Aug. 21st, 2023 08:09 pm
Battleship 2023 Round-Up
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battleshipex this year because of how motivating I found it in 2021 when I was on Team Void. I didn't think I'd sign up again, because while I did make a lot of podfic that year, I didn't find the format easy to make friends. What spurred me to sign up was the hope that having a team, challenges, and a goal would get me through a period of being well and truly stuck with podfic. It worked! Getting to know members of Team Tower this year was an unexpected bonus. Winning was another. 😁
I hadn't even installed my podfic programs once the round started, and for the first few days of the event, I wrote fic instead of what felt impossible. I'd hit such a roadblock with recording in my head. I'd forgotten everything I even knew about podfic, which shocked me. It had only been ten months. Until there I was, booting up a nearly dead laptop to pry out old plugins that are no longer available online, messagingjocundasykes like, 'How do I even turn up the volume in Audacity?', and blowing the dust off the cardboard and cushions "studio" I once created to help with echo. (Kinda scary, how easy it is to forget something if you don't practice...) Slowly, my confidence creeped back.
However, self-motivation was perhaps only 10% of it, because my team were so lovely and supportive. There were several other podficcers on my team! There were writers who wanted to team up to write and pod something together! There were people offering to illustrate things the team wrote! There were people who wanted to organise multivoices! People messaged me asking to podfic their stuff as gifts to them! It was such a great feeling, us all working together to ensure different mediums could help take on the board.
Another fond memory I'll never forget from this round wasmayfic teaching me how to trade Pokemon, something I've never done before. After being sad that the cool paradox of my beloved Magnemite was Scarlet-exclusive, I was able to trade with May to get them and have been delightedly levelling them up over the last few weeks. Meet Baguette.
I had a great time and will be grateful to Battleship and my lovely team for giving me the push I needed to confidently pod again. I'm also surprised I wrote as much as I did, as I hadn't expected my confidence to return with that for even longer!
Below are the wonderful gifts I received, and also what I made 😊
My Gifts
I was lucky enough to receive four gifts for Battleship!
Warmth [Star Wars Original Triology] Han/Luke
I talk about getting into Star Wars recently in the 'Stuff I Made' section below... A ship I love from this new-to-me fandom is Han/Luke, so I was chuffed to get two fics for this (surprisingly rare) pairing for Battleship. This one involves one of my favourite tropes, recovery, after Han and Luke are trapped in Hoth's blizzard and develop hypothermia. It also has a first kiss, eee!
Hoth [Star Wars Original Trilogy] Han/Luke
A stylistic, dialogue-only fic with some adorable hypothermia!Luke moments. I was tickled that I received two fics about Luke having hypothermia on Hoth and also wrote one myself.
Sir Lancelot the Brave [Monty Python's Holy Grail] Prince Herbert/Lancelot
I will always remember that the first hanahaki fic I ever read was a Python one. The sweet Prince Herbert coughing up rose petals is such a perfect image, and I was delighted to receive Python fic for Battleship - a great surprise!
Lipstick Mark [Star Trek: The Next Generation] Data/Deanna Troi (ART)
I'm still pinching myself that more art exists for this rare pairing, and it's smutty! Please enjoy Data getting pegged and kissed, because this is some gorgeous art right here.
Stuff I Made
Written Works
The Shadows of Your Eyes [Star Wars: Original Trilogy] Darth Vader & Leia Organa, 900~words
I don't think I mentioned it on my journal, but I recently watched the Star Wars films for the first time and loved them! (Of course, my ships are some of the rarest, isn't it always the way XD, but I'm having fun exploring what's out there so far, even if megafandoms intimidate me.) This short piece of canon divergence was inspired by the tags we had to defeat in round one, mainly moonlight and imprisonment, which made me think of Endor.
Quenched [Star Trek: The Next Generation] Data & Geordi, 600~ words
I couldn't resist a request for "Creator's Choice of Robot/Droid". Data will always be my choice, haha. This is a silly little something about Data's early obliviousness in TNG, because Data's nutrient suspension drinks always did sound dire!
Lucky Indeed [Pokemon] Chansey & OC (+ several other Pokemon), 2.5k~ words - podfic also available
The fact that I had a stuffed Chansey delivered days before Battleship didn't help me resist the temptation to write for an "Any Pokemon" request! I was over the moon thatvtsuion wanted to illustrate what I wrote with their adorable art, and seeing as the recip wanted podfic too, they got all three! This story was based on the Pokedex entry about it being lucky to find a Chansey in the wild. It wasn't until I went to post it on AO3 that I saw that Chansey's Japanese name is Lucky, which made me smile.
A Penchant for Masquerade [Star Trek: DS9] Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, 3k~ words
It was perhaps too ambitious of me to believe I could watch the entirety of DS9 during Battleship (XD), but I'd been intrigued by this ship for a long while, and Melime's request plus her previous Garashir fics--one of which I ended up podficcing this year!--had my interest piqued, so I had to start somewhere. (Um? Julian and Garak MUST get together, right? I love them!) Once I saw how many clothing/tailoring related tags there were on Battleship's second board, I had to try writing something set in Garak's shop, even if I was only three episodes in at that point. This is the result.
When the lights go out inside me [MCU] Loki/The Grandmaster, 5.6k~ words
So, Ugly Furnishings was a tag, and Saakar immediately came to mind! Then several other tags clicked into place, and this story came together. The Grandmaster is deliciously horrible, and I love it when Loki suffers prettily, so I put the two together. Heed the tags - Loki doesn't have fun.
The heart grows fonder [Devil of the West Stairs (Manga)] The Demon/Midori-kun, 1k~ words
I picked this fandom up for Battleship and loved its horror aspects. My first fandom was manga, and it's been a while since I've read one, so it was lovely to sink back into the visual pleasures of the format. This manga is very short and available here if you'd like to read it (CW: rape, blood & injury.) As someone who loves overthinking (hah), the recip asking what the deal is with the crow who appears briefly in this story had me inspired to give it a backstory.
725 to 1 [Star Wars: Original Trilogy] Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Han Solo, 1.3k~ words - podfic also available
How was I supposed to see the tags Hypothermia, Snowstorms, Dangerous Landscapes, and Gore, and not think of Luke being shoved inside Han's tauntaun? I'm still nervous about writing for this fandom (there's so much lore I don't really know yet, ahh) but this isolated moment felt doable. This story plays on how unlikely it was that Luke would survive the night and hints on one way he might have managed it.
Rise in Glory [The Terrror (TV)] Francis Crozier/Anyone You Want, 2k~ words
After the game ended, a list of tags that hadn't been written at all was circulated. Two of these were 'Glory Hole' and 'Small Cock Worship', and I'm not sure why The Terror immediately came to mind, but here is my attempt at making a glory hole work in this fandom XD
Podficced Works
No Place I'd Rather Be [Loki (TV)] Loki/Mobius
The Loki series has a special place in my podficcing heart. I recorded for it canon-blind (as part of the 2021 Battleship!) and ended up being so intrigued by the story and the visual aesthetic when making the cover it convinced me to watch it. I soon realised I'd need to watch the rest of the Marvel films for Loki's journey to make sense, so after watching the series through, I watched all the Marvel films in order, then watched Loki through again. 2022 was a very Loki-heavy year for me, resulting in many more podfics and lots of lovely Loki gifts coming my way. That's why I'm so happy that this was my first podfic after my long hiatus. It felt like coming home.
The Moments With You Were Gold [Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector] Several cats, original characters
This story was a delight to read. It has a clever take on how the cats in the game travel from place to place, while bringing them into the real world in a seamless way. Seeing as this is the second time I've podficced Neko Atsume for Battleship, I think I should make it tradition and be sure to do it next year too :-)
Kasurli & Naulikpuk (series) [The Terror (TV)] Goodsir/Silna
Two wonderfully comforting stories about Silna (and Tuunbaq) saving Goodsir from his fate. It was fun to podfic works in a series, and I hope to continue to do so if more works are added to this one.
A Symbol of Permanence [Hannibal] Hannibal/Will
A sweet story involving photography - how could I resist! I don't know how obvious it will be listening to it, but I tried something new with my podficcing style for this story. Two things actually. (I won't say what they are lol, but it was fun to experiment.)
Eyes Always Seeking [The Magnus Archives] Martin/Jon
A "true love's first kiss" story and my second time podficcing The Magnus Archives. The more I learn about this canon, the more intrigued I am about the characters (especially the monsters!)
Some boys will laugh when they break your heart [Star Wars: Original Trilogy] Lando/Han
How Han wins the Falcon off Lando. A perfect little story that, as the title hints, will break your heart a little bit too. I realised I find it so, so hard to pronounce Han's name the way (some of) the characters in SW do. Sorry it it's grating here. I'm working on it!
Split Soul [Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy] Rey/Kylo
A soulmate fic, with a twist! Podficcing has introduced me to so many tropes I don't know well, especially soulmate AUs. This one is an interesting look at how split personalities could affect soulmate marks.
Still Fine [Our Flag Means Death] Ed/Stede
I love making podfics for this fandom. This story has been on my to-pod list since I first read it, so I was thrilled to find a request that fit this story well. I can't wait for OFMD to come back in October and make more pods for it.
Three Times Blaise Zabini Noticed Cho Chang, and One Time He Asked Her On A Date [Harry Potter] Blaise/Cho
Written for Battleship by the wonderfulkitsunerei88, whose Potter fic I love recording. This story is so touching and it blows me away that kit wrote this so fast. I love 3+1 and 5+1 stories, so this one was even more fun to record for me!
His Favor [Our Flag Means Death] Ed/Stede
An adorable ficlet written by my fellow Tower teammate, mixtapestar. Ed and Stede are super cute in this one!
Morning Sickness [Star Trek: DS9] Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Written by my fellow Tower teammate, Melime. I ship these two so much now, despite still being very new to DS9. This is a lovely mpreg fic where Garak is worried and loving about his poorly doctor. So sweet.
Statement of Neville Longbottom, File No. 1998/05-2395 [Harry Potter] Neville, McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt
A multivoice, edited by the amazing kitsunerei88. I play Neville, who is leaving an emotional statement regarding the conduct of Amycus and Alecto Carrow. I'm so happy kit wanted to take on a multivoice for Battleship (which requires much more editing and organisation than single-voice pods) and loved joining my fellow Tower teammates for this one.
battleshipex this year because of how motivating I found it in 2021 when I was on Team Void. I didn't think I'd sign up again, because while I did make a lot of podfic that year, I didn't find the format easy to make friends. What spurred me to sign up was the hope that having a team, challenges, and a goal would get me through a period of being well and truly stuck with podfic. It worked! Getting to know members of Team Tower this year was an unexpected bonus. Winning was another. 😁I hadn't even installed my podfic programs once the round started, and for the first few days of the event, I wrote fic instead of what felt impossible. I'd hit such a roadblock with recording in my head. I'd forgotten everything I even knew about podfic, which shocked me. It had only been ten months. Until there I was, booting up a nearly dead laptop to pry out old plugins that are no longer available online, messaging
jocundasykes like, 'How do I even turn up the volume in Audacity?', and blowing the dust off the cardboard and cushions "studio" I once created to help with echo. (Kinda scary, how easy it is to forget something if you don't practice...) Slowly, my confidence creeped back. However, self-motivation was perhaps only 10% of it, because my team were so lovely and supportive. There were several other podficcers on my team! There were writers who wanted to team up to write and pod something together! There were people offering to illustrate things the team wrote! There were people who wanted to organise multivoices! People messaged me asking to podfic their stuff as gifts to them! It was such a great feeling, us all working together to ensure different mediums could help take on the board.
Another fond memory I'll never forget from this round was
mayfic teaching me how to trade Pokemon, something I've never done before. After being sad that the cool paradox of my beloved Magnemite was Scarlet-exclusive, I was able to trade with May to get them and have been delightedly levelling them up over the last few weeks. Meet Baguette. I had a great time and will be grateful to Battleship and my lovely team for giving me the push I needed to confidently pod again. I'm also surprised I wrote as much as I did, as I hadn't expected my confidence to return with that for even longer!
Below are the wonderful gifts I received, and also what I made 😊
My Gifts
I was lucky enough to receive four gifts for Battleship!
Warmth [Star Wars Original Triology] Han/Luke
I talk about getting into Star Wars recently in the 'Stuff I Made' section below... A ship I love from this new-to-me fandom is Han/Luke, so I was chuffed to get two fics for this (surprisingly rare) pairing for Battleship. This one involves one of my favourite tropes, recovery, after Han and Luke are trapped in Hoth's blizzard and develop hypothermia. It also has a first kiss, eee!
Hoth [Star Wars Original Trilogy] Han/Luke
A stylistic, dialogue-only fic with some adorable hypothermia!Luke moments. I was tickled that I received two fics about Luke having hypothermia on Hoth and also wrote one myself.
Sir Lancelot the Brave [Monty Python's Holy Grail] Prince Herbert/Lancelot
I will always remember that the first hanahaki fic I ever read was a Python one. The sweet Prince Herbert coughing up rose petals is such a perfect image, and I was delighted to receive Python fic for Battleship - a great surprise!
Lipstick Mark [Star Trek: The Next Generation] Data/Deanna Troi (ART)
I'm still pinching myself that more art exists for this rare pairing, and it's smutty! Please enjoy Data getting pegged and kissed, because this is some gorgeous art right here.
Stuff I Made
Written Works
The Shadows of Your Eyes [Star Wars: Original Trilogy] Darth Vader & Leia Organa, 900~words
I don't think I mentioned it on my journal, but I recently watched the Star Wars films for the first time and loved them! (Of course, my ships are some of the rarest, isn't it always the way XD, but I'm having fun exploring what's out there so far, even if megafandoms intimidate me.) This short piece of canon divergence was inspired by the tags we had to defeat in round one, mainly moonlight and imprisonment, which made me think of Endor.
Quenched [Star Trek: The Next Generation] Data & Geordi, 600~ words
I couldn't resist a request for "Creator's Choice of Robot/Droid". Data will always be my choice, haha. This is a silly little something about Data's early obliviousness in TNG, because Data's nutrient suspension drinks always did sound dire!
Lucky Indeed [Pokemon] Chansey & OC (+ several other Pokemon), 2.5k~ words - podfic also available
The fact that I had a stuffed Chansey delivered days before Battleship didn't help me resist the temptation to write for an "Any Pokemon" request! I was over the moon that
vtsuion wanted to illustrate what I wrote with their adorable art, and seeing as the recip wanted podfic too, they got all three! This story was based on the Pokedex entry about it being lucky to find a Chansey in the wild. It wasn't until I went to post it on AO3 that I saw that Chansey's Japanese name is Lucky, which made me smile. A Penchant for Masquerade [Star Trek: DS9] Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, 3k~ words
It was perhaps too ambitious of me to believe I could watch the entirety of DS9 during Battleship (XD), but I'd been intrigued by this ship for a long while, and Melime's request plus her previous Garashir fics--one of which I ended up podficcing this year!--had my interest piqued, so I had to start somewhere. (Um? Julian and Garak MUST get together, right? I love them!) Once I saw how many clothing/tailoring related tags there were on Battleship's second board, I had to try writing something set in Garak's shop, even if I was only three episodes in at that point. This is the result.
When the lights go out inside me [MCU] Loki/The Grandmaster, 5.6k~ words
So, Ugly Furnishings was a tag, and Saakar immediately came to mind! Then several other tags clicked into place, and this story came together. The Grandmaster is deliciously horrible, and I love it when Loki suffers prettily, so I put the two together. Heed the tags - Loki doesn't have fun.
The heart grows fonder [Devil of the West Stairs (Manga)] The Demon/Midori-kun, 1k~ words
I picked this fandom up for Battleship and loved its horror aspects. My first fandom was manga, and it's been a while since I've read one, so it was lovely to sink back into the visual pleasures of the format. This manga is very short and available here if you'd like to read it (CW: rape, blood & injury.) As someone who loves overthinking (hah), the recip asking what the deal is with the crow who appears briefly in this story had me inspired to give it a backstory.
725 to 1 [Star Wars: Original Trilogy] Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Han Solo, 1.3k~ words - podfic also available
How was I supposed to see the tags Hypothermia, Snowstorms, Dangerous Landscapes, and Gore, and not think of Luke being shoved inside Han's tauntaun? I'm still nervous about writing for this fandom (there's so much lore I don't really know yet, ahh) but this isolated moment felt doable. This story plays on how unlikely it was that Luke would survive the night and hints on one way he might have managed it.
Rise in Glory [The Terrror (TV)] Francis Crozier/Anyone You Want, 2k~ words
After the game ended, a list of tags that hadn't been written at all was circulated. Two of these were 'Glory Hole' and 'Small Cock Worship', and I'm not sure why The Terror immediately came to mind, but here is my attempt at making a glory hole work in this fandom XD
Podficced Works
No Place I'd Rather Be [Loki (TV)] Loki/Mobius
The Loki series has a special place in my podficcing heart. I recorded for it canon-blind (as part of the 2021 Battleship!) and ended up being so intrigued by the story and the visual aesthetic when making the cover it convinced me to watch it. I soon realised I'd need to watch the rest of the Marvel films for Loki's journey to make sense, so after watching the series through, I watched all the Marvel films in order, then watched Loki through again. 2022 was a very Loki-heavy year for me, resulting in many more podfics and lots of lovely Loki gifts coming my way. That's why I'm so happy that this was my first podfic after my long hiatus. It felt like coming home.
The Moments With You Were Gold [Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector] Several cats, original characters
This story was a delight to read. It has a clever take on how the cats in the game travel from place to place, while bringing them into the real world in a seamless way. Seeing as this is the second time I've podficced Neko Atsume for Battleship, I think I should make it tradition and be sure to do it next year too :-)
Kasurli & Naulikpuk (series) [The Terror (TV)] Goodsir/Silna
Two wonderfully comforting stories about Silna (and Tuunbaq) saving Goodsir from his fate. It was fun to podfic works in a series, and I hope to continue to do so if more works are added to this one.
A Symbol of Permanence [Hannibal] Hannibal/Will
A sweet story involving photography - how could I resist! I don't know how obvious it will be listening to it, but I tried something new with my podficcing style for this story. Two things actually. (I won't say what they are lol, but it was fun to experiment.)
Eyes Always Seeking [The Magnus Archives] Martin/Jon
A "true love's first kiss" story and my second time podficcing The Magnus Archives. The more I learn about this canon, the more intrigued I am about the characters (especially the monsters!)
Some boys will laugh when they break your heart [Star Wars: Original Trilogy] Lando/Han
How Han wins the Falcon off Lando. A perfect little story that, as the title hints, will break your heart a little bit too. I realised I find it so, so hard to pronounce Han's name the way (some of) the characters in SW do. Sorry it it's grating here. I'm working on it!
Split Soul [Star Wars: Sequel Trilogy] Rey/Kylo
A soulmate fic, with a twist! Podficcing has introduced me to so many tropes I don't know well, especially soulmate AUs. This one is an interesting look at how split personalities could affect soulmate marks.
Still Fine [Our Flag Means Death] Ed/Stede
I love making podfics for this fandom. This story has been on my to-pod list since I first read it, so I was thrilled to find a request that fit this story well. I can't wait for OFMD to come back in October and make more pods for it.
Three Times Blaise Zabini Noticed Cho Chang, and One Time He Asked Her On A Date [Harry Potter] Blaise/Cho
Written for Battleship by the wonderful
kitsunerei88, whose Potter fic I love recording. This story is so touching and it blows me away that kit wrote this so fast. I love 3+1 and 5+1 stories, so this one was even more fun to record for me!His Favor [Our Flag Means Death] Ed/Stede
An adorable ficlet written by my fellow Tower teammate, mixtapestar. Ed and Stede are super cute in this one!
Morning Sickness [Star Trek: DS9] Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Written by my fellow Tower teammate, Melime. I ship these two so much now, despite still being very new to DS9. This is a lovely mpreg fic where Garak is worried and loving about his poorly doctor. So sweet.
Statement of Neville Longbottom, File No. 1998/05-2395 [Harry Potter] Neville, McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt
A multivoice, edited by the amazing kitsunerei88. I play Neville, who is leaving an emotional statement regarding the conduct of Amycus and Alecto Carrow. I'm so happy kit wanted to take on a multivoice for Battleship (which requires much more editing and organisation than single-voice pods) and loved joining my fellow Tower teammates for this one.
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The original trilogy is my favourite. I keep rewatching it. The films feel so cosy and homely even though they're new to me. Which Star Wars films do you like?
And oooh, I need to ask you something RE: Garashir and DS9 (I'll DM you!) I want to know your thoughts ^^
no subject
I absolutely agree about the cosyness of the OT, it's definitely a comfort watch for me! And I don't think there's anything SW-related that I don't like in some way. Apart from the movies, I enjoy the many series/spin-offs, for example "Andor", which was great!
I'll reply to your PM soon!
no subject