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epic_recs2014-02-01 11:58 pm
sheepnamedpig.livejournal.com) wrote in epic_recs2014-02-01 11:58 pm
She said, watch with all your eyes by whitedatura (NC-17)
Title: She said, watch with all your eyes
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Pairing: Carlos/Cecil Palmer
Categories/Genres: Voyeurism, Pining, Romance, Fluff
Length: Long (17556 words)
Warnings: Stalking, of a sort. (As a fringe benefit of Cecil's 'omniscience')
Author/Artist on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
whitedatura
Author/Artist Website: whitedatura
Summary:
Cecil has eyes everywhere in Night Vale. Literally. (Or: an exploration of Cecil's occasional omniscience.)
The decision to keep a close eye on the new addition to Night Vale's scientific community had everything to do with Cecil's professional integrity as a journalist and nothing to do with Carlos's perfect hair or his beautiful lab coat or the strong, capable hand that Cecil was currently shaking.
Review:
For those of you not familiar with the Welcome to Night Vale fandom, there's a popular trend of portraying Cecil with a third eye to represent the peculiar omniscience he seems to use from time to time when describing this event or that. She said, watch with all your eyes is a textual portrayal of roughly the same thing, extra eyes drifting about and informing Cecil's news reports. (And also enabling his stalking of a certain perfect scientist.)
The story follows the canonical timeline, from that first day when a new stranger with perfect hair and a perfect lab coat comes to a very scientifically interesting town, up through the slow but steady development of their relationship. Told from Cecil's point of view, (all of his points of view), the reader gets to see the side of Cecil that isn't just the ephemeral twenty-minute radio segment, but the awkward, pining man that frets and worries and watches from not quite as afar as you'd think.
It's a very charming story, in that way that all things Night Vale are. That is to say, charming on the surface, and disconcerting everywhere else. Through clever use of poignant detail and casual omission, whitedatura has managed to capture that Night Valean je ne sais quoi that thrills and comforts and makes all the fine hairs on one's nape stand on end while contributing to the already vibrant richness of the canon. The use (and misuse) of Cecil's Eyes is played out with such excellence it almost seems insulting that it's not actually a feature of canon.
Also enthralling are those small glimpses of Carlos' character that the reader can occasionally make out through the heavily tinted lens of Cecil's perception. In fact, my only qualm with the story is that there aren't more of these little peeks as Cecil slowly comes into the knowledge that his 'perfect' scientist is not so perfect at all. But for all that those brief glimpses are rare, the reader still gets a sense of Carlos as the hesitant, socially awkward scientist who comes to care just as strongly for Cecil as Cecil does for him.
And the smutty coda Recurrence is pretty fun, too.
She said, watch with all your eyes
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Pairing: Carlos/Cecil Palmer
Categories/Genres: Voyeurism, Pining, Romance, Fluff
Length: Long (17556 words)
Warnings: Stalking, of a sort. (As a fringe benefit of Cecil's 'omniscience')
Author/Artist on LJ:
whitedatura Author/Artist Website: whitedatura
Summary:
Cecil has eyes everywhere in Night Vale. Literally. (Or: an exploration of Cecil's occasional omniscience.)
The decision to keep a close eye on the new addition to Night Vale's scientific community had everything to do with Cecil's professional integrity as a journalist and nothing to do with Carlos's perfect hair or his beautiful lab coat or the strong, capable hand that Cecil was currently shaking.
Review:
For those of you not familiar with the Welcome to Night Vale fandom, there's a popular trend of portraying Cecil with a third eye to represent the peculiar omniscience he seems to use from time to time when describing this event or that. She said, watch with all your eyes is a textual portrayal of roughly the same thing, extra eyes drifting about and informing Cecil's news reports. (And also enabling his stalking of a certain perfect scientist.)
The story follows the canonical timeline, from that first day when a new stranger with perfect hair and a perfect lab coat comes to a very scientifically interesting town, up through the slow but steady development of their relationship. Told from Cecil's point of view, (all of his points of view), the reader gets to see the side of Cecil that isn't just the ephemeral twenty-minute radio segment, but the awkward, pining man that frets and worries and watches from not quite as afar as you'd think.
It's a very charming story, in that way that all things Night Vale are. That is to say, charming on the surface, and disconcerting everywhere else. Through clever use of poignant detail and casual omission, whitedatura has managed to capture that Night Valean je ne sais quoi that thrills and comforts and makes all the fine hairs on one's nape stand on end while contributing to the already vibrant richness of the canon. The use (and misuse) of Cecil's Eyes is played out with such excellence it almost seems insulting that it's not actually a feature of canon.
Also enthralling are those small glimpses of Carlos' character that the reader can occasionally make out through the heavily tinted lens of Cecil's perception. In fact, my only qualm with the story is that there aren't more of these little peeks as Cecil slowly comes into the knowledge that his 'perfect' scientist is not so perfect at all. But for all that those brief glimpses are rare, the reader still gets a sense of Carlos as the hesitant, socially awkward scientist who comes to care just as strongly for Cecil as Cecil does for him.
And the smutty coda Recurrence is pretty fun, too.
She said, watch with all your eyes
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