She Remembered The Blood Staining The White Of The Sand A Dark, Ugly Red. She Could See It When She Closed

“She remembered the blood staining the white of the sand a dark, ugly red. She could see it when she closed her eyes.” -Chapter 4, Overcome (

Happy October 3rd and happy Royaibigbang2024!

I worked on this piece for chapter 3 of @quiet-nocturne ‘s fic Overcome, which you can all read on ao3!!

So many amazing artists and writers worked on this event, check out @royaibigbang page which will be sharing them all!

Under the cut I have the link to the fic and some lines i drew inspiration from for the piece.

Link

Lines that gave me inspiration for the depictions in the scene!

For the depictions in the mirror:

Riza looked down, and she was wearing Amestris blue, with her desert cloak over it, and a sniper rifle slung over shoulder.

…red eyes.

And there was such hatred in them.

Suddenly, Riza’s sniper rifle was in her hand, propped up and ready. She could still see the woman’s face in the scope.

As Riza pressed the trigger, the woman phased out, suddenly replaced by Mustang. His face showed shock, horror, fear -

For the smoke in the lungs:

Riza woke up with a gasp, hand on her chest. Her heart thumped rapidly against her hand. She took in huge gulps of air, trying to grasp ahold of herself, but it never seemed to be enough.

She could feel the sickly press of panic pushing forcefully against her chest, out of control and rapidly building, wanting to consume her whole.

General setting and physical action:

When her face felt numb, she pulled back and turned the tap off, drying the water off with her t-shirt.

Breathing heavily, she stared at her reflection in the mirror for several long moments, gripping the porcelain sink with white knuckles.

Happy FMA Day AND Royai Big Bang drop day!!!

This is my piece for @raisingmybanner's fic 'Accretion' for @royaibigbang! An AU where Roy, an art authenticator, must pose undercover as an engaged couple with Riza, his security detail, to determine the authenticity of an elusive piece that has surfaced.

Here they're in the gallery in front of the fabled 'Young Man with Flowers' ink drawing. But is it real? Is it a forgery? Make sure you read the fic to find out!

Riza Hawkeye's life changes completely when Roy Mustang draws her name for the 40th Hunger Games, sealing both of their fates and binding one to the other. Will they be able to succeed and reach their ambitions, or will the Capitol prove a too dangerous opponent for the likes of them?

HI FRIENDS! Yesterday, was the drop of our @royaibigbang event!! This post features three art pieces I made for @limetameta 🩷 their fic was so much fun to read ( even when I had zero knowledge in the Hunger Games hehe)

You can read their fic Gnawing Meat off the bone here on Ao3 or check it out in the EBOOK ( where art and fics are combined!!)

My favorite piece should be Riza covered in blood 🦅 I am really proud of how it turned out!

These are two other sketches I originally planned ( that I am okay with showing since they aren't messy haha )

Limeta is such a wonderful person and working with them was so fun!! Make sure to go and read and leave comments under their work🩷

“Xing royalty at three o’clock,” Riza murmured, pretending to brush a crumb off Mustang’s lapel. “They look about as happy as we do.” “So, incandescent?” Mustang whispered. “Naturally.”

my artwork for @raisingmybanner's fic "Accretion" for @royaibigbang!!! ✨

i had an awesome experience collaborating with everyone in @royaibigbang 💕 all of us put a lot of time and love into this project, so please go check out all the amazing artwork and fics! there's even a whole PDF ebook that you can download!!!!

Quite a journey

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The Royai moments the anime adaptations left out bc they are COWARDS

(I believe in fma manga supremacy)

Riza's Grandpa asks Roy to marry her.

So this one needs outside material to explain, but Arakawa confirmed in the 2nd Guidebook (released only in Japanese and French) that Grumman is Riza's maternal grandfather. Not necessarily a big Royai moment but, still it's interesting how Riza's only known living family ships it, and that Roy doesn't exactly say "no" to his request.

I am forever fascinated as to why any of this exists in the first place, what did you mean by this Arakawa? why have Grumman make this suggestion in the first place? 👀👀👀👀👀👀 What were you suggesting? 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Anyway, I wish we had an in-text confirmation of Riza's relation to Grumman and I wish this moment had come back to the story at some point. Even if it was just Riza glaring at Grumman being like "Grandpa why are you trying to marry me off?????"

2. Roy's "Get your hands off my wife!" moment.

He really said, "is he bothering you queen?" I wish we had more protective Roy and frankly, I don't understand how this scene didn't make it to Brotherhood? Riza was getting manhandled by a tin can and clearly not into it. The fact that a tin can serial killer developed a crush on her is concerning to begin with. It just wouldn't be in character for Roy to be cool with this. Roy is also a jealous boyfriend, what can I say?

3. The "I'm glad you're alive" moment.

For some dumb reason, Brotherhood changed this so when Riza apologises for worrying him, he just snaps "save it for the end of the mission!" Like, why Brotherhood? why would Roy ever snap at Riza like that? especially when Riza is generally the one who is laser-focused on the mission. Roy has enough faith in her, he's not going to see this brief apology as her being distracted or less competent. The manga dialogue is also meant to show how Maes's death is still a fresh wound for Roy, so of course he's on edge at the prospect of losing Riza too.

4. He literally asks her out

I feel like both anime adaptations really wanted Roy to be more of a womaniser than he actually is. But this scene lowkey confirms Roy has limited game and he only really wants Riza. It feels like dude jumped at the opportunity to ask Riza out the moment she technically stopped being his subordinate.

5. Roy's codename for Riza actually coming back

Seriously, I love how Arakawa took the time to establish "Elizabeth" as Riza's codename only to use it later to have Madame Christmas suggest that Roy regularly spends time with "Elizabeth" to the point where it's weird that he isn't with her now. And then, when Roy bemoans how "another man took Elizabeth" (an obvious reference to Riza being taken hostage by Bradley) one of Christmas's girls gets excited at the idea she might have a chance with Roy. The suggestion is that Roy isn't normally available on account of his seeing Elizabeth.

It's a strong hint to the idea that Riza and Roy might have *something* going on and are bypassing the fraternization laws through codes. At the very least it suggests that Roy isn't interested in anyone but "Elizabeth". Also look how bummed out he is that his wife is gone. Why did the anime rob us of so much pathetic whipped Roy? WHY?

6. Just a lot more touching in general

There's actually a lot of touching between these two in the manga. It's mostly during the big fights like the Promised Day or the battle with Lust and it really cements them as a true battle couple.

In the case of the Promised day they are literally fighting in each other's arms. Riza is leaning on Roy as she's on the verge of passing out from her wounds, and Roy is clinging onto her now that she has become his eyes. The way they hold each other shows how they are each other's crutch and how one always empowers the other. It also symbolises how inseparable these two are as moments ago Roy was at the Gate and before that Riza was on the brink of death, they could have lost in each other for good but they're still standing strong together in spite of everything.

The post-Lust fight is just a nice moment were Roy clings onto Riza out of sheer relief that she's okay and he hasn't lost another loved one. Even though he's on the verge of passing out from pain and blood loss, he still finds the strength to reach out to her.

Then there's the scene in the tunnels where he lowers her gun for her. The noticeable difference in the manga is that he does this after he takes off his ignition gloves.

The anime forgets to do this. It seems like a minor difference but it's kind of a big point of characterisation. Because we know that Riza has been hurt by flame alchemy, from the process of having the tattoo done to her by a trusted parental figure at a young age, to the trauma of seeing how much damage it did at ishval, to her very literally being burned by the flames so that it won't do anymore damage. Roy is the one who burned her, he's the one who used her secret to do unspeakable damage and suffering, why would he hurt her again by letting her go anywhere near flame alchemy?

My final thoughts: Manga Roy is altogether more dorky and in love with Riza than his anime counterparts and I miss his adorkable self.

I also feel like Arakawa was so good at subtly hinting at how in love these two are and how they basically *do* function like a couple even if they might not be together in the conventional het married with babies way.