Diane Plutina
Information
Name	Diane Plutina
Species	Mermaid (One-quarter elf)
Gender	Female
Born	15 BGE Bluebell Lake, Magnifloria
World	Asleep Universe
Occupation	Stagehand (1 AGE - 7 AGE) Cook in New Atlantis (7 AGE - 24 AGE) Head Chef of New Atlantis (24 AGE - 36 AGE) Head Chef of Lennart Kingdom (36 AGE - )
Native language	Novoatlantean

Diane Plutina (15 BGE - ) is the head chef of Lennart Kingdom.

Appearance

Diane has light blue skin and long, silky-blonde hair. This has always been a source of fascination for other merfolk - most of whom have black, red or blue hair. However, as she was always happy to explain, merfolk with blonde hair always have a recent Elvish ancestor (in her case, her maternal grandmother, Galaryl).

In her younger years, Diane would dress glamorously, in sparkly red lipstick and expensive clothes. This fashionable attire, combined her slender figure and her unusual hair colour, made her a constant source of attention for New Atlantis's young men. Even in her later years - when she put on weight and exchanged her lavish dresses for a chef's hat and apron - her appearance certainly stood out.

Personality

Diane is very bubbly and outgoing, and loves socialising with other people. However, she can also be quite mischievous at times, and will take any opportunity to play practical jokes on her friends. Additionally, she's fairly adventurous, and always enjoys visiting new and exotic places, and sampling the local culture.

She is an accomplished foodie, with an encyclopedic culinary knowledge. This makes her very useful to have around out in the wild, as she knows how to prepare delicious meals from unlikely ingredients. Furthermore, she's very sociable and charismatic, allowing her to make friends easily, and also defuse most tension and confrontations before they turn violent. However, she's useless in all forms of physical combat: if she does fail to prevent a fight, then her only real option is to run from it.

Relationships

Alexis - A long-time friend of Diane's, going back to their teenage years. At one time, they were a romantic couple - and after several years together, they planned to marry and start a family. Unfortunately, this didn't happen - mainly because Alexis wished to continue touring, whilst Diane preferred to settle down with New Atlantis. Nevertheless, even after the end of their relationship, they've remained good friends.

Nestor - The Duke of New Atlantis, who had a crush on Diane in his teenage years. Unfortunately for him, he was very socially awkward, and he made a complete mess of his attempts to approach her. They still spent considerable time around one another (as they were both friends with Tom and Alexis) - but the climate between them was noticeably awkward. As they grew into adulthood, the situation did improve, and they became genuine friends - although, she never wasted an opportunity to poke fun at him!

Tom - Another childhood friend of Diane. In their younger years, they would often flirt with one another - and once they both found their own partners, they would exchange advice for each other's relationships. Eventually, they would move away from each other and lose contact - but she never forgot him, and she was devastated when he was believed to have been killed by King Kei. However, he was eventually found alive, and reinstated on the throne of Lennart Kingdom - after which Diane moved there to be with him. There were even rumours that the two of them had entered the romantic relationship that Tom had so desired in his youth - although, these were never confirmed.

Story

Early life

Diane was born in the year 15 BGE, to father Plutus and mother Martiniana. As her mother was half-Elvish, she participated in the typical Elvish custom of travelling to Bluebell Island in order to have her baby there. However, as she was half-mermaid, she gave birth to Diane not on the island itself, but in the surrounding lake.

Diane's early years weren't especially happy. Due to her blonde hair, she was bullied by some of her peers - and, most of all, by her younger brother Ulysses (whom her parents didn't do a good job of disciplining). As a result, the only people whom Diane enjoyed a particularly strong relationship with were her maternal grandparents, Jason and Galaryl. They would often take her to Magnifloria, in order to see the oversized fruits and vegetables - and it was these visits that would spark her life-long interest in cooking.

In her teenage years, however, Diane's relationship with her peers completely flipped. She became one of the most popular girls in New Atlantis, both on account of her looks and her ability to cook delicious dinners. Consequently, all of the boys who had previously bullied her now wished to date her. Of course, not all of them succeeded: those who showed that they had changed their ways were rewarded by her, while those who didn't were left on the sidelines, regretting the poor decisions they had made during their childhood.

In the end, most of these early romances quickly fizzled out - and it wasn't until Diane turned 16 that she pursued a more serious relationship. The lucky man was Alexis - a half-merman whom she had met through their shared friendship with Princes Tom and Nestor. The four of them frequently travelled together on adventures - and eventually, when Alexis started his own band, he employed her as his first stagehand, ensuring that both his bandmates and his audiences were well catered for. As they entered their twenties, the couple pondered marriage - but sadly, Diane found that she couldn't reconcile her desire to settle down with Alexis's wishes to continue travelling. As a result, they made the difficult decision to end their relationship.

Adulthood and career

After breaking up with Alexis, Diane never pursued a serious relationship again. As a natural consequence of this, she never married or had children. She did sometimes regret this fact, but she realised it was probably for the best: if she was going to start a family, it would have to have been with Alexis, but she accepted that he was happier pursuing his musical career, and her own desires would simply have interfered with that. Her subsequent attempts to rekindle the same magic with other men never got anywhere, and she finally concluded that she derived more happiness from her recipe book, her ingredients, and her pet bunny rabbits.

Of course, not having children did have its advantages. Diane believed it was why she was able to maintain a relatively youthful appearance all the way into her fifties. Furthermore, it gave her much more time to be involved in the lives of her friends and their families. She would often visit Alexis's children, Hugh and Helen - and take them to Magnifloria, just as her own grandparents once did with her. Furthermore, after Nestor married Cassandra, she would always bake lavish birthday cakes for both of them (and ultimately also for their three children: Lysander, Aliana, and Meriandra). Of course, she'd also do the same for Tom, and his sons Kyle and Jake - but this ended abruptly once Jake turned evil, Kyle was put to sleep, and Tom was believed to be dead.

By now, Diane had worked her way up the ranks of her profession, and become the Head Chef of New Atlantis. However, when Tom was eventually discovered alive and well, she was overjoyed - and she immediately agreed to move to Lennart Kingdom with him. She did miss teasing Nestor - but as Tom took to the throne again, she became one of his most trusted friends and advisers. Whether this ever became anything more than friendship is unknown - but, it was clear that, with the possible exception of her teenage years with Alexis, Diane was the happiest she had ever been.

One day, Diane hopes to live in a palace of her very own. It remains to be seen whether she will ever have enough money to purchase such an extravagant dwelling - or if she will have to settle for baking a cake that looks like one.

Trivia

Diane is fluent in three languages: Novoatlantean, Modern Archonian, and Standard Lennartine. She also has some knowledge of Florian.

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