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Good news and bad news…

Good news is, I finished ‘The Furies’.

Bad news is, it’s late and I have an appointment in the morning.

What does this mean for y’all?

No Atlantis this week.

I am so sorry!

I slept a lot this week (catching up, no doubt) and worked a little on a craft project. Which is why I didn’t get something typed up!

It also doesn’t help that there’s SO much I want to talk about with these books that it’s hard to just pick one thing.

Ya know?

Anyways, I’ve got to get some sleep, but be assured that the next few weeks will be Atlantis related.

Until then!

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Crafty, take 2!

Here’s the resin update!

These are the finished product. I’m not exactly unhappy with them I’m just not too enthused either.

The pieces are all malleable and apparently will stick together a little if left touching. I obviously did something wrong (added a tad too much hardener or not enough) because otherwise they’d be like the finished works online I’ve seen…

Unless those people cut that part out and showed the pieces they’d already treated with a coat of sealer.

I honestly don’t know. I’ll be adding a layer of UV resin to them to see if that’ll fix the bendable aspect of them and also to close up the bubble holes. Another thing I wasn’t enthused about is that where there were bubbles there are now holes or breaks in the pieces. I was under the impression the bubbles rose to the top of pieces.

Well, you live you learn.

I’ll be trying out a few tricks for the next kit to see if I can fix what I did wrong here so I’ll let y’all know.

In other news!

I have the week off from my second job. Hours had to be cut because we’ve been slow and since it’s not the job that pays the bills I told my supervisor she could take my hrs so that someone else could keep theirs.

I am incredibly blessed to be able to work a part time that’s been doing serious damage to my debt, but I’ll get it paid off either way and it’s the only job for some of my coworkers. Not a hard choice to make.

However! That means that for this entire week I’ll have time to catch up on some reading and I’m hoping to be able to get through ‘The Furies’ and onto the next book for y’all!

So keep an eye out because next week will be another Stargate Atlantis review!!

Till then!

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1/2 & 1/2!

Not the kind you drink though!

This week will be part crafty and part Wraithy! Mostly because it’s late and I’m super tired but also because I’ve had a thought in my head that won’t work for a full post so I thought I’d add it to a crafty post.

First-

2-part resin!

So!

I’m still not sure about 2-part resin. I can see the benefits but it was also really annoying and kind of stressful trying to work with so much resin that was getting tacky quickly.

I followed the instructions and made 2oz of resin that should have filled up the entire flat mold once. However, some of the shapes aren’t to my personal liking which is why I used some of my other molds.

The flat mold on the left came with the kit and the others were part of a set I bought the same day because I’ve always enjoyed the videos where people used those types.

Instructions said to leave it for 72hrs so you’ll get to see what they look like next week.

I’m pretty excited about it! Maybe next time I’ll make far less and have more fun without the time constraint.

Second –

There’s a scene in the episode where Todd and his crew get cancer from Dr. Keller’s retrovirus that’s been bothering me because of ‘The Furies’.

In the scene, Todd (Guide, of course) is sitting in a cell when Sheppard comes and asks for his help keeping the Hive from being destroyed in reentry. Guide would be allowed to leave Atlantis, if they all survived, as a thank you for his help.

Guide asks about his crew and Sheppard tells him they’re dead.

I always felt that Guide was being himself and testing Sheppard. Already knowing that Shepard did something and wanting to know if he’d answer honestly or not.

However, in ‘The Furies’, Guide asks Sheppard how he would like being left without the ability to experience intimacy (the conversation is pretty long and vastly interesting but you’ll have to read it for yourselves!) and Teyla has to explain that the Wraith telepathy is how the Wraith form emotional bonds (there’s way more to it but essentially and for this posts’ purposes we’ll leave it at that).

Without that ability, they’re adrift.

Guide couldn’t feel his men when they died that day.

He honestly didn’t know that they were all dead until Sheppard told him. He may have suspected but I’ll bet you anything he didn’t actual know because he couldn’t feel them.

With those stakes, it’s no wonder he isn’t keen on going the same route and instead went a way neither the humans or the other Wraith did.

That’s all for this week, it’s not really late except that I work tomorrow so have a VERY early morning. I will see everyone later, stay safe and bright!

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Not this week…

Unfortunately there won’t be an actual post this week. I slept through 3 alarms and was two hours late to my part time job on Friday. I’ll be changing how I do things though so hopefully I won’t be that tired again, and I have Thursday completely off.

After an appointment I’ll be working on scheduling some reviews and also playing with my new resin kits!

Can’t wait for Thursday, and praying I won’t simply sleep all day because I’m too tired again.

Y’all have a good week!

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Christmas in February!!

Yay! We celebrated Christmas last Friday and I wanted to show everyone what I got!

Prezzies!!!

As you can see I received a ton of books and crafty things.

Initially I had far more books on my list but my siblings complained that that’s all they get me so I added crafty things too.

The two ‘Tiny World’ craft kits are for soap and crochet this time. I know the polymer clay one was extremely fun to do and I adored the outcome so I’m really looking forward to making these.

Now, the eraser one is a little different. I’m intrigued by the concept and have been for some time (since I saw them at work), however, I’ve heard that the fumes are really bad. I’ll probably wait to do that one until it’s warmer outside and I have one of those toaster ovens that I can plug into an extension cord and use on the porch.

The books seem to be an even match between ones I needed to complete series’ I love and new books I haven’t read yet!

You’ll notice the two Stargate novellas on top. I’ll be doing posts on them even though they aren’t Atlantis based. Unless I’ve missed something they should be the last of the novellas I needed.

I will be working that lovely galaxy puzzle with my mama and it’s a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. We’d started a 2000 piece wolf one but didn’t get too far. It was much larger than we’d worked on before and started to become a chore and not fun so hopefully this one will be more exciting!

Of course, you’ve all noticed the care items (Kleenex, toothpaste, etc…) they are mostly small and I am so happy I got them because I’ve been meaning to make a car box of such things for emergencies. God willing I won’t have any emergencies outside of bad breath, but I like small things and this gives me an excuse to splurge while also being helpful.

Last but not least! Resin!!

I received a heat gun (for popping those pesky bubbles without burning the silicone), 2 bottles of 100grams UV resin (considering all I made with a 20gram bottle you understand why I’m excited about these titans!), a new UV light which is supposed to be a higher wattage so hopefully it’ll cure faster, and 2 really cool kits I saw at Hobby Lobby!

One is for a bullet journal and the other is for charms and pendents. The molds that come with them are a big reason I wanted the kits. They were only $20 a piece and since they came with resin, pigments, and utensils for the making of, it was a far better deal than buying separately.

I LOVE using UV resin but I’m new so haven’t figured out exactly what I like making with it so these will help, I think, figuring out if I’m a big project person or small…

Probably small.

The only thing is that the kits use 2 part resin but that’s a good thing too since I’ll get to see how that works and how difficult it is compared to UV.

That’s all for this week. I’m incredibly tired from work and noticed that I will have worked 19 days in a row between my full and part time jobs. This Tuesday will be the 19th day and depending on if you count an overnight that ends at 1:30am to be a work day, then the count goes ever higher.

Next week, back to Atlantis and probably the first week in April I’ll do my KOSAL review because y’all! That book was SO good!!

Until then, keep shining!

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StALeR 31 – Legacy: The Furies (Part 8)

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

All the feels this post!

I briefly mentioned in part 2 that Guide set Sheppard up a little when he asked about Carter. Guide thought that Sheppard was Carter’s Consort and was simply playing Carter and Teyla against each other.

This is the part I was referencing.

Teyla and Sheppard are obviously a thing so it’s a little weird that the Wraith wouldn’t pick up on that when they’ve picked up on Carter and O’Neill.

Only thing I can think is that Teyla shields so well they’d only be able to get Sheppard’s side. Considering how many times he’s encountered Wraith Queen’s I can see him building a type of shield or tolerance to the mental aspect, but it’s also likely that he and Teyla practice together.

That’s not the feels part though (at least not the one I’m wanting to discuss a tiny bit).

After they leave Waterlight’s Hive, Guide, Sheppard and Teyla start a conversation that leads to some interesting places. Teyla sees that they have to work together, in truth, to defeat Death. Not these partial alliances that generally leave both sides unhappy and having lost something.

Guide isn’t so keen on trusting them considering how many times he’s been burned by their agreements before.

He’s also not happy about the fact that Teyla has put his men and himself in danger by playing her games.

The Wraith Cruiser she’s using?

One of Death’s from that big battle not too long ago.

And with her making waves concerning alliances with other Queen’s, Guide is definitely in trouble when Death finds out.

And we don’t doubt that she will.

For now though, we get to the feels.

After Teyla asks him to meet them at different coordinates, Guide makes an excuse to step away. Not far enough that he can’t hear them talking but enough that they don’t know he can still hear them.

He doesn’t trust them and wants to know what they’re planning…preferably before he becomes an unwilling guest of Atlantis again, and this is what he hears.

Sheppard telling Teyla he didn’t expect her to come rescue him and Teyla replying, “did you think that I would ever leave you?”.

The feels aren’t from them though, but from the fact that Queen Snow and Guide had a similar encounter long ago and he remembers it now.

I’ve talked about it quite a bit (and will no doubt continue cause why not) but I think it’s really important that we get to see some of what made Guide who he is.

The death of his True Queen is one of the defining moments we know about that made him who he is now and that’s the person that’s willing to do a heck of a lot that’s considered out of the norm for the Wraith.

We’re getting closer to the really good parts of the Legacy series, which is saying something because it’s all the really good parts!

For now, I shall let y’ll go.

Next week will be about what presents I got for Christmas because my Christmas was postponed due to reasons. Lots of books, I’m sure!

Until then, stay safe and I’ll see everyone later!

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StALeR 30 – Legacy: The Furies (Part 7)

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

Yay, I’m back part two!

I’m pretty excited about this considering how tired I am (worked 4-11am today on five hours of sleep and God bless everyone who does that normally!!) and wanted to update on things to come.

More StALeR, of course, but there will be a few interruptions because one of my all time favorite authors has the last in a series coming out next Tuesday! (2-23-2021)

If you haven’t read Karen Marie Moning’s ‘Fever’ series you should go do that. It’s a dark fantasy series but is shelved in romance because before this series she wrote a Highlander romance series (that is actually a small part of the ‘Fever’ series) and so the publishers felt it would sell better if marketed to her current fanbase…which is now much bigger!

Having said all that, I will be writing up a review or more about the book (KOSAL= Kingdom of Shadow and Light) and maybe the series as a whole and scheduling them for late March or early April in consideration of the spoiler ban that will be in place. The ban is generally only two weeks long, but there’s no reason to post the reviews so early anyways because I’m not sure if they will be extra posts for the week or taking the StALeR review’s place for the week.

Exciting things to look forward to!

But now to what you came back for…

More Guide!

Initially, I was going to talk about Waterlight and Steelflower’s interaction and how Waterlight didn’t just bow down to Teyla because she was stronger. I really liked how Waterlight didn’t throw her father under the bus when Steelflower asked if he spoke for her, instead, she simply confirmed that he was still Consort.

This insinuated (at least to me) that he can speak for her on certain things but she is still Queen and has final say. It’s one of those tactful things to say when you don’t want to show weakness to a stronger entity. Not a lie but it does leave things open to interpretation later on.

I’ll most likely bring it up later because of what happens with Guide and all that, but it would be a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read the whole series right now.

So!

This week we talk about Guide coming to the rescue!

Immediately after what happened last week, Teyla talks to Waterlight and calls her sister. Claiming a kinship to the Osprey Wraith line (which Thorn notes is an old way of doing things) Teyla makes it clear that she is willing to stand against Death and will happily call anyone kin who stands with her.

A ship then comes out of hyperspace and Thorn (I’m really liking him and would love a scene where he and Guide just go off with their dry humor!) says that Teyla can prove her claims now.

Of course she doesn’t have to because it’s Guide and the two play along with each other as if he were a concerned Consort and arrived before he was supposed to.

Here’s the thing.

We know better.

He had no idea what she and Atlantis were planning (more on that next week) which means that he was coming to try and negotiate to get Shepard himself.

He would have done one of two main things (we all know he would have had plans within plans) which are to pretend to have been sent by Death to pickup the human or get them to join his alliance.

Either way, I very much doubt that Shepard would have been left with Waterlight and her Hive.

I honestly don’t think Guide would have killed Shepard as a ‘last resort’ if he hadn’t been able to convince them to hand him over because Shepard is far too valuable alive. Guide isn’t stupid and no doubt knows that the only reason Atlantis has ever dealt with him is because of Shepard.

Would he have succeeded in getting Shepard?

Absolutely.

He has far more men so if only by sheer number would he have been able to get Shepard back. He doesn’t have to because of Teyla, but it is interesting to theorize what he would have done.

I can see Shepard being a guest of Guide’s for a while.

At least until he could negotiate for more favorable terms with Atlantis on several fronts.

Would he have kept him prisoner?

Nah.

Again, it would be stupid to do so and Guide isn’t stupid. Keeping Shepard on his Hive would be a great risk because he would have to answer whenever Death called (as much as it galls him to do so for anyone claiming to be his Queen) and the entire point is to keep Shepard, and anyone else with knowledge of his dealings with the humans, away from Death and other like-minded Wraith.

The conversations and interactions between Shepard and Guide would have been hilarious I imagine since they’re so much alike.

And that is all for this week because this is much bigger than intended due to the KOSAL info.

Ya’ll have a wonderful week and I’ll see ya next time!

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StALeR 29 – Legacy: The Furies (Part 6)

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

I’m back!

Okay, one of the funniest scenes we are going to talk about today is the one where Teyla/Steelflower goes to rescue Shepard from Waterlight.

Those two are cute and they work very well together. We know both of these things from the series’ (TV and book). What makes this particular scene so dang funny is just how bad it really is!

When I first read through the book I cringed at how bad the dialog was, but this second/third time through (I’ve lost count) I realized something.

Their acting is very similar to old, cheesy, movies where the acting was over the top because that was the ‘thing’ back then. Not that it’s a bad thing, just not the more realistic acting we’re familiar with these days.

If you’ve ever watched Star Trek Voyager, you may recall the episodes where Tom Paris and Kim Harry use the holodeck to play Captain Proton (and more memorably where Captain Janeway has to play Queen Arachnia to save the day!).

This scene is not unlike that!

When Teyla calls John a ‘puny human’ (this is where I cringed the first time) it’s cringe worthy because of how over the top bad guy it is.

Noone talks like that.

We knew that Shepard would play along the moment he saw it was Teyla, but the amount of bad acting was spectacular in its cringey-ness.

At one point, Teyla tells one of the younger Blades that he’s pretty but not too smart (paraphrasing here) and Jo Graham (the author if I haven’t mentioned before) makes a point to mention that Shepard makes a strangled noise here.

We ALL know he’s doing everything he can not to laugh out loud and ruin it because I have no doubt that if he started laughing then Teyla wouldn’t be able to keep up the pretense any longer either.

Whether she would laugh out loud too or simply give him one of those amused looks I can’t actually say, but the jig would have been up.

Outside of the bad acting where Shepard pretends like he’s taken over by Teyla/Steelflower and falls to his knees before her, he also has to pretend to be enthralled or under her power. As such, back to the over-the-top thing, he kisses her boot.

I seriously can’t stop laughing at the imagery!

Think about it ya’ll!

Shepard had to have shown Teyla all sorts of movies and I can completely see the two watching the older ones with this kind of bad acting. They could have gone a different way here, but this was the quickest and they, correctly, figured the Wraith wouldn’t be able to tell they were acting so long as Teyla kept her mind shielded from them.

After they get home, and to safety, I can see them having a good laugh recounting this to people. Rodney would find it hilarious, though I’m not sure about Ronon.

Something else to consider.

I’m sure the incident is relayed and gossiped about amongst the Wraith after the fact and Guide no doubt will eventually hear about it. I’m guessing he’d get a pretty good laugh out of it too.

He and Shepard have the same kind of humor after all.

Alrighty!

Thank you for checking in this week and I hope that this post made up for last weeks.

Be bright and don’t let the world dim you.

Until next week!

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It happened…

This will probably be the shortest post ever.

I apologize because there really isn’t a fun Atlantis post this week. I am in my second week of working two jobs and haven’t acclimated yet. I’ll be getting next weeks’ ready tomorrow so there’ll be that but this week it’s just an apology.

Sorry!

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StALeR 28 – Legacy: The Furies (Part 5)

Stargate Atlantis Legacy: The Furies

SGA #19

ISBN: 9781905586578

Having read the last weeks’ worth of posts you can understand how happy I am to get to see (through the emails) parts of SG-1’s lives after the team went their own ways.

However, as I mentioned about two weeks ago I believe, a more intriguing part of the story is about how the Wraith know about Carter and O’Neill.

I wanted to bring this up again (this is, I know, about the fourth time) because it’s not only greatly fascinating, but it’s also brought up in different ways throughout Legacy.

The fact that Carter has an older blade for a Consort back in the Milky Way Galaxy!

First and foremost.

How the heck do the Wraith even know about him!?

Mind you, there is book 20 in the Legacy series which has O’Neill showing up again in Atlantis and even negotiating with Guide, but that is later and the Wraith know about him now.

So how the Wraith know about him would be anyone’s guess…except that I’m here so I’ll be the ‘anyone’ guessing!

The fact that Carter and O’Neill are in a relationship isn’t really surprising. It was made clear in multiple episodes, throughout the shows run, that they had feelings for each other, so their being in a relationship under the radar isn’t what I’m talking about because we already know about it.

I want to know how the Wraith know!

Because they do. Before they meet him!

O’Neill was in Pegasus that one time before when the Altaran’s are killed by the Asurans and the city is taken over. Outside of that, I’m pretty positive he would have made a point to see, if not talk, to Guide while Atlantis was on Earth.

However!

I feel like the Wraith knew about them before even that. As in, back when Carter was in charge of Atlantis.

——

I had to take a few minutes to find what I needed, but sure enough in ‘The Lost’, Dust tells Quicksilver what he knows about Atlantis.

Which includes the information about Carter/She Who Carries Many Things becoming Queen of Atlantis and confirming Sheppard as her Consort. The Wraith considered that to be a formality only though because they knew of her Consort, O’Neill/Trickster, back in the Milky Way galaxy.

This suggests that the Wraith knew for quite some time that Carter and O’Neill were a thing.

A return to the question of how.

I’ll give to you that it’s possible they know about O’Neill now which is why they believe Sheppard’ confirmation as Consort was a formality. As in, they thought Sheppard/Guide really was her Consort until Wraith Guide came back after meeting O’Neill and telling others about him.

What does this tell us?

The Wraith are a bunch of gossips.

Although Queen’s no doubt talk to each other, they would most likely only share information up to a point and rely on their Consort’s and others to get information for them as they mingled with their counterparts.

Thus, gossip.

Which is totally fine and would explain how they know about O’Neill.

The romantic in me, however, has another theory.

We know the Wraith are telepathic and that’s their main way of communication. We also know that they can influence human minds (remember those ‘shadows’ they can make people see?), so it isn’t that much of a stretch to think that they can read human minds to a certain extent.

In the case of Carter and Weir, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t try too hard to get information out of them if only because they were seen as Queen’s and that just isn’t done. But a quick skim to acknowledge their position would almost be an automatic thing for the Wraith and would garner them an incredible amount of information.

And since Guide dealt with Carter quite a bit, he would have plenty of time to peruse her mind and establish that Sheppard wasn’t her Consort in truth.

We all know, and love, that Guide doesn’t necessarily play by the rules, so I can totally see him pushing it when it comes to reading Carter’s mind. As long as he isn’t caught, what’s the harm?

My theory is that’s what happened. Guide got a good look into her head enough so to let others know that Carter had a Consort back home.

Why would that be romantic?

Because Carter’s feelings for O’Neill would have to be pretty strong for a Wraith to pick up on without going far deeper than would be appropriate, by Wraith standards.

Even Guide has limits to how far he’ll go.

And that my peeps is what I think about how the Wraith know about O’Neill before ‘meeting’ him later on in the Legacy series.

Unless anyone else has a theory that’s what I’m going with.

Have a fantastic week and I’ll see everyone soon!