In Character Info: Application for Scorched

[firebornfidelis]

player name: Bree
player livejournal: angelcallie

where did you find us? I was searching for a Claymore community, actually, and this popped up
are you 16 years of age or older?: yes indeed

In Character Information

character name: Riza Hawkeye
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist - manga canon
Timeline: Chapter 104. The last thing she would remember would be being enveloped in the black sphere Father created..
character's age: mid-twenties

powers, skills, pets and equipment: She has no supernatural abilities, but she does have excellent aim. She is strong for her size and decent at hand-to-hand combat due to the time she spent in basic training and at the military academy, but she prefers her guns. She is proficient with all firearms from rifles to little handguns. She has no weapons with her but she will most likely rectify that as soon as she has currency. Canonically, Riza is sensitive to, for lack of a better word, auras, though this sensitivity relates mostly to feeling that someone is powerful and/or malevolent when they are in her immediate vicinity as she does with Gluttony in chapter 37 and Pride in chapters 70-71. Mods willing, the mist will take this ability and strengthen it slightly, making her vaguely aware of malefactors within a hundred foot radius. There is no real precision to it, she will only really know from what direction they are approaching. If there is more than one or two in her vicinity, the ability will become confused and she will be unable to tell where any of them are or how many there are.

canon history: Riza was born to an alchemist father and an “army brat” mother who was the daughter of General Grumman. But her parents were reclusive and estranged from their families so she did not know until later in life that she had any family outside of the two of them. Her mother died when she was still young. Her father, like most alchemists, became obsessed with his work did not have a lot of time for her. The possessed look he had on his face while doing his research frightened her so she generally kept well away from him when he was in his study. When he did have time for her, he spent much of it indoctrinating her with reasons why alchemy should be used to help people and bring them happiness rather than as a tool or a weapon of the military, despite the fact that she was no alchemist herself. She loved and feared her father in equal parts. Later on (most likely when Riza was a young teen) her father took on an apprentice, one Roy Mustang. Their relationship was cordial and she came to have some affection for him but, because he was her father’s student, she maintained a sense of formality between them and referred to him always as “Mr Mustang” rather than the familiar “Roy” despite the fact that he called her Riza.

Though he seemed not to pay her much attention, her father did make sure that she went to school and got a decent education. He also decided at some point that his research in flame alchemy was complete and that a regular research journal simply written in code was not a good enough safeguard for his life’s work. Instead, he tattooed the complicated alchemical array he had devised, and all the notes on its workings, onto Riza’s back. She effectively became his research journals. What better place to hide his secrets than on the skin of a child he had molded with his own beliefs? With Riza as his research journal, even if he died, the journal could protect and hide itself and could make the decision independent of him on who would be suitable to be given the secret knowledge. She consented this in part because she was still a child wanting to please her father and partly because she had a deep respect for him and everything he stood for. And it was because of the fact that she saw those same ideals in Mustang on the day of her father’s funeral that she shared with him her father’s secrets. She passed her childlike faith in her father on to the young military man and, in giving the text on her back to him, also consigned herself to his service in order to watch over the hopes and dreams and goals of the man to whom she had given fire. She followed him into the military in order to protect and help him.

While she was still at the Academy, the war in Ishval crescendoed and, being that she was one of the most talented sharpshooters in the military, she was shipped out to the front lines. She saw a lot of terrible things there, not the least of which was the man she had decided to protect using the knowledge she had given him, that her father had entrusted to her to protect, to kill Ishvalans, citizens of Amesteris who should have been under the military’s protection. She had to take lives herself, in order to protect her comrades, but the muddy ground of killing an Amestrian to protect an Amestrian erased from her whatever traces of childhood still remained and created a sad confusion between the hopeful visions her father and Roy had painted for her and the stark reality she was living behind the scope of a sniper rifle. In an effort to regain equilibrium and a sense of self outside of those pieces of her father and his student that she clung to, she asked Roy to burn the tattoo from her back. Only once the scars marred the array beyond legibility could she be free to make decisions for herself rather than simply for the deadly knowledge she carried.

And despite everything she saw in Ishval, she continued to support Roy Mustang. She returned to the academy, graduated and received her commission. Not long thereafter she was taken in to Mustang’s unit as his aide and second in command. She went with him when he was transferred from Central to Eastern and back again. She supported him in the office with her ability to make even him get his paperwork done and in the field with her unparalleled skill with firearms. The importance of their relationship did not go unnoticed by the Fuhrer and the other homunculi, which was why, when the they needed to keep Roy Mustang in line, Riza was transferred out of his command and into the Fuhrer’s office as a hostage for his good behavior. She faced it with equanimity, and continued to pass all pertinent information to him in code, even after facing Pride’s threat that he would do serious harm to Roy and her other friends if she did anything untoward.

When the Promised Day came, she deserted her post and went underground, meeting up with Mustang and the other members of his unit to begin their assault on Father and Central. Despite his order for her to stay behind, she followed him into the tunnels in search of Envy and, with the help of Scar and Ed, was able to bring him back from the brink. This was something of a traumatic experience for her because she had to make herself ready to shoot the most important person in her life in order to stop him from crossing the line and becoming a monster. For the second time (the first being when Lust told her that she had killed Roy) she expressed an unwillingness to live in a world without Roy Mustang and went so far as to imply that she would take her own life if she was forced to shoot him. When he let go of his desire for revenge, the relief that washed over her made her fall to her knees beside him. Shortly thereafter, her throat was slit and she was once again used as a bargaining chip to get Roy to do as the homunculi wanted. But, despite the fact that she was bleeding from the throat, she still forbade him to choose her and offered him the better solution of deferring to the backup that had arrived to assist them. Mei Chang then partially healed the wound on her throat, but she was still weak and in need of a doctor. Roy was then pulled through the gate against his will and, moments later, Riza and the three chimeras who were left behind were enveloped in a black sphere that spread outwards from where Father hid below.


personality: Riza is something like the strong and silent type. She doesn’t speak idly or act without purpose. There is very little that ruffles her and even less that frightens her. She is a soldier who has seen her share of action so the thought of fighting doesn’t intimidate her. She doesn’t enjoy it but she does it because she believes it must be done and that the thing she is fighting for is worth it. She is loyal to the core and those who earn her respect and friendship have in her an ally who will come to their aid no matter what the cost to herself.

Outwardly she often appears to be silent and cold. Her stern expression and nerves of steel tend to intimidate most people who do not know her very well and even some who do. She does not generally show her feelings openly. But the Riza Hawkeye that most people don’t know is caring, compassionate, forgiving, honest, and kind. She has something of a soft spot for strays and she loves her dog, Black Hayate. Despite everything she has seen, she still holds onto the hope and the belief that the world can be changed for the better and she’ll do anything in her power to make it happen.

She is selfless. Everything she does is for others, protecting them, looking after them, guiding them. She has very little to call her own, but this does not bother her. She believes it to be right enough and doesn’t feel the need for an abundance of material possessions. She keeps nothing around her that is not useful. She also demands usefulness from herself.

Above all, she is brave. Even in the face of an enemy who she knows she is no match for, she will stand, look him in the eye, and tell him exactly what she thinks without a trace of fear in her voice (even if she is scared out of her wits).

why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? Riza is a standup kind of girl with a strong personality, good common sense, a set of beliefs she sticks to no matter what, and a steel backbone. She’s smart but not pushy and she’s not afraid to take action. Even though she has no superhuman abilities, she will still be an asset to whomever she allies herself with. She will also be interesting in-game because she has such a rich personal history with plenty of demons the mist can torment her with, as well as obvious and hidden vulnerabilities to be exploited.

Writing Samples

Network Post Sample:

[VIDEO]
[Static, and then a fumbling sound accompanied by an image of the grey fabric of a jacket flashing across the screen as the forge is turned over in her hands. She catches sight of the screen and looks down into it with a skeptical expression. Her hair is down and there is a splatter on blood on the left side of her face as well as the left shoulder of her jacket.]

[mumbling to herself]A communication device?

[She turns it over in her hands again, not yet grasping the fact that the device is transmitting an image of spinning floor and ceiling as she examines it. Her face shows up on the screen again, one eyebrow cocked. She sighs slightly in resignation and decides to give it a try, her eyes looking not into the screen but above it, past it, as if she does not even realize it is there.]

To anyone who may be listening, this is Riza Hawkeye. I am a first lieutenant of the Amestrian military. [she pauses] A moment ago I was in the underground of Central City, but now I seem to have been . . . transported here without my consent. Any information on my current location would be greatly appreciated. I would also be grateful for any information that could help me to return to where I came from or on the whereabouts of my companions. There are three of them, all humanoid, but they bear some of the physical traits of animals. One resembles an ape, one a boar, and the third an amphibian. It is imperative that I find them. Thank you.

[the screen spins away from her face again and her hand fumbles across it. After a moment, there is only static and then the transmission ends.]

Third Person Sample:

Riza blinked absently as the unfamiliar ceiling above her came into focus. Where was she . . . ? She sat up slowly, feeling more than a little lightheaded, and tried to remember what had happened. Her shoulder hurt and she could feel dried blood on the side of her face. When she turned her head to examine the wound, she felt the stinging burn of another at her throat. She instinctively pressed her hand to it, staunching the blood that was no longer flowing even as she remembered the flash of the alchemy Mei had used to seal her wounds closed. Her mind tracked backwards and she remembered the sword. Remembered the way her revolver and handgun had fallen out of her hands as she was tackled to the ground. The swipe Envy had made at her that had cut her shoulder. And the Colonel . . .

Her fist clenched. Where was the Colonel? She remembered seeing Bradley pin his swords right through the Colonel’s hands and then Selim and his little shadow arms holding him down as he started to dissolve in that transmutation circle. Bradley had said he had been transported to Father’s room and that he was possibly not intact.

It was more than likely that the black sphere that had expanded and enveloped her and the three chimeras was 'Father’s' doing, so maybe it had transported them all to him as well. But, glancing over her shoulder, she could see that this room had a window that looked out on some very old looking buildings shrouded in mist. She was clearly no longer in the underground so it was unlikely that she was transported to the same place the Colonel had been but she had to at least try to find him just in case. And the three chimeras who had been with her would very likely be here, too. If she could find them then at least she would have some allies.

She had to do something. She tried to stand but she had to grip the bedpost to keep her knees from buckling. She knew the swimming sensation in her head was due to bloodloss. She could feel her own blood all over her, as if it coated her like a second skin, covering her arm and neck, soaked into her shirt and splotched on her jacket. Even her boots weren’t clean of it. She shifted, trying to ease her weight back onto her feet instead of leaning on the bedpost, and she could feel that all her holsters were empty. She had known that they were, remembered dropping her emptied handguns and having her rifle knocked from her hands, but only now did she realize the implication of it. She was wounded and defenseless in an unknown place. And, if 'Father' really was the one who had sent her here, she knew the place could not be safe.

She glanced at the bedside table and spotted a device of some sort. It had a little speaker on it, as well as a keyboard and several buttons and switches. It almost looked like one of Fuery’s radios, only much smaller. If it was a communication device, maybe she could use it to find the chimeras. If she could get in touch with them, then maybe they could help her find her way to a gun or the route back to Central.

She sat back down, now holding the device in her hands and turning it over, trying to figure out how it worked. Her body begged her to rest, her hands shaking and her vision beginning to blur slightly, but she couldn’t afford to sleep now. Not when she had no idea where she was or what might be on the other side of the door.