I found out that when one loses their voice, it's called laryngitis.

But never mind, more importantly, I just found that Riza Hawkeye has a friggin' cool tattoo on her back!

****FULL METAL ALCHEMIST SPOILERS AHOY*****
Post-Chapter 51 (I think)

WOW. Apparently, Riza's father use his own daughter as a way of prevent his alchemy research from falling into the wrong hands.

My first thought was how did Riza's father have the heart to bore this tattoo unto his daughter. It must have been done once she reached adolescence (or whenever it was during the War of Ishbal. I think she already had this when she first met Roy Mustang).

My next thought was how did Riza even agree to this. It must have been super painful as far as tattoo-ing goes. I mean, that's one serious tattoo there, folks. It looks similar to the transmutation circle Roy uses for his alchemy. Look at all the fine inscriptions. It seems that the details are terribly important as they carry her father's greatest secret to his alchemy. Yes, Riza's father was a flame alchemist, who mentored Roy!! Arrrgghh!! I can't take these wonderfully interesting revelations. It's too much for my poor sick mind (I'm still recovering from illness, I mean)!!

*hops around the room in excitement*

.....All my other thoughts were more or less fangirly in nature.

"Omigosh, that adds 1000 cool points to Riza! XDDD I love her even more!"

"What did Riza mean when she said "Can I trust my back to you" to Roy? Some may interpret that as her giving him permission to decode her tattoo.

"How romantic is that?"

Uh-oh.

**Royai fangirling begins**

For ye clueless blocks, Royai = Roy/Riza pairing. Pic: 1st Liutenant Riza Hawkeye on the left, Colonel Roy Mustang on the right. All is forgiven but I'm not going to explain the whole premise of Full Metal Alchemist here.

• Why did Riza ask Roy to decimate only part of her tattoo? Surely there must be better ways of destroying a tattoo.....like de-tattooing (for the lack of a better word). Or maybe that was the only way to do this during wartimes?

• Why did Roy even agree to it? Dude......we know Riza didn't want another Flame Alchemist to be born but hello, Roy is standing right in front of you. Aren't you a little too late? Should have objected to daddy's mentoring Roy earlier, right?

• This makes me rethink about this whole attraction to the guys who are like your dad. Dad was a flame alchemist. Roy is a flame alchemist. You get the picture.

• General Grunman once actually offered Roy to marry his granddaughter, who is ......Riza's grandfather. (0__0)

• Part of the "Watch my back, Hawkeye" isn't not only to protect him in general, but to shoot him if he ever strayed from the path of wanting to change government to help people in his ambition to being Fuhrer. Interesting.
  

Oh what else can I say? What wonderful fanservice to Royai fans all over the world. This makes us all VERY HAPPY as this supports the bond between the two even more. I bet Royai fans are all fantasizing scenes of Roy sitting behind a barebacked Riza, studying the tattoo. I know I am.

Yup, my royai love is enforced. Thank you, oh great Hiromu Arakawa-sama (creator/mangaka of Full Metal Alchemist). I'm just sorry that I didn't find this out earlier since I've been so busy and haven't been able to catch up with the manga. I've always thought Roy is hot while Riza is among the very few tough, capable, beautiful and intelligent woman in mangaland whom I can't resist admiring.

Need I say anymore?


Roy Mustang x Riza Hawkeye is always by your side love
Made by: ceruleansan @ caffeine_icons

There's something perversely nice about falling sick.

After 5-6 years of being free from any form of common sickness in the U.S., the new lifestyle or environment in Asia finally took its toll on me. I came home from Bangkok with no voice, slight rise in temperature and an extremely cranky mood.

But yeah, why do I say that it's nice?

Reason #1) When you're sick, you drop the stuff that you were engrossed in and start focusing on yourself (which is probably what you've neglected for the longest time). This is the time I totally pamper myself. It's "me me and me" all the way. XD I start paying more attention on what I eat, what I drink and how my body feels. I give myself long hot showers, and lay down in bed for as long as I want to. If there is any part of my body which hurts, I focus on soothing it. While the medicine is disgusting and I hate popping pills, the majority of my time is spent making myself feel good and happy.

Reason #2) People also stop pushing you or pressuring you the moment they hear that you're sick. They have the heart to sympathize and wish you good recovery. It doesn't really matter what their intentions are in seeing you get better; whether it's "Gee, it sucks. I hate being sick. I hope you start feeling better soon." or "Gee, hope she gets better so we can get this project done and finish off where we left." The most important thing is ppl back off and give you the much-needed rest your body had been screaming for weeks but your mind ignored because you were too busy attending to other ppl's needs.

So, in a way, I'm grateful for common sicknesses. It provides a good gauge on how much your body can take physical, mental and emotional stress. While nursing myself, I've been thinking back on what I've been enduring for the last few weeks and am in full agreement that my body has a good point. We're not robots. This type of sickness reminds us of our humanity.