#One thing that I didn't get to touch on in the post was Colleen's species

[stardestroyer81]

Followers of my blog may know that I've been known to take a particular interest in secondary characters, or write pages of lore for obscure and little known characters to make up what little presence they may have online. Similarly, followers of my self-ship blog know that I also have a tendency to see certain characters— be them popular or obscure— as anything from a lover to family.

So, what happens when I develop a familial attachment to a secondary character that has no online presence (I checked!) and only appears a handful of times in her fairly popular source material? Now, I understand the obvious answer to that question may be to 'devote a post to the such', maybe even throw in an incorrect quote in there somewhere...

And you'd be right!

(Check under the cut for a very in-depth look at one of Night in the Woods' most underrated secondary characters, as well as what role she plays in my AU, Autumn Angels!)

Now, before we go into any detail about the above art piece itself, I feel like it's necessary to provide readers with a bit of context as to who this character is and her role in Night of the Woods, so let's dive right in!

Throughout Night in the Woods, you'll more than likely encounter a specific quartet of people congregating someplace in town on certain days. This group works for Possum Springs' chamber of commerce, and their responsibility is to govern the affairs of the crumbling town all the while finding ways to attract new businesses.

The names of these four individuals are Gary, Colleen, Andrew and Cathleen, and are always in a heated debate over a state of affairs whenever Mae comes across them. Each of the four known members of the city council are well-intentioned, though their varying opinions on certain matters will often result in hilarious conversations to walk in on.

However, due to their limited appearances throughout each of the four acts, there's a chance that you may only see them a couple of times in a given playthrough, and as a result the members of Possum Springs city council are often overshadowed by other secondary characters. More so, you never really get an idea on each member's true personality (Unless you happen to find them on every day they appear) so they come off more as background characters.

Which is a shame, because I really like Colleen in particular.

I'd always liked her character quite a lot (Of what little of it I saw in my first playthough), and this admiration for her very quickly spurned into seeing her as a parental F/O, perhaps my most underrated one at that! Because of this, I wanted to both give her the appreciation she deserves by drawing art of her as well as making this post the one-stop shop for a general overview of Colleen's character!

But because there isn't a specific place online citing Colleen's overall personality, I took it upon myself to do the unthinkable... using the NiTW wiki to find out when and where the city council appear, I found and wrote Colleen's lines into a document— every last one of them— and made observations on her character for each one to form a definitive personality.

Naturally, I didn't have to go this hard in researching Colleen, but I care about her too much that I couldn't resist... and it was a pretty fun exercise!

Here's an example of what my research looked like! Every line has a small write-up underneath it observing her dialogue and citing important aspects of her personality. She only has about thirty spoken lines total, and surprisingly, that was more than enough to get an idea as to what kind of a person Colleen is! With that said, here are my findings...

⦁ Colleen is a good-natured fox who is deeply compassionate about her position in Possum Springs' chamber of commerce, looking to do whatever she can to preserve its history and resolve any issues the town may have. She also is known to be particularly cynical, particularly when disagreeing with one of her coworkers. This level of sarcasm can range from a flat retort to a fiery retaliation.

⦁ She genuinely cares about its residents— specifically the children and elderly— and has been shown on a number of occasions putting their needs and safety above all else. Unlike a couple of her other cohorts, Colleen will often times take charge should a discussion go awry, and is the city council quartet's natural mediator. In spite of this, however, she herself has had her moments of outrage, especially evident by her very first line.

⦁ Colleen, believing that she knows what is best for Possum Springs, will often stand by her opinions on how to improve upon it without backing down, refusing to accept defeat or wrongness as she finds her ideas to benefit a cause more than, say, Cathleen's… however, Colleen has been shown to still respect a person even if they both share different beliefs on something.

⦁ On the topic of Cathleen, Colleen's relationship with her coworkers seems to be a bit of a mixed bag. She appears to get along with Gary the most (Regardless of their disagreements) and the two of them will more often than not team up with each other on resolving an issue. She doesn't seem to think much of Andrew's few contributions and especially does not like Cathleen.

And that's pretty much everything! I quite enjoyed going through all of a character's spoken dialogue and observing each line for a better grasp of their personality, and my efforts for Colleen will certainly benefit her role in Autumn Angels! Speaking of which...

It's a new Autumn season in Possum Springs, and since the previous season, the town has seen a good few quality of life improvements, though the chamber of commerce is still diligently working to alleviate any state of affairs to keep the city they govern the best it can be...

... especially Colleen (Who's full name I've headcanoned to be Colleen Chappell), who perhaps has been working the hardest out of her peers, and it's beginning to show. Harfest, Possum Springs' annual Autumn event, is just around the corner, and she is stressed beyond belief that— despite her best efforts— that she can't find a group of volunteers to help dress the town up nicely in time for the big occasion, fearing that she'll have to rely on her cohorts like last year.

One morning, she finds herself sitting against the wall of the Video Outpost "Too" building, overwhelmed that she isn't going to have enough time to decorate all of Possum Springs. Not long thereafter, she happens upon Micah Huxley, who works at the very store Colleen rests against. Micah senses Colleen's anxiety and offers to sit with her for a bit to find out what's wrong.

Upon hearing Colleen's explanation, Micah offers to be of any assistance that she can be whenever she isn't working, even suggesting to create a few decorations herself, and this delights Colleen to no end. She may not have a team of volunteers, but any help she could get is more than appreciated. This interaction acquaints the two and, over the course of the season, their bond grows strong, as the two go out of their way to see each other every so often.

In this time, Micah secretly begins to develop a sense of found family in Colleen, seeing her as a mother figure. She does well in hiding it, but when she accidentally refers to Colleen as 'mom' in a conversation, feels more regret than she ever has before in her entire life and wishes to stop existing.

But Colleen doesn't mind in the slightest. In fact, she embraces the role, and tells Micah that she's like 'the daughter she never had', and as a result of this, both parties now share a found family bond with one another, and Colleen is never shy in working Micah into a conversation.

And with her role in Autumn Angels as an actual secondary character out of the way, now that's pretty much everything! I definitely intend on broadening her role and relationship with Micah later on down the line, though I find that what I've written for this post is certainly more than enough for now! Hopefully you've enjoyed reading the fruits of my research to uncover Colleen's true character because this was the most fun I've had writing a post in a while!

#Star's Art #Deep Dives with Star #Night in the Woods #NiTW #Autumn Angels AU #AU #Colleen Chappell #Micah Huxley #Coolness #This WAS merely going to be a simple piece of Colleen fanart... #... but look where THAT ended up XD #I ended up upscaling one of the in-game backgrounds for this piece as it again wasn't going to be much else than fanart #But when I decided to add dialogue to the piece— an incorrect quote at that— I knew I had to go all out! #I was also able to FINALLY get my hands on the actual Night in the Woods dialogue font instead of using a lookalike #Now I can make even MORE convincing faux screencaps!! #One thing that I didn't get to touch on in the post was Colleen's species #The NiTW wiki can't seem to decide whether she's a dog or a fox and I personally am leaning more toward fox #Visually she lines up almost identically with Gregg. She has a similar fur tone and ears as well as visible fangs #So to match my Autumn Angel redesigns I gave her a fox tail much like Gregg's! #Perhaps at some point I can also whip up a new outfit for her but in all honest I do like her original outfit a bit #I think it's because of her gingham shirt (Which was NOT easy to recreate). It really stands out!