#typical Night Vale weirdness

[hardly-a-p3rson]

it devours was hella good I really enjoyed it!

[3typical3]

Tip for non Hispanic ppl writing Spanglish

*I initially wrote this at 1 am so like, keep that in mind as you decipher this lol

*context is key when speaking Spanglish, if your character is in a professional setting they probably won’t speak Spanglish unless it’s to a fellow co worker who also speaks Spanglish. It’s more of a casual way a speaking yk?

Also parents, I avoid Spanglish with my parents unless we’re switching from just speaking Spanish to just speaking English. But that’s depends from family to family.

It’s typically like switching sentences and not dropping in random words.

Example “ es Que fui a la tienda, and they were out of milk”

Example “ te ves cansada, did you sleep last night?”

“La neta” is and extremely common Mexican slang term, typically means, honestly. It can also be used to mean ‘really?’

Honestly example:

“La neta, Im tired”

Or “La neta, estoy cansada. Im going to bed”

In the case it means “really?”:

ex.) “Neta?! They said that?!”

I personally say “ de que” which is basically saying “like”, it’s a filled term, before saying a sentence in either English or Spanish

example “ de que idk it won’t work”

I’m Mexican so I use “ósea” a lot in both languages. Another substitute for words like:

“I mean,” “it'd be,” ”like,” “so,” “that is,” “therefore,” and “or.”

Ex. “ ósea, it looks weird idk”

The famous “ pero like” I personally don’t use a lot but an example of how it’s used in Spanglish is “ pero like, how did it happen?”

Sometimes I Just say “ fuck” but like in my Mexican accent or in a sentence.

“ fuck, perdí mi pulsera”

When I get startled I cuss in both English and Spanish but a Spanglish example would be

*insert random startling noise

“ ala verga! That scared me” or “ hijo de tu puta madre!” when something REALLY scared the shit out of me lol

“Chingada madre, where did that come from”

Rlly insert any cuss word in there and it probably works in Spanglish.

Edit bc I thought of this the morning after

In Mexican Spanish for whatever reason the word “madre” can be used like kinda like a cuss word lol.

Example “ Me vale madres”

Which in English would translate to “I don’t value mothers” but in practice means “I don’t give a shit” or “I don’t care”.

Another Mexican deep cut is the word “pedo” which yes, means fart but we’ve really given the word so many alternative meanings like

“ no es mi pedo “ = “not my problem”

“Estoy bien pedo” = “in rlly drunk”

“Vas a la peda?” = “ are you going to the party/kickback”

There’s more but that’s like the basics lol.

Also another Mexican term is “Aguas”… which literally translates to “waters” but it’s used as a warning.

“Aguas, there’s car coming”

The most famous of Mexican slang has to be “wey” or “guey” depends on how you spell it. But it just means dude. Another term that goes in hand is, “no mames” which basically means “are you kidding me”.

*men for whatever reason hate when the girl they’re dating or are into calls them wey. I think it’s because it’s seen as either improper or as like friend zoning.

“Wey, you’re not gonna believe this”

“No mames wey, look at this”

Another term is “equis” which basically means whatever

“How was the party?”

“Estuvo equis”

Another example

“ now was she dressed?”

“Equis, nothing crazy nothing wow”

*I recommend for Mexican characters looking into the words, or you can just ask me I just don’t wanna make this longer than I already have lol, “mamar”/“mamo”/“mamon”, each you would think is the same but no, no they are not and using one in the wrong context could be catastrophic lol. They are vital words to our vocab

If you’re writing to a character from a specific country, take the time to learn some slang. Sometimes slang crosses over, sometimes even we use slang we learn from each others dialects. Personally I love “joder”/“no jodas” because of the shows from Spain.

But take the time because if you write a Colombian character using most of the slang I’ve used above, you’d get a lot of hate from Colombians lol.

Some bad Spanglish examples would be

“ why didnt you eat your comida?”

Like no. Just no. Inserting a random Spanish word doesn’t equate to Spanglish, at least not in most Latin peoples lives

“ you look cansada” also just no.

*Edit I saw someone post abt this and I felt like adding it in

If you do insert a random Spanish word or vice versa it’s because you forgot the word but that involves a lot of blanking and being annoyed you can’t dig the simplest word out of you sub conscience lol

Example: “ you look, FUCK what’s the word! You know when you’re cansada…TIRED. You look tired”

Another commenter addition I’ll be adding is using “eh” as a filler instead of “um”. I use both but even in English I default to using “eh” or “ehmmmm”

The worst is when you don’t remember the word, only to have it appear in your subconscious hours later lol

Another fav filler word is “deste” which equates to another more Central American term “vaina” but a less refined way of saying it. Essentially they mean “thing” but that thing can be anything. It’s kinda a word when you’re to lazy to say the actual word.

“Pásame el deste”

*passes them x ítem

“No I meant the remote”

*trying not to kill the person because they could’ve said remote the whole time but chose not to

Sometimes we use bad Spanglish on purpose just to be funny

“Que sad” “Que cute”

* i personally love inserting the word cute into my vocab in Spanish just cuz so to each their own

Something I do is like say something in English and immediately say the exact same thing in Spanish. Or like I’ll say an exclamation in one language then end in the other.

“ GO GO GO, VÁMONOS APÚRATE”

“Que asco, gross”

“WOW, que bueno”

Also if you’re writing like couples tbh nicknames in Spanish would be reserved for when you’re speaking in Spanish and same for English, but each couple is different so if you rlly want to leave a nickname in Spanish in go for it. If you rlly want the endearment to be “ mi amor” please remember that after like the first or second time the Spanish speaker would probably just refer to their S/O as “ amor” or switch between the two.

Which brings me to the terms “mami/mamita” and “papi/papito”. Now, while they Can and are by some used in a sexual manner, they can also be used as general terms of endearment. My mom will sometimes call me mamita or my brother papito.

Amongst couples though it’s just kinda said, I saw someone describe it was you just give motherly energy so “mami” is said lol which I get oddly enough.

Once a couple is well established or just comfortable the woman can refer to her S/O as “ viejo” which is old man lol, but it’s like cute. On the flip side idk it’s typically seen as offensive when a man calls his S/O “vieja” but that depends on culture to culture.

Again mami and papi don’t have to be sexual but can be.

Another simple thing you can do is look up nicknames for certain names.

Examples:

“Mike” pronounced “Mique” for Miguel. Some people like to use “Mickey”, that gained popularity from an old Mexican singer lol.

“Ponchó” For Alfonso

“Ale” Can be used for Alejandro/Alexandra/Alejandra

Another thing I thought of is amongst siblings when referring to our parents we will say like

“Haz visto a mi mamá”

Which means have you seen “my mom” even though she’s both our mom… idk it’s weird but a nice little touch you could add to your writing lol

I get rlly annoyed reading bad Spanglish, sometimes it’s just painfully cringe and just obvious a non Spanish speaker wrote it, and I realize it’s bc most of y’all didnt grow up with it so like this is just what is typical Spanglish most Hispanic ppl grow up speaking, obviously not everyone speaks like this but figured I’d give tips from someone who actually speaks English and Spanish and switches between.

If I missed anything feel free to add on or if you disagree add examples

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

a new constellation in the southwestern sky

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/habD7dF by ShowMeAHero Breathless, Jon asks, “What… What was that?” “That’s sort of a loaded question,” Cecil replies. “What are any of us, really? It’s hard to explain people.” “But you’re not— You’re not a person,” Jon insists, incredulous. After a heartbeat, he realizes what he’s said; he’s quick to try to amend to, “I mean— Not— Not that you’re not a person, but—” “Not a human?” Cecil asks. Jon makes a broad sort of gesture with his hands, helpless. “Neither are you.” or: jon and cecil meet and share a drunk cig. Words: 5231, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Cecil Palmer, Martin Blackwood, Carlos Robles, Esteban (Welcome to Night Vale), Tabitha Blackwood-Sims, Original Child Character(s) Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Cecil Palmer/Carlos Robles, Cecil Palmer & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Additional Tags: Crossover, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon, Typical Night Vale Weirdness, Smoking, Drinking, Drunk Cigs, Established Relationship, Friendship, Developing Friendships, Crack Treated Seriously, Canon-Typical Nonsense (The Magnus Archives), One Shot read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/habD7dF

[ao3-tag-statistics]

3.8% of Welcome to Night Vale fics are tagged with "Tentacles"! For comparison, Venom is at 6.8%. Less than 0.1% of WTNV fics are tagged "Handcuffs," but 1.6% are tagged "Dom/sub" or some variant so I'm glad SOME of you caught that bit about the handcuffs in ep 166 "Delta."

Look how did you hear THIS

Oh, I also had Carlos bring a pair of handcuffs with him that he bought at –Target on his way to the station, and used them to shackle me to my desk.

said in such a suspicious tone of voice and not make Assumptions? I was expecting more fics about this! I'm not surprised at the amount of tentacle sex in here though, it seems quite plausible for Cecil to have Fun Non-Human Anatomy.

Shoutout to HOW MUCH GRATUITOUS SEX CAN WE PACK INTO 1000 WORDS by onesickmind for making me laugh out loud while skimming this list of fics. Summary was just "I'M GOING FOR HIGHEST SEX DENSITY HERE. A SEX ACT IN EVERY SENTENCE!".

7,445 Works in Welcome to Night Vale

7 come up in a search for "handcuffs" and 6 are tagged with Handcuffs

118 are tagged with "Dom/sum" or some variant on that

285 are tagged with "tentacles", mostly with Cecil having the tentacles

Fluff (1285)

Angst (575)

Typical Night Vale Weirdness (560)

Hurt/Comfort (369)

Crossover (315)

[apple-juice16]

Fanfics I found enjoyable. Like a lot. My personal favs.

Masterkey override or the one time when everyone realised that Lance was smart ClaraCivry (Kat_of_Dresden)

No Archive Warnings Apply, Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron)Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk (Voltron), Matt Holt, Coran (Voltron), Smart Lance, Surprised Team, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Awesome Pidge, Types of intelligence, Realisations, People appreciatng Lance, Fluff

Basically, Lance asks Pidge to teach him some technical stuff, and it turns out that he is more intelligent than any of them thought (including Lance himself). A smart Lance fic, for all your smart Lance needs, featuring awesome teacher Pidge and startstruck team.

Words: 1,323 - Chapters: 1/1

Monopoly was a bad idea - AuroraDownTheRabbitHole

No Archive Warnings Apply, Keith/Lance (Voltron), Allura/Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt, Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Keith & The Blade of Marmora, Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Kolivan (Voltron), Ulaz (Voltron), Thace (Voltron), Antok (Voltron), Swearing, Team as Family, Board Games, Monopoly (Board Game) - Freeform, Chaos, Domestic Fluff, Dads of Marmora (Voltron)

The blade of marmora members really shouldn't have let the paladins play Monopoly,you know what they say you only play board games with the people you want to break bonds with ............. this was a big mistake.

Words: 660 - Chapters: 1/1

An Eye for an Eye - DpsMercy

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Martin Blackwood & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James & Tim Stoker, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist & Tim Stoker, Michael | The Distortion & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Helen | The Distortion & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood, Sasha James, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus, Not Them (The Magnus Archives), Michael | The Distortion (The Magnus Archives), Helen | The Distortion (The Magnus Archives), Other Character Tags to Be Added, Jon is from Night Vale, Crack Treated Seriously, Friendship, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fix-It of Sorts, Jon becomes friends with most avatars, Spooky shenanigans, Jon is too chill to be scared, No beta we die like Gertrude's assistants, Typical Night Vale Weirdness, Typical Night Vale Violence, Canon-Typical Worms (The Magnus Archives), typical TMA horror

In which Jonathan Sims is not from the UK but instead, if you took his origins and turned them sideways twice then flipped them over, he technically would be from the US, the town of Night Vale specifically. Elias can’t do shit about it and gets a headache and slowly creeping madness instead. ***** On indefinite hiatus

Words: 15,555 - Chapters: 9/?

Welcome to...The Magnus Institute? - princeetheo

No Archive Warnings Apply, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Carlos/Cecil Palmer, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Elias Bouchard/Peter Lukas, Martin Blackwood, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Sasha James, Elias Bouchard, Peter Lukas, Rosie Zampano, Georgie Barker, Melanie King, Jessica Law (Fictionalized), Jordan Kennedy, Ben Below (fictionalized), Basira Hussain, Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil Palmer, Dana Cardinal, Steve Carlsberg, Janice (Welcome to Night Vale), Abby Palmer, Cecilos are Jon sims parents AAAA, Non-Human Cecil Palmer, Cecil Palmer is Described, Autistic Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Trans Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Awkward Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), jon sims and dana cardinal are childhood besties, steve carlsberg is the best uncle, Cecil Palmer's Fashion Sense, Dork Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), eye avatar cecil palmer, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, FUCK CANON !, we ball, no beta we die like danny stoker, Pining Martin Blackwood, The Mechanisms Were Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist's College | University Band, Autistic Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, He/Him and They/Them Pronouns for Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Trans Martin Blackwood

Carlos 'The Scientist' Sims and Cecil Palmer are Jonathan Sims parents, that's it. that's the fic.

Words: 2,325 - Chapters: 3/?

jonathan sims: part-time archivist, part-time wanted murderer, full-time bitch

ceruleancats

No Archive Warnings Apply, Jon & Several Cats, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Georgie Barker, Jude Perry, Michael "Mike" Crew, Basira Hussain, Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Elias Bouchard, Martin Blackwood, Humor, Comed, ya bit cracky, Based on a Tumblr Post, everyone thinks jon killed leitner and they revere him for it, Season 3, Season 3 AU, Canon Asexual Character, Asexual Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cats

Jon didn't kill Jurgen Leitner, but no matter how many times he tries to tell people that, they just don't seem to believe him! It's not all bad, though: while he is a wanted murderer on the run from the cops, Leitner was apparently so universally despised that Institute employees and Avatars alike are tripping over themselves to help him out. Now, he just has to figure out how to clear his name (though that's easier said than done).

Words: 17,189 - Chapters: 10/10

The White Wolf - JaskiersWolf

No Archive Warnings Apply, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Triss Merigold, Nenneke (The Witcher), Shapeshifting, Shapeshifter Jaskier | Dandelion, Wolf Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Non-Human Jaskier | Dandelion, Feral Jaskier | Dandelion, Established Relationship, Protective Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Protective Jaskier | Dandelion, Pack Cuddles, Sleepy Cuddles, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Mild Blood

Following an unfortunate encounter with a mage, Geralt gets cursed into a wolf. Jaskier and Geralt must travel the Continent in search of someone that can help them. - Can be read as a stand alone

Words: 6,018 - Chapters: 3/3

Five times Jaskier hid nothing from Geralt and one time the Witcher finally noticed the obvious

cucumber_of_doom

No Archive Warnings Apply, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier can talk to animals, Geralt is so dense he might collapse into a black hole at any moment, can be read as pre relationship, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia Cares About Jaskier | Dandelion, curses gone right, 5+1 Things

Jaskier has a special talent he never tried to hide from Geralt: He can understand and talk to animals. He never tried to hide this from Geralt, but our witcher is a bit dense.

Words: 6,747 - Chapters: 1/1

The Viscount - pukner

No Archive Warnings Apply, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Jaskier | Dandelion/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Jaskier | Dandelion, Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, Original Characters, Eskel (The Witcher), Essi Daven, Valdo Marx, 5+1 Things, POV Multiple, Human Jaskier | Dandelion, Jaskier | Dandelion Being a Feral Bastard, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia is So DoneIdentity Shenanigans, Trans Jaskier | Dandelion, Genderfluid Jaskier | Dandelion, we're spicing things up yk, canon-typical weird euphemisms, POV Outsider, update it has feelings now, and yennskierand geraskierand geraskifer, why is it getting long

"I can't imagine just telling people I'm from Lettenhove, though," the man says, a smile caught in his voice, "How do you do it?" "Can I tell you a secret?" asks Jaskier, tone taking on a conspiratory tilt. Then, in a whisper that is no quieter than his earlier speech, "I think it's funny." "Funny!" says the man, laughing. Funny, thinks Geralt, bemused. Lettenhove isn't actually a real place. But Jaskier is certainly the Viscount of it. (Or, five times Jaskier tells someone he's the Viscount of Lettenhove, and one time he tells the truth.)

Words: 14,584 - Chapters: 4/5

[kinaesthetiqueer]

the thing about loving nora so damn much is that i legally have to Make Her Go Through It. sometimes though, it feels so so so mean. however. i have to make my headcanons make sense from top to bottom.

so. per my headcanons on how her semblance works... once she was struck by lightning and her semblance unlocked, her passive ability unlocked too. rather than dissapating the tiny bits of electricity that her body naturally produces, like everyone else does, her body stores them. it's up to nora as to how she can deal with it.

before she gets a handle on it, she's a walking static producer. ever walked around in socks on carpet in the winter? she's like that, all the time. discharging whenever she touches anything that can conduct electricity. some of the less helpful instructors at tocsin (the vale combat school that my ren and nora attended from ages 13-17) force nora to wear rubber gloves when she's in class.

this, of course, doesn't actually help. she's still storing it up. nora copes by energizing herself with the excess electricity and just. Being Hyper. she always has been excitable but now she just bounces off the walls, because she doesn't know how else to spend the energy outside of combat.

ren doesn't know how to help her either. his semblance is strictly defensive/supportive. he has always been under intense stress to make sure he keeps it under control. they aren't on the streets anymore but nora feels compelled to make sure, should they ever end up there again, that she can pull more weight when it comes to keeping them safe.

if nora is worked up or stressed, she starts sparking. arcs of electricity come off her skin and they can hurt whoever gets close. it's a easy way to help her discharge, if you can get a grounded lightning rod close enough.

other lesser signs that she's not quite keeping it under wraps are, in order of increased severity: increased fidgeting/stimming (hilarious as a marker, as she's audhd af), static field as observed by her hair strands lifting up as if rubbed by a balloon, indigestion & nausea (too much energy messing with peristalsis); uncontrollable hiccups (excess electricity causing her diaphragm to spasm), and finally, the sparking.

these first two markers goes pretty much unnoticed by nora herself, though the rest of jnpr is pretty good at noticing when her hair starts going flyaway. ren can tell the difference between normal nora fidgets and too much energy! nora fidgets at a glance. when nora gets so bad that these side effects show, she tends to skip indigestion and nausea and go straight to hiccuping. rarely, like if she's in an argument with someone who doesn't know her well enough to point out her hair, she might reach the indigestion stage (for example, cordovin). however, hiccups come on fast when she's having a breakdown. they are her major sign that she needs to find some way to calm down and rein in her semblance.

she has two choices for doing so: sequestering it for later (a choice she makes when she's likely to be in combat soon) or discharging.

sequestering (storing) it requires her to rein in the electricity and sink it into her muscles. typically this means her thigh and butt muscles, as they are the largest. she creates a circuit of circulating electricity deep in her muscles and they slowly store the energy for later. (don't ask me about the biology here unless you want to be here all night; that is a promise, not a threat). she can also then use it to jump and leap. this is also why she skips so much!

storing/sequestering is what nora refers to as "sinking". it's not a term she really explains to anyone. in fact, she loathes explaining her semblance to people. firstly, no one expects her to understand how her semblance works, because she's hyper and bubbly and girly. secondly, people tend to get weirded out and wary of her when she explains, at least they did at tocsin. ren loves that she knows how both hers and his works.

she gets a lot of confidence and joy from it as jnpr works in private to train for the vytal festival, because jaune and pyrrha think her semblance is super cool. by the time vytal comes around, she's just stoked to be able to show off for the first time, since jaune decided they should keep it a secret until then.

on the other hand, discharging it is exactly what it seems. it's what she does when she doesn't need the extra energy or wants to be sure she's safe to touch others. she can discharge into the air (which causes a thunderclap of varying decibels, depending on how much electricity she discharges) or into the ground or to any grounded source. she can also do this offensively by throwing a bolt or striking something with precision.

after spending most of her time at tocsin wearing gloves, she keeps them in her beacon outfit, though fingerless, because she likes to comfort and the compression, but also she likes to know she's capable of safely touching people.

the mean thing that i was thinking of, which prompted this post, was nora being threatened with, and perhaps once subjected to, tocsin's cruelest 'therapy' which is to forcibly break a student's aura so that their semblance won't hurt anyone until they get it under control. which. may or may not have happened to her when she took a shower while charged, knocking out tocsin's campus water plant and electrocuting anyone who was also taking a shower at the same time. 🙃

anyways. i want to write a series of oneshots and drabbles that contains all my headcanons for the main kids' semblances and how they work and how they've adapted to them over time. im just a big sucker for logistics and after blake's semblance driving me batshit for months, i think it's what i deserve.

[kerink]

249 react

bold of cecil to talk about sunshine with lauren running amok

obviously its not time to talk about the weather yet kdjgdkh

mommy ^_^ 💕

oh good night vale is finally seeing The Light

THE BOYS GROWING UP?!

no knives 🙄 oh ^_^ 28 knives! that's our kevin!

god mother lauren wasnt just a title huh... thats his mommy...

i love that this episode really feels like a classic nigth vale episode, idk what it is about it. the music? the way cecils presenting it? the presentation of one weird thing after another?

MOST ACCURATE SIMILE HES SO FUNNY

carlos busy with his beakers as kevin approaches. typical

HES NOT SMILING OH MAN

oh hes piiiiissed

HIS BEAKERS

sad that carlos and kevin arent gonna hash it out 😔

god what theyre doing with tamika is so sucks

mmm idk how i feel about this episode. i guess since it's technically not over until next episode i'll reserve judgements

[despite-everything]

I came from your post about being a station manager and the call number for the radio station : welcome to night vale, and I was curious to what FFC guidelines Cecil has broken in your opinion. -Kai

This is such a cool question to receive. Overall, I’d say that Cecil isn’t doing badly in terms of FCC violations, but there are definitely some red flags. Some can be dismissed, however, due to typical Night Vale weirdness.

Station Identification

In order to be compliant with FCC standards, a terrestrial radio station must identify itself when signing on and off for the day (24-hour stations do not have to do this), and must broadcast identifications as close to the start of each hour of operation as possible. We could suggest that the station is 24-hour, or that Cecil broadcasts for less than an hour at a time, but neither of those things really solve the matter. If we interpret Cecil’s “goodnight” at the end of each episode as the station signing off for the night, then he should be identifying the station’s call letters, followed by “Night Vale”. He could also add the station’s channel number, frequency, the name of the licensee, or other communities it reaches (as long as the licensed community is listed first). Even if Cecil isn’t really the last thing being broadcast, we know that he has to be on air for hours at a time, and we never hear call letters. Plus, it’s generally standard practice for hosts to include identifying information during their show, even if it isn’t occurring exactly on the hour. I suppose you could also argue that while he’s on air for long stretches of time, there’s some time dilation in-universe or through the format of the podcast which gives us shorter episodes, and you could argue that in that “missing time” between what is lived in Night Vale and what we hear in the podcast there are instances of station identification, but I don’t buy it. 

2. Programming Inciting Imminent Lawless Action

This violates FCC regulations, but would be prosecuted by law enforcement agencies, rather than the FCC. Would it result in fines? I’m sure. But still. The government can regulate speech if it’s intended to incite what is considered to be “imminent lawless action” and likely to produce such action. “Kill your double”, people. Though this is Night Vale, and instances like that may not really be a lawful concern. But if we’re assuming the FCC has jurisdiction in Night Vale, so too does federal law, which outlaws murder (18 USC Ch. 51: Homicide).

3. News Distortion

Let’s be honest with ourselves here. Cecil frequently misrepresents the facts. Broadcast licensees are prohibited from intentionally distorting the news, which Cecil has been known to do. This is something that would require extensive documentation to pursue, but it would be doable. That being said, in Night Vale? Yeah. He’s fine. Cecil sometimes has to distort the news in order to appease The Powers That Be and keep himself safe, and he’s also a bitchy guy who will happily present falsehoods on air if need be. But if we’re taking this thought exercise seriously, I’d add this as a violation.

But other than those? I can’t think of any outright violations on the top of my head! Some things came to mind, but Cecil stayed within the legal exceptions. For example, it is not permissible to broadcast advertisements for or information surrounding lotteries except in special cases. One such exception is if the lottery is hosted by the same community/government to which the broadcasting license is assigned, meaning the Lottery in Night Vale, which is mandatory for all citizens and occurs at City Hall, is an event Cecil can broadcast about if the station license is assigned to Night Vale as a locality. The nature of the Night Vale Lottery might also prove to be an exemption, but still, I think it makes a good example for barely skating by the rules.

I’ll admit that I work at a station that has a pretty unique licensing status (once described to me as a “unicorn” scenario: we are a non-commercial station with licensing that nearly mimics a commercial station. It’s weird.), and some regulations that impact non-commercial stations like mine wouldn’t apply for Cecil’s station, so when I listen to the show I notice stuff that wouldn’t fly at my station, but is totally okay at his. Additionally, I may have missed some things! These were just what came to mind when replying, and the only thing I looked up was confirmation that murder was a federal crime (since I knew that it's only prosecuted as a federal crime in certain cases, I almost tripped myself up. But like. Duh.) lol.

I'd say the biggest issue for me (beyond not identifying the station) is the incitement of murder. Yes, this regulation requires that whatever incitement being broadcast must be likely to occur, but like... with the way Cecil functions on air? It counts. Look at what happened to Telly. He can make things happen, y'all, and even if he couldn't, him advocating murder on-air being followed by people committing murder would be pretty damning.

Thanks for asking!!

[eddysocs]

Introducing: Adyra Vale

Fandom: Supernatural

Face Claim: Ylva Bjørkås Thedin

Full Name: Adyra Cecily Vale

Nickname/Alias/Pet Names: Dyra

Age: 21

Myers Briggs Type: INFP

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Love Interest: Charlie Bradbury

Occupation: Hunter/Mechanic

Collections: Owls

Style/Clothing: Adyra loves her layers. She always has several on, and doesn’t mind shedding a layer to loan to a friend in need. She wears what most hunters seem to, flannels, jeans, boots, etc, but she always puts her own special flair into it with her frequently dyed hair and interchangeable septum rings.

Signature Quote: "With as many vampires as I’ve killed, you might as well call me Buffy."

Plot Summary: When the ghost of her father possesses his former power tools, mechanic Adyra is a little freaked out to put it lightly. A few bumps and bruises later and a lot of late night reading, she figures out how to be rid of his vengeful spirit all on her own. And while she may not be your typical hunter, she takes to the life quite well. When she ends up on the same case as hacker turned hunter, Charlie Bradbury, sparks fly and they find that their specific brands of weird mesh together well.

Forever Tag: @arrthurpendragon, @borg-queer, @foxesandmagic, @carmens-garden, @chickensarentcheap, @endless-oc-creations, @unheolycs-ocs, @fawera, @themaradaniels

[cyberpawn]

🎄 CHRISTMAS TREE — what is your oc's favorite holiday?

💔 BROKEN HEART — what are three of your oc's negative traits?

🥯 BAGEL — what does your oc's typical breakfast look like? do they usually eat breakfast?

Details about OCs

🎄

I would say that Vale's favorite holiday is...Christmas! Which, I know, seems weird given the fact that Vale is such a huge fan of monsters! But as we know, Vale isn't your average, every day person! Some of their favorite parts about Christmas are Santa's vigilante behaviors (breaking and entering to deliver toys), ghosts making rich assholes face adequate punishment (Christmas Carol), and of course...TOYS! It's also a time of year where acts of kindness happen, so Vale appreciates seeing joy in Night City!

💔

Vale is impulsive, stubborn, and has a very hard time asking for help. They don't think first before acting or speaking, and it gets them in plenty of trouble, just because they're shooting from the hip and saying whatever with no filter!

Their stubbornness shows up a lot when they are discussing their thoughts on police and corpos and governments and such, when they don't understand why people aren't willing to stand up to their bosses, when people are complicit, when people uphold a broken system. They get stubborn and frustrated, which then leads to that impulsive speaking.

Finally, Vale doesn't ask for help a lot because they hate feeling like a burden. They feel like if they're a burden, they're going to get thrown away and abandoned. They won't ask for help when they need it, which usually leads into them getting in worse trouble or getting hurt, and then people are upset because Vale got hurt.

🥯

Vale is a get up and go kind of person once they're up in the morning, or whenever they've woken up! They'll forage through their food supply, normally settling either on reheating some leftovers, or just having a bowl of cereal. They like sweet, sugary cereals, like Lucky Charms! But knowing Cyberpunk, Vale's favorite cereal probably has little marshmallows in it that look like hazmat symbols or dinosaurs.

[itsybitsylemonsqueezy]

Really depends what kind of narrative you're interested in. There's actually a lot of options these days!

Welcome to Night Vale has a fun, weird vibe that occasionally dives into horror, the supernatural, political commentary, and heartfelt messages about the nature of humanity. Narrative arcs are very fulfilling and you'll know right away if it works for you or not. Much of the series is locked to Cecil, especially in the early seasons, we occasionally branch out to new narrators later in. But broadly, if you don't like Cecil, you won't like the show. Strongly recommend trying the first episode and if it's not hitting you right, try the next thing.

There's a lot of horror lovers out there who will sing the praises of The Magnus Archives. While it's a bit of a gateway drug to horror, it's not my favorite tbh. So I'm going to make a pitch for Old Gods of Appalachia. If you're from the United States, I think this podcast is a must listen. If you're not from the US, I think it's still great, you just may not enjoy it as much. The Old Gods of Appalachia is horror, yes, but it's also fairy tale and myth, it's historical fiction, it's an examination of some of the most tragic and ugly roots of US culture. There are some pretty rough descriptions here, a lot of nasty looking monsters and violence, I won't lie. But it has powerful, fulfilling narrative arcs and if you're at all interested in magic, there's a pretty compelling magic system here. I have a personal fascination with some of these foundational stories, reworked in this eldritch setting. I think it's doing great work, but some of the bloodier chapters are not for everyone, that must be admitted. I'd try the first season to see if it works for you. The first couple of episodes set up a pitched overplot that surfaces from time to time as more linear plots take up season arcs. I do recommend, even if horror is not typically your bag.

Also gotta give a shout out to Malevolent, if you're a horror lover. Malevolent is loosely based on The King in Yellow by R. W. Chambers, but so much more than that. I can't say very much without spoiling, but if you like your stories dark and twisted, look no further. Also, it's voiced almost exclusively by one guy, did I mention that? Harlan Guthrie is a powerhouse if you want to see some excellent voice acting.

Moving on to lighter fare, the Amelia Project has recently become a love of mine. Boisterous, delightful, funny, it's about a death-faking company whose clients will never be as bizarre as the staff. It's really funny, especially in the first few seasons which are mostly self-contained episodes, sort monster of the week except it's a client with a dumb problem that our eccentric Interviewer must solve. There's cocoa, champagne, and a much longer story than you probably expect. There's eventually a turn as world governments begin to investigate our little gang of criminals and our stories, while still about death-faking, become ever more about the people who perform these services. There's a lot of meditation on what it means to die, what it means to live. I'd say if you like parts of Doctor Who, up to you what that means, or if Night Vale was working for you, then this will probably be your jam. Much like with Night Vale, try the first episode and you'll probably know right away whether this works for you or not. Oh, and for reference, the deaths are never cruel or grisly, this is a comedy; the more unlikely and ridiculous the disappearance, the better.

Those are my favorite currently producing shows. I'm also a big fan of Within the Wires, Stellar Firma, and It Makes a Sound but there's no new episodes for those and there's unlikely to be any for awhile, if ever. But it can be nice to experience something that's over.

Within the Wires is a woman-centric story about an alternative 20th century. It even has a novel end cap, You Feel It Just Below The Ribs, that hits like a hammer blow. Each season is a discrete story which can give you a chance to sample 1 or 2 to see if it's something you like. I recommend starting with season 1, it's still my favorite, but after that you could kinda listen to any season you liked.

Stellar Firma is... a disaster. The Brothers Meredith, of Magnus Archives and Rusty Quill fame, put together a screwball comedy about a planet terraforming service in the distant future starring Trexel Geistman an extremely entitled idiot whose parents never loved him and his long-suffering clone servant David 7 who does his best to keep the whole place from burning down in one of Trexel's tantrums. It's fantastically funny and largely improvised except for general plot threads.

It Makes a Sound is about living with dementia, losing your mother, your identity, your sense of the world and the struggling connections that make all of it bearable. It's about being willing to see the beauty, even if it's cringe, even if you look like a dork and feel like a dork. The music, and there is much music, is excellent and the story is heartfelt. There are no spooky monsters or wacky hijinks, just a lot of people doing their best. I have cried listening to this and I will again. It's a sweet, funny, sad story and it makes me feel very, very alive.

So there's a lot of different flavors out there. Eventually you'll find yours. Happy listening!

So I now have a >1hr commute 3-4x a week. I need narrative podcasts and I know nothing about podcasts.

I'm considering getting into WTNV? I guess? It's literally the only one I know of with a narrative.

Suggestions????

[nightvales-resident-fox]

Tags under the cut.

Relationships:

Cecil Palmer/Carlos Robles

Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)

Characters:

Cecil Palmer

Carlos Robles

Carlos' Family (Welcome to Night Vale)

A Vague Yet Menacing Government Agency (Welcome to Night Vale)

Strexcorp Synernists Inc.

Additional Tags:

Tags Contain Spoilers

Angst with a Happy Ending

There is a light at the end of the tunnel

cecilos - Freeform

Cecilos but I break them up first

Cecil is human-ish

POV Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale)

Canon Related

Other Additional Tags to Be Added

Canon-Typical Violence

Typical Night Vale Weirdness

Typical Night Vale Violence

[alexilulu]

Books I Read In 2024 #3: The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home (A Welcome to Night Vale Novel) (Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor, Harper Perennial, 2020)

Synopsis: A standalone novel set in the same universe as the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, the novel is a second person narrative of the eponymous Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home, detailing her life from the 1800s as a scion of a small merchant smuggler to a life of crime across Europe, charting her unlikely life and the circumstances that have caused her to live in your (and everyone else's) home.

I quite like Night Vale, in and of itself. Over the years it's been an off-again on-again enjoyment; I haven't listened to the podcast itself since...2016? 2017? Somewhere around the mayoral race, I think, not out of any particular distaste, but one of those things that happens where you get a new phone and make the swap from iphone to android or vice versa and forget some thing or another. I forgot about a few podcasts, and let it go.

But I own every Night Vale novel, both Welcome to Night Vale and It Devours! are on the shelf next to Faceless Old Woman and were novels I enjoyed greatly when I bought them (how many years ago, now? 2015 and 2017? Christ) and I'm a massive fan of Joseph Fink's Alice Isn't Dead. One of the novels that clings to my head to this day, that i think about all the time.

I think the thing about Night Vale is that it tugs at a fundamental string of American arcana, something the average American would feel absurd naming, which is the absurd nature of the United States. Night Vale takes as its absurdist starting point omnipresent government oversight, the idea of a police fundamentally at odds with the people they are sworn (or not, these days) to protect, and then says 'this is faintly funny, but what if I made it hilarious?'

And it is. It's a comedy horror property that's done quite well for itself, relatively speaking. Night Vale Presents is (as of when this book was published) hosting 14 other podcasts on their network by creators the original Night Vale crew stands behind. That's pretty damn good, to be honest.

I've spent a lot of time talking about the broader strokes of the milieu surrounding it, but not a lot about the book. This is not a statement against the novel, but mostly just me organizing my thoughts.

Faceless Old Woman is only a Night Vale story only in the way it ends.

This is 100% to it's benefit.

The novel leaps back and forth in time; between the more typical setting of the Faceless Old Woman doing the same or similar routine as she has on the show, detailing the strange, grotesque and invasive things she has done to her current victim, while talking to you, directly, about her love for you and why she does it. It's good patter, and the voice in the novels is pitch-perfect, for obvious reasons (I'm fairly certain the audiobook, which I did not listen to, is narrated by Mara Wilson, who is phenomenal), but the meat of it is the recounting of her life to you, the reader.

The prose is sharp in a way that is absolutely honed by years of scriptwriting on both of their parts. This book clocks in at 267-ish pages and I fairly flew through it, both out of a desire to see the ending but also the sheer speed with which it moves. Chapters are short, abrupt in the way that you would want a scene to end. I can picture the visual media adaptation of this fairly easily, oftentimes punctuated by long travelogues (indiana jones-style, because I am unimaginative) of movement across Europe that crash back down to the character level quickly.

It's not incisive, in that it's a fairly straightforward book with little to hide from you. It's flourishes are in imagery and savor, thinking about the things that are presented to you and the agony or joy that would accompany them. It's a bit like biting into an orange, or a lemon. Sweet, then that crush of sour that follows to complement it perfectly.

The Night Vale weirdness is not necessarily minimal, so much as not the focus. The Faceless Old Woman lived a life that passes by such things in a singular pursuit, seeing them and passing them by until they come into abrupt collision with them. The novel is much more about creating the vibes that would accompany a story in the 1800s; romance, loss, revenge, the sweetness of camaraderie and the utter cloying bitterness that accompanies its loss. Finding a way to live and choosing it above all else.

It's a perfectly good novel. I don't know if it will stick with me the way that Alice Isn't Dead did, but it's a great read if you're a fan or just looking for a classical revenge story.

[ao3feed-jonmartin]

a new constellation in the southwestern sky

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/HtMQDNr by ShowMeAHero Breathless, Jon asks, “What… What was that?” “That’s sort of a loaded question,” Cecil replies. “What are any of us, really? It’s hard to explain people.” “But you’re not— You’re not a person,” Jon insists, incredulous. After a heartbeat, he realizes what he’s said; he’s quick to try to amend to, “I mean— Not— Not that you’re not a person, but—” “Not a human?” Cecil asks. Jon makes a broad sort of gesture with his hands, helpless. “Neither are you.” or: jon and cecil meet and share a drunk cig. Words: 5231, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Cecil Palmer, Martin Blackwood, Carlos Robles, Esteban (Welcome to Night Vale), Tabitha Blackwood-Sims, Original Child Character(s) Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Cecil Palmer/Carlos Robles, Cecil Palmer & Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Additional Tags: Crossover, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon, Typical Night Vale Weirdness, Smoking, Drinking, Drunk Cigs, Established Relationship, Friendship, Developing Friendships, Crack Treated Seriously, Canon-Typical Nonsense (The Magnus Archives), One Shot read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/HtMQDNr

[astrologista]

just thinkin bout modern media and things (click for essay)

so the real problem with everything is that media used to be generally segmented by targeted age ranges? like, there was separate media for babies than there was for children and adolescents and separate content that was targeted at adults. but that didnt mean that targeted demographics had to absolutely necessarily stay within the ranges of media that was targeted at them. it was just nice to have more segmented categories of media that could be appropriate for little children while still being decently interesting and exciting (i.e., adventures of winnie the pooh, arthur, dragon tales, cyberchase etc.) and 8-14 bracket media that had more depth and character arcs (i.e., justice league, batman the animated series, animes like fullmetal alchemist etc) and then more adult shows like the adult swim lineup that could get away with more crap past the radar.

the reasons for this were multiple, including the typical capitalist reasons of it's easier to target merchandise at groups when you split people up by age, and it makes the moral guardians happier to have something to regulate when it comes to making things "safer" for certain age groups as well. all of these reasons can have problematic implications, such as lgbtq+ censorship, cartoons for the sole purpose of selling toys, poor quality of writing and flanderization over time, etc. which we were dealing with throughout the 2000s. the ability of web content creators to make things like homestuck and welcome to night vale and undertale without the intervention of editors and marketers and regulators has been amazing, especially for brand new forms of creative content that have never before been seen, and also bringing creators closer to fans. fans also now have unprecedented abilities in steering storylines and affecting the trajectory of media. but the dark side to this is something that i think requires much more introspection and discussion. you can have fandoms like the voltron fandom that come out of this and actually threaten real creators in real life on social media, which is really bad. you can have problems associated with the increasing push for monetization of content, which brings us back to the problems of the 2000s all over again (the more businesspeople you involve with media, the sour-er things get over time). it's just too many cooks. the golden age of the freedom of web content without forced monetization was far, far too short.

i tried watching a tiktok that got posted to my twitter feed today and like. what the fuck. i have not seen that many tiktoks, but i swear to god i cannot understand the target demographics of tiktok in general. tiktok is an app that seems to show you a neverending stream of content sludge (now generated by ai!). the content ranges from gross to just plain insulting. theres this weird trend on some tiktok videos when showing off an object or item to like... do this weird little dance to show it off? kind of reminds me of when you're jingling keys in a baby's face? it's like a very weird little dance but everybody seems to do it... it's quite cringe, made me uncomfy lol

but anyway it just... seemed to me like doing cute dance moves like that, showing shiny objects or slime or whatever it is, seems to be the kind of content that aims to gain the visual attention of like, little kids or babies or something. but then you go to the next video and it's like, something veeery sexual or violent or just otherwise totally inappropriate. additionally, it's largely mindless content. there are no lessons to be learned from it, if anything it actively rots your brain cells. is this what our parents thought tv was like?? holy shit. i could never understand why television was called "the idiot box" because you could learn things on tv. there was a lot of different and good content on tv. but all content on tiktok is the same. because the popularity of content gets ranked and rewarded by an algorithm. it's sad and sickly ironic that there is less variety and quality in user-generated content now than there has ever been, and it's all because of monetization. the web should be the ultimate free platform to create and distribute whatever you want, it shouldn't be this monotonic sludge of content that is most definitely inappropriate for little children, so for fuck's sake stop targeting it at them with shiny objects, and incredibly boring and repetitive to many adults, so how about make it more interesting and diverse. i read this article the other day about how blippi, the youtube equivalent of barney, never features any actual people on his show. he plays with toys and explains how machines work and makes up shitty songs about them, but he never goes the mr rogers route of talking about feelings or meeting with kids from diverse backgrounds or dealing with topics like loss or grief or fear or anger or love in a way that children can understand. there's a fear to be genuine there, because the more these topics are discussed in children's media, the more adults DON'T want them discussed with their children. their reasoning being "they're not old enough, it will scare them, they can't handle it." don't you think it'll scare them more when they grow up emotionally stunted and unable to understand even the most basic of their own emotions?

it seems now more than ever, trying new or different ideas with media is just an invitation to be called "cringe" and have brigading youtubers after you to use you for "content" in their fun little 3 hour critical essay videos. anything sentimental that dares to ask its audience to actually feel something like genuine joy or sadness or excitement is mocked - not postmodern enough for you, i see. anything cool or new or fun just gets ignored or shut down. it's wrong. it sucks. why are we still putting up with this? why is it just okay?

[why-are-there-always-eyes]

Welcome to Night Vale

Welcome to night vale starting in 2012 and is offen considered the start of the genre. It is set in a desert town, where weird things are common place and conspiracy theory are true. It has elements of comedy, satire, and the supernatural. It has many different lgbt+ characters including the main narrator, and is from the very beginning. The episodes are typically 20-30 minutes in length and as of today there are 225. The show is presented as being a radio broadcast. Fans so shows such as Uncanny County, The Magnus Archives, or King Falls AM may like this show.