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fogwitchoftheevermore · 3 months

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i only spent like 30 minutes on these hence the quality but behold. mechs au doodles be upon ye. full list of what's going on in this au+the two mechs images i referenced below the cut

so the hermits are the mechs themselves in this au, and rn we have empires members in oautis (ouatis is where this even started and then it SPIRALED)

ouatis itself is empires season 1. the cast is:

snow-jimmy rose-lizzie cinders-joel briar rose-katherine king cole-sausage hansel+gretel-fwhip+gem gepetto-joey jack-shrub pix+scott are members of snow's crew from pump shanty, xornoth is the general white who betrays snow's crew cause we were originally gonna put him in the crew itself to fill up numbers before we Realized. the three little pigs are hesitently bubbles, sir carlos, and the general but lizzie doesn't kill them i'm not making her kill a dog. they just leave dw about it.

then we decided alice could be fun if we threw the season 2 characters into it so:

alice-pix comsat chesire-sausage caterpiller-oli hatter+hare-shelby+katherine door mouse-joey queen of hearts-lizzie knave of hearts-fwhip or jimmy (haven't quite decided)

and then the mechanisms themselves!

jonny-pearl nastya-false (we decided pearl+false would be the two mechs who show up in ouatis because it simply Made Sense for those to be the hermits who appear, y'know) ashes-cleo (look at me and tell me cleo wouldn't pull the shit ashes does. you can't) ivy-cub (archivist, bit of a bitch, what is their deal? who knows) brian-grumbot (the pun of drumbot brian to grumbot brian was too good to pass up) tim-tango (both tried to blow up the moon) ts-joe (again, tell me this doesn't work. you can't) raph-doc (mad scientist, has wings) marius-ren (simply vibes, has/had a prosthetic arm) carmilla-genericb OR grian. genericb is funnier with joe having done a coup to get hermitcraft s2 running (ts killed the doc in this universe), grian is funnier with grumbot being here. scuzz-etho (it just makes sense) the aurora is just the hermatrix in this au. and also yes she is still false's girlfriend. i think she deserves it.

#empires smp #hermitcraft #pearlescentmoon #i feel bad tagging everyone else only pearl appears more than once

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tired-fandom-ndn · 5 months

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this is like, definitely a really weird question to throw your way, but you're the only person i know of who's into it, so- how do you get into the Mechanisms? like. do you just listen to the albums?

Not a weird question at all, anon! The Mechanisms are great but they're also like. A lot and really difficult to get into without some help.

I highly recommend checking out this post for a great general guide on the characters, basic lore, and the main albums.

Basic info from me:

The Mechanisms were a character band where the performers each played a member of a crew of space pirates, made immortal through being "mechanized" (except for The Toy Soldier, which is doing its own thing).

The albums and individual tracks are presented as retellings of events that the mechs witnessed in their travels to different planets, space stations, solar systems, etc. Different mechs play characters in the story (ie: Jonny Sims plays the mech Jonny D'Ville who plays Ulysses in UDAD), presenting their own (self-admittedly biased and inaccurate) accounts of what happened. These albums are heavily based on things like mythos and existing tales, which is explained in-lore as stories just replaying in the universe in different ways.

These stories do not have happy endings. Ever. "So know the void is screaming mad, no happy endings out there, lad." - Tales to be Told.

Since the albums are telling a story, the songs have to be listened to in order to understand them. The general pattern is narration-song-narration-song. The albums themselves can be listened to in any order though; most people recommend Once Upon a Time In Space, then High Noon Over Camelot, then Ulysses Dies at Dawn, then The Bifrost Incident. Personally (don't come at me), I feel like TBI is a poor one to end on because it doesn't have a finale song like the others; I recommend finishing on a really strong note with UDAD or HNOC.

Once Upon a Time In Space: a story of a rebel space faction waging war against an immortal tyrant king, with a heavy focus on a refugee princess trying to save her wife from the king. Inspired by classic Western fairytales like Snow White and Cinderella.

High Noon Over Camelot: a scifi Western taking place on an abandoned space station, with the leaders trying to gain access to the station's controls before it goes hurtling into the sun. One of the songs, Hellfire, is incredible but based heavily on Southern doom preachers in case that's a trigger. Inspired by Arthurian mythos with biblical themes and a tarot theme for the track names?

Ulysses Dies at Dawn: a corrupt world run by people using the brains (and, presumably, souls) of the dead to run the planet and fuel their own immortality, with a main focus on a retired war criminal and their brief stint as the captive of a bunch of criminals trying to access their locked vault. Inspired by Greek and Roman mythos (you can actually figure out "sides" based on the characters' names!)

The Bifrost Incident: a transport officer trying to investigate the decades-old disappearance of a train containing their world's most powerful and influential people, with three captive mechs being their main source of information. Inspired by Norse and Cthulhu mythos.

There's also some incredible side albums like Gunpower Tim vs the Moon Kaiser (GPT's origin story and how he was mechanized), Frankenstein (an extremely trans retelling), and Alice (a side sequel to OUATIS, about a planet where the war continues).

There's also individual tracks and short stories that sometimes stand on their own and are sometimes connected to one of the main albums, just little ways to fill in the lore. Jessica Law, the performer for The Toy Soldier, has a frankly beautiful song called Narcissus Under the Knife that is about a character mentioned in one of the lore stories for UDAD.

Some of the mechanisms have their own individual origin songs. That list includes Gunpowder Tim vs the Moon Kaiser (GPT), One-Eyed Jacks (Jonny D'Vill, debatable, he's said most of it is lies), Lucky Sevens (Ashes O'Reilly), Cyberian Demons (Nastya Rasputina), and Lost in the Cosmos (Drumbot Brian). Kofi Young, the performer for Doctor Baron Marius Von Raum (neither a doctor nor a baron) is working on their own album for Marius' origin titled The Death of Byron von Raum.

Speaking of lore: you can find official fiction for the characters and individual albums (excluding TBI rip) on the official website. Highly recommend reading them if you're interested in engaging with the fandom.

There's more lore but a lot of it is buried in old archived blogspot posts, on twitter, or idly mentioned on either tumblr or on discord servers (Maki's is very active). I'm sure there's some google doc with links floating around tumblr somewhere but a lot of it is just off-hand stuff (like the time Drumbot Brian was briefly replaced as drummer with octokittens, multi-tentacled creatures living on the ship).

The fandom has sooooooo many antis, man, it's not even funny. People will ride your ass for shipping Nastya and Jonny, noncon is a big no-no (goddd), and fans simultaneously want all the mechs to be uwu soft and fluffy found family but also if you give them any personality traits whatsoever then you're trying to erase their horrific crimes. It's a fucking mess so be prepared for that.

#Anonymous #the mechanisms

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letsstartafamilywellinvitewelove · 2 years

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Started relistening to ouatis. Like colors. Started writing shit down for theory building. Got carried away. I present to you all:

Things described in ouatis as red in order of appearance

- [ ] King cole’s soul (“and soon his soul grew red with the lust for conquest” in once, “old king cole was a brutal soul, and a bloody red soul had he” in old king cole)

- [ ] King cole’s hands (“oh, never to forgive, he would eternal live, his hands dyed red by gore” in old king cole”

- [ ] Rose’s hair (“while rose, with her short shock of scarlet hair” in the twins)

- [ ] Rose red (I don’t know what proof to put here but like. It has red in the name so I bet that can fit into some fun theories)

- [ ] It never actually states that the apples the bomb on the ss anderson (snows flight) was hidden in were red but I think it’d be fun if they were

- [ ] Rose’s and cinder’s rings (“when the jewel on her glass wedding band would change from white into red / indicating that it’s twin was near” in the bride, “her now scarlet ring plunged into the desiccated black heart of the king” in chapter the last, “she pierced his chest with her blood red ring” in laid in blood)

- [ ] Rose as a person (“a godmother in white, she came, and led me to your crimson” in cinders song)

- [ ] Red hood (come on it’s in the name)

Things described in ouatis as black in order of appearance

- [ ] The little pigs’ armor (“arrayed in armour black as ebony, it did no good to run” in old king cole, “rebels falling like chaff before their black iron foes” in chapter the last)

- [ ] King cole’s throne room (“there stood a small, unremarkable room, roughly hewn from thick black rock” in old king cole)

- [ ] Snow’s hair (“snow was possessed of long, luxuriant black hair” in the twins)

- [ ] King cole’s heart (“her now scarlet ring plunged into the desiccated black heart of the king” in chapter the last)

Things described in ouatis as white in order of appearance

- [ ] King cole’s throne (“where king cole sat on his white throne / his shriveled form seemed all the more withered on its ivory bulk” in old king cole, “as his ivory throne split down the centre” in chapter the last)

- [ ] King cole’s tale (“immense and white it gleamed in the night, the color of sun-bleached bone” in old king cole)

- [ ] I guess snow (character) bc snow (winter shit) is white

- [ ] Ok she’s literally general white she has a right to be here

- [ ] Rose’s and cinder’s rings (“when the jewel on her glass wedding band would change from white into red / indicating that it’s twin was near” in the bride)

- [ ] Cinders’s godmother (“a godmother in white, she came, and led me to your crimson” in cinders song)

- [ ] Brides usually wear white on weddings so like

Things described in ouatis as grey in order of appearance

- [ ] Listen mr greyditch (“me greyditch, how’s the ship?” in snows flight) has grey in the name and I bet that means something

- [ ] In pump shanty it says “but he was not embroiled in smoke” and “the smog is thick, your eyes are stung” and I bet the smoke was grey

Fun facts I discovered while doing this:

- [ ] Holy fuck why does old king cole have so many colors

- [ ] “The first was snow, who managed to crawl to safety / badly injured, though she lost much of herself in the process” GIRL THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN /positive

- [ ] Ohhhhhh it’s the ss Anderson bc hans anderson I get it now how have I never realized that

- [ ] On a similar note I love the half second pause before “detonated” it sounds very fun

- [ ] Who’s speaking at the end of snow’s flight (“oh don’t you go listening to that old bastard doc” etc)

- [ ] I think I’d be cool if in pump shanty the chorus didn’t just say “we’re just a million miles from home” EVERY time but instead added a million every time they did it. A million, two million, three million, all the way to nine million. Just to really emphasize that they’re leaving home and all they’ve ever known behind bc home wants to kill them

- [ ] Cinder’s song remains the most romantic song to ever exist

- [ ] “Oh, my love, as they led me to the prison / I looked through the bars and saw you, my love / oh, my love, my soul was then arisen / I looked through the scars to you, my love” HELLO?!

1. I don’t know how to format this but these are sub the last one, I’m sorry

2. This is genuinely some fanfic shit. Going through so many emotions rn

3. It’s kinda interesting how every line cinders feels the need to repeat that she loves rose. She’s gone through so much trauma and betrayal that she has to keep reminding people of this or else all the joy and love will end

4. Only love on first sight I’ll ever accept

5. In conclusion if anyone has any fics where this moment is elaborated for the love of whatever you hold dear to your heart send them to me. I would kill for it.

6. Any of this song really

- [ ] “My ring will lead me to you and the life they have denied you” !!!!!!!!! They DENIED rose that life !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- [ ] The change from waiting for a princess to come to going out to find her princess !!!! Not just her princess her cinders !!!!!!!!!!!

- [ ] God the theme really is war is terrible and angry even if you’re on the “right” side and we’re told it’s a necessary evil but is it really I don’t know I’m just giving you the information from both sides and you get to decide for yourself and it gets me every time

- [ ] I wonder if there’s a connection between rose red and red hood cause they both got red in their names and we don’t know who red hood is

- [ ] Scheherazade being a propaganda minister is honestly so fun

- [ ] I love how we’re told that there’s a king and nobles and a royal court but like you get to figure out anything beyond that you’re on your own with all that shit

- [ ] Ok but what if the whole cast sang our boy hack together

- [ ] “If he can can slay them so can we” but that’s the thing isn’t it he couldn’t slay them

- [ ] “And when the rose comes over the water” isn’t this like interplanetary warfare? If we’re saying this is a battle on a planet are the rose reds on a ship or swimming or do they just have magic Jesus powers? For some reason I’m imagining these skyscraper hight people just heelying over an ocean eating chips

- [ ] Love the implication of guerrilla warfare here

- [ ] They sure are promising a lot here

- [ ] FUCK even in death you still have to contribute to the war effort you could write so many essays about this fucking song

- [ ] WE DONT EVEN GET A NAME FOR THE CAPTAIN BECAUSE THEY WERE SO UTTERLY ERASED FROM HISTORY FUCK

- [ ] They refer to sleeping beauty as malfunctioning despite clearly being sentient bc all she’s ever been treated like was an experiment

- [ ] “The closest thing the ship has to a captain” SIR YOU HAVE A CAPTAIN

- [ ] I remember hearing nastyas voice for the first time and being so excited bc Slavic accent!! Hello!!!! I know your voice I know your face I share something with you !!!!!!!!! Very fun experience

- [ ] “Fuck the ship!”

- [ ] “… I do”

- [ ] “Ew!”

- [ ] He’s so overprotective I love him

- [ ] TAKE AURORA IN GENTLY NASTYA LETS SEE WHAT THESE ROSIES CAN DO GOTTA SAY IM IN THE MOOD FOR VIOLENCE AND I RECKON YOU MIGHT BE TOO LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED THE ONLY WAY WE KNOW GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS THATS OUR CUE HELLO LADIES FIRE TILL YOUR GUNS ARE EMPTY TILL YOUR AMMUNITION RUNS DRY IF YOURE FINISHED PLAYING AT SOLDIER YOU MIGHTVE NOTICED WE CANNOT DIE I SUGGEST YOU BEAT A FUCKING TACTICAL RETREAT OR WELL LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR AND HAVOC CRY

- [ ] I find it interesting that a lot of the colors are very much in the beginning while we’re still setting up the world rather than when we’re explaining plot and characters

- [ ] Ok but do they ever actually explain what happened to sleeping beauty

- [ ] The fact that the wolf virus is controlled by red hood implies that either she took possession of it after it killed her grandma or she killed her grandma on purpose

- [ ] God the fact that in no happy ending they’re saying pretty much the same shit but worded differently

- [ ] Also king cole kind of hisses “for us” and snow kind of shouts it

- [ ] She generally sounds much angrier than him in this song

- [ ] I guess it makes sense and it’s fun how we get a shit ton of colors at the beginning and a shit ton of colors at the end

- [ ] The first two and last one song both mention king coles soul thought that was fun

- [ ] THE REBEL BLADES HAVE ACHIEVED THEIR GOAL EVEN THOUGH EVERYONE DIED KING COLE DID TOO THAT WAS WHAT THEY WANTED IN THE END

- [ ] They spent so much to see rose alive again and then they died right as they did. Payment to hades you might say

- [ ] BELIEVED IN PEACE YET MARCHED TO WAR SHOT THEOUGH THE HEART DEAD UPON THE FLOOR COVERED IN HER OWN AND HER SISTERS GORE LAID IN BLOOD WHEN THE BATTLE WAS DONE WITH AN ARMY TO LEAD AND A WAR TO WIN PUT THE BULLET TO DOZENS OF HER OWN KIN ATONING FOR SOME VAST AND SECRET SIN LAID IN BLOOD WHEN TFE BATTLE WAS DONE

- [ ] She was wearing the rags of her fucking wedding dress guys

- [ ] I’m like incapable of any analysis of laid in blood my mind just goes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- [ ] Thrice damned king maybe refers to snow rose and cinders?

- [ ] King coles soul is consistently referred to as red and cinders ring pierces his chest is red I bet that means something

- [ ] first and last song both name one color once and it’s red (king coles soul and cinders ring so that adds credence to point above

- [ ] The book is closed and the story told x the book is lying open there are tales to be told

Anyway I’m tired but I bet there’s something to be said if you listed all the times fire or smoke or ashes were mentioned

Feel free to tell me any thoughts or any colors I missed

In conclusion: I love this album. So much.

#um #the mechanisms #once upon a time in space #once upon a time (in space)#ouatis #ouat(is)#I’m not tagging all those fucking characters and songs #deepest apologies to all my non mechs mutuals #sorry besties but in my defense I felt like it

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fairytale-poll · 4 months

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i am here to show a few reasons why cinders ouatis does, in fact, qualify as a cinerella.

(btw htis is not to pcik a fight or to be rude to that anon, i would sjut like to show that there are several thigns the propaganda did not speak of that qualified her for the position, if she's meant to follow all the cinerellea tropes.)

first, her story, then how it falls into line with what makes a cinderella.

so, her mom died. that's. that's kidna a big stapple in msot cinderallas. her dad (the king btw, i promise it's kinda important) remarried to her "wicked stepmother" and then had new stepsisters as well (wicked in quotes. they're- ok. there's a lot)

in the era of a war against king Cole, cole ended up taking over her kingdom/planet, with the help of her stepsisters and step mother, and they kinda turned her in ("wicked" part). she was then thrown into jail.

(also her love interest was, at least in popular theories since it wasn't explicetly stated, one of the commanding officers in the raid.)

rose, her love interest ("Prince Charming" but yk princess bc lesbians yippee!), got to know her a bit while she was still in prison, and there was like a lot of unresolved everything.

then a "godmother in white" (snow, rose's sister, or at least that's how i interpreted it, however it could very well be general white or whatever her title was that snow ended up adopting) broke her out the day that rose was resasigned and leaving planet. the godmother told her that if she and rose were married by midnight, then they woul be able to be together bc idk laws ig? (i mean, i've nevre heard of laws that allow that but yk ok why not)

then at the wedding cole ended up kidnapping rose and cinders fled (she also feels really guilty about this, but if you read the fiction for it, im pretty sure it said that rose had told her to run) and was one fo the few survivers of the everything that happened there.

then she spends the rest of her years hunting down rose wiht this like... mood ring? at least it kinda works like one i think.

then when she finally finds rose agin.... um.

well, i'll let you listen to the album.

(it's sad.)

NOW HERE'S WHERE THINGS OVERLAP

again, the remarriage of her father.

then the way her stepmother and sisters treated her. now, again. never explicitly stated how they treated her before cole came and stuff, but after that, she was in the position of being in rags when she deserved so mcuh more than that, but her stepfamily took it from her (in a few other ersion it's the stepmother making her the family servant/slave, in other version it's... something else idk i don''t read a lot of cinderella stuff tbh i preffer other fairy tales).

then we have the godmother saving her. that part speaks for itself. i think.

then for the ball (or in this case, a wedding to her "true love"), it IS explicitly stated that the rings, that turn red when its other is with it, are made of glass. in the fiction, it said that as cinders was putting the ring on rose's finger, the bmombs went off, and she dropped it. rose caught it, stuffed it in her wedding dress pocket (fuck yeah, i would love to have that on my wedding dress), told cinders to run. leaving the glass slipper (ring, ig, but yk it slipped so) behind, right around midnight.

also, her name isn't even cinders officially! i don't know what it was before, but durring the whole revolution and such and her looking for rose, she edned up taking a new name/persona, much like snow, and was dubbed cinders, "after the her ashen world" (or whatevr it was, idk, i haven't listened to the album in a bit). again, this plays into the whole thing with the name that many other version and adaptations liek to play off of.

tbh this is all i can think of rn bc im kinda tired, so feel free to expand on this. wanted to give as mcuh details as i could abotu her story and how it is fairly similar to every other cinderella story.

however to me, a lot of these cinderellas also jsut. aren't too close to a certain story of cinderella. there's a lot of creative liberaty taken in every version. now, the album in it of itself, (once upon a time (in space)) takes a bucnh of stories, this and many other fary tales, and twists them and makes it their own. it's an adaptation. and when it comes to things like folk lore, ledgends, myths, and fairy tales (especially those), there's always gonna be some inconsistancies than with other version derived of the same media. hell, even jsut the stories themselves almsot never stay consistent.

a cinderella is a cinderella if they are said to be based off of the story of cinderella. (im looking at you carrie, and how no one said she was any less of a cinderella than any other competitor)

-A

If this propaganda has convinced you, click here to vote for Cinders (Once Upon a Time in Space)!

#im going to be honest i didnt read all of this bc i cant focus on it rn #but ofc like everyone is allowed to send in info on their cinderella! :)#i do want to say i dont think prev anon wanted to say cinders shouldnt count for the tourney #i just think they found them less cinderella y than other contestants #but maybe reading this would change their mind !!#long post #ask #propaganda #not a poll

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voxxphantasma · 3 years

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can we talk abt general white tho.... mx. cordelia ily ❤

#snail trail #the mechanisms #once upon a time in space #ouatis #shes So nonbinary.#she literally changes her name and is like 'if anyone ever calls me by any other name ever again they are a traitor to the resistance.'#like I LOVE YOU #also the fact that colonel belle calls her sir?#he/they/she general white i think.#i love her. so much

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words-writ-in-starlight · 3 years

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What is The Mechanisms ?

The Mechanisms are...a band, technically. In practice, they’re somewhere between a band, an audio drama, and incredibly high-commitment performance art, but they are TECHNICALLY a band.

The more helpful answer is that the Mechanisms are sort of a story within a story, and I’m just going to explain all of it on in-universe terms and you’ll just have to bear with me.

The Mechanisms are a crew of immortals who kill time by kicking around the universe in a sentient spaceship wreaking general havoc and getting up to their eyeballs in various wars. They picked up their immortality courtesy of a woman named Doctor Carmilla, who gave them the eponymous Mechanisms--mechanical organs, limbs, even whole bodies, which keep them from dying--and who has since been thrown out an airlock. The Mechs keep track of all this time (and all these people) they’ve killed by writing songs about it, which you can find on Spotify.

There are two collections of assorted songs (backstories, single incidents, etc) called Tales To Be Told (Vol I and Vol II), as well as four albums! The albums are:

Once Upon A Time (In Space): fairy tales, but fairy tales as an interstellar war between Old King Cole and Snow White, set mostly to folk rock

Ulysses Dies At Dawn: the Odyssey, but the Odyssey on a planet-wide dystopian City powered by the dead and ruled by the immortal rich, set mostly to blues rock

High Noon Over Camelot: classic Arthuriana, but Arthuriana on a long-lost space station full of warring factions, set mostly to...I don’t know if “western rock” is a genre but HNOC sounds like a cowboy movie so I’m going with it

The Bifrost Incident: Norse mythology, specifically Ragnarok, if Ragnarok was about wormholes, Lovecraftian nightmares, and trains, set to prog rock

I know all of these sound COMPLETELY BONKERS but you should actually trust me and give it a whirl. If a whole album sounds like a lot to start with, I recommend Gunpowder Tim vs The Moon Kaiser (a ten minute backstory about their gunner) or One-Eyed Jack’s (a short song about the origins of their First Mate, Jonny D’Ville).

Also I have like 60% of a OUATIS AU of the Kencyrath written if that’s motivating to anyone.

#the mechanisms #'what are the mechanisms' LISTEN...IT'S A LONG STORY #there's a lot of Lore that i kind of elided here so that this post was a reasonably manageable length #but i think you may wish to decide what your investment level is before i drop the intricate interpersonal dynamics on you #the bifrost incident is my favorite PURELY because it will reliably pluck my heart out of my ribs and eat it like an apple #ouatis is my next favorite because pump shanty is a banger #other reasons also but like #that is a whole album that can be BELTED by an amateur and i like that in my music #OH an addendum: the albums DO need to be listened to in order #shuffle tales to be told if that brings you joy but the albums alternate spoken narrative and music and the order DOES matter #i'm also writing a kencyrath au where jame is jonny and tori is drumbot brian but AS EVER the kencyrath fandom is like nine folks so #IF ANY OF YOU NINE FOLKS WANT SOME WEIRD AUS COME GET Y'ALL JUICE I'M WORKING ON SOME STUFF #a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #Anonymous #asked and answered

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cinderswife · 4 months

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"if there were two guys on a moon and one of them killed the other with a rock, wouldn't that be fucked up or what?"

After a decisive victory, Rose asks Snow a question. Nearly two decades later in a similar circumstance, General White asks the same question of Colonel Belle.

(Crossposted to ao3)

“Hey Snow, if there were two guys on a moon and one of them killed the other with a rock, wouldn't that be fucked up or what?”

When Snow had excused herself from a vital meeting to take an unexpected call from Rose, she'd feared the worst. Rose dying, maybe, or an injury she couldn't fully recover from. Not… whatever this was.

Though covered in blood, Rose had set up her camera to show her rooting around in what must've been a foreign kingdom's pantry. In each hand she held a bag of what seemed to be pastries, comparing the two with a critical eye. Just in frame was a bottle of dark red wine.

“Are you okay?” Snow demanded, flattening her black bear ears in alarm. “That’s an awful amount of blood!”

Rose blinked at her. “Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Most of its not mine, though I think there's still a bullet in my arm. Also Ruthlind is ours. Anyways, back on topic. Two guys, stuck on a moon, rock.”

Snow couldn't decide whether to be relieved that Rose was mostly okay or horrified that she was witnessing the aftermath of another successful conquest. She elected to go with the former for now. “Okay, fine. It'd be fucked up, obviously. He killed the other guy. The other guy is dead. There's no coming back from that.”

“Gods, you're boring. Try again.” Rose pulled out a pastry from the left bag and took an experimental sniff.

Well. Fine, if Rose insisted. “Couldn't they have asked someone to resolve their dispute? Surely there was a Luncount available who could weigh in?”

“Nah, as far as they know, they're the only two guys alive on the moon. And anyways, maybe they didn't have a dispute. Maybe the guy with the rock was bored and wanted to see what would happen. Maybe he had the chance to get revenge on an old enemy except the other guy wasn't his enemy, not really. Maybe he was just really angry at no one in particular and took it out on the other guy. Doesn't really matter.”

At some point during her rant, Rose had decided that the pastry on the right was the way to go and was now demolishing the bag, washing it down with wine straight from the bottle. Because clearly she had no sense of decorum. Animal.

“I suppose that would still be fucked up,” Snow said, steepling her fingers. “Not only did he kill the other guy, he’s all alone now.”

“Exactly, like what was the fucking point of all that. Wow, congrats dude, you can commit violence. Whooo. Now you’re alone on the moon instead of with another guy who can keep you from going off the deep end.” Rose burped and wiped her mouth, which considering her hand was covered in blood splatters did little to fix the situation. “Excuse me. Good wine by the way, I think you’d like this one.”

“I think I’m all right, actually.” Snow was perfectly content to stick with ethically sourced wine, thank you very much.

Rose shrugged. “Too bad. More for me then.” She took another swing then sighed, glaring at the relay comm. “Dammit, General Swan wants my report ‘before I get too drunk.’ Better get going, see you at home.”

“See you at home, Rose.”

___

Nearly two decades later, General Mercymourn White sat atop a lonely rooftop and watched a Marquess’ castle burn. Below her, civilians and soldiers alike danced beneath the evening firelight, celebrating the end of another petty tyrant. For them, victory still felt like glory. For her, not so much.

She sat against the wall, keeping her blind and deaf side out of the way so she could still pay attention to what was going on around her as she argued her way through a bag of jerky. It wasn’t her fault that even well over a decade later half-chewed food still liked to slip through the burned and lipless half of her mouth. It was just really, really annoying.

Footsteps echoed up the stairwell beside her and she tensed, reaching for her pistol. When the unknown party revealed itself to be the dark and beautiful Colonel Belle she only relaxed a little. Even the Beast’s presence guarding the bottom of the stairs did little to comfort her.

“Mercy,” Belle said, using the shortened first half of General White’s name in that way she did when she pretended like they were close enough to care about the General’s feelings, “are you doing all right? You’re not celebrating with the rest of us.”

“Oh, I’m fine Miriam,” General White responded, keeping up the charade they played at. “Just thinking.”

“What about?” Belle sat across the roof from her, keeping a safe distance between them.

General White wiped the meat crumbs off her jacket and took a long, slow drag on the cigar she’d lit on the castle’s embers. “If there were two guys on a moon and one of them killed the other with a rock, wouldn't that be fucked up or what?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Humor me.”

Belle hummed, tapping her fingers together as she thought. “I don’t think so,” she said after a moment. “The other guy’s most likely a crown soldier and if not still liable to be a traitor, so it’d make sense to eliminate him.”

“Ah, but these men have never heard of the war in their lives. As far as they know, they’re the last two beings on their forsaken rock.” General White set aside the bag of jerky for now, loathe to eat when others could watch her fail at it, and took another long puff. The smoke drifted into the air, joining the smoke from the blaze below.

“I’d still do it,” Belle said, shrugging. “The other guy’s a liability regardless. If he’s dead then I have a decent food source and one less mouth to feed, not to mention it’ll be easier to get myself off if I don’t have to worry about another person.”

“Pragmatic as ever.” The half smile that was her best impression of a real smile crossed General White’s half lips. “And if it were you and me? What then?”

Belle raised an eyebrow at her, curious but not daring to question why. She chose her next words carefully. “I am going to politely decline answering that question for the sake of my wellbeing.”

General White laughed, a rough low sound that blew smoke across the roof and into Belle’s face. Accidentally of course. “And you wonder why I don’t trust you.” Belle began to protest, but General White waved her off. “You’re dismissed, Colonel. Go celebrate with your husband.”

“Yes, sir.” Belle rose to her feet and saluted. “Good night, Mercy.”

“Good night, Miriam.”

#the mechanisms #ouatis #once upon a time in space #rose red ouatis #snow white ouatis #general white ouatis #colonel belle ouatis #this is a shitpost i took seriously. anyways.

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rusalkaandtheshepherdgirl · 3 years

Text

Mechtober Day 3: OUATIS

After every battle, when the staccato pulse of gunfire had finally died out into only the occasional shot and all that was left to do was tend to the wounded or pay final respects to the dead, General White would lock the door of her quarters on whatever starship she found herself on and wait for the ghost of Snow. It was never long before she could smell tastefully sweet perfume, and then glossy black hair would flick in the corners of her vision and a beautiful young woman would walk towards her. Today Snow was wearing the low-cut red dress she wore when she anticipated a particularly high-spirited argument, and she carried a champagne flute in her hand.

“How lovely to see you!” Snow said.

White just stared impassively.

“I hope you're in good health. I was wondering if you had a minute to discuss the war with me?” Snow said

“You’re a pest, you won’t go away if I say I don’t,” White told her former self.

Snow’s eyes widened a little at the insult, but her voice was light like before. “Does that mean you’ll chat with me, then? How kind! I’m afraid I’m a bit confused on the points of policy around it, would you please tell me why we must have yet another war?”

“King Cole is evil,” said White.

“Oh,” Snow laughed, “Evil. Of course!”

White knew how perfected the inflection was, and remembered laughing in front of a mirror until it was entirely as dismissive as she wanted, but she still felt the need to justify herself to the ghost. “He kills and ravages and conquers across all the galaxies he can reach,” she elaborated. “No one is safe from his rapacious hand, not even the finest warrior in his armies.”

“Oh, so conquering is the origin of evil, then?” Snow leaned forward. “Is an ant colony that invades another colony’s nest evil?” “Ants don’t know what they do, King Cole does.”

“And so do you. You were successful today again, weren’t you? Another planet conquered by the resistance. If you win, is there any less evil in the universe?” Snow delicately took a sip of her champagne. “Where do you draw the line?”

Ever one to have the last word, the haunting faded as quickly as it had come. “Should’ve offered me some of her booze,” White grumbled. She knew the tactics behind the questioning well. After all, it had been one of her favorites when she was promoting diplomacy. And she also knew that she had crossed her lines time and time again. She had undone her life’s work of pacifism with a declaration of war, and her hands were stained with the many she had killed and the countless more she had sent to die for strategy’s sake. The first time she had pointed a gun at her sister’s face was etched into her mind. It was only after she had let its blood run out and stain its red hair that she discovered it was a clone. She had found out that she was not above torture, not above killing children or letting entire colonies starve. She looked out into the empty air and smiled bitterly. “Snow, child, the only line I believe in is the line of scar across my face.”

And then someone was knocking at the door, and it was time to hear the casualty reports and plan her next move.

#im not really sure what i was trying to do here but have whatever this is #ask to tag #mechtober the unofficial #mechtober #rio writes

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