Prosopagnosia, by ZiGraves (G)

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Fandom: WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
Pairing: Cecil/Carlos
Length: wordcount 1,327
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: ZiGraves on tumblr; works on AO3
Why this must be read:

You can always recognise Cecil Baldwin. He’s one of those people, you know the sort, who happen to look just exactly the way they sound.

In this clever, charming/creepy story, ZiGraves has fun with the ambiguity over what the Voice of Night Vale looks like, alternating between various townfolks’ descriptions of Cecil (some of which will sound familiar to those who have been looking at fanart) and a series of journal entries made by Carlos.

Of everyone in town, Carlos the Scientist didn’t know what Cecil looked like. He’d spent years learning that nothing could be assumed until it was observed, and never really got a clear picture of what he expected from Cecil. The man’s voice ranged from velvet dark to chipperly girlish and his tone, presentation, everything varied just as much. Carlos made no assumptions of who or — given the lack of reliable physiology in Night Vale — what Cecil might be.

...

[Cecil] has never been particularly bothered by what he looks like, comfortable to simply be in the eyes and ears of others. But he knows that some perceptions of reality are more true than others. Carlos’ perception feels the truest of them all.

“Prosopagnosia” on AO3