#so did udad btw.

[randompajamaalt]

oh my god i just finished high noon over camelot and.. i am feeling things

i cant even

i cant even process all that

holy shit yall

johnny sims does NOT like happy endings

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

i dont know how to explain it but to me udad and hnoc are like opposites of each other. (Under read more, cause it is loooooonnnnng)

With udad the situation everyone is in is bonkers shit. The world they live in is absolutely shithole of a place that exploits everyone but the richest of the rich and the people there cant escape even after their death. Every single one of them is bitter and depressed and wronged and just wants to survive and they'll do anything to survive even if it meant killing the other one. All the natural part of that world is long dead and only thing exists is this cold dark metallic hellscape of a city that swallowed its own planet like a cancer. Almost all the songs are just how everyone was exploited, used, wronged, and discarded they were. Ulysses is a drunk fallen 'hero' completely guilt ridden by their role in Illium's fall. They had lost everyone and everything even before the album began. They spent so much of their throughout album getting their shit beat in. They, Heracles, and Orpheus go to Hades (Ashes) in hopes to be freed whether as a request, through theft, or through a deal. And Ashes all but set them all up to die for their own amusement (which btw very sexy of them <3 but that is besides the point). There seemed to be no hope for them.

And yet, despite everything the ending is so hopeful. We know that Ulysses would die, if it wasnt obvious from the title of the album itself it certainly becomes obvious when we learn how their world works. And yet they died a happier ending, they escaped the curse of their city and died reunited with their love. Ulysses died under an oak tree in a grassy fields, among nature which was thought to be dead since The City's takeover. Ulysses died being warmed by sunlight, a right denied to so many others like them. Ulysses died at dawn.

And then there is hnoc. Hnoc starts heroic. Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere take over Camelot from the corrupt Stone clan through their skills and teamwork. They turn it into a place of safety with all three of them incharge. Their lives are hard and filled with violence and hatred and fear and the world they live is harsh and unforgiving. But they still have each other, and they still care for the people around them. There is nature like scorpions and vultures despite it being a space station. The album has songs about love and being in love, about hope of peace, about power of faith. Everyone wants to survive and they are willing to work together to do it. Arthur is embittered by his "daughter's" death but still has his partners to keep him grounded and is ruler/sheriff of a powerful town with lots of knights working for him. What is more, the tragedy that hardened both Arthur and Gawain can be healed because the person they mourn isnt dead, he is Mordred and he is here to make amends. Arthur, Gawain, and Galahad go to Merlin (Brian) to seek aid, and he gives them advice that truly could have saved them, because Merlin really did wanted to save them and the entire station. There seemed to be hope for them.

And yet in the end it meant nothing. It was all for nothing. Alfred and Gawain did not listen to Brian's advice and ended up sealing theirs and everyone else's fate. Galahad did take Brian's advice and it destroyed him in a self sacrifice that ended up being for nothing. Mordred tried so hard for peace but at the end seeing the hatred and cruelty of his world hardened him to the core. Gawain's hatred turned peace talks into war and turned him into sawage barbaric monster he thought Saxons to be. Arthur's hardened core did not let him hope that his child could ever return to him and ended up not giving Mordred even a chance. What could have saved everyone Fort Gallfridian ended up turning into what destroyed Fort Gallfridian whether it be the GRAIL or Mordred. Almost all of them died a pointless avoidable death. And Arthur? Arthur lost everything. He lost his partners, he lost his chance to embrace his son, he lost his home, he lost his people. He may have survived but at the end he lost everything. High noon over Camelot. We didnt understand what it truly meant (all of them dying in the sun) until it was too late.

Ulysses shoots once, and it led to their happy ending. Gawain shoots once, and it led to everyone's tragedy. 3 shots all for Ulysses and it killed them. 3 shots for Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere, and it hurt Arthur but never killed him. Ulysses was the only one who got to die under the sun, Arthur was the only one who didnt die in the sun.

[askgunpowdertim]

[... Excerpt from notebook labelled "GUNPOWDER TIM - DO NOT READ", written in blocky English letters in simply black pen:

03/01/2023 TUE

The other Ashes said their favorite Mechs songs were UDAD and Thor. Marius also said his favorite is Thor because of the line “Fuck you and fuck your train!“.

It’s also one of my favorites. Marius plays it really well.

Nastya: “if i don’t commit a violence by the end of the day i think i’m going to burst into tears“

Marius is. Courting me apparently. Yeah.

THE GIANT MECHAS WERE APPARENTLY A COURTING GIFT.

catcrumb.

- Gunpowder Tim

[Excerpt from the next page. Written in pink ink. There’s a lot of drawn hearts.]

04/01/2023 WED

The other Toy Soldier got stuck in a vent, I think. The octokittens were tormenting the poor thing. Got the other Ashes to help it as well.

...And they almost burned the poor things too. (The octokittens, not the Toy Soldier. I think they like it too much even think of hurting it.)

Ivy got lost in the bookstacks. Again. Like a loser.

[We have a cool new group blog now btw! @askthemechanisms]

I think there’s a ghost in the ship. Another one.

No dissing my boyfriend. I love them.

Someone asked how we tell the time on the ship. Aurora controls it.

REMINDER: Ramble about Jonny more.

REMINDER: Also hold Jonny more.

REMINDER: Also also kiss Jonny more.

I’m so gay.

Jonny cuddles. Very comfy.

- Gunpowder Tim

[Excerpt from the next page. Written in crayon. There’s some singed edges and smudges of coal.]

05/01/2023 THU

The other Ashes apparently spent the night pinned under some octokittens (lucky bastard) in the commons (not so lucky, but still a bastard).

I love Jonny so much.

Marius asked me out on a date to go blow some shit up in the City tomorrow. My kind of date. :-)

I STAND BY WHAT I SAID. ASHES O’REILLY IS A FUCKING BASTARD.

They said they had something to show me and set me on fire. :-(

My hair is ruined now. :-((( And I have a date tomorrow too! Goddamn it.

They did give me some of their whiskey though.

I met Scuzz. Did some introductions.

Brian is being a cat again.

Bertie is. A ghost? And he made a blog? What. Is this real?

Well. It’s real.

I’m taking a fucking nap.

Catcrumb. 

Also trans rights.

- Gunpowder Tim]