At Worst or Best [FFIX, Steiner/Beatrix]

[intradependency]

Title: At Worst or Best
Author: ellnyx
Rating: M
Content: Sex, fumbling towards dominance-play
Prompt: Final Fantasy IX, Steiner/Beatrix: peace and quiet, a hundred years of bad luck
Word count: 3100
Summary: Beatrix can't reconcile herself to a world of peace, and what such a thing might mean for a woman who knows nothing but how to fight. Her

Comments

[threewalls]

They remind me a little of Drace and Gabranth from FFXII, but even so with the weight of gender expectations and military careers, their relationship is less poisoned by the circumstances of FFIX.

The biting at the end seemed very hopeful for the future.

[intradependency]

Hm, I can't remember if I'd thought of Drace as a parallel for Beatrix, mostly because Beatrix is so very obviously arrogant about her skills, and at the end of the game Beatrix turns her failure back on having a faily boss rather than making a stuffup in her own right, where Drace is more resigned to her own errors...I remember twisting and turning Gabranth and Vossler to see if they'd fit as a parallel.

Oh yes. Beatrix is thrilled. Steiner is still confused, but that's nothing unusual, he'll work it out.

[auronlu]

Ouch. I've seen and grappled with the problem of fantasy heroes and happily ever afters before, but the theme of weight throughout this piece, from the sagging bed (what a detail) to the armor on Beatrix really emphasizes what good endings do to characters whose whole purpose is to fight.

So many good, painful details. Beatrix's fear of blindness, notable.

Also you somehow managed to make their lovemaking plausible. It's very hard to do that with slightly caricatured characters, as theirs were in game. I especially love Steiner's poetic prose (and never noticed he had a hint of Balthier's eloquence, heh).

Steiner's attention to keeping the armor bright is an amusing contrast against his nickname, "Rusty."

[intradependency]

Hehe, Zidane was being a smartarse, calling him Rusty...oh, and Steiner is very tongue-in-cheek in game, but there's a definite sense he knows he's caracaturing himself...such a comedic foil, great timing and massive amounts of poetic eloquence. Not quite as bad as Balthier, though. ;)

The size difference appealed to me so very much. I found some slightly more realistic fanart of Beatrix and Steiner, and it made all the difference in writing the sex scene. WWF wrestler versus Olympic Judo-ist.

[raisedbymoogles]

Waaaagh, I love it. It's perfect in every way.

[intradependency]

Thank you! :)