#fallin asleep so i gotta erap this up lol

[mamamittens]

Crunch time, now 1/3 of the way through the event! Hopefully I'll keep up this rad progress tomorrow!

Onto the "totally not putting off going to sleep" OC talk!

So, I'm a bit fuzzy at the moment, so this will likely be pretty rambly.

The two islands Nikia essentially grows up on are symbiotic in nature from the wildlife that migrates between them (birds and fish) as well as the people. They're also low-key tourist destinations with stunning vistas of both beach and winter wonderland variety. More as Nikia is an adult compared to when she was a child. It is, also, a bit of a hot spot for kidnapping. Plenty of places to go missing, drunk tourists, and 'exotic' locals to nab.

The height of this problem was when Nikia was young, leading to the kidnapping of her mother before she was returned and the islands were taken under the pirates protection. They're the reason the islands are so... Organized. And low-key murdery as hell about slavers returning. If a tourist feels they're being watched, it's because they are. Very closely. What was once a weak spot slavers took advantage of is now many convenient places to get rid of people in. Funny how that works.

Due to the touristy nature, it's not uncommon for someone unattached to suddenly 'fall pregnant'. Which is how both Nikia and her older brother occured. It's not discouraged but not explicitly encouraged either. Gotta freshen up that gene pool somehow, after all. And several of the festivals explicitly have sections where locals can... Proposition tourists for a good time. Such as the Snowmelt festival where women can offer potential partners berries as an invitation for 'fruitful' fun.

There isn't an emphasis on family lines, though a few do focus on more selective parameters for their partners. Nikia's family is known for their wider wingspans relative to others and fairly monotone plumage. Her mother's more gray with blue and brother nearly black. They also tend to have stray feathers across their shoulders and back, something more common with long-term families on the Winter Island. Nikia is no exception to this. The stray feathers are viewed a bit like being excessively hairy. Some are really into that but most can view it as unsanitary or gross.

I sort of considered Nikia having feathers in her hair (like, growing out) but decided it would be too much of a pain to draw consistently.

Jumping topics, rangers are a lot like park rangers. Usually meant to look after trails, tourists, and investigating any untoward activity along the way. But being a ranger on Summer Isle is quite different from being a ranger on Winter Isle. For starters, winter rangers are expected to be alone a lot more often. So part of the requirement list is hobbies as well as semi frequent check ins to make sure no one is going insane.

In her spare time (of which there is a surprising amount), she plays an instrument (whatever strikes her fancy), reads, cooks, hunts, or writes. She handles it better than most her age and position given her youth as a chronic shut in.