Telai, created for The Plummet of Hinden by Hana.
Telai, as drawn by Asmodai
Character Application Post[]
Telai breathed in. The air at this altitude was weak, but was so cold that it stung. It stung like a skinning knife in that the pain was not immediate. The frigid air stole the warmth from her lungs, and as she exhaled a visible cloud of breath-steam and her body began to re-warm her lungs, she felt the stab of pain, but ignored it.
She shifted her grip on her glider and threw her weight forward, canting the graceful contraption forward into a dive. As much as she wished she could stay on the wind forever, she had chores to finish. If she shirked her responsibility, people would want for lunch and eventually clothing. Her chores were important, and it was her responsibility to help provide for the community. Soon, she would have her trails, and then she would probably have even more responsibility. Her mother often remarked how her talents would make her a prize wife for some lucky boy in the town.
A deft movement brought the body of the glider up again before she crashed into the small clearing, her feet skidding along the mossy ground as she angled the delicate structure so that it drug against the air, rather than slicing through it. The pull against the wind slowed her, until she was no longer skidding, but stepping and supporting the weight of her contraption, rather than the other way around.
She took a moment to set her glider down, carefully folding the thin jointed and leather-covered wings into the slightly thicker body before standing straight and swinging the now-compact glider onto her back, securing it to her person with a strap as she started down the path toward her family's small home.
She reached a hand up, pushing her goggles up to her forehead to expose her nearly-black eyes, seemingly darker for the contrast to her creamy pale skin and blond hair that she revealed when she tugged her moss-rimmed hood back to reveal her face. She looked as delicate as her glider, wisps of hair escaping from her carefully-constructed french braid. Her sweetheart face was a mask of calm, eyes staring forward along her way. Her peripheral vision and hearing were good enough to catch any tricksters that might be trying to sneak up on her. There was the occasional episode of mischief directed at her because of her strange coloring and her halcyon demeanor. It was never so malicious that she couldn't brush it off, though. In time, they would realize that she was just like them, even if she looked and acted a bit different.