Mina "Mugwort" Yi
| Deed Name | Mugwort |
|---|---|
| Pronouns | She/they |
| Fera | Gurahl |
| Camp | Okuma |
| Auspice | Kojubat |
| Breed | Ursine |
| Rank | Adren |
| Faction | Gaian Alliance |
| Position(s) | Den Parent |
Further Information
✧ Notable characteristics: Appearance Focus, Soothing Presence, Intimidation 6 ✧
She's not mad, just disappointed.
In Ursus form, Mina looks like an Asian black bear: relatively small as bears go, with big round ears and a white patch on their chest not dissimilar to a lunar crescent. There's something striking about their appearance, as if they were the platonic ideal of a moon bear, with a presence that is simultaneously both calming and imposing: a mother bear's comforting care and lurking ferocity all in one.
Most of the time, Mina prefers to interact with shifter society and mortality alike in her Homid form, which resembles a short, broad-shouldered Korean woman in her early twenties, with a round, sweet face and soft body that seem somewhat incongruous with her intimidating presence. Her eyes are dark, nearly black, and her eyebrows strong. She's calming to be around in the way that disapproving ajummas are a great incentive to calm down and act reasonable, although the occasional maternal warmth filters through her almost perpetually beleaguered and irritated demeanor. Her dark hair is worn long, often loose, in a single braid, or half-up in a pair of space buns resembling the large ears of her bear form.
She usually dresses primarily in black and cool, dark colors, with a preference for modern hanbok silhouettes and cuts which are conservative on the upper body while keeping her skirts shorter for mobility, with practical black boots for various environments. Generally running warm enough to eschew a coat save in truly freezing New England weather, her outerwear usually takes the form of a leather vest with pins reading "퀴어" and "MOON CHILD," a deep purple silk moiré blazer with delicate Korean floral motifs, or a sweater with a crescent moon on the chest as a clever reference. Her usual ornamentation comes in the form of silver jewelry with moon motifs, blue sandstone, or jade, as well as flowers and other decorative touches like norigae with natural motifs. When she wears makeup, it's usually a dark eye and a fairly neutral lip, strikingly youthful for her demeanor.
They have an excellent alto singing voice, warm and resonant, even if their repertoire is mostly old ballads and drinking songs.
As an Ursine Okuma, Mina tends to find gendered pronouns grammatically cumbersome and doesn't identify precisely with human gender; for ease of use and largely out of habit, they generally accept she/her and they/them pronouns and feminine-to-neutral terms of address.
Her Deed Name, 쑥, is generally translated as "Mugwort." She generally explains it with the phrase "because I'm medicinally valuable, but bitter and kind of a trip."
The following are more or less openly known facts about one Mina "Mugwort" Yi, but they tend to be fairly cagey about their past.
2012: As Arcas, Mina leaves the Beast Courts with her Buri-Jaan not even a month before they close their borders, something which she doesn't seem to be terribly pleased about.
2014: Mina and their Buri-Jaan, Seulgi, settle in the Berkshires. Mina is an Uzmati at this time.
2016: The last year Mina saw Seulgi, and the year they ascended to Kojubat, a Rank they seem to express they have few ambitions of transcending.
2021: Mina appears in Western Massachusetts, newly awoken from hibernation. She helps out around the Sept of the Deepest Den for a few months, although she does not join; forming a small pack dedicated to Baby Bear. Demoralized with the current state of the world, she returns to hibernation without saying much to anyone.
2022: Mina aids in the formation of the new Sept close to Boston, fighting to protect a newly discovered Lost Cub when the cairn seed is planted, although she declines to join a Garou Sept.
2023:
✧ February: Mina joins the aforementioned Sept when its alignment changes from Garou to Alliance, assuming the role of Den Parent not long after.
The Okuma known as Mugwort or Mina Yi is generally unforthcoming with her past, but she's taken to her role as a Den Parent with enthusiasm. Stubborn to a fault and sometimes troublingly pessimistic, she can be a difficult personality, but she's known to treat cubs and Kinfolk with patience and a gentle, if stern tone. An accomplished healer and singer armed with the withering glare of a disapproving maternal figure, she always seems to carry some sort of herbal seasoning (or "seasoning") with her wherever she goes.
She doesn't say much about herself: mostly that Jirisan National Park in South Korea — notably home to a moon bear conservation program — is a very nice place to live; that she happens to be something best described in words as queer; and that she has responsibilities that demand she keep herself alive for the foreseeable future. Sometimes she says she's looking for someone going by Seulgi, a fellow Okuma and a good friend. While she's not inclined to boast about herself, she is openly proud of the cubs who have since graduated her care to become up-and-coming members of the Gaian Alliance.
It isn't hard to tell after a discussion that Mina carries burdens she cannot voice aloud, although she's usually the first to remind her fellow Gaians not to forget the sins of the past or miss an opportunity to mend them in the future.
✧ No one has ever made Mina laugh at a bear pun.
✧ If you're looking for psychoactive plants or herbs, "Mugwort" should indicate a reliable dealer.
✧ At some point in the past, Mina was much closer to human society than she is today.
✧ Mina doesn't like Garou, but she makes an exception for cubs.
✧ Mina is encouraging Garou cubs to become Children of Gaia.
Edit Rumors: Add your own!
✧ "Garou are Gaia's warriors, Cub. Collectively, you're very good at killing and almost as good at getting killed."
✧ "Garou don't do it this way? Then it's a good thing I'm Gurahl."
✧ "... can I go back to bed?"
- "I've fought everything from Wraiths to frenzing Leeches. I can honestly say I'd rather face a field of silvered grass than be on the wrong side of Mina. Already have nightmares of accidently putting one of her cubs in danger..." Blacktail
