Destiel (I know you didn’t list Supernatural, this is just for science)

The time: November fifth, 2020. The place: my living room.

Poor lil me is still in school like some kind of loser. I wake up. I look at Tumblr while waiting for the coffee machine. Then I see it: a notif from my great dm friend. "Emil. Destiel love confession just happened??? And I swear it's the coren speech. And they buryed your gays him."

I am very proud of the hellers for their victory, and hope they're having a good insane time.

Day Nine, Part One: In Which Haplo Explores The Labyrinth

Previously: Alfred enters the Chalice and learns that the Sartan really may have figured out the way to immortality. After encountering the plague underground, he and Clara have a heart-to-heart about what can be done to save the town without sacrificing the Chalice in the process. Unfortunately, Alfred has been infected, along with all of Haplo's list of special children.

This episode: Haplo gets shoved down the rabbit hole.

yknow i keep feeling like i haven’t worked on the next chapter of patho au at all but like. it IS 1700 words rn. And also tbf this is like the least interesting part to me, kind of a bridge until The Dawn Of The Final Day TM, so it makes sense that this part is going slower.

Another 400 words today, slow and steady wins the race. Or at least completes the niche fanfic.

yknow i keep feeling like i haven't worked on the next chapter of patho au at all but like. it IS 1700 words rn. And also tbf this is like the least interesting part to me, kind of a bridge until The Dawn Of The Final Day TM, so it makes sense that this part is going slower.

Another 400 words today, slow and steady wins the race. Or at least completes the niche fanfic.

And also

man who opened a parenthesis he forgot to close 4 years ago is tragically unaware everything he's said since has been an aside

Is it wrong of me. Sitting in my bed, watching a Muppet movie and thinking Damn. He really would make a really good Alfred casting, though. He would He has it down.

Alfred in Into The Labyrinth, giving Speeches: and now I finally understand... Agency, and taking actual action, and responsibility, and helping people for real-

Hugh in the background: so you're gonna work on undoing my zombie spell now?

Alfred: what? No. Why owlud- I'm really busy with gay leftist business, ok?

Anyways in my Hebrew version, not only does Alfred say "I am not a REAL sartan" (ouch), he doesn't even say dog. He says I'm a bit of What You Are. No alignment only Haplo Soulmateism. I too am somewhat of a haplo box.

I'm still thinking about DGC Cinematography and stuff and like, l genuinely think in order to work well adaptations should not be What Happens In The Books Scene For Scene like I strongly believe in faithfulness to material but the key to adaptation is to seek to adapt the spirit of the original, the feeling and the idea, and part of these changes is about plot structure, and adding things, a lot of things, some that may change some of the vibe and show things Not In The Source but are necessary to create the same feeling and depth as the original.

As a big Alfred Fan, of course I want to see that. We see so little of his past of course I, and other fans, always tried to put stuff together and longed to get more of that material of what exactly was his life like before everything.

But the more I think about it, I'm like, I think The Feeling And Depth requires Alfred's past not to be shown. I think tossing in some more Alfred youth stuff instead of limiting it to dialogue and monologue is the natural instinct as a Cinematography Adaption, and it's understandable, to create a feeling of connection and engage the viewer more with that loss- but it's a wrong instinct and the correct thing is actively avoiding that.

First of all, I've one seen someone on a forum wisely say DGC would be big with the fangirl slashy shipper crowd if Alfred was younger and more peettyboy and less, Like That, in his terms, and. He's absolutely right and it's vitally important to me. No Twinkification Allowed, and honestly, the fact that we only get to know Alfred as he is and the idea that he's worthy of life, connection, and attention Now and Generally As He Is without asking who has been before is vitally important as a theme. The more you say and show canonically of Alfred's past, thats more saying things about his Personhood, and as much as I would like to canonize my takes (as hypothetical showrunner) it's like. MAYBE in moments of flashes of past in memories, like the drift montages in Pacific Rim, but then, people paused through those and yeah, for Hermann and Newton seeing their rough childhood or political passion is expanding, but for Alfred any confirmation of past happiness or struggle or anything detracts.

Everything in his past life is GONE, and THAT'S the main fact that defines him. His grief is immense and faceless and crushing because he is mourning a place and a people and a way of life together with mourning the person he was, and the great vaugeness of knowing so so little - just a few names, a general description of Arianus's Decline - they matter. He tells to the council himself he only has vague bits of his heritage and his past and his people, that he feels he didn't ask enough, learn enough, while he had them.

And it doesn't matter who Lya was to him. It doesn't matter if his issues - myriad- source to childhood or how, if he was curly or not, what did the arianus sartan dress like, to what music did he dance. What matters is who he became, and when the bridge between who he was, who he is, and who he can become starts mending... When he reclaims Coren, stands up, becomes a heroic figure, it's a Coren Of Christmas Future, not anything else.

If I was in charge of DGC screen adaptation I'd put more prufrock in to replace the little inside cover quote and keep the connection going. Like at least two different scenes where Alfred recites some prufrock. Not "do I dare", nah, that's too on the nose, but like. At least one time that is in front of people, dropping a quote in a conversation or a sight like the nerd he is- optionally with the edition of everybody staring at the Oof Moment of that, and one separate scene where he's like, panicking, possible gripping something looking at at his reflection wildly, trying to breath and collect himself and he starts reciting it desperately, to calm himself down by the action, it seems, but the reciting start from "No, I am not prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be-" like. That will be a moment people will put in comparison gifsets with the Coren reveal ok. And in Alfred And His Big Lie gifsets. And in Earth Connections And References gifsets. I think a lot about gifsets. Anyways these two prufrock moments at the very least.

Honestly the thing is seeing Haplo alive and happy would be the perfect happy ending for Alfred even if they weren't incredibly amazingly gay in that whole, like, quarter of the- actually they're really gay in all of seventh gate aren't they. Anyways. Just. A friend who he never hoped for, and then did hope for and not entirely believe it could be, and then made, really, only to lose, literally grieve, like he always loses everyone he cares about, only to gain again safe and sound and alive and *whole* in his soul, no longer in that pain? Literally how would any time he looks at Haplo NOT be full of joy and the reminder that there is always hope and someone cares.

My personal opinion on Alfred's Named Pre Canon Relations is that Lya was his childhood friend and Fiance but he also had deep homosocial connection to Ivor tm so in post canon he's like Oh Don't Be Absurd Guys Of Course Haplo Doesn't Like Me This Way Where Are You Seeing That It Is Entirely Normal For A Man To Have A Best Friend He Cares For As Closely As He Does His Beloved Wife And Wishes To Share His Life With The Both Of Them this is a normal friends thing lots of people have one of those. Like jfjcjsjsjsjsjdis

"Taught how to hate but never told how to love" is actually the second greatest haplo line, the first is "Wish there was someone to pat me on the head and tell me everything would be alright :(" is the best. I am kissing you on the forhead

The thing is like. When I make Alfred a magical girl on the superhero au it's not because he can't Clark Kent he could Clark Kent if he needed to and have Haplo particularly eat it up. We've seen him "just some guy" his way through reviving people from the dead and other constant magic. He's a magical girl because the two most essential aspects of Alfred and Being A Hero to keep, in my mind, is he feels pressured by being Chosen, a magical girl definitely has that aspect, and also Body And Magic- about how Alfred feels free and at home in his body and graceful when he uses magic, and then. It's over. Magical girl Alfred captures that PEAK "Did you have your little magic fun? Did you excercise responsibility for the entirety of the worlds problems? Well go back to your regular (old, ugly, clumsy, possibly dysmorphia inducing) body :) bye bye we'll call you back during the week"