schneefink

May recs: more SGA fics, this time SG-1 crossover canon divergence

2026-05-28T21:08:15Z

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.

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Sorting through books

2026-05-24T19:23:21Z

I'm going through all my things in anticipation of my move, including my bookshelves. I've already given away over a dozen books (some to my mom, some to a friend, some to the open bookshelf around the corner), but there's several more I'm not sure about. So I thought I'd try to write down my thoughts in the hope it'll help me decide.

Night Watch; Day Watch; and Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukianenko (in German): Over two decades ago this was some of the first urban fantasy I read, and I was fascinated by it. I remember being very impressed by so many of the abilities and magic, and the "light and dark need to co-exist" set-up.
I started a reread once, also many years ago, and I was much less impressed that time, especially by the writing. I don't think I'm going to ever read it again. The author's political stances are another reason.
Most likely going to get rid of these.

Empire of Ivory (Temeraire #4); Victory of Eagles (Temeraire #5) by Naomi Novik: I enjoyed this series while reading, but there were plenty of elements I rolled my eyes at, and I'm definitely not going to reread the whole thing. But I think #4 and #5 were some of my favorites? It's been a long time. I still have very fond feelings for the fandom in particular, there's some great fics.
I think I might keep these for now.

Side Jobs, Ghost Story, Cold Days, Skin Game (Dresden Files #12.5 - #15) by Jim Butcher: I was a big fan of the series at one point, but gradually lost interest; I haven't even read "Twelve Months" yet, though I might at some point if they get it at the library.
I asked LB if he wants them since he was also a fan at one point, that would be ideal, but I suspect he won't. In that case I think I might keep them a little longer.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke: it was okay, but I didn't like it so much that I'd want to keep it. I had a vague thought at some point that I should reread it eventually because I think I would enjoy it more without the high expectations, but that's not likely to happen any time soon.
Most likely going to the open bookshelf.

The others I was thinking about I think I talked myself into keeping already, but for completeness' sake: Black Wolves by Kate Elliott (I barely remember anything about it but my review said I loved it so I might read it again one day), A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (I gave away books #1 + #3 because I didn't find them very interesting but I remember really enjoying the second one), The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus #5) by Rick Riordan (one of my favorites of the whole series), Heaven's Net is Wide (Tales of the Otori 0.5) by Lian Hearn (I'm emotionally attached to the other four books in the series and I think I'll keep the prequel for completeness' sake because it has a sufficiently pretty spine), Myriad Lands #1 + #2 by David R. Stokes (ed.) (I got those at my first Worldcon and while I barely remember the stories - though according to my reviews I liked them - the covers and spines are just so very pretty.)

This helped with decision-making, mission success.

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Looking for female characters

2026-05-20T21:26:27Z

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.

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Fast block people

2026-05-10T21:53:04Z

I spent most of this weekend procrastinating when I really should have been tidying up and vacation planning and all those things. Uugh. At least I met up with LB and my mom to finally do the pottery painting we gifted her for Christmas, I went for a walk, and I finally made a little bit of progress on the massive pile of fanworks I want to comment on.

A major part of that procrastination was watching round one of MCSR Ranked playoffs season 10, that was at least entertaining.

Spoilers

I can't believe Hax is out! Got swept, even! Wow. First time he's not on the podium since he first played in the playoffs in season 3. And Doogile got reverse swept. Some bad luck involved in both cases (blinding to different strongholds from the same spawner?!) but also some bad decisions and that's just how it goes sometimes. Like when BeefSalad forgot to set a bed for a death reset xD
The Infume vs HDMICables match was my favorite, Infume with very clean wins except whatever the fuck that was in round 3 (both failed the zero, Infuse choked a one cycle and HDMI missed a perch), what an End, that was great xD I'm sad Feinberg vs Lowkey had to be postponed, but I do enjoy the "Feinberg finally made it to week 2" jokes.

But I'm definitely not "in" the MCSR fandom, that would be way too time-consuming, I just like the tournaments for the exciting sports emotions. And me putting on various MCSR streams in the background sometimes doesn't mean anything. ~~Oh no.~~

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Belated April recs: 3 SGA classics

2026-05-03T20:40:52Z

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.

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Hades II: all achievements + prophecies

2026-05-02T20:05:31Z

I played a lot more Hades II and had a lot of fun. And I even finally got a Melinoe icon, look. (Still too lazy to type the dots on her name every time.)
I finally got all achievements and fulfilled all prophecies, which is a good moment to finally post my run notes.

( Hades II, continued: #63+ )

( #70+ The Ending )

( #101: The Epilogue )

( #104+ Patch 2 )

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Fragaria vesca

2026-04-22T20:57:51Z

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.

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Fic I wrote for MCYT Battleship

2026-04-16T21:28:58Z

I think the exam this morning went well, that is a big relief (though I won't find out for sure for six weeks or so.) Finally time to catch up on fandom things!

I participated in mcytbattleship this year - the first one, technically, since last year was AUFest in battleship format - and I had a lot of fun. I was on team Tide and we won!! It was extremely close, too, team Bolt was missing one board tag at the last check.
I came into the event planning to write at least one fic, and I ended up writing six, which I'm very happy with, and two of those (the last two in this list) especially. All six stories were for Hermitcraft/Life series, and all featured ZombieCleo - yes I have a clear favorite. (I started fics without them too but those didn't come together.)

The Watcher at the End of His Games, Hermitcraft/Life series
1k, Cleo&Etho&Grian, Watcher!Grian
Summary: After the last game ended badly, Grian invites Cleo and Etho to one more world.
Notes: Roomies <3 This needed more editing to come together the way I wanted it too but not bad I think.

Waxen Care, Hermitcraft
0.7k, Cleo & Joe, came back wrong, platonic wax play
Summary: Cleo's body was changed, again. Joe helps.
Notes: I think several tags I was aiming for a very obvious, and I do like Joe taking care of Cleo.

Find the Missing, Life series
1.2k, Cleo/Etho, superhero AU
Summary: The downside of having a famous superhero ex is that you might get kidnapped to get to him. The upside is that he will come and rescue you, and you might even find out how much you still care about each other.
Notes: This is an urban fantasy AU so technically I could have tagged this Hermitcraft but idk Life Series seemed to fit this version of them better. Not written in second person btw, for some reason I put the summary like that.

Parsec High Club, Hermitcraft
0.6k, Cleo/Etho/OFC, brainship AU
Summary: Due to the limitations of being a spaceship, Cleo could sometimes use some assistance in properly taking care of their captain.
Notes: I just had to write something to hit "AU - Brainship" ^^ Sidenote, this one and the next had five tags from the rare tags list which gives me a golden ticket for next year, need to figure out what to use it for...

/keep @server hermit 2, Hermitcraft RPF
1.1k, Cleo & Grian, IRL Hermits on Hermitcraft isekai
Summary: Being on Hermitcraft is different when the Server doesn't let you leave.
Notes: My first actual MCYT RPf fic, and I have wanted to see more Hermits-on-Hermitcraft for a while. The recipient called it "kinda horrifying, actually. But also lovely." which is pretty much what I wanted :)
I really liked my idea to use a made-up gamerule for the title; I don't know anything about gamerules but I got some feedback that made me think it's maybe not immediately clear but makes sense in context.

The Swarming of Hermits, Hermitcraft
2.8k, Cleo/Everyone (Cleo/Grian, Cleo/Etho, Cleo/Cub), e-rated xeno harem with lots of breeding kink
Summary: The Time of Swarming has begun, and Hermits from all over the place have gathered together.
Cleo breeds her swarm.
Notes: This year there was a battleship tag "grasshopper-style gregarization," and I found a prompt for it that also included xeno, oviposition, and breeding kink, and somehow I came up with this. Definitely the kinkiest fic I have ever posted! Feels a bit awkward to reread but I'm also proud of it. And I have many thoughts about the worldbuilding that I will hopefully write down at one point.

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1 movie with stars, 1 game with magical animals, and 2x2 books

2026-04-09T12:47:58Z

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 )

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March recs: 11 MCYT Battleship works

2026-03-30T19:14:43Z

I've only begun to read through the massive MCYT Battleship collection (all ages collection, 18+ collection) and new works are still being posted. And I got wonderful gifts! (Separate post for these later.)

Some early recs in late March: 3 art pieces and 8 fics, mostly Hermitcraft/Life Series but also Emduo, Vampires SMP, and MCSR RPF.

Worldhopper by bookwyrminspiration, Hermitcraft/Life Series/Empires/VBRPF
Art, Gem-centric
Summary: oops all geminitay! a digital spread of the many lives of gem :)
Why I love it: This is incredible. Nine different Gems, all in different lives with different outfits and worlds, and they all look fantastic.
( 2 more art pieces + 8 fics )

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Hades II 1.0

2026-03-28T21:48:19Z

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 )

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2025: Many Things

2026-03-27T22:21:49Z

It's very late March, I know, but better late than never. Most of this was written back in December/January.

( Fannish things )

( Non-fannish things )

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Challenges and achievements in and out of games

2026-03-11T20:06:08Z

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.

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February recs: 6 belated Yuletide recs

2026-02-28T18:22:30Z

This is the first weekend in a long time for which I had no outside plans, and it was sunny and I was so looking forward to going for a walk, but instead I was sick in bed. Uuuuugh.

But it is the last day of February so have some last-minute recs for some of my favorite Yuletide 2025 fics with no canon knowledge required.

( 6 fics with no canon knowledge required: Chalion Saga, Dangerous Crow Boy Whose Job It Is To Destroy Plastic, The Lottery/The New Yorker, Sieben Jahre/18th century Prussia RPF, FAQ: The Snake Fight portion of your thesis defense, Knives Out movies )

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Vampire Survivors: The Queen

2026-02-17T15:28:56Z

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.

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Cathedrals with various kinds of enemies

2026-02-10T22:41:09Z

Oh no I fell into Vampire Survivors again. A few days ago I said I had no idea where to go for game progression, but there is an actual "unlock" menu so I followed that for a bit and now I have ten different things I want to do next, and I definitely want to complete the 1.0 achievements because of the cool prize - and after that there is a very cool Castlevania DLC as well! ( Spoilers )

Last weekend my gf and her friend L and I tried out Hanabi (I had only played it online before) and that was a lot of fun. We also baked four different kinds of Vanillekipferl because why not?, and they were very good.

On Monday together with more friends we watched Wake Up Dead Man, the third "Knives Out" movie, and had a great time. It was in turns (and sometimes all at once) tense, exciting, emotional, and very funny. All of us suspected the murderer from the beginning but it was still great to see it all play out. I would like several more movies in this series please.
This one felt a lot more, hm, grounded than the second one, not "rich people on a remote island" but instead a small community with characters that felt like they could be anywhere. (Unfortunately, in some cases.) I suspect that there were some things implied that I missed because I think in the US religion is very closely related to social class, and also I'm pretty sure Catholicism has different connotations, but it still worked very well.

I'm still watching a lot of Hermitcraft and some other MCYT. Season 11 is a lot of fun, and can barely wait for Decked Out 3.
Mid-Offs 3 is soon, and the draft on Friday! It's an event where top Minecraft speedrunners coach people with little to no MCSR experience through a tournament. Scar is in this one and I'm excited, and I think False could do really well too. Though afaik neither of them have any MCSR experience, unlike e.g. Ludwig who's been playing for the past month or so. I saw a couple of clips and enjoyed that people made dozens of parody songs for him.
Then the Hermitcraft charity event is in April again (Cleo will participate IRL this time, yay!) - the weekend before my exam unfortunately >.< But what if I'm really really well prepared... And didn't get distracted by MCYT Battleship in March either...

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Dungeons and other games

2026-02-05T21:30:06Z

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 )

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January recs: Hermitcraft fusions

2026-01-29T20:59:23Z

The new year has started and I almost forgot about monthly recs already.
To start with, three Hermitcraft fanworks, 1 animation and two fics: fusions with Slay the Spire, Uma Musume, and Pokémon (knowledge of other fandoms not required.)

Slay the Citadel by cocoabats
Animation, Hermitcraft s10/Slay the Spire
Summary: i spent way too much time on this but hey! decked out 2 in the style of slay the spire!
slay the citadel?
Why I love it: This is so cool! I know nothing about Slay the Spire but all the Hermitcraft parts are so fitting and look so cool and the atmosphere is so great.

( and two fics )

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I wrote a Silksong drabble and got Silksong gifts

2026-01-20T18:08:04Z

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

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Dungeon Crawlers: kill, kill, kill

2026-01-16T22:27:03Z

I'm behind on household chores and fandom things (my end-of-year post, snowflake challenge etc.) and the next few weeks are going to be stressful because I have weekend classes again and other plans; and yet the past few days I've spent most of my spare time (and some time when I should have been asleep) reading the first 4.5 books of Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. I'd heard enough good things about it that I put a hold on the first two books immediately when my library got them, and when I was finished with them I immediately wanted to continue reading.
Unfortunately the ebook versions of books 3-7 are only available on amazon from what I've seen and I try to avoid giving them money when I can, so I joined the author's Patreon instead and am now reading the unedited versions of the other books. It's very hard to stop reading! There's always just one more thing I want to see how it goes, and then the next.

I enjoy the LitRPG and power-up fantasy aspects, but I think my favorite angle is the reality TV death game. Reminds me of the Hunger Games in that aspect, with bonus corporate politics in the background. I also like the characters, the main cast and the supporting cast, and I enjoy the crazy plans. Can't wait to see where it goes! ...except I have to because of chores and classes etc. etc. and I should also try to get enough sleep. Boo.

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Happy New Year 2026

2026-01-03T22:12:05Z

Happy New Year!

By New Year's both L and I had recovered from being sick for Christmas; I was only a little sick but L got it pretty bad. We spent it with friends, LK and MSZ, with good food and games, and the only downside was that we didn't see many fireworks.

We finally tried out the Minecraft: Builders & Biomes board game LK and MSZ gifted me for my birthday two years ago, somehow we had not gotten around to it before. It was fun! Definitely something I can imagine playing again.
Some with Minecraft: Explorers, a cooperative card game that I enjoyed so much I am planning to buy it for myself, too. We played it twice and won once (but it was a very close loss.)
I would love to play more board & card games this year. I have two cooperative board games that I haven't played in years, "Lord of the Rings" and "Village Attacks," hopefully there'll be some time for that, and I also just bought "Hanabi," which I've only played online so far.

Then on the first day of the new year L and I didn't do much, very relaxed, that was nice. I worked on the 2nd, but only for half a day. And now I'm both working on my 2025 recap, trying to catch up on reading & commenting (so many fic updates at the end of the year & exchange reveals!), and hopefully write something for fandomtrees. (I forgot to link my own tree, here, requesting Silksong, Hermitcraft, and Vampires SMP.)

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Fic I wrote: Ghost of Christmas Fork-In-The-Road (Hermitcraft/Life series)

2025-12-30T15:59:58Z

I didn't participate in Yuletide this year, but I did write a gift for a friend:

Ghost of Christmas Fork-In-The-Road for springbeetle, Hermitcraft/Life Series
2.6k, gen, Grian&Grian, Hermitcraft s11 / Nice Life crossover
Summary: What if there were two Grians, one an admin who organizes death games and the other a prankster and builder on a mostly-vanilla server, and one of them put the other in a cage.
Notes: I had a lot of fun with this. I wish I had had space for an appearance by trivia bot (maybe could have figured something out if I had more time) but that just has to be an AU for if Hermitcraft Grian arrived a little earlier.

Life series seasons I have now written fic for:( Read more... )

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December recs: 8 FIAB fics

2025-12-19T17:06:57Z

Of the many pre-Christmas stressful things this year, an unexpected one is ficinabox. And I didn't even participate this year! But I usually try to read and comment widely before creator reveals and this year the timing was not great for me.

I did find many fanworks to enjoy and loved many of them, and here are some of my favorites. Several of them can be enjoyed fandom-blind.

This Ao3 Author's Curse Has Got Hands by antimony_medusa
Dream SMP, 5.6k, Phil & Techno, urban fantasy AU, A/N format
Summary: Fanfic author Technoblade has been pre-writing and is excited to start posting his whumptober longfic, his trusty beta Philza at his side. Unfortunately for his posting schedule, the Ao3 author's curse hits him hard, fast, and with an intensity never before seen. Really it's starting to seem like he's cursed.
Does this mean that he gives up posting his fic?
Nah nah nah nah nah he's got this handled. Don't even worry about it. Chapters will be posted come hell, high water, hospital visit, house invasions, eviction, mob action, emergency road trip, or kidnapping. Technoblade never dies, and he never misses an update.
Why I love it: A story told entirely in author's notes: the format works fantastic, the character voice is impeccable, and most importantly it's hilarious.
Canon knowledge required: Definitely not (tested on my gf.)

( More FIAB fics: 3x Hermitcraft, 1x original, 1x All For The Game, 1.5x Nirvana in Fire, 1x Nirvana in Fire 2 )

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Books read recently: Camp Damascus, The Incandescent, Queen Demon

2025-12-15T19:21:12Z

I have an e-book-reader with many many unread books on it. But when I'm e.g. on the underground, taking out and turning on my e-reader would be an extra step, and it's easier to read things on my phone. Which used to be fic, but now I also have the library app on my phone so I can read books I'm currently borrowing from the library. Convenient, but a side-effect is that which books I read next is more often determined by which books I finally got from my wait lists. And sometimes it is almost stressful when I get several at the same time ^^
But they were good books :)
(Spoilers hidden separately.)

Camp Damascus, by Chuck Tingle
( Camp Damascus )

The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh
( The Incandescent )

Queen Demon, by Martha Wells
( Queen Demon )

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Silksong: the "epilogue"

2025-12-10T20:02:38Z

I played very little Silksong in the past 1-2 weeks and did pretty much everything I wanted to in my first playthrough (before the DLCs come out) so now is a good time to post the "epilogue" notes.

( Things I did after the true ending )

( Some more thoughts )

( LPs I watched )

I already know what I want to play next: Hades 2, of course. (But probably not this year, I have a huge backlog of books etc.)

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