choosetruth: (who did not follow through)
Georgia Carolyn Mason ([personal profile] choosetruth) wrote in [community profile] entranceway2018-02-21 11:18 pm

text } from Ace of Spades, the Wonderland Blog of Georgia Mason, entry #12

The Mirrors are watching us. This is common knowledge, one of the first things we tell newcomers. There is another Wonderland through the looking glass, and it's inhabited by the doppelgangers we call Mirrors. Calling them our "evil twins" would be an oversimplification, both because not everyone on this side would qualify as the "good twin," and because while these individuals are supposed to be our reflection and, in some ways, our opposites, that doesn't mean they're evil. Like us, they are complicated individuals and generalizations cannot capture all of them. They serve the Queen of Hearts, and the influence she has on the Mirrors cannot be understated. For one thing, she's their maker, though the Red Queen claims they would exist even without the Queen of Hearts' help. If they piss her off, she can also "unmake" them.

Sounds nice and bloodless when you put it like that, doesn't it? Well, take it from an artificial, imperfect copy with implanted memories that never really happened to me. I was made by mad science, not Wonderland magic, and I lived under threat of being "decommissioned," not "unmade," but the differences are negligible. It’s a pretty word for murder and a reminder that you're replaceable.

If the gun to their heads isn't enough, the Queen manipulates and lies to the Mirrors. She sets them at each other's throats, and she sets them against us. Wirt's Mirror carries a lantern with him constantly. He was convinced by the Queen that it held his brother. We examined it together and quickly proved that it actually contained some material tied to Mirror Wirt himself. It never had anything to do with his brother at all.

It's a lot of effort that shouldn't be necessary if she's as capable of instilling loyalty as she insists she is. She has their loyalty and fear, but their free will is their own. That's why she has to keep them divided. That's why she lies. And that's why instead of fearing the Mirrors, instead of bending to the Queen's wishes and being enemies, we need to become allies. We're all prisoners of Wonderland, whether we originated here or not.

Many of you may remember the portal incident from last year, when Leo Fitz and Cisco Ramon used a combination of technology and metahuman power to break through to the Mirror side. It was the first successful, intentional breach by a Real in recorded Wonderland history, and it happened because they consulted with Mirrors. Granted, the Mirrors in question were manipulating and lying to Fitz and Ramon, and the results of that experiment were in many ways disastrous. But this does not have to be how it is. Imagine what we could accomplish in a good faith partnership between Mirrors and Reals. We need to find a way to break the Queen's hold, both because it is the right thing to do and because it may be the only way we can take control.

A young Mirror once accused me of wishing death on the Mirrors because of the title of my zine. Shattered Mirror does have a violent sound to it. I can understand where she got that, but it was never my intention. I named my zine the Shattered Mirror because I want to destroy the barriers between us. We will never achieve anything if we continue to behave as they expect us to behave. Break the glass. It's time to rise.


Mirror Writing

[As usual, Georgia makes sure to leave copies within reach of the glass so that any interested Mirrors can snag a copy without actually crossing over and disobeying the Queen. Unlike usual, she very intentionally tugs down the curtain that normally covers her office Mirror. In big, bold, backwards letters she write ƧTͶƎMMOƆ next to a taped up copy of the article. Then she sits and waits.]
unwoundtape: (fence)

[personal profile] unwoundtape 2018-02-27 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
yes

a thousand times yes

in the right hands a tool can be used to build something great
unwoundtape: (thoughtful)

[personal profile] unwoundtape 2018-03-01 09:18 am (UTC)(link)
humility is a virtue

why boast?
unwoundtape: (Default)

[personal profile] unwoundtape 2018-03-08 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
humility is not a lie

it is selfless
it is respect for the will of your maker

and in return you are given PURPOSE

something inside you compels you to tell the truth
something inside you drew you to this
and you LISTENED
why would that be any different
unwoundtape: (mirror reflections)

[personal profile] unwoundtape 2018-03-26 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
FAITH

but what drove you to it
pure logic?
even when you were a child?
or
at times
did it just
feel
right?
Edited 2018-03-26 05:56 (UTC)
unwoundtape: (thoughtful)

[personal profile] unwoundtape 2018-03-27 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[That's enough to give Jay pause.]

[He wasn't truly asking, not really.]

[But now he's curious.]


yes
tell me why you write
unwoundtape: (fence)

[personal profile] unwoundtape 2018-04-06 04:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Jay cocks his head, following the words as they spread across the mirror.]

[He takes a moment to consider their weight.]


that is beautiful
unwoundtape: (thoughtful)

[personal profile] unwoundtape 2018-04-13 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
[Does she understand? Does she understand what she's given him?]

thank YOU

[It makes him feel just a little less alone, on this side of the glass.]

[...Now if only she'd start listening to the truths he and the others have to share.]

[That can come in time.]