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Aug. 19th, 2013 11:07 pmName: Miri
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basilinna
Other Characters Played: n/a
Preferred Apartment: Surprise me.
Character Name: Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye
Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood)
Canon Point: Chapter 102/episode 59, after Roy is forced to open the Gate of Truth and disappears into Father's lair.
Background/History: Manga / Riza
Personality: Riza is the consummate soldier: strict, precise, detached, and clever. Her superiors respect her and her subordinates go in fear of inciting her wrath. She operates with a military efficiency that is at times frightening, fulfilling whatever duty her superiors present her. At times she almost seems too stoic, too rigid. Her seeming emotional detachedness can frequently be read as coldness, her almost casual attitude towards the cruel realities of the world as indifference. In truth, Riza has a kind and empathetic nature that doesn't show itself around her compatriots, and a particularly sharp sense of humor. It's not that Riza is cold, but rather that she merely operates with a remarkable degree of professionalism. She has always held most people at a distance. Those who manage to get close to her find a woman with a soft heart and a stubborn nature.
As a child Riza was shy and withdrawn, the product of an isolatory home environment. Her father was consumed by his research and her mother left them when Riza was a child, leaving the young girl to virtually fend for herself. From an early age this bred self-reliance, a trait she has carried well into adulthood. Before he died, Berthold Hawkeye had the total summation of his life's research tattooed on his daughter's back, and he entrusted her with the weighty responsibility of passing on his legacy - weighty because Berthold's research precluded the possibility of burning human beings alive. Her father preached the duty of alchemists to the people, and although Riza has never possessed her father's talents, she did at least inherit his sense of duty to the greater good. But Riza has something else her father never possessed: a sense of personal responsibility to the people around her. She was not content to merely theorize ideas to help people and hoard that knowledge to herself; she needed to do something real. Upon his death it was this idealism, combined with a spark of rebellion against her neglectful father's ghost, that led her to enroll in military academy.
She thought the military would give her the sense of purpose she'd lost when her father died, and instead the military taught her how to shoot and shipped her off to a conflict that was less war and more wholesale genocidal slaughter. In Ishval, Riza became a mass murderer.
Yet deep inside, Riza is an idealist. She bears the weight of every life she took with stoic responsibility, acknowledges the injustice of the atrocities she took part in, and continues to move forward. It's not so much that she's made peace with what she's done as it is that she's very adept at taking the long view of her feelings. Simply put, she can't afford to let her past drag her down.
And central to all of this is Berthold Hawkeye's pupil, Roy Mustang. It's virtually impossible to describe Riza without discussing Roy, because in many ways he is her purpose. It was Roy whom Riza showed the secrets etched upon her back, and after the war, it was Roy whom Riza begged to burn those destructive secrets away. Roy shares in Riza's sense of responsibility for Ishval as well as her idealism, but Roy has something else, something more real: a vision for a more just country. One that doesn't give medals to killers of children, but holds them accountable for her actions. It's not about redemption, or about justifying her life in the aftermath of brutality.
This goal is everything to Riza, to the point where the prospective loss of it flounders her. When she believes Roy dead, she momentarily loses her oft-praised cool, and when Roy is on the brink of losing himself to hatred, Riza tells him she will put a bullet in his skull and kill herself after. She's similar to her father in that regard: she needs her purpose, and she can't live without it. She would, in her own words, follow Roy even into the depths of hell.
Abilities/Powers: Basic survival/military skills, and exceptional talent with any kind of firearm. Expert marksman.
Items/Weapons: One handgun, one rifle, and spare clips of ammunition for each.
Sample Entry:
My name is Riza Hawkeye and I'm an officer of the military of my home country. I studied in military academy many years ago, where I learned how to shoot. It's not arrogance or exaggeration that makes me say I am an exceptionally skilled gunman: it is a fact. I rarely miss a target.
I say this because I think it's due upon me to offer up my skills for instruction. Anyone over the age of fourteen can apply. Normally I would stipulate older, but given circumstances being what they are... Self-protection overrides conscience.
If you're interested, let me know. I'll be here.
Sample Entry Two:
It's comfortably warm and Riza has her jacket on, but a shiver creeps up on her regardless.
Maybe it's the blood loss, or maybe it's just that this place feels wrong. It crawls up her legs like shadows, making her finger itch towards the trigger on her gun... She swallows and firmly tamps that feeling down lest she shoot some innocent passerby. If there even are any innocent passers-by. This town, wherever it is, appears deserted. The initial panic she'd awoken with has given way to a numb sort of horror, and she can't suppress the horrible thought whispering at the back of her mind: This is it. We failed. The Homunculi won. Riza only has an elementary understanding of the Gate of Truth, so who's to say this isn't what the other side looks like? From all the reports she's heard, this certainly fits with the image it paints in her mind: a place of bleakness and despair.
"Scar," she calls, her voice quiet but clear, and then tentatively, hopelessly: "Edward? Colonel?"
Silence answers her.
She forces down the unease eating at the pit of her stomach, reminds herself the Elrics' father had a plan to reverse the nationwide human transmutation. Her one comfort is that if she is through the Gate, it's not because the Colonel acted the naive fool and opened it to save her. No, instead she was merely helplessly incapable of preventing Pride from forcing him to—
Riza stops and takes a breath to clear her head.
She thinks of the plan, the one Alphonse assured them his father had made foolproof. Then she pushes the sweat-dampened hair from her forehead and considers her condition, her surroundings. If this was the other side of the Gate, why would she be feeling the affects of her wound? The pain throbs in her throat, making each breath feel sharp and hot. Pain means she's alive. It has to. Because she can't die yet, she's been ordered not to die, and she still has a mission left to fulfill.
Contact Info:
Other Characters Played: n/a
Preferred Apartment: Surprise me.
Character Name: Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye
Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood)
Canon Point: Chapter 102/episode 59, after Roy is forced to open the Gate of Truth and disappears into Father's lair.
Background/History: Manga / Riza
Personality: Riza is the consummate soldier: strict, precise, detached, and clever. Her superiors respect her and her subordinates go in fear of inciting her wrath. She operates with a military efficiency that is at times frightening, fulfilling whatever duty her superiors present her. At times she almost seems too stoic, too rigid. Her seeming emotional detachedness can frequently be read as coldness, her almost casual attitude towards the cruel realities of the world as indifference. In truth, Riza has a kind and empathetic nature that doesn't show itself around her compatriots, and a particularly sharp sense of humor. It's not that Riza is cold, but rather that she merely operates with a remarkable degree of professionalism. She has always held most people at a distance. Those who manage to get close to her find a woman with a soft heart and a stubborn nature.
As a child Riza was shy and withdrawn, the product of an isolatory home environment. Her father was consumed by his research and her mother left them when Riza was a child, leaving the young girl to virtually fend for herself. From an early age this bred self-reliance, a trait she has carried well into adulthood. Before he died, Berthold Hawkeye had the total summation of his life's research tattooed on his daughter's back, and he entrusted her with the weighty responsibility of passing on his legacy - weighty because Berthold's research precluded the possibility of burning human beings alive. Her father preached the duty of alchemists to the people, and although Riza has never possessed her father's talents, she did at least inherit his sense of duty to the greater good. But Riza has something else her father never possessed: a sense of personal responsibility to the people around her. She was not content to merely theorize ideas to help people and hoard that knowledge to herself; she needed to do something real. Upon his death it was this idealism, combined with a spark of rebellion against her neglectful father's ghost, that led her to enroll in military academy.
She thought the military would give her the sense of purpose she'd lost when her father died, and instead the military taught her how to shoot and shipped her off to a conflict that was less war and more wholesale genocidal slaughter. In Ishval, Riza became a mass murderer.
Yet deep inside, Riza is an idealist. She bears the weight of every life she took with stoic responsibility, acknowledges the injustice of the atrocities she took part in, and continues to move forward. It's not so much that she's made peace with what she's done as it is that she's very adept at taking the long view of her feelings. Simply put, she can't afford to let her past drag her down.
And central to all of this is Berthold Hawkeye's pupil, Roy Mustang. It's virtually impossible to describe Riza without discussing Roy, because in many ways he is her purpose. It was Roy whom Riza showed the secrets etched upon her back, and after the war, it was Roy whom Riza begged to burn those destructive secrets away. Roy shares in Riza's sense of responsibility for Ishval as well as her idealism, but Roy has something else, something more real: a vision for a more just country. One that doesn't give medals to killers of children, but holds them accountable for her actions. It's not about redemption, or about justifying her life in the aftermath of brutality.
This goal is everything to Riza, to the point where the prospective loss of it flounders her. When she believes Roy dead, she momentarily loses her oft-praised cool, and when Roy is on the brink of losing himself to hatred, Riza tells him she will put a bullet in his skull and kill herself after. She's similar to her father in that regard: she needs her purpose, and she can't live without it. She would, in her own words, follow Roy even into the depths of hell.
Items/Weapons: One handgun, one rifle, and spare clips of ammunition for each.
Sample Entry:
My name is Riza Hawkeye and I'm an officer of the military of my home country. I studied in military academy many years ago, where I learned how to shoot. It's not arrogance or exaggeration that makes me say I am an exceptionally skilled gunman: it is a fact. I rarely miss a target.
I say this because I think it's due upon me to offer up my skills for instruction. Anyone over the age of fourteen can apply. Normally I would stipulate older, but given circumstances being what they are... Self-protection overrides conscience.
If you're interested, let me know. I'll be here.
Sample Entry Two:
It's comfortably warm and Riza has her jacket on, but a shiver creeps up on her regardless.
Maybe it's the blood loss, or maybe it's just that this place feels wrong. It crawls up her legs like shadows, making her finger itch towards the trigger on her gun... She swallows and firmly tamps that feeling down lest she shoot some innocent passerby. If there even are any innocent passers-by. This town, wherever it is, appears deserted. The initial panic she'd awoken with has given way to a numb sort of horror, and she can't suppress the horrible thought whispering at the back of her mind: This is it. We failed. The Homunculi won. Riza only has an elementary understanding of the Gate of Truth, so who's to say this isn't what the other side looks like? From all the reports she's heard, this certainly fits with the image it paints in her mind: a place of bleakness and despair.
"Scar," she calls, her voice quiet but clear, and then tentatively, hopelessly: "Edward? Colonel?"
Silence answers her.
She forces down the unease eating at the pit of her stomach, reminds herself the Elrics' father had a plan to reverse the nationwide human transmutation. Her one comfort is that if she is through the Gate, it's not because the Colonel acted the naive fool and opened it to save her. No, instead she was merely helplessly incapable of preventing Pride from forcing him to—
Riza stops and takes a breath to clear her head.
She thinks of the plan, the one Alphonse assured them his father had made foolproof. Then she pushes the sweat-dampened hair from her forehead and considers her condition, her surroundings. If this was the other side of the Gate, why would she be feeling the affects of her wound? The pain throbs in her throat, making each breath feel sharp and hot. Pain means she's alive. It has to. Because she can't die yet, she's been ordered not to die, and she still has a mission left to fulfill.
