#this was a very pleasant surprise in my askbox thank you 😭

[thecodeveronica]

Hello~ hopped over from AO3 to Tumblr after reading your fic (which is wonderful btw) - hope you don't mind! As someone who frequents the barren AO3 tag and then saw your askbox title I had to stop by.

Anyway actual question! I'd love to hear why the Claire/Steve dynamic appeals to you. Whether that answer be about the characters or anything (or if you don't want to answer at all, that's totally fine too!), I'd love to hear your thoughts on it as a fellow burnfield shipper/writer. It'd be like a little author's commentary track for when I reread your fic!

Anyway whoa this was long, sorry. And hope you have a good day~ thanks again

Thank you again btw, your comment on AO3 had me totally elated; I didn't really expect anyone to actually read my fic, and then actually like it 😭

The boring part of why I like Claire and Steve together is because they are both two of my favorite characters. Steve is my #1 favorite RE character, and Claire is in my top 3, I just love them both a lot!

But on their actual relationship, I'm a huge fan of characters that would do anything to protect the other. Claire starts CVX and DSC clearly not expecting much from Steve (and in CVX, I'm sure it doesn't help when he gets caught in that trap in the Palace really early on and she has to rescue him lol), but there is a clear, gradual warming up toward him as the game goes on, even if she's hardened up a little since the events of RE2. She's very gentle with him even when Steve can be a bit difficult, like when he has to shoot his dad and is upset afterward or when he says guns are more reliable than people. Her reaction after his death which i'm still in denial about haha is just gut wrenching, she seems so distraught and it shows how much she'd come to like him.

And from Steve's side, he's obviously lonely, dealing with the tragic circumstances of being imprisoned by no fault of his own, his mother dying, the disappointment of what his father did. He has a hard time trusting people, and that extends even to Claire early on. I just love how you can see his feelings for her start to grow and how he finally has someone to trust.

One of my favorite things about the Cleve/Burnfield ship are the times Steve is quick to try to protect Claire, even though she's obviously the more capable one. He's just a civilian and is clearly coping with the horrifying situation they are in with humor and things like that, but even so, he still does things like rush in front of Claire when they confront Nosferatu. It's just so sweet ❤️

And even if Darkside Chronicles isn't technically canon, it's so fun seeing Claire and Steve together for almost the whole game. They grow to have such a fun, playful rapport with one another. Darkside Chronicles also gave me one of my favorite moments when Steve is ready to pilot that plane out of Rockfort Island and Claire puts her hand over his and they pull that lever together, ahhhhhh it's such a short but soft little gesture

Sorry this got SUPER long!!! I was happy to have the perfect opportunity to gush over Claire and Steve lol, thank you so much again for the ask!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day too!!

(also, you have good taste being a Gundam fan too with the Kamille icon 👍)