Fire Emblem 10 - To Covet

[r_amythest]

Title: To Covet
Fandom: Fire Emblem 10
Genre: Not sure. Angst...?
Rating, Warnings: NC-17/MA for explicit sex.
Summary: The circumstances are proper, even if her intentions are not. Micaiah hasn't forgotten Sothe, but her body aches with youth. Stefan sates her incompletely. A reflection on loyalty, longevity, and loneliness (but not quite love).

Comments

[hooves]

I'm trying to imagine asking for help writing sex. I would probably rather die. Then again, I'd probably rather die than write sex. It'd be such high levels of fail the Fandom Police would come and take me away. ("Strip search me, officer

[r_amythest]

I'm fortunate to have friends who are open about the matter, whether in general or just with me. :P

w-what is this about happy trails.

I'm very glad you liked! (And that you understand what I mean about this not being about the sex.)

[xirysa]

Agreeing with Manna--Stefan. He has. A. Happy trail.
(Personally I don't like a lot of hair on my men but I think I could make an exception for Stefan I mean what.)

But. Ahem.

I think it's really quite amazing how you posted this just after I made that post commenting on love vs. sex in my journal, because this kind of answered some of the questions I had about it myself.

The sex was there, and even though it's definitely an integral part of this the piece itself wasn't just about the sex--if anything, the sex revolved around the story, if that makes sense. (I must comment, once again, that the sex was very well written. Really, it was.)

Perhaps the thing I liked best about this was the introspect--the entirety of the situation at its core was very evocative of a bunch of different emotions, and the way it was executed demanded a certain emotive response from the reader.

The frequent mentions of Micaiah's avarice were also a nice touch that really lent a hand to the simple humanity of the scenario. And it was all very sad. Then

[r_amythest]

Pfff, your comments do not fail.

I don't get why you people are all giggling over his happy trail. :P Some dudes have hair! I thought about it and figured Stefan was probably on the hairier side of things. I guess body hair could be funny. A lot of things involved with sexuality can be, which is why this was tricky to compose.

Of all things that people would find funny, I did not particularly expect the happy trail to be the #1 "I giggled" part.

I too thought it was weird that you'd posted on love vs sex shortly before I intended to put this up. But hey, that makes this all the more interesting for you, right?

[xirysa]

Pffffffft yes they do.

Hahaha so apparently I'm really good at getting inside peoples' minds when they least expect it? That seems to be the case as of late.

[myaru]

I feel kind of faily right now. I've been thinking about this for two days and still haven't figured out how to say some of the things this fic made me think about. I'll try

[r_amythest]

Wow, no wonder Lehran went abstinent after he lost his power. Forget the fertility issue - one orgasm at a time must seem so quaint. Ahahahaha. Quaint.

That glimpse, early on, of what I believe was his family? Yes! I have so much headcanon for Stefan's early circumstances that it's ridiculous. Most of it will only probably be hinted at, ever.

I think I actually know where you got the purplish hue. With Micaiah's dialogue, I thought about it and decided to allow for both the supposedly formal circumstances of the occasion, Stefan's rank, and possible court influence. I probably overcompensated for these things and her voice is probably too formal. But, I think that impression is stronger in lines like this maybe:

Could she leave his ghost as soon as his scent faded from the air? How many times she wished she could have grown old with him! Instead she lived a lifetime, and - parting ways with him at the edges of mortality - turned back to square her shoulders against a world she now knew too well. Surely she could not bear the rest

[queenlua]

-wow. So I sort of found this one by accident (LJ-exclusive fics, what are those), but I'm glad I did. I think this is my favorite work of yours I've read so far.

I love the tiny moments where Micaiah manages to rattle Stefan in this piece-the first time, when she mentions Numida and he recalls the old senator, and the second time when she's pushing through his mind in the midst of passion ("Stefan's eyes flashed alert, his mouth pressed tight, and his aura caged back into a tight sphere once more…")-that second time especially, and I wondered for a second if they were going to continue; such a tense moment.

And the sense of loneliness throughout this piece, the path of Micaiah's thoughts-her voice is just really gripping, and it carried me through the whole piece without stopping. (And this line: "Oh, but Sothe, she pleaded to her weakness, you know I loved you first." Ah

[r_amythest]

Hi, so waking up to a full inbox is like among the best things ever, thanks a ton for all the reviews! 8DDD

I'm a little amused that you liked To Covet so much. After a stream of polite "Oh I thought this maybe was not entirely effective but it was good overall" I was like "Oh god, she read To Covet?" (I don't remember this piece well nor fondly) and then it was like BAM I LOOOOVE THIS. But hey, personal preference -- I'm glad you liked it.

[r_amythest]

I just reread this, and it's better than I remember. If I may be vain, I think that if I'd made a lot of the language during the sex more concise, and the "Micaiah thinks a lot" beginning portion shorter, this would have been really cool. But eh. Regrets in hindsight and all.