Hey friend! I did a Night Vale presentation once too! There's tons of aspects about Night Vale which you can cover, both inside and outside the podcast. Inside, for instance, you could cover Desert Bluffs and capitalism, or the fact that Night Vale is pretty dangerous but we still find it comforting and familiar as fans, representation of minorities in the podcast... the Void is the limit! Good luck! :D
Hey Brianda!
You’re right when you say that Night Vale is weird. Your survival rate is probably a lot lower in Night Vale than where you are living right now, with the Librarians and Street Cleaning day and such.
Anyways, Desert Bluffs & Capitalism (StrexCorp) is such a good topic! I’ll definitely include that in my presentation because it seems particularly relevant to where the world is right now.
I’ll definitely spare a few thoughts on your ideas and thank you so much for sharing them!!
nightshadetears: ask and ye shall receive... Teen!lock in which Sherlock gets laughed at during class and John defends him, earning himself detention. When he gets out of detention, Sherlock is there to thank him. :D
John took his seat just as the bell rang for class to start. As he got his pencil out, the teacher had reached to his table, and handed him the test.
The class immediately fell silent, and only the sounds of scratching pencil and rubbing erasure encased the room, that is, until the door opened.
The quiet kid—(well, he was taller than John) Sherlock—walked in and took his seat at the table next to his. A few people giggled, and the teacher glared at them.
“Quiet,” he warned.
The teenagers fell silent. Six minutes later, Sherlock stood from his chair and headed to the teacher.
Bloody genius, John thought in awe. Suddenly, there was loud crash, and then a roar of laughter. John looked up to see Sherlock on the floor, and a chair on its side.
“Settle down—.”
“Fucking stupid—,” someone whispered.
John’s blood boiled and he turned around. “Leave him alone,” he said loudly. The laughter died down almost instantly, and the teacher glared at John.
“Detention, Watson. Anyone else utter a word, you can join him.”
John flickered his eyes to Sherlock, who looked away from him and stood up. He handed in his test, and then left without another look back.
John sighed. He knew he shouldn’t expect a note of gratitude, but a nod wouldn’t have hurt, would it?
///
John sat in detention for two hours, bored out of his mind. Finally, the clocked ticked to 4 o’clock, and he rushed out there, only to collide hard to another student.
“Oh, sorry—!” He looked up to see Sherlock. Sherlock met his gaze for a split second, and then turned on his heel and started to walk away. John grabbed him by the arm gently and held him in place.
“Wait a minute, what are you—.”
“I just wanted to thank you for what you said. So, thanks.” Sherlock squirmed out of John’s grasp, so John released him, but quickly took a large step and stood in front of him.
“You’re welcome,” John said. He smiled gently, hoping Sherlock would at least smile back, but he only looked over John’s head.
John’s smiled faltered and quickly thought of something else to say. “How do you think you did? On the test, I mean.”
“It was easy,” Sherlock replied. He finally looked down at John and met his gaze. John gaped. His eyes were mesmerizing, and he blinked himself out of his sudden reverie, realizing Sherlock’s brows were furrowed.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to—I, er, I’m John.” John stretched out his hand, and after a second, Sherlock took it and shook it briefly.
John continued to stare, at a loss of what else to say. Sherlock’s brows only continued to furrow.
“What are you staring at?”
Jesus, his voice! Oh, wait he asked something…
“I, it’s just that you’re, um…”
“Stuttering won’t get you in to medical school.”
“How do you know I want to go to med school?”
Sherlock stared at him, and then sighed. “You’re trained in CPR and have been since you were thirteen. You excel in advanced biology, yet have a little trouble in chemistry, but that’s partially due to the teacher. You spend a lot of time at the counselor’s office, planning and deciding whether or not to go into the military, yet you always have pamphlets of universities and their medical program, so army doctor is your dream. You’ve been working at the pool during the summer as a lifeguard. You want to save lives, and even express this protectiveness to your teammates, no matter how annoying they are, so strong moral compass. Medical school then, is your plan.”
John’s eyes widened and he stared for a few seconds.
“Amazing,” he breathed.
Sherlock’s eyes also widened, and then flickered with surprise. “Really?”
John smiled. “That was, really. Quite extraordinary.”
“That’s not what people say.”
“What do people say?”
“Piss off. Or if they have to be quiet, trip me.”
John laughed, and then sobered up. “Are you all right? It sounded like a hard fall.”
Sherlock gaped for a second, and then nodded. John noticed his cheeks were blushing, and then realized his were as well.
“Good,” John whispered. “If you have a bruise, I can take a look. I don’t know much, but just to be safe.”
Sherlock licked his lips and looked away briefly. “My, er, side hurts, but not too bad.”
“You didn’t hurt your ribs, did you?”
“No, no, it’s lower.”
“Oh…oh!” John blushed deeper. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—I didn’t—.”
“It’s fine.”
John nodded. “Good…”
Sherlock nodded once, and then walked around him. John quickly ran up to him and blocked his way again, something suddenly fluttering in his abdomen.
“Would you show me? I mean, once we got to know each other? If I were to, I don’t know, buy you dinner?”
He waited nervously, and watched as Sherlock’s eyes widen, narrow, and then lower, before finally meeting his gaze.
“Are you asking me out or is this a joke?”
Startled, John quickly shook his head. “No, of course not. I want to. Take you out—I mean, out on a date, not physically knock you out—.”
“All right,” Sherlock said, his voice softer.
John grinned. “Great.”
Sherlock slowly smiled, and later that night, John would realize that is the most beautiful smile he’s ever seen.
Ficlet: Retired John and Retired Sherlock getting glasses together, John being all "I'm gonna look old..." and Sherlock being all "which would the bees like best?"
You and I
“How about these?” John asked. Sherlock scrunched up his nose and shook his head.
“Don’t be ridiculous, John. What about these?” Sherlock placed a round pair of glasses on himself and looked at John. John sniggered.
“You look like Harry Potter.”
“Who?”
“Nevermind. These?”
“No. Those make your nose too large.”
“Gee, thanks.” John put the glasses backed and looked at the wire frames. “Maybe I should get ones with a chain, or for you too, that way we won’t lose them.”
Sherlock scoffed. “And look like Larry Greyson? No, thanks.”
John sniggered and continued looking down the aisle. Most were wire frames, and some were framed out of cream-clear plastic, that reminded John of the 80s. He walked down the aisle and ended up where he started.
This will take forever, he thought with slight annoyance. He grabbed a random pair and put them on, and then looked in the mirror
“Jesus, I look even older,” he said to himself. He looked at his reflection, and inwardly winced. He took them off and placed them back, and continued looking. Sherlock walked towards him, holding a couple in his hand, and wearing one on his face.
“Are these too big, John? I don’t want them to get in the way of my veil when I check on the bees.”
John looked at him closely. “They look fine. But I don’t think wire suits you.”Sherlock huffed, and replaced them with not-quite-square ones that only had a plastic frame on the top part. These were a soft black, and weren’t harsh with Sherlock’s pale skin.
“These?”
“Better,” John said with an affectionate grin. The glasses didn’t age Sherlock at all, he thought, deciding to keep that to himself. He didn’t want to be a pouty old man.
Sherlock looked at the mirror and grinned. “Would the bees like them?”
John sniggered. “I doubt they’ll notice.”
“No, but will they still recognize me?”
John laughed again. “You know, they probably just see a tall blob of white with a huge head.”
Sherlock glared at him, despite a grin forming on his lips. “Off-white,” he corrected, and then handed him a few glasses. “Try these.”
John put one on, and then cringed. “By all means, age me ten years, thanks.”
“Don’t be silly. How about these?”
John put them on, and then looked at his reflection. “They’re all right. Still looking too old.”
Sherlock huffed. “You are old, John.”
“Thanks—.”
“No, what I mean is this,” Sherlock said as he took a step in front of his partner. He took the glasses off, and looked down into his blue eyes. Sherlock raised his hand and gently caresses John’s cheek.
“Don’t pick something that’s too young for you, you don’t want to look like you’re denying your age—unless you really like the frames, but I know you don’t. You don’t like wearing glasses, but we’re here because we need them. Especially since you kept complaining about the paper’s font shrinking every other week.” Sherlock smirked, and waited for John to respond.
John inhaled, and then nodded. “You’re right. Just help me pick some out, nothing that makes me look weird, or old enough to be admitted to the bingo table.”
Sherlock sniggered. “Just a couple of years—.”
“Oi—.”
“A-ha! Try these, John.”
John took the glasses and tried them on. In the mirror, he looked like himself: not too old and not too in denial, as Sherlock had put it. John grinned.
Perfect.
These frames were black, only covering the top, with the actual glasses free of any frame. They were square, though not quite, and they—wait a minute.
John turned his head and looked at Sherlock, his mouth slightly agape. He stared at Sherlock, who stared back, his face relaxed, except for the minute smirk rising on the corner of his lips.
“They’re the same as yours!” John gaped.
Sherlock grinned wider. “We both look good with them. And for these, it’s buy one, get one half off.”
John stared at him, and then slowly smiled. He laughed, and then leaned up, rising on his toes slightly. Sherlock met him half way, and kissed him gently. John cupped his cheek and kissed him for a moment longer. Both of them were relieved the glasses didn’t get in the way.
nightshadetears replied to your post “On a constant struggle between I miss my partners and I don’t want to...”
Unfortunately, with homophobic parents, sometimes we have to lie, because a lie (or silence, in my case) is better than a war. I understand what you're going through, though. *big hug* I wish I could do more to help.
Oh don't worry dear, it's ok. I just wish she'd accept that I'm dating someone (she seriously told me to ask out a gross guy who treated me awfully i high school just cause he told me I looked prettier)
Guess I'll just have to wait to see if hings improve
