[hider=Linta][center][img]http://oi65.tinypic.com/1yu7gp.jpg[/img]
[sub][i]"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."
[/i]
Edited image provided kindly by NarayanK ^_^[/sub]

[color=gray][b]Name:[/b]
Linta
 
[b]Age:[/b]
26
 
[b]Race:[/b]
Feren [url=http://owlishly.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/9/3/38932417/7633995_orig.jpg](barn owl).[/url] Linta, like her animal counterpart, has superb eyesight (both at night and during the day, although it's better in low light) and incredible hearing. Also, thanks to the structure of her feathers, her movements are almost completely silent, save for the sounds of whatever she's stepping on. Lastly, at will Linta can vocalize like a barn owl would, the most common sound used being a piercing shriek that's ear-shattering at close range. Other vocalizations include clicking, but not hooting. 

[b]Nationality:[/b]
Sky Dweller of Tengu Island

[b]Role:[/b]
Linta's job is to strike first, undetected. She's also a skilled hunter. 

[b]Font:[/b]
Ghost. Linta is able to make herself and any objects she’s touching physically intangible for a very short period of time. This means that physical objects, including people, will go through her as if she were a hologram. However, it’s a double-edged sword, as while nothing can hit her, she also can’t hit anything while using this font. As a result, she tends to only use it in very short bursts to avoid as many blows as possible and also land as many hits as possible. Of course, no one is perfect, and sometimes the ratios just don’t work out. When using her font, she appears somewhat transparent.
 
[b]Colour:[/b]
Gray
 
[b]Appearance:[/b]
Linta normally stands at about 5’5, but can straighten herself to a scant 6’ due to her posture. Her body seems more bird than human: Wings extending where arms would be, legs with double knees and ending in large, four-toed taloned feet, even long tail feathers protruding from the base of her spine. She has a wingspan of roughly twenty-one feet and tail feathers long enough to occasionally brush the ground, both needed to support her size and weight in flight. This aforementioned weight is remarkably light, only around 80lbs, due to her hollow bone structure. Her legs are about a third longer than human ones, featuring normal hips and knees, but also elongated knee-like ankles, bending the opposite way and allowing for her feet and crouching posture. 

Most of her body is cloaked in downey feathers, mostly white on the front and longer, brown and silver feathers on her back. These mimic the colour and pattern of a real barn owls’ making her difficult to spot from below (as the white blends into the coulds) and from above (as the brown can blend well into fields and brush). The patters on her wings and tail feathers also mimic the real thing, giving her beautiful, meticulously preened feathers.

On her head, Linta sports an elegant crest of coloured feathers where hair would grow. This crest raises and lowers involuntarily, and extends about six inches off her head. Her skin is tanned and her eyes abnormally large and golden; her nose features the remnants of a beak. 

Finally, in the ‘wrist’ joints of her wings (AKA where one would expect hands on a human arm) are three spindly fingers and a thumb, each topped with claws resembling her talons. At home, she rarely used these, finding them handy only for gripping tree bark; now, while she still uses her feet for most things (not wanting to dirty the feathers on her wings) she is learning to use these fingers as humans would. 
 
[b]Weapon:[/b]
Linta's weapons are a pair of bladed gauntlets worn over her talons. They feature 30cm curved blades, resembling and elongating the shape of her own natural talons. These blades are a deep, doppled black with a mirror shine and a blade sharp enough to cut through flesh like butter. The blades fit over her talons when extended, and can retract into a portion of the gauntlet attached to the lower leg so as not to dull the blades from walking. They can be extended with a certain movement of her feet. The gauntlets are held together with leather srips and reinforced with metal (especially on the bottoms of her feet to protect her flesh from blades). 
(For those who’ve seen the Guardians of Ga’hoole movie, they greatly resemble the 'gloves' those owls wear. Yes, I am a dreadful nerd. I’m not sorry.)
 
[b]Personality:[/b]
Linta, being a Feral (more animal than human), acts much more animalistic than most Feren her teammates will have ever met. She speaks little, and when she does, it’s more than pointed. Not only does she despise complicated phrasing and sugar-coating, she literally cannot understand it. Having little need for speech in her home (and some having no physical capability to speak it), her family members and fellow islanders rarely spoke, resorting instead to body language, expression, and a unique system of sign language. As such, her voice is raspy, quiet and low from disuse.

As for attitude, Linta comes off as cold and unfriendly. She regards everything with a predator’s eye, unafraid to point out the flaws in anything. She is straightforward and blunt to an entirely new level; she’s the type who will inform you that something will hurt, and not pity you when it does. All considered, Linta [i]is[/i] a pretty decent person, once one passes the exterior that is not only unsure in showing emotion, but not knowing how to do so in regards to humans. Still, she is becoming more like her old, free-spirited self each day (if not overshadowed by her older-than-her-years demeanour) and takes a compassionate, somewhat maternal attitude toward some team members.  Many also find her to be quite funny in how she speaks and acts, unsure if such mannerisms are intentional or not. 
 
[b]Background:[/b]
Linta was born a Sky Dweller, one of the three main tribes on the secluded island of Tengu. The island, having been hit particularly profoundly by the radiation from Archon’s corona, is populated entirely by Ferens, most more feral than human. Nonetheless, Linta lived a happy life there with her parents, younger brother and the rest of her tribe. Life was somewhat uneventful; Linta was taught to fish and hunt, to use her natural gifts as a Feren to her advantage. She became a great hunter and an excellent flyer, surpassing even those Sky Dwellers with quicker wings (barn owls have disproportionately large wings made for slow and silent flight). She learned some simple remedies and injury treatments from the Tree Dwellers and, all things considered, led a happy life. 

However, one evening when Linta was nineteen, a new threat approached the island. A huge flock of small flying Lost laid siege to Tengu, injuring and killing many and outright carrying some away. Having never seen a foe of this nature, the Sky Dwellers did not know how to fight them. All tribes of Tengu lost members to the Lost, but none so many as the Sky Dwellers, vulnerable and accessible in their homes high in the canopy. 

Amidst the chaos, Linta’s parents went to fight, telling her to bring her brother Jey to a nearby island and hide there. However, while Linta tried her best to fulfill her duty, she and her brother were separated. She searched desperately all through the siege, but found nothing. The only trace left of him was found several days later; tufts of bloody blue feathers, caught in dead brush torn up in the struggle. 

In the years after, Linta’s family dearly suffered. While her parents tried not to blame their daughter for the loss of their son, they couldn’t help but look at her differently; Linta blamed herself as well, turning from an outgoing and promising young feren to a secluded and haunted shell of her former self. She retreated deeper and deeper into her own suffering when finally, two years after the attack, Linta decided enough was enough. She left Tengu in search of a rumour, a fabled group who sought out and slaughtered the abominations she’d come to despise. She’s been a member of ECHO ever since.  
[/color][/center]
[/hider]