Pick-a-date meme: Welcome to Night Vale recs
This is 
chagrined's request: Recs for some fanworks you have loved despite not knowing the source material at all
I have not listened to any of the Welcome to Night Vale podcasts, and at this point I don't want to because I enjoy the fanon just fine, and I don't want the canon to displace the images I have of the characters and their settings.
Since the way to my heart is through my eyeballs, it's no surprise that it was the fanart for Welcome to Night Vale that initially drew me to the fandom. A couple of the people that I follow on Tumblr were hot and heavy into WtNV a few months ago, and I was introduced to the art through them. I love how the fandom developed its own aesthetic shortcuts so swiftly, and how people built on the visuals of the artists who preceded them. It was fascinating to observe how artists translated an oral source into a visual medium. Welcome to Night Vale is weird, it's creepy, and it features a canon queer couple as the main pairing. What's not to like?
Some art I've enjoyed:
Turn on your radio and hide
Starry Night Vale
Good Night
Mysterious Hooded Figures
All hail to the glow cloud
Cecil at the mike
Carlos
Cecil and Carlos
Carlos gets a haircut
Night Vale before Christmas
Night Vale's Christmas tree
Once my interest had been piqued with the art, I decided to read some of the fic that showed up on Pinboard. I haven't read a lot, but here are some that I enjoyed:
The Rat and the Ruby Slippers (7119 words) by indigostohelit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale)
Characters: Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Kevin (Welcome to Night Vale), Vanessa (Welcome to Night Vale)
Additional Tags: Mind Control, Dreams, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Weddings, Headaches & Migraines, Conspiracy
Summary:
Carlos is having the strangest dreams, and the strangest headaches, like there's something he's supposed to be remembering. Not to mention the intern's wedding coming up, and that new chemical StrexCorp wants him to develop. It's going to be a busy week.
(nothing) could be better (4954 words) by novembersmith
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale)
Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale)
Additional Tags: First Time, Fluff, Tentacles, Nonhuman Form
Series: Part 1 of tentacles in fortunate places
Summary:
Carlos had thought, with a not inconsiderable amount of pride, that he was no longer surprised by the strangeness that Night Vale had to throw at him. In fact, he was more often surprised by the rare normal events than the reverse. Which completely invalidated the words ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal,’ but anyway-
Tentacles. One of the nice bits of fanon about Cecil.
Recruitment Practices (2674 words) by thingswithwings
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale, Community (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Troy Barnes/Annie Edison/Abed Nadir
Characters: Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Troy Barnes, Annie Edison, Abed Nadir
Additional Tags: job interview, bloodstone circles, Sentient Animate Resources, Poly, canon-typical weirdness
Summary:
Cecil interviews Annie, Abed, and Troy for positions with Night Vale Public Radio. Minor bloodletting, mentions of zombie gladiators.
The Community gang would totally roll with the Night Vale weirdness.
Mild Parental Concern (4373 words) by iamalsohere
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Hooded Figure(s), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale)
Additional Tags: Attempt at Humor
Series: Part 1 of Hooded Familial Figures
Summary:
In the middle of Night Vale there is a Dog Park which it is forbidden to enter. In the middle of the dog park there is a gazebo which is even more forbidden to enter. And in the middle of the gazebo stand five hooded figures who are currently talking in a strange static-like language about the one thing that concerns them: their eldest son, Cecil.
chagrined's request: Recs for some fanworks you have loved despite not knowing the source material at all
I have not listened to any of the Welcome to Night Vale podcasts, and at this point I don't want to because I enjoy the fanon just fine, and I don't want the canon to displace the images I have of the characters and their settings.
Since the way to my heart is through my eyeballs, it's no surprise that it was the fanart for Welcome to Night Vale that initially drew me to the fandom. A couple of the people that I follow on Tumblr were hot and heavy into WtNV a few months ago, and I was introduced to the art through them. I love how the fandom developed its own aesthetic shortcuts so swiftly, and how people built on the visuals of the artists who preceded them. It was fascinating to observe how artists translated an oral source into a visual medium. Welcome to Night Vale is weird, it's creepy, and it features a canon queer couple as the main pairing. What's not to like?
Some art I've enjoyed:
Turn on your radio and hide
Starry Night Vale
Good Night
Mysterious Hooded Figures
All hail to the glow cloud
Cecil at the mike
Carlos
Cecil and Carlos
Carlos gets a haircut
Night Vale before Christmas
Night Vale's Christmas tree
Once my interest had been piqued with the art, I decided to read some of the fic that showed up on Pinboard. I haven't read a lot, but here are some that I enjoyed:
The Rat and the Ruby Slippers (7119 words) by indigostohelit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale)
Characters: Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Kevin (Welcome to Night Vale), Vanessa (Welcome to Night Vale)
Additional Tags: Mind Control, Dreams, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Weddings, Headaches & Migraines, Conspiracy
Summary:
Carlos is having the strangest dreams, and the strangest headaches, like there's something he's supposed to be remembering. Not to mention the intern's wedding coming up, and that new chemical StrexCorp wants him to develop. It's going to be a busy week.
(nothing) could be better (4954 words) by novembersmith
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale)
Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale)
Additional Tags: First Time, Fluff, Tentacles, Nonhuman Form
Series: Part 1 of tentacles in fortunate places
Summary:
Carlos had thought, with a not inconsiderable amount of pride, that he was no longer surprised by the strangeness that Night Vale had to throw at him. In fact, he was more often surprised by the rare normal events than the reverse. Which completely invalidated the words ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal,’ but anyway-
Tentacles. One of the nice bits of fanon about Cecil.
Recruitment Practices (2674 words) by thingswithwings
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale, Community (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Troy Barnes/Annie Edison/Abed Nadir
Characters: Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Troy Barnes, Annie Edison, Abed Nadir
Additional Tags: job interview, bloodstone circles, Sentient Animate Resources, Poly, canon-typical weirdness
Summary:
Cecil interviews Annie, Abed, and Troy for positions with Night Vale Public Radio. Minor bloodletting, mentions of zombie gladiators.
The Community gang would totally roll with the Night Vale weirdness.
Mild Parental Concern (4373 words) by iamalsohere
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Hooded Figure(s), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale)
Additional Tags: Attempt at Humor
Series: Part 1 of Hooded Familial Figures
Summary:
In the middle of Night Vale there is a Dog Park which it is forbidden to enter. In the middle of the dog park there is a gazebo which is even more forbidden to enter. And in the middle of the gazebo stand five hooded figures who are currently talking in a strange static-like language about the one thing that concerns them: their eldest son, Cecil.