

I like Mantis.

Mostly, that’s from her later Guardians stuff. But even in her time with the Avengers, even despite the stupid love triangle and the Celestial Madonna stuff, I liked her there too. And I liked when she got silly plant powers in Silver Surfer from fucking a tree man. And I like the tree wedding, as a joke. As a silly thing to tell people about that happened in comics.

There’s a lot of problems with the character and with Englehart’s writing for her. But I still like her.

So it is a shame that she’s in West Coast Avengers for, like, two issues.

And. Eesh. This isn’t a great wrap-up for her. Her amnesia is solved but mostly its nothing that hadn’t already been covered in her Silver Surfer appearances.

There’s a lot of problems with Englehart’s West Coast Avengers run so I’m not necessarily sad to see him go. He’s had 30ish some issues, some clunker stories, and it really is time for something new. But he’s being followed up by John “I’m going to mess up Vision” Byrne. And I don’t like that either.

So at the end of Englehart’s run, wherever it fell in this specific issue, it feels like out of the frying pan and into the fire. Because I’m gonna get Byrned. That’s the joke.

Follow @essential-avengers because I’m not a tree puppeting around a corpse of a supervillain turned superhero. And I think that gives me a lot of credibility. Like, reblog, and comment if you please. I’m lonely down here in the italics.

#avengers #essential avengers #west coast avengers #hawkeye #wonder man #the vision #scarlet witch #mantis #she's not listed as an avenger for this issue on marvel wiki #very rude #mockingbird #moon knight #tigra #swordsman #cotati swordsman #not a lot going on here #just some tree murder

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antvnger · 4 months

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((Book Buddy! This is brilliant! BEHOLD! @ultimategamernerd

THE SHIP ARRIVES AT ITS DESTINATION: THE RUINS OF THE ASGARDIAN SHIP. ENTER THOR, FLOATING IN SPACE, WITH BODIES OF DEAD ASGARDIANS.

MANTIS What happen’d here?

QUILL –By heaven, what a sight!

ROCKET It seemeth that, after all, we’ll not be paid.

[Thor smashes into the front of the ship.

Turn on the wipers swiftly–get thou the vermin off!

[Thor opens one eye. Realizing he is alive, the pull him inside the ship.

QUILL Can this dude live? How is’t?

DRAX –No dude he is. A dude thou art, Quill. This one is a man–a handsome, muscular man, by my troth!

QUILL Behold me, I am muscular enow!

ROCKET Who art thou kidding, Quill? One sandwich short of fat art thou. One bite from heavyset. One nibble short of portly.

QUILL A jest–how funny!

DRAX –Nay, ‘tis true! Thou hast put on some weight. We’d not discuss it, though.

QUILL E’en so?

DRAX –Thy chin, thy belly! Even so.

QUILL Gamora, do you think I have grown large–

[Mantis touches Thor’s head.

MANTIS He anxious is, and angry. Loss and guilt are his beyond all measure, I can sense’t.

DRAX ‘Tis like a pirate and an angel had a blesséd child, with qualities of each!

QUILL Fie! What a wake-up call is this for me, for now I must be careful of my weight. A Bowflex I’ll acquire, and shall commit–Belike some dumbbells shall my figure fix.

ROCKET Thou knowest dumbbells may not be eaten, yea?

GAMORA Cut are his muscles as if fashion’d from Cotati metal fibers.

QUILL –Cease massaging all his strong muscles, please, no matter how alike unto Cotati fibers they.

The Bard’s Avengers

#for the ant mun #ultimategamernerd #the bard’s avengers #avengers infinity war #infinity war’s tale #thor #guardians of the galaxy

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radicalgraff · 2 years

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"Stolen Land"

Stencil seen in Cotati, California.

The stolen land painting is significant because the city is named after the coast miwok tribe cotati and there is barely any recognition in the town which claims to be "hippie" and radical. They skim over the fact that native people were pushed out and continue to face oppression in the predominantly white community.

#stencil #stencil art #stencils #stencil graffiti #1312 #stolen land

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dailyunsolvedmysteries · 1 year

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Who is Lucxi?

On the afternoon of September 8, 1992, a motorist came across a young woman dancing on the meridian of a busy street in Port Hueneme, California. When he stopped to help her, he began asking her questions. However, she could not understand him. He realized that she was mute and hearing impaired. Fearing for her safety, he took her to the Ventura County police station. The police tried to question her, but she was unable to communicate with them. The only clue to her identity was a receipt for a bank in San Diego, 200 miles to the south. The police had no reason to detain the young woman, so she was released. The next day, a police officer came upon her, wandering along a busy street again. She appeared to be terribly confused. This time, she was placed in a homeless shelter for women. At first, she was unable to formally communicate with anyone. The only thing she could do was pantomime, mimic, and use "home sign language". Communication specialist Chris Barrows was brought in to help communicate with her. Chris first tried to determine the woman's name. He and Marti Ruble, the shelter supervisor, wrote their names down and gestured to themselves. They then asked her to either write down or communicate her name to them. She apparently understood and began to make hand symbols in the form of letters. Chris wrote down the letters, which spelled the name "Lucxi". When she saw this, she had an instant positive reaction and recognition, which led Chris to believe that this was her name. Lucxi is believed to be the derivative of a Spanish first name. For convenience sake, they dubbed her "Lucy". The next thing they tried to do was determine Lucy's age. They were able to determine through hand gestures that she was twenty-three. Despite the ease of which they determined her name and age, finding someone who knew her would present a far greater challenge. In the days and weeks after she surfaced in Port Hueneme, the FBI and various missing persons organizations ran checks on her. However, all turned up empty. The only solid lead was the receipt found in her pocket; however, that also led nowhere. Authorities now find themselves at a dead end. Over the following few months, Lucy slowly began to reveal fragmentary glimpses into her past. She claimed that she had flown on a plane to California, had a child, and had it taken from her. She was then left alone. She appeared to be well cared for. Although she does not have cooking skills, she understands to come and eat when it is time to do so. She also has normal grooming habits, such as the ability to brush her hair and clean herself. Chris does not believe that she was on the streets for long before she was found. Lucy has brown hair and brown eyes. She appears to be in her early twenties (in 1993). Her ethnic background is uncertain, although she may have been born in Mexico. Her case is unsolved. In 1993, Lucy left the shelter and vanished. In December, she was found in Cotati. She had a small amount of methamphetamine with her at the time. Doctors later determined that she actually could hear but had the mental age of a nine-year-old. Soon afterward, she vanished again. According to some sources, as of May 1, 2014, Lucy was homeless and living in Santa Paula, California. She communicated with grunts and hand gestures and could often be seen walking around town with a stroller full of junk. She had also been witnessed by local Santa Paulans speaking clear English and asking for small sums of money. These sightings, however, have not been confirmed.

#lucxi #cold cases #unsolved #unsolved mysteries #mysteries

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sebastianshaw · 10 months

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I ALMOST FORGOT! It’s still Fanfic Friday and here’s my fic! Haven, Ajak, Makkari, Darkstar, Scorpion, Asp, Mantis, Lightwave. All the dress designs I did or plan to do. Plus Essex and Bennet as cameos, and Selene in the role as the villan. requested by @catboy-sinister Shaw is mentioned in passing but does not appear. This is all about Haven being a damsel in distress who gets saved by multiple beautiful women, because I really really really like Haven getting rescued like she never did in canon. Basically, self-indulgent slosh as always! Complete with my attempt at classic comic-book dialogue style!

The third Hellfire Gala was in full swing, held outdoors, for the glory of Krakoa itself surpassed the beauty of any structure’s interior. There were sheltered areas, of course, but these were open, and they were not concrete and cement and glass and rebar, but natural structures formed by Krakoa itself. Caves and tunnels of stone that had sprung up overnight like giant mushrooms, with natural holes to serve as windows and crystals that jutted from the ‘sills’ to cast colored light on the opposite walls, twisting overheads of massive tree roots risen from the ground ensnared by whole forests worth of vines and flowers, spiraling fungi steps leading up to second ‘floors’ made of branches so wide and flat on top they served easily as walkways for multiple people to mingle upon. And as the sun set, genetically engineered insects, flowers, lichens, and more fungi lit up the dusk with their natural glow. Well, natural-ish. Mantis found it all very interesting. She’d always had an inborn empathy with nature, and her connection to plant life in particular had only been enhanced by her union with the Prime Cotati as the Celestial Madonna. Therefore, she’d been keen to communicate not simply with Krakoa itself, but all the organisms upon it—and no, she didn’t mean mutants. She wanted to know how these flowers and lichens and so on felt about their modification and utilization as decor for these invasive meat-creatures. Their responses varied, as with any population, but most seemed content enough with the situation. She’d also found it quite interesting to communicate with a fellow guest, Radha “Haven” Dastoor. A human philanthropist with a long history of supporting all those downtrodden or oppressed, she was the only current human member of Krakoa’s Inner Circle of the Hellfire Trading Company. Appointed its Black Queen, she was a liaison to both the human world, and invaluable as someone who knew where the miracle drugs of the famous island flora were needed most, and how to distribute them. What was of interest to Mantis though, was the woman’s. . .vibes, might be the most accurate word in English. Again, Mantis was a keenly sensitive individual even before her link to vegetation formed, and that extended to people. It seemed Haven, though she possessed no superpowers, was the same. The older woman had seen her off by herself—well, seemingly by herself, if you didn’t count non-animal life forms!---and how she appeared entranced with the plants before her, touching them with her antenna, for Mantis spoke to them without words, in their own language. She’d approached, and inquired most politely about it. Sensing her sincerity, Mantis explained, and she felt the most exquisite reaction of wonder and joy from this Haven! Haven found this a fantastic thing, and she told Mantis so, setting off their conversation. And through that conversation, Mantis could feel a bond growing between them rapidly, and what was more, she could feel Haven feeling it as well! Emotions and words flowed rapidly and naturally between the women like two rivers mixing their waters, and in minutes it was if they’d been lifelong friends. These two were not the only ones finding common ground. Two agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Carmilla “Scorpion” Black and Aurora “Lightwave” Dante, were also hitting it off. Despite both being employed with the same organization, and both superpowered women of similar youth, they’d actually never met before til now, when they were sent in attendance together after receiving their mutual invites. “I wasn’t sure I even counted as a mutant, to be honest,” Scorpion was telling Lightwave, “I mean, my powers came at sixteen, yeah, and it happened on its own, no radioactive scorpions involved, but I thought that was all due to my bio-monster’s genetic engineering.” “I guess maybe it could be a little of both?” Lightwave suggested, “Maybe you always had the X-gene, and your mom just played around with how it manifested.” “Well, given how it ended up actually SAVING me from her brainwashing chemicals, that would make a lot of sense. There’s no way she’d have arranged for THAT deliberately.” “That’s the old unpredictable x-factor!” Lightwave quipped, “You never know what it’s gonna do or how it’s gonna do it! I think that’s actually why it’s named that.” “Really? I always figured it was after that Professor X guy, didn’t he discover it?” “He did, and he named it, but I heard it wasn’t after himself, it was—oh, hi, can we help you?” “I apologize so much for interrupting,” said the dark-skinned woman who had approached them. She was beautiful, older than the pair of them but surely not out of her 30s, maybe not even into them, her sleek black hair in a chin-length bob and her black-and-gold gown in an Egyptian-inspired design. “But you, in the fetching green number. . .you are the one they call Stinger?” “I’m Scorpion. This is Stinger,” Scorpion lifted her left arm and pointed to it with her right one. The latter was covered in a long ruched sleeve that matched the skirt of her dress, but the former was bare save for a metal armlet from which metal fringes and small spikes, matching her earrings, dangled, and a metal bracelet linked to a ring, with a dazzling green gem between them set on the back of her hand. This ring-bracelet was a modified version of the gauntlet specially constructed by S.H.I.E.L.D to help her better control the discharges from Stinger, as she called her left arm. Normally, the gauntlet contracted into a much plainer little bracelet for her civilian-wear, but the good folks in the SHIELD labs had crafted her a bauble more befitting this occasion. “I see,” said the woman sweetly, and the smile at her lips was looking less polite and more. . .intrigued? Pleased? Anticipatory? “Why do you ask?” Lightwave said, feeling a bit odd about all this, and a bit left out of the conversation. “I’m Asp, of the Serpent Society,” the woman replied, “And while I’ve yet to take up residence on this lovely island, I’m a mutant myself—one of the few among my cohorts whose powers are all-natural. All-natural and—very similar to yours.” She darted her eyes towards Scorpion, and continued, “I can fire blasts of energy from my hands—both hands—that has an effect on the body like that of a venomous snake. You call yours a sting; I liken mine to a bite.” “Uh huh, cool,” Scorpion was somehow both bored and suspicious, and placed her hands on her waist, “So our powers are vaguely alike. Anything else you wanted to tell me?” Unresponsive to the rise of rudeness in the younger woman’s tone, Asp continued in her own polite one, though there was a persuasive silkiness to it now, “I’ve been propositioned by a few residents of Krakoa to partake in a game of chance. They want to take bets on which of us has a better venom-blast. And the winner gets a cut of the pot.” Scorpion looked at her hard. Lightwave tensed, unsure of what the outcome would be. “Nah,” said Scorpion, “My powers aren’t a game for me, lady. I don’t play with them like one.” “Oh, what a pity,” said Asp primly, “I did so hope you’d be a willing participant.” “What’s that supposed to mea–” Scorpion was cut off as Asp fired a venom blast towards her; Scorpion’s quick reflexes allowed her to jump out of the way, but it still would have grazed her calf if not for Lightwave’s equally quick force shield. Asp readied another blast, but was caught from behind by tendrils of darkness that bound her arms to the sides and lifted her off her feet. Behind her, controlling the solid shadows, hovered a slender blonde woman, dressed in Gala regalia was well. Darkstar, aka Laynia Petrovna, a recently arrived resident on Krakoa who had defected from service to the Russian government. “No fighting is allowed here! You know the rules!” Darkstar commanded. “We’re not…ungh…fighting. . .we’re competing!” Asp gasped, straining against her umbrous bonds. Darkstar looked to Scorpion and Lightwave for confirmation. . .or lack thereof. “Yeah,” Scorpion said after a moment, “We were just testing our powers against each other. They’re pretty similar so we wanted to see who packed more poison.” Lightwave looked at her comrade in surprise, but didn’t contradict her. “Hmm,” Darkstar evaluated the situation. She’d wanted to be useful to the nation of Krakoa, as they had shown her great mercy by allowing her here, and she was consuming resources of the island, and she wished to give back to its people, protect them, as she had protected those of Mother Russia. To this end, she’d been appointed a reserve X-Man, and in the meantime given a great many menial tasks. For instance, Gala security. She lowered herself down, and released Asp, stating, “Games of skill are permitted as part of the Gala’s activities, but please, use an area designated for such. I will guide you to one and supervise.” Asp looked irritated, but all she said was, “Thank you so much.” As Darkstar lead the way, Lightwave whispered to Scorpion, “Why did you say that?” “Because I can handle myself,” Scorpion whispered back, “I don’t need KG-Blondie coming to my rescue. This lady really wants a fight? Fine.” Meanwhile, Asp was calling some friends on her little snake-themed cell phone, and by the time the trio arrived with Darkstar to the clearing, there was already a little crowd of interested parties waiting. “This better be a good show and a good pot, love,” Pyro quipped at Asp, “I left a bonzer card game for this!” “You were losing,” Phantazia pointed out. “Not for long I wasn’t gonna be!” Scorpion and Lightwave weren’t the only guests experiencing some. . .conflict. “Oh dear me, Ajak, you may be divine these days, but that dress surely is not!” Sinister crowed at the Eternal, “Oh my, wait, no—Dante did write the Divine Comedy, did he not? That must be what he meant!” Ajak had come to the Gala not as Ajak Celestia, but as herself. Somehow. Yet she had allegedly not unfused with the Progenitor. According to her, this was but a tangible aspect of herself, continuing to experience the world as an individual while her whole remained at her post, watching the world and waiting for the right time to pass the final judgement upon it all. Right now though, she was being judged, quite harshly, by Sinister. Or rather, her sartorial choices were. And while Ajak was not one who took pride in fashion, pride she did have, much too much so to be mocked by this obscenity before her that called itself Sinister. “You were gagged and shackled by me before,” Ajak warned coolly, “Do not tempt me to do so again.” “Oh, you’re not the one I’d want doing that,” Sinister assured, “But Bennett, dear, have you seen Shaw around? He might be into it.” Exodus and Ajak both looked confused, but Makkari, who had been doing her best to diffuse things, looked disgusted. Unlike the other two, she’d spent a long time in the modern world, after all. But she needn’t have worried. No one had seen Shaw for quite some time this evening. How very odd. Very, very odd. Wherever Shaw was, though, he wasn’t with Haven. Nor was Exodus. Nor was Ajak. Save for Mantis, she was alone. And Mantis, she said, suddenly had an engagement. So scratch that. Haven was alone when a column of darkness solidified before her into none other than Selene, Black Priestess! Priestess to what? The ultimate goddess—-herself of course! “You wretched little creature!” the sorcerous mutant spat as tendrils of her darkness reached out and wrapped around Haven, flexible as vines and strong as chains, “You truly thought you could usurp my place?! You thought it was yours to take and Shaw’s to give?! He’s been dealt with and now so shall y–” Selene was cut off by a kick to the back of her head that would have decapitated a mere mortal. . .or a mutant who wasn’t smart enough to have protectively enchanted her body since that little upstart snipe(r) Hope had shot her. “This one thinks not!” Mantis cried, having used the kick to push herself away from Selene once more and land dramatically near Haven, whose bonds had momentarily loosened due to Selene’s distraction. Loosened. . .but, Mantis found when she tried to free her new friend, not enough. “This one sensed something was afoot!” she explained, in her customary third-person speaking style. It was not due to lack of understanding so-called “proper” English, but a very deliberate way of distancing herself from the ego of the words “I” and “me” as the Pama Priests had taught her. “So you hid in the shadows til I emerged,” Selene emerged, looming over her new opponent, “Very clever—but you’d have been far more clever to avoid the Black Queen!” As she spoke, the rocks and stones around them levitating and hurled down towards Mantis like comets. She leaped into the air once more, using them as stepping stones, trying to get back to Selene. The rocks, meanwhile, avoided Haven; Selene had far more personal plans in store for her attempted replacement. Selene’s telekinesis could only affect inanimate objects. Plants, though perhaps not as mobile as their meaty counterparts, were not inanimate. They were beyond her control. But they answered to another mistress—Mantis, the Celestial Madonna! As she bounded from rock to rock while avoiding being hit by the same projectiles she climbed, she still managed to direct a portion of her mental energy towards summoning the aid of the surrounding flora—something Krakoa was plentiful in! Flowers, ferns, and moss, they all came to her aid, the trees themselves bending to swing their mighty branches at the black-clad witch, as though nature itself were trying to banish her unnatural presence. But Selene just cackled, and the foliage before her burst into flames. For pyrokinesis was on her list of myriad talents mutant and magical. Still, even this defeat served its purpose for Mantis, who used the Black Priestess’s moment of triumph as a distraction to lunge at her! But Selene met this too with laughter, welcoming Mantis into her arms—arms whose skin instantly began to drain the life itself from the Celestial Madonna’s flesh! “My what truly potent energy you have!” Selene crowed, “So unique! Those senses of yours didn’t tell you what MY true gift is, did they? To drain your life and make it my own! Don’t fret though, you won’t die—you will live for eternity in ME!” “The only place of eternity for you is the PIT!” Darkstar had joined the fray. Like Mantis, she too had sensed a disturbance in the force—the Darkforce, specifically, which Selene was calling upon for her shadow manipulation. She couldn’t commandeer the shadows that were holding Haven, but she could at least summon her own to save Mantis, engulfing the former Avenger in a Darkforce teleportation portal, sending her somewhere safer. Alas, that also meant that Mantis was out of the fight, especially since those unused to traveling through the Darkforce dimension were often drained by it, physically and mentally. Even now, mere prolonged contact with it was probably harming Haven on both fronts. Darkstar knew she had to end this fast. Selene, however, had no intention of cooperating with that notion. The two Darkforce wielders went at it, firing their obsidian elemental energies at each other. But while Darkstar’s power was the Darkforce alone, Selene had many other abilities at her disposal, and Darkstar was fading fast against them. Finally, she fell from the sky, her fancy feathered Gala dress in a heap around her, giving her the likeness of a bird that had crashed into a windowpane. There was a roar of fire around her as a ring of enchanted flame encircled her, then formed a dome above her. She tried to teleport, but could not even call upon that much. The Darkforce has closed its doors to you, my dear, Selene’s voice spoke in her head, You are but its friend—I am its QUEEN! Don’t fret though; you won’t be burned unless you try to escape. After all, if Darkstar died, she might remember what happened to Haven the human when she woke up. Selene would need to make some modifications to her memory first. Not normally within Selene’s telepathic abilities, which were in fact relatively minor ones, but sorcery was always a boost. And the enlisted aid of mutants too afraid to say no, of course. Selene sauntered now to the still-imprisoned Haven, who seemed to be awaiting her fate impassively. “No begging? No pleading? I’m almost disappointed by your dignity. Or are you just so purely petrified? I know it can’t be that you’re actually RESPECTFUL enough to hold your tongue in the presence of a goddess,” Selene crooned, “After all, you had no respect when you accepted MY place and title!” “I do beg you not to do this,” Haven said, her brown eyes indeed imploring, “For your sake. You will harm yourself, horribly, if you try to–” “HA!” Selene cut her off with a derisive laugh, tossing her elegant head back so her elaborate necklace jewels gleamed in the fire’s light, “You think those FOOLS on the Quiet Council can imprison ME? They couldn’t even keep me dead!” “We’ll do better,” said a new voice. For the third time, a new player had entered Selene’s scene to save Haven. Or rather, two new players. Haven had been physically silent through the whole ordeal, but she’d been mentally calling out to Ajak and Exodus the entire time. Alas, Exodus and Ajak had become. . .engaged. . .with Sinister in a psychic. . .dispute. . .and Makkari was as telepathically Deaf as she was physically. It was only now that Exodus had things, er, handled, that he and Ajak got the message. Exodus was required to stay behind to keep Sinister contained, but Ajak and Makkari were now free to handle matters for their friend. “Oh, the so-called gods arrive,” Selene seemed unimpressed, “Truth me told, I’m rather pleased to see you. I’ve long wanted to test your mettle against–” She was cut off by a massive energy blast by Ajak. At the same time, Makkari rushed behind Selene as she was blasted backwards, pummeling her rapidly in the back with such strength and speed that even her magically enhanced body buckled. The ebony prison around Haven did the same, slackening and then dissipating entirely, and Haven fell to her knees, drained by the contact with the Darkforce. At the same time, the fire imprisoning Darkstar disappeared, though the Russian could not yet use her powers again. Selene put up a valiant fight; she was no pushover. But the Eternals could manipulate cosmic energy, move at high speeds, lift over 15 tons, and, most importantly, never tire. For all her power, Selene could be worn down. Ajak and Makkari could not. And when the former was spent, by coincidence, she had collapsed right next to Haven. Still conscious, her body now rapidly withering into a crone from the expenditure of energy, she knew she could not win. . .but she could at least do what she had set out to, and to replenish her youth in the process. “No!” Haven cried out as Selene reached for her, “Selene, don’t! It’s dang–” She was silenced as Selene began to sap her energy, and Makkari and Ajak both rushed to intervene. Makkari’s speed was more than adequate to get there before Selene’s skin even made contact with Haven, and yet her incredible strength could not separate them. But it was not Selene who was keeping Haven trapped; it was vice versa. Haven and Selene were both howling, Selene in pain, Haven in sympathy as she tried to free the other woman from her own body. Yet even as Haven successfully pushed her away, Selene’s body continued draining the energy from Haven. Makkari and Ajak could SEE it crackling in the air, linking the women’s bodies. “Help her!” Haven cried out to the confused Eternals, “The demonic energy—it’s too much, it’s going to destroy her from inside–” Ajak and Makkari didn’t exactly understand, and frankly neither of them were inclined to help Selene at all, but Haven’s distress was a motivator if nothing else for Ajak in particular. But. . .what could they do? Not knowing what else to do, Ajak ran to Haven and grabbed her, preparing to get her out of there, away from having to watch whatever was going to happen to Selene. And this turned out to be the correct move. Ajak’s body had moved between the energy streams that had linked the women, and in doing so, had severed them. . .no, not severed them. Ajak’s cosmic energy that fueled her nigh-indestructible body flowed now along the current into Selene just before it disappeared. Even this tiny transfer was a life-saving boost, saving the sorceress and restoring her youth in the bargain. But she was still powerless, on her hands and knees, her head down, unable to even speak, panting in pain on the grass. What was that? Makkari signed, and Ajak relayed it to Haven as always. “I’ll. ..explain,” said Haven, hesitantly, as if she didn’t wish to, “But first. . .” She knelt beside Selene, placing a steadying hand on her. Selene tried to shrink from her instinctively, like a scared animal, and only ended up collapsing into the lap of her would-be prey. Haven held her gently, trying to comfort her while also keeping the woman’s pride and dignity in mind, “I’m sorry. It’s very unjust to you, isn’t it?” Because Haven knew that, from Selene’s point of view, it likely was. She had never met the former Black Queen before, but Shaw had told her about her extensively, and she’d also been able to garner Selene’s perspective quite well from the things she’d said to her in this encounter. And what she had garnered was that Selene was as locked into her own perspective as Haven had once been in. For which Haven could not blame her; changing one’s mind was hard enough, and Selene had held hers for thousands of years. And it must be such a comforting one; she never questioned her own worth or place in the universe, her reason for being here or the purpose of her long life or the morality of taking the lives of others to sustain it. To step away from that belief. . .why, it might literally kill her. She was what she was, and Haven loved her. She loved everyone. Which was why she asked the others not to tell the Council about this. Darkstar could not agree. She was dutiful to Krakoa’s laws. But Haven’s request for mercy would also be relayed, she promised. Mantis was fine, as were, of course, Ajak and Makkari. Haven was weakened, but wished to remain at the Gala after Selene was taken away by Exodus. And she did give that explanation to the Eternals. “The thing that lived in me once. . .is gone,” she said, each word a labor, “But some remnants of its power. . .” The Eternals both nodded grimly. She did not continue and they did not urge her to. As for Scorpion and Asp’s contest, the moment Darkstar left, it no longer had a referee, and the spectators swiftly decided they wanted to be PARTICIPANTS instead. It was an absolute disaster and a good time was had by all involved! Oh, and Shaw was er. . .fine. If you care. END

#fanfic friday #fic #writing

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