#I'm so obsessed with this series that I even dream it d a m n

[lilundeadarchangel]

I need to tell this to my lovely suburra tumblr okay

I had this dream yesterday night,and Spadino was there,and he had this intricate mix of black tattoos on his chest and back and honestly he was so freaking beautiful

Just imagine SPADINO WITH TATTOOS.

I would die.

[slashingdisneypasta]

Ive been bored out of my mind 😩 any movie or book recomendations?

You opened up the can. Do you want the worms? XD

YES!! I DO HAVE RECCOMENDATIONS!! XD And I'm so glad you asked ^^ Obviously you're not required to take any of these, but if you do- let me know what you think! ^^

If you're here, I assume you like fun, sinister and exciting villains. So I'll give you a little info on the villains in each source 😅😆

Movies:

First of all- a n y m o v i e (or episode in a TV show) with Robert Englund playing the bad guy. You can't go wrong. Even if the rest of the source is... not-so-great... the man never misses.

(In particular: The Last Showing, Inkubus, and Good Day For It are really good! Especially the first 2.

The Last Showing (free on Plex): Villain is a weaselly, geeky loser with a with dreams of sinister grandeur.

Inkubus (free on Tubi): Villain is a sexy, sinister, cunning, smug old demon.

Good Day For It (free on YouTube): just... just have a peak at what I've been posting non-stop the whole weekend 😅🫠🫠🫠)

The Rescuers and the Rescuers Down Under. If you haven't seen these and you like Disney Villains, you must!! You get both!; a nasty woman with scary eyes and no code of ethics, and a big, sinister, crooked-grin bush man.

The Lake Placid Series. I KNOW, I KNOW- you probably read that and think 'ughh why' but LOOK- TRUST ME- The Bickerman's are a riot. A hoot, even XD From a sweet old lady who swears and feeds whole cows to the crocodiles played by Betty White to her son who's a greedy old poacher who is equal parts creepy and loony tune- they're so much fun XD The only movie in which they aren't antagonists is 3, but then you get Reba who is a grumpy, bad ass milf and is that really a miss? No, I don't think so.

Going back to kids animation- Happily N'Ever After (free on Vimeo) You got a myriad of villainous suitors to choose from in this one XD You got the Big Bad Wolves (💕❤️💕❤️💕❤️), witches, Rumplestilstkin, and Cinderella's Evil Stepmother who is- just- so hot XD A wicked lady with a slit in her dress.

... are you into creepy nasty old men? Because I think Judge Turpin played by Alan Rickman in Sweeney Todd; The Demon Barber of Fleet Street takes the cake in that department.

Little Shop of Horrors. Yes- Audrey II is plant, but he's smooth motherfucker, and some of us are into that 😆😅 And maybe so are you. And if you aren't into Audrey II, there's always Orin; a leather jacket wearing, motorbike riding, sadistic jackass.

Oh!! The Funhouse Massacre!!! Another fun one with a myriad of scary boyfriends XD (and one scary girlfriend XD). It's a cheesy gore fest but of you like that or can get past it- your villains here include a Wrestler Murder-Clown, a Psychotic, Silent Harlequinn, a Sinister and Charismatic Cult Leader, a Sexy Sadistic Dentist, a Cute Cannibalitic Chef, and a Creepy Old Taxidermist.

Disney's Once Upon A Halloween (free in parts on YouTube). It's all your favourite Disney Villains (before Dr Facilier I think) in one place- what else could you want? XD

Books:

If you like hot demons and you have a teacher kink-- then The Evil Librarian Trilogy (Michelle Knudsen) are definitely for you XD You got the evil librarian (Mr Gabriel), who is basically evil incarnate with a sexy goatee. Then you also Principal Kingston who is an older dilf wearing cargo pants and is slightly silly (my favourite, and also the reason i named my kangaroo oc kingston)-- and then Ms Kralovna; the language teacher and an absolute Queen.

Dorothy Must Die (Danielle Paige) pretty much makes Dorothy (years later) a wicked slutty dictator, the scarecrow a creepy mad scientist, the tinman a besotted obsessed guardsman, and the cowardly lion a monster. Plus there's the Nome King in the last 2 books who is describes as the 'most sinister senior citizen' which is the perfect descriptor for him XD

If you like Slasher movies, you will d e f I n e t l y love The Final Girls Support Group (Grady Hendrix). It's just so cool and interesting how Hendrix puts the actual Slashers into the book without saying their names.

Hellhole (Gina Damico). Okay this is another demon XD Except this one works in... the greasy food office in hell XD (I think XD ) Don't get me wrong, he's bad; he's powerful, and he'll kill your whole family, and he has unreasonable demands if you refuse. But he's mostly happy to sit in your basement with no pants eating tostitos and whole sticks of butter while watching project runway and playing cod for now XD And his name is Burg (as in Burgundy Cluttermuck)- isn't that cute? XD

Karen M. McManus books. Any of them. (Though, I do recommend The Cousins and Two Can Keep a Secret in particular. I cant tell you much cuz they're mysteries but they are definitely my kinda bastards. If you like the characters I write for you'll probably like them too XD The only misfortune is that, since they are mysteries, they aren't acting all villainous until the end. )

Alice and Red Queen (Christina Henry). If you have a strong stomach and you like gory, sometimes unpleasant horror- these are for you! The characters of Alice in Wonderland are n e v e r going to be the same 😅😅😅 Especially the Rabbit, who is... I think, a trafficker? Meanwhile the Walrus, um- nope, i'm not going there. Moving on!

DANCING JAX DANCING JAX DANCING JAX. These are my f a v o u r i t e books. Ever. They will always be my favourite books. And let me tell you why!!- They are o v e r f l o w i n g with vastly different, interesting, flawed characters who totally stick with you forever XD And a good lot of them are bad guys. You got:

- Austerly Fellows; a creepy charismatic cult leader type who may not actually be Austerly Fellows?? Their could be a swapped at birth/changeling sorta thing going on here?? (The 'original' Austerly had a mark on his foot and the one that his mother got back from the baby farm didn't).

- The Jockey; the kind of bad guy who ain't loyal to anyone. Not even the other bad guys. He must play everyone one way or another (its the way he was written, and he follows through), at some point. He's tricky, and weaselly, and gross. I love him.

- Jangler; Austerly's right hand man. He's a stern, crotchety and nasty old codger. His heart is as cold as ice, he's calculated, and he definitely takes joy in some of the terrible things its his job to do.

- etc. There's more but I cant give more away 😅

Thats what i can think of right now! ^^ I'd be so so jazzed if you took any of these recc's but don't worry about feeling obligated too! ^^ It was fun to talk about them XD

[slashmagpie]

okay . okay. hello, hope you're going well! please excuse me doing this instead of commenting on lost boys, but i wasn't logged in on my phone and i am.. very lazy sJKCBGFDJKS

. i didn't realise you could add a 'keep reading' to asks? but uh. man i hope this brings you some joy, at least skjgbcfds

okay . oookay . okay head in my fUCKING hadns

i just went and reread the entire series, because i . CANNOT get this off of my mind. and i have SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS . AUGHGKFDJ

who is the queen? what happened to her? why was the moon an egg? what was the moon? what the fuck is etho? WHERE DO THE ALIENS COMEF ROM .NHNGJKFDS this featured in my DREAM last night, okay . you're sending me INSANE

i'm genuinely so so obsessed with the way you do buildup. i mean.. man, i've read the whole thing, but on reread i kept having to put my phone down and make (quite frankly inhuman) noises because the way you structure this entire series is so, so insanely talented and well-done and . aUGHHHGDFKJGBS I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY EXCEPT THAT I'M GOING INSANE ,. yeah. y eah.

. you're honestly an artist dude, this is so so well-developed, the worldbuilding is an insanely unique idea (the QUINTESSENCE ??? DUDE . even if etho has become its god, just the very concept of a world without sapience?? one that doesn't have purpose, doesn't have /meaning/, and yet was so hungry for a creator that it dragged etho into it?)

(NOT TO MENTION THE CHOKEHOLD THAT YOUR MAGIC SYSTEM HAS ON ME. tunguskite being the origin of magic (or not really magic at all), and then incorporating it into the blood of 'mages' to allow them to perform '''impossible''' tasks… man . m a n) (i'd also like to mention the etho/other etho dichotomy, and then the realization that it was always him after all? . gOD)

i can't stop thinking about how etho described demons as 'beings that can do magic without blood,' followed by pearl describing the reds as demons?. like ,, okay it might be coincidence. it might be accidental phrasing, or just a throwaway line, but i. i DON'T KNOW ANYMORE . GHH

. aughgHGHHHH I AM NOT A PATIENT PERSON THIS FIC IS DOING THISNGS TO ME . <- dramatic, please excuse me sKCJGBFDS

..anyway uh! i'm so sorry it's like three in the morning and i can't make this any more legible but i, uh. i hope you don't mind. this entire serious is absolutely wonderful, and i'd just like to thank you for the honour of being able to share in such wonderful writing and worldbuilding :)

-@crimson-roots (since i can't send asks from my sideblog, whoops :"D) . uhh! yeah! sorry again for rambling in your askbox, and i hope you have a good night!

🥰🥹😊❤️❤️

...No wait that's not Enough. Hang on.

There we go, that's a pretty good representation of my emotions rn.

So it turns out you can't actually put a readmore in an ask, but I'm gonna put one before my answer because otherwise oh boy this post is gonna get long.

So many questions!! A lot of them will get answered in the text ("what happened to the queen?" well I'm glad you asked—) but as for the ones that probably won't (or, if they do come up, won't be super plot-relevant or that important so I can answer):

The Egg is basically where the aliens are "born"; it's near a black hole, it's got some natural tunguskite reserves, and it's basically hollow save for the pulsing mass of the hivemind. It's also, y'know. A moon. It's orbiting some sort of planet somewhere. (Probably actually the planet the Hermethius was returning from, now that I think about it.)

"What the fuck is Etho?" I'll do you one better: why the fuck is Etho? (Okay, but actually: Etho was a mortal mage, and is now an immortal... something. He's not quite a god on the same level that Bdubs is, but he's more than just a regular [redacted] like [redacted] or [redacted].)

The demons thing: Etho is a person who attempts to explain magic with science, and Pearl is a person who attempts to explain science with magic. Generally, Etho's definition of "demon" (person who can do magic without blood) and most mages' definitions of "demon" (in this case, as a synonym for the Reds) don't overlap, except for when they do (for example, in the case of New Tenacity, [redacted], or [redacted]). Fun fact: False generally uses Pearl's definition of "demon" to refer to the aliens (or any other sort of person-who-isn't-a-person, like Hels) rather than Etho's, since her whole thing is being a "demon hunter." If she were using Etho's definition, that would technically make her a demon herself. (Essentially: "demon" is a catch-all word magical people use for "thing/being I don't understand." It has a lot of uses and now that I think about it that's probably kind of confusing, oops.)

And then to address some of the other comments:

I have genuinely had so much fun setting up all the dominoes in this story and I am just as excited to watch them fall as you all are. Honestly, the set-up I've done for LLAU is some of my favourite technical writing of mine ever, in the sense of narrative construction and structure. This was also a pretty good time for a reread, because in a few chapters we're going to get to a scene in which a LOT of this stuff's gonna pay off. (I don't know how many chapters because every time we get close I have to revise my mental outline and add another chapter for pacing purposes but we're So Close we're closer than we've ever been I've been excited about this plot point for FOREVER.)

Honestly, I think a lot of the coolness of the worldbuilding and story construction here comes from the original source material, i.e. the Lifeline games. The Lifeline series consists of like 8(?) games, all of differing genres and with mostly different casts, and over the course of the games more and more of its central worldbuilding is revealed and builds up into the metaplot, which is of course the aliens' attempt to take over the Earth. However, Lifeline got discontinued before it could conclude, and many of its mysteries will remain mysteries (even the one game that came out post-discontinuation, Beside You In Time, doesn't seem to answer any of the questions from what little I've played of it). Because of this, it meant I got to take the pieces I'd been given, throw out what I didn't like, add in new things that I did, and tie it all together to make sense. (There's definitely some Early Installment Weirdness in the series because of this, because I started writing this AU on a whim and it took me a While to nail down the specifics of the magic system, how the aliens work, etc.)

For an example of this: "magic is a lie" is a line that reoccurs throughout the games and is Never explained. It's vaguely implied that magic actually has something to do with tunguskite, so my solution to this is that the energy tunguskite emits is what mages call "magic." So mages have tunguskite in their blood. It's like microplastics! But probably significantly more cool.

And then there's the way it incorporates the Hermitcraft lore and characters—Bdubs' whole thing was my attempt to fuse together two different characters from the original games, because Bdubs Had to be both Captain Aya and Clepsydra, and how could I explain him both being in space and an ancient time monk at the same time? And The Bdubs Thing is one of my favourite parts of this AU because the way those two things came together is just so delightfully weird. Constructing this story and its world has honestly been such a blast, I don't think I've ever enjoyed the experience of writing a fic this much.

(When the story is done I might potentially write a post explaining how I took the Lifeline game lore and changed it to work for this fic, because right now some of that stuff is spoilers but I think it's a very fun topic and would love to do a deeper dive into it.)

Anyway, enough of me rambling, thank you so much for this ask!!! It honestly made my day lol. (Also this fic is very much a passion project and definitely the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written so I'm always delighted whenever I get the chance to ramble about it and my writing process.) I should probably go get working on the next chapter instead of procrastinating by answering this ask. (In my defence, Grian and Joe are causing me anguish. Send help.)