Melonie Mist

Melonie Mist is a female kangaroo born in 275 ADD in the coastal town of Breezewind in the fertile farmland of The Crescent. She was admitted into medical school at a young age for her exceptional academic skills, and became a disaster relief worker before eventually settling down to run her parents' fruit farm with her adopted son Clementine.

Personality

Melonie is a very compassionate and gentle kangaroo who believes one should always mind their responsibilities. She will usually act as a sympathetic ear for anyone who needs someone to listen to. She occasionally struggles with anxiety, and chooses to live in peace to keep her feelings balanced. Generally she is level-headed and will often be the voice of reason to those she speaks to.

Abilities

Melonie is professionally trained in emergency response, including CPR.

She is also trained in deescalating situations, employing reason and sympathy rather than violence to diffuse conflict.

She is self-sustaining, and has much knowledge on alternative sources of energy production.

She is an experienced cultivator after much practice growing fruit on her farm.

As a kangaroo, she can hop exceptionally high, balance on her tail, and store objects in her pouch.

Design

Melonie has mainly rich green fur, with bright red fur on her belly running down the underside of her tail, as well as on her paws, feet, ears and tail tip. Her red fur is bordered by white fur on her belly, ears, tail, wrists, and ankles. Black oval shaped spots dot her belly, feet, wrists, tail tip, and ears. Light green patches run along the entire length of her green fur. Her eyes are a pink/peach color. Her red hair is short and fluffy, tufting on her forehead and running down to the back of her neck. She has green claws and a red nose the same color as her hair. The interior of her pouch is a bright light green. The interiors of her ears are a light pink.

Attire

Melonie's standard outfit is a simple pink sundress with darker pink candy-cane stripes running diagonally down its length. A slit along the midriff of the dress allows her access to her pouch. A watermelon slice shaped earring is pinned to her right ear.

Her working outfit consists of blue denim overalls with a watermelon shaped patch sewn into the left lapel. A flap on her belly can be unbuttoned to allow access to her pouch. She sometimes wears a cream colored sunhat as well.

Her casual outfit consists of a cream colored jungle jacket with a white tank top underneath, and denim shorts with frayed ends.

Story

Early Life

Melonie grew up in the town of Breezewind, a small farming community in the southeastern region of The Crescent, a fertile plain nation in the eastern continent known for its lush jungles and distant deserts. There she was raised by her parents, along with her younger sister Peppermint on their fruit farm. Together they were taught how to farm and surf, though she was much better at farming than Peppermint, whereas Peppermint picked up surfing much faster than her. And as Melonie attended school, her parents quickly realized how much she excelled at learning. An aptitude test soon proved Melonie was exceptionally intelligent, opening up many career possibilities for her.

When she was twelve, Melonie decided her dream was to become a nurse for an emergency response team. Her parents were excited in Melonie's decision, and signed her up for additional testing. The evaluators were impressed by her scores, and when she was 14, she was allowed to skip high school and transferred to Sunrise City, the capitol of The Crescent. There she was enrolled at the Sunrise City Medical University, the most prestigious medical university in the country.

The Disaster Relief Response Team

With a streamlined schedule, Melonie was able to advance through her college career in half the time it would normally take. And after just four years, Melonie graduated, becoming certified as a paramedic. And it wasn't long before she was offered a position as a paramedic in The Crescent's Disaster Relief Response Team, an elite group tasked with providing relief to those affected by natural disasters all around the world. And with climate change speeding up in the past century, disasters were becoming more frequent and more powerful. But Melonie was excited to finally be able to use all she'd learned to help those that needed her most.

For three years she traveled Concentra, providing aid to people affected by hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. But her biggest challenge called her to the Sea Ring Cliffs Nuclear Research Station, a lab surrounded by treacherous jagged rock formations that had experienced a reactor meltdown, resulting in a deadly explosion that began leaking radiation to the surrounding area. After being briefly prepped in a radiation suit, Melonie and her team made their way into the ruins of the reactor. They discovered several workers who had survived the blast, and though they managed to rescue them from the wreckage, they soon died from radiation poisoning. It was after that mission the weight of everything Melonie had seen and been through during her time as a relief worker began to settle on her. She started experiencing anxiety attacks, coupled with many sleepless nights due to insomnia. But it wasn't long before work had called her back to action.

Only three weeks after her mission to the Research Station, she was assigned on a mission back to The Crescent. They were now deep in the dry season, and the largest wildfire in Crescent history had taken over the jungle, trapping the people of the few settlements that lived further inland. And Melonie was headed towards the most dangerous rescue spot: a lumber mill in the Wallaby Hills. After the skyship transporting her rescue team had penetrated the thick blanket of smoke enveloping the vast jungle, they soon trekked towards the mill, where they met with the local Fire Team who had been holding the flames back. But a shift in the winds forced them to retreat back to the skyship. During the journey back, a toppled tree separated Melonie from the rest of the group, forcing her to find another way by going through the ruins of the mill. She made her way into one of the mill houses, where she discovered the bodies of two kangaroos holding each other. But nestled in one of their arms was an infant joey, soot stained and barely breathing. Realizing the joey was still alive, Melonie put him in her pouch before finally discovering a way back to the skyship just as it was about to take off.

Family

The joey Melonie rescued was transported in critical condition to a hospital in Sunrise City. Upon returning to her apartment in the city, Melonie had an anxiety induced breakdown, and requested the next several days off from work to process her thoughts. After a long time alone, she came to realize she wouldn't be able to do her job correctly if she couldn't process the traumatic images she would continue to witness. She did return to work however, where she learned the joey she'd rescued had survived, though the smoke had damaged his lungs, giving him asthma. But with his parents dead, he would be put into foster care until someone would be willing to adopt him. Without hesitating, Melonie filled an application to become the joey's guardian, but her superiors in the Response Team denied her from submitting the form due to how much travel her job required. This finally convinced her of what she had to do, and she resigned on the spot.

But without a steady income, Melonie knew she would not be approved to adopt the joey anyway, and contacted her parents. She asked if she could work for them back on their farm, but they informed her they were selling the farm so they could retire, with the plan to move to a condominium in Sunrise City. Disheartened, she began to think she was not meant to adopt the joey after all, but she soon came up with another idea: She would take over her family's fruit farm and run it herself. And though they were disappointed in Melonie's decision to leave the Disaster Relief Response Team after all the effort she'd taken to get in, they approved of her new plan and signed exclusive ownership of the farm to her.

With everything finally in order, Melonie submitted her application to the adoption agency, and she was called for an interview. They were hesitant at first, being a single mother meant the joey would grow up without a father figure, but Melonie assured them he would grow up with all the support he would need. Her credentials as a certified paramedic impressed the interviewers, and with a constant supply of food thanks to the farm, they knew the joey would be in a responsible and loving home. Melonie was approved, and it wasn't long before she got to officially meet her new son. He was much healthier than when she had first rescued him, and she soon named him Clementine after his orange and gold fur.

Settling Down

For the next four years, Melonie raised Clem alone on the farm. During that time, she had built a generator and a greenhouse, and installed solar panels on the roof of their home. She had a large field of watermelons to tend, and a small forest of apple and orange trees surrounding the farm. She had become completely self-sustaining and closed herself off from many of the struggles of the rest of the world. She realized how fast her entire life had been, from skipping high school and advancing quickly through college, to the urgency being a disaster relief paramedic had required. She had never been allowed to go at her own pace. But with her farm and her son, she finally had everything she ever needed.

Relationships

Melonie has an adopted joey named Clementine. She is a single parent, but still his legal guardian.

She has an adventurous sister named Peppermint whose travels have kept them from seeing each other.

She considers Blizzard Snowgrazer to be her adopted sister.

She is best friends with a border collie named Liam Lemonleaf.

Trivia

-She always keeps a plastic watermelon slice earring in her right ear. She never takes it off.

-She will often pick fruit from the trees in her orchard and collect them in her pouch.

-She likes to surf, but is not very good at it.

-She is vegetarian.