edelgarfield

[edelgarfield]

hello! I just finished Lex Talionis and it was amazing! It’s such a fascinating story, I stayed up late reading it and I have no regrets. I love the characterization work and all the plot twists and it is just a stunning story.

It actually got me working on an AU based on your fanfic where Klavier ends up joining Troupe Gramarye after the fire. I’m interested in writing/drawing more of this story but I wanted to get permission from you first. I also realize this would probably give away the plot twist in your fic by the premise of this AU so I also wanted to know if there was any way I should give a spoiler warning so people won’t be spoiled for Lex Talionis?

Thank you for writing this amazing story!

Oh my goodness thank you so much! It's always so nice to hear that people are reading LT after all these years!

You absolutely have my permission to expand on that universe and I would LOVE to see your work when you're ready to show it! Thank you for asking, I really appreciate it! I LOVE the idea of Klavier working with Troupe Gramarye & getting his start as a performer that way!!

As far as the plot twist, that's a tough question. I personally don't mind you "spoiling" the twist too much. Lex Talionis is a pretty old fic, and while it's not in the AA starter pack, so to speak, I think it's decently well known among AA4 and Kristoph fans in particular. I think people who are interested in reading a fic about Kristoph will find it without too much trouble.

Plus, I think there are enough people that would hear about the twist, then be intrigued enough to check out the fic that it all works out in the end. The twist is fun, but the fic is more about the journey than the destination. Lots of people have told me they enjoy rereading it to catch all the hints which is always nice to hear.

I'll leave it mostly up to you how to go about it, but if you want some suggestions, I think you could simply say your work is inspired by/based off mine without specifics. If the premise is "Young Klavier works with Troupe Gramarye" and it links back to my fic as inspiration, I think most people would understand by reading LT's summary that your fic is likely to answer the question of why Kristoph killed Zak Gramarye, and from there they can decide whether they want to read mine first.

That leaves it ambiguous, and depending on the actual content of your work, there's still an air of mystery. Some readers may think that Klavier & Zak's relationship (if that's something you plan to explore) is unique to your work, which I don't mind at all. If you wanted to have fun, you could add a bunch of red herrings like, idk, have Kristoph in the background as a stagehand that always gets put in the "saw a person in half" box, or their mom spent Kristoph's inheritance on Troupe Gramarye keychains, etc etc.

People who've read LT will Know and as I said, some people might be curious enough at the unique premise to give LT a read. Even if people read LT knowing or suspecting that's the twist, they still won't know how or when it comes up. I don't want people to think Lex Talionis is required reading to enjoy your work when it's really not.

[edelgarfield]

like it's a very sad situation & the shadowlord's actions are understandable, and from a certain perspective justified. but the protagonist is ALSO completely justified bc the shadowlord's success means, essentially, the forceful possession of nearly every single person you meet in the game including yonah who's been IMPRISONED WITHIN HER OWN BODY FOR FIVE YEARS.

like trying to make the shadowlord the Real Hero means completely ignoring that + believing that the replicants have less of a right to live than "real humans." to which I feel like nier: automata is pretty fucking clear on what the game's position on that is. and there's a whole bunch of minutiae you can get into, but at the end of the day, that's the bottom line. the protagonist & the shadowlord don't view the other as a "real" person & their primary objectives are completely incompatible. for one to be successful, the other has to lose. I lean towards the protagonist being "more" justified bc, again, the protagonist didn't kidnap anyone's sister and shove someone's soul in her body Jesus Fucking Christ.

people will play tlou and go "omg joel is such a great dad" and then play nier: automata and go "omg androids don't need humanity to be happy" and then play nier: replicant and go "omg the protagonist was the bad guy all along"

[edelgarfield]

"wow it turns out the shadowlord is the true hero 😔"

"the shadowlord & the protagonist are exactly alike in every single way 😔"

the shadowlord KIDNAPPED THE PROTAGONIST'S SISTER. what the FUCK is WRONG with you??

people will play tlou and go "omg joel is such a great dad" and then play nier: automata and go "omg androids don't need humanity to be happy" and then play nier: replicant and go "omg the protagonist was the bad guy all along"

[edelgarfield]

people will play tlou and go "omg joel is such a great dad" and then play nier: automata and go "omg androids don't need humanity to be happy" and then play nier: replicant and go "omg the protagonist was the bad guy all along"

[edelgarfield]

ahhhhh I've been quiet because I was going out of my mind with nerves, but I was at C2E2 last weekend and it was absolutely amazing.

I have a bunch more things I got signed but this piece was one of the highlights. Laura & Ray Chase both got so excited when I pulled this out. Ray was extremely impressed that I'd gotten Laura to sign it & he congratulated me on surviving her queue. they were all so sweet & kind.

[edelgarfield]

oh my goodness hi, i've been dead quiet on here because i've been anxiously getting ready for C2E2 and now it's all over and i don't know what to do with myself.

it was so amazing i honestly don't even know where to start. i got to meet jennifer english, ray chase, & most of the CR cast and they were all so wonderful. it was everything i could have hoped for.

[edelgarfield]

oh my god I am a disaster.

I get so embarrassed talking about things I like. I can't even admit to liking something when I'm at a fan meetup dedicated to liking it.

[edelgarfield]

the thing abt durance is if he was attractive people would woobify the shit out of him

[edelgarfield]

it literally carries over into D&D, too. like this group of friends is completely incapable of making a well-written, interesting villain bc it's not enough to have shitty opinions, they have to kick three puppies just to make extra sure that we understand they're bad, and they also have to invoke real world politics to make sure we Get It

sometimes I think my friends are so hardwired to think everything is a secret corporate conspiracy that they can't use their common sense.

someone in the chat wasn't aware that turning off hardware acceleration lets you stream videos, cue someone complaining about Netflix discouraging screen sharing (which has nothing to do with hardware acceleration?)

I lightly called them out because I've never heard anything about Netflix cracking down on small watch parties. like, obviously subscription services do stupid shit to get people to buy a subscription, but online screen sharing is such a huge incentive for people to get Netflix in the first place. & it's not like screen sharing is a practical method to get out of buying a subscription anyway. like I wouldn't be extremely surprised if Netflix did it, but if they were cracking down on streaming, I feel like I would've heard about it.

but my friend doubled down & literally started talking down to me "no I 100% agree with you, but the execs are just completely blinded by greed. that's why they got rid of Netflix Party, sad but true 😔"

I let it go but anyway I just looked it up & as far as I can tell there's no evidence of that at all. it could still be true, but the confidence to claim that as 100% fact and act like I'm naive for pointing out why that's ridiculous. like I'm not defending Netflix or saying their execs are misunderstood, they 100% suck. but there are plenty of genuine reasons to hate them without pulling shit out of your ass.

I feel like I'm constantly doing that with my chronically online friends. like I grew up & realized that bad people aren't just cartoon supervillains and learned how to sniff out bullshit, meanwhile my friends are five steps away from drinking the kool-aid as long as someone can convince them it's praxis.

[edelgarfield]

sometimes I think my friends are so hardwired to think everything is a secret corporate conspiracy that they can't use their common sense.

someone in the chat wasn't aware that turning off hardware acceleration lets you stream videos, cue someone complaining about Netflix discouraging screen sharing (which has nothing to do with hardware acceleration?)

I lightly called them out because I've never heard anything about Netflix cracking down on small watch parties. like, obviously subscription services do stupid shit to get people to buy a subscription, but online screen sharing is such a huge incentive for people to get Netflix in the first place. & it's not like screen sharing is a practical method to get out of buying a subscription anyway. like I wouldn't be extremely surprised if Netflix did it, but if they were cracking down on streaming, I feel like I would've heard about it.

but my friend doubled down & literally started talking down to me "no I 100% agree with you, but the execs are just completely blinded by greed. that's why they got rid of Netflix Party, sad but true 😔"

I let it go but anyway I just looked it up & as far as I can tell there's no evidence of that at all. it could still be true, but the confidence to claim that as 100% fact and act like I'm naive for pointing out why that's ridiculous. like I'm not defending Netflix or saying their execs are misunderstood, they 100% suck. but there are plenty of genuine reasons to hate them without pulling shit out of your ass.

I feel like I'm constantly doing that with my chronically online friends. like I grew up & realized that bad people aren't just cartoon supervillains and learned how to sniff out bullshit, meanwhile my friends are five steps away from drinking the kool-aid as long as someone can convince them it's praxis.

[edelgarfield]

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ "Maybe... waiting isn't good enough." ˖°. ༄𓂃 𓈒𓏸࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

[edelgarfield]

i love revachol so much i letterpressed her

[edelgarfield]

>Your wife wants to meet you in your “special place”

>it’s Silent Hill.

[edelgarfield]

"is it ponies" GIRL YOU'RE FROM KENTUCKY THIS IS EMBARRASSING.

[edelgarfield]

i love when people are like “Oh my god, I couldn’t possibly imagine being asexual, how sad, you’re missing so much…” Bitch!!! You know what’s sad? Being gluten intolerant. If you placed two pills in front of me right now, one which would turn me allosexual and one which would enable me to tear into a freshly-baked oven-warm olive-and-rosemary ciabatta without utterly destroying my body, it would not even be a choice. “hyuhhh-duhhhh aren’t you worried you’ll die alone” aren’t you worried i’ll just launch myself over the bakery counter in our local grocery store one day and stuff croissants in my mouth like a starving racoon til i die and the whole place has to be closed down as a health risk while they peel my bloated body off the linoleum floor? You should be

[edelgarfield]

[edelgarfield]

there's just something about brandon keener's voice that makes people say "that sound shouldn't be coming out of a mammal"