#wtnv luisa

[w2nv]

IM SO SCARED TO POST THESE CAUSD IVE JUST BEEN THE MOST SELF INDULGENT EVER

I havent been able to stop thinking about it devours! Since i finished it, i have a lot of thoughts and absolutely no way to articulate any of them ive just been spinning ideas in my head like a rotisserie chicken

[joskippy]

My dream nightvale episode is one centering around carlos' little gaggle of scientist and what theyre up to and the episode is formated like a peered reviewed journal being read out on air. This episode would appeal to no one but me and thats what makes it good

[kerink]

they need HR

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - It Devours! - the other scientists

Click here for the plot points! Click here for facts about Nilanjana! Click here for facts about Darryl! Click here for facts about Night Vale and it's citizens (including Cecil and Carlos). Click here for facts about the Joyous Congregation and it's members! Click here for misc interesting facts I found!

Luisa and Mark are two of the many scientists who also work with Carlos. They both have stations either side of Nilanjana.

Luisa is doing an experiment which involves being visibly disappointed in potatoes to see if they respond to it in any way. She sees science as a gateway to fame and awards and insists that everyone should be doing science for this reason. She thinks Nils isn't living up to her full potential and that her pesiticide experiment sounds more like performance art. She uses harvested parts of Carlos' failed machine to make a potato garden she's sure she'll win awards for. She isn't interested in dating or 'friend dates', truly being interested only in her potatoes.

Mark is trying to make a machine that lets out a blinding flash followed by a startling bang but was getting the order wrong for weeks before he was helped by Jamillah, a Joyous Congregation member. He has a crush on Luisa. At the end of the story he's also added 'a puff of smoke' to the list of things his machine can do, utilising parts harvested from Carlos' failed machine.

Connie is a scientist who is briefly mentioned going with Nilanjana to the shop 'Watch Yourself' to tell the worker there (coincidentally, Darryl) that time doesn't work in NV. She disappeared investigating the plastic flamingos from the first novel. She was, at that point, Nilanjana's only friend basically until the very end of the books plot where Nils has bonded more with others.

The labs emergency station contains a roll of paper towels and nothing else.

The lab is in the science district, a rough industrial area. It's made dangerous by frequent feuds between rival groups of scientists.

All scientists wardrobes consist of mostly lab coats.

Scientists will often dare each other to knock on the door of the house which doesn't exist and then run away.

[ichorandseafoam]

hey anyone remember the ghost in wtnv who coached the little league team? Does anyone remember my girl Luisa Tereshchenko? Would it kill wtnv to be consistent with ghost lore??

[desertflowerbowling]

Luisa: Do you like Cecil?

Carlos, nervously: No.

Luisa: Then why do you keep doodling C+C in hearts on your lab reports?

Carlos: I love close captions.

[olly-olly-octopus]

the wtnv scientists are underrated where is the love for nilanjana and luisa and mark theyre all so beautiful and i love them all so much <3

[prewar-james]

Tally: *cuts Carlos' hair*

Cecil:

[runawaymarbles]

An icon

[leeraiii]

carlos rant and it devours spoilers ahead !!!!! pls dont look at the images if you havent read the novel yet (WHICH YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD)

CARLOS IS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE AND FOR HIM TO GO FROM THIS

TO THIS

BROKE MY HEART MORE THAN OLD OAK DOORS DID AND THATS SAYING A LOT

I AM WORRIED FOR THIS MAN HE IS SO FULL OF LOVE, LOVE FOR HIS FAMILY, LOVE FOR WHAT HE DOES, AND TO SEE HIM SO TORN UP, SO SHAKEN TO HIS CORE LIKE THIS IS SO HEARTBREAKING

not to mention what else happens in this book and I JUST- i dont think i can ever comprehend how much it must've killed him to find out that what almost killed janice (and almost most of the town) in the first place was HIS SCIENCE it was him, it was his machine all along and

“Not now, Nils. My family is on the line. Only science can save them.”

I JUST-

i dont even know what i was going for anymore and i wanted to say was that 

CARLOS THE SCIENTIST IS A LOVELY HUMAN BEING WHO LOVES SCIENCE, WHO CRIES AND LAUGHS AND MAKES MISTAKES BUT ALSO VALUES EVERYONE HE LOVES AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP THEM SAFE AND I'LL TAKE A FUCKING BULLET FOR HIM 

[w2nv]

Carlos rlly cool and awesome team of scientists that only 2 people care about

[maedhros-nelyafinwe]

Look at what my potatoes are doing! I'm so proud of them. For the first time, I'm proud of them. This ruins my entire experiment.

Luisa (It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor)

[kerink]

i can't stop thinking about these bits from it devours

in relation to the newest episode, about the different types of science and the relationship between science and the logic of night vale

i think both nilanjana and carlos express janet lubelle's values in these scenes and give us a richer idea of what the culture of the university of what it is is like.

nilanjana spends the entirety of it devours feeling like an outsider even after living in night vale for four years. her arc is not only about learning to make a home but also about expanding her view of what science can be. she's the only member of carlos' team doing what we, the audience, would describe as real science. luisa and mark do science within the rules of the wtnv universe, things that are nonsense with no practical value or application except to be a deus ex machina later in the story. nilanjana says their type of science is what wins awards and grants, but she does her work because "She simply wanted to study the nature of the world." who does that sound like? the reason nilanjana doesn't feel at home in night vale is because she's operating on the rules of the real world rather than acclimating to the rules of night vale. carlos even tells her: "Maybe it’s not about them accepting you. Maybe you have to accept them first.”

carlos spends the story single-mindedly devoted to his experiment. carlos has a moral code that structures his work, focusing on doing good and minimizing harm. he doesn't want to kill the centipede until he feels he has to, specifically to protect his family. (it's interesting when nilanjana wants to kill it to protect the town he avoids that conversation, and it's not until janice is threatened that he changes his mind, something to consider further later.) but carlos also spends the story shifting blame around, first he blames the city then the church then the city again. it's only after everything's said and done he's able to see that it was him all along causing harm. it was him and his science that was threatening the town. but carlos is unable to see his own hypocrisy, saying of the city counsel that its "placing its secrecy above our safety, pretending it’s trying to protect us" - carlos, aren't you pretending you're trying to protect people when really you're trying to bring what's secret into the light? and who does THAT sound like? carlos believes that anything that can be studied can be fixed and anything that can be fixed can be made safe.

night vale is an "unravelable knot of mistruths and misdirection" that can never be fully understood and appreciated by people who believe "in simple scientific truths." carlos said the first step towards him accepting night vale was accepting their world view: "But it wasn’t that he didn’t see the things that I saw, he just interpreted them differently. I was afraid of him and all the people of Night Vale because of that." this is something nilanjana struggled to do and something lubelle seems uninterested in doing.

it's been said before that it's likely carlos left for night vale in the first place because he didn't fit in at the university and was open to investigating a rumor. he built his own team, and given that luisa and mark seemingly adapted easily to the rules of wtnv's universe and nilanjana eventually came around too they were also a bit atypical for university staff

however, while the team was able to adjust to the town using carlos' ethical standards as a framework, carlos isn't without his own university cultural holdover. carlos is an avid workaholic who believes in scientific import above all else. his perfect self and perfect reality as express in the condos liveshow was: "endless rows of Erlenmeyer flasks, and every one held a liquid, and all of the liquids were bubbling, and before each one was a notebook of numbers, and above was a dial with more numbers. I saw all of this, and I understood—I need to get to those flasks. Each liquid was bubbling. There were numbers. I’m going into the condo. The condo is perfect. It is perfect, and I understand." a reality in which he can endlessly do science and, most importantly, understand

carlos' value of do no harm is the only difference between him and lubelle and, ostensibly, the university as a whole. he has the same drive to study and understand that lubelle has, but stopped his experimentation once he realized he was the one destroying the town. even so, it took getting to that point for him to stop even refusing to hear nilanjana's perceptive about what science should be.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 111 - Summer 2017, Night Vale, USA

Read the others here!

A friendly desert community, where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead, while we lay open eyed, watching it all. Welcome to Night Vale.

In many ways this episode is a mirror of the pilot/earlier episodes but with updates according to developments in the story. For example, Cecil is questioning why they aren't allowed in the dog park, the angels are legally acknowledged as angels and are throwing a memorial service for Josie, Cecil and Steve have a better relationship etc

The rips in reality left an ocean around the NV boardwalk which can only be viewed from said boardwalk.

Carlos, Luisa and Nilanjana are renewing their investigations into the House that Doesn't Exist with new understanding of it as a portal to another world. They also say that the 'seismic activity' that can be detected but not felt could be the different universes colliding.

Weather: "Andromeda" by Airospace

The tiny NV under Lane 5 had disappeared.

Carlos admits that he doesn't know what his box that makes a noise like baby birds waking up and tests for materials actually is, he just used it as an excuse to drop by and see Cecil.

Settling in to be another clear and pretty evening here in Night Vale, this weird, weird town. I hope all of you out there have someone to sleep through it with. I know I do. Good night, listeners. Good night.

Proverb: There is no proof you exist, only evidence.

[cecilbaldwin-fan]

OK, I finally finished “It Devours!” It took me a while, because I’ve been very busy with work and I wanted to really focus on it, instead of listening to it for 5 minutes here and there. I still only have the audiobook, because I’m broke, but I will have the book in a couple of weeks and I can do more detailed commentary with quotes then. 

Overall, I feel very satisfied and content, the way you feel when you finish reading a really good story. I love Nilanjana and Darryl, and I think the science/religion juxtapositions were done well. The Desert Otherworld is (and remains to be) mysterious and fascinating. We got some glimpses into how the first book characers were doing. There’s a really cool scene with Josh, and another scene with Janice being a hero. For the first time, we see Carlos through the eyes of someone other than Cecil. 

My main complaint is that I could have used a little more Cecil. I liked the “Voice of Night Vale” bits in the first novel. But we always have the podcast for that, of course. It just felt a bit strange that he had such a small role.

Even if you have a physical copy, I strongly recommend the audio book. A religious tract read in Cecil’s best gleefully sinister voice is to die for. 

Some spoilery thoughts under the cut. 

I was going to write notes on each chapter, and I might still do that, but it seems I never finished those posts. When I’m swamped at work, I have less energy for writing. Oh well.

-I liked that they went with a real scientific mindset (hypotheses and proof) rather than “lol everything is science”, which can be funny in small doses, but would have been grating for a whole novel. 

-Darryl being socially awkward and using the wrong tone was so good. Autistic stuff is always cool. See also: Carlos not wanting to be touched, and that it varies for time to time. Very good depiction. 

-Janice is such a good leader. I’m proud of her. She could have run off and left her team to die. But was Tamika even mentioned in this novel? I can’t recall any mention of her. That would be weird. Maybe I missed something while listening. 

-The Joyous Congregation actually just wanted to summon and be devoured by a literal giant centipede. LOL! One of my favorite twists in the book. I also enjoyed Cecil’s gleefully sinister reading of the hymns and booklet. 

-Speaking of Cecil’s performance, I love the cable TV hosts Tim and Trin, especially his Tim voice that is SO sinister and funny.

-Jackie is dating Sheriff Sam!!! I hope to hear more about this on the podcast.

-Liked the bits about Josh and Diane. Very cool about Josh saving Maureen. Would have liked to hear more about Diane outside of her role as a mother. That’s one thing I always disliked about Diane: she’s almost entirely defined by being Josh’s Mom. 

-Josh calling Jackie her sister. !!!! 

-No mention of Todd but who the hell needs him? Not complaining. 

-So glad Larry Leroy and the others came back to Night Vale. And Larry’s talent for dioramas was finally acknowledged! But whatever happened to Larry’s catchphrase “Don’t bog me down, son”? Was it only in that one episode? It would have been funny.

-Slightly confused about the cause of the sinkholes. There was a real centipede who actually devoured houses and people, but then it was suddenly about Carlos’ experiments. Maybe it was all things together? 

-Why didn’t Kevin come back to Night Vale? Or did he end up back in the original Desert Bluffs? Is he still in the desert? I get that time is weird Night Vale, and even more so in the Desert Otherworld. Maybe he grew old and died. Can you die in the DO? 

-If Carlos hated the Desert Otherworld so much, why did he suggest that Cecil move there with him? It seemed from the episodes like he wanted to stay there. I’d be willing to accept that the place somehow changes you and that you’re different there than in Night Vale, but it would have been nice if that was explained a bit. 

-Nilanjana being promoted to assistant was a bit odd. Can’t she be an equal research partner? I got the impression that she was equal before, but I guess she was on a lower-level. A woman only being a man’s partner doesn’t bode that well, but I know Finknor through their Twitters and interviews, and I’m pretty sure they would have written a male character in the same way. This is one of those things about writing a different gender, like the weight thing I posted about before. Carlos is a main character and being his assistant is the highest honor, I guess. 

-I liked the deconstruction of happily ever after in the last chapter. Nilanjana and Darryl were a cool couple, although I was oddly disappointed that they hooked up. It’s because I’m so used to non-straight pairings on WTNV, I guess I’m spoiled. This was the first real talk about sex (albeit quite vanilla) and it would have been cool if that were with a gay pairing, but oh well. 

-Luisa and her potatoes. It was mentioned a lot, but I found it hilariously random every time. Especially in the end. “She was genuinely only interested in potatoes.” LMAO. 

-I loved the bit in the hall of records. Super creepy. SImilar to the library bit in the first novel. Bit disappointed the library wasn’t revisited in more detail, but I guess they wanted to not do the same exact thing again. 

-All the Pamela bits. Gotta love her. Was Dana mentioned at all though? 

-I felt like there were too many characters at times. Mark and Jamila didn’t have that much of a personality. It would have been enough with Stephanie (with Jamila’s power drill) and Luisa. 

-I thought it was cool when they continued the church despite the centipede eating their leaders. Religion isn’t about proof. I found the general tone of the book to be respectful of religion, and there was some exploration of how science and religion are similar. 

[roothefool]

Luisa the scientist