#Working Tidal pod

[deactivated-fish]

The pilot is out now on spotify!

[lumoakes]

Audio Drama Sunday (16/6-24)

Okay so I kind of didn't get around to doing Audio Drama Sunday for three weeks so. Here's a summary of my listening history for the past three weeks.

First of all, I've gotten further into @storiesfromylelmore and this show is so cute! I'm so invested in the friendship between these kids, and it's so nice to listen to after a long day.

I listened to the first episode of @thefinderskeeperpod and oooh I love the vibes of this one. The characters have a lot of personality and the storyline has a lot of mystery and depth to it that I would love to delve further into. What an exciting project!

@working-tidal-pod was such a fun time. This comedy sure is situational, and has a lot of heart to it. A creative concept that I would love to see more of.

In addition, I got a little bit carried away and have listened to the first 84 episodes of @woebegonepod this past week, give or take two days. And uhh needless to say, I absolutely adore it. I can hardly articulate my thoughts but I love all of these characters, I love the time travel, and oh god shit is going down constantly.

I think this just about covers it. Tune in to the 5th episode of @wanderersjournalpod which I'm the producer of this tuesday if you want! It's one of my personal favorite episodes, so I'm excited to share it.

[mynameismckenziemae]

Unbroken

Part 2

(previous chapter here, next chapter here)

Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw x You

Summary: You and Bradley get to know each other

Warnings: 18+ MDNI! A bit of smut, heavy petting (lol).

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

Time stands still when his lips meet yours; tentative at first, letting you know it’s okay to stop. But that’s the last thing on your mind. Your tongue licks at the seam of his lips and his hand pushes into your hair as he deepens it with a satisfied hum, kissing you with an unhurried tenderness.

Your hand grips his bicep in an attempt to not drift away when the dormant butterflies in your stomach unfurl their wings and take flight. A tidal wave of hope and relief washes over you at the long-gone feeling and you smile against his lips.

Maybe you’re not broken. Maybe you are still capable of feeling something.

Your phone rings; breaking the spell as it startles you apart.

“I better answer. It’s Charlie,” you say regrettably.

He hums in agreement. You swallow thickly when he fails his attempt at discretely adjusting himself in his jeans before he gathers the trash.

He does have a big cock.

“How’d it go at Anderson’s?” Charlie asks after you greet her.

“Uh…not great. But at least I don’t have to deal with him again,” you answer, watching Bradley walk the garbage to the receptacle.

“What happened? You okay?” Jake says from the background.

You repeat the morning’s events and Jake’s relief is palpable in his tone when he responds. “I’m glad Bradshaw went with you.”

“Me too,” you reply, smiling as he walks back up.

“Is he still with you?” Charlie asks.

“Yeah, I wanted to treat him to lunch as a thank you but he paid,” you roll your eyes good-naturedly. “I took him to Breakneck to eat.”

“Did you make out like teenagers?” She teases, knowing it was the town’s prime parking spot.

Your hesitation gives you away and Bradley grins sheepishly when he hears Charlie’s squeal.

“Oh my God, you so did!” She laughs and Jake groans in the background. “You shush, they’re both adults.”

“So what’s the plan for later?” You ask with a cringe, trying to change the subject.

“You know I’m gonna get the details later,” she says lowly. “We’re going to pick up the rest of the squad from the airport in about two hours, then meeting at Buck Wild around seven.”

“Giving the real Texas experience, huh?”

“You know it. You’ll have to ride the bull, show ‘em how it’s done.”

“We’ll see. Who knows, I might not be good at it anymore,” you reply, knowing it’s likely ingrained into your muscle memory from the college summers you worked there.

“Oh whatever,” she laughs. “See you at seven.”

“See ya,” you reply and look to Bradley. “Well, they know. I should’ve denied it but the Seresins are terrible liars.”

“It’s all good. I don’t regret it,” he answers, offering you a hand to get off the tailgate.

“Me either,” you smile, taking his hand before you hop down.

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

Bradley can’t help but smile as you drive away from the hotel after dropping him off. It’s been a long time since a woman made him feel this way.

His phone buzzes as he flops on the bed.

Jake: Sounds like you got some explaining to do. 😒We’ll pick you up at 6:30.

Bradley: 👍

He sets down his phone and closes his eyes; exhausted from rising with the sun this morning from his excitement to see you.

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

“Em! Over here!” Jake calls when you walk into the bar later that evening, followed by a wolf whistle from Charlie.

You laugh, finding their group near the mechanical bullpen.

Introductions are made and the group razzes Jake for not inviting you to California before he moved back. You can tell already that you and Natasha are two peas in a pod.

Bradley makes his way over to your side.

“You look good,” he says over the loud country music as he hands you a beer, eyes lingering on your cleavage pushed up by the tight black leather vest you’re wearing.

“Thanks, so do you,” you reply, taking in his gray shirt and tight jeans.

He smiles. “I got the big brother talk from Jake on the way here, but not the one I anticipated.”

“Yeah? How so?”

“It’s usually the ‘hurt her and die’’; Jake told me he’d spare me that bullshit since you can obviously hold your own, but to be careful ‘cause he doesn’t want me to get hurt either,” he replies, leaning closer. “Why is that? Are you gonna hurt me?”

“Only if you ask me to,” you murmur hotly near his ear before you take a long pull of your beer.

Even in the dim lighting, you can see the flush rise up his neck.

You smirk at his reaction before calling out, “Who wants a shot?”

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

A few hours and drinks go by and you’re comfortably buzzed as you watch Jake’s friends take their turns on the bull. You laugh when Jake goes first and gets thrown off quickly (in his defense, the operator and your old boss, Willie, was gunning for him). Bob surprises himself and gets the longest ride, Natasha is a natural is a close second, poor Javy over-anticipates and ends up with a bloody nose.

Bradley’s next and your mouth goes dry as you imagine him fucking into you while you watch his hips follow the movements. He has a good run but loses his balance at a sharp turn and drops gracefully to the mat.

“Emma Lou, it’s your turn!” Charlie says, gently pushing you towards the entrance to the pen.

You roll your eyes good-naturedly and wink at Bradley as you pass by.

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

“Go easy on me, Willie! It’s been a long time,” you call as you straddle the bull.

“I’ll start slow, ease you into it before I start going hard,” he teases with a laugh. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Charlie elbow Bradley, as if he isn’t watching you like a hawk.

“Just the way I like it,” you blow him a kiss as the movement starts and your thighs tighten instinctively.

You smile when you hear the cheers. Your muscles do indeed remember as go around and around, up and down.

You slide off gracefully with a breathless laugh before you get dizzy but when you look up, Bradley’s gone.

“He went to the bathroom,” Charlie answers tipsily. “Quickly, I might add. As if he couldn’t watch you gyrate on that bull anymore.”

“Okay. I wasn’t gyrating, and I wasn’t gonna ask-“

“I saw you looking for him,” she teases. “I think you need to go to the bathroom too,” she says pushing you towards the bathrooms before she turns. “My turn!”

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

Bradley’s coming out of the bathroom as you walk down the long hallway.

“You okay? You’re all flushed,” you ask.

“Yeah, just, uh…warm,” he replies.

“It gets hot in here. Wanna step outside? There’s a door at the end of the hall here.”

You lead him by the hand when he nods.

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

It’s not much cooler outside but the fresh air is nice.

“That was fun. I don’t remember getting dizzy that fast though,” you smile, leaning back against the rough brick. “Gettin’ too old for that apparently.”

He just shakes his head with a chuckle as stands beside you. “You definitely know how to ride one.”

You hum in agreement, smirking at the innuendo. “Why’d you leave?”

He clears his throat and looks away. “I uh, had a…situation.”

You smirk when your eyes flick down. Looks like he still has one.

“So you got hard watching me ride that bull? Were you picturing me riding you like that?” You ask as you turn towards him, feeling him tense as you walk your fingers up his chest.

He swallows before meeting your eyes. “Yeah. I’ve been fighting a hard-on since we kissed.”

You grip his dog tags and pull him in for a kiss.

It’s hot and hungry with teeth and tongue; a stark contrast to the sweet one earlier.

A raspy groan leaves him when the hand not holding his dog tags slides from his hip to feel his cock straining against the denim.

“Mmm, you do have a big cock,” you moan, pulling back from his lips, liquid heat pooling between your thighs at the thought of taking all of him.

He smirks before his head falls back against the brick with a shudder as your mouth finds his neck; teasing the sensitive skin there with nips and licks.

His hand weaves through your hair and guides your head back up for a kiss as he pushes a thigh between yours.

You gasp when you rub yourself against him; the seam of your jeans putting pressure right where you need it.

You palm him faster as you get close to your first-ever orgasm with a man, the sounds he’s making spurring you on.

Your grip on his tags tightens to the point of pain as your orgasm approaches but it’s ripped away as the door swings open, startling you apart.

“Oh, sorry. Just came out here for a smoke. I can go around to the front though,” an older gentleman says, swaying in the light breeze.

“No it’s okay, we better get back,” you reply with a sigh full of regret.

Bradley looks equally disappointed as he agrees. “I’ll be in shortly.”

You nod and press a kiss to his cheek before you head back in to find everyone still near the bullpen. No one but Charlie noticing you had been gone.

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•

A/N: sorry for the delay, this chapter just did not want to come out. I’ll be going back to Jake and Charlie next (I think).

As always, any interaction is appreciated but I love hearing what you think in comments/reblogs.

Tagging (please let me know if you want to be added/removed!):

@mamachasesmayhem

@its-the-pilot

@dizzybee03

@sweetwhispersofchaos

@shanimallina87

@blindedbythelightt

@getmyprettynameoutofyourmouth

@lexixstewart

@phoenix-rising-starbird-one

@mrsrobertfloyd5

@charmedkim

@k-k0129

@bellaireland1981

@hookslove1592

@amiets2

@nero4te

@eli2447

@atarmychick007

@vixenobrian

@86laura11

@hisredheadedgoddess28

@dempy

@angelbabyyy99

@buckysteveloki-me

@djs8891

@mizzzpink

@daggerspare-standingby

@mrsevans90

@littlezee80

[smallsies]

Audio Drama Sunday — May 26, 2024

It's been tragically long since I had the time to make one of these posts amidst the rise in jam chaos & other things over the last few weeks, but the event officially concluded yesterday with the release of 14 new pilots!!

In all honesty this event consumed most of my life so far this year, but I am incredibly excited to be on the other side of it - having released the first episode of my debut audio drama, @spacespeckspod as well ! - with so many wonderfully talented people. These shows are beyond incredible, so I just want to dedicate today to talking about them! (& I truthfully haven't listened to anything except jam shows as of late, lol)

@gavinswindowpod - "In-universe TTRPG" is always such a fun angle, and this show did a stellar job balancing the different directions that can take. Listening to the character's conversations feels very much like overhearing a group playing, all of the actors did an incredible job with that! & I'm looking forward to more in the future :)

@theichorousrotpod - Firstly, G knocked it out of the park with the music in this show, it's incredible. Secondly, "pathetic guy trapped by the horrors" is beloved and very well done, Sam is an incredibly talented writer and the cast did a stellar job bringing these characters to life. (I would let Dr. Yates perform top surgery on me etc etc.)

@thefinderskeeperpod - Beyond with being two of the nicest people ever, Lemon and Maddie's character dynamics in this was SUCH a joy to witness. "Grizzled old man & clueless newcomer walk into a bank, except there is something incredibly wrong with the bank teller" is spectacular, the sound design was, of course, spectacular, and I'm very excited to hear more.

@valdiviansfinest - Clear bias in saying this, but space shows are SO fun, and the Valdivian's Finest team did an amazing job showcasing all of the best parts of the genre. I don't have enough good things to say about this show, I love space Amazon and don't think the courier service has ever done anything wrong ever.

@working-tidal-pod - Taking points off for Louis spawning the "it's a comedy" joke that became a constant reference when we were listening to shows (/lh) BUT the writing is so funny, the sibling dynamic feels incredibly realistic and all of the actors are amazing and very talented. Feesh show has the potential to become a go-to comfort podcast, looking forward to hearing more!

@asbestos4president - This show is incredibly fun, "alien Twitch streamer" isn't a podcast I ever thought I would encounter, but the team did an absolutely fantastic job with their pilot. The writing is really funny in the classic aliens-misunderstanding-human-concepts way, with more modernized in-jokes that makes the characters feel very realistic!!

@beyondrepairpod - Extra props to this group as they were the event match team, with much less time to organize before scriptwriting, but managed to put together a stellar pilot. Hope was so well-done, the ship AI is VERY normal and you can absolutely trust them, shoutout to Pancake for their absolutely spectacular acting there!

@worldfusepodcast - These characters are incredibly charming and this world is so fun. Everything about this is just really well done; all of the actors were amazing, the writing is clever & easy to follow (& it's, of course, very fun that Ila is playing a detective :)!!) Looking forward to hearing more of this show!

@hello-are-you-there - Again, slight bias as I love a good apocalypse plot, but HAYT is a really fun radio show style podcast by a really lovely team. Aiden's moments of snark are great, Milo did a wonderful job bringing him to life amidst the bleakness of an end-of-the-world plot, & the inclusion of mythology is really well done!

@gobbpodblog - Magical zoo! Magical zoo!!! I love strange and unusual creatures and this team did an amazing job bringing them to life in this episode :D The animal ambiance at the start was really charming, and Prinxe & Caw were fantastic as Jake and Dr. Vermillian. Really excited to hear more!

Schrödinger's Pledge/@englewoodafterdark - As a college student I understand the implicit horrors of Greek life all too well (/lh.) The exploration of hazing practices and the normalization of them within those communities honestly is scary on its own, and the sound design really brings that to life in this pilot. Beyond excited to hear more Englewood After Dark later this year!

The Block - Fi was the only participant to make a solo show, and ended up with a spectacular example of what a one-person show can look like! I'm a little sad this podcast isn't continuing as they've introduced such an interesting concept and world here, but they did an outstanding job with the pilot.

Eart(h) FM - We listened to this one in the server the other night, & this show was definitely a lighthearted uptick from some of the other things we listened to, lol! It feels a bit silly to say a show about the end of the world is fun, but there is just so much hope and life this team managed to fit all in one episode, and the music is wonderful.

@spacespeckspod - I feel a bit awkward talking about my show, but I do want to say thank you to my lovely teammates who helped bring it to life! I appreciate all of you endlessly, and I'm really excited for the future of our little space show <3

If you want to check out these shows, they're all available on the Jam feed, & @aclickbaittitle has also started an (in-progress) Podchaser list of those with individual feeds!

Finally, an extra shoutout to the crowdfunder for Forged Bonds, @forgedbondspod which is still running & which you can check out here! Pine is such a wonderful member of the AD community, & (especially as a fellow classics enjoyer) I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do with this show. If you have the means, you should absolutely go support them & their amazing podcast!!

[ardenchambres]

FUCKING FINALLY.

I always wondered why I couldn’t draw HTTYD dragons despite being able to draw random ones. The answer came to me a few days ago: I kept trying to draw them exactly like the models of the series instead of my own style. This has happened before with human characters as well, so I’m not all that surprised. I’m glad they came out so similar to the real models, though.

Anyway, here are a couple of dragon OCs. Sizzle and Spark are chronic kleptomaniacs and managed to steal an egg for them and their mate, a Nadder named Frostjumper who I’m drawing later, while under the influence of the Red Death. Even her call couldn’t drown out the voices, I fear. Topaz was abandoned by her flock very early on as they were caught in RD’s control. She was picked up by a pod of Thunderdrums and learned to be a Tidal Class dragon instead of a Stoker. She mostly communicated using vibrations, as those were the only things the deaf dragons could recognize, and struggles to speak in what everyone else thinks should’ve been her native tongue. She ended up teaching that language to the nest she and her pod joined, though, so it all works out in the end.

[podcastsagainstapartheid]

This Audio Drama Sunday, we have some new additions to our list of Podcasts Against Apartheid. As always, thank you for taking the pledge to make your podcasts into AFZs.

If you can, please donate to Gaza Funds and E-Sims for Gaza.

Pictured (clockwise): @theichorousrotpod | EART(h) FM by @aclickbaittitle | Working Tidal by @deactivated-fish | @spacespeckspod | @vestaclinicpod

Sixth Door To The Left by @divinerodentiastudios | Vigil by Button Pods | @hinaypod | @souloperatorpod | @re-dracula | @signedvenus

Moonbase Theta, Out and MonkeyTales (not pictured) by @monkeymanproductions

[sezija]

Ok i think i’m actually going insane not talking abt this so fuck it

Dragonwalker Hiccup AU

My fic of it, set during HTTYD1; basically just a prologue

Ramblings underneath (like, a lot. i’m warning you.)

So basically, Dragonwalkers are humans who, when they fall asleep, turn into dragons. Just go watch Wolfwalkers actually it’s a very good movie and the concept is very hard to put into words, i’ve found.

Anyway; thoughts. Many MANY of them. :)

Valka’s had her dragon form (a night fury) her whole life, and lived on an island w her family AND a family of Night Furies. (Night Furies live in family packs, w the parents leading/raising/teaching their children (they only have 1 egg at a time, and only lay up to 3 in their whole life) until they’re old enough to get their own mate and start their own pack. (When a Night Fury pair’s children all have left and started their own families, they will sometimes join their children’s packs since they can’t hunt and fight on their own that well as they get older.))

And bc thw sucks and Grimmel, a man who is still alive, somehow killing off an entire species of dragons is stupid, i’m using my sibling’s idea, which is that Grimmel’s family has been hunting Night Furies for generations. It’s a family tradition basically, tracking and killing them until none are left. (And every person in his family has been killed by Night Furies, further motivating them.)

So Valka’s family (dragon&dragonwalker) were all killed, and only she escaped, ending up on Berk. Fell in love w Stoick, tried to make the vikings stop killing the dragons, was taken by Cloudjumper, the usual. She reunites with Hiccup early, during RTTE, just bc i want them to kick dragon hunter ass together. The war w Drago happens later.

Also i’m completely discarding the whole “king of all dragons” thing, it doesn’t fit w how i want this world to feel. Also toothless sucked as Alpha, i dont want that. And what i’ve always liked abt the HTTYD dragons is that they’re animals. The whole “king of all dragons” kinda,,, ruins that. So that’s also gone now.

I’ve been having a lot of thoughts abt how dragon flocks/packs/pods work, and these are my current ideas;

A “Flock” is a group of dragons of different species, under the control/protection of an Alpha (the Red Death’s flock, (Valka’s) Bewilderbeast’s flock, that one flock of dragons in RTTE s2e8-9 “Edge of Disaster”)

A “Pack” is a group of dragons of the same species, under the control/protection of a leader/queen/etc. etc. (speed stingers, fire worms, terrible terrors, (night furies in this AU))

A “Pod” is the same as a Pack, except for Tidal-class dragons specifically (a pod of seashockers, scauldrons, etc.)

The whole franchise is very inconsistent abt this so i’m working w what i have ok

The “Great Beyond” was separated from Berk/Berserkers/etc. by a heavy wall of fog all around them. There were some spots you could cross, used by traders and such, but the rest of the world has stayed pretty separated from this one corner of the world that experiences Dragon Raids.

However, after the Red Death’s demise, the fog has been slowly dissipating, allowing more to cross over; this way, the riders taking hours and hours of exhausting flight to reach “the great beyond” AND Gobber somehow making his way to Dragon’s Edge on a small, rickety boat both make sense; the more time passes, the easier it is to cross.

A lot of the conflict in the series comes from the human characters not understanding why the dragons are doing something, so giving Hiccup the ability to communicate with them takes away a lot of it, which i’m not happy abt bc it means i need to come up w my own stuff >:( (communicating w the dragons is actually kinda difficult in human form, since his hearing isn’t good enough to hear a fair amount of their vocalizations, and his throat isn’t made for producing those sounds.)

Anyway, my thoughts have been specifically focused on one episode of RTTE, my favourite one since i first saw it, up there w Dire Straits and Enemy of my Enemy; s3e8 “Stryke Out”.

In this AU, hiccup is taken by dragon hunters in his dragon form, taken to a dragon fighting ring. He’s worth a lot to them, being a Night Fury (this is what the art at the top of the post is depicting). He’s caged up for a few weeks until the news of a Night Fury in the ring spread enough, and he has to start fighting. The Riders figure out where he is due to these rumours, and interrupt his fight with the Triple Stryke 3 days into him being forced to fight the other dragons, the same day Ryker came to collect his cut of the money again.

Anyway, that’s all i rly wanted to get out rn. Just. Obsessed. Hiccup becoming crueler and much less forgiving towards dragon hunters after this experience. He’s seen their cruelty many times before, but being caged and muzzled and forced to hurt other dragons if he wants to live, dependant on them for food, even for the capability to eat it, bc of the hook they put in his mouth, really just... changes him. God i love torturing my faves <3

He would take the Dragon Fliers&their Singetails so personally here.

anyway, art;

(i forgot to add his chin scar in many of these oof)

[spacespeckspod]

What @podcastjam shows our characters would listen to!

Be sure to check out the fellow jam shows mentioned; @valdiviansfinest @gobbpodblog @hello-are-you-there @working-tidal-pod @theichorousrotpod They're all working on some really cool projects!

[podcastjam]

The 2024 Podcast Jam is a collaborative event hosted by the @podcast-bookclub Discord server, and will run from early February to May. Inspired by game jam events, teams of writers, voice actors, editors and artists will collaborate to create the pilot episode of a fiction podcast from start to finish.

If you'd like to follow along, project pitches, participant spotlights, and more will be posted to this blog throughout the event.

JAM PROJECTS ON TUMBLR:

@working-tidal-pod

@theichorousrotpod

@spacespeckspod

@hello-are-you-there

@valdiviansfinest

@gobbpodblog

@gavinswindowpod

@asbestos4president

@beyondrepairpod

@worldfusepodcast

@thefinderskeeperpod

[thefinderskeeperpod]

Our #AudioDramaSunday goes to all the shows we launched alongside for the 2024 @podcastjam!

@spacespeckspod

@theichorousrotpod

@working-tidal-pod

@hello-are-you-there

@gavinswindowpod

@valdiviansfinest

@beyondrepairpod

@worldfusepodcast

@asbestos4president

@gobbpodblog

@englewoodafterdark - Schrödinger’s Pledge

The Block

Eart(h) FM

You should totally go support the rest of these shows, as most of them will be continuing on to create full series productions!

[thefringespod]

Happy #AudioDramaSunday wanderers! Starting off with @tellnotalespod mini ep this week which I'm very late too because I'm terrified of it. I'm actively listening right now and know I will weep. Thanks Leanne for making me cry again 💜

Up next we have @woebegonepod episode 158 which. Made me so fucking feral yall it was so good but it also hurt me incredibly bad I loved it and I will never forgive Dylan for what he's done. Season 14 is so wild already and im loving it. I'm also still relistening to woe.begone and its just as good as the first time. Mikey sounds so young and not nearly as traumatized. I missed that. He's the bear 🐻

I am still making my way through the @podcast-bookclub's Podjam shows! I've listened to 4 so far and they are all so incredible. Starting things off with @working-tidal-pod which is NOT a comedy but IS very fucking good go listen to my friends show go do it now

@thefinderskeeperpod absolutely knocked me out I love it so much already. @madd-vo and @audistorium have made one hell of a show and I cannot wait to hear more of it because gods I'm gnawing on it so much it's so so so fucking good

@spacespeckspod has made a post apocalypse story that doesn't fill me with existential dread (yet <3) I love this group of survivors so much already and want to hear all about them and gods if anything terrible happens I'll sob <3

@theichorousrotpod was the last one I've listened to (so far) and it's another one I'm gnawing on already. I love a fictional mysterious disease and I love hearing what they're doing with it so far. When more is released I WILL become feral I'm so excited

Here on the Fringes I'm getting in recordings for s3 and making my way through rerecording s1 still. I should also have some new commentaries up on patreon.com/pinetreepods for s1 comin soon!

And over on @forgedbondspod we have begun crowdfunding! Crowdfunding means shouting out my cast so if you want to meet the first 5 members of our cast you can head over to our socials now. And if you wanna support the show, you can visit our indiegogo!

That's all for this week! Things are slow and fast all at once over here but I'm excited about everything that's coming up <3

[deactivated-fish]

Cast announcements for the pilot!

Yesterday (April 6th) marked the start of Podcast Jam 2024 and we are very excited to share the cast we put together!

JustJenah as Annette Culligan!

Jenah (they/them) loves stories in all forms but most especially audio dramas. When they are not actively falling in love with nearly every short lived queer tv show they can get their hands on, you can find them geeking out over their favorite podcasts, attempting to increase their deadlifts over 200lbs, flailing their hands at every jump scare as they play survival horror games, tempting friends to play Settlers of Catan, and grilling up pizzas in all weather.

Jenah’s socials: @ JustJenahHere on twitter and BlueSky @theyofmanyvoices on tumblr

Cody Heath as Eric Sanders!

Cody (they/them) is your friendly neighborhood non binary voice actor by day, Bassist of Elsewhere! and Photographer also by day!

Cody’s socials: @ codyvmwastaken on twitter @ paperchest on instagram

Louis Wolf as Finn Culligan!

Louis (he/they) is an avid bird enjoyer and disabled art student who is passionate about storytelling of all forms but has a particular love for DnD and comics. Besides ttrpgs, he’s been known to geek about Superman with encyclopedic knowledge.

Louis’ socials: @louis-dc @ ItsLouis_W on Twitter @ __louis.scott__ on instagram

Wes Marin as Fisher Culligan!

Wes (they/she/he) is a writer, poet, singer, and student living on the California coast. They’ve been a long time audio drama fan, but this is their first project that’s gotten off the ground. They are a self proclaimed mermaid expert, which is needed for this oceanic project. They dabble in music and singing as well as cosplay and other performance hobbies. They are really excited to share Working Tidal and make new friends along the way!

Wes’ socials: @aplaceinwhichtoswim @ WesMarinB on twitter

Gem Aydin as Riley Culligan

Gem Aydın (they/them) is an intersectionality lawyer and a human rights activist. As big nerd with academic hearts, they love to learn, explore, and teach in their unique way. Ever since they listened to their first audio drama, they wanted to express their art in this medium and created 400 Words A Horror with friends to learn to make an audio drama. They are not just the voice of Haven in 400WAH but also sound design and co-run the show. Quick to learn and develop, they started auditioning for voice acting. Autistic of many trades, master of ADHD, Gem keeps on looking ways to learn different things and better what they know so far.

Gem’s socials: @gemaydin https://linktr.ee/gemaydin

Tatiana Gefter as Marnie!

Tatiana (she/they) is a PNW native who can be found haunting fiction podcast and ttrpg spaces all over the internet. You may recognize her as the creator and lead voice actress of Soul Operator, a narrative fiction and actual play fusion. You also catch her as Violet Lull in The Department of Variance of Somewhere Ohio, Marigold in season two of Tales from the Fringes of Reality, Helen Hartley in Woe.Begone, and many more places. For a full list of her credits, please check out her resume via her twitter.

Tot’s socials: @totcoc0a @ tot_cocoa on twitter and @souloperatorpod everywhere

[probsnothawkeye]

Happy podjam day!! It's late so I've only done 4 so far but gods I'm already so enamored with everything that's been done

@working-tidal-pod has some of my favorite people in this world in it and while I don't believe it's a comedy it was an incredible time. I'm so proud of my friends for what they've made and will be injecting it directly into my brain when there's more

@thefinderskeeperpod was mysterious and fascinating and created by two more of my favorite people in this world. The world building is already so wonderful and I have more questions than answers in the best way. I can't wait to hear more of it!

@spacespeckspod took something that terrifies me (the apocalypse) and turned it into something that is fully gripping me. I love the story so far and can't wait to keep listening

Last for tonight was @theichorousrotpod which has incredible world building, a fun mystery, and my beloved friend @moookar! I wanna know what this Rot is. The only way to learn will be to listen to more and that's a win for me

Congrats to everyone who took part in the @podcast-bookclub podjam! I will keep listening to shows when it's not 1:30AM!

[theworldvsyoshiko]

Since I just linked it from my main blog anyway, I guess this would be a good time to do a State Of The Union for the colony. I usually do some kind of summary a week or so into each colony, but never got around to it for this one.

The fine seaside orphanage of Robot's Ocean is fucking huge now.

We've got multiple nested layers of defensive walls, a world-class temple and rec room, three geothermal generators, a tidal generator, a solar generator, a full natural gas helixien system for heating and cooling, a greenhouse, a genetics lab with an extensive gene bank, space for 5-6 prisoners to live in comfort, and enough freezers to keep about a year of food on hand at all times. And an in-colony hot spring, most importantly.

The colony's currently worth is about $400k, which is $50k more than any of the previous ones have hit, so it probably isn't a coincidence that I've needed to burn two antigrain warheads on recent attacks. That growth has stagnated a bit, which is fortunate, because as combat goes we're about at our limits. On the upside, we now have something like seven combat owlbears, a Scyther, a Tunneler, a Tesseron, a Centipede Blaster on the way, and of course Yoshiko's pet thrumbo Chiyo.

On the other hand, after investing about $15k into building and upgrading Spencer only for it to die trying to get to its bedroom, we're pretty strapped for cash. And we need some, because the map is just about mined out, and all of these robots and endgame weapons require a lot of materials. Unfortunately the map being mined out also limits our options for producing trade goods. The current plan is to mass-produce... corsets. If you haven't played the game just trust me when I say that this is a sensible plan, but we'll need to do a lot of hunting to make it work.

Following the terrible Tactical Nukes In The Hospital incident, I've rearranged things a bit. The short version is that we've only got one outdoor orbital targeting beacon now, and it should steer most drop pod raids to a less terrible location. Will this help much if another group shows up with a dozen rocket launchers? Hell no. Eventually I'd like to set up one or two extra beacons as decoys.

The population is currently 8, which is just about the lowest it's been in years. These kinds of things happen when four colonists get blown up in one evening.

Yoshiko "Happy" Russell

is, of course, a forever-22 psychic cyborg vampire foxgirl who controls robots with her brain. (Her actual effective age is now 34, but the game doesn't care about that.) She's currently undertaking her Dark Slumber in her Chambyr of Bloode for the next day or two, as one must when they are a vampire.

She's good at fucking everything now. (And good at fucking too; she's got an implant for that.) Her lowest skill is Plants at a 9, or 'solid professional.' She's rated as Expert or better in Shooting, Melee, Construction, Animals, Crafting, Art, Medical, Social, and Intellectual. She has 827 kills, 34 mechanical implants, maxed psychic potential with 10 psychic abilities, and wields a sapient EMP sledgehammer named Nalorgargur. Thanks to being a vampire, the only way to permanently kill her is to destroy her brain. With so many implants, I think the only other ways to even incapacitate her in combat are with an EMP or by destroying her liver. In theory you could make her bleed out too, but she's effectively immune to that. (You should go for the brain thing anyway, because she has pretty good body armor under that parka, but still insists on wearing a beret instead of, like... a helmet.)

Truly she is... the ultimate lifeform.

Toby Lang

Man, this makes for some real mood whiplash. I mean, look at him. There isn't much to say about Lang.

He was found in the wreckage of a space battle a few years ago. He spends all of his time cooking, doing doctor stuff, or handling the colony's pet rabbits. He's no good in a fight. Yoshiko adopted him and he adores her as much as is physically possible; her opinion of him is 7/100.

Actually though, Lang does have one solid accomplishment under his belt. During the last Diabolus fight, all of the blood bags prisoners staged an escape. Everybody who was good in combat was off doing that, and Lang was the only person nearby. So, he grabbed a shotgun and did surprisingly well at controlling the situation. By which I mean blowing their brains out. Can't get any blood out of them like that, but it's better than having them set the base on fire on their way out.

Saburo Richards

Listen, I can't stress this enough. He was like this when I found him. Unlike everyone else, he's an Animusen, a natural foxboy by birth. What benefits does this give? Well, uh. Not any, really. He's fast in the cold and slow in the heat, which was nice before the climate's average temperature got bumped up by 18F.

Richards is still 12 and I'm really hoping he gets some fantastic growth at 13, because he isn't good at anything. For whatever reason, he apparently gets really abusive when he's in a bad mood, because every mental break he's had has been an insulting spree. So most of the colony has opinions of him like

In fact, Olga and Yoshiko are the only two who would even be sad if he died, I think. Yoshiko, of course, adores him.

Raymond "Raywolfen" Wolfen

... has to be the most colorful kid here, as a slug person who was raised by wolves and then crashed outside during a space battle. Don't let the sprite fool you; the game just doesn't know how to render how fucked up she looks. According to her genes, she's got the body of a slug, but covered in scales, with the face of a fox, slug-style eye stalks, and constantly secretes a foul-smelling substance that decomposes corpses. You'd think that being a hideous slug/fox amalgam who smells like rotting bodies would be horrible for her social life, and you'd mostly be right, but Yoshiko adores her. She didn't even adopt her or anything. This happened naturally.

Raywolfen's only really good at combat, but that's okay, because we desperately need that right now.

Ben "Bush" Nitsiza

... is another adopted son who recently turned 13. He's great at melee combat, and got two mechanoid kills while horribly sick with the flu last night. He's... decent at crafting, art, and research. We're working on it. He's not decent at social stuff, but he's the preacher anyway. For now, at least.

Bush actually gets along with everybody else pretty well, which is surprising for somebody with the traits of 'snob' and 'too smart.'

Cindy

... is a sapient mech (it/its) that has only been around for half a year, as part of Yoshiko's ongoing quest to find true love. (This isn't working out very well.) As a hunter-killer mech, Cindy's only really good at combat, and is incapable of... most other things. It's decent with animals and research though, and is slowly learning how to do medicine too.

Cindy is currently flirting with Yoshiko about once every few days, which would be cute if it would just wait until Yoshiko considered it more than a passing acquaintance. It'll work out some day though. I'm sure of it.

Dae-up "Nerd" Kim

Is it fair for me to blame Nerd for the fact that he was chased here by pirates with rocket launchers? Probably not. But it still happened, and it got four people killed. And Nerd's a completely amoral kid who tortured small animals when he was little, so I'm not gonna pretend that I like him. I genetically modified him to be good at mining, so he could mine out the collapsed rocks that trapped Sora as he burned to death. Take some responsibility, you little prick.

Most of the colony likes Nerd, but he's really rooted in his intensely xenophobic ideology, so he hates almost everybody in return. The one person he actually likes is Yoshiko, and that's only because she's ridiculously pretty.

Nerd's actually pretty competent, unfortunately. He's great at mining, crafting, and medical. He's pretty decent at construction, and he'll pick up art fast if we find the time and resources for him to do much of it.

Olga Keuneke

... is 11 and a pretty recent arrival, so there isn't much to say about her. Unlike certain assholes, the trouble that she brought with her was a machine that warmed up our Siberian-ass climate, so I already like her. She's got a huge passion for animals, but she isn't learning much about it because she's not skilled enough to work with our animals. You can't start out by training predatory owl monsters that weigh half a ton.

[transingthoseformers]

Another note on the mermechs is that some give live birth, some lay eggs, and others something more along the lines of a mermaid purse.

Rodimus, whose sub species lays eggs, is very confused by his two children, one (Flamewar) is a perfectly normal sized egg and eventual fry and the second (Splendid) is a large pup that is live born and nearly killed him. They actually have two different sires because breeding season was interrupted by the oil spill and when Rodimus healed it started again and he and Thunderclash got frisky.

This is a reason different subspecies of mermechs don't usually interbreed. Poor Rodimus is all kinds of confusion, which is part of why he grabbed onto Drift as support. Because you aren't supposed to have fry needing care at the same time as eggs but Thunderclash's species calls his pups and he has a bunch of confused instincts and no support on top of needing to defend and map out his newly claimed territory.

Running into the himbo shark Riptide (Thresher shark) is a big relief and the first addition to the Lost Light school/pod. Though he is slightly confused by how fussy Rodimus is about Splendid as pups are fairly self-sufficient immediately but he is going with it. Hunting is easier in a group, and Riptide is unexpectedly very social. Plus, he likes Rodimus and Drift and teaching Splendid to test things out by biting. Drift does not appreciate this addition to Splendid's behavior as he is usually the one covered in bitemarks since she enjoys nibbling though her teeth aren't exactly razors like Riptide thankfully.

I'm leaning towards Thunderclash being a type of cetacea, which means Splendid's creation is extra unusual, and Ratchet eventually does have to help because Thunderclash's species feed their young filtered Energon live food at first. Rodimus eventually starts panicking about it because fish mush isn't working entirely. Drift drags the baby to Ratchet's facility, and they start caring for her. Eventually, Rodimus comes into the tidal pool to be nearby, and Thunderclash is watching everything go down, and once things calm down, he ends up pulling himself out of his tank to come croon at Splendid since Rodimus can't stay with her while Flamewar needs guarding as she is unhatched. Thunderclash is the one who explains things to Ratchet, who insists Rodimus gets a full checkup once things calm down and find he is incredibly stressed and needing some medical attention that he'd hid last time.

Now they are both doing better with Splendid being bottle fed until she's big enough, which fascinates Riptide, who especially like starring at First Aid who becomes involved.

It also confirms that Thunderclash is to blame. Which only makes things stranger when Flamewar hatches, and now Drift has two baby mers to watch.

HgGhh yes, oh poor Roddie, this makes sense of why intersubspecies breeding is probably rare, at some level there's a degree of danger

Rodimus is going through it but he has mecha and mers here for him

Thresher Riptide!

Drift:

Drift: rIPTIDE I STG

I'm also getting cetacean vibes from Thunders, maybe his mer form is based on a medium to medium large species of toothed whale

Drift and Ratchet yet again being the responsible ones

Ooo, Aid?

Poor Drift getting sucked into this mess shdhdhdh

[fics4bkdkbk]

Mermaid AU (Part 1)

Fics where one or both are a mermaid/merperson.

The Tides They Are A-Changing by MJBunnyLuv EXPLICIT

Length: 27,639 || Chapters: 10 || Completed: 5/30/2022

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 3

My Summary: Izuku gets left behind his pod on the way to their mating grounds and finds loner Katsuki, who protects and takes care of him.

Not Your Typical Tail by Cyberneticstar TEEN

Length: 43,980 || Chapters: 10 || Completed:  9/18/2022

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 0

My Summary: Katsuki is a merman that makes a deal with a sea witch and gets the ability to grow legs and walk on land. 

Breathe in water, breathe out air by ContraryBee EXPLICIT 

Length: 19,463 || Chapters: 9 || Completed: 1/25/2021

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 2

My Summary: Izuku is a merman that has lived in capacity his whole life, when he learns of a new Merman is soon to join his tank and become his mate.

Note: There are more fics added to the series but I haven’t read them

Against the Course by bundie TEEN

Length: 14,131 || Chapters: 1 || Completed: 5/26/2023

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 0

My Summary: Katsuki is a pirate that saves Mer Izuku from being killed, almost getting himself killed in the processes, but is saved by Izuku and a new relationship is formed.

Disaster is My Love language by MJBunnyLuv TEEN

Length: 15,687 || Chapters: 1 || Completed: 5/31/2023

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 0

My Summary: Katsuki is a mermaid that got injured while in the ocean and Izuku and the others at the Aquarium save him and help him back to health.

The Mating Grounds by huliganships TEEN

Length: 8,612 || Chapters: 1 || Completed: 5/12/2024

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 0

My Summary: Katsuki had never thought he'd go to the mating grounds, but when Izuku leaves one year for it he re-evaluates his reasoning.

Tidal Hearts by Macksmiles,& SamIsNotLegend TEEN

Length: 83,376 || Chapters: 21 || Completed: 7/29/2023

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 0

My Summary: Izuku left his hometown after almost drowning, along with Katsuki. Years later Izuku comes back and does everything he can to rekindle their relationship

Sunlight Through Seaweed by SamIsNotLegend MATURE

Length: 16,051 || Chapters: 1 || Completed: 5/2/2023

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 1

My Summary: Katsuki is sharkmer and after a bad injury from trying to save other sharks from fishers he ends up meeting Izuku, the only other being like him he's ever found.

Unwanted Gift by TigerLillies64 EXPLICIT 

Length: 19,281 || Chapters: 4 || Completed: 5/15/2024

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 3

My Summary: Katsuki is gifted a merperson, Izuku, but despite what he wishes, he can't reject it, so he does his best to give him the best life he can.

Sunken Treasure by s_the_queen EXPLICIT

Length: 13,056 || Chapters: 4 || Completed: 9/15/2022

Main Tags:

Fluff Smut Angst Hurt/Comfort Humor Pro!Hero ABO

NSFW Rating: 2 

My Summary: Katsuki and Izuku are both in the same pod and best friends. When Izuku presents as an omega, Katsuki starts distancing himself from Izuku.