Transformative Taskmaster | Ep11 | The Been Perceived Club™

>> VO: Hello and welcome to Transformative Taskmaster, the podcast by fans, for fans, and about fans. This week we’re digging through the archives, going all the way back to before we even knew what this show would look like, to talk to some of the people who have had their fics namedropped by Greg and Alex. Welcome to the Being Perceived Club!

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LottaSoup / Cat:

>> TK: All right, so let’s talk about being part of the Being Perceived Club, an exclusive club. [laughs] I think there’s seven of us in it?

>> LottaSoup: I think it’s 1025, isn’t it? [laughs] That was an amazing moment! I can’t tell you how exciting, because being someone who’s not even on the same continent and feeling like I was there with you guys, and then THAT happened.

>> TK: Yes, so I’ll ask you about… Or maybe I should tell you because technically we heard about it first.

>> LottaSoup: You tell me what it was like from your perspective, because you were there.

>> TK: Yeah, okay. So your particular fanfic was mentioned two times during the New York trip.

>> LottaSoup: By Daddy himself, mm-hmn. [laughs]

>> TK: Yes, by Daddy Greg himself. The first time was during the Q&A session. Hello? Hold on, Podcast Cat is-

>> LottaSoup: Oh, Kitty! Hello, Kitty. Cats are always welcome.

>> TK: You can come in, I don’t actually… hang on, can you come in? Yeah, let me open up my, you can come in. You can squeeze through that little gap. Anyway, so we were at the premiere and one of the very first things they bring up is fanfiction. And I’m just like, why are you like this? But anyway. [laughs]

>> LottaSoup: One of the first things? Oh, okay.

>> TK: Yeah! Because we do the Q&A, let’s talk about some stuff. We have some questions from the audience. And there was a question, it might have been the: Greg, can you pick up Alex, please? Or something like that. And they did it. I don’t-

>> LottaSoup: Oh, so it was very early in the show.

>> TK: It was very early on, and it wasn’t even a question about fanfic or anything like that. Greg just chose willingly to be like: Oh, by the way, did you know..? And all 14 of us, we all got tickets to sit in the same area, and we’re all just like, screaming. [laughs]

>> LottaSoup: I’m not jealous. I’m not jealous at all. Here I am sitting on a different continent.

>> TK: Oh, I wish you were there. If you were there you would have died. Because what happened was that he-

>> LottaSoup: I wouldn’t have died! I would have pounced on him like a goddamn puma. [laughs]

>> TK: [laughs] Yeah, so we were all sitting there, and he brings up fanfic, and Alex goes: Yeah, there’s 867 on the website that we looked at last night.

>> LottaSoup: That’s another thing we need to talk about is this weird turnaround about how Greg is now into the fanfiction and Alex isn’t. We need to talk about… Carry on with your lovely story, please.

>> TK: So he says that number, and I specifically remember the last time I checked, you know, the website, it was at 1025.

>> LottaSoup: Which we don’t do often.

>> TK: Oh yeah. It’s not an everyday thing that we check up on, you know.

>> LottaSoup: It’s not an OBSESSION. [laughs]

>> TK: Surely not. Us, obsessed?

>> LottaSoup: Us? No, no ways.

>> TK: No, not at all. And so I remember it being a much, much higher number. Now I did not remember that you have to have an account and be logged in to see that number. And so I was like, well that’s not correct. And so then all of us, we were all yelling, no, that’s way too low of a number. And then Alex was like: What’s the person over there shouting? And then all of us went really silent. And I was like 1025! [laughs] And that’s when Greg was like, oh, you’ve been busy last night, somebody’s been busy last night. And I was like, yeah, you have no idea.

>> LottaSoup: “You’ve been busy overnight.”

>> TK: But then he said, I bet you’re the one who wrote Daddy’s Little Screamer, aren’t you?

>> LottaSoup: No, it’s me!

>> TK: And it was funny because there are so many of us, and of course now there are over 1000 fanfics.

>> LottaSoup: We are legion, baby.

>> TK: We didn’t know off the top of our heads who had written it. So we were all sitting there like, oh my gosh, who wrote that one?

>> LottaSoup: Who the hell do we need to inform that shit has just gone down?

>> TK: Right. But then he said something like, if that was you, you’re on Seth Meyers-

>> LottaSoup: You’re on the Seth Meyers show, right now. And then laughed.

>> TK: And we were confused about that because, 1, we didn’t know what he was talking about-

>> LottaSoup: That happened the night before.

>> TK: Yeah. But 2, Seth Meyers wouldn’t be airing until several hours later. So we were like, what do you mean right now? Because they were off by a few hours. And so then later, after the Q&A, we’re all in the hotel lobby. It’s 12:40 in the morning. None of us can sleep because the whole Q&A was just amazing.

>> LottaSoup: I get it, I get it, yeah.

>> TK: Yeah. And so then we stayed up to watch The Seth Meyers show live on the TV.

>> LottaSoup: And that is my favorite video that I’ve ever seen in my whole life, by the wayside.

>> TK: Bro, you’re telling me.

>> LottaSoup: The one that Illuminescence took of you guys watching that.

>> TK: Yeah, oh my gosh.

>> LottaSoup: Oh, my… I’ve think I’ve watched it 7 million times maybe? [TK laughs]

>> TK: Yeah, yeah, a rough estimate.

>> LottaSoup: I have to tell you this, I have to tell you this!

>> TK: Yeah, it was incredible.

>> LottaSoup: When they first mentioned, when Greg mentioned The Jester and the King, and you guys SHRIEK. Oh my God, I’ve never been happier in my whole life.

>> TK: And I don’t know if you know the lore of that, but I had just found out that the video that I had taken of me meeting Greg and Alex had been deleted from my phone, and so I was devastated.

>> LottaSoup: Oh, was that the whole phonegate thing?

>> TK: Yes. So that’s why I keep being like, I’m so mad at my phone, because I recorded a video of me meeting Greg and Alex, because I know my brain. I know that I will 100% forget what I say to them and what they say to me. If I video it like a smart person…

>> LottaSoup: But then you got something better.

>> TK: If I video it then I’ll remember, and I’ll have that forever and it’ll be great. And I’m really smart for thinking of this. But my phone for some reason decided to cut all of my interactions with Greg and Alex, and it’s not like… it’s a whole thing, I’m not even going to get into it, but it cut the whole thing. And so I had just found that out, and I was so upset. So then Seth Meyers comes on and they do that whole bit.

>> LottaSoup: Oh wow.

>> TK: So then when Greg called out The Jester and The King, I was like, there’s no way! Oh my gosh! And, of course we’re trying so hard to be quiet so that we can listen to what they’re saying.

>> LottaSoup: Oh man.

>> TK: But everyone in the room knew that I had just experienced this really traumatic thing happening with my phone.

>>LottaSoup: This terrible loss!

>> TK: It was awful. And so then they were like, TK! I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. So then-

>> LottaSoup: Okay, well, I’m just gonna headcanon it that Greg knew that you’d been through a loss and he was like, bitch, I’m gonna make up for this.

>> TK: Yeah, retroactively, because they had prerecorded it.

>> LottaSoup: He’s like that.

>> TK: And so then they mentioned four other fics, and then ended with yours.

>> LottaSoup: Suggsy and- Yeah, well, of course, I’m the finale.

>> TK: Right. Because at the Q&A he’s, he said again, just going to put that out there, that is my favorite title. [laughs] And then he said it on…

>> LottaSoup: I mean, it was absolute deliberate 10,000% Alex Horne bait that I laid.

>> TK: Yeah. I mean it worked.

>> LottaSoup: I just did not expect to catch a Greg. [laughs]

>> TK: For it to be Greg-bait, yeah. I’m so glad that you did though.

>> LottaSoup: It was amazing.

>> TK: So now we’re watching Seth Meyers and they get through the fanfic stuff, and now we’re like, oh my. So, there were two of us in the room, that’s me and Trillion_Grams had our fics mentioned. And then the three other people were on the server, so we knew everybody. So we were like, oh my gosh, that’s what he meant when he said that Daddy’s Little Screamer is going to be on Seth. And so then we were like, okay, who wrote this? And we figured out it was you-

>> LottaSoup: Oh, he meant Daddy’s Little Screamers.

>> TK: Yeah, really. And, so then we…

>> LottaSoup: We have a new name.

>>TK: I don’t know how many people messaged you, I know Illuminescence did.

>> LottaSoup: Shame, she was knocking my door down.

>> TK: But we were like, we’re pretty sure she’s asleep, because she lives in Africa. [laugh]

>> LottaSoup: Of course she’s asleep, this was American time.

>> TK: And even then, it was 1 a.m. So we’re frantically messaging you, and we’re like, okay, these are the fics that got mentioned, if anybody wants to lock down their fics for the next 24 hours or whatever. So that’s my part of the story. So I know you were asleep when it happened, but when you woke up, what was your experience with that?

>> LottaSoup: Okay. It was pretty crazy because, yes, I was asleep when it was actually happening. And then the day that it happened, the timing could not possibly have been worse because I literally was lugging my mom in between X-ray appointments and doctor’s appointments and radiologist appointments. I was on the road the whole day. I couldn’t even check in with the server. And then the second that I did, all I see is there’s 5 million messages directed at me. I’m like, oh my God, what happened? What are I done? What have I done? [TK laughs] And all they say is: Soup! Soup! Soup! If you want to lock down your fics, you have to do it NOW! And I’m like, shit! [laughs] It was mental, but it was great. It was also great. Yeah. I’m just glad that Daddy liked it, so it’s fine.

>> TK: Yeah. And then how soon after that did you watch the Seth Meyers clip?

>> LottaSoup: The Seth Meyers one only came out, I think, a little bit later. But also, I was on the road. I was gonna tell you, I’ll tell you a little secret story because I couldn’t tell my mom.

>> TK: Right.

>> LottaSoup: So while I was waiting for her to get her X-rays done, there was a little teddy bear in the sort of kids’ section of the X-ray department. So I took little teddy bear, and I whispered the whole story into his ear, because there was nobody else that I could tell. [laughs]

>> TK: That is adorable.

>> LottaSoup: And I felt so much better because, Greg Davies, the actual Greg Davies, he mentioned my name!

>> TK: Oh that’s amazing, I love that for you.

>> LottaSoup: Oh, man, it was a special day. I mean, it was a frantic, hectic day, and I genuinely thought I was going to die, but I didn’t, and it was okay.

>> TK: That’s awesome. Now, did you end up locking your fic? Because I’m not remembering because there were five of us.

>> LottaSoup: Oh, I locked it for ten minutes and then I was like, nah! Let the people come, let them come. Bring it bitches.

>> TK: Did you get any comments that were like: Did you know that this was talked about on Seth Meyers?

>> LottaSoup: Uh, yeah! [laughs] No, but everyone was actually so nice. Because, you know, you worry about… the internet can be a nasty place, but not on this occasion. Everyone was so nice. Everyone was so nice. It was beautiful to witness.

>> TK: That’s awesome.

>> LottaSoup: Yeah. And you? How did people respond to yours?

>> TK: Yeah, I got a couple, oh, excuse me. It was funny because people were like: Oh, we have to lock down our fics. And I was like, oh, man, I’ve got to go to my fics and update them so that anybody can comment, so guests can comment! [laughs]

>> LottaSoup: Because you’ve got, what, 20,000 or something like that now?

>> TK: Oh my gosh, yeah, something like that.

>> LottaSoup: Guys, I’m not even exaggerating.

>> TK: I think it’s just something like-

>> LottaSoup: 187 or something, isn’t it? 1025!

>> TK: It’s something like 200 or something like that, it’s ridiculous.

>> TK: Yeah, I got a couple comments that were like, oh, buddy, are you in for it? And I’m like, oh, buddy, I want I found out live. I found out in real time with other members of our group. I feel so lucky that I was there in that group to witness it, in person, because it was just amazing. It was one of the absolute… I think it was honestly the highlight of my trip. And I met Greg and Alex! [laughs] That’s how incredible it was, it was really something.

>> LottaSoup: You got recognized for your artwork, and it is artwork, what you do is artwork.

>> TK: Thank you.

>> LottaSoup: I mean, I am in constant awe of you.

>> TK: Yeah, I was pretty pleased. Yeah.

>> LottaSoup: Wow, I can’t even imagine. Wow.

>> TK: It was real fun.

>> LottaSoup: Aw… I’m not jealous. I’m not jealous.

>> TK: I know, I wish you had been there. That would have been really fun.

>> LottaSoup: I’m viciously jealous. I’m not jealous. [TK laughs]

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PandaRoboto / Vivs:

>> TK: All right, welcome to the Being Perceived Club. One of our original members of the club, I believe. Would you like to introduce yourself? And tell us a little bit about how you came to be a Taskmaster fan?

>> Vivs: Oh, hello people of the pod! So, my name is Vivs, I go by PandaRoboto in almost all my social medias. I am a fan, I think since the beginning of the show or something like that. I was browsing Tumblr a lot, and I kept seeing it. And I don’t have to say that I was watching it… not legally, because that was pre-YouTube, because I don’t live in the UK.

>> TK: Right.

>> Vivs: So, I’ve got a friend that managed to get me some links, and I got addicted very fast.

>> TK: As do we all. [laughs] All right, so your fic got mentioned, I believe, on Taskmaster, the actual show and not, you know, as opposed to being mentioned on an interview or something like that. So which fic got mentioned, and do you remember which episode it was in?

>> Vivs: I think I remember the day, but not because of that. It was April 13th, I think it was then. And my fic is ‘I wanna ruin our friendship’ it’s the first one that got a lot of laughs. Then later I got some comments thinking Alex actually made up those names, but no.

>> TK: No, it’s real.

>> Vivs: I was freaking out that they’re all real.

[laughs] So do you remember watching the episode, and what was your reaction when he brought it up?

>> Vivs: That was a weird day, that’s why I remember the actual day, not the episode. I have flashbacks of it because I was having a rough day at work. I was getting fired, like two hours prior!

>> TK: Oh no!

>> Vivs: And I was crying a lot. And then my phone started ringing, ringing from all the people wanting to say goodbye to me. But there were a couple of friends that were like, oh my God, have you watched the episode? Oh my God, have you watched the episode?! I was like, no, I don’t want to watch Taskmaster now. And they went, oh my God, you need to watch this now! So I clean up my tears, and turned the computer on and started to watch. And then I lost my freaking mind [TK laughs] because I was not expecting that at all. It was a very weird day. But at the moment, I don’t think I took it well, because it was a lot to deal with. But now I think I am thankful, because I kept thinking about that and not about the job thing.

>> TK: Yeah, yeah.

>> Vivs: Because I had a lot to reply to on my socials. My friends were talking to me, I talked with a lot of my friends on Tumblr, and I think I tweeted a lot. I have those flashbacks of being like, yeah, I lost my job but fuck it! I am on the show! I will put that on my resume or something like that! [TK laughs] I think if I get back to those tweets, I will find some weird shit there, for sure.

>> TK: Yeah, yeah, I feel like Greg and Alex mentioning fanfic, for some reason generally comes on the heels of some major upset or in the middle of a really emotional period of time, which is really weird. But it definitely has a way of uplifting your spirits because you’re like, I didn’t think this would ever happen. I did not write this intending for them to actively find it.

>> Vivs: No, on the contrary, I didn’t want them to find it, especially mine! Because I think I talked about it with some people, but it is such a weird choice of fic, because it’s not even just Greg and Alex. It’s Greg, Alex and Tim Key, so it gets weird! I was like, did you read something beyond the title, man?

>> TK: Right, yeah.

>> Vivs: Like, they don’t read the tags. Did you think that was a good idea? I don’t think so. Yeah, I’m clinging to that, that he didn’t read everything!

>> TK: Yeah, and that was before we canonized the tag ‘Alex Horne do not read this’, I believe.

>> Viv: Oh, yeah, because we only had that one thing on the pod. So not many people knew about that, that he sang with Greg. Also, man, that was a choice, those voices they did, that was a choice. So it was very unexpected. I think it was four of us, oh no, three of us and four fics. Two are by Knop_e, one by me, and the other one’s a crossover with Doctor Who. [TK laughs] So it is very weird!

>> TK: It is, yeah. I’m so curious to figure out who is in charge of looking these fics up, because certainly, almost certainly, they are picking fics based on titles, because that just makes sense. It’s good for a really quick laugh in the studio. But now they’re starting to choose fics that their titles aren’t necessarily what’s the most interesting thing about it… which is really weird.

>> Vivs: Yeah I think they-

>> TK: Yeah I don’t know who they get to go through the fics on the website and pick out which ones they’re going to talk about next. It’s wild that they even do it in the first place.

>> Vivs: Yeah I’m quite sure and Knop_e were picked just by the title. Because they were at the time, they were standing out. Also, I have to say that it was very surreal, because that happened and more or less 15 days later, I was flying to watch the live taping.

>> TK: Oh my gosh.

>> Vivs: And I was watching them, and I was like, oh my God, you just mentioned my fic a couple of days ago. And you don’t know me. And he was waving at me, because of course I was screaming a lot that I was from Brazil.

>> TK: Right.

>> Vivs: So I mean, he was trying to be very nice to me, he and Greg. And he had no idea that I was writing about it with Alex’s friend. So that’s that.

>> TK: Yeah, that’s amazing. So after your fics got mentioned on that episode, how quickly and how much did people go to your fic and I assume, put a comment on it being like, did you know that your fic was mentioned on this episode of Taskmaster?

>> Vivs: Oh, I had a couple. I saw some people saying, oh, I knew that one was real because I read it! It was nice, but the fact that I rushed to lock everything because I got scared! Because of the life situation.

>> TK: Right.

>> Vivs: I think it didn’t affect me so much with the general public, but people that knew me and knew me from fandom space, they were very happy for me, very proud of me. I even told my friends that didn’t know, and they were like, oh, you’re actually like someone that is famous! So I was like, oh, it’s not that much, but people know me, some people know me.

>> TK: Yeah, that’s pretty cool, honestly.

>> Vivs: Yeah it is.

>> TK: Very elite club that we have here with all, what, seven of us I think there are? Yeah, there’s 7 of us but there’s 8 fics, because one person’s got doubled, yeah.

>> Vivs: Yeah, it’s the Doctor Who crossover. Yeah, but I don’t think they… I don’t know, I think I sent a message to them at the time being like, oh, so you’re one of us. And they really didn’t care about me at all, oh okay. And of course, Knop_e has two. She’s really… I need to get better at writing because I want to be noticed again.

>> TK: Yeah, it sure is an interesting dilemma that we’re in, because you never know what they’re going to pick next. It’s an interesting situation. And I think if I’m right, I mean, my memory is like a sieve and it’s awful, but I’m pretty sure that your fic may have been one of the very first Taskmaster fics that I ever read. Because when he mentioned that on whatever episode it was, I literally paused the video and I was like, there’s no way. And I went to the website that everybody uses and I looked it up, and sure enough, there were a ton of works. And I was like, oh my gosh, I’m out here sleeping on this! [laughs] So I re-listened to the ones that he had mentioned, and I think I read those first. So, pretty cool.

>> Vivs: Well, I have the website open, I’m going to check, because I think you’re the one that I was thinking about being like, oh, I read that.

>> TK: [laughs] Oh man, did I? I literally don’t remember if I did.

>> Vivs: Yeah. I mean, you say that your memory’s like a sieve, but mine too, so. What? I wrote so much stuff, where is the thing? Oh, okay, found it. I published in 2022, and in… there is a couple of… Okay, that one was on April 13th saying Greg and Alex know this fic exists. It was even mentioned in an episode, I was trying so hard not to laugh because I knew about it. But aside from that, I loved reading it.

>> TK: That’s amazing.

>> Vivs: Oh, it wasn’t you. Oh that one was, I’m pretty sure this fic just got mentioned on Taskmaster. And my reply [it was my fault?] Yeah, I think I changed a lot my opinion of what happened since then, but it was fun.

>> TK: Yeah, good times.

>> Vivs: Good times.

>> TK: Well, thanks for coming on our little mini episode. We’re going to kind of splice everybody’s mini episodes into one big episode once we figure out who else we need to get and all that kind of stuff. So it’ll be fun!

>> Vivs: It will be fun.

>> TK: Yeah! Well, thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

>> Vivs: Oh no, thank YOU!

>> TK: And I’ll see you online!

>> Vivs: I will see you online.

>> TK: All right, bye!

>> Vivs: Bye-bye!

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UnquietSpirit:

>> TK: All right. Hello, UnquietSpirit, and welcome to the Mini Being Perceived Club podcast.

>> UnquietSpirit: Thank you. Happy to be here.

>> TK: Yeah. Now, you actually, I want to say are the creator of the Being Perceived Club, because there’s a little, there’s a little bit on, what is it called a collection? On AO3. That’s the Being Perceived Club fics. And I think, are there ten?

>> UnquietSpirit: There’s 11 if you include the one that’s a crossover. So that one is actually just bookmarked in the collection. And then there’s ten that are actually in the collection properly. Yeah.

>> TK: Nice. So tell us a little bit about the collection, and I know that, is it one of your fics is in it?

>> UnquietSpirit: Yeah, one. A Big Boy Like You. So basically after, what is this, the fifth time that they’ve named-dropped things? I was like, we should really just collect them all together for people who want to see all of them. And, we always like to compare the titles and be like, oh, what are they looking for when they’re when they’re picking out these fics?
So I thought it would be fun to just have them all together. So I just asked everybody, hey, would you mind if I put your fic into this collection? And nobody said no, so yeah, now it’s all together. And, as more fics get mentioned, I will add them.

>> TK: Sweet. That’s awesome. So you have one in the collection, A Big Boy Like You, do you remember because that one was mentioned in the show, right?

>> UnquietSpirit: It was an outtake actually, but yeah. So it was last January, I was on my lunch break and I checked our group chat, as I always do on my lunch break, and I saw somebody had mentioned me and I was like, what’s going on? And they were talking about an outtake and they’re like, oh my God, it’s UnquietSpirit’s. And I’m like, what? What? What’s happening? So I went to watch the outtake, which at that point was posted only on Facebook. It was like the first place it had been posted. It took a few days for it to go out everywhere else. So yeah. So I watched it, and he started talking about fic, and then he said, my current favorite is A Big Boy Like You. I was like, your current favorite is A Big Boy Like You?! That was the part that got me, because if you know that fic, I don’t know if I can say this, it’s age play piss kink, so… [TK laughs] It was like, why did you pick that one to call your current favorite? That’s just wild to me. So I immediately burst into laughter. It was so funny. So yeah, that’s how I found out.

>> TK: That’s amazing. And that’s the one with, is that the one with Ed and James also?
>> UnquietSpirit: Yes. So most of it is actually more focused on Ed and James as well. So it’s really funny. I mean, there is, you know, it’s from Alex’s point of view, the whole thing. And there’s a part at the end with Alex and Greg, but Greg’s not even there for most of it, most of it’s Ed and James and Alex.

>> TK: That’s so funny. Yeah, I remember watching that one being like, okay, so he… Because, I forget who he’s talking to, but he brings up fic and then the contestants ask him a little bit about it and Greg asks him a little bit about it, and he’s like, it’s us? And he’s like, oh, you know, it’s me and you and Ed, you know, Ed Gamble. And he’s like, what’s Ed doing? He’s like, oh, Acaster is there as well, and I was like, okay. [laughs] And then I love how he says, because Greg is like, well, what do they do? It’s like, well, they’re fiddling about in the kitchen while we fiddle about in the bedroom.

>> UnquietSpirit: Yeah, so that is what tipped me off and several other people off to the fact that he had not actually read the whole thing in detail. He probably just read the summary because that’s not quite correct. But what he got, what he said he got from the summary. So, yeah.

>> TK: Even just him reading summaries is ridiculous.

>> UnquietSpirit: The summary does make it clear, even if you hadn’t read the tags, the summary makes it clear what kinks are in this fic. So yeah.

>> TK: Just wild. Yeah. I remember, this is one of those fic begets fic type of things, because I remember when that outtake came out and then, I think that I had been in our group chat by that point, so I knew who you were and who everybody else was. And I had probably gotten into fic by then. Well, certainly writing fic by then. But when he said, fiddling about in the bedroom, I was like, oh, I really now want to write a fic where they’re at a contradance together. And like, Alex is playing the fiddle in the band on stage, and then they go make out in the rafters or whatever.

>> UnquietSpirit: Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, good one. That’s very sweet.

>> TK: Yeah, I really liked writing that one. Actually reminds me of my time from pre-COVID when contra dancing was a thing. So yeah, that was really cute that I got to be inspired by something. I was inspired to write a fic based on something that Alex said about your fic. Which is great. So, did you notice any kind of uptick in comments or anything like that after the outtake got officially released?

>> UnquietSpirit: Definitely, yeah. I think mine actually got more attention maybe than other people who have been namedropped, because it was the only fic mentioned in that outtake, and because he actually went into detail. And he also said that he had seen the box that said, are you okay with adult content? So everybody was like, oh my God, it’s a real fic. It’s on AO3, they know exactly where to find it. I don’t think he knew that he was giving that away when he said that, but he gave it away. So yeah, I got a lot of attention. Yeah. I immediately moderated the comments just because I didn’t want to deal with any sort of negativity being public. And I actually didn’t get any negative comments. It was mostly just like, oh my God, this fic was mentioned. Why is Alex reading this fic? What the hell?
But yeah, yeah. And that fic now has the second most kudos out of all my fics, which I feel I have mixed feelings about because I’m like, okay, it has a lot of hits, so I’m glad it has a lot of kudos too, but I feel like there’s other ones that deserve more kudos.

>> TK: Yeah, ain’t that just the way. Well, that’s awesome. Yeah, I definitely… Part of the Being Perceived Club, which just seems to grow bigger seemingly every day, is really special. But yeah, just wild to think about, because the thing that always gets me is that it would be so easy for them to just make up something and just completely fabricate a fic title or a fic idea or plot or whatever. And instead they really are just going out on AO3. Looking at very specific actual fics that we’ve written.

>> UnquietSpirit: Yeah, yeah, it’s crazy. Yeah. And then another thing I did want to mention, kind of going along with this before that whole thing happened, I had another fic planned with the same kinks, and I was like, now when I write this, people are going to think I’m writing it for Alex. So I had to like put an author’s note being like, I swear on my life and my beta reader, I had this plan before. I am not yes-anding Alex. But it was really funny writing it too, because I felt like he was reading it over my shoulder as I’m writing it. It’s so funny.

>> TK: All right, well, thanks for sharing your insights on the Being Perceived Club mini podcast.

>> UnquietSpirit: Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

~~~***~~~
Trillion_G

>> TK: All right, Trillion, welcome to the podcast!

>> Trillion: Thank you so much!

>> TK: All right, so obviously we are here talking about being part of the Being Perceived Club, which is very exciting. So just tell me the story of which fic got mentioned, where and when it got mentioned, what your reaction was. I mean, I personally know the whole story already, but…

>> Trillion: Well, the story does involve you quite a bit, so I hope I’m not repeating something you’ve already talked about. So we did go as a group. Oh, gosh, how big was the group? Over a dozen of us.

>> TK: Yeah, I think there were 14.

>> Trillion: Yeah. So we were together in New York City because we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for the season, series!, season series, 19 premiere. And, while the guys, while Greg and Alex were in New York, of course, they did the Seth Meyers taping. And so some of us sort of predicted they might end up there when they announced the series 19 taping. So we did, so many of us signed up for Seth Meyers tickets. None of us really got in to the taping that Greg and Alex ended up doing. So we did some standby, lined up, stood in the cold, stood in the hot. We did not end up making it in to the taping, which, honestly could be a good thing. Now, we had a heads up that one of us was having a fic mentioned, so we did try to pass along a message to them that, you know, hey, heads up at the series 19 premiere, they mentioned this. What we did not know is they mentioned more than one. And not just mentioned, they actually did read an excerpt, a couple of excerpts. So we gathered, after the series 19 premiere, we gathered in the lobby of the hotel that many of us ended up coincidentally staying in together to actually watch Seth Meyers. And so we knew the fanfic thing was coming, so we were prepared. But then they started reading excerpts from, what is it? The King and..?

>> TK: The Jester and the King.

>> Trillion: The Jester and the King. And they were setting that up a little bit. They were really hooked on Greg being a king of his domain. And I think it’s because they had your fic on the mind about The Jester and the King. And so, of course, when they started reading the excerpt and we were literally screaming while trying not to because we wanted to actually hear what they had to say. So it’s really hard to scream and not at the same time. So when they finished that, then I think they did move on to the second excerpt.

>> TK: Yeah, they did a first excerpt because then Greg says, wait, this one is better. And then he read mine and then after that he name-dropped three more.

>> Trillion: So he name-dropped some titles. But we were just so wound up, we were trying, it was 1am in a hotel lobby. We’re trying not to scream and wake other people up, and we’re trying to hear what they have to say. And so it was really kind of unnoticed by the group because we were so busy celebrating you, well-deserved, for having your fic actually read on air that they just sort of… he mentions a couple of titles, slips in mine was Big Strong Hero, which is a little confusing to me. It’s not a particularly salacious title, and the other titles had been quite salacious. Or the content that they read was really nice and enticing to them. And so it’s funny to me that Big Strong Hero was chosen. Also not funny in some ways, because it’s not finished and I’m really trying to finish it. But what’s funny is I actually did title bait them with another fic, so the fact that they picked this one and not the title bait one. So I have another fic called Love Slave? And the question mark I thought was particularly maybe Alex catnip. Yeah, but nope, they didn’t grab that, they grabbed the most boring title you could probably come up with, Big Strong Hero. Which is, hey, I’m not complaining. I’m perfectly fine with that. I’m quite proud of the fic, even though it’s not finished. I will finish it soon. There’s another person in the Perceived Club who, when they were perceived, and it was actually during Taskmaster or canon on Taskmaster, they were going through something else in their life, a bit of a crisis in their life. So they had this sort of dichotomy of crisis in their life, but also perceived, so a very confusing time. And that’s a little bit what I’m going through of: I’ve been perceived, it’s really exciting and I don’t know what to do about it, but I’m also going through so much stress, just unrelated to it that I’m like: oh, these two things are going to be tied in my life forever now, this stressful moment in my life and this really exciting, fantastic, name drop. And so, yeah, it’s not canon, it’s Seth Meyers, but I will take it. I am beyond delighted. I don’t feel like I particularly deserve it more than some of the others. And I have a little delulu headcanon that whoever’s out there picking these fics to mention, I hope they liked it. I hope the reason they chose it, even though the title is a little bit on the boring side, is because they actually liked it. So updates are coming. I’m actively thinking every day about how to wrap this fic up because I do love it, I adore it. And yeah, I’m just proud and I hope others that I love, other writers I love, join the Perceived Club soon.

>> TK: Yeah, yeah, me too. I know our little group of the being perceived club. We’re like, okay, we’ve got a couple writers that we’re eyeballing to be like, please, pick these people next, pick our friends.

>> Trillion: Yes. What I’m glad about though is those who have been perceived actually really are good writers. I mean, the fandom is just absolutely chock full of good writers. I mean, it’s very, very strange, but it gives me a little tiny spark of hope or delulu or something that somebody is actually reading at least a little bit. I mean, hey, like we’ve said about the excerpts read, well, that’s not just the opening line or something. Somebody actually had to read through to find some lines here.

>> TK: It’s so Interesting.

>> Trillion: Yeah, yeah, but there are so many good writers out there. And I’m glad that Alex and Greg know how to be kind about all of this, even if it perhaps freaks them out, even if they don’t quite understand it. They are quite kind, as they are with many things in the fandom.

>> TK: Yes, that’s completely true. Now, so I know that they name dropped five of our fics on Seth Meyers and obviously they read some excerpts from two of them. And then the last three, they were just kind of like, here’s some titles. So for yours, did you start getting comments that were like, hey, your fic got mentioned on Seth Meyers?

>> Trillion: Absolutely not. And I am totally fine with that. I am the least perceived of the Perceived Club in a good way. I am also a sensitive baby and don’t want a lot of attention or some negative comments. So I think because the title is, you know, it’s on the boring side and it was said so quickly and there’s just nothing really like catchy about the title. People haven’t really been coming to it, which is fine. Hey, I think those of you who have read it, I’m delighted. But I do wonder what will happen if I update, post a chapter and it throws it to the top of the timeline. So I might get 1 or 2 comments there, but yeah. So not a lot of activity, not even a lot of hits. I have been keeping an eye on the stats but yeah. No, I am a writer who, I don’t check my kudos emails. I’m always delighted by a comment, but I know it’s good for my mental health to not care about the stats, so I try actually not to look that much. So, you know, even if nobody ever saw it ever again or commented on it, I’m just delighted at the title drop.

>> TK: Yeah, you and I, I remember specifically in the hotel lobby, we were both kind of going through some shit, like, separate types of shit. And we were both just kind of on a low, like we had just come back from the premiere, which of course is like the ultimate high. And so we were super excited that we had gotten to go to that. But we both had our own personal reasons for being like, oh my gosh, like, I have to deal with this thing. And then so when they name-dropped both of our fics on Seth, we were both just like: are you kidding me?! Like, screaming.

>> Trillion: Yes, it was very unbelievable. Not sure what to do with yourself. I felt like all my autonomic systems started failing at once or something like that. I of course cried, because I cry at everything. Because I was crying for you just in the first place. And then for that, like, to be tacked on. Oh my God. And then what was great is as we started looking up the other three, we were like, okay, wait, who are the other three? And then we found out we know and love them. And it was just like, oh, this is just delightful.

>> TK: Yeah, every single person that got their fic name dropped we know like, personally.

>> Trillion: And they’re just, they’re lovely people and writers, and so it was just such a weird night. And then we start, I started thinking like, oh my God, what would have happened if we’d been at that taping? Because I was so close to getting into that taping. And I think I honestly might have given up the game by making some sort of noise in the audience loud enough to be heard. So that was the fandom gods smiling down on us for not getting into that taping, I think.

>> TK: Yeah, I definitely feel like it could have been really bad if some of us had gotten in.

>> Trillion: Because, hey, I mean, I love the few little meetings I’ve had with Alex and Greg.
Well, one with Greg, and Alex perceived me at the series 19 premiere, just momentarily. But, you know, I very much don’t ever want them to know. At the premiere, Alex mentioned he was nervous about talking about it because, quote unquote, you know the writer is in, right? Yeah. This is like, yeah, no, that’s something you guys need a good amount of separation from. You don’t need a face with the author name.

>> TK: Yeah. That was a wild night, so many ups and downs.

>> Trillion: It was very weird, the whole weekend was, oh my God.

>> TK: It was a whirlwind.

>> Trillion: Wealth of emotion on either end of the spectrum. So yep, that will ever, forever be tied together, those memories of everything going on. And I’m delighted.

>> TK: Yeah. It’s almost like they have a sixth sense of like: oh so and so is feeling down. What if we just namedrop their fic really quick?

>> Trillion: No kidding. So I just yeah I hope some of the other really fantastically good writers and artists, you know, I do love when they perceive fanart, too. I just hope they get perceived, because, you know, I’m not a trash writer, but I’m certainly not at some of the other levels that some of these people are. So, yeah, go out there, read some really good fanfic, and if you read mine, great. I’m delighted by it.

>> TK: Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing your story with us. Very exciting to hear from, you know, other perspectives, because even though I was there in the same room, all of us are going to remember that evening differently.

>> Trillion: You were too busy disassociating really.

>> TK: Yeah, I literally blanked out right when he said, this one’s called The Jester and the King because he started reading. And I did not pay attention to that because I was like, I know that, it’s the words that I wrote, of course I already know those words. So I don’t care about, I can watch this later. Which is the the beauty of it, that we do get to watch it any time we want, which has been such a blessing for whenever I’m feeling low and I need a little pick me up, I just go. I really should just download the video to my phone at this point.

>> Trillion: And it’s such a strange, almost achievement because it’s really hard to describe to people in your life, especially if you don’t want to describe to people in your life what happened. Just like, how was your trip to New York City? Well, it was something! It was a lot. Yeah, it was good, but I can’t tell you why.

>> TK: Yeah, that is a weird conversation I’ve had to have. So now my mom knows I write fics, so that’s fun. But I was like, it was amazing! And she’s like, okay? Why?

>> Trillion: Yes! It’s just hard to describe to those who aren’t in the know, in this circle I suppose.

>> TK: Yep, oh good times. All right. Well, thanks for coming on, and we’ll see you online.

>> Trillion: Thank you for having me! Talk to you later. Bye!

>> TK: Bye!

>> VO: And that was several members of the Being Perceived Club talking about their experiences with being initiated. You can find their works in the collection linked in the episode description. If you liked this episode and would like to see more, don’t forget to subscribe.