Profile
Mushari is a member of a small, secluded tribe, who live in a community offset from main society by miles of dense jungle. As a young child, he was very friendly and open, he loved to spend time with the other kids in his tribe and had lots of friends. He was also known by most of the adults in the tribe, as he would often go with his father when he was out and about and working. He very much liked meeting new people and knew that his father had a lot of friends, so he was overjoyed when Balaji would invite him to go somewhere with him. When not playing outside or out with his father, he spent a great deal of time at home with his mother and younger sister, helping them gather plants from the garden and helping his mother cook. Aashii also taught him how to make pottery, which he delighted in sharing with others, very proud of himself for his creations.
Mushari was very well-liked by most members of the tribe for how sweet and friendly he was, however, he soon found trouble with an older boy, Navin Jha. Navin was 2 years older than Mushari and looked down on him, often making fun of him for his excitement and optimism, calling him stupid and naive. Despite this, Mushari still did his best to get along with Navin, as he was the son of the tribe's leader. He stuck around with Navin, desperately wanting to be friends with him, hoping Navin would eventually grow to like him like everyone else seemed to. This never seemed to happen and instead he only became Navin's punching bag to make fun of and push into doing dangerous things for his entertainment, but Mushari remained optimistic that things would change if he showed Navin enough kindness, unable to see that he was only proving Navin's point, that he was too naive.
When Mushari was 10, his parents, being unaware of how Navin had been treating their son, made an arrangement with the Jha family that Navin and Mushari would be married when Mushari turned 16. They felt as if they were making a good deal, that Mushari would be treated with respect and would be better off if he were to marry into the Jha family, given their high status in the community. However, this only made things worse for Mushari. Navin's behavior only grew more and more hostile towards Mushari the more time they spent together, and Navin resented the idea that he would have to marry Mushari, who he found to be weak and annoying. Mushari became withdrawn, he feared his parents, wondering why they would force him into something like this. Mushari pushed away from his parents and grandparents, and away from most of his friends in the tribe. Mushari began to grow closer to his younger sister, Larita, who seemed to be the only one willing to offer him any comfort. He confided in her the truth about what had been happening with Navin. The two became inseparable, Larita becoming protective and refusing to leave Mushari's side. Despite being younger and likely much weaker, she would often defend Mushari and stand up to Navin in his place, even when it meant trouble for her. Mushari had expressed to her the fears he had about speaking up, so despite wanting to tell someone and make things better, she remained quiet and just took the full blame for the fights she had with Navin, worrying that by telling the truth she might put a rift between her and Mushari. Seeing that Larita wasn't giving in and having no interest in continuing to fight with someone so stubborn, Navin began to back off and spend less time around Mushari. However; Navin’s interactions with Mushari, although rarer now, were still no less harsh.
When Mushari was 11, his younger brother Dev was born. His confidence failing him from having to be defended by his younger sister, he spent a great deal of time with Dev, playing with him and caring for him, taking comfort in having someone who needed his protection. He kept Dev at his side the same as Larita, feeling safer and more at home with them surrounding him. Mushari began teaching Dev, as his mother had taught him, pottery and gardening. He treated Dev as one would treat their own child.
As a young teen, Mushari began struggling with gender identity issues. With each passing day growing closer to his 16th birthday, on which an important ceremony would be held wherein he would receive a tattoo on his forehead of either a sun or moon (which identify the gender of the wearer), he became panicked and afraid of being incorrectly marked for the rest of his life. Mushari trusted these feelings only to Larita, feeling she was the only one he could know for certain would support him. Larita encouraged him to be open about his feelings with others and so he decided, against his better judgment, to go to Navin first. He had hoped that despite their problems, Navin would still be supportive of him as his fiancé. Mushari's hopes were quickly crushed; when he told Navin, Navin flew into a rage and insisted that he "was already mad enough about being forced to marry Mushari", and he "damn well wasn't going to be turned gay too". Navin became controlling over Mushari's life from that point on, forcing him to repress his feelings about his identity and to not talk to anyone else about it and even physically abused him to force him into obeying. Mushari, though broken and afraid, still refused complete obedience. Despite Navin threatening worse violence if Mushari told anyone about the abuse, he could not lie to his sister. Larita was angered upon hearing the truth, threatening to attack Navin for what he'd been doing, but Mushari begged her to control her anger and let him handle it for himself.
When Mushari turned 16, his family began preparation for his ceremony. He knew he would have to act before the ceremony could take place, or he would forever be marked as a woman. As the ceremony was about to begin, in front of his entire family and Navin's, Mushari broke down into tears and refused to go through with it. He privately spoke with both his parents and Navin's, explaining his situation, as well as coming out about the treatment from Navin. Mushari was brought back out to the crowd of family, where it was announced that he would instead be receiving a marking of a moon, rather than a sun. Navin, enraged, attempted to attack Mushari upon hearing this but was stopped by his father. Having broken several of their laws, Navin was ousted from the village by his own parents. The ceremony continued without a problem, wherein Mushari received his proper marking.
Mushari continued to live in his village, making attempts to repair his relationship with his family members he had pushed away from and working as a pottery instructor for the children of the village, until the following December. Mushari, no longer feeling comfortable living there, decided to leave the village to find a new home. Larita, still as protective as ever, refused to let him go by himself, and the two set off together, promising to keep each other safe no matter what happened. Upon entering the nearest heavily populated city, Mushari and Larita began to hear talk of the upcoming Hunter exam. Mushari, excited by the opportunities this could present, insisted that they should apply. Larita agreed without much argument and they both applied. The Hunter exam that year lasted nearly two weeks, but Larita and Mushari were able to pass using skills they had picked up from surviving in the harsh terrain around their village. After passing and receiving their hunter licenses, they were approached by a man named Dunham Carbonaro, who had been one of the phase's examiners. Impressed by their skill and teamwork during the exam, Dunham offers to train the two siblings in Nen.
Mushari and Larita trained with Dunham as their master for three years before Dunham decided they were ready to handle things on their own. During the training, they stayed in his house and he paid for their necessities. Dunham was harsh and strict in his training methods. He would often wake them early in the morning and have them train until late in the evening. They also trained under harsh weather conditions to build up a tolerance to such environments, making it easier for them to fight under a variety of conditions. Although he was tough on them, the siblings grew to admire him and truly care for him, grateful for his help. When training was over, Dunham helped the two find a good place to live in and, fully confident that they could handle themselves now, left them to find their own work. Not wanting to waste a minute, Mushari immediately began searching for job postings for botanical hunters.
No more than a few months after finishing training with Dunham, as Mushari and Larita were out in the town, someone attempted to rob Mushari. A young girl, about his age, tried to make off with his hunter license. However; Mushari’s speed was superior, and he was able to catch her quickly. Upon catching her, he lectured her about what she’d done as if she were a child and questioned her motives. The girl told him her name was Olivienne, and that she was homeless and without food, and had heard that a hunter’s license was worth enough for her to make a comfortable living if she sold it. Instead of turning her in to the police, Mushari bought Olivienne a meal and paid for her to stay in a hotel room. He told her if she needed that money, she’d be better off to take the exam herself and sell her own license than to be a thief. He told her he was confident that with her skills that he'd seen during the chase, she could pass the exam easily. Olivienne, to Mushari's surprise, actually agreed to this suggestion and applied for the next hunter exam.
A few months later, Mushari met Olivienne again, wherein she admitted to him that she’d failed the exam after being disqualified for attempting to fight with an examiner, but that she would try again the following year, and hopefully be able to control her temper by then.
Off and on the next year, Mushari and Larita would meet Olivienne at the center of town to pay for her meals. Larita was not happy with the situation at first, thinking Mushari was giving too much into his overly trusting nature again, but she herself eventually warmed up to Olivienne. Larita would more and more frequently invite Olivienne to visit her and Mushari’s home. Olivienne made herself very cozy at Mushari and Larita’s house and eventually became a full-time occupant and has been living with them ever since.
Later that year, while on a job, Larita and Mushari decided to separate to find what they were looking for. Mushari, while attempting to climb a tree for scouting, fell and injured himself badly. Unable to locate Larita, he dragged himself out of the woods and into the nearest city. In the city, he was spotted by a young blonde boy, who offered him help. The boy patched up his wounds and introduced himself as Kurapika. Mushari thanked Kurapika and the two parted ways, Mushari off to find Larita again. Mushari and Kurapika met several more times purely by chance, the interactions were pleasant, though Mushari was wary around him upon finding out that Kurapika was a blacklist hunter. Despite this, as he had never had a bad experience with Kurapika in the times they’d met, he agreed to exchange contact information with him. Though Kurapika rarely answers his phone, Mushari actively finds ways to make contact with him otherwise. A friendship is formed through the agreeance to exchange information the other may need, and help each other when needed.