Basics
Name: Sadiq Al-Katib
Nickname(s): None, and if you call him any he will threaten you with violence
Ultimate Talent: Ultimate Makeup Artist
Country of Origin: Egypt
Age: 25
Height: 5'6" / 168cm
Gender: Trans Man
Pronouns: he/him
Likes: Punk music, alternative fashion, disability activism
Dislikes: Having nightmares, noisy places, too much attention
Personlity
Sadiq is a very asocial and reserved person, and has a long history of troubles with making friends. His difficulties making relations isn’t helped by having the persona of a very standoffish man. A lot of this stems from him being perceived as different from others by his peers. Socially, he was mostly othered and excluded, but on the occasion he was being outright bullied, he was good at standing up for himself and talking back when it did happen. To this day he is a good advocate for himself when he feels wronged, but is overall great with words or being eloquent, as he is quite blunt and short with his words and tone. He presents himself as being used to this and very socially apathetic. While it is true that he doesn’t care to bother socializing much, the way he has been treated by his peers growing up has left him bitter and cynical about others and their intentions.
While he presents himself very aloof, Sadiq has a large amount of deep-seated anxiety. The way this manifests externally often looks like irritability, and even outright anger when very overwhelmed. Sadiq has a tendency to fixate on thoughts and has many little rituals or habits to calm the intensity of them, which can appear very odd to others who don’t know him well. He is also prone to panic attacks when he is severely overcome with his fixations or any kind of stress. When Sadiq feels this coming on, he will do anything he can to get somewhere to be on his own; he hates the idea of others seeing him in a vulnerable state and would rather keep his cold and blunt facade.
Background
Sadiq grew up in a financially unstable household consisting of his parents, him, and a younger sister - all of whom he was very close with. His family often got financial help from extended family members when needed, and was particularly close with some of his younger cousins. As a young child, Sadiq displayed some abnormal and distressing behaviors. These behaviors were things like ritualistic habits, panic attacks, and picking his skin until it bled. He was seen by a psychiatrist and eventually diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, and Dermatillomania. While he was accepted and accommodated by his family, his classmates always left him out, and in some cases even outright ignored him or ran away when he tried to interact. When they would interact with him, it was often to ask personal or invasive questions, to which he would get irritated and snap back at them.
Socially speaking, Sadiq was very unlucky, and gave up pretty early on. He resorted to becoming cold and unapproachable as a defense mechanism. Around the age of 8 or 9, a new student that had transferred from Nigeria decided to approach him to become friends. This was a first for Sadiq so he was quite taken aback. The boy’s name was Uche, and he was persistent in becoming Sadiq’s friend, though was kind and took it slow, giving Sadiq time and patience. Sadiq found it in him to allow himself to get close to Uche, which he would end up never regretting. The two hit it off and became inseparable. Even when Uche was told by others that he should stay away from Sadiq, Uche would shrug it off and stand up for his friend. In turn. Sadiq was always there for Uche whenever he needed someone to listen.
Entering his early teen years, Sadiq’s parents noticed him having trouble with his mobility and becoming fatigued very easily. When his family members would ask him about this, he wouldn’t say much, often just shrugging and saying it wasn’t that bad. After a fall that put Sadiq in a bad flare-up, his parents finally took him to the doctor. It was found that Sadiq had very hypermobile joints, and showed early osteoarthritis on x-rays. He started using a cane, and eventually would need it pretty much full time.
In his free time, Sadiq dabbled in many creative hobbies. One of his favorites was digital art, but he was always looking for new ones to try out alongside that. One day, his younger sister wanted him to do her makeup with some of their mother's old products that she had given her daughter. Upon doing his sister’s makeup, something about the art really caught his interest, so he kept doing it and practicing on himself and any family member that would let him. His skills grew rapidly, as did his passion for doing it. One day, Sadiq went out with an experimental makeup look on, and caught the attention of some modeling scouts. When approached, the topic of his makeup came up in conversation with the scouts. They offhandedly asked who did it, and when he said it was him, they wound up offering him a job to do a model's makeup for a photoshoot instead of a modeling job. He took this up, and the look he applied to the small up-and-coming model was so captivating, it made her popularity skyrocket as soon as the photoshoot was released. This caught the eye of many professionals, and he quickly became high in demand, eventually being scouted by Hope's Peak for his immense skill and notoriety in the industry.
After graduating, Sadiq moved in with Maxime in France due to them meeting at Hope’s Peak and becoming queerplatonic partners during said school years. He would not be able to hold a regular full time or part time job due to his disabilities, so he took individual makeup gigs of his choosing instead. In place of a regular job, he got very into disability rights and activism. He was popular on social media, and used his platforms for his advocacy, though he would go to some in-person events and protests when he was feeling up to it. In the aftermath of the Tragedy, Sadiq utilized his following online from both his makeup and disability advocacy to help out since he wasn’t able to maintain a job with the future foundation like Maxime.