Sure! I can message you on twitter about the oneshot :) After your comment I had to look up what Phaedra was about lol
Aaa I was hoping someone would notice that the first and second half mirrored their lifestyles! It's so insane that anyone other than myself would think so much about my characters so I really enjoyed reading your analysis and how you interpreted them :')
I agree, Aelfric is very devoted--I've always thought of it as ambition. He never does anything halfway and has a tendency of overworking himself. I think the difference between him and other heroic/ambitious characters is he struggles every step of the way. A major conflict he has is he cannot read social cues. That's why the barn scene is quite sad because Aelfric assumes he didn't communicate himself correctly which is why he restates his feelings. He's desperately trying to get a direct answer from Conrad because he doesn't know how to interpret an ambiguous one. I think readers can generally pick this up, but know Conrad can't give him the answer he needs. When the scene ends, Aelfric believes he's once again misread a situation even though it's not the case. He did everything right and still failed.
I don't know if that at all explains anything or simply restates what you already know LOL. Tbh I imagine Aelfric is probably on the spectrum even if I didn't intentionally write him that way. This is just the way he is--as much as I describe him as a himbo that would imply ignorance but he's aware and acknowledges his own faults but can't really do anything about it. Even if it causes problems sometimes, he accepts himself for who he is.
Anyways I could probably pick apart my characters all day, so thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about them! I'll keep writing them and I'd love to hear how your thoughts develop over time :^)