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Character Bio
Sep. 10th, 2018 11:02 pmName: Raina Moonsinger
Age: 24
Physical Description: Raina is 5'5" tall and seems to have a fairly average build. She's fit, with lean muscle and a general aura of good health about her. Her hair is auburn and slightly unruly due to a natural curl, just past shoulder length and typically worn with the sides pinned back by a single black barrette. Her eyes are a deep dark brown, almost appearing to be black unless observed closely, fringed by thick lashes. Her skin tone rests closer to 'tanned' than 'dusky', and her features seem somewhat wolfish or vulpine with high cheekbones and a tapered chin, with a generously wide grin. Her eyebrows are generally her most expressive feature. Overall her countenance is pleasant, "cute" even, but her personality and casual manner of dress are the biggest factors preventing her from being considered a beauty like her sister. Raina dresses comfortably, favoring clothes in neutral tones to keep from drawing attention to herself in a crowd. Her most common attire consists of loose black cargo pants, black boots laced up to mid-calf, a beige long-sleeved shirt worn under a black vest, and of course, a blaster at her hip.
World History: Pranthas is a good example of why the "First Contact" rule was put into effect. A fairly primitive world, with natives surviving via daily foraging and hunting, Pranthas became the refuge for a fleeing band of criminal scientists who introduced technology to the people in order to make their own lives more comfortable. The lifespans of the natives nearly tripled as a result, and the huts and tents they lived in were replaced with sturdy stone buildings. Instead of hunting for food, they mined for ore, and within a mere fifty years the technology level of the modern person had increased to 22nd century Earth in the city harboring the refugees, with technology levels decreasing in outlying villages depending on how far away they were from the central city. Eventually the criminals were found by the intergalactic Peacekeepers and arrested, all save one. The remaining scientist had married a woman from one of the many tribes and had a young daughter, Laela. The native assistants who had been relied upon as aids recognized the opportunity before them, and promised not to reveal him to the intergalactic peacekeepers in exchange for his position of political power. Though society continued to function as it had since the arrival of the offworlders, corruption slowly began to seep in and take hold. The City Chief sought the resources that lay in the lands of their less sophisticated neighbors and demanded that the remaining scientist create clones to build a genetically superior army. When he refused the Chief (for he was uneasy with the Chief's growing ambitions and certain that the Chief didn't know enough about the transmitters to make good on his threat to call the Peacekeepers), the Chief threatened to have his family executed and kept his wife and daughter imprisoned until he'd created a means of producing 100 men and means for creating more at the Chief's leisure. Reluctantly he constructed the cloning pods and created 100 genetically superior soldiers as the Chief had requested, finishing in the winter, and his family was released. The scientist attempted to discreetly flee the city, for he'd genetically modified the DNA of the soldiers to be fatally allergic to the night pollen that would be released by the summer foliage. Unfortunately, this flaw was revealed prematurely when flowers were brought into the castle as a gift from one of the wealthier citizens who owned a hot house, and the soldiers fell ill and died within the week. The scientist and his daughter managed to evade capture, but his wife did not, and the Chief had her publicly executed to make an example of those who did not obey him. Maddened with grief, he abandoned his plans to escape the city and instead bent all of his time and energy into finding a way to overthrow the Chief. The scientist and his daughter lived in hiding, constantly on the run to escape the Chief's guards. He was successful for many years, but eventually, his luck ran out, and he was taken to the citadel. However, he was able to keep his daughter safe...and he had one more secret he had managed to keep hidden from everyone but Laela...
Character History: Raina's story is tightly intertwined with her older sister's. Laela was born first, and she has some memories of her mother before she was executed. What she mostly remembers is constantly being on the run, taking refuge with different families and getting to know their children as playmates before they had to move again. Her father was driven, almost haunted, by a warring blend of revenge and fear. She remembers her father hunched over a desk that stank of chemicals, surrounded by sheets of paper and a deskpad that cast a weird pale glow on his face, jogging his knee as he pressed his folded hands against his mouth and said nothing for several minutes. When he finally did acknowledge Laela, he asked her, "Do you want a sister or a brother?" Taken aback by the question, she could only ask why it mattered. She got no answer, just absent muttering as his knee kept bobbing up and down.
For much of her childhood, she remembers that her father encouraged her to do strange things. "Pet this plains hound. Now do it again, and make the fur turn black." His requests were always nonsensical, and she was never able to do what he asked. He grew frustrated with her, sometimes angry, knocking things over and clutching at his hair. She was afraid of him, and silently resentful once she got to see how other fathers treated their children. He never played with her, or read to her, or even held her.
Then one day he showed up with a one-year-old infant in his arms and introduced her to Laela as 'her new sister.' Laela didn't understand. How could she have a sister when their mother was gone? Her father was only too happy to answer: He made her. Just a prototype for now, he'd said, setting her down and showing Laela his schematics as if she were an adult who knew as much as he did -- enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes, but all dependent on the adrenal glands to prevent her from attracting attention from the wrong people. Other enhancements, like sharpened senses, strong bones, and immunity to toxins and invading foreign bodies, wouldn't be as easily noticed. Laela was frustrated and asked to know her sister's name. Her father stopped his explanation short, then told Laela to choose. Laela named her Raina.
It wasn't more than three months later that her father was caught trying to steal some of his old equipment, leaving Laela to take care of Raina herself. Her resentment for her father grew even further, hating his carelessness and seeming lack of empathy for his daughters. She didn't care what the City Chief did, and had no wish to be involved in her father's feverish need for rebellion. She took Raina and snuck out of the city to one of the less civilized tribes. They were adopted by the Moonsingers, dedicated to healing and care for the sick. The compassion they showed to their patients was what Laela realized she'd been craving all this time, and she loved them dearly, following them around and learning how to assist their efforts. She passed this love to Raina, wanting her sister to enjoy the kind of life she never had, away from subterfuge and hiding in fear and anger. They went to school together, played with other children, and generally seemed to fit in with the others.
But there was a restlessness and frustration in Raina that Laela couldn't help noticing. Raina was inclined toward mischief, trying to pry into secret and private matters, and once gave Laela a fit of panic when she vanished for a few days and came back, bold as you please, saying she found a way to sneak into the city. Laela was horrified and broke down into tears, pleading with Raina to never go back there. Raina didn't understand Laela's hysteria, but listened when Laela finally admitted that the Moonsingers were not their true parents. She didn't have the existential crisis that Laela thought she would. In fact, she seemed somewhat satisfied at the explanation. So, hesitantly, Laela also told her that her father had 'created' Raina, and again her reaction was fairly mild as she asked what the difference was between being made and being born.
She wasn't quite old enough for that talk.
When Laela had finished confessing all she knew, Raina in turn told her the state of the city. People lived in fear. Many disappeared if they went anywhere alone, and were rumored to be taken for experimentation and were never seen again. Soldiers with the same face patrolled the streets and geared up for raids, returning with prisoners, food, and resources forcefully taken from the outlying settlements. It was only a matter of time before they turned their sights on their village too, she warned, so she had to go back, insisting that it was up to her to watch for the signs. Laela refused to allow it and threatened to tell their parents if Raina didn't promise to leave it up to the adults.
So Raina left anyway, and didn't come back. Laela was heartbroken, believing her sister to be dead or worse when she didn't return after a week. She begged the other villagers for help, but they said there was nothing they could do. None of them knew the city, and if Raina had been imprisoned, they couldn't possibly stand against their military technology. They tried to console her as best they could, but Laela no longer wanted their compassion. She wanted her sister back. She packed what she thought she would need, then she snuck back to the city she hated so much.
It had changed vastly in the ten years since she'd left. The stark difference between the Chief Sympathizers and the common people was incredibly drastic. Commoners were often malnourished, denied access to the fresh produce, milk, and meat that was gathered from conquered settlements. Those with intelligence and an ability to adapt to and understand the technology left behind could find favor with the Chief, but it was perilous for those who disappointed him...or who posed a threat if he thought they might turn their talents against him. Of their father, Laela could gather no information. No one knew what had become of him since his capture, though the rumors varied wildly. Some thought him dead, some thought him enslaved. A few believed him to be a god who had abandoned this planet to return to his own domain.
Finding information and help was difficult at first, but as Laela began to demonstrate her medical knowledge and help those who suffered from fever or infections, the common citizens showed their gratitude with trust and support. She also learned that her sister had been busy in the eight months since her absence, sabotaging equipment, racing ahead of invading soldiers to warn the other villages to flee, and generally making a nuisance of herself. She was proving to be a very effective nuisance despite being only eleven years of age, and there wasn't a commoner among them that would have sold her out. Laela was reunited with her when Raina returned from one of the villages she'd warned, carrying a sack of pears and cabbages to share with the people who were currently housing her beneath their floorboards. Laela ran to embrace her and confessed that she'd changed her mind. She wanted to help as well, and the two Moonsinger sisters soon found themselves at the center of a small and growing rebellion.
The extent of Laela's abilities became known to her when Raina was fifteen. She'd been shot in the stomach by an errant bullet, and even with all her genetic enhancements, she was not immortal. Laela did everything she could to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding, but it wasn't enough, and her sister was dying. Frantically she pressed down on the wound with a wad of clean cloth, sobbing, wishing with all her heart that she could just make the blood stop, and to her surprise she noticed that the color was returning to Raina's face. Gingerly she lifted the cloth and saw that the wound was closing right in front of her eyes. But it stopped the moment she ceased making contact with Raina's arm, which she'd been leaning on. So she touched her again. Nothing. Her feelings surged to the surface, and the moment she began to wish for the wound to close once more, Raina's flesh seemed to obey. It wouldn't be until later when she and Raina visited one of her father's old hideouts that Laela was able to recover his deskpad and, to her shock, found that she had been 'made' as well. But while Raina was genetically enhanced, Laela discovered that she was a genetic enhancer - she could alter any organic matter she touched, rearranging the structures of cells and DNA. At first she was uneasy to discover this ability, but as she realized just how many people she could heal and save, she grew to embrace her power, vowing to herself and Raina that she wouldn't use it to destroy or harm. Raina promised that Laela would never have to.
Raina grew to be a strong and cagey young woman, knowing when to exercise patience and when to be bold. Though their followers were few, she trained any who wanted to fight back. Between the two of them they were able to thwart the Chief's plans to invade their home village where the Moonsingers lived. Not only did the villagers have time to evacuate, Raina and her band set several traps, rigging explosives to go off and destroy the cloned soldiers in their first successful major operation. There was still much to do before they could free the city itself, but it was the start of a promising rebellion.
Personality: Raina is much different than her sister. She's comfortable with who she is, but she also admires the qualities Laela possesses that she doesn't. Laela has a keen sense for other's emotions and pain -- where she can look at a person and know almost instinctively how to soothe them, Raina turns her attention toward the source of the pain and goes after it with dogged determination to end it there. Laela is a healer, and Raina is a fixer. She feels they complement one another well.
Because of Laela's love and patience in raising Raina, she's never had any reason to doubt herself or who she is. She's got no hang-ups about being 'made' since she knows she's just as alive and aware as anyone else. She's got plenty of confidence and self-assurance, and though she still feels there's a lot about herself that she has yet to discover, she looks forward to this discovery rather than wallowing in a sense of being 'incomplete.' Once she's found her father, she can find out everything he did to her genetic make-up, and maybe even find she has a few more abilities she doesn't yet realize she has. And if she's already discovered all there is to her, then she knows she won't be disappointed. Instead, she's pretty sure she'd just be satisfied with the knowledge alone.
While she harbors no resentment toward her father, she also harbors no great attachment either. She didn't know him the way Laela did. She also can't truly claim to 'love' her adoptive parents either if only because she didn't spend nearly as much time with them as Laela did. But she does respect them, and she's grateful for what they did now that she has the maturity to recognize their generosity in housing and feeding two young girls that weren't their own. But she has difficulty in seeing them as more than very dear friends. Laela is really the only one she can honestly claim to love, because they're family through and through. They know each other, and they have each other's backs.
Raina seems as if fearlessness was bred into her genes. It wasn't, but she's so rarely shaken by anything that Laela does wonder if their father did something genetic to dampen that part of her sister's brain. In truth, it's a mixture of solid confidence in her abilities, faith in her own competence, and a relentless drive to do what she thinks needs to be done. Raina is extremely goal-oriented, and focuses on her plans with a meticulous fervor. She's intelligent, perceptive, and a natural tactician.
That isn't to say she's resistant to impulse -- far from it. She's never completely married to her plans and if an opportunity or upset occurs, she can shift and adjust as necessary to improve her odds of success. She doesn't fear failure, and isn't easily mired by guilt if things go wrong. Death of a rebel or commoner is mourned, absolutely, but only serves to fuel her passions further in seeing the Chief and his sycophants taken down.
While she's fairly serious in executing her plans, Raina has a mischievous streak a mile wide. She admits to taking delight in seeing others get flustered, and she enjoys teasing her sister when she gets a chance (especially over the romance novels that Laela enjoys as a secret guilty pleasure). She's playful, even witty at times, and has an emotional maturity that makes it easy for others to trust and rely on her for support. She's honest, and while she might not be the most compassionate soul on the block, it's pretty obvious that she does care about the livelihood and welfare of the people she likes and associates with on a regular basis. She's a fierce protector who doesn't shy away from hard or diligent work.
Raina is also very practical. She doesn't really gather much joy from a delicious meal or a sight of great beauty. She's happiest when she's got a blaster in her hands or when she sees positive results from her dedicated efforts. Though not wildly optimistic, she does have a positive disposition and a firm belief that things will eventually work out the way she wants them too. If not, then she needs to work harder. She never complains, and sees venting about things as a waste of time. If she has a problem, she'd rather set herself to fixing it instead of talking about it. This can frustrate Laela who absolutely needs to talk things out. Raina tries to be a good listener, but she does sometimes struggle with being able to tell when she needs to solve someone's problem and when she just needs to hear about it.
So while she may not be much of a shoulder to cry on, she will absolutely kick the ass of whoever made the person cry to begin with.
Abilities: Raina's body is built to be tougher and sturdier than average. Her bones are denser and less prone to being broken, and her organs function perfectly. She's able to see, hear, smell, and touch with better clarity, and though she has no psychic or precognitive powers, her reflexes are so sharp that it can make her responses seem premeditated. She can feel and hear shifts in the air and immediately react, making it easier for her to dodge blows and bullets...most of the time, anyway. Under normal conditions, her physical strength and speed is about equal to a healthy and well-built man. When her adrenaline kicks in, her strength is jacked up to allow incredible feats of strength, much the way a mother could lift a car off of her child in times of great duress. It makes her much stronger and faster, fulfilling her father's hopes of creating a true super soldier. Raina is also unaffected by poisons, and resistant to illness. She may occasionally catch a cold, but her immune system is ruthless, and she's seldom sick for more than a day. Her best physical talents are sharpshooting and melee combat.
Age: 24
Physical Description: Raina is 5'5" tall and seems to have a fairly average build. She's fit, with lean muscle and a general aura of good health about her. Her hair is auburn and slightly unruly due to a natural curl, just past shoulder length and typically worn with the sides pinned back by a single black barrette. Her eyes are a deep dark brown, almost appearing to be black unless observed closely, fringed by thick lashes. Her skin tone rests closer to 'tanned' than 'dusky', and her features seem somewhat wolfish or vulpine with high cheekbones and a tapered chin, with a generously wide grin. Her eyebrows are generally her most expressive feature. Overall her countenance is pleasant, "cute" even, but her personality and casual manner of dress are the biggest factors preventing her from being considered a beauty like her sister. Raina dresses comfortably, favoring clothes in neutral tones to keep from drawing attention to herself in a crowd. Her most common attire consists of loose black cargo pants, black boots laced up to mid-calf, a beige long-sleeved shirt worn under a black vest, and of course, a blaster at her hip.
World History: Pranthas is a good example of why the "First Contact" rule was put into effect. A fairly primitive world, with natives surviving via daily foraging and hunting, Pranthas became the refuge for a fleeing band of criminal scientists who introduced technology to the people in order to make their own lives more comfortable. The lifespans of the natives nearly tripled as a result, and the huts and tents they lived in were replaced with sturdy stone buildings. Instead of hunting for food, they mined for ore, and within a mere fifty years the technology level of the modern person had increased to 22nd century Earth in the city harboring the refugees, with technology levels decreasing in outlying villages depending on how far away they were from the central city. Eventually the criminals were found by the intergalactic Peacekeepers and arrested, all save one. The remaining scientist had married a woman from one of the many tribes and had a young daughter, Laela. The native assistants who had been relied upon as aids recognized the opportunity before them, and promised not to reveal him to the intergalactic peacekeepers in exchange for his position of political power. Though society continued to function as it had since the arrival of the offworlders, corruption slowly began to seep in and take hold. The City Chief sought the resources that lay in the lands of their less sophisticated neighbors and demanded that the remaining scientist create clones to build a genetically superior army. When he refused the Chief (for he was uneasy with the Chief's growing ambitions and certain that the Chief didn't know enough about the transmitters to make good on his threat to call the Peacekeepers), the Chief threatened to have his family executed and kept his wife and daughter imprisoned until he'd created a means of producing 100 men and means for creating more at the Chief's leisure. Reluctantly he constructed the cloning pods and created 100 genetically superior soldiers as the Chief had requested, finishing in the winter, and his family was released. The scientist attempted to discreetly flee the city, for he'd genetically modified the DNA of the soldiers to be fatally allergic to the night pollen that would be released by the summer foliage. Unfortunately, this flaw was revealed prematurely when flowers were brought into the castle as a gift from one of the wealthier citizens who owned a hot house, and the soldiers fell ill and died within the week. The scientist and his daughter managed to evade capture, but his wife did not, and the Chief had her publicly executed to make an example of those who did not obey him. Maddened with grief, he abandoned his plans to escape the city and instead bent all of his time and energy into finding a way to overthrow the Chief. The scientist and his daughter lived in hiding, constantly on the run to escape the Chief's guards. He was successful for many years, but eventually, his luck ran out, and he was taken to the citadel. However, he was able to keep his daughter safe...and he had one more secret he had managed to keep hidden from everyone but Laela...
Character History: Raina's story is tightly intertwined with her older sister's. Laela was born first, and she has some memories of her mother before she was executed. What she mostly remembers is constantly being on the run, taking refuge with different families and getting to know their children as playmates before they had to move again. Her father was driven, almost haunted, by a warring blend of revenge and fear. She remembers her father hunched over a desk that stank of chemicals, surrounded by sheets of paper and a deskpad that cast a weird pale glow on his face, jogging his knee as he pressed his folded hands against his mouth and said nothing for several minutes. When he finally did acknowledge Laela, he asked her, "Do you want a sister or a brother?" Taken aback by the question, she could only ask why it mattered. She got no answer, just absent muttering as his knee kept bobbing up and down.
For much of her childhood, she remembers that her father encouraged her to do strange things. "Pet this plains hound. Now do it again, and make the fur turn black." His requests were always nonsensical, and she was never able to do what he asked. He grew frustrated with her, sometimes angry, knocking things over and clutching at his hair. She was afraid of him, and silently resentful once she got to see how other fathers treated their children. He never played with her, or read to her, or even held her.
Then one day he showed up with a one-year-old infant in his arms and introduced her to Laela as 'her new sister.' Laela didn't understand. How could she have a sister when their mother was gone? Her father was only too happy to answer: He made her. Just a prototype for now, he'd said, setting her down and showing Laela his schematics as if she were an adult who knew as much as he did -- enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes, but all dependent on the adrenal glands to prevent her from attracting attention from the wrong people. Other enhancements, like sharpened senses, strong bones, and immunity to toxins and invading foreign bodies, wouldn't be as easily noticed. Laela was frustrated and asked to know her sister's name. Her father stopped his explanation short, then told Laela to choose. Laela named her Raina.
It wasn't more than three months later that her father was caught trying to steal some of his old equipment, leaving Laela to take care of Raina herself. Her resentment for her father grew even further, hating his carelessness and seeming lack of empathy for his daughters. She didn't care what the City Chief did, and had no wish to be involved in her father's feverish need for rebellion. She took Raina and snuck out of the city to one of the less civilized tribes. They were adopted by the Moonsingers, dedicated to healing and care for the sick. The compassion they showed to their patients was what Laela realized she'd been craving all this time, and she loved them dearly, following them around and learning how to assist their efforts. She passed this love to Raina, wanting her sister to enjoy the kind of life she never had, away from subterfuge and hiding in fear and anger. They went to school together, played with other children, and generally seemed to fit in with the others.
But there was a restlessness and frustration in Raina that Laela couldn't help noticing. Raina was inclined toward mischief, trying to pry into secret and private matters, and once gave Laela a fit of panic when she vanished for a few days and came back, bold as you please, saying she found a way to sneak into the city. Laela was horrified and broke down into tears, pleading with Raina to never go back there. Raina didn't understand Laela's hysteria, but listened when Laela finally admitted that the Moonsingers were not their true parents. She didn't have the existential crisis that Laela thought she would. In fact, she seemed somewhat satisfied at the explanation. So, hesitantly, Laela also told her that her father had 'created' Raina, and again her reaction was fairly mild as she asked what the difference was between being made and being born.
She wasn't quite old enough for that talk.
When Laela had finished confessing all she knew, Raina in turn told her the state of the city. People lived in fear. Many disappeared if they went anywhere alone, and were rumored to be taken for experimentation and were never seen again. Soldiers with the same face patrolled the streets and geared up for raids, returning with prisoners, food, and resources forcefully taken from the outlying settlements. It was only a matter of time before they turned their sights on their village too, she warned, so she had to go back, insisting that it was up to her to watch for the signs. Laela refused to allow it and threatened to tell their parents if Raina didn't promise to leave it up to the adults.
So Raina left anyway, and didn't come back. Laela was heartbroken, believing her sister to be dead or worse when she didn't return after a week. She begged the other villagers for help, but they said there was nothing they could do. None of them knew the city, and if Raina had been imprisoned, they couldn't possibly stand against their military technology. They tried to console her as best they could, but Laela no longer wanted their compassion. She wanted her sister back. She packed what she thought she would need, then she snuck back to the city she hated so much.
It had changed vastly in the ten years since she'd left. The stark difference between the Chief Sympathizers and the common people was incredibly drastic. Commoners were often malnourished, denied access to the fresh produce, milk, and meat that was gathered from conquered settlements. Those with intelligence and an ability to adapt to and understand the technology left behind could find favor with the Chief, but it was perilous for those who disappointed him...or who posed a threat if he thought they might turn their talents against him. Of their father, Laela could gather no information. No one knew what had become of him since his capture, though the rumors varied wildly. Some thought him dead, some thought him enslaved. A few believed him to be a god who had abandoned this planet to return to his own domain.
Finding information and help was difficult at first, but as Laela began to demonstrate her medical knowledge and help those who suffered from fever or infections, the common citizens showed their gratitude with trust and support. She also learned that her sister had been busy in the eight months since her absence, sabotaging equipment, racing ahead of invading soldiers to warn the other villages to flee, and generally making a nuisance of herself. She was proving to be a very effective nuisance despite being only eleven years of age, and there wasn't a commoner among them that would have sold her out. Laela was reunited with her when Raina returned from one of the villages she'd warned, carrying a sack of pears and cabbages to share with the people who were currently housing her beneath their floorboards. Laela ran to embrace her and confessed that she'd changed her mind. She wanted to help as well, and the two Moonsinger sisters soon found themselves at the center of a small and growing rebellion.
The extent of Laela's abilities became known to her when Raina was fifteen. She'd been shot in the stomach by an errant bullet, and even with all her genetic enhancements, she was not immortal. Laela did everything she could to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding, but it wasn't enough, and her sister was dying. Frantically she pressed down on the wound with a wad of clean cloth, sobbing, wishing with all her heart that she could just make the blood stop, and to her surprise she noticed that the color was returning to Raina's face. Gingerly she lifted the cloth and saw that the wound was closing right in front of her eyes. But it stopped the moment she ceased making contact with Raina's arm, which she'd been leaning on. So she touched her again. Nothing. Her feelings surged to the surface, and the moment she began to wish for the wound to close once more, Raina's flesh seemed to obey. It wouldn't be until later when she and Raina visited one of her father's old hideouts that Laela was able to recover his deskpad and, to her shock, found that she had been 'made' as well. But while Raina was genetically enhanced, Laela discovered that she was a genetic enhancer - she could alter any organic matter she touched, rearranging the structures of cells and DNA. At first she was uneasy to discover this ability, but as she realized just how many people she could heal and save, she grew to embrace her power, vowing to herself and Raina that she wouldn't use it to destroy or harm. Raina promised that Laela would never have to.
Raina grew to be a strong and cagey young woman, knowing when to exercise patience and when to be bold. Though their followers were few, she trained any who wanted to fight back. Between the two of them they were able to thwart the Chief's plans to invade their home village where the Moonsingers lived. Not only did the villagers have time to evacuate, Raina and her band set several traps, rigging explosives to go off and destroy the cloned soldiers in their first successful major operation. There was still much to do before they could free the city itself, but it was the start of a promising rebellion.
Personality: Raina is much different than her sister. She's comfortable with who she is, but she also admires the qualities Laela possesses that she doesn't. Laela has a keen sense for other's emotions and pain -- where she can look at a person and know almost instinctively how to soothe them, Raina turns her attention toward the source of the pain and goes after it with dogged determination to end it there. Laela is a healer, and Raina is a fixer. She feels they complement one another well.
Because of Laela's love and patience in raising Raina, she's never had any reason to doubt herself or who she is. She's got no hang-ups about being 'made' since she knows she's just as alive and aware as anyone else. She's got plenty of confidence and self-assurance, and though she still feels there's a lot about herself that she has yet to discover, she looks forward to this discovery rather than wallowing in a sense of being 'incomplete.' Once she's found her father, she can find out everything he did to her genetic make-up, and maybe even find she has a few more abilities she doesn't yet realize she has. And if she's already discovered all there is to her, then she knows she won't be disappointed. Instead, she's pretty sure she'd just be satisfied with the knowledge alone.
While she harbors no resentment toward her father, she also harbors no great attachment either. She didn't know him the way Laela did. She also can't truly claim to 'love' her adoptive parents either if only because she didn't spend nearly as much time with them as Laela did. But she does respect them, and she's grateful for what they did now that she has the maturity to recognize their generosity in housing and feeding two young girls that weren't their own. But she has difficulty in seeing them as more than very dear friends. Laela is really the only one she can honestly claim to love, because they're family through and through. They know each other, and they have each other's backs.
Raina seems as if fearlessness was bred into her genes. It wasn't, but she's so rarely shaken by anything that Laela does wonder if their father did something genetic to dampen that part of her sister's brain. In truth, it's a mixture of solid confidence in her abilities, faith in her own competence, and a relentless drive to do what she thinks needs to be done. Raina is extremely goal-oriented, and focuses on her plans with a meticulous fervor. She's intelligent, perceptive, and a natural tactician.
That isn't to say she's resistant to impulse -- far from it. She's never completely married to her plans and if an opportunity or upset occurs, she can shift and adjust as necessary to improve her odds of success. She doesn't fear failure, and isn't easily mired by guilt if things go wrong. Death of a rebel or commoner is mourned, absolutely, but only serves to fuel her passions further in seeing the Chief and his sycophants taken down.
While she's fairly serious in executing her plans, Raina has a mischievous streak a mile wide. She admits to taking delight in seeing others get flustered, and she enjoys teasing her sister when she gets a chance (especially over the romance novels that Laela enjoys as a secret guilty pleasure). She's playful, even witty at times, and has an emotional maturity that makes it easy for others to trust and rely on her for support. She's honest, and while she might not be the most compassionate soul on the block, it's pretty obvious that she does care about the livelihood and welfare of the people she likes and associates with on a regular basis. She's a fierce protector who doesn't shy away from hard or diligent work.
Raina is also very practical. She doesn't really gather much joy from a delicious meal or a sight of great beauty. She's happiest when she's got a blaster in her hands or when she sees positive results from her dedicated efforts. Though not wildly optimistic, she does have a positive disposition and a firm belief that things will eventually work out the way she wants them too. If not, then she needs to work harder. She never complains, and sees venting about things as a waste of time. If she has a problem, she'd rather set herself to fixing it instead of talking about it. This can frustrate Laela who absolutely needs to talk things out. Raina tries to be a good listener, but she does sometimes struggle with being able to tell when she needs to solve someone's problem and when she just needs to hear about it.
So while she may not be much of a shoulder to cry on, she will absolutely kick the ass of whoever made the person cry to begin with.
Abilities: Raina's body is built to be tougher and sturdier than average. Her bones are denser and less prone to being broken, and her organs function perfectly. She's able to see, hear, smell, and touch with better clarity, and though she has no psychic or precognitive powers, her reflexes are so sharp that it can make her responses seem premeditated. She can feel and hear shifts in the air and immediately react, making it easier for her to dodge blows and bullets...most of the time, anyway. Under normal conditions, her physical strength and speed is about equal to a healthy and well-built man. When her adrenaline kicks in, her strength is jacked up to allow incredible feats of strength, much the way a mother could lift a car off of her child in times of great duress. It makes her much stronger and faster, fulfilling her father's hopes of creating a true super soldier. Raina is also unaffected by poisons, and resistant to illness. She may occasionally catch a cold, but her immune system is ruthless, and she's seldom sick for more than a day. Her best physical talents are sharpshooting and melee combat.
