Still a bit of a work in progress! It's mostly done, I just need to edit some when I get home today.
By the way, if anyone would like to establish a past relationship of some sort between our characters, I'd be all for it! Sahara really didn't have close friends or anything in high school, but she had a few friendly acquaintances, and we could work out a series of interesting encounters through which the characters gained some deeper knowledge of each other. Like, one character tutoring or helping out the other in some way, or them working together, or something! Or not, haha.
Name: Nur'Sahara Housseini (Americanized it to 'Sara,' which is how most people address her; Her family calls her Sahara, and that is the name she identifies with)
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Appearance:
At five foot six, Sahara is just about average in height, with a slim figure usually too obscured in layers and thick clothing to be distinguished. Her skin is best described as olive, with subtle yellow undertones that become more apparent after some time in the sun. She has a distinctly ovular face with soft features, thin lips that she has a habit of pressing tightly together whenever she is thinking too hard about something, and a short white scar on her left cheek. Her most distinguishable features are her eyes. Large, dark, and usually framed by black eyeliner -the only makeup she wears- her gaze is almost eerily intense, if only because it's so hard to read. Under the outer corner of her left eye, she has a small, light beauty mark.
Though she rarely wears her hijab anymore, she still dresses very modestly. Her hair, straight and a very dark brown that seems to be black in most lights, falls down almost to her waist when let down, but is almost always pulled back into a tight braid. Her arms and legs are always covered, usually by dull, baggy clothes. The only piece of jewelry she wears is a leather cord around her neck that holds a small, polished block of wood engraved with a word in Arabic. She holds herself well, shoulders drawn back and back rigidly straight, but her tendency to keep her chin tucked and eyes on the floor negate any confidence this posture might project. Her formality only seems to drop whenever she is very focused on whatever task is at hand.
Personality:
The impression that she leaves on most is of a sweet but almost painfully shy young woman. Though better than she was when she first moved to Hope, she'll still only rarely instigate a conversation, and especially has trouble speaking with men. That isn't that she doesn't want to be talk to people; on the contrary, Sahara loves people, and very much desires the close friendships she has always seen and admired between other people. In pursuit of this goal she tries to force herself into conversations with others, but these attempts are usually awkward at best, and each failure pushes her more to her default polite but distant manner of socializing.
Some of Sahara's social anxieties stem from the fact that she is very unsure of who she is right now. She knows that she wants to go to college, but still isn't sure that she should, nor of what to do with herself after that. Though she still considers herself Muslim, she is having such trouble reconciling what she was raised to believe with the things she is currently being exposed to and the morals that she's finding for herself that she is going through a major crisis of faith. Her relationship with her mother is strained, and she desperately misses the family she left behind, although not necessarily the life she lived with them.
Despite this constant internal turmoil, she maintains a neutral expression as much as she can. She is very strict with herself when it comes to allowing people to be effected by her burdens, emotional or otherwise. As such, she avoids asking for help unless it is absolutely necessary, which it rarely is. Sahara's strong observational skills, analytical mind, and particularly her patience can best most problems that come her way.
That patience is objectively her best quality. Though her fumbling attempts at conversation lead many to believe that Sahara is a nervous person in general, that usually isn't the case. Her patience carries her through trouble and strife, and allows her to keep a calm head through it. It allows her to negotiate conflict without clouded judgement, and helps to make her an excellent nurturer; if she can get past her initial anxiety with somebody, she has a tendency to want to look after them, regardless of age. Were she more confident and social, she'd likely play a caring and protective 'older sister' role for her peers. As it is, she still makes an excellent person to vent to, shoulder to cry on, and source of impartial advice.
Her known interests include science, reading, and cooking.
Relationship with Parent/Guardian:
Sahara's relationship with her mother is distant and strained, though neither party ever intended for this to be the case. The fact is that Sahara, though grateful to her mother for everything she's done, still harbors resentment and feelings of abandonment from years past. It certainly doesn't help that for much of her childhood she was raised hearing only the worst about her mother, and that the switch from a conservative Muslim household to a mother with very progressive views on the religion was very jarring. While Sahara can also appreciate how much her mother has influenced her for the better, she is constantly hearing the judgmental voices of her grandparents in the back of her mind, and that is holding her back from being completely comfortable with her mother's beliefs.
For her part, Fatemeh adores her daughter, and thoroughly regrets what she's put her through. She believes that the blame for Sahara's issues with confidence and interacting with others falls squarely on her shoulders. To make up for it, she tries to spoil her, but rarely has enough money to do so. She tries to speak with her, but she is the person that Sahara seems to have the most difficulty speaking with. The girl is very respectful towards her mother, going above and beyond to share in chores and contribute to their household, but Fatemeh is at the point that she'd rather have a daughter who yells and screams at her, who throws all of her failings as a parent back in her face, anything to show that she feels something.
Brief Biography:
Sahara and her mother, Fatemeh Housseini, arrived in Hope three years ago; they moved into a one room apartment near the center of town, where they still reside. Fatemeh found employment with the local newspaper as a photographer and journalist. Though she proved to be a very friendly, sociable woman, she shared very little about their lives before the move. Sahara enrolled as a sophmore at the local high school approximately two months after their arrival, and was something of an oddity. She wore a hijab -for the first few weeks, after which most people assumed she stopped wearing it to avoid being picked on- and spoke only short, one and two word sentences, with a thick Arabic accent. Many people thought that she simply didn't know much english, but those who approached her privately and patiently found that she could speak the language just fine. Being put on the spot around groups of strangers just made her nervous.
All through high school she kept to herself, generally only socializing when needed for group projects, or when people were very insistent in wanting to speak with her. Her reputation was that of a girl who was quiet but polite, smart -particularly in the life sciences- but not a genius, and overall forgettable when her ancestry and religion are no longer of interest. She shared very little of her past even with those who tried their hardest to learn about her; the most that anyone could gleam is that she lived in Saudi Arabia when she was younger, with her grandparents and father. Now graduated, she is taking a 'gap year' to work and earn money, with the hopes of attending college next fall and pursuing a degree in science.
Number: Six
Virtue: Patience
