Mina

Mina is a pretty giant mermaid living in Jewel river.  She has fair skin and a slender build, her hair is dark and long, and her eyes are a vivid blue color.  She has noticeably luscious and plump lips, and her fish tail is very dark blue, almost black, with lots of tiny white speckles.  She's just over one hundred feet long, and moves (in the water, anyway) in a fluid, graceful manner. First impressions of Mina are that she's polite, but a bit standoffish and even slightly petulant.  The fact of the matter is that she is very shy and has a fragile ego, and often attempts to compensate for this by being preemptively defensive in social situations, especially with strangers.  When she's around friends, or otherwise comfortable, she is very affable and well-spoken, and possesses a playful, slightly disparaging sense of humor.  Mina can be very patient when she needs to, so much so that her dryad friend Holly has often remarked that she might have a bit of dryad in her, though this is obviously not literally true.  On the other hand, she can also be quite stubborn in her beliefs, and has a hard time changing her mind once it's made up about something.

== Backstory ==
Mina's early childhood was a very gentle one, as she grew up under the direct protection of her mother, who for unclear reasons took Mina away from their undersea home to live in the Jewel River when she was very little.  Once Mina reached adolescence, it became apparent that her mother had something of critical importance that she needed to do, and after a tearful parting, she left her daughter to fend for herself on the Jewel River.  As it turned out, Mina was probably sheltered a bit too much, because when she was finally all on her own, she discovered that Felarya is not the easiest place to live, even for a great predator. Under the false impression that humans and other 'little tasty things' were easy to catch and completely defenseless, Mina's fist attempts to hunt for her own food were nothing short of disastrous.  She was repeatedly eluded, and even driven to retreat on a few occasions by well-armed adventurers, though her confidence was injured far more than her body.  She spent a long time subsisting mostly on fish, but worse, rumors about her ineptitude began to spread amongst the creatures living in or around the Jewel River.  Much to her dismay, she was even slightly famous over this for a short while, as "the mermaid who gets beaten up by her food", though her actual face and name were rarely accurately described, and most who heard the story believed it to be a silly, fictional tale meant to amuse.  Needless to say, she's not eager to claim credit as the individual the story is based on.

Her luck didn't really change until by chance she met Holly, a dryad who happened to be rooted very near to the water, and desperate for a sympathetic ear, Mina recounted her tale of misfortune.  Since then the two have become very close, despite the differing environments they call home, and it was from Holly that Mina learned the patient, careful hunting style she uses to this day.  Mina does not blame her mother for failing to teach her how to hunt properly, and though they haven't seen each other since they first parted, she still thinks of her mother fondly.

== Hunting habits ==
While she's fairly voracious, Mina doesn't get to eat humans (or nekos, elves, etc.) nearly as often as she'd like, due to her overly cautious hunting habits.  She will sometimes watch her prey for hours before deciding how best to strike, carefully evaluating their abilities and numbers.  Because of this, creatures she is stalking are often eaten by something else, or simply move away from the water before she's ready.  When she does ambush humans she is extremely swift, clever and efficient in her attack, eliminating dangerous mages or individuals with advanced weapons first, leaving little to chance.  One of her favorite tactics is gathering gems from the bed of the river and placing them strategically close to the water, as a lure for her prey. Once she's in control of the situation, she tends to do a fair amount of "playing" with her food with her very long tongue.  Not out of any kind of cruelty, but because it's fun, and since success makes her extremely happy, she also likes to savor the moment.  Anyone hoping to talk their way out of being eaten once Mina has them in hand (or mouth), is pretty much out of luck, because she's usually quite uninterested in anything her food has to say.  Bluffing and saying that you have great power or advanced weapons is actually a better choice, if executed believably and done \*before\* she's caught you.  Mina is of the opinion that all humans and their kin are food, and is very unlikely to make an exception to this rule, even if another great predator attempted to convince her otherwise.  She would certainly abide by a request to not eat a specific human, but would think it was a very strange thing to ask.

== Misc. Traits ==
-Mina possesses a sharp mind for strategy, and is particularly good at reading body language and expression, both in creatures her size, and smaller, human-sized individuals.  Ironically, she is a terrible liar herself, and has a lot of trouble concealing her true feelings.  This has messed up her hunts more than once!

-Mina has a remarkably long tongue.  However, while being sticky and agile, she lacks the frog-like ability to fling it that some other mermaids have, such as Anko.

-Though her magic is not very strong, she's quite clever and creative in it's use, often employing illusions to lure or mislead prey.  Mina has a very hard time getting her magic to work on more than two or three human-sized individuals at once, and has never successfully fooled even one great predator with it.

-She gets easily "land sick", such that if she spends any length of time on solid earth, she becomes increasingly, acutely uncomfortable and nauseous (she doesn't need to be fully submerged to avoid this; so long as she has water beneath her, she's fine).

-Mina is very vulnerable to electrical attacks; even an average mage employing lightning magic could cause her some significant pain, though it would take someone of much higher skill to do her serious harm.

==Stories featuring Mina==
\* "Leg Envy"
\* "Jewel River Blues"
\* "Aquatic Trails and Mermaid Tales"

* Mina belongs to Prinnydood. Contact

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