Friends

Paint-sketch of the girls together I never ended up finishing.

Clockwise:

Cobian is an Algic girl, which means she’s indigenous to Iceland in my world, which is called Oslola. She comes from a mixed indigenous Arctic background. Her mother is kind of crazy and Cobian is a bit insecure, but she’s very close with Tzipora. They drift between friends and girlfriends, it’s complicated.

Coretti is Afro-Russian. Even though she was born in Congo (sometimes called Zaire in my world) she grew up in the USSR and immigrated to Oslola later on. She’s very patient and graceful, and is dating Tzipora’s best friend Moise.

Lin Zhi is Chinese and always goes by her full name. She doesn’t speak much of their language and she’s kind of a hothead so she’s a bit of a mystery to them. But Tzipora attracts eccentric characters and Lin Zhi doesn’t have any other friends so she hangs out with them.

Finally, Tzipora (being held) is the main character of the story. Her mother was Spanish Roma and her father was Yiddish. She’s very friendly but intense and she’s sort of the focus point which the friendship group is centred around. She’s got more going on with her (she doesn’t live with her parents and how she came to Vekllei is ambiguous) but she’s just trying her best.