schneefink

After I was recently reminded of the vast treasure trove of SGA fic, I spent some time updating my bookmarks with working links where possible, and that of course led to me rereading many fics, and suddenly the month is almost over before I could get a proper list together, so just have some of my favorites. Still themed though because I'm not in the mood for the effort it would take to shut up the little voice in my head saying that's required for a proper rec list: Stargate 'verse crossovers with significant pre-canon canon divergences. These also happen to be some of my favorite SGA fics.

Retrograde series by LtLJ
107k (main series) + 22k of extras, mostly gen, SGA/SG-1 crossover, canon divergence AU
Summary: The Atlantis expedition has been lost for three years. SG-1 goes to find them, and arrives just a little too late.
Why I love it: I love (real and perceived) betrayal stories so this was already catnip to me - something which applies to all of these, come to think of it. Also some good old-fashioned whump, action, rescues, bonding, plot, comfort... So, so good. Very high up on my list of favorite fics I've read.

Gypsies, Pirates, and Thieves by auburn
372.2k, John/Rodney/Vala, SGA/SG-1 crossover, canon divergence AU
Summary: Vala Mal Doran and her partners, renegades Jehan abd-Ba'al and Meredith McKay, hijack the Tau'ri ship Prometheus and leave the Milky Way behind in search of the Lost City of the Ancients, Atlantis.
Why I love it: Action, rescues, bonding, plot, this time with a touch more past trauma and codependency and a larger cast. The second part in the series is my favorite (and the one I've reread most often, though that's also because it's significantly shorter then the others.)

Raiders of the Seven Systems by LtLJ
32.2k, gen, SGA/SG-1/Firefly crossover, canon divergence AU
Summary: John Sheppard leads a crew of Athosian space pirates in the Pegasus Galaxy. They rescue Earth refugees Rodney McKay and Sam Carter, but then things get complicated.
Why I like it: Space pirates! Also Zoe Washburn is there. This is kind of the space pirate!John version of Retrograde, at least vibes-wise, and I am here for it.

Unnatural Selection by auburn
164.4k, John/Todd & John/Rodney, SGA/SG-1/SGU crossover, canon divergence AU
Summary:Human error, operant conditioning, survival instinct and evolution as horror. An examination of the SGC's failure to anticipate and prevent the losses of Atlantis and the Alterran survey ship Destiny. One year after the first, the second Earth Expedition to Wraith-occupied Atlantis is diverted to an Ancient ship and struggles to survive with no way home and enemies within, while John Sheppard, considered a traitor by everyone who once knew him, tries to hold onto what humanity he has left and save them all.
Why I like it: Featuring the horrors of being marooned on a space ship that's falling apart with people you can't trust and struggling to survive, Wraith xenobiology and worldbuilding, transformation/body horror, and much more in a delicious mix.

MCSR Ranked season 10 playoffs were very exciting! With triumphs and heartbreak, depending on who you were rooting for. And I was rooting for Infume, so…

But I still don't really want to get into MCSR as a fandom, apart from the sports aspect, and one of the reasons is because currently the overwhelming majority of top runners are men. There are active efforts to include more women, from tournaments to casters etc., and I appreciate that and maybe it'll be different at some point, but that's the situation currently.

[Insert a paragraph here about all sports comes with narratives and there's not really an unambiguous dividing line between that and RPF; maybe some other time.]

I was reminded of that again because I saw glimpses of discussions in another MCYT fandom about male characters getting more fandom attention than female characters. (Flight SMP, and people point it out here in particular because it's a rare case where men are actually the minority on the server, which is fair; though otoh one of the men in question is one of the most famous people on the server by far so he already had more fans and it's a small fandom to begin with.) Some people are making good points and others really aren't, as usual. I get annoyed when people try tell me I need to do fandom a certain way.

My main fandom at the moment is Hermitcraft, which is a server with 26 members, 22 of them men. Of the four, Cleo is one of my favorite Hermits period; I watch probably more videos by Pearl, Gem, and False than I would otherwise because I want to support them. I do like Pearl and Gem and their videos a lot, I just don't feel as actively fannish about them, at least not as much as the rest of my favorite (male) Hermits. (And I like False in general but idk it's just not quite my vibe.)

I had a brief Hades 2 phase recently (I still play sometimes and enjoy it but my enthusiasm has waned) and it was really nice for a change to be in a fandom with so many female characters, where (bonus) those were also the characters I was most interested in: Melinoe, Hecate, Medea… (not the canon f/f romances, sadly. I still haven't finished those storylines because I dislike both options.)

Idk where I was going with this. Now that I think about it maybe I should think about some of those Hades 2 fic ideas a bit more.

I was distracted last week because of exciting RL things and completely forgot about April recs. The first missed monthly rec post in over two years >.<

So, a quick one. I gave a short powerpoint presentation on my SGA fandom nostalgia in a Discord server recently (I joined SGA fandom almost twenty years ago, wow) and that reminded me of some SGA crack classics.

The Epic Tale of Rodney & John, Two Girl Scout Cookies In Love (The Pix or it Didn't Happen Remix) by Krim
0.4k + comic, John/Rodney, explicit cookie porn
Summary: Cookie porn, crumbs, strong language, extreme crackiness. Very image-heavy. No spoilers.
Why I love it: This is exactly what it sounds like and it's glorious. A classic.
Tragically I couldn't find a working link to the podfic/-video version by busaikko anymore, please let me know if you have one.

Stargate: Atlantis - The Post-Trinity phenomenon by iibnf
List of post-Trinity fics
Summary: [These are all McKay/Sheppard unless otherwise noted. This is not a list of recommendations, you can take it as a thematic list, instead. What I'm looking for is the classic Post-Trinity Mean John/Woobie Rodney concept, not other stories that may be set after Trinity but don’t deal with that particular issue.]
Why I love it: The Lemon Chicken Ratings list. A masterpiece.
Sadly a quick check showed that many links are no longer working, unsurprisingly, but even the list on its own is very much worth reading.

The Eternally Unnamed by lavvyan
John/Rodney, crack
Summary: Ketchup!John/Pea!Rodney: "Ketchup and peas don't go together."
Why I love it: Lavvyan has written a ton of beautiful crack but this might be my personal favorite.

I have a word document with links to SGA fanworks that's 14 pages long. I'm sure many links sadly don't work anymore but now I'm tempted to go through them again, reread a few more stories, maybe rec some... Always too much to read and not enough time.

I planted two wild strawberry plants in my living room window box today :)

Last year I was lazy and didn't plant anything after the many herbs I had before all died (after I barely used most of them.) But this weekend I visited a botanical garden ~fair with a friend and she convinced me to get the strawberries, fingers crossed they'll grow and I can eat some. Apparently they can have fruits the whole summer.

I want to put some sage with the strawberries, and some flowers in the box of the window that is hard to open, and some herbs in the box on my kitchen window sill but I haven't decided yet which ones of parsley, chives, basil, and mint. Maybe all four will fit, even, if I can put them close together? Maybe I'll just go to the once-a-week-every-spring gardening stand nearby and see what they have/say.

Some reviews of recent media before I hopefully disappear into a metaphorical cave for a week to study before my next exam; I say hopefully because I already made dumb decisions like staying up late to read fic the last two nights. Ah well. I do need breaks at some points, and I plan to get regular fresh air too.


I watched Project Hail Mary in a theater with friends on Tuesday: two of us had read the book and the other three knew nothing at all about it, which made it extra fun to hear their reactions afterwards. I read the book a few months ago, and unlike the book the movie did live up to all the good things I'd heard about it. That was great. I really like how they adapted it (yes they cut some fun stuff/good additional info but overall I thought they did a great job), I liked the designs and the visuals, it was at times very exciting and dramatic and emotional and funny, and I had a fantastic time.
I've already seen some great fanart on Tumblr and look forward to more of it, fingers crossed.

Only four people of my TTRPG group had time two weeks ago so for a few hours we tried out Sunderfolk (Steam link), a multiplayer turn-based tactical RPG where you play as animals.
I had a lot of fun! I played an arcanist raven with teleportation powers, I loved that. I could do damage as well but my most effective moves were teleporting my allies (a rogue (weasel), a pyromancer (salamander), and a vanguard (kangaroo rat)) into better positions. The story so far is rather simple, you defend the settlement against the ogres, do side-quests and help gather resources for the rebuild; I'm not sure how much I'm meant to think about the implications (like that the animals came from above and with their bright lights took away living spaces from the ogres that are now starving) but I look forward to seeing where it goes.
We're only halfway through act 1 chapter 2, but we already have a date set for next time. This time we had three of us on the couch and one joining online, next time all four will be able to attend in person, even better.
About a week later, same scenario, only four people from my TTRPG group had time – different people this time so we started a new campaign. This time I played the bat bard, and they're absolutely adorable. Gameplay-wise unfortunately I enjoyed the bard much less; we only got to level 3 so maybe it gets better later? The other player who played for the second time also enjoyed his second choice (antelope ranger) much less than his first (pyromancer). There are currently no active plans to continue, but we might if we happen to have that group again.

Dragonoak by Sam Farren #1 + #2, The Complete History of Castelir and The Sky Beneath The Sun:
Rowan, exiled from her village since they discovered she is a necromancer, runs away with a dragon knight and becomes entangled in conflicts spanning multiple kingdoms and races.
My (now ex-)gf recommended this trilogy to me, so I wanted to like it; and maybe that puts it into the category of "would have liked it more if not for my high hopes/expectations," idk. There were parts I liked, prominent among them the amount of queer characters; unfortunately it was neither the pacing nor most of the characters.
( Spoilers )

The Dementia Cascade by L. Lynn Gray (tassosss) #1 + #2, The Dementia: A Space Adventure and Surviving Peace:
Four generation ships fly in formation, still several generations from their target planet; when there are suddenly massive technical issues, solving them requires cooperation, which is made difficult by social and political conflicts.
Like many books with multiple PoVs book 1 had some I enjoyed a lot, some I was neutral about, and some I liked less (I'm currently quickly frustrated by characters with ideological blinkers.) I liked book 2 even better: fortunately for me it focuses on my favorite characters from book 1, and also the most difficult political situation. Namely, Jacks and Antony on Peace, that had a violent uprising deposing a corrupt authoritarian leader in book 1 and the consequences of that in book 2. ( Spoilers )

A little over a month ago I finally started my Hades II 1.0 playthrough, and I've been having a lot of fun. I just reached another milestone today so I thought now is a good time to post some notes.

( My first 62 runs )

My mom is currently doing a no-smartphone-challenge with her students, and I decided to do the light version and set myself a goal of 1.5 hours of smartphone time per day (normal phone calls don't count.) I did well the first few days but then failed the last three, and right now I'm realizing the limit means I can't use my phone to listen to streams while doing the dishes. Boo.

Other effects: I read books on my e-book-reader on my commute instead of fics on my phone. And I really wish my radio wasn't broken but it hasn't reached the necessary annoyance level yet to get it fixed.

I'm not behind on my study plan for my next exam yet! (The upcoming exam is mostly VAT so both important and relevant and hard.) We'll see how long it lasts, but I'm in week 3 and that's pretty good especially for my standards. And that's despite me being sick one weekend and having a bad cold the next.

I told myself I'd combine it with finally starting the Hades 2 1.0 playthrough I've been planning for months, and for the first two weeks I actually managed to stick to my "one run per study session" rule but, uh, not anymore. Ahem. Good news, still having a lot of fun playing Hades 2. And thanks to playing over 130 hours in Early Access I'm so much better than when I started my first playthrough.
(I started now because the plan was DD would start the week after and then we can talk about it, but she had a schedule change and still hasn't started so that didn't work out either ^^)

But since I started playing Hades 2 I mostly stopped playing Vampire Survivors - not completely, I have done a few more runs to get some of the very last unlocks/secrets, but mostly. So have the remaining notes for now, directly continuing from last time.

( More Vampire Survivors: more bats, still no vampires. )


I should stop procrastinating and do the dishes.

I did it, I got to the credits and unlocked the Queen :D

( Notes, spoilers everywhere )

I definitely want to continue playing and discover more, at least for a bit (until DD finally has time to play Hades 2, most likely, because we decided to start an 1.0 playthrough at roughly the same time.) But I'm glad I got to this point now because that'll make it much easier to take a break.

I finished books 1-7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl in two weeks, and more importantly I managed to drag both my gf and DD into it too - I think that's one of my strengths :) I had a great time.
( spoilers )

Slight downside, DD and I haven't started our Hades 2 1.0 playthroughs yet, since we planned to start at the same time and she just got to book 6 of DCC ^^ Hopefully soon though.

Instead I played a few runs of Vampire Survivors again. Good for occasional short play sessions that don't require much brainpower (though it is easy to forget to look at the time...) I don't unlock something every run but almost, which feels very cool and like I'm getting somewhere even though I have no idea what to do/where to go for actual game "progression." I might look it up at some point, idk.

(I also considered exploring the new Minecraft updates - I want to find a happy ghast! And ride a nautilus!, among other things - but I lost one set of good armor/tools in the End and another in the Nether a few months ago, and both are very possible to retrieve but I haven't found the motivation yet to either get one of them or make myself new gear. Possibly keepInventory would have been a good idea after all.)

Speaking of games, specifically board games: in early January with L and two of her friends we played Wingspan, which was a lot of fun, and then we tried out Earth, which we also enjoyed a lot. That one we tried first in single player, and then we decided to try the version where you play in teams but quickly switched back because it gets a lot more tactical quickly. The third long game the three of them played was Forest Shuffle - I detect a theme ^^
We also played a quick game of Pandemic. And this reminds me that L and I didn't get a chance to play Hanabi yet, hopefully soon.

It's also been ages since I gave an update on my group's TTRPG games and our current Stars Without Number campaign! We got to level six, which means I can now do "normal" teleports without Committing Effort and it feels fantastic. And I got some other cool abilities too, like imprinting on a party member to teleport back to their side even when they are out of sight.
( Recent adventures )

I think this is the last year I do fandomtrees because like last time I didn't make as many gifts as I wanted and feel bad...

But I did write a post-canon Silksong drabble I'm quite proud of:
Silk Snare for knave_of_swords
post-canon Lace(&Hornet) drabble
Summary: Much Silk was needed to see her sustained.
Notes: One of my favorite fannish drabbles I've written, I think it works very well.


I got pretty icons under my tree: some Hornet icons by gimmighoulcoins and some Grian icons by sarajayechan :D Lovely.

And I also got two other Silksong gifts recently:
Sunlight Dyed by CrushingOnGogh
stained glass art
Summary: Hornet from Silksong, depicted in stained glass
So pretty! The lights and the colors and the shapes!

reprieve by strifetxt
1k, Hornet & Shakra gen
Summary: Hornet, a conversation, and a musing.
Aaah the Hornet feelings <3