#either way I'm not wholly sold on my Reyna characterization

[shadowuserannie]

Reyna And The Lost Hero

WHEN REYNA WAKES UP, she immediately knows something is wrong.

You know that deep-seated feeling of wrong, wrong, wrong you feel when something is deeply off, somewhere? That’s how she feels, and Reyna has no idea how she can even describe that.

When she wakes up, her head is on the shoulder of a girl with brown hair, said hair tickling her face. Reyna pushes it out of her mouth and sits up, blinking slowly as she takes her environment in cautiously.

A few dozen teenagers talk, sleep, play music, or eat each other’s faces in front of her. Reyna glances around and comes to the magical conclusion that she’s in a bus, from common sense.

“Reyna, you okay?”

Reyna glances up and feels her mouth go dry. The girl she was sleeping on is very pretty. Her hair is cut at different lengths, her lips are chapped, and her eyes seem to flicker between green and gold as she watches Reyna with worry in them.

“I, er-”

“Alright, cupcakes! Listen up!”

The man that stands up in the aisle had a thin goatee and a sour face, like he’d just been told he got the grand detention of cleaning the toilets. His scowl has Reyna’s shoulders instantly pricking up straight.

One of the kids calls out, “Stand up, Coach Hedge!” Reyna has half a mind to slap him for such public disobedience and stupidity. Shorter people are more liable to kick your feet out from under you.

“I heard that!” The coach’s beady eyes scan the bus and fix on Reyna. Reyna’s shoulders tense impossibly further, her lips settling into a neutral line and eyes widening faintly-dangerously. It’s an expression her face seems to settle into instinctually.

His scowl deepens, and he looks away, clearing his throat. “We’ll arrive in five minutes! Don’t lose your partner, don’t lose your worksheet, and if you cause any trouble, I am sending you back to campus on this bus in a bag.”

Reyna instantly glances down and fishes about her backpack. A case of stationery and a worksheet with…

“What’s today’s date? What’s the worksheet? Who’s my partner?”

The pretty girl furrows her eyes but answers the question, points out the worksheet-in her backpack, thankfully-and apparently, she’s Reyna’s partner.

Which would be fantastic if Reyna hadn’t forgotten her name.

“Jeez, get hit with amnesia much?”

The boy that grins at her from the seat in front can only be described as the person authority picks as most likely to cause trouble. It’s his slouch, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and the smirk on his lips.

Reyna suddenly has a deep urge to dislike him.

…wait, what did he say?

“What did you say?”

“Aww, dream bad jokes while in sleepyland?”

“No, that word. The…ammesa?”

“…Amnesia? Dude, mispronouncing words now too? Not like you, that smack on…the head…did you bad…”

Now the boy and girl look at her with concern.

“What’s my name?” the girl asks.

Reyna’s eyes flick about her clothes. Faded jeans, practical hiking boots, a thick jacket. No name or convenient tablet-

A stab of pain shoots through her skull and Reyna bites her lips hard enough to draw blood. It’s her only reaction.

“Okay, dude, I finally admit you have a sense of humour, okay? Stop it, this ain’t funny.” The boy reaches out to flick Reyna’s arm. She stops him with a hand on his wrist and he pulls back with a sharp hiss. “Geez, go easy!”

“Leo,” says the girl. “I don’t think she’s joking. Can you say my name? Do you know where we’re going? Who you are?”

Reyna wants to open her mouth and speak.

…

Who am I?

…

Reyna.

I’m Reyna.

…

But who am I?

I’m Reyna.

…

BUT WHO AM I?

“I…I don’t know.”