#that cecil can etc etc

[luminarai]

shitty: damn autocorrect

jack: shits, this is a verbal conversation

shitty: so?? now do we need to talk about self-defeating versus self-deprecating humor again or what

[quatregats]

Every time I have to use the canon-consistent name for places in the Iberian peninsula which are not the official name I lose ten years off my life

[jup1tersparx]

making bears is fun bc if i do it for too long i start to develop symptoms of a fever <3

[readymades2002]

tumblr sexyman is not an archetype or a type of character at all it is a phenomenon. you can’t just call any character a tumblr sexyman you can’t just fill out a checklist and WOW its a new one how fun! its not something that you make its something that happens

[mudstoneabyss]

what draws charles and cecil to each other?

three million years late answers this. while I think part of what drew Carlos and Cecil together was their passion for their work, for Charles and Cecil its their passion for their family. they're both very family oriented people and are very endeared by that trait in the other. I also think Charles is fascinated by Night Vale religion (both as in stuff with bloodstone and/or Huntokar and as in the specific way other religions are done in Night Vale) and Cecil's more than happy to talk about his towns culture

[vamptastic]

always imagined cecil as being an unnervingly normal looking guy in the most fucked up clothing imaginable. think its fun if hes got an incredibly average appearance to the point that its unsettling. though i guess there are a couple other characters who take up the 'could be any person you see on the street, appearance can't be placed or remembered clearly' niche already.

[desert-bluffs-and-me]

Every day I lament that the official site for WTNV says you can listen 'in any order'. I don't know about you, but there's several things I can think of that only get the correct emotional impact if you actually listen to the show in order. Cecil and Carlos' relationship, Cecil and Steve's relationship, characters that wind up dead or almost dead, Dana's arc, Kevin's arc etc etc. Sure there's stand alone episodes you can listen to, but I'll always say 'nevermind what the site says, start at pilot and just keep going as/when you can, you won't regret it!'.

[norrisleclercf1]

Broken Hearts and Duct Tape

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x Reader x Lando Norris

Part 7 of Our Boy Series

Rating: PG-13

Words: 2.3K

Warnings: Angst, Anxiety, Therapy, Slight fluff, etc.

Our Boy Series / Previous: Letter 1 / Next: Letter 2

Synopsis: When a current fight brings up the memories of an old fight, Lando and Charles remember a dark time in their relationship

It's the quiet mornings that have Charles's skin crawling. He's not used to it. The silence currently filling his home is not his true home, though. If you asked him 10, maybe 15 years ago, he'd say home was Monaco and Italy. Now? It's where ever his family is. Home is where Cecile and Elijah fight and wreak havoc. It's where he can find you curled up reading or Lando outside in the garage working on his cars. 

This wasn't his home. It's far too quiet. He hated it. Charles wanted nothing more than to whip his mug at a wall and scream his anger, but he couldn't. "Did you get any sleep?" Charles's back goes rigid. Lando has not spoken to him since he kicked you out of the Monaco home. "Yeah, Elijah curled into me last night." His voice muffled by the mug. "Cecile finally fell asleep," Lando murmured, leaning against the island, far from Charles. 

"Okay, let's get this over with." Charles slams his mug down, a small crack forming at the bottom. "You're pissed I kicked her out." Lando looks up, his curls still there but slightly lined with age. They were standing in the same kitchen, the exact spots they did 10 years ago. But this time, it was Charles on the other end. "Of course I am," Lando hisses, pushing off the counter. "You kicked our fucking wife out! Our wife, the mother of our children, I'm more than pissed. I want to rip your fucking head off." "Don't raise your voice. The kids are sleeping." Charles hushes, but Lando shakes his head. 

"Don't! Don't you dare tell me not to raise my voice? Charles, what the fuck were you thinking? We have always discussed this together. Why didn't you wait for me to come home?" Lando choked on the words, shaking his head to stop the emotions from bubbling up. "The moment she stepped through those doors, I don't know. All I could see was her 19-year-old self and thinking of all the lies she's told us, me. I gave her everything, and she," Staring down at his mug, he loved this mug. 

It was a Father's Day gift you got him. Still, fresh into the relationship and with a 3-month-old, you just bought it. You gave it to him as a joke, but he cried slightly. "She lied," He whispers, letting go of the mug. "Charles, she was hurt! SHE WAS 19!" Lando roars. "Daddy?" Charles and Lando whip their head to the stairs, Elijah and Cecile staring at them with fear and anxiety. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Lando whispers, reaching out for Cecile, yet Elijah pulls Cecile back. 

"Cece, go upstairs to my room. Yeah, we can talk in a few." Elijah whispers. His sister doesn't answer, glaring at him as she walks up the stairs. "We'll, we'll be upstairs," Elijah whispers, taking off. "10 years ago, that's how long it's been," Lando whispers. Charles flinches, staring at the kitchen door, the wood still damaged from that night. "You're doing the same thing to her like you did to me," "That's not the fucking same. Never, ever compare these two situations again." Lando glares at Charles, scuffing. 

"Please, you kicked me out the same way you kicked her out." "YOU CAME HOME DRUNK! Fucking Christ Lando, you," "No, no, I know exactly what happened that night," Lando whispers, "You don't have to remind me." 

------------------------------------------------------

10 years ago 

"He's still not home?" You feel like crying, holding your 1 year old sick with a horrible fever. "No, I don't know where he is," Charles whispers, pulling you in as you bounce, Cecile screaming her head off. "Find him, Charles, please." You beg, trying to calm down Cecile. "Okay, I'll be back." He whispers, kissing your forehead. 

Walking down the hall, he stops, pushing Elijah's door open, smiling when he sees his 6-year-old boy sleeping. Holding his teddy bear dressed as Lando. Closing the door, he flicks on the stairs light, freezing when he hears the rattling of the kitchen back door. Bending down, he grabs the bat. He raises it but stops seeing the familiar bright orange and curls tumble into the kitchen. 

"Alright, here we are." "Carlos?" Hitting the light switch, Charles's teammate Carlos and his husband disheveled state. "Hey, Charles. Lando, um," "Go home, Carlos," Carlos cleared his throat. As Carlos pats his friend's back, Lando hunches over the kitchen island and leaves. "Where the fuck have you been?" "Hav, ugh, having fun." Lando slurs, the rage in Charles building more. "That's it." Charles yanks open the fridge door, grabbing an ice-cold water. Cracking the lid off, he moves, pouring it all over Lando. 

"Oh god! What the fuck?" Lando yells, now sober enough to remember this. "You're a mess, acting like you're a child." Charles spits, tossing the empty bottle into the sink. "Screw you. I was having fun, Charles." Lando takes a deep breath, trying to stop the nausea. "Y/n and I have been calling you for hours, Lando. Cecile is sick." Lando's head snaps up. "What? Is she okay?" Lando moves to go upstairs, but Charles steps in front of him. 

"What are you doing? Get out of my way." "No, you're drunk." Charles pushes him back, not hard, just to get him back up. "You smell of a club, liquor, and probably cheap ass," "I wasn't with anyone else. Just Carlos." Lando whispers. "I don't care! We have children, Lando. A wife, in case you forgot, a fucking husband as well." Holding up his hand, Charles shows Lando the ring on his finger. "I didn't forget, but maybe I don't want to be trapped." 

Stepping back, Charles feels like the ground has swallowed him whole. "Trapped? Is that what we are to you? A cage?" Charles's chest starts to heave up and down. His anxiety ramping up more now. This can't happen now. Charles can't have an anxiety attack now. "No, I didn't mean it like that," Lando whispers, reaching for Charles. Lando always knew when Charles got anxious, holding his hand always grounded his husband. 

"Don't," Charles pulls his hands out of reach. "For almost 6 months now, you've been partying, drinking, god knows what else. Also, you don't talk to me anymore, only Carlos." Charles can't help the venom that drips off of Carlos's name when he says it. "Charles, I love you and Y/n. Please, can we not do this tonight?" Lando asks, stepping to the side to go upstairs, but Charles shoves him back. 

"Are you cheating on us?" This was colder than the water, sobering Lando fully now. "No." Charles stares at Lando. This was not the man he fell in love with. "You're hiding something from me, from us. Yet, Carlos seems to know what it is." "Charles, don't do this. Not tonight. Cecile is sick." "No, we're doing this now. What are you hiding?" Charles pushes, Lando starting to grow annoyed. "GOD DAMMIT! Mercedes offered me a seat, OKAY. And I took it without a second thought. I took the fucking seat. And right now, I hate myself because I said yes without even thinking of you, the babies, or our wife!" Lando roars, Charles's eyes wide. 

"When?" Charles whispers, looking down at his feet. "What?" Lando sighs, pulling on those curls, a sign he was stressed. "When did this happen? Because I remember we always said we'd decide this together, and you didn't even think about us? Do you even want to be married to us? You spend all your nights away drinking and come home lying, saying you've been with the McLaren team and all went for drinks. But you're not. You're lying." Lando looks away, unable to look Charles in the face. 

"I regret it, Charles. God, I know I shouldn't have said yes. But this is Mercedes." "No, no, you don't get to do that. You'll have to move. Go back home to London. Did you even think about me? My family, our family is here. This is where we decided to raise the kids. And now you're saying, fuck all of that, I rather have a Mercedes seat." "You're telling me you wouldn't have done the same thing?" Lando's anger grows with each ticking minute. 

"NO! Because I love our family! I value you and Y/n, but you clearly don't. Like you said, we're a fucking cage keeping you locked down. So you know what," Charles laughs, grabbing his ring. "No, no, don't, Charles, please. I'm so sorry." Lando holds Charles's hand, stopping his husband. "Don't take off your ring, not the one I gave you, please. I love you." "Clearly not, because right now, I regret marrying you." Charles gasps, his world spinning as his anxiety and fears grow too much for him to handle. 

"You don't mean that." Lando whimpers, Charles shoving his hand off. "I do! What you've done, I mean, I get it. But Lando, you have a family. How could you do this?" Charles laughs, playing with the ring on his finger. "Selfish, I was being selfish. Please just don't do this." Lando begs, ready to drop to his knees. "Get out. I want you out of this house." Charles whispers. Lando drops his head, tears falling from both men as Charles bolts up the stairs. The only signal that Lando left was the slamming of the door and wood splintering everywhere the following day. 

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Every time I fuck up, I worry you'll kick me out again. Take off your ring again, and you," Lando takes a deep breath. "Have you been attending your therapy sessions?" Charles's jaw ticks. He hasn't. "Charles, you haven't been going, have you? Baby, you know you can't mess them." Charles stares at his mug, all the emotions coming up. "When I first went, you wanna know what the Doc said?" "What?" "That when I'm faced with abandonment, I lash out; I did it again." Charles laughs. It's all he can do to stop himself from crying. 

"Charles, call your therapist," Lando whispers, sliding his phone over. "I can't because the only number I want to call is her." He can't hold it anymore as his lips wobble, the sob breaking. "Charlie." Lando rushes over as Charles slides to the floor, Lando holding him. "What have I done? I broke our family." Charles sobs, Lando pulling him into him. His arms are wrapped tight as Charles hides in his husband's chest. "I hurt you, I hurt Y/n. I'm the reason, I'm the," "Shhhh, it's okay. You're okay." Lando whispers. 

"It's all in the past. It all worked out. Look at us, Charles. We have two gorgeous children living here in Monaco and London. We did it. We can do it again." Charles's chest rattles as he sucks in a breath. "I said such awful things to her. I'll never blame her if she doesn't come back." "She'll come back, but we'll get our asses kicked." Charles laughs, Lando, joining him. 

"Dad? Pa?" Sniffling, Charles stands up, wiping his eyes and nose quickly. "Yea," His voice cracks. Lando giggles as Charles smacks him. "Yeah, Ducky?" Elijah steps out from the stairs slowly, and Charles hates that when he looks at Elijah, now he can see Nico. But Charles shakes it off because Elijah has Charles's drive, Lando's humor, and stubbornness.

"Um, Mama, she didn't want me to tell you, but Mama left me something." Holding out his arm, Lando welcomes Elijah into his side. "What did she leave you?" Lando asks, kissing Elijah's temple. "Before that, um," Elijah pulls back, fiddling with his fingers.

"You're my fathers. You raised me. Pa, you're the one who started to call me Ducky first. It's a stupid nickname from a stupid duck towel I loved as a kid. Dad, you shaped me to be the driver I am today, and I'll never say thank you enough. Pa, you taught me the piano, and that's our thing. Dad, you're always there when I'm sick, even breaking me out of school to go Karting." Elijah sighs, tears all gone. 

"Nico did none of that. He wasn't there. And Mama never knew why he truly left, but that doesn't matter. Not to me. I had two wonderful fathers. I don't need a third, just you two." Lando smiles, pulling Elijah into a hug. "You're grounded," "Lando," Charles sighs. "No, he is. He ran off into Monaco during a GP weekend. Grounded, 3 weeks. No phone, gaming, or karting. Unless it's for official business. You ever do something like that again, and your ass is fried. Got me." Elijah smiles, nodding in agreement. 

"That's fine," "Now, what is it your mother left you?" Charles asks, looking at his mug and seeing a crack. "Damn, your mug is cracked, Pa." Elijah mumbles, grabbing the mug, "It's fine, nothing duct tape can't fix." Charles grabs it back, cradling it almost. "Right," Taking a breath, Elijah pulls out a stained envelope with your name written. "She said that Nico left a letter for her at their old apartment. She never opened it, and I want you two here with me when I read it." Elijah stares down at Nico's handwriting, wondering what might be there. 

"Are you sure? I'm sure it's private." Charles asks, standing at his son's other side. "Yeah, I want my parents here to discover why he left. I don't know how I'll react, and honestly, I think you two need answers as well." Charles looks up at his husband, grabbing his hand and kissing the ring he gave Lando. "Open it. Let's find out why the bastard left." "Dad," "Lando." Lando just smirks, shrugging his shoulders. 

"Okay, well," Elijah opens it, the paper crinkling as he pulls the letter out and starts to read. 

"Ducky, don't be alarmed at the empty apartment. I'm coming back," 

--------------------------------------

taglist: @thomaslefteyebrow @a-stray-soul @formulas-bitch @mickslover @myescapefromthislife @glow-ish @kittyfluffypaws28 @ryntro @copper-boom @allabouthappiness @jaydaaasworld @christianpulisic10 @lyraleclerc @daddyslittlevillain @dreamerrosie @driveswiftly13 @harrysdimple05 @sueesstuff @why4anne @nataliambc @cwiphswmwasohmm @buckybarnessweetheart @makingmyway-downtown @elijahslover @kapsylia 

[luminarai]

when I look for new clothes it’s 99% of the time because I have a very specific idea of an article of clothing that I’d like, but I find that most times my online searching inevitably lead me to shein or shein-like sites, which is so annoying. like, they’ve had to have stolen the design from *somewhere* you know? and I’d like to not contribute to absolutely horrendous worker conditions and consumption landfills etc etc, thanks.

[favcharacterpoll]

ROUND 6 MATCH 3: CECIL VS. C!WILBUR

Cecil Palmer from Welcome to Night Vale faces c!Wilbur from the dsmp. @10piecechickenmcnugget get over here sage

Cecil Propaganda:

"Cecil is not only the Tumblr sexyman, he is the first gay protagonist of a podcast that most of us have ever heard. From the very first episode he was unashamedly queer and no one has ever called him out or given him shit for being gay. He is a gay Jewish fashion disaster who is the mouthpiece for an incredibly bizarre town and plays the whole “this horrifying thing is completely normal”thing so well. If Cecil wasn’t there, I think a lot of people wouldn’t have felt so accepted for just being who they were. Cecil is an inspiration and the queer podcast rep we all deserved as we were growing."

"he’s gay. he’s a dilf. he’s ageless. he has been since there’s was nothing and he’s still here after the world ended. he can summon music. his mother is a oracle his father is a tree. his cat is a man who got cursed and also has wings a stinger and poison??? he thinks a tutu and crocs is formal wear and has talked to god and she said ‘I love you. I’m sorry’. he’s definitely guilty of manslaughter from negligence"

"this is the website Night Vale built!"

c!Wilbur Propaganda:

"Accurate depiction of mental health and spiral, handled delicately and deliberately, every piece of his story was thought and planned and in the end he went home to Utah. Thank you lord."

"Please don’t let the name dream smp effect how you feel about this submission, this character is completely unrelated to dream and I’m pretty sure the person who played him has nothing to do with dream anymore. This man single handedly got me through a horrible patch filled with extreme paranoia by also being extremely paranoid. Genuinely really helped me feel seen and I coped a lot by getting invested in this character. I almost cried when he died :("

"He’s so fucking stupid. I could infodump for hours this man transed my gender. Everything has gone wrong in his life. He’s the definition of a bisexual disaster."

"I didn’t fail 10th grade math bc I was thinking about c!wilbur for him to lose round one"

"I mean look at him!! his Minecraft skin is adorable!!!"

"if you people vote for cwilbur i'll draw him in a bikini."

"A VOTE FOR C!WILBUR IS A VOTE FOR GIRLBOYS EVERYWHERE"

"i should not have underestimated minecraft fans they came together"

"Season 1 changed me. I didn’t know minecraft videos could have good acting, dramatic plots, etc. Wilbur was one of the best there. His plot was so interesting with the L’Manburg and the unfinished symphony arcs. He was funny, dramatic, sad… I fondly remember my dsmp days (though I only saw up to like part of Tommy’s exile)"

[bulkhummus]

Is it just me or is cecil really exhibiting some of his mom's possible symptoms this episode(idk how else to call them)

I’m so glad you said this omg…. I have been thinking more and more about his admission in Ghost Stories, where, he can acknowledge that their mother was unwell before she even left, as well as when she finally did abandon them, but that the hurt and damage she caused he and Abby was still very real. Perhaps there were things truly out of their mothers control, and its a more interesting and complex story when all of the grief and trauma is still real and there if BOTH things are true. For example, she may have been sick BUT she was a bad mother. There may have been forces outside of her control BUT she still neglected and ultimately abandoned her kids. Etc etc.

Cecil loves Esteban, clearly. But then again, maybe his mother really loved Cecil, despite what it seems like. Maybe she really tried to. Maybe she was truly trying to protect him. We of course know all she did was create grief and trauma, but its interesting to compare Cecil as a parent and his mother as a parent. Her actions are inexcusable, if the things in the narrative she said and did are true, but stories are almost never as black and white as that. I don’t think Cecil would ever say or do the things his mother said to him to his own son — but with the way things are in Night Vale — can we ever really know why his mother said them to him? Was it just her? Was it something else? Does it matter? Because she did do and say those things.

So, to give an example, lets look at It Sticks With You, where Cecil, Carlos and Esteban take a trip into the woods. If Esteban been had been older than 3 in It Sticks With You and the memory was firmly in his mind — a memory of a really fun and lovely day with his parents — and his father kept wandering off, and eventually forgot entirely about the day — like it didn’t even exist for him — how would Esteban feel? And then what happens when that patten continues? I’m sure he understands his father loves him, and hopes that he enjoys spending time with him— but— an inkling of doubt forms. We are looking at an isolated incident, but history shows a pattern of Cecil forgetting, and sometimes its not his fault, and things are out of his control, but it still happens. We will see all of Cecil’s rightful confusion and heart break — but what of Estebans? This is a story told through Cecil, after all.

Because Night Vale is a reactionary story. Most of the narrative is how people respond to and process things — since it is framed as a news show. Much like real life, there might be reasoning behind your actions, but there are still consequences, and they will effect others. Cecil isn’t exempt from that! No character or person is. And it really comes down to the point of, no matter the reason, the events that occur effect people in different ways, and no one can control that.

Its a theme I really enjoy in Night Vale — though usually I am discussing it through Carlos and his actions lol

[nesiacha]

Tribute to all these revolutionary women coming from the overseas departments and Haiti who fought at risk of their lives for their freedoms and forgotten even more than the women of the French revolution in metropolitan France already well despised.

In this post, although there are many of them, I will cite two of them, I will perhaps write a more detailed post when I have time because it is shameful that these women are not better known: -Sanité Bélair: Lieutenant of Toussaint Louverture, considered the soul of the conspiracy, particularly with her husband Charles Belair and fighter against Leclerc. She was captured, sentenced to death and shot. She showed great courage during her execution like many of her peers. She died but not her ideals and became a great symbol She is considered one of the great heroines of Haiti's fight for independence alongside Catherine Flon, Cecile Faitman and Dédée Bazile. On the Guadeloupe side we have Rosalie alias Solitude, whose historian Mathilde Larrère has written a magnificent article that I invite everyone to read. This woman had joined the community of "maroons". While she was a few months pregnant, she fought against the reestablishment of slavery. Captured, she will be executed like so many others after giving birth. When will there be more tribute to these women by exploring these parts of France? Personally I prefer a hundred (or even a thousand) times more to pay homage to them than Napoleon, who in my opinion, if he survived, failed as emperor, where the people I cited who died for their ideas had a posthumous victory. on the abolition of slavery and the independence of Haiti). Frankly beside the point when we are presented with Madame de Stael or Louise de Prussia as the only female figures standing against Napoleon, I am very sorry that they make a very pale figure regarding the women mentioned earlier (I am not saying that in a goal to clash with Louise of Prussia and Madame de Stael but rather the "thinkers" we can see in media, movie, who voluntarily cite only them to obscure the others because they believe that we can judge Napoleon magnanimously on what he did concerning slavery and do not focus only on the Europe part or worst to the goal to justify the horrors that France did to Guadeloupeans, Reunionese, Haitians, etc, or to the thinkers who only believe in white feminism, etc…).

[amazable01]

If you will indulge my little English Major brain for a moment:

One of the biggest plot devices both TMA and WTNV use is Chekhov's Gun (if something is shown on screen, it must be used at least once, at some point later in the show). However, the differences in how the idea is used helps to develop the style and themes of the series.

In TMA, there are a lot of recurring elements. However, there are very few recurring props/physical events. Obviously there's the lighter, but that's one of very few items that really has staying power. The Calliope Organ and the Table are really the only two more. People recur more often, but there's still a lot of stuff where there's an entity/character we've never met before, and will not meet again.

The main usage of Chekhov's Gun in TMA is the actually the fears themselves. The types of fear (and the attempt to categorize them) is a recurring element, which leads up to not only the reveal of the fears and what they are in s2, but the entirety of s5 and the horrors of implication that come with it. The powers are the constantly recurring Chekhov's Gun that fires often, but has been set up in the trailers before anything actually started.

This helps a lot towards setting up the themes of helplessness and human fragility that we see in TMA. Humanity is diminished, passing and unrecognizable and unimportant unless they have a connection to the powers, so every person is lesser in comparison to the overarching evil that has existed from the moment Jon opened his mouth in Anglerfish.

Meanwhile, the concept is flipped in WTNV. There are very few overarching plot points (Kevin, the Gods, etc), and generally they are devoted to their own arcs in the podcast, and occasionally pop up at other times to make themselves known. However, these arcs generally only last a certain amount of time, and the evil overarching villain of the season is just that: confined to the season.

Where we see the Chekhov's Gun in WTNV is in the people and places. Everyone knows 'Perfect Carlos' or 'Steve Carlsberg' or 'John Peters, ya'know, the Farmer?', and the usage of the name conventions helps to seal the name into our memory. Other events in the background are mentioned and will most certainly appear again, as well (no, seriously. If you've never watched Night Vale before, or if you just want a pleasant surprise in your most recent watch-through, keep tabs/notes of mysteries or unanswered questions. It's a fun game). There's even a constantly repeating theme of the first episode, changing ever-so-slightly, but still the same exact story with different meanings based on where you are.

This helps to set up the idea that, the world may be insane and dangerous and scary, but humanity has power. Choices matter, people matter, and evil is a passing thing that can be overcome if we just decide to come together. It sets the tone of WTNV from the moment you hear Cecil's voice in the Pilot, but you wouldn't even notice it.

[trans-all-at-once-tournament]

Propaganda:

Cecil Gershwin Palmer

-The outfits they wear are so incredibly gender.

One outfit is described as a honey comb hat, a Hawaiian shirt, and tight leather pants. And that's what they slept in

-There's no way anyway that comes from or lives in Nightvale has a normal gender, least of all the voice of Nightvale

Raz

-The way Their family talks about them being psychic is BIG “transphobic/homophobic/etc family starting to unlearn their bigotry” vibes. At various levels

-Their older brother is VIOLENTLY angry about them being a psychic in a way that feels close to transphobia. Believing that it’s a choice and when pointed out the dad is psychic he says “It’s a phase!”

-Mom is obviously still holding anti-psychic biases and would rather not talk about her family members being psychic, even if she’s much more polite about it

-Older sister is not ready to come out as a psychic yet, saying that she’s “not ready to break Mom and Dad’s heart” (like Raz did)

-Dad has awkward enthusiasm about psychic stuff to try to mend the relationship between the child he hurt and to connect with them

-There’s a dialogue option where you can try to out the older sister as a psychic, and the Dad responds with “She’ll come out when she’s ready”

[smallmediumproblems]

Propaganda under the cut

Why isn't John/David/Cecil/Obituary Writer/etc here?

I'm specifically excluding narrators who are also primary characters in the story. There are a lot of really good unreliable main character POVs, and some that are very, very popular. There are also a LOT of found footage / "documentary" shows, so the pool of "main character who is technically also the narrator" is monstrously large. This is for narrators who have things to say about the story but are moderately to severely removed from it. You'll notice I've also excluded the Documentarian from The White Vault, because by the time she's commenting on the story, she's also a main character.

Madeleine can stay because she's very polite.

Madeleine the mouse

Madeleine doesn't exactly serve a narrative so much as she plates and seasons it before bringing it out. Part plot device, part confidante, and all bohemian authoress. But please, consider the other candidates long and hard before you vote. She's not really too unreliable, she's just incredibly biased.

The Voice of HartLife

You have to be a special kind of unreliable for one of your characters to break down the fourth wall into your recording studio to kick the shit out of you.

The Historian

*Gesturing at a lithograph of Eisen and Telesphore making out sloppy style* "Truly, it is tragic that the men of our generation have lost such deep platonic bonds as are depicted here. So secure were they in their brotherhood that our contemporary idea of friendship fails to-"

The Narrator

No, not Leon. The other guy. I can't possibly describe what his Whole Deal is without spoiling a major plot twist of the show, but guys. He killed Matt Damon, guys. He killed Matt Damon while trying to murder dozens of other people at the same time. (Hundreds? I don't know how trains work.)

Dubrach

Yes, I know it's not really confirmed. That's what unreliable narration is all about. But what could be more reliable than the literal word of god on the puny machinations of his flock? :) :) :) Also he's voiced by Alisdair Stuart, our dad.

The Malevolent Patreon Hastur

...is specifically not included, because a) people are going to think I'm talking about John, and b) brand recognition is going to skew the whole thing, as if Madeleine isn't going to sweep for that very reason. But I'm mentioning him here because of the time he made people so angry that the actual real live writer had to come out and remind them that this is a fictional character. iykyk.

[marzipanandminutiae]

i feel u on 1920s hate. when everyone is like ‘finally women are free of ~restrictive~ corsets’ and its like . first of all. didnt need to be. second. how do u think the curvier women were achieving the 1920s silhouette. quickly.

Exactly. I mean, yeah, it’s not their fault at all that people were saying things like that, or that it’s reached a fever pitch in recent years. Great material gains WERE being made for women, and I’m absolutely not discounting that. But much in the way that people tend to throughout history, though, they firmly believed that everything they were doing was the best and most progressive that it had ever been. And that idea has been hugely amplified in later years

I think it also has a lot to do with the fact that the 1920s were, in many ways, the beginning of a world that looks familiar to us now. Widespread film technology, continued rise of electricity, clothing-ways that seem familiar to us today in contrast to what came before (for example the advent of bras and panties, although people tend to forget there was usually also a girdle involved),  Air travel, cars becoming more popular, etc. because it seems less foreign, we accept all too readily the idea that it was better in all respects than everything earlier

(And ignore all the ways in which it would still have been foreign. Like… The 1920s were not actually the Proto – 2020s, guys. It owed for more to its immediate predecessors re: era mentality and technology and even fashion than some people would like to admit)

I don’t actually hate the 1920s – that would be pointless and reductive, since it’s an entire decade that happened over countless countries, demographics, cultural groups, etc. I think I’m with you, though, in hating the way it’s been put up on a pedestal as the perfect progressive era that was unilaterally better for women in particular

(Also, I read a book from the 1951 about the history of undergarments, and this mindset is in FULL force even three decades later.The guy finds ways to inaccurately rag on the Victorians even in chapters that aren’t about that time period, and concludes with a stirring statement that they are now living in the perfect time for underwear and that everything is so much better and more progressive than it ever has been in the past. The fact that this man- Cecil Willett Cunnington -was considered one of the highest authorities on dress history for a long time probably explains the current state of the discipline, In terms of “you can say basically whatever you want and people will believe you”)