Nura 'N' Husain al-Tarek

[Namira]

Name: Nura ‘N’ Husain al-Tarek
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Grade: 11th
Hobbies and Interests: Chemistry, science, study, wargames, music, american football

Appearance: Nura is a slim, somewhat lanky figure, standing 5’9 and weighing 126 lbs. Although born in Miami, she has Egyptian roots. Her skin is light brown with warm undertones, her eyes are small, dark, and lively, and her hair is medium-brown with natural highlights. Nura’s hair is wavy and often troublesome; though she likes wearing it long, she often has to both tie it up and wear a headscarf to keep it out of the way. Her eyebrows are bushy, which she dislikes, but she lacks the patience or funds to do anything about it. The rest of her facial features are sharp, especially her cheekbones, and her nose has a long slope.

On the day she was cast, Nura was wearing a pair of well-used cargo pants, originally khaki but heavily stained by modelling glue and paint, along with a long-sleeved black t-shirt and an old pair of sneakers.

Biography: Nura is the second youngest of six siblings, junior to four older sisters, Hana, Sadah, Rawan, and Farah, and senior only to her little brother, Youssef. Her parents, Husain and Ruqayyah, are Egyptian immigrants who arrived in Florida with Nura’s great uncle Ibrahim, and uncles, Faizel and Dawud. Nura has three cousins of varying ages by Dawud, and an older male cousin by Faizel. The family home was shared between all three families, making for a close environment without a whole lot of personal space.

Nura’s early upbringing was strict and patriarchal. Ibrahim was the undisputed head of the household, and though domestic affairs were entrusted to his wife, Ramlah, she was no less of a disciplinarian. Although already in his late sixties when Nura was born and over seventy in her first memories of him, Ibrahim was a commanding presence who brooked no argument from anyone. One of the first events in Nura’s life that she can remember is hiding behind the counter in the family clock shop, listening to her great uncle verbally tear into her father for taking too long on a repair. This was a semi-regular occurrence, and Nura swiftly learned to stay quiet and out of her great uncle’s way. The one occasion that Nura ran afoul of him, spilling a plate full of food right at his feet, he demanded she leave the room. Huddled in the corridor, Nura was then given a hissing, angry dressing down by Ramlah, reducing her to tears.

Nura’s relationship with her parents has never been very strong. Husain worked long hours in the clock shop which only grew longer as the store expanded into watches and other jewellery. Her mother had a difficult pregnancy with Nura and was often unwell, and then had a similarly difficult experience when bearing Nura’s younger brother. Ruqayyah became largely bedridden after this, and it was many years before she was even able to walk under her own power.

Due to this, neither parent was able to devote much of their energy towards raising Nura; in particular she would often only see her father once a day at group meals. With the ailing Ramlah’s duties slowly being overtaken by Nura’s aunt, who was similarly strict, much of the responsibility fell on the shoulders of Nura’s eldest sister Hana, thirteen years her senior. Hana had a much more soft and gentle approach to caretaking, and was generous and patient with Nura in spite of being bogged down with her own community college work and Nura’s seemingly endless supply of questions.

Nura brought this overflowing curiosity with her into elementary school, constantly trying to find out more and more from her teachers. She was fascinated with science class, especially around the subjects of space and the animal kingdom. She was less enthusiastic about english and history, especially the latter, as she was already aware that her family wasn’t originally from America and hence much of what was discussed wasn’t her own history. Still, with encouragement from Hana, Nura put a lot of effort into all of her different classes and scored well with her grades.

Another, very different avenue of influence on Nura was her sister, Farah, six years older than her. Very much the odd one out in the family, Farah was rebellious and pushed against every boundary set for her. Though shocked by how casually Farah broke the family rules, the young Nura swiftly grew to admire her sister for willingly standing up to her great aunt and aunt’s collective harshness. Nura became a confidant and not-quite-co-conspirator for Farah, looking the other way when she got up to mischief. This developed into a bit of a game between the two of them, and they dubbed each other with ‘codenames’, resulting in Nura’s nickname of simply ‘N’. When Farah learned that an eight-year-old Nura had been getting verbally bullied by a pair of girls for half a school year for being a nerd and a teacher's pet, she encouraged Nura to retaliate physically. The next time one of the girls made fun of her, Nura walked over and punched her in the stomach. The school immediately became involved and the family was scandalised, with Nura’s library and social privileges being revoked. She refused to say she’d been told to fight back, and her punishment was only alleviated when Farah admitted she was responsible. Farah was severely punished in turn, sentenced to be grounded for several months. Though an unpleasant experience, this served to deepen the bond between the two sisters, and the bullying did cease after this point.

When Nura was nine, the elderly Ibrahim suddenly died, followed only a couple of months later by Ramlah through a combination of age and grief. Nura’s feelings were mixed, as though she had been raised to appreciate her family and respect her elders, neither had ever shown her much kindness or affection. Nura’s uncle Faizel became the new head of the household, and the home situation began to deteriorate further. Faizel was a similar man to his father, but also felt the need to exert his authority over his brothers, pulling the family shop in the direction he felt was best. This sparked frequent disagreements between him and Dawud and their respective sons, while Nura’s father quietly stayed out of the arguments, failing to exert himself. Faizel began to put an increasing amount of pressure on the whole family to stay in line and respect his authority, resulting in ramping friction between him and Farah, who was becoming deeply disillusioned with not only family life, but also the Muslim faith.

Some of these attitudes began to rub off on Nura. Her other Muslim friends did not seem to have nearly a strict a home as hers, and indeed some of their families seemed to have differing enforcements of the rules in the Quran. When she tentatively raised this to Hana, her sister told her that faith can mean different things to different people, but that was not how their family treated the scripture. Conflicted, Nura asked her mother, and was told that her friends were using Americanised interpretations of the faith and she should not pay them any mind. Although not particularly happy with these answers, Nura was too young to properly vocalise her thoughts, and simply stored them away.

On a brighter note, Nura continued to excel at school, her interest in science developing faster than her teachers could keep up with, resulting in her often going to the library to check out books on all kinds of subjects. She remained fascinated by space, though her interest in animals waned due to a lack of opportunities to see them in their natural habitats. What rushed to the forefront, however, was chemistry as she began learning about chemical reactions and various elements. She was astounded by the effects that could be generated, and began looking up all kinds of videos on school computers of different science experiments involving reactions. This tangentially led her to videos about painting and model-making, capturing her interest with the intricate detail that was exhibited. In one of the few bonding opportunities she ever had with her father, she spoke to him about the models and, pleased by her enthusiasm, particularly likening it to watchwork, he began to occasionally buy her miniatures. These purchases were rarely consistent, as he would simply buy random boxes or one-off models that were relatively cheap, but Nura appreciated it nonetheless. She soon developed a small collection from various games systems.

When Nura was twelve, the tensions at home boiled over as Farah fell foul of Faizel and his wife’s rules yet again. Furious with her disobedience and increasing unwillingness to adhere to the rules both of faith and household, Faizel threatened Farah with physical violence should she not fall in line. Instead, Farah left home entirely. Nura was distraught, but her emotions were shouted down by her uncle, unwilling to tolerate any further dissent. A dual blow was struck soon thereafter as Hana decided to move out, having completed college the previous year and uncomfortable with the hostile atmosphere. Nura was left bereft of her two closest family members, and started to withdraw into herself entirely at home. She felt unable to trust her parents, who hadn’t intervened to stymie Faizel’s threats, and was isolated from support: Farah had seemingly vanished and she was only able to speak to Hana occasionally on the phone and through texting. Farah eventually got a message back to the family that she was safe, but made very, very clear that she wanted nothing to do with her parents or uncle.

Nura pushed herself back into her only solace, school. Her overachieving became almost frantic, a desperate cry for approval where she lacked it elsewhere in life. Simultaneously, she clung to others, becoming a hanger-on to her friends, not daring to disagree, never sharing her own opinions. This had the opposite effect to what she hoped, causing people to see her as annoying and a suck-up, and then stop spending time with her. Nura cycled through a number of hobbies and after school activities during this time, never finding anything that stuck, since she wasn’t participating out of any genuine interest, only attempting to be popular and liked.

A year later, when Nura was thirteen, she received a lifeline when visiting Hana’s house. Farah was there. Revealing that she had reached out to Hana to reconnect, Farah told Nura she had missed her, but warned that she shouldn’t tell anyone else about it, or Faizel would forbid her from seeing either of them. Hana was willing to facilitate the meeting because she knew how close they both were, and was feeling guilty for leaving Nura in a difficult situation. They started to hang out once again, and Nura would go to Farah’s small apartment under the guise of staying late at school to do work or participate in hobbies. Instead, they listened to music together and shared interests. Farah listened as Nura enthused about her latest piece of scientific knowledge, while Nura was receptive to Farah talking about the new life she was developing for herself. Nura found she was a big fan of Farah’s music, which tended towards metal and rock, and she began to look for opportunities to rent out CDs and bring them back to listen to with her sister.

One area that they didn’t agree on was religion. At this stage, Farah had more or less disavowed Islam entirely, seeing the faith as a big source of the problems the household held. Nura didn’t see it that way: she felt that Faizel was controlling and egotistical, but that these were his personality, not his religion. In fact, if anything, their uncle and father were failing to follow the religion themselves. Nonetheless, Nura did find herself wondering more about her relationship with her faith and how she felt she should act, resulting in no small inner conflict.

Entering high school, Nura applied for and successfully passed the exam for Mangrove Garden with flying colours, eager to continue her academic career. Straining for more autonomy and desperate to stay out of the house as much as possible, Nura took up a part time job as soon as she turned fourteen, becoming an assistant in a local games shop she had started attending. This allowed her to share knowledge with others and engage more with her own hobby, as she still hadn’t had the opportunity to actually play wargames due to the ramshackle nature of her collection. She became well-liked around the store due to her friendliness and swiftly-encyclopedic knowledge of what they had in stock and different types of games.

Unfortunately, this positive trend came to a screeching halt when Nura returned late one evening from Farah’s apartment. Faizel, in a foul mood, demanded she turn over her bags for inspection and became infuriated when she refused, physically wresting them from her possession. He seized on her CDs and books about music as evidence she was associating with Farah and grounded her indefinitely. Nura refused to accept the harsh punishment and started arguing back with him. Faizel’s shock swiftly turned to rage and in a fit of pique, he slapped her in the face, drawing blood. Stunned, all the fight went out of Nura and she retreated. However, she found that there was no comfort or sympathy from the rest of her family. Her mother implied that she deserved it for acting out, while her father weakly covered for her uncle.

The following day after school, Nura went straight to Hana’s.

Hana was absolutely furious about Faizel’s actions and called the home to tell their father that Nura would be staying with her indefinitely. Husain permitted this, folding to the demands immediately. Nura was left disoriented and shellshocked, and struggled to adapt. She couldn’t concentrate at school or her job, to the point she was sent home from the games store after a couple of days due to poor health, and she barely communicated even with Farah, afraid of what she would do if she learned about what had happened. After two weeks, Nura’s emotions overwhelmed her and she burst into tears in the middle of the school library. A concerned sophomore by the name of Angel Dario took her aside and comforted her, and though Nura didn’t reveal all of what had happened, Angel immediately took her under her wing as a freshman project. The friendship, sudden as it was, was a sorely needed stablising element to Nura’s life, and she soon began to look up to Angel, admiring her dedication and fire.

A little steadier, Nura told Farah what had happened. Her sister was predictably enraged, but respected Nura’s decision not to drag the events into legal proceedings. In the meantime, Nura officially moved in with Hana, and though it took another month, most of her possessions were brought across by way of their father. Relations during this time were cordial, but cold, as Husain was out of his depth and Nura couldn’t begin to fathom how she actually felt towards her father, and so retreated from the interaction entirely.

Slowly, Nura’s life settled. Her grades picked back up again and she was able to resume working at the games store, something especially important to her as it enabled her to support Hana by paying some of her own way. Though Angel tried to encourage her to come out of her shell, Nura struggled to open up to anyone else, preferring to fall back on Farah’s company outside of school rather than try to develop more friendships. However, Angel’s positivity did stick with Nura, and she decided to try repaying the favour by participating in the Mangrove Garden football team. With zero experience of the sport and not much fitness, Nura was unsuccessful in her first try-out, but found she had enjoyed the adrenaline rush. The following year, Nura made another attempt, having played pick-up with Angel and other members of the team. That second occasion was more successful, and she joined the team, primarily playing wide receiver, utilising her good hand-eye coordination and speed and generally averting her lack of strength and power. Nura isn’t especially skilled, but works hard for the team and enjoys herself.

In sophomore year, Nura began to get more distracted and restless with the content her classes were handling, particularly in science. Her personal reading and studying exceeded the calibre of what was on offer in class, and while she was able to move on to AP sciences, this was delayed by the initial dip her grades had taken. By the time she had the opportunity to step up a level, Nura was already becoming bored and jaded of the study material. Increasingly, Nura started to do her own thing in class, disregarding the teacher in order to read, or attempting to subvert the goals of the experiments they were given in order to produce more interesting results. Her misbehaviour was managed poorly by her teacher, who was overly permissive, resulting in Nura pushing the boundaries out further and further, becoming an actively disruptive influence. Though Nura’s grades remain very high, amongst the highest on the leaderboard, she has developed a reputation as a troublemaker. This came to a head early in junior year, when Nura set off a chemical reaction in the lab, tripping the fire alarm and causing the entire building to be evacuated. Nura received a major suspension, only her exemplary grades sparing her further punishment.

Nura’s social circle is small and stays heavily centred on Farah and Angel. While she likes some of each of their respective friendship groups, they are prone to treating her like a tagalong, especially with the age gap between her and Farah. Nura in turn dislikes feeling as if she’s a burden on them, tending to withdraw from the crowd and turn down most social invitations, as she doesn’t particularly enjoy gatherings. She much prefers hanging out with Farah on a one-on-one basis, listening to new releases from the bands they like, putting old SOTF-TV reruns or B movies on in the background and just enjoying the company. This, incidentally, is the extent of her fandom with SOTF-TV, watching it when it’s on and if her brain can’t handle other stimulation. Nura shines when given the chance to talk about her interests or instruct others who are willing to listen, and she’s very popular at the games store with both colleagues and customers; junior wargaming nights hosted by her are always well-attended. Nura remains very close with Hana, and does her utmost to ensure that she causes her sister as little stress as possible at home. Her suspension earlier in the year caused no end of disapproval, and while Farah found it hilarious, Nura was guilty that she had upset Hana.

Nura’s relationship with the rest of her family is so distant as to be almost nonexistent. She makes herself scarce whenever her parents visit Hana and does not go with her when she in turn goes to see the rest of the family. Nura’s other sisters do not approve of her leaving home and as a result, exchange only the occasional cordial text or social media post with her. Nura also doesn’t see her little brother much, as she refuses to meet up with him when out with her mother. She has not forgiven her father for not protecting her and could happily go without seeing her aunt or Faizel ever again. While she is now comfortable in her faith and feels she has struck a good balance between what feels right for her and following tradition, Nura does sometimes experience guilt that she’s not showing proper Muslim values by rejecting her family, but tells herself in turn that she owes self-respect to herself too. She follows halal dietary rules and prays four times a day, and also ensures she dresses to cover up to her wrists and ankles in public. However, she does not generally cover her hair and neck.

Nura hopes to receive a scholarship to study science at college in the future, as she knows she won’t realistically be able to afford to attend otherwise. She’s unsure as of yet what field she would like to enter. For the time being, she’s kept very busy by tearing through schoolwork, her own reading, her part-time job, and football, and is content with the full schedule.

Advantages: Nura is intelligent and quick-witted, and may be able to use her brains to avoid sticky situations. Her chemical knowledge could enable her to craft makeshift weaponry or other gear if she is able to find the right compounds. Her manual dexterity and hand-eye are above average due to her hobbies, and though she is not an elite athlete, Nura has a faster sprint than most.
Disadvantages: Nura is not socially adroit and poor at handling people in general; she will struggle to play the diplomatic game, especially as she has few pre-existing allies. Stubborn, she does not often back down when she has formed an opinion, and may argue herself into trouble or cause problems for herself by ignoring outside input.

[MurderWeasel]

Greetings mysterious new handler and welcome to SOTF Mini! Nura is a great start but is DENIED pending a few little tweaks and adjustments.

Can we maybe get Nura's siblings named at the same time they're introduced? It feels slightly odd for them to be quickly skimmed over even as her uncles get named, and while two of them are very well detailed, the other two don't come up aside from this one original mention and a brief sentence at the very end of her bio.

Can we maybe get just a bit more detail on the bullying incident? What started it? What form did it take, and how long did it go on before the retaliation? What were the specific punishments/privilege revocations for Nura and Farah?

What was the cause of Ibrahim's and Ramlah's deaths?

"Revealing that she had reached out to Hana to reconnect, Farah told Nura she had missed her, but warned that she shouldn’t tell anyone else about it, or Faizel would forbid her." <Forbid her from what?

Can I hear just a little bit more about the balance with her faith Nura struck? I feel like we get the start of her journey, and hear about the end, but I don't quite have a full picture of exactly how she's looking at it.

Post when you've got that taken care of, and we'll give Nura another look. Thanks!

[Namira]

This mysterious handler has updated Nura!

[MurderWeasel]

So I could've sworn I poked at this and found no issues months ago, whoops. Anyways, poked at it for real today and found no issues. APPROVED IMO at least.