I would like to claim patience and the number four! My -slightly edited- profile to come when I get home.
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: 19
Gender: Female
Appearance:
At five foot nine, Sahara is somewhat taller than average in height and has 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. That said, it's usually 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, cooking, and drawing.
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 environmental science.
Talent:
An avid nature lover, Sahara frequently sketches the subjects of her studies. The word 'sketch' is used because her talent lies specifically in making what most would consider the first or second step towards a work, a shaded pencil drawing of the subject, usually with guidelines still very visible. She's never really attempted to go beyond that because she doesn't see the reason to; most of her sketching is done specifically for notes on particular species of plants or animals, not towards any real artistic ends. Her pictures are extremely accurate in their detail and, while there are people who find her skill in this regard impressive, that is all she can do. Any attempt at stylization of her subject usually just ends up looking odd.
Number: 4
Virtue: Patience