https://archiveofourown.org/works/59554816/chapters/169948645#workskin
Wow another chapter 24 hours after the last one? This is a bad omen tbh. I will so try to not disappear, I promise.
Jon and Martin sat together in the lobby, hands intertwined with one another’s. The man who was there at the front desk previously had left, either to go on break or perhaps having never sat there in the first place. They were alone again, just the two of them.
“Soooo… new cosmic horrors, eh?” Martin started.
“It indeed appears so,” Jon nodded.
“And uh… your abilities still seem to work alright.”
“If you’re asking if I’m still apocalypse Google, I am not. But I think that’s largely because it’s no longer the apocalypse. I can still Ask, I think, and maybe Know a little, but it isn’t as strong,” Jon answered. He was nervously twiddling with their fingers, feeling Martin’s joints move. It was… strange losing a bit of himself, a monstrous bit, but a piece of him nonetheless.
“Yeah, I should’ve guessed that. All your eyes are closed,” Martin said, his free hand going to caress Jon’s marred skin. “Well, your extra ones anyway.” He sighed wistfully while looking his partner deep in the two eyes that were still there; had always been there.
“Hold on…” Jon started after a beat of silence, “You don’t miss them, do you?” A small smirk pulled at his lips as the other started sputtering to answer.
Martin gripped Jon’s hand tighter while trying to get his tongue to cooperate, his cheeks starting to burn slightly. “Well you didn’t have to say it quite like that!” he exclaimed. “I guess I just… got used to them is all. They were a part of you. So… yes. I guess I do miss them. Because I love every part of you.”
It was Jon’s turn to fluster at those words; he leaned on the other in order to hide his embarrassment. It was comfortable, just being together. For just a moment ignore what had happened and what would just to be here. Holding hands, together, in a moment of solace. But unfortunately it couldn’t last. They needed to talk about this new world they found themselves in.
Jon sighed and lifted his head off of Martin’s shoulder. “What do you think about this ‘Cecil’ character we just met? His demeanor reminded me a bit too much of Peter Lukas, but being chipper hardly makes you a bad person.”
“Yeah,” Martin nodded, “I picked up on that too; he doesn’t seem malicious though. With Peter there was a certain… undercurrent with his words, his presence. You could tell he was a little dangerous. Cecil just seems… eccentric? I think?”
“No kidding,” Jon agreed. “Beyond that though, I can tell he works for the Eye. Even if he doesn’t know it, he does. He can See and Know but I can’t tell how far or how much. For example, he didn’t seem to know our names, but that could’ve just been a hoax to let our guard down. He seems immune to my Asking as well.”
Martin hummed and started to mess with Jon’s long hair, winding it through his fingers and gently pulling at knots. “I can see what you mean. And the other avatars he mentioned, they seemed so abstract, don’t you think? Like Huntokar could definitely be a real name, but what the hell is a Glow Cloud?”
“He mentioned he kept recordings of his old broadcasts, maybe they’ll work like statements,” Jon said.
“Lord, I'm so tired of statements,” Martin bemoaned. “Hold on, are you still going to have to feed here? Since your powers are lesser and everything? What’s your hunger level?”
Jon paused for a second before looking back up, “I have no idea. Maybe I’ll get lucky? I don’t feel hungry.”
“It would be great if you didn’t have to feed anymore! No more daily creepy sessions out in the domains. Wait, were they daily? They seemed daily.” Jon gave Martin a look before he groaned out, “Right. No real time passing, dream state, yada yada. Forget I asked.”
“I’ll pretend to forget just for you.”
“As you should.”
As they giggle together, Cecil steps into the lobby to join them. “Hey fellas!” he greets. “I’m all done recording today and called my husband. I’ll be taking you both out to dinner tonight while he gets a spare room ready. Now, we only have one, so I hope you two are alright sharing a bed?”
“More than alright,” Jon confirmed. Martin nodded in agreement.
Cecil beamed, “That’s great! It took a little convincing, but since you guys will be joining the community, I told my husband a little trust is important to build. My husband is a Scientist, so eventually he agreed it was logical. Don’t you just love cute science buzzwords like ‘logical’? So cute.”
“Buzzword??”
“Oh! I nearly forgot, proper introductions. I forgot to really introduce myself during our existence question and also didn’t quite catch your names,” Cecil said sheepishly. “My name is Cecil Gershwin Palmer, and I am Night Vale’s very own community radio host!”
“Right, my name is Jonthan Sims and this is my partner Martin Blackwood. I am,” Jon paused. “Was the Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute. Or simply put the Archivist.”
“Did you work in Science too?” Cecil asked.
“No, that definitely wasn’t science.”
“That’s a shame,” Cecil said. “Anyways, let's get going, yeah? The Moonlite all Night Diner is pretty close by and is right next to some of Night Vale’s older attractions that I’d love to show you.”
Martin takes Jon’s hand once again as they get up. “That sounds great, thank you. I’m sorry we don’t have a way to pay you back yet.”
“That’s quite alright,” Cecil assured. “You two are far from the only interlopers with only the clothes on your back. Even my sweet Carlos was an interloper at one point.”
“Interloper?”
“Yes!” Cecil said chipperly as he walked them to the door. “A bit of local culture if you will. Newcomers are commonly referred to as interlopers. You gain true citizenship after about ten years of being in the community.”
Jon and Martin just nodded as their host led them out into the street. It seemed John Peters wasn’t the weird outlier in this town. Cecil guided their way to a diner down route 800. There were a few buildings nearby, one with a sign saying it was the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex, which was a bit of a mouthful. Another building was Rico’s Pizza, another nice choice for later, maybe. The whole way Cecil kept chatting at them, giving tidbits of history about the town or gushing about his family, which seemed to consist of him, his husband, a son, a dog, his sister, brother-in-law and niece.
“And here we are!” Cecil exclaimed and guided them inside. It was a retro themed diner with the common neon lights and sit down booths with a bar counter stretching through the middle to accommodate those moving quickly through or eating alone. Cecil gestured for them to sit in a booth, taking the side across from them. “Now do you prefer real food or imaginary?”
“Er, we’ll take real food please,” Martin answered.
Cecil nodded and handed them a menu specifically for the real food. “You should try the imaginary food sometime. It’s a town speciality.”
“I noticed,” Jon said, taking the menu with a nod. “John Peters, the farmer, gave us some imaginary corn muffins for breakfast when we first arrived.”
“You lucky ducks,” Cecil said with a chuckle. “Doesn’t he make just the best imaginary corn muffins? I had it once at a potluck- ugh. Delicious. I expect no less from our main source of imaginary corn however.”
Soon a waitress with the name tag Luara comes over and takes their orders. Jon ordered a turkey club sandwich, Martin ordered pancakes with blueberries in them and Cecil ordered an imaginary coffee and a real cheese burger.
“I’ve never been to an American diner,” Martin commented, deciding to really try and take in the scene. “This is America, right?” Cecil nodded, trying to not take offense.
“I was in America once,” Jon mentioned lazily while messing with the silverware. “That went famously well,” he said sarcastically.
“Well consider this friendly desert community a new start!” Cecil smiled. “I think you’ll find it largely different from the rest of America. In fact, my husband even said it was the most scientifically interesting city in America as a whole.”
“What science does your husband do?” asked Martin.
Cecil shrugged, “He’s just a Scientist.”
“Right…”
“Anyways,” Cecil waved off, “If you don’t mind, I have some questions of my own.”
Jon straightened up and focused. “Go ahead,” he said cautiously.
“So if I’m understanding correctly, you come from a different world entirely, correct? One with entities you called the Fears?”
“That’s correct,” Jon confirmed.
“You didn’t happen to fall through a rift, did you?”
Jon stuttered for a moment. “How did you know?”
“Well that explains everything! You see, Night Vale exists in a rift, I think. We had a time where there were countless different Night Vales, all with different outcomes and different situations. To stabilize things, Huntokar had to clean up the rift and separate the different towns for good; however some things still fall through. I think you two might be one of those things.”
“That… makes a lot of sense.”
“And I’m guessing you weren’t very fond of where you came from?”
“Hold on, that’s not fair,” Martin interjected. “It was… okay maybe not the best place, but it was home before the apocalypse. We fell through the rift to save our world, give it another chance. Because our world was worth it.”
“And in doing so we doomed yours…” finished Jon.
“Doomed?”
“Yes, doomed,” Jon nodded. “We had these entities called the Fears. They were… well, what people feared, manifested. There were 14 distinct categories but they could often be melded into one. Martin and I served an entity called the Eye, a fear set on only observing and recording. I became an Archive, essentially, because I ended the world.”
“Jon…”
“It’s the truth, Martin. I started the end of our world and became a powerful entity and now there’s a chance the Fears are going to end this one and I don’t have the power to stop them. I-” Jon startles slightly as a plate containing the sandwich he ordered is placed in front of him, along with the other two getting their meals.”Thank you Miss.”
“So…” Cecil started as the other had paused because of their food arriving. “There’s a new threat to Night Vale?”
Jon nodded.
“Then we’ll face it together.”
“What? You hardly even know us and it’s all my fault-”
“You’re a part of this community now and community stays together,” Cecil interrupted. “It’s hardly the first threat we’ve encountered. We’ve rebuilt countless times and have always come back stronger. You both look famished, we’ll talk more after you’ve had a good bite to eat.”
Jon looked down at his sandwich. Nothing blinked back, or crawled out of it. He was hungry…
