Muhammad "Mo" Abbasi

#1

Name: Muhammad "Mo" Abbasi
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Height: 6'2
Weight: 184 lbs
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Kills: Two
Weapon: Hatchet

Appearance: Mo is in pretty great shape due to his role on the court. He has strongly defined, lean muscle down his arms and legs. His relatively slim build is mostly muscle, allowing him to keep quick and agile during the game. His skin is relatively fair-toned (perhaps contributing to his general acceptance among his peers). He keeps his dark brown hair trimmed close on his head and keeps the rest of his face clean-shaven. Perhaps most striking about Mo, is his infectious smile, with his straight white teeth.

On the day of selection, Mo was wearing a gray hoodie under which he was wearing a green t-shirt with the logo of his community youth basketball league on it, a pair of worn blue jeans, and white sneakers and socks.

Interests: Muhammad loves basketball and has ever since the 4th grade, where he first tried out for a local youth team. Now, all these years later, he continues to play on his high school basketball team, serving as point guard. He is a skilled player, though he knows he's nowhere near major-league potential. In his spare time, Muhammad enjoys cooking, it being one of the few areas of his life where he implements some element of his heritage.

History: Despite the way intolerant folks tend to treat him, Muhammad was, in fact, born in this country to two Muslim parents who also happened to be born in this country. His family did, however, place a strong emphasis on holding onto elements of their Iranian heritage, despite the scorn the received from those around them, though they were certain to try and shield their son from the darker prejudices that their neighbors might hold.

As a child, Muhammad joyfully followed in his parents footsteps, praying regularly and sometimes expressing his beliefs more openly than his parents might have appreciated. Despite some uncomfortable incidents involving prejudiced strangers, the boy remained oblivious to the scope of society's bias against him.

While still in this position of general ignorance, Muhammad discovered his love of (and skill in) basketball, when at the pressuring of a few neighbors about his age, he tried out for a community youth basketball league. He got on a team, "Green Fury" and became a bit of a big fish in this little pond of his. To this day, he volunteers as a coach at the league.

When Muhammad reached middle school, however, his perception of his place in the world would shift dramatically. During recess one day, a group of boys approached him and asked him about being a Muslim. When he started to explain himself, one of the boys spat on him. When Muhammad tried to ask them what that was all about, the boy simply replied that he was "a freak." When Muhammad tried to ask what was going on, another of the boys struck him. He tried to defend himself, but there was no way he could fight the whole group.

Finally, Muhammad's parent's decided that they needed to give him a talk. They explained the racism and intolerance that people would be inclined to treat him with, and that he needed to be careful about how he expressed himself around others. When Muhammad, beaten and bruised, asked his friends in class about the what his parents had said, they were uncomfortable and a bit unsure about it themselves. They said that some of the stuff that he had done or said was a bit weird, and said that his name "sounded kind of funny." They reassured Muhammad that they still liked him and were his friends, but their words had already left their mark on him.

By the time Muhammad was going through high school, he had started to go by "Mo" instead of his full name, and had become far less fervent in his embrace of his Islamic heritage. His parents were dismayed to see their boy distance himself so much from his identity, but Mo had decided that it was better to blend in than to suffer at the hands of the ignorant.

Becoming point guard on his high school basketball team, Mo soon became friends with most of the other players on the team, who all saw him as a generally friendly and positive guy. From those friends came more friends and after a while Mo had achieved a certain degree of popularity, in spite of his background and minority status.

However, there was a certain aspect of him that missed being able to freely express his heritage. To try and compensate for this, Mo has started cooking more and more in the past couple of years as a means of expression (while also making a good meal for himself and/or his family).

Personality: Mo has become a relatively popular figure around school and enjoys spending with the myriad friends he has made in the last couple years. However, he is quite guarded about information regarding his family and certain opinions, such as crushes and opinions on the country. When pressed to speak about the government and the country as a whole, Mo tends to play a bit of an apologist despite the discrimination his family has suffered, as he has managed to do quite well for himself as of late. Mo also tends to be quite non-confrontational with his peers, preferring to take the role of peacemaker over anything else.

Reputation: Mo is generally well regarded by his peers and is oft cited as "one of the good ones" on the occasion when his heritage is brought up. However, the more hard-line individuals within Mo's class will never like or trust him, despite what their peers might say.