AU-gust day 18: Crossover
Midland's past comes to bite him in the ass
Midland cracked open the last of the three beer bottles before passing two of them over to Teller and Radio Bob, leaving his own sat on the island in his kitchen.
His apartment was nice and spacious, and he definitely wouldn’t have been able to afford it just on an EOD salary. It was one of the very, very few upsides to the fucked-up everything that happened with Goddard Futuristics.
That, and the fresh start that came with being able to fake his death and leave everything behind.
Almost everything.
He wasn’t Daniel Jacobi anymore. Daniel Jacobi was a daredevil that didn’t care about the risks as long as it got the job done.
Daniel Jacobi died when Alana Maxwell died, in the explosive dumpster fire that was the Hephaestus mission.
“-rth to Midland, you still with us?” Mark blinked a few times as Radio Bob nudged his shoulder. “You seem kinda out of it.”
He shook his head, picking up his beer. “Nah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”
“Well, think less! It’s New Years and you’ve officially been one of us for an entire year.” Teller clinked his beer bottle against Mark's, grinning before taking a sip.
Mark could never seem to truly understand the person that was Simon Teller, no matter how hard he tried.
Not that he’d admit to that out loud, he’d never hear the end of it from either of them.
He took a swig from his beer, cringing internally. Teller had terrible taste in alcohol, usually insisting on Busch Light or something equally as shitty and cheap.
Mark glanced at his phone screen from where it sat on the island, seeing the time.
1:23 A.M.
They had only gotten off shift barely 15 minutes ago, having been called in for a last-minute diffusal just before the ball dropped, causing them to miss it, much to Teller and Radio Bob’s disappointment and disgruntlement.
Radio Bob opened his mouth to say something, before being abruptly cut off by a sharp knock at the door.
Teller frowned, glancing back at Mark. “Did you invite someone else?”
Mark’s frown matched his as he shook his head, setting his beer bottle back onto the island. “I didn’t.”
Mark didn’t just give his address to anybody. There could only be 3 reasonable options:
Any form of mail (he didn’t order anything)
Someone from work (they had his address for tax reasons)
Someone deliberately tracked him down.
The third reason was more plausible than he particularly liked.
“It’s probably just a package.” he said, and he wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure them, or himself.
Mark crossed his apartment, going from the kitchen towards the front door and opening it.
Minkowski.
Before he could fully process that Renée Minkowski was at his door, she pushed past him and into his apartment, already talking.
“What the actual fuck, Jacobi?” she gave him an expectant look, her fury obvious.
“Whatever happened to hello, Minkowski? I’d ask for a ‘Happy New Year” as well, but I’ll keep my expectations low.” Mark sighed, rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Sarcasm dripped from the words. “Hello, Jacobi, what the actual fuck?”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, what the fuck. Care to explain why?”
“Why- Oh my God.” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Why, Jacobi? You want to know why? We thought you were dead for FIVE years! That’s why!”
He blinked. “Wait, we-?”
Heavy footsteps flooded from the hallway into the apartment as Doug Eiffel came into view, panting. “Jesus, Renée, you run fast–oh, hey Dan!”
Mark sighed.
“Uh…Mid-land?” Teller’s voice reminded him that he was, in fact, still hosting company while this was happening.
Which made everything ten times worse.
One thing at a time.
“How did you guys even find out where I live?” He looked over at Minkowski and Eiffel, before hearing someone clear their throat from behind Eiffel.
He already knew who it was before he saw her.
“Lovelace.”
“Jacobi.”
“Sobrero?” Radio Bob’s eyebrows shot up. “What are you doing here?”
Mark barely heard him. “You said you weren’t going to tell them.”
“Yeah, well, you made that a bit hard by appearing on national television. Kinda hard to explain away why one of the guys that I interviewed last year looks and sounds exactly like you.” Lovelace crossed her arms, leaning against the doorway.
“Midland, what’s going on?” Teller asked, setting his beer down.
Mark glanced at him before letting out a heavy breath. “Give me five seconds.”
He crossed back over to the kitchen, weaving past Radio Bob and opening one of the cabinets.
“What are you doing?”
“This isn’t a conversation I’m willing to have sober, and I’m not getting drunk off your shitty Busch Light,” he said, pulling a bottle of single malt scotch from the back of the cabinet.
Looking through the podcasts in my subscription feed as well as ones I hear about most often to see if they have a transcript, how easy is it to find and access, and is it free (PS: if your transcript is behind a paywall, you’re the worst)
All the transcript pages are hyperlinked to the podcast name if it exists and there is a collective location. The order is just the order in which I have listened to them recently, I’m just going through my podcast feed.
The access ranking has no reflection on the podcast, just how easy it was for me to find the transcript on the computer.
***I’m about to finish the semester, so I’m going to go through this list and revamp the criteria and also write up a google doc with the more organized list***
**This Is an Incomplete list of just the podcasts I have listened to, feel free to add your own or request me to do so through this form
SCRIPTED PODCASTS
Janus Descending
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: bad
- need to copy link from episode description, then click through multiple pages to access the transcript
- 3-4 clicks from episode to transcripts
Primordial Deep
Transcript: Exist
Ease of Access: meh
- hyperlink from the episode description to the website home
- 3-4 clicks from episode to transcript
Quality of Transcript: good
- formatting is a bit different than the others, a bit hard to get used to
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Mabel
Transcript: Exist
Ease of Access: Meh
- Need to go to the Mabel Website
- Not clearly indicated in episode descriptions that transcripts exist
- From the website home, the link to the transcripts is clearly labeled in the side bar or at the top of the page (depending on the size of the screen)
Quality of Transcript: Good
- Not clear that Anna is the primary speaker
- Clearly labeled when not Anna is speaking
- Sound effects are clearly labeled and easy to understand
- Tone not indicated
Seen and Not Heard
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Good
- Transcripts hyperlinked in each episode description
- Each transcript is on a different google doc or pdf, so the only collection of transcripts is a twitter thread from the creators
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Hughes and Minks: Ghost Detectives
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of access: Good
- Transcripts are hyperlinked in each episode description
- Transcripts also hyperlinked to each episode could not find a collective of all the episode transcripts, if anyone has made one or knows where one is, let me know, it will be greatly appreciated
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Light Hearts
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: Good
- Transcripts also hyperlinked in each episode description I could not find a collective of all the episode transcripts, if anyone has made one or knows where one is, let me know, it will be greatly appreciated
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Wizard Seeking Wizard
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Good
- Transcripts also hyperlinked in each episode description
- An collection of episode transcripts are available on their website
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Valence
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: meh
- Website home is hyperlinked
- takes about 2 clicks from the episode description to the transcript collective (”Episodes and Transcripts” box on the website)
- Transcripts not uploaded at the same time as the episodes, time between episode and transcript unstated.
- Labeling of episodes could be better
- - need to scroll down the page a bit to access the actual transcript
Quality of Transcript: Great
- character name’s bolded
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
The Godshead Incidental
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: Good
- Transcript collective linked in description
- Episodes are clearly labeled
- Goes directly to the transcript and just the transcript
Quality of transcript: Good
- Characters clearly labeled
- sound effects clearly described
- The formatting is a bit inconsistent, especially for the first couple of episodes.
The Alexandria Archives
- Transcripts: none
Fireside Folktales
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of access: Good
- pdf of episode transcription hyperlinked in the show notes
Quality of Transcript: good
- formatting is a bit different than the others, a bit hard to get used to
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Super Ordinary
Transcripts: None
Neighbourly
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: good
- 0-6 hyperlinked to episode description
- 7-8 available for free on Patreon page
- - I don’t care if it is free, if is on your patreon fuck you
Quality of Transcriptions: meh
- reads like a story, but so does the podcast
- some of the paragraphs can be quite long
Hello from the Hallowoods
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: Bad
- hyperlink from episode description to website home
- transcripts button on the top of the tree
- the episode icons make me want to rip my eyes out. you cannot read the episode titles, and the color contrast is straining on the eyes.
Quality of transcription: meh
- also reads like a story, similar to the podcast
- the style of the website is similarly hyper-contrasting and makes my eyes hurt
Brimstone Valley Mall
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Very Bad
- not even linked to the episode description
- found it through the arsPARADOXICA transcript
- found through the whisperforge.org website
- thought it didn’t exist
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Special effects and tone clearly indicated
- speaker clearly labeled
- easy to follow and understand
Tunnels
Transcript: Coming soon
Gal Pals Present: Overkill
Transcript: None
Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: Good
- Individual episode transcripts are linked to each episode description
Quality of transcription: great
- speaker is clearly labeled
- sound effects and actions clearly stated and easy to understand
- easy to read and follow
Outliers - Stories from the edge of history
transcripts: none
Time:Bombs
Transcript: exists
Ease of Access: Bad
- not directly linked on the episode description
- need to independently seek out website
- from the website, it is easy enough to find the transcripts
Quality of Transcript: good
- formatting is a bit different than the others, a bit hard to get used to
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Kakos Industries
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: good
- Linked directly to the description, but it is unclear that it does link to the transcript (the “more...” link in all episode descriptions)
- each episode is linked to said episode’s transcripts, but there is a collection of all episodes on the website
Quality of Transcript: meh
- font is small and paragraphs are long
- when there are multiple speakers, it is clearly labeled
In Strange Woods
Transcript: none
Unseen
Transcript: exists
Ease of Access: Great
- Each Episode’s transcript is linked to said episode’s transcripts, and there is a collection of all episodes on the website
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Speakers clearly labeled
- sound effects are detailed and easy to understand
- clear and easy to follow
Next Stop
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Bad
- it only takes two clicks to get from the episode description to the episode feed with the transcripts
- location of transcripts not clearly labeled, hard to find if you don’t know what to look for
- on each episode’s page, you need to scroll down a ways to get to the transcript
Quality of Transcript: Great
- It is clear who is talking
- sound effects and tone of voice are clearly stated and easy to understand
- clear and easy to follow
The Love and Luck Podcast
Transcript: Exists
- Transcribed Videos exist too
- - Season 1
- - Season 2
Ease of Access: great
- Each Episode’s transcript is linked to said episode’s transcripts, but there is a collection of all episodes on the website
Quality of Transcript: great
-it is clear who is talking
- sound effects and tone of voice are clearly stated and easy to understand
- clear and easy to follow
Scoring Magic
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Bad
- it only takes two clicks to get from the episode description to the episode feed with the transcripts
- location of transcripts not clearly labeled, hard to find if you don’t know what to look for
- on each episode’s page, you need to scroll down a ways to get to the transcript
Quality of Transcript: Good
- clear who is talking
- sound effects clearly stated
-tone of voice not indicated
arsPARADOXICA
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Bad
- takes 4 clicks from the episode description to the transcription
- location of transcripts not clearly labeled, hard to find if you don’t know what you’re looking for
- website is directly linked to episode feed
Quality of Transcript: Good
- Special effects and tone clearly indicated
- speaker clearly labeled
- easy to follow and understand
Less is Morgue
Transcript: none
Death By Dying
Transcripts: exist
Ease of Access: Good
- linked directly to the podcast description
- collection of all transcripts on a separate page of the website
Quality of Transcript: Good
- Clear when character is talking, but not narrator
- sound effects are clear and easy to follow
- tone not indicated
Zero Hours
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: awful
- I literally stumbled across them by accident
- not linked to the episode description or clearly labeled on the website
- found through the website that is not linked on the podcast
Quality of Transcript: bad
- hard to understand tone and when exactly someone is talking
- it takes a bot to parse out what is being said
- sound effects are labeled
Girl in Space
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: good
- easy to find from episode description
- all transcripts collected on one page of the website
Quality of Transcript: good
- color scheme is kind of hard to read on
- tone is clearly indicated
- sound effects clear and easy to understand
- easy to follow what is happening and who is talking
King Falls AM
Transcript: None
The Creeping Hour
Transcript: None
Customs out of the Closet
Transcript: None
The Bright Sessions
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: bad
- not linked directly to the episode description
- not clear how to find the transcripts if you don’t know what you’re looking for
Quality of transcript: good
- sound effects clear and easy to understand
- easy to know who is talking and what is happening
- tone not indicated
Attention HellMart Shoppers
Transcript: original scripts behind a paywall (aka: fuck you)
Kaleidotrope
transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: bad
Ease of Access: bad
- not linked directly to the episode description
- not clear how to find the transcripts if you don’t know what you’re looking for
Quality of Transcript: Good
- sound effects clear and easy to understand
- easy to know who is talking and what is happening
- tone not indicated
Inkwyrm
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Good
- Transcripts hyperlinked in each episode description
- Each transcript is on a different google doc or pdf, so the only collection of transcripts is a twitter thread from the creators
Quality of Transcript: good
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
- tone not indicated
EOS 10
Transcript: None
Heroics
Transcript: None
36 Questions
Transcript: None
The Once and Future Nerd
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Good
- Transcripts hyperlinked in each episode description
- Each transcript is on a different google doc or pdf, so the only collection of transcripts is a twitter thread from the creators
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
- tone clearly indicated
The Strange Case of Starship Iris
Transcripts: Exist for Season 2
Ease of Access: Good
- Link to Transcript collective under each Season 2 episode
- Links directly to each episode’s transcripts
- Each episode title is clearly labeled and easy to follow
- Delay between episode release and transcript upload
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
- tone clearly indicated
Wolf 359
Transcript: fan transcripts exist
ease of access: meh
- easy to find if you know where to look
- I didn’t even know they exist until someone else mentioned them
- not linked to any official sources
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
- tone clearly indicated
Welcome to Night Vale
Transcript: Exists
Ease of Access: Meh
- Episodes 173+ Link to transcript collective page linked directly to Episode description
- Not clearly stated that there are transcripts for episodes before 173
- Episodes in the collective are clearly stated
- Transcripts sorted by year, not by episode, but can search individual episodes
Quality of Transcript: Good
- When multiple speakers, it is clearly indicated who is speaking
- Later episodes: tone clearly indicated, and sound effects are clear
- Easy to read and follow
Where the Stars Fell
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: Good
- Transcripts are hyperlinked in each episode description
- Transcripts also hyperlinked to each episode could not find a collective of all the episode transcripts, if anyone has made one or knows where one is, let me know, it will be greatly appreciated
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
- tone clearly indicated
Mission to Zyxx
Transcripts: None
Transmission Folklore
Transcripts: Exist
- Text Transcripts
- Video Transcripts
- - All video transcripts exist, but after episode 5, they are not linked on the website transcript page
Ease of Access: Good
- Website home linked in each episode description
- transcripts tab is clearly visible and labeled
- Offered in multiple formats: written out on website page, google doc, and captioned video
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
Sidequesting
Transcripts: Exist
Ease of Access: Good
- Each episode’s transcript is linked in each episode’s description
- Collection of all transcripts available on the website
- - Each episode is clearly labeled and easy to read
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
- Tone clearly indicated
The Pasithea Powder
Transcripts: exist
Ease of Access: pretty good
- Episode descriptions: full link clearly labeled in the descriptions, but it needs to be copied and pasted
- Website: not clearly labeled, but located under the episodes tab
- - it is kind of hard to read the episode titles on the website page, as it is light gray text on a white background.
Quality of Transcript: Great
- Character name clearly stated before lines
- sound effects clearly described
- easy to read and follow
- Tone clearly indicated
Desperado
Transcripts: exist for episodes 1-3
Ease of Access: horrible
- existence is not mentioned in the podcast
- no link to the website in the description (I found it through their twitter)
- from the twitter link, it opens right onto the episode page with the transcripts linked
Quality of Transcript: meh
- episodes one and three have the same style of transcript
- - sound effects clearly labeled
- - speaker only labeled if it is a main character, does not clearly label which side character is talking
- - tone not clearly indicated
- Episode two’s (2) transcript reads like a traditional script
- - side character’s lines are clearly labeled
- - sound effects barely mentioned
- - tone not indicated
UNSCRIPTED PODCASTS
No Bad Ideas
Transcript: None
Overly Sarcastic Podcast
Transcript: None
I only listen to the mountain goats
Transcript: none
ARCS
Transcript: None
Join the Party
Transcripts: Exist
- Campaign 1
- Campaign 2
Ease of access: Bad
- not linked from episode description
- unclear how to find the transcripts from the website unless you know what to look for
- need to scroll down a ways to read the transcript
Quality of Transcript: good
- sound effects clear and easy to understand
- easy to know who is talking and what is happening
- tone not indicated
Spirits Podcast
Transcripts: Exist
- takes a little while between episode release and transcript upload
Ease of Access: good
- collective episode page linked directly to the episode description
- takes a bit of clever clicking and scrolling to find the transcripts
Quality of Transcript: Good
- no tone indicators
- the few effects that are included
- easy to follow who is speaking and what they are saying
Sounds Fake but Okay
Transcripts: exist
Ease of Access: good
- clearly hyperlinked under every episode
- not labeled on the home page of the website, but found under the “episodes” drop down
- website list is easy to read, although I personally am not a huge fan of the three columns
Quality of Transcript: meh
- speaker clearly indicated
- easy to read
- no tone indicators
- do not follow their words exactly (delete likes and ums) which makes it hard to read and listen at the same time
- moments when they interrupt each other not transcribed well, also hard to read and listen
AU-gust Day 1: Romance
In which Simon and Mark help Bob
“Hey, Midland,” Mark glanced up from his phone from where he sat on the couch in his apartment, seeing Simon sit next to him with two steaming cups of coffee. “Coffee?”
He set his phone down before taking one of the mugs from him and giving him a small kiss on the cheek. “Thanks.”
Simon’s eyes were still a bit squinty from sleep as he sipped from his own mug, which notably had a frog with a party hat on the front.
“...Teller, is that my favorite mug?” Mark raised his eyebrows.
He paused mid-sip. “...No. It’s mine now.”
Mark let out a quiet sigh before sipping from his cup. “Mug thief.”
“It’s only your favorite because I got it for you.” Simon pointed out.
“Maybe it’s because it has a frog on it.”
“I got it for you because it had a frog on it, Midland.” Simon gave him a look. “You like frogs more than you hate car bombs.”
“I like a lot of things more than I hate car bombs.” Mark set his coffee down, pausing. “...Is it weird we still refer to each other by last name?”
Simon took another sip from his coffee before answering. “Honestly? I feel like it’d be a lot weirder if I just started calling you “Mark”.”
“...Yeah, that’s fair.”
“...Does it weird you out?”
Mark shook his head. “No, I’ve just never exactly heard other… couples refer to their partner by their last name.”
“We aren’t really a normal couple, though, are we?” Simon gave him a look. “It’s already strange when one person is EOD, and we’re both.”
He shrugged. “True.”
The two of them sat in silence for the next few minutes, their shoulders pressed together comfortably as they drank their coffee. Their squad was off cycle for the next few days, and they were taking their sweet-ass time to enjoy it.
Mark was the one who broke the silence. “Anything you have in mind for today?”
Simon’s nose scrunched slightly. “I think Bob wanted to go and check out a new restaurant for lunch. Some Greek place.”
“Ohhh yeah.” he set his coffee back down. “I forgot about that.”
“Hold on, let me see if that actually was today,” Simon dug his phone out of the pocket of his sweatpants and started typing. Mark’s phone pinged a moment later, and he glanced at the message from the group chat.
BOSSMAN: Yo Bob r we going 2 the greek place tmr or tdy?
The_Radio_Bob: tmr. cant move head hurt.
Mark frowned, opening the group chat and texting back.
McSteamy: Everything okay?
There was a moment before he responded.
The_Radio_Bob: either a hngover or ive contracted th plague
Simon and Mark shared a look before Mark sighed.
“I’ll see if the place does pickup.”
“And I’ll raid your CD collection.”
“Please put them back in order.”
Simon winked. “No promises,” he gave Mark a small peck on the lips before getting up to look through the cabinet on the other side of the room.
Meanwhile, Mark pulled up the restaurant’s website on his phone and eventually found the pickup section.
“What was that one dish he wanted to try?” Mark asked.
Simon’s head poked up slightly. “Uhh- shit I forgot how to pronounce it. I think it starts with an M?” he offered.
“Mou-saka?” he guessed. “What do you want?”
“They have those sandwiches, right?”
“Gyros?”
“Yeah, those things.” Simon closed the cabinet, a few CD cases in hand. “Which ones do they have?”
“Traditional, which is pork, a beef-lamb fusion, chicken, and veggie.”
“Uhh, what are you getting?”
“Chicken.”
“I’ll get the pork, then.”
Mark raised an eyebrow at him. “...Why’d it matter what I was getting?”
“Because, Midland.” Simon gave him a look. “No matter what we’re eating, you end up asking for a bite of my food.”
“I do not!”
He nodded, biting back a laugh, “You do! And I don’t mind it, it’s just really cute.”
Mark felt his face flush as he got up from the couch. “We need to get going. I put the order in.”
“Let’s just hope Bob isn’t actually sick. I’d hate to spend our cycle off trying to recover from that.” Simon gave him a quick side-hug before they both went out the door.
——————————————————————
Mark winced slightly as Simon held the buzzer on the apartment building a lot longer than he probably should’ve, the sound hurting his ears before he eventually let go.
Bob’s tired voice came over the system a moment later. “Hello?”
“Wakey, wakey, Bob. Midland and I got a surprise for you.”
There was a pause before he responded. “Uh, yeah, come in.”
Mark heard the front door unlock, and he pulled it open, holding it for Simon since he was carrying the takeout bags.
Bob was on the third floor, and the elevator in his building was broken, so the two of them climbed the three flights of stairs up to his apartment.
Mark knocked on the door to the apartment.
“It’s open.” Bob’s voice came from inside, and he opened the door.
Bob was flopped on his small couch, burritoed into a blanket with an untouched cup of coffee on the side table.
“We got you stuff from that new Greek place,” Mark said as Simon set the to-go bags on the counter
His head perked up from where he was sprawled on the couch, a dazed expression on his face that quickly morphed into slight panic when he almost fell off. “You did?”
Simon nodded, pulling out one of the boxes. “Yeah, we got your Greek lasagne thing—I’m not even going to try to pronounce that—and some movies!”
Bob moved to sit up fully, looking at them over the back of the couch. “You guys didn’t have to do this.”
“Of course we did,” Mark said. “We care about you, Bob.”
He smiled at the two of them sleepily. “Thanks, guys.”
