Aiming For Perfection (A Study of Riza Hawkeye)

If there ever was a pictorial dictionary, Riza's photo (brisk and unsmiling, uniform impeccably straight) would probably be firmly under the 'EFFICIENCY' listing. After all, it takes someone with a close to a hundred percent efficiency rating to get the Taisa off his recalcitrant butt. And Riza is nothing if not efficient. She has to be.

On hindsight, following a different commander would have been much easier on her resources, maybe... but not as fulfilling. That's Riza, always up for a challenge. It still makes her smile at times, as the Taiza and Fullmetal make a disruptive fuss when they meet, a corner of her mouth tugged upward by the reluctant acknowledgement in their voices. Men. Always trying to prove themselves. But it would probably drift past their ears fruitlessly, so she just exhales a long-suffering breath in the privacy of her mind, occasionally allowing herself a shake of the head, and carries on with her work.

Busy, busy, busy. Probably no one (other than her) really understands how busy the East Department is, but the young Chuu-i lets them get away with their ignorance. After all, she enjoys the challenge, and as long as the Taisa gets a minimum amount of work done, Riza lets him sneak a few minutes off every so often to enjoy the freedom that he takes to be hard- earned. No harm in letting him think he is soo clever.

Men.

All right, so she takes a little more enjoyment in watching him get sunk under the piles of work than is strictly polite. But she consoles herself, looking at the obsessively tidy stacks of paperwork on her desk- rivaling the Taisa's in hulk and only this size because of her efficiency (or else it would have been LARGER)- she deserves the entertainment.

There is something to be said for the hardworking. In Riza's opinion, it is 'the hardworking shall rule the world.'

Discreetly, of course.

In many ways it's like the perfect shot that dangles enticingly just within her reach each moment she spends within the firing range. With every round fired, she can march the bullet holes in a nearly perfect line from the outside to the inside of the target, very nearly mathematical in her precision.

And then without a pause, that final inrush of motion, her eye fixed firmly down the line of her heavy revolver- there.

There's Hawkeye-chuui for you. Always aiming for perfection.

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This one was fun to write because I got to make fun of Mustang. (snarkle) And after reading the Hawkeye/BarryTheChopper interaction in scanlations (where she acts completely different out of uniform) I just couldn't resist. Sorry, Taisa!

On a side note, 'Chuu-i' is Hawkeye's rank, First Lieutenant. Since I was already calling Mustang 'Taisa', I thought I might as well go the whole hog for the sake of uniformity. For people who want to be pedantic about it, a complete (or at least it really seems close) listing of rank in Japanese and English can be found at scimitarsmile.com.

Next: Um... Black Hayate?