#mobile widow

[the-blackest-spider]

This is me right now.

I'm in a state of limbo, sort of. I'm trying to figure out how to live life without having someone who needs 24/7 care as a part of it and not really having anything I need to have an escape from reality wise. It's an odd sort of struggle... I want to write, I still very much have muse and such, I think about the ooc and ic relationships I've cultivated here, more importantly those behind the characters who have been there when I've needed it the most even if they had no idea at the time.

I feel like I'm learning how to live each day all over again, and this is coming from someone who had one hell of a personal brush with death. I'm trying to finally take care of myself and learning how to do that...

Does that mean I'm never coming back here?

Truthfully I don't know...

I wish I did either way, but right now I'm figuring things out, and I don't know how long that is going to take. I wish I did, but it's one of those things that just you can't predict.

Also I have this really strong desire to have most everything fresh and new, as well as smaller and more simplified. I have no plans to remake Nat's blog, if I return to tumblr, it will be here, but I'm wanting something I can take wherever to do that with, so I need to figure that out, and get things (finances) back in order so I can (most importantly I need a new damn mattress, which kind of effects my being here too in a way).

I guess I'm realizing I need time... how much? I don't know and I really can't predict it or even ballpark it. In light of that, I completely 100% don't blame anyone for moving on, don't feel like you have to wait for me, if you do great, but I understand if you can't. I need to brush off Discord and whatnot, tho lately these days I seem to gravitate towards Facebook, which if we've talked a lot, you're more than welcome to ask for even if it's just to use their messenger deal. I'm also always ok Skype, though lately it's been questionable with reliability, but yeah...

I'm just stuck in figuring shit out limbo and wading through A LOT.

I hope everyone is doing good, and I'll make updates when I can, when I know fully what I'm doing besides the necessary basics of adult life aka sleeping, work and all that, with some exercise tossed in, since I am trying to take better care of the whole package here mental and physical, and I hope y'all are taking care of yourselves too as best you can.

[cypress-punk]

Recommend me something with giant robots that really encapsulates the giant robots media experience. Not necessarily something good; the best representative sample. I trust your judgement.

This is kind of hard to answer, as the giant robot experience is kind split down the middle into two broad categories.

The first flavor is military Scifi, this is usually given the moniker "Real Robot" because it leans more toward hard scifi and the idea of the mech as an actual machine with mechanical and logistical concerns. For my money the best taste of this type of story is original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979. It's kind of the originator of the entire Real Robot conceit.

Gundam, and another work by it's director, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Space Runaway Ideon, were both major Influences of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is not really a typical "real robot" show (in fact it's often more like Ultraman than mecha), but Eva is extremely influential on the genre and there's a whole generation of shows that are either responding to it or ripping it off.

The second flavor is what's generally called "Super Robot". Super Robot stories are classically Saturday Morning cartoons, complete with bright colors and flashy super hero style brawls and big special attacks whose names get screamed out before they're executed. The OG Super Robot is Mazinger Z, and both it's manga and anime are worth looking at, but for my money the best Super Robot experience is The Legendary King of Braves: GaoGaiGar. It's a perfect Saturday morning cartoon style mecha with a lot of charm and good production. The major caveat with it is that it uses an obscene amount of strobe effects that make it hard to actually look at the action scenes sometimes. Serious Epilepsy warning for that show.

Super Robot has also evolved in later years into more of a high octane action joint, Gurren Lagann is the best known example of this style of Super Robot, but for my money the best in this style is one of Gainax's earlier works, Gunbuster. It's just as high octane as it's little brother and has genuinely incredible animation.

There's also a sub-set of mecha I call "Boy and His Dog" mecha, which typically focus on a big meandering robot companion to a young boy, with a focus on coming of age type stories. The original of these is Tetsujin-28 (which is also arguably the first true mecha), also known as Gigantor in the west. There's a 2004 a anime that reimagines the story as an examination of post world war II Japan and it's pretty good. My favorite of these is Giant Robo: The Animation, which is also just my favorite work of mecha genre stuff period. Its very well animated and captures a strong pulp adventure vibe.

Alright so I've yet to actually give you an answer to this ask, I've just kind of rambled about mecha, but I wanted to lay some groundwork. I'm gonna list a lot of stuff below but the main touchstones I'd reccomend to get the taste of the genre you're looking for are the works listed under anime. The rest are just further reccomendations of things I like. Sorry about my chronic long windedness.

Manga:

- Mazinger Z by Go Nagai

- Getter Robo by Ken Ishikawa and Go Nagai (didn't mention this one above but it's about as classic as Mazinger. I reccomend the manga because none of its adaptations really capture the energy of the manga)

Anime:

- Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) (there's a lot of gundam out there and a lot of debate about where to start. The original show is the best starting point in my opinion, especially in this context)

- Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)

- Gunbuster (1988)

- Legendary King of Braves GaoGaiGar (1997) (mind the epilepsy warning. If the strobes are a problem try Brave Express Might Gaine, Combattler V, or the Mazinger Z anime)

- Giant Robo: The Animation (1992) (also called Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still)

- Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1984) (film adaptation of the TV anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross, I think the movie is better than the show.)

- SSSS. Gridman and SSSS. Dynazenon (these two shows are just really good so I'm sneaking them in here)

Video Games:

- Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon (you can give any Armored Core a try this is just the most recent one)

- Heaven Will Be Mine (visual novel. It's a favorite of mine)

- Super Robot Wars 30 (a turn based strategy game, SRW is a massive crossover of tons of different mecha shows. 30 is the easiest of the series to get in the US. SRW is pretty beloved in the mecha fandom)

Tabletop Games:

- Lancer by Massif Press

- BattleTech by Catalyst Games (BattleTech is the one solidly American mecha franchise which makes it pretty unique. it has a complicated relationship with its Japanese influences)

Novels:

- Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao (cool feminist mecha story that draws heavily upon, and reimagines, a lot of traditional Chinese culture, literature, and historical figures)

- Titanicus by Dan Abnett (this is a Warhammer 40k novel, but it's an old fav of mine. It's focused on the giant Titan mechs of that setting and it was my intro to 40k and sparked my interest in mecha)

Podcasts

- Friends At the Table: COUNTER/Weight (Friends at the Table is a great actual play podcast and COUNTER/Weight is a really fun mecha focused campaign of there's.)

- Mobile Suit Breakdown (great companion podcast for the Gundam franchise if you want more historical and cultural context and analysis for the various shows)

[fireflysummers]

Another finished commission, featuring Grace from the mobile game Dragalia Lost. The completion of this piece is conveniently timed with the game's anniversary, which was yesterday (Sep 28).

The game was discontinued last year, so this is mostly an in memoriam tribute, for the commissioners favorite overpowered character.

Commissions are Open!

[loregoddess]

made some progress in Tactics Ogre (but not a lot I'm still in ch1 despite clearing multiple maps? wild)--have a better feel for the mechanics, and they aren't so bad to navigate as I first thought.

The "battles and cutscenes ONLY" pacing is wild, like I don't have time to chat with any of the other characters to get a sense for how they feel about shit, which like, I know this is a remaster of a PSP game, and that "getting to chat w/ your units" is a more recent trend in srpgs, but it's still like damn okay, we're just moving right along then (kinda nostalgic feeling though)

honestly really enjoying it a lot so far though. The battle mechanics are fun (similar to TriStrat w/ needing to take weather, elevation, positioning, etc. into account, but SIGNIFICANTLY more forgiving than TriStrat battles which always felt a bit more challenging to me compared to other srpgs I've played); and I'm really enjoying the characters and story so far...although I do wish for like, an in-game atlas or something so I can keep country names and stuff straight (I did remember it was originally a PSP game though, which meant it had to have been released with a physical manual, and lo and behold I did find a PDF of said game manual and it contains a bit of the worldbuilding/setting info I've been very ??? about so, thank goodness for PDFs of old game manuals)

so yea, fun game so far!

[tapewyrm-talks]

I have spent the entire day (and I do mean since I got the notification this morning that my hold was ready at the library) listening to the Iron Widow audiobook, and I have less than an hour left but I am too sleepy to pay full attention and I refuse to finish it without paying full attention so I will have to finish it tomorrow.

[paxesoterica]

[gunlovingpacifist]

Here's some cool nature, survival of the fittest shit you don't see every day.

[clochanamarc]

no but all those insta reels where they're acting out the roles of like, children of superheroes or supervillains?? it's got me thinking abt how aisling devotes her role as a parent to making sure her foster kids never feel like they need to enter that role of heroism or villainy, but it's like. she's raising these kids in manhattan. they are at the epicentre of most extraterrestrial, mystical, magical, cosmic battles. their mother has the soul stone in her chest. and the idea of her trying so hard to give them the agency to make their own choices but also wanting to keep them safe from this very terrifying world they occupy??

and what a surreal difference is made when the child in question is hers and another person biologically? like, when another person is involved in the parenting choices, and how these things influence how the kids mature and grow into adults in a universe dominated by magic and power and heroes and villains??

[itsraining-honey]

got jumpscared by my beautiful queen claire voyant aka original black widow aka the best black widow aka my wife aka

[the-blackest-spider]

First of all, I apologize. I'm just getting to this now. To make a long story short, both my laptops that I have (my big one and the mini) are basically on their last legs, they've been well used but despite them being compatible I think Windows 11 is the culprit for it. So I need to get a new laptop, and that will take a bit of time because I wanna research before I invest in one and while I like the big screen I'm also considering I need something easy to take with me when I want to, but anyway that's some of the reason my ass hasn't been here, the other is my Mom is back in the hospital again, and we're not sure what is going to go on because everyone thought we had figured out how to keep her fluid retention off, buuuut apparently not and there's other stuff (she had kidney disease/failure and congestive heart failure) that has us all going basically day by day.

Annnd besides my Mom's health situation my Aunt and I are both having issues, and work is stressful...

Basically when it rain it fucking pours and it's flooding.

Anyway, I apologize that I've been so flaky lately because of stuff, and I miss writing with y'all and hope everyone is doing okay. ❤️

[joyfulmagic]

Open Starter— Muse: Adelina — Verse: Crimson Pistol — Open to: anyone

“Everyone acts like I am trying to replace her. No, I just want to honor her memory,” Adelina snapped, “she’s irreplaceable and no one can fill her shoes.” Adelina ran her fingers through her ponytail before tightening it, then checking her boots to make sure they were properly laced up.

“If people stopped expecting me to be like the other widows, it’d be much appreciated,” she scoffed, holstering her main pistol on her waist and checking to see that her widow bites were fully charged.

[dominosohma]

Yall go see my friends. ❤️

[wanderingandfound]

So on one hand rereading all this MCU fic does make me wanna finish, edit, and publish the fic I had so much inspiration for back in, oh, summer of 2016. On the other hand, it turns out I just completely forgot about some characters from AoS, which is fine because I don't need them in my fic, but like this is just reminding me of how I don't really wanna rewatch that show.

[doctorwhoandfairytaillover]

Loving Arms (3)

Summary: The children of Viserys I from his wife Alicent Hightower had always been lacking in affection from their parents. They simply didn't realize how much until their widowed aunt was brought into their lives. (AU where Alicent has an older sister and her kids get the love that they deserve, takes place some time after the Driftmark event)

Part III: Conversations over tea

|| Loving Arms Masterlist ||

A/N: Sorry for those of you who saw this before it was fully done! I tried the mobile app and don't plan on doing that again. 😅 P.S I tried a different way with the tag list, and hopefully it worked!

The Targaryen siblings were seated in a semi - circle in the chambers of their aunt, while she sat on the chair of her vanity looking at them with an expression of bemusement.

"Typically, when a child asks to be excused from the table at supper, it is to go and do anything besides seek out another adult" she chuckled.

"It is just.... we hoped to speak with you without our Mother or Grandsire present," Aemond mumbled. "From what we saw at supper, we did not think things would be productive with them present."

"Well... I suppose you are not wrong there," she laughed. She settled herself comfortably on her hair and slowly began to take out the pins from her hair, loosening the tight hold she had placed on it from the style she had it in.

While she did so, the children looked over her features to see if they could spot any similarities between themselves and their aunt. Apart from her distinct auburn hair that she shared with his sister, their aunt looked nothing as they expected of her. But then again, they had such little expectation until they had the opportunity to meet her.

Feeling their gazes, she stilled her hands and met their curious stares. "It would be considered rude to stare at a lady, is there something troubling all of you?"

"Well.... we know so little about you, muña" Aegon said. "We really were not sure what to expect with your arrival, even more now since it is quite obvious that there remains tension between our mother, grandsire, and you."

"I did very little to hide it, didn't I?" she sighed and rubbed at her shoulders to release the pressure settling into her body from the days event.

"Muña?" said Aemond. "Why did you come to King's Landing? And why do you not get along with mother or grandsire?"

Her smile faltered and she cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Let... let me have someone bring us some tea and a comfortable change of clothes for the three of you." She brushed her skirts and fidgeted with her hands. "This... this will be a rather long conversation, if it goes the way that I think this will. I will be... as honest as I can be. Just... give me a moment. Alright?"

The siblings nodded nervously, her own tense smile was a clear enough indication that she was uncomfortable.

Before she left the room to change, Halaena reached out quickly and took her aunt's hand in her own, all the while shaking as she did so as she was so unused to giving her touch freely.

"Muña, we are prepared t - to listen but only what you are w - willing" Halaena stammered. Her gaze dropping down to her feet, plucking and picking at the skirt of her dress.

Their aunt whispered in return, "Thank you."

------------------

When all had dressed comfortably in their night shirts and shifts, they sat once more in their places. A few teacups were placed in front of the children and carefully their aunt poured each of them a steaming cup.

"I am not one for wine before bed," she attempted a laugh. "I hope you all do not mind, I find it can be quite relaxing for both the body and mind."

The children were quiet, nursing their cups in their hands and looking at one another, unsure of how to keep the conversation. But this did not escape the careful eye of their aunt, deflating in disappointment of herself.

"I am sorry," she said. "I suppose it is a bit difficult to really know where to start with this conversation and do not wish to place that burden on the shoulders of you three. You are all far too young to be worried about the mess that is our family and the affairs that come with it."

"Muña, I do not think we can be too young to know about the shortcomings of our family if mother and grandsire already have the intention of marrying Halaena and I soon" Aegon countered.

She scoffed in disbelief, "Surely you must be joking. Our family has always followed the Faith of the Seven, marriage between brother and sister is not permitted. It is absolute madness, no matter what those daft Targaryen ancestors of yours say!"

"I wish it were simply a joke, muña" Aegon said seriously. "But our grandsire says this would strengthen my claim to the throne and that as Targaryens we are within our right to marry."

"No! Absolutely not!" she said. "I will fight this tooth and nail if I absolutely must, but you and Halaena are not getting married. Is that understood?"

"Yes muña," the pair said with equal sighs of relief.

"The old man is going senile if he thinks that I would let such a marriage occur, he might know the ways of this court but the man does not know how the politics of marriage work at times" she huffed as she took a drink from her tea. "He claims that he was the one that arranged my marriage to your uncle, may the seven rest his soul. But I was the one that made my match and no one else, he thought I was a lost cause."

"Because of your... your," Aemond wasn't sure how to word it.

"My disfigurement?"

"I was trying to find the right words to be tactful, muña" Aemond blushed.

"Do not worry about my feelings pertaining to it, my sweet boy" she soothed. "I have had many years to understand that it is best to not beat around the bush when it comes to the topic, alright?"

The one - eyed prince nodded in appreciation.

"But yes," she murmured. "When I was very young, your grandsire did not think I would ever find a match because of my disfigurement. The skin on my face is still puckered and scarred from where I was burned, and my left eye can see nothing but light."

"You say you were burned," Aemond noted. "My eye was cut by my nephews, the sons of Rhaenyra. Who hurt you?"

She grimaced, "I do not think that I should be telling you that."

"Why not? Do I know who did it?"

"Yes, sweet boy and I do not want to be the one that changes your perception of them."

"Simply tell him, muña" said Aegon. "You said it yourself, the topic isn't one that you need to beat about the bush."

She rubbed at her temples tiredly, "Using my own words against me now. I suppose that I should keep my word about it."

"Who was it?" Aemond asked again.

"Alicent, your mother."

All three of the children looked at her wide - eyed, it was incomprehensible to them that their own mother could have possibly done such a thing. The burns took up the majority of the left - hand side of her face, it was difficult to think of how their mother could have done it and for what reason.

"I will tell you all the story another time," she sighed. "I am not particularly fond of how or why it even happened. People say we should forgive and forget, but it is not an easy thing to forget when the reminder looks back at you in the mirror every day."

"But muña, you said that we could talk about all these things" Halaena said. "You are delaying the conversation."

"We can talk about these things. But I think it would be better if that was a conversation that we saved for another time, it is too complicated of a story to tell. Or maybe it isn't, but I do not feel like having it today."

"Do you promise to have the conversation?" the young girl asked. "People tell us that one day we will be told or one day we can understand, but they never keep their word."

Their aunt looked at each of their young faces, hopeful and yet no expectation because of the many times that someone else had let them down before.

"I promise, my sweet loves. And may the seven strike me where I stand if I do not keep my word."

Satisfied, the three finally took a sip of their tea, only to then have varied expressions of disgust.

The elder lady Hightower burst into laughter at their faces, trying to stifle the amusement. "Either your tea went cold or all three of you have not partaken in drinking much tea, have you?"

"I tend to drink wine, not this leaf water that we have swallowed," Aegon stuck his tongue out in mild disgust.

"If tea is solely leaf water then wine is merely grapes that have spoiled," she teased. "But I suppose my gifts for you all will not have much use then."

"Gifts?" they all asked, because for as much talk that they were grown, the siblings were still only children.

"Yes," she laughed. "But now that I think on it, perhaps the gifts had a bit of selfishness on my part."

She stood and walked to the trunk near the foot of her bed, opening it, she picked up three small bundles of cloth and placed each bundle of the hands of her nephews and niece. Quickly Aegon opened his, finding a light purple tea cup with a golden handle and filigree along its rim. Halaena was more gentle as she unraveled her bundle to find her tea cup was a rosy hue and a darker red handle with ladybugs along its rim. While Aemond carefully found a sky blue tea cup with a silver handle and filigree.

"I was not sure what to gift you all, but I thought that perhaps, your own tea cup that we could use every time that we come together for a chat" she said sheepishly. "But if you all do not like tea, they could serve as a decoration and reminder of today."

"I do not mind tea," Aemond said.

"I suppose I could tolerate it" said Aegon.

"If we drink it then I would like some sweets to make it tastier" Halaena said looking over the ladybugs.

Their aunt laughed and quickly wiped at her eyes, "I will make sure that I have some sweet tarts or other treats for our next conversation. I will look forward to it."

The three flushed happily and looked at their tea cups fondly, already looking forward to the next time that they would spend time with their beloved muña.

[hungee-boy]

Our House is Unsafe, Help Us Gain a New Start

Do NOT tag as #d*nation, #m*tual aid, #p*ypal, #c*shapp, etc.

My name is Ross and I'm the oldest child of my family, with whom I currently live with. Our household consists of me, my widowed mother, and my three younger siblings, the youngest being 16. My dad died suddenly in his sleep November of 2021 and since then we have struggled pretty much every day to keep ourselves alive and housed.

Our house, my childhood home, is a 3 bedroom mobile home built in 1990 and for as long as I can remember, it has always been hoarded and falling apart. Over the past few years, we've made significant progress in reducing the hoard and giving us space to live in, but still this is a 30+ year mobile home that is damaged beyond our capability to repair.

Problems that exist currently in our house include:

No working HVAC

Half of the house has no power

Weakened floors due to water and pet damage

Outdoor siding rotting due to plant growth and water damage

Major leaks in the covered porch's roof, causing immense water damage and mold growth

Drywall, ceiling, and flooring damage (our entire kitchen's floor is just plywood now due to damage)

So many other issues that I've honestly lost track

We, of course, originally planned to slowly fix whatever issues had come up, but our plans changed when we came across a deal to purchase a brand new 5 bedroom mobile home for a discounted price. Not only does a new house such as this give us a safe, secure, and clean place to live, but the additional rooms ensure that all of us have our own bedroom and that we have more space to live and work. Currently, me, my mom, and my sister all share the master bedroom, so obviously the concept of all of us having our own privacy is leading us to make this decision more.

Right now, we currently have $2,000 put towards the down payment for the new house, out of a $9,000 down payment. We are able to make payments early and we expected to be able to put money down every month, until my mom's job fucked her over and didn't schedule her for 6 weeks. This greatly put us behind not just on payments for the new house, but also bills and getting my mom's car insured and registered, as it's now a year overdue for both.

I'll do anything for this chance, anything if it means that my family and I can finally have a home we deserve, a home my dad would've wanted for us.

I'm desperate, we're all desperate, for a chance to live normally for the first time in our lives. Living in squalor is all I've known and the opportunity to escape it is honestly the only thing keeping me going right now.

I don't know what I'd do if I'm forced to live in this shithole another year, let alone for the rest of my life. So, please, if you have the means I'd forever be grateful if you donate. If you can't donate, then please share this. It would mean everything to me.

Links:

[PP] [CA]

Thank you if you read this, thank you if you share, and thank you so so much if you donate.

[joyfulmagic]

“I am not here to make friends, I’m here widow to widow seeking aid,” Arina told Yelena bluntly. “Friends get you killed, family? Even worse,” she scoffed. She didn’t appear much older than Yelena, yet was from one of the first generations of attempts at making Widows. Before Dreykov as even in the picture.

“Your sister is a hero, and I think you’ll want to help me when you hear what I have to say about this mission,” Arina added, looking down in mourning over the Black Widow.

“They’re trying to revive the Red Room — not sure who they are yet — but I plan to intercept and make it something truly good and meant to help genuinely abandoned young people,” Arina explained, tossing a Manila envelope with the details of what she knew in it.

open starter: yelena open to m/f/nb

"Just because you knew my sister doesn't mean that we have to be friends."