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The moon is dark tonight. Turn off your lights and go outside. It’s a beautiful evening to enjoy the stars.
Welcome to Night Vale.
Hello citizens. Coming to you at the experimental time of 7:00 pm, we have a very special report.
Now listeners, reports are coming in today that the black helicopters belonging to a vague, yet menacing government have been circling lower than usual. Remember to keep your children inside and cover their ears until the danger passes. They seem to be focusing their efforts on the encroaching silhouette of the dark planet overhead. Most sources say the planet seems to be most visible by the scrublands, so be sure to run screaming that way as soon as possible. More on this story as it develops.
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To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
My dear Carlos,
I’m on a break from the weather here at the station and wanted to check in on you! I know you were really excited for your experiments at the edge of Night Vale today, and I just wanted to tell you that I’ll do whatever I can to help :)
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Cecil,
As much as I do enjoy a good not-book with you, I needed to spend the day studying SCIENCE - like what's going on with that door. I'm sure Kevin isn't as bad as you think, dear :) See you tomorrow!
Carlos
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Carlos, beautiful Carlos.
I see your point...I tried to tolerate Kevin....but what can I say. It's hard to communicate with a man covered in blood.... who also looks somewhat like me. Was your science studying fun? Did you discover anything new?
Khoshekh says Hi by the way!!!
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear my dear, neat, Cecil,
Oh yes! I discovered many interesting things in my quest to understand Night Vale, like REDACTED and REDACTED! but I somehow managed to end up underneath the abandoned mine shaft, and my emails are now being filtered through a vague yet menacing government agency! What a fun time of it :)
Hope to see you soon, Carlos
PS. Hi Khoshekh. I may be allergic to you, but I admire your floating.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear my, Gorgeous Carlos,
You are trapped underneath the abandoned mine shaft!? How terrible! Why didn't you say that first!? Now I am dearly worried about you. What about this vague yet menacing government agency?! It is not Strexcorp is it!? Dear dear Carlos, please be safe.
-Cecil.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Cecil,
Thank you for the concern, but I’m fine! A scientist is always fine ;)
As of now, I’m not trapped underneath the mine shaft, the vague yet menacing government agents were nice enough to get me out. And I would never involve myself with Strexcorp, Cecil. I value my decency more than that.
Well, talk to you later, the agents are letting me (well, maybe that's a loose term...) examine their equipment. wish me luck!
Carlos.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Carlos,
Gorgeous Carlos. I am glad that the vague yet menacing government has released from underneath the mine shaft. Perhaps they are not terrible, as I originally thought them to be. I am also glad that they are allowing us to communicate...for I do not know what I would do without hearing your voice. I do wish you were back home though. Thank anything that Strexcorp had not gotten a hold of you, I am not sure what I would have done if it was them... Have fun examining their equipment, discover something new; and perhaps something there will be able to bring you back here.
Farewell Carlos. Keep being fine and safe.
-Cecil
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A story is told, and you deny it. It has always been this way. A persons stands by you and denies this story too, spittle flying into your face, and the face of the smiling god beside you, who has come out to support his local heretical chapter. The smiling god snickers, lips pulled wide to the edges of his smiling teeth and bloodied gums. “Better hope you inherit a benevolent god!” he says. You stare at him as his silhouette recedes into the distance. This has been… traffic.
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To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Cecil,
Good news! The vague yet menacing government agency has many secret tunnels in the mine shaft. I found one and crawled my way to freedom. The sky has never looked so alive. I am currently traveling back to the center of Night Vale by the light of the purple planet above my head. I miss you too. Hope to be back at the station to visit in a bit.
All my love, Carlos
P.S. Do you happen to have anywhere I can store a secret backpack full of probably not stolen governmental technology? Thanks :)
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Carlos! Dear Carlos!
I'm so excited that you are on your way back, I missed you so. Please do not get caught by that vague yet menacing government agency. I wish I could see this sky with you, I’m sure it is as beautiful as you are. I am eagerly awaiting your visit to the station. Also, I do have some places where your technology can be hidden, you'll have to show me it...and explain it. I do love science.... it’s so...neat!
Eagerly awaiting your arrival- Cecil.
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Now, for our weekly horoscopes!
Aquarius: Find a friend. Find a loved one. Do you know where they have gone? Where are they? Why have they left you? Why are you alone?
Pisces: Do you know how to swim? Now would be the time to learn. Now is the time to learn everything. Become all knowing.
Aries: Relax. Take a deep breath. In and out. Do something for yourself this month. You’re fine, you’re safe. For now.
Taurus: How are you doing? I’m doing pretty great these days—got a great job—amazing boyfriend. *sigh* Well, it was nice meeting you?
Gemini: are you—you? Well, are you? It’s a simple question, really.
Cancer: Take time to laugh this month. Laugh at absolutely anything. It will do you good to laugh. Smile! Laugh! Just laugh this month.
Leo: We the aligned stars are deeply sorry for your loss. We don't know what you have lost, or if you have lost it, or if you will, but we are sorry.
Virgo: *Radio Static.* That's some pretty good advice.
Libra: You cannot see him, but he is there. Pay no attention to him- he is not important. Do not ignore him though, just don't acknowledge him.
Scorpio: The numbers 7, 106 and 72, as well as the word 'fish' in three languages. <i>Fish, pez, and poisson.</i>
Sagittarius: Climb that proverbial hill. You can do it. Everyone is rooting for you! No, sorry, everyone is currently <i>roots</i>, you <b>can</b> do it!
Capricorn: This month, you are associated with destruction. You could be destroyed, or you may do the destroying. Only time will tell.
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To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Oh no, my dearest Cecil,
Something has gone wrong. The planet has descended from the sky and the technology in my backpack is buzzing. I suspect the vague yet menacing government agency has been dabbling in the weirdness of Night Vale, just like my team of scientists with potentially disastrous consequences. On the outskirts of town. Please come.
All my love, Carlos
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Carlos, I am on my way, just keep moving forward. I left intern Dana in charge; hopefully station management does not know that I am gone, I didn't tell them where I was going. I simply left. Khoshekh will keep the station safe while I am gone...hopefully. Perhaps leave the technology if it is not so important....it could be dangerous. Please stay safe Carlos....please stay safe.
-Fearful Love, Cecil
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Dear Cecil,
I don't know why I’m writing this to you. You're literally right here, standing next to me. I guess I just feel like- if something happens, if we give our lives for science or disappear, then at least there will be something out in the world, written if not in a forbidden book, then in a forbidden email that proves that we existed and we loved each other. You're standing beside me and the bag of government electronics is kicked off to the side. The planet is descending. Thanks for coming, Cecil - it means the world.
... I have no idea what we should do.
Carlos
Carlos....look at me. I'm right here, and instead you’re writing, I’m sure it is important, but just look at me. I know the planet is descending, that the end might be nigh...but we can survive this.... we can do this. You’re a scientist Carlos, a scientist is always fine.... right? Please Carlos....please, you'll think of something.... I’m sure of it.... surely this is not the end, it cannot be.... I won't let it be. Please Carlos, just look at me. I promise everything will be alright.... I promise.
Thanks Cecil. For coming out here, and for believing in me. I’ll try. The planet is descending and the ground is shaking - a couple of citizens from Night Vale are wandering our way. One of them is Old Woman Josie with her angel friends. Well, I know you don't think they're angels, but I’m just going to call them that, Cecil. More people are coming our way. I’m going to have to make this quick. I scramble around for the backpack full of probably forbidden materials and hand it to you. Cecil - one of these machines is an audio amplifier. I’m going to need you to make a broadcast.
I'm scared, Carlos. I'm so, so scared. Not of the end, I know that is inevitable, that we cannot escape it; but Carlos I am so scared and I don't know why. Perhaps it's losing the town I have become the voice of, but I think it's mostly of losing you. Even if this is the end Carlos....I don't want it to be. Please do not do anything foolish, please do not leave me. I have the audio amplifier, it’s odd; I do not usually do a broadcast without Station Management breathing down my neck. Deep breaths Cecil, Deep breaths. What do you want me to say?
In my years as a researcher in Night Vale, I’ve heard about a dark planet, lit by no sun. come to think of it, you were the one who told me about it to begin with. Cecil, I need you to send a message to the dark figures swaying on the planet- I need you to talk to them. About what happens when they come, about what's worth saving here in Night Vale, about who we are, about who we will be. I need you to convince them to preserve us, to preserve what we're doing, to keep us from disaster. I know you can, I believe in you.
And- darling? I love you too. I don't want to lose you- I won't lose you.
I know this planet...Leonard once spoke of it to me before...he.... died. He told me I would be prepared, but Carlos I am certain that I am not. I will speak to them, I’ll make you proud; and if this is the end, at least I go out standing next to you holding your hand. I promise I’ll make you proud.
I'm looking to the sky, to the planet; hopefully they are listening. Alright, you up there, on that dark planet ever moving closer to us on the ground. Listen...please, just stop and listen to what I must say. My name is Cecil...this is my little town, next to me...this is my boyfriend, Carlos. Over there, that's old lady Josie, and this here is the old woman who secretly lives in your home.... well not your home, but all our homes. There's Hiram, the literal five headed dragon, and there's Dana our lovely mayor. We are survivors. We have survived; just take it from Tamika. We stopped the smiling god, and we don't back down; no... we rise to purpose. We stand for each other, we protect each other. We are a little town full of love, just a hatching moving from the egg to take our first steps in this wide world. There is so much we yet to know, and I look to you, with both horror and courage and I ask of you. Acknowledge and protect us, do not stomp on us; take us under your wing; save us from our doom. Do not seek to destroy us, for we will not stand idly we by. We ourselves will stand together for this occurrence to come. With that I say, Goodnight Night Vale; Goodnight....and Carlos....I love you.
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To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Cecil, I know I’m typing again, and I know I want to see you, see your face, look around us, and hear your voice again. But right now, even if I tried, the words wouldn’t be right. And you understand. And so, I type this out. And I raise my head.
Cecil. I don't know what happened, but now we are back in the radio station. and we are together. and the backpack of probably forbidden materials is gone (good riddance). and somehow everything is the same but everything is different. and we are holding hands.
Cecil, no one is inside the radio station. even the station management's door is surprisingly peaceful and quiet. I say we should walk into town, and you agree. When I open the door to go outside- I’m wearing one of your spare shirts that was lying around the station (you wouldn't let me walk outside in my dirt stained clothes from crawling underneath the mine shaft) the town seems to be bathed in a purple light now. The dark planet is hovering overhead but no one seems to notice, aside from some birds who are flying away from the town. No gravity problems have arisen. It’s... impossible to scientifically explain.
Cecil, you're gripping my shoulder, and it jolts me out of my thoughts. I take a breath. Science later, you now. We walk on our way to our apartment and we see chanting figures in black robes appear briefly on the planet- then disappear. No one seems concerned about this. Some citizens are already exiting their homes and hailing the planet. Others are huddled around their bloodstone circles and gesturing wildly. you walk up to the next person we pass (its Old Woman Josie) and have her give a quick interview. I stare at the sky. Is it even possible for the sun to move like that??? My hands itch to take measurements and study the sky until all the stars come out and the cosmos open themselves up for exploration. But- you're in your element right now. And you came out to the middle of the desert for me. And I love you.
Cecil, we've made it to our apartment and I just want to crash. but first, I thank you. We kiss.
Everything is alright. and we are alive.
Carlos