don't trust the air you breathe by DevilishKurumi (PG-13)
Title: don't trust the air you breathe
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Horror, Friendship,
Length: Medium (6884 words)
Warnings: Implied violence and possible torture
Author/Artist on LJ: devilishkurumi
Author/Artist Website: DevilishKurumi
Summary:
Set just before "Station Management" - Carlos receives a warm welcome from the Sheriff's Secret Police, which isn't so much warm as it is painful, and Cecil comes to his rescue, which isn't so much a rescue as it is an exercise in string-pulling.
Review:
More often than not, when I rec fics for Welcome to Night Vale, I dither over the Categories/Genre section, tempted to add 'Horror'. More often than not, I decide not to. This isn't because the Night Vale verse isn't a horrifying place to be. Oh, far from it. But its format, the Lovecraftian parody of the quaint little local news radio station, transforms what might be a genuinely horrific experience (if explored through, say, a more visual media) into a pleasant little aural jaunt. The unquestionably violent quotidian is condensed and explained and swaddled in Cecil Palmer's soothing voice until even the most violent deaths become peculiarly bloodless and almost, dare I say it, cute.
don't trust the air you breathe is the exact opposite. In DevilishKurumi's Night Vale, wounds hurt and bleed, death treads ever on your heels, and safety comes for an occasionally steep price. This the Night Vale we won't let ourselves see, and experiencing it is more visceral for our willful ignorance than it might otherwise be. This is the Night Vale where you follow the rules, or else.
don't trust the air you breathe
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Pairing: Gen
Categories/Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Horror, Friendship,
Length: Medium (6884 words)
Warnings: Implied violence and possible torture
Author/Artist on LJ: devilishkurumi
Author/Artist Website: DevilishKurumi
Summary:
Set just before "Station Management" - Carlos receives a warm welcome from the Sheriff's Secret Police, which isn't so much warm as it is painful, and Cecil comes to his rescue, which isn't so much a rescue as it is an exercise in string-pulling.
Review:
More often than not, when I rec fics for Welcome to Night Vale, I dither over the Categories/Genre section, tempted to add 'Horror'. More often than not, I decide not to. This isn't because the Night Vale verse isn't a horrifying place to be. Oh, far from it. But its format, the Lovecraftian parody of the quaint little local news radio station, transforms what might be a genuinely horrific experience (if explored through, say, a more visual media) into a pleasant little aural jaunt. The unquestionably violent quotidian is condensed and explained and swaddled in Cecil Palmer's soothing voice until even the most violent deaths become peculiarly bloodless and almost, dare I say it, cute.
don't trust the air you breathe is the exact opposite. In DevilishKurumi's Night Vale, wounds hurt and bleed, death treads ever on your heels, and safety comes for an occasionally steep price. This the Night Vale we won't let ourselves see, and experiencing it is more visceral for our willful ignorance than it might otherwise be. This is the Night Vale where you follow the rules, or else.
don't trust the air you breathe