#AJ replies

[mellarked-katnisseverdeen]

If you can only read 1 non-fiction and 1 fiction book for the rest of your life, what would it be? Why do you pick these books?

Do you have book or author recs to read?

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

OOOHHH this is HARD. As usual, but I'll give it a shot.

So, for the non fiction book: probabbly one of my Bonsai books. Bonsai is a secret love of mine that I do not share on this blog (go to @growingstoriesandgardens if you want the very occasonal mention from me about that stuff, as well as some orignal writing). But there are some really amazing informatonal, non-fiction books around bonsai that go into tree biology, bonsai desigin and even ceramics. That would give me a lot of different things in one book, plus I love all of it. So yea, non fiction I would pick a bonsai book!

For the FICTION book...I feel like that would be so tricky. But off the top of my head? A childrens book called Poppy and Rye. It was one of the book I grew up on as a child but only appresiated till I was MUCH older and still have a soft stop for it. It has a lot of the themes, tropes and generally the kind of story I like. I think I could settle for reading that again and again, despite it being a childrens book.

[yiddishfisting]

ugghhhh that SUCKS. i'm gonna call the nurse i've been talking to tomorrow to see if she has any ideas for what i can say to get my insurance to reconsider, but i really hope i don't have to do that

[spacedlexi]

Was AJ justified or not?

not justified. understandable, but not justified

the situation was a bad one. marlon Was trying to kill clem. aj was ready to do whatever he needed to to protect her. but hes a young child. either through fighting or talking marlon will stand down. the threat has been dealt with but aj doesnt realize that. marlon drops the gun and aj takes it because he still feels threatened and is ready to do what he thinks he has to to protect clem (whos life WAS on the line twice that night). he doesnt know the difference because hes never been taught the difference. all he knows is danger and survival. hes unsocialized and doesnt know what its like to be a part of a larger group. he was already biting and hitting anyone who would come up behind him reflexively because hes a traumatized little kid who doesnt know anything besides protecting himself first and asking questions later

he messed up. he thought he was helping. he wanted to protect clem. he was scared. it was a horrible mistake, but its not like marlon was completely innocent. marlon Was a threat, he just wasnt anymore when aj finally got his gun back. aj just couldnt recognize that because hes 5 years old and doesnt know any better. louis yells at clem asking her what the hell she taught him, but its more about what he Wasnt taught. he only knows survival and to eliminate threats. no room for nuance because its just been him and clem and a fight for survival for years. ericson is the kind of environment aj desperately needs, where he can be Safe, where survival isnt the only thing he needs to focus on. he needs socialization and support and patience, otherwise he will only get worse. clem knows this. its partially why shes so desperate to find a home for them. she sees what the world is doing to this little boy and so desperately does not want that for him, even if it keeps him safe

i do not like a justified aj. for me teaching him to be repentant and to know the difference between a threat like marlon and a threat like lilly is important. marlon wasnt a monster, he was a scared kid just like aj is, and they both make mistakes that cost people their lives. but lilly IS a monster, in the sense that she is a legitimate threat that cannot be reasoned with. so teaching aj that him killing marlon was wrong, but still telling him to shoot lilly, i have confidence in him that he Can tell the difference, it just needs reinforcing in the cave for him to Get It. to steer him away from that anger. hes learning when to make the hard calls. and because of that i believed him when he gave his little speech in the cave. i Did trust him. but seeing other routes and other cave speeches i can def understand why some people didnt trust him. raising aj into a person you can trust feels like the whole point to me. people will teach aj that he was justified and then hate him for his actions like YOU TAUGHT HIM THAT

[youremyonlyhope]

It is so crazy to me that in the year of our Duck Lord 2024, there are still StarKid fans who are only just now learning that Curt Mega was on Glee.

[ratatatastic]

obsessed with forsy sincerely congratulating aj for first star but then immediately shifts into chisme mode pq quiere chusmear like y q tenemos aqui pues si me das a verlo 👀?

[auricfog]

omg i hope i'm not too late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY AJ!!! you're such a lovely sweet human and i love seeing you on my dash and chatting 💖💖 i hope you had a wonderful day!!

you're not late at all!! day's just getting started teehee 😉🩷 but thank you SOOOO much for the kind message i love you sophie!!!!

[trashdumper]

I had some great laugh and some deja-vu…absolutely amazing props are GREAT

[morphogenetic]

god im genuinely thinking about last-minute adjusting my hotels because I want to stay in Tokyo for longer..........fucked up. like i do want to go to osaka and kyoto but im less of a cultural institutions person (re: gardens and the like) than most people

[tariah23]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fellow Ijichi warrior… Goiji extraordinaire… Geiji shamen…. *dances around in circles with you ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️*

[mellarked-katnisseverdeen]

Q - A ship you’ve abandoned and why

Ohh. Okay so.

In THG I would def say Haymitch and Effie comes close. Though I wouldn't say I abandoned it. Just never got up the motivation to write fic/post about them.

But in the GoT fandom I've abandoned several. I shipped Jon and Dany in GoT BEFORE the big Jon reveal happened and dropped that so fast after that. There are others but that is my most noteable example of just straight up abandoning a ship entirely.

[yiddishfisting]

LMAO every morning i get up early to sharpie on some nips

[alfea]

nothing like finding out for certain that your favourite artist is a zionist :/

[spacedlexi]

since you are THE TFS enthusiast, i was just kinda thinking of random contrasting parallels between Peaceful Guardian S1 Lee & Destructive Broken TFS Lilly They both stumbled upon Clementine, one in his own panic finding her at home while the other is calm and has a plan, finding Clem who is homeless (again lol) Lee doesn't teach Clem anything until he's given the advice while Lilly is prepared to teach Clem by whatever measures, harmful or not Lee never harms her friends (in this case, Duck) but Lilly isnt afraid to put harm on the Ericson's kids Lee dies by saving Clem and then asks her to let him die either way Lilly dies by fighting Clem and then begs AJ/Clem not to kill her

Clementine leaves Lee in a peaceful manner with a sweet goodbye while she is forced to leave Lilly and is bitter and pissed off

Lee is hesitant but then enjoys the teamwork and comradeship with Clem, contrasting to Lilly essentially laying down the law and claiming Clem as a possession rather than family

Idk I just had to get this off my chest to someone so I wanted to know if you have any thoughts!

i do think that dichotomy between lee and lilly intentionally exists in S4. lilly even uses lee to antagonize clem more than once

lee taught clem how to survive and stand on her own. lilly only ever knew clem as that sweet little girl and thinks she can break and mold her into a loyal soldier (like how she did to minnie. like her father seemed to have done to her. she Was air force pre-apocalypse). but S4 clem is old enough to reject what other people might want for her. she knows what she wants and she'll fight for it. and lee taught her that shes capable enough to do it

lilly is the only character who could throw off and unnerve a S4 clem on a core level (other than christa rip 💀). lilly is clems last connection to lee, and had relied on her at a time when she was young and extremely vulnerable. clem Still wearing the hair ties lilly gave her back in S1 shows just how long this connection has lasted

the dichotomy between lee and lilly is why i really enjoy lilly returning as the S4 villain. i actually think lillys characterization makes perfect sense in S4 even tho some people seem to disagree. the reason her and kenny butted heads so much is because they were ultimately very similar in their desire to have singular authority and "protect their own", and they werent afraid to do it in a "by any means necessary" style. lilly snapped after her dad died, and we all know what happened to kenny... lee always existed as the man caught between them, but ultimately rose as their "leader" as he was able to keep a level head and typically keep the group grounded. learning that they cut lilly feeling like a monster because she was relieved her horrible father was dead was actually so disappointing and wouldve added to her characterization in both S1 and 4. due to feeling horrible about being happy he was gone, she just doubled down instead and convinced herself she was wrong to feel that way, which causes her to repeat the cycle of abuse on others that he imparted on her. and S4 is all about breaking cycles. lilly (and minnie) being so caught up in their own are why they work so well as antagonists, and highlights clems struggle to break free from it all and build something new. something lee would be proud of (and he is So Proud 😭😭)

[strawbrryrush]

closed starter for aj !! @lavendaers

"-so what do you think?" lucy asked; posing in the dress she was trying on.. it felt weird- it wasn't the vault suit she was used to. "-is it too much?" she continued; turning to look at herself in the mirror.

[wdwctrl]

stop saying i'm jealous. i'm not- i just. i don't like having to share. / @ aj

there's a moment where she gives him a look of absolute and total disbelief as she hears him say that. they'd been in the common room of their dorm with a group of their friends, having a tamer party where music was played along with video games. celeste had tugged april into a dance, plucking her right out of cody's lap. april laughed as she was twirled around, soon being dipped by her best friend. she'd caught the look on his face and soon pulled away from celeste to tug cody out of his seat. discreetly, she tugged him away from everyone else to figure out what was wrong. she knew by the look on his face back there.

he'd denied it vehemently, but april knew the truth. she could see it in the way he wouldn't make eye contact with her and how his jaw clenched. lips parted with a sigh and she stepped a little closer, placing her hand on his bicep and giving him a serious look. "i'm sorry, baby," her voice is a soft murmur, giving him a pout. she knew cody didn't like to share, but neither did celeste and she did her absolute best to give the two most important people in her life the attention they deserved. "c'mere, please?"

[akuyaku-reijou]

@auberginesashimi

https://progresivne.sk/programy/rovnost/#rovnost-ludi-bez-ohladu-na-vztahovu-a-sexualnu-orientaciu-a-rodovu-identitu-lgbti-ludia

... the party that won is mafia that feeds on fear. Any type of fear. Fear of immigrants, of LGBTQ+, of corona, of Russian Aggression (that won't be there if we make ourselves allies, because WWII taught us nothing, apparently), of anything that makes people easy to manipulate. And HLAS (3rd most voted) is something that broke off of SMER when people got angry.

Like, do your research?

And don't give me " why did people vote for them when ..." because why did USAmericans vote Trump in when so many USAmericans are queer? Unfortunately, most of eligible voters are old, conservative, and possibly have Alzheimer's (and Matelko fucking suckedTM).

A teraz mi ty povedz, čo sa ti nepáči na programe Progresívneho Slovenska. A poprosím maj na pamäti, čo je na Slovensku v tomto momente legálne, a teda to nemusia mať v programe. Ja si počkám, idem spať, bohužiaľ zajtra musím do práce.