#city of gears

[destinysbounty]

"There’s a lot more to it than that, but I won’t bore you with the details" no. Spill. Tell us everything about City of Gears

!!!!! I would love to!!! I freakin love this wip and I could go on about it for years probably.

(For anyone who's curious, here is the "City of Gears" concept in question)

Now, this story has changed a LOT in the past few months. First and foremost, it's kind of evolved into less of a fanseason and more of just a really involved fanfiction. Reframing it in my head as a fic/wip instead of an all-out fanseason has really helped take some of the pressure off and let me just enjoy the process of making it.

And thanks to that change, I've actually made heaps of progress in just this past week alone!! I have most of the main story beats and character arcs figured out, aside from a few patches here and there as well as some of the specifics. My goal is to start writing it sometime in the next few weeks. Which will be SO cool, because this concept has lived in my head rent-free for a bajillion years now.

That being said, the basic premise is fundamentally the same: the ninja stumble upon a series of disappearances in a quaint steampunk-themed tourist town, where the callous and manipulative Lady Adelaide has been turning people into mannequins. For now I'm calling them Clockwork Servants, due to the wind-up mechanism on their backs, but I'm not totally married to either of those concepts yet so that may change. Zane gets turned human, which is the main focal point of the fic, but he's also not the only one Going Through It: Cole is a ghost again, Lloyd is trapped in Oni form, and since this takes place sometime post-Seabound Nya is having a hard time dealing with, uh, that whole mess. She's human again, but that doesn't mean her trauma is gone or anything (whether this fic will be Crystalized-compliant remains undecided). And also Skybound comes back to bite Nya and Jay in the ass, so that's fun. Also also Morro returns, this time as a kind-of ally, which definitely won't cause issues for Lloyd at all whatsoever.

I've also made a lot of developments for Lady Adelaide and her motivations. She believes the human form to be a 'gift', to be the highest form of existence, and that you cannot be truly real if you aren't human - but that the humans of Ninjago have taken their 'gift' for granted and have no appreciation or regard for their humanity. She wants to 'elevate' the likes of nindroids and serpentines to a 'superior' state of being by making them human. The original humans of this world, however, she feels do not appreciate their 'gift' and therefore no longer deserve their humanity. So she wants to turn them into mannequins instead.

As such, Adelaide's goal is to create a new world order: the only people with humanity will be those she believes deserve it, thereby replacing the original humans and punishing them for their complacency/carelessness by turning them into mindless mannequin servants.

So yeah, there's a reason she turns Zane into a human. She is trying to convince him that his friends don't truly love him as a person, and never will until he becomes a person - until he becomes human. She really twists into his head, blaming all the bad stuff that happened to him on him being a nindroid - if you were human, Vex wouldn't have been able to ruin you. If you were human, you wouldn't have been dismantled and shut down time after time. If you were human, your father wouldn't have been able to turn off your memories. If you were human, you would have been able to die and stay dead. If you were human, your friends would love you enough to protect you instead of just watching from the sidelines as you sacrifice yourself time and time again. That whole slimy shtick. (Listen, Adelaide gave him the gift of humanity and she's gonna make him appreciate it whether he wants to or not.)

Oooh, and I know this is veering into spoiler territory but I just HAVE to share this one quote from Lady Adelaide, just to give you a taste for her character:

"How many times will your friends have to fix you before enough is enough? How many times will you die before they give up on you altogether?"

Because at the end of the day, that's the core of the fic. Zane is human, and there's all sorts of funky hijinks where he figures out how to be human and whatnot and tries to figure himself out, and it's all silly and goofy and what have you - but at the end of the day, a human cannot turn off their emotion meter or flip off their memory switch or encrypt all their trauma into a digital puzzle box. All his old coping mechanisms are incompatible with his new organic body, which means that every single trauma he's ever repressed is swinging at him with a baseball bat to the face. He is NOT having a good time right now.

Lady Adelaide may be a total asshole, but you gotta give credit where it's due - she somehow accidentally forced these idiots into the world's worst therapy session. I mean sure, therapy doesn't usually involve fighting hordes of wooden mannequins, but whatever works, right?

On the note of the mannequins, that's actually something I kinda wanna touch on. These mannequins all used to be people, before Lady Adelaide cursed them. Some of them even used to be the ninjas' friends and allies. But since the mannequins all look identical, it's impossible to tell them apart. Cole's dad becomes a mannequin, and he ends up having a bit of a Spirited Away Chihiro-in-the-pig-pen moment when trying to figure out which of the mannequins is his father. This, of course, means they can't in good conscience hurt the mannequins like they would with other horde enemies, only subdue them or run away. As you can imagine this makes all their fights way more complicated.

Also, human!Zane has a golden kintsugi-like scar on his face that may or may not be representative of the faceplate that fell off when he fought the Overlord. This detail isn't super relevant to the current discussion but it is very important to me personally.

Anyway, that's the broad strokes of what I'm willing to reveal for now! The rest involve spicy spoilers that I don't wanna give away just yet lol

Thank you so so so much for giving me an excuse to rant about this!!! <3

[ciearcab]

baseball scribbles…. save me wolfwood in a jersey … save me …

[shibuya-111]

[lucienarcheron]

friendly reminder: hofas is a crescent city book, not an acotar book. the focus is on the cc characters, plot, and journey. acotar characters may be making a cameo and play some part in it, but it is not about them. whatever will happen will not be about them but about bryce and co. don't go into it expecting answers or you'll be judging the book in a negative light for the wrong reasons.

[chronocrump]

did the 6 fighting game characters thing on my tweetr :3

[gothic666]

Tradicional trajes de Veracruz y la Ciudad de México !

[nestedneons]

By ness_graphics

Music on

[youmustfixyourheartt]

*i know that conventional weapons was released as a series of EPs but many people refer to them as a collective work so i counted it due to the total length

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

Multi series request: How about a reverse on the Snu Snu request with Kyoko (RCG), Elphelt (GG), and Yang (RWBY) wearing their own T-Shirts that say something like "I want my S/O to pin me down"?

This turned out to be quite a bit more Explicit than I planned. Not in the way of Sex but... you'll see when you start reading. I did have fun writing this though.

You expected many things upon arriving home.

Kyoko, walking out and into the hall while stretching her arms above her head and wearing a sleeveless shirt that was more than a few sizes too large on her, giving you a generous view of her sideboob while not revealing too much. Not to mention, the way she was stretching made the shirt ride up far enough for you to be able to see what she was wearing underneath.

Or lack thereof.

Kyoko finished her stretch and turned to you with a smirk as she saw your reaction to what was written on her shirt.

“I Want My Boyfriend To Pin Me Down”

“I… am going to need a lot of water, aren’t I?” you asked, your mouth dry.

“Yes you are. Luckily, I bought a new case of it today. Now, are you going to keep asking stupid questions or are you going to get to the main event?” Kyoko asked you with a taunting grin.

After that, you had no other option but to give her exactly what she wanted.

You were not prepared when Elphelt came into the bedroom wearing a pair of very short pajama shorts and a shirt that seemed to be strategically a few sizes too small around the waist and chest, tightly hugging her every curve and contour and just barely obscuring her toned abs from your view.

And if that sight alone didn’t pop your eyes out, the words written on the shirt would.

“I Want My Boyfriend To Pin Me Down BREED ME!”

The last part had seemingly been added on by Elphelt herself if the lettering being her frenzied handwriting was anything to go by.

Her eyes were glossed over, her breath was ragged, she was blushing heavily, and she was strutting over to you with an obvious sway in her hips.

Before you, there were two options.

The first one was to give Elphelt exactly what she wanted.

Pinning her to the bed, and going down on her until she ran out of steam.

The second option was to run.

The second option was extremely hazardous to your health seeing as, one Elphelt could fly, two she had more stamina than the average human, and three, you have seen her crush melons between her thighs.

Either way, your pelvis was in for a beating.

The first option, however, was the only one that didn’t have a guarantee of breaking your pelvis, only a very high chance.

And so, you decided to see what was behind Door Number One.

Very few things in the world could’ve prepared you for what you were seeing right now.

Yang Xiao Long, wearing a VERY short tank top that just barely hid her breasts from view while also proudly showing off every inch of her powerful muscles and with the natural framing her hair gave her and the loose shorts she was wearing… she looked ethereal in the most sinful of ways.

The writing on the tank top that said “I Want My Boyfriend To Try And Pin Me Down” only added to that.

You gawked at her for several minutes, your mind completely failing at the sight before you.

Yang, did little to hide the ego boost that your staring gave her.

“See something you like?” Yang teased with a smile as she put her hand on her hip.

In response, you answered her with a very intelligent “Uh huh.”

Yang’s smirk grew at this.

She was going to drain you dry.

[destinysbounty]

I have to ask.

About city of gears

Wth happened to Kai.

Why is he fire.

I need to know it’s been chewing at my mind.

Excellent question! I dont wanna give too much away, but, uh, Kai has. A bad time.

So. At some point, Lady Adelaide realizes the mannequin curse is pretty much useless against the ninja because their powers allow them to resist the mind control aspect of it. So instead she decides, "okay screw all of you actually, im gonna turn you morons into the things youre most afraid of becoming, just to mess with you." So Lloyd becomes an Oni like his dad, Cole becomes a ghost again, and Kai...hm. How do i put this without spoiling too much...

Two things to know about Kai, at least as hes characterized in City of Gears:

He is arguably one of the most overprotective characters in the cast, with protection canonically being his main motivation.

He was also given one of the most destructive powers. It cannot be understated that Kai of all people has such a dangerous element. It wouldn't take much to hurt his friends and loved ones, to burn everything he cares about to the ground with just a spark. IMO, that is partly why he mellowed out in later seasons, bc he became increasingly aware of how dangerous his fire and his anger could be, And i know hes very proud of his fire, but thats still gotta mess with his head at least a little. Id like to think he depends on his powers for self-worth while at the same time being terrified of what theyre capable of. Which is a messy headspace to be in.

So when Adelaide curses him into the form or whatever he is most afraid of becoming...you can probably guess where this is going.

Thanks for the ask!! <3

[dralphabet]

I’m back! And I have arrived with a Metal Gear and Wordgirl crossover AU

I just wanted to merge my two of my favorite and VASTLY different interests because it’s funny

[ironunderstands]

How this singular Gold and Gears occurrence might change everything we know about Dr. Ratio 

…He might be thousands of years old, oh boy.

Ok, where to begin? Well probably with the occurrence that started it all:

Mechanical City, “Cogito Hair Salon”- Intellgencia Guild 

This is where things get complicated.

You see, the Mechanical City is old as hell

This took place around the time of the First Mechanical Emperor’s war, who created the machine empire, which included the Mechanical City, something which occurred soon after the Borderstar Trade War. 

Then, the Rupert 1 (the leader of this empire) sleeps, and this caused his empire to crumble, presumably the city alongside it:

Which according to these Xianzhou records, happened at this time

Then Polka Kakamond fought Rubert for a few more Amber Eras until she eventually succeeded in killing him, marking the end of the First Mechanical War.

Which resulted in the collapse of its empire, and presumably, the Mechanical City alongside it, Nanook, the youngest aeon, also ascended during this time due to the mess of the Emperor’s War and the remnants of the swarm.

Now, for the sake of my sanity, and this first scenario, I am going to assume that the Mechanical City fell alongside Rubert I when their empire collapsed about years ago, as although it’s likely Rubert II could have revived it, as you will see, it’s not necessarily relevant to this discussion (there are actually only two possible paths this situation could lead to). 

If Amber Eras are on average this long

And the current year we are in is

Which is about this in Xianzhou years 

Meaning that disaster in the Xianzhou happened around 3500 years ago (if Xianzhou years are the same length as Trailblaze ones, if they aren’t I’m not gonna think about that <3). Then, Polka Kakamond was alive around this time, and it took her several Amber Eras to finally kill Rubert, which I’m going to interpret several as ~5 and the length of these Amber Eras to be averaged out to be around 158 years long each, meaning Rubert died about 2700 years ago, give or take A LOT OF TIME because of the inconsistency of Amber Era lengths, the amount of Amber Eras, the fact that we don’t know when exactly Polka Kakamond decided to start trying to kill Rubert, or even when she was alive, etc. 

SO, when you put it all together Dr. Ratio must be at least 1000 years old if he were to be able to be alive during this period of time to attend the Mechanical City within this occurrence.

Which changes everything, because presumably Dr. Ratio is a normal human and he should not be that old.

Oh dear.

However, before I ponder the implications of THAT, let’s explore the other possibilities.

This never actually happened.

This is by far both the most boring and most likely one for a lot of reasons.

a) There is an occurrence that definitely takes place in the preset exactly like it 

This is Mechanical City, Cogito Hair Salon: Genius Society 

And based on its description, it was clearly put in here to help the trailblazer navigate the Simulated Universe through the Intra-Cognition function, and the 4 Genius Society members depicted (Ruan Mei, Herta, Stephen Lloyd and Screwllum) absolutely did not travel back in time for this to happen, rather they seem to habe implemented it themselves. 

Therefore, the occurrence with Dr. Ratio could be something similar: an event made up for the sake of navigating the Sim Uni, and not something that ever actually took place, I believe this and another solution I will introduce later are the most likely explanations for this situation.

b) The occurrence with Dr. Ratio is uh, weird 

For lack of a better explanation in this, Dr. No5 is uh, tweaking. Meaning, the events taking place around him might not even be what’s happening in reality.

Or, the Trailblazer is in the Mechanical City, but Dr. No5 isn’t and the sim uni kinda just meshed the two together. 

What also complicates things is that it seems like after he killed himself, No5 turned into a mechanical spinning top, meaning the Anti-Organic equation might have been the cause of his death? And I’m not sure if it’s still active in modern times.

Either way, the sheer levels of delusion radiating off of Dr. No5 leave to believe this scene isn’t entirely real, however I don’t think this explanation is all good honestly, it’s just something I wished to point out before moving on.

That’s not our Dr. Ratio

Apparently in the original Chinese, the characters used to denote Dr. Ratio are different to the way he is typically referred to, meaning that whoever this Dr. Ratio is, it might not actually BE him.

Now, I know absolutely nothing about how Chinese works, but based off the discussions I’ve seen around this particular detail, I think the general consensus is that the Ratio in this is more of a surname, and our Dr. Ratio either named himself after/is a descendant of this one.

Which would be interesting, and would mean we (I) would now have to scour future updates for his mention, but for now I’ll leave this option at that because like I said, I don’t know how any dialect of Chinese works at all, much less the original used in the game.

If someone reading this does, I would really appreciate clarification/confirmation/your opinion on this, so thanks in advance.

Finally, for my favorite explanation (and the one I think is what really happened), that being:

The Mechanical City still exists, and Ratio is in fact, some dude with a normal lifespan.

Let me cook.

So, based on what I showed you earlier, it’s heavily implied that the Mechanical City fell with Rubert during the First Emperor’s War around 2000 ish years ago alongside him.

However, what if I told you that isn’t necessarily true:

The IPC took it over.

Although this passage doesn’t mention the Mechanical City or even allude to it, it does mention thin how the IPC, with the aid of the Intellgencia Guild, began taking over areas across the universe, especially areas of inorganic life, following Nous’s prophecy, with the methodology of “Colonization Under the facade of development,” (the game straight up calls them colonizers LMAOOO).

Anyways, the IPC HATES inorganic life due to the Emperor’s Wars, and were about to pass an order to eradicate all inorganic life when Screwllum gained Nous’ approval and joined the Genius Society, and as we saw in the screenshot, they were, well, colonizing those areas and making it into their own.

So- who’s to say they didn’t do it to the Mechanical City? Why wouldn’t one of the most defining features of the Mechanical Empire now be under IPC control, even to this day?

Besides, inorganic life forms have no need for hair salons- they don’t have growing hair! But in a Mechanical City repurposed for people, yeah, a hair salon would make sense.

Thereofore, Ratio isn’t some thousand year old entity, rather he’s just in a location run by the IPC and Intellgencia Guild that happens to have thousands of years of history behind it.

Moreover, it just wouldn’t make sense for Ratio to be that old.

He has plenty of media about him documenting his life, and based on how recent those media are and how this passage is worded, I’m led to believe that Ratio aged like a normal person, and his middle school years didn’t somehow last an exponential amount of time. 

Also, I feel like if he WAS that old we would have some actual clue pointing to it beyond a singular occurrence that would only ever point to that once you do all this digging.

Therefore, I conclude Ratio is not in fact immortal, and the IPC likely just colonized the Mechanical City, which is why it is still around today.

Finally, I sincerely hope you enjoy me going insane over this one stupid occurrence, and I would like to disclaim that I am no lore expert when it comes to the simulated universe, so if something I said in here was misinformation, please tell me! It seems as though Dr. Ratio is never beating the “just some guy” allegations lmao.

[petiteechorizon]

Octillerink 2022 Day 20: Stop

[citrusclowncircus]

raiden centered stuff with a bonus emma lives

[vintagecamping]

AAA Tent & Awning Company Catalog

Salt Lake City, Utah

1965

[arcadebroke]