#death to the mechanisms

[evil-cryptile]

Made this in a frenzy as soon as i finished DTTM (i don't think I'll ever recover). Brian singing Hanged Man Rusts into Ashes' microphone will be living rent free in my head for the next millennia

#he mic too short for he damn he #i have an illness #hes so prebty #ghugghhhhhuhrhguhghhuugqwawahahuawaawawawaaawa #bian #drumbot brian #the mechanisms #death to the mechanisms #dttm #hanged man rusts #hnoc #high noon over camelot #the mechs

[vickozone]

💫 When the DrumBot misses his first beat, he knows exactly what it means. He considers briefly the fire and bloodshed of his compatriots, but in the end the only thing that feels right is to complete the cycle. And so he casts himself into the void. His body will float there forever, far beyond the warmth of stars. 💫

DrumBot is so important to me.

non-text + sticker

#drumbot brian #the mechanisms #the mechs fanart #lost in the cosmos #tales to be told #This took way too long to make OUGH #death to the mechanisms

[persephone-tim]

GUNPOWDER TIM.

#the mechanisms #jonny d'ville #gunpowder tim #ashes o'reilly #baron marius von raum #raphaella la cognizi #ivy alexandria #the toy soldier #drumbot brian #once upon a time in space #ulysses dies at dawn #tales to be told #high noon over camelot #the bifrost incident #death to the mechanisms

[adhdzagreus]

thinking about the period of time between the mechanisms performing DTTM and their deaths actually occurring...

thinking about how the mechanisms know how they die but they might not know when they die or in what order.

thinking about them trying to prevent each other's deaths. none of them wants to be the last to go.

raphaella begs the others not to leave marius alone on the ship. tim refuses to leave ashes's side in the hopes he can stop the accident from happening. brian pilots them around pockets of temporal instability and away from backwater asteroids. marius pleads with ivy not to retire. nobody talks about how they die in front of the toy soldier. they don't want to make it sad.

jonny selfishly seeks out bar fights, hoping this time it will finally be the one, and he won't have to watch his friends disappear one by one until a milllenia has passed since the last time he laughed. even if the others mourn him, he doesn't want to still be alive when the rest of his crew are all gone.

none of them know for sure who dies first, but they all know who they don't want it to be, and they all hope it's themselves instead.

#the mechanisms #dttm #death to the mechanisms #jonny d'ville #ivy alexandria #raphaella la cognizi #gunpowder tim #ashes o'reilly #drumbot brian #marius von raum #the toy soldier #immortal crew of the starship aurora

[ifthestarsarewilling]

Mechs albums have taught me:

OUAT(IS): love conquers evil. gays rule, old men drool

UDAD: the government hates you

HNOC: racism caused global warming

TBI: eldritch trains kill people, or make you snakes if you're gay enough for the mind-bending squamous beings

DTTM: gay people dying is very sad, and the bury your gays trope transcends immortality

#the mechanisms #the bifrost incident #once upon a time in space #high noon over camelot #the mechs #death to the mechanisms #ulysses dies at dawn #the mechanisms udad #udad #dttm #ouatis #the mechanisms band #hnoc

[jonny-bee-meowrt]

death to the mechanisms red signal death to the mechanisms red signal death to the mechanisms red signal death to the mechanisms red signal death to the mechanisms red signal d

#death to the mechanisms red signal #help #watched it yesterday and im unwell #insane actually #red signal my beloved #featuring the classic red signal shiny cock because without it there's no point lmao #the mechanisms #death to the mechanisms #red signal #the bifrost incident #jonny d'ville #fanart #digital art #jonny bee art

[rainbowstargazerlilies]

#death to the mechanisms #dttm #the mechanisms #polls

[unbunlievable]

What if...

...Jonny at some point left, finding himself on a small asteroid. Backwater, some may call it.

What if at some point he had sustained an injury, perhaps to the eye.

What if he opened a bar, tempting fate for that fight he knew would end him. A bar that grew in size, until it was a casino as well.

What if he became known in this community, the establishment being known for its cards, for its one eyed owner with a name that started with a J. Was it James? Jack?

What if he met a young man at this bar, a man he knew. All at once he knew what he had to do.

What if he sent this young man, this boy out to do some tasks for him. Paying off his father's debts, Jonny tells this boy.

What if the boy returns one day with a coldness in his eye and a ticking in his heart. Jonny tells him it's for the best, parroting the words he was told so long ago.

What if he understands, all those centuries ago, the words said to him. It was for the best, for those lifetimes of adventure, for his crew, his family.

What if the boy can't see it in this moment. It dosen't matter anymore, Jonny's already played his part. He is shot, not that the bullet would kill him, not yet.

What if the bar burns around him, a falling piece of wooden beam peircing his heart. He can feel it in his bones, this is it.

What if, in his last moment, Jonny smells the smoke and thinks of Ashes. Remembers Tim as the smoke stings his eyes. Wonders if this lightness within him is what Raphaella felt when flying.

What if Jonny laughs, anger and joy and sorrow and humor and disbelif and relief all rolled into one. This backwater asteroid, where Jonny Vangelis D'ville ends his tale.

A backwater asterioid.

His beginning, and his end, all in the very same moment.

What if?

#the mechanisms #one eyed jacks #jonny d'ville #does this count as poetry? #ficlit #death to the mechanisms #tales to be told

[eboyloser]

sorry about your boyfriend. yeah he went to check on the octokittens. unfortunately the purring hoard hadn’t been fed in many decades. yeah sorry they devoured him. head to toe. yeah it was in 11.7 seconds. atleast by my watch

#the mechanisms #the mechs #death to the mechanisms #marius von raum #baron marius von raum #octokitten #octokittens #the mechanisms memes

[lazarus---rising]

IM USUAL

#the mechanisms #ulysses dies at dawn #high noon over camelot #once upon a time in space #the bifrost incident #death to the mechanisms

[clover-klees]

"if all your friends died would you?" And the toy soldier said yes

#the mechanisms #the mechs #death to the mechanisms #the mechanisms toy soldier

[grimeye-j]

I know that it's played for laughs that the books Ivy saves at the end of her life are "quite a dull read" but it's actually so devastating to me that once she is gone there is no one who cares about the things she devoted her life & death to anymore

#the mechanisms #death to the mechanisms #ivy alexandria

[neitherabaron]

Mechanisms news!

Tim and I have gathered the remaining merch stock, and we’ve reopened the merch section of our Bandcamp!

We have CDs of Bifrost, Ulysses and Once, plus a handful of the Death To The Mechanisms posters from a couple of years ago.

Grab em while stocks last - we don’t know if we’re gonna order another print run after these sell out!

#the mechanisms #once upon a time (in space) #ulysses dies at dawn #the bifrost incident #death to the mechanisms #I’ve been clumsily hinting we’re gonna do this on stream for months lol #Brexit has made this much harder to set up than we thought

[persephone-tim]

I can only draw gunpowder tim. Please help me.

#the mechanisms #gunpowder tim #gunpowder tim fanart #gunpower tim vs the moon kaiser #death to the mechanisms #the mechs fanart #the mechs #the bifrost incident #high noon over camelot #ulysses dies at dawn #tales to be told

[adhdzagreus]

curtain call

The Mechanisms are uncharacteristically quiet as they walk off the stage. Even Jonny doesn’t know what to say as the remaining eight space pirates file into the dressing room of the venue they booked for their last ever show on Earth. 

The first one to break the silence is the Toy Soldier who sniffles, gasps tremulously, and then wails, “Is all that really going to happen? With the—the black holes and the bar fights and the octokittens and everything?” 

Jonny stifles a groan. This is exactly why he’d locked it out in the first place. What’s going to happen is what’s going to happen, and they all might as well accept it. 

To make matters worse, the Toy Soldier’s sniffling has set off some of the more sensitive Mechanisms. Ivy pats it on the shoulder with a forlorn look, eyes glassy with unshed tears, and Marius’ fragile expression suggests that if Ivy starts crying, he’ll follow suit. 

Tim has his arm around Ashes’ waist, as if worried they might disappear, and though his metal eyes betray no sadness, the firm set of his mouth worries Jonny more than anything else. 

“The odds of us changing the future now that it’s been written are over three hundred million to one,” Ivy says sadly. “It’s statistically impossible that we will live forever.” 

“B-b-but we have so many more songs left to sing!” the Toy Soldier weeps. “Tales to tell! Wars to wage!” 

“And we will,” Jonny says shortly. “None of us are instantly about to keel over, are we?” 

“N-no?” the Toy Soldier says. 

“Everyone seems in decent health to me,” Marius says quietly. He holds Ivy’s hand in both of his. 

“So don’t worry about it,” Jonny says. 

“That’s easy for you to say,” Marius says. “You’re not dying for another millennia. I could get eaten by octokittens tomorrow.” 

Jonny’s stomach twists, and he wrenches his mouth open to retort, but someone interrupts him. 

“No,” Raphaella says sharply. “You will not. We know for a fact that we each die alone. I’m not letting you out of my sight, and you’re certainly not going to check on the octokittens any time soon. I’m planning to have Ivy feed them when we arrive back at the ship.” 

“It’s not the same now that I know they eat Marius,” Ivy sniffles. 

Marius’s expression shatters. “Don’t hold it against them, Ivy! They’re just hungry! They can’t help it! Don’t be sad!” he pleads. 

Jonny feels sick as Ivy starts to cry harder, expounding on the hunting habits of felines, which only makes Marius more upset. He throws himself into a chair and starts taking his makeup off with a wet wipe, trying and failing to ignore them as Raphaella attempts to comfort them both. 

“You’re being awfully callous about all this,” Tim says, still with one arm around a stony-faced Ashes. Brian and the Toy Soldier have joined the fray, and Brian’s platitudes about everything coming to an end in time are almost as unhelpful as the Toy Soldier’s weeping and wailing. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jonny snaps.

“Well, you could at least pretend to be sad like the rest of us,” Tim says. “I know you’re all excited to die, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us are.” 

“God damn it, Tim,” Jonny snaps, throwing the wet wipe on the floor. “You think I’m not sad?” 

“You’re not acting like it,” Tim replies. “Marius had a point. You’ve got a run-up and a death you’re looking forward to. Ashes here could go at any time.”

“Hey, babe, don’t bring me into this,” Ashes mumbles. 

“Am I wrong?” Tim says. 

“Yeah, you fucking are wrong!” Jonny shouts. “You think I want to die alone in some backwater asteroid bar centuries after the rest of you are gone? Yeah, I’m excited to die, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch the rest of you disappear first!” 

The rest of the dressing room falls quiet, and Jonny realizes belatedly that he was shouting. Worse, he feels tears in his eyes, and he scrubs at them angrily, smearing the remains of his face paint. 

“Oh,” Gunpowder Tim says. “I guess I didn’t think about that.” 

“You choose how you go out,” Jonny says. “I have to wait until it finally decides to fucking stick. You know how many times I’ve been stabbed in the heart? I could go start a barfight on an asteroid tomorrow, but I guarantee it won’t stick.”

“All the same,” Tim says quietly. “I’d prefer you didn’t risk it.” 

“And I’d prefer you wore your fucking seatbelt, but we don’t get to choose, now do we?” Jonny says. 

Tim flinches, and Ashes frowns at Jonny who takes a deep, shuddering breath. 

“I—I mean. I don’t want you to die either,” he says. “But we have to die s-sooner or later. And I don’t want to waste whatever time we have left crying about it.” 

Despite this, tears are dripping from his eyes as he speaks, flowing faster than he can scrub them away. No one says another for a long moment, but he feels the eyes of several of his crewmates on him. 

“C’mere, you mean ol’ bastard,” Ashes says. They spread the arm not curled around Tim’s waist and gesture for him to approach. 

“What?” Jonny says, standing up and shuffling closer. 

Ashes crushes him to their chest in a one-armed hug, and Jonny breaks and grabs both Ashes and Tim as best he can. Before he can recover, he feels someone else wrap their arms around him from behind, and before he can protest, he’s at the center of a tangled mass of weeping space pirates—colloquially known as a group hug. 

It’s awkward with so much metal and wood and weapons, but Jonny can’t even pretend to be annoyed by it. He’s too focused on not breaking down into sobs. He’ll be damned if he lets his crew see him cry anymore than they already have. 

“I love you all very much,” the Toy Soldier says happily. “Best space pirate crew ever.” 

Jonny rolls his eyes and sobs silently. Hopefully, buried as he is in a mass of bodies, no one will notice. 

“Well, now that that’s been dealt with,” DrumBot Brian says, “I would like to return to the Aurora. I am concerned our parking pass has expired.” 

Jonny sighs. “Fine, but you stay away from the damn airlock.”

“Your concern is touching and noted,” says the DrumBot. 

The Mechanisms disperse and hurriedly gather up their things. Jonny lovingly coils up his microphone and tucks it safely away, and the band of space pirates begin to make their way back to the Aurora and off to destinations unknown. 

#death to the mechanisms #the mechanisms #polymechs #prison mechs #my fic #death cw

[the-lonely-crow]

Raphaellas dttm outfit is so so good she’s just so pretty.

[Image ID: digital drawing of Raphaella from the Mechanisms draws from the knees up. She is wearing a long dark red velvety blouse and tan shorts can just barely be seen underneath it. She has large dark blue feathery wings with stars. She has a gold halo and is singing into Jonny’s microphone. / End ID]

(Edited to put the image id above the cut)

#raphaella la cognizi #Death to the mechanisms #also I’ve never done an image id before so lmk if i did it wrong /gen #The mechanisms #crows-art