Georgia Carolyn Mason (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
choosetruth) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
entranceway2018-02-21 11:18 pm
choosetruth) wrote in entranceway2018-02-21 11:18 pm
Entry tags:
- #open,
- lucifer: chloe decker,
- marble hornets: jay,
- marble hornets: tim,
- mass effect: legion,
- mirror: evelyn carnahan,
- mirror: max caulfield,
- mirror: sunburst,
- my little pony: sunburst,
- newsflesh: georgia mason,
- over the garden wall: greg,
- persona 4: adachi tohru,
- rick and morty: rick,
- under the dome: julia shumway,
- undertale: papyrus,
- undertale: sans
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.]
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.]
no subject
Actually, this whole scenario strikes me as kind of familiar.
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Well, I know I'm not exactly "real", but I do still think of myself as a gem. I'm sure you understand that, right?
So I'm used to knowing that I've been made to serve a purpose. That's normal for us.
And I know what happened when someone decided to rebel against that.
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It was a war, of course they got hurt. That's what they signed up for. Do you think that's all there is to it?
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And they did manage to cripple the empire. But it never became any less dangerous, just more erratic.
Everyone suffered. It wasn't just two armies and a battlefield. People who had nothing to do with any of it suffered.
And not just during the war, but for every age afterwards. Generations who hadn't even been made back then, who barely even know a war happened, paid for it.
Because in reality, the rebellion was just the start of something that never had an end.
Now, if you asked one of the three or four surviving rebels, I'm sure she would say it was worth it. She would even say that they won.
But I was never a rebel.
So I'll ask you again, what's in it for us?
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I'm not going to make it for you. That's what the Queen does. You are absolutely welcome to decide it's not worth it, that freedom is not worth fighting for. You can stand with the Queen if you want.
But because you choose to, not because she coerces you.
no subject
Can I give you some advice?
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[She suspects Lapis would give her the advice either way, but then again, Georgia would ask her question either way too. It's fair.]
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You are still a lot more reasonable to talk to than almost anyone over here, you know.
[Lapis figures that if George is bothering to lead into the question like this instead of just asking it, she expects it to be upsetting, inflammatory, or at least ~thought-provoking~. How interesting.]
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[that is the most half-assed reasoning and heaven knows how serious she is]
Well, even the rebels weren't actually fighting just for nice words like "freedom" and "choice". What kicked it off was something much more concrete.
I don't know how many of them really cared that much about the Earth, but it probably made a nice embodiment for their ideals.
I'm sure all of them had dreams about exactly what their lives there would look like after they won. You know, before they all got destroyed.
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Of course I would be.