Full Name: Jubilation Lee
Codename: Jubilee
Age: 17
Occupation: Member of District X Neighborhood Watch
Mutant Abilities: Formation and projection of small energy plasmoids that can be channeled and directed into destructive, concussive blasts.

History: The life of Jubilation Lee has been in a state of flux since before she was born. There are few records on the identity of her biological parents. Her mother was the daughter of Chinese immigrants who worked as a waitress at a restaurant in San Diego. She became pregnant as a teenager from an unknown father and subsequently gave her daughter up for adoption. There is little clue as to who the father might be, but Jubilation Lee’s mixed race seems to imply he was a Caucasian male who likely had a one night stand with her mother.

After becoming a ward of the state, she was given the name Jubilation Lee. For much of he early life, she grew up in a group home run by the Catholic Church. At age four she was sent to a foster home in Sacramento where several other orphaned children had been sent. It was a crowded house, but one in which she lived in relative comfort. However, she failed to develop a strong relationship with her foster parents or any of her adopted siblings for that matter. Growing up, she was often isolated and reserved. That would change as she began attending school.

Throughout grade-school and later on in middle-school, Jubilation often struggled with grades. She was diagnosed with a learning disability early on for having an inability to deal with numbers. This caused tension with her adopted parents, who set certain academic expectations of their children. Because of her disability, Jubilation became somewhat of an outcast within her own family and apparently stopped trying to win their approval. While she did not excel in the classroom, she made up for in other avenues. She became an active participant in karate and tae kwan dao classes. This not only helped her become less reserved. It helped her develop her social skills. In school, she adopted a more outgoing persona and made numerous friends. They ended up giving her the nickname Jubilee. She ended up becoming far more comfortable at school with friends than she was with her adopted family. In some ways this prepared her for later tragedy.

At age 13, her parents disappeared in a boating accident. The circumstances of the accident are not known, but when their bodies were recovered several days later it left Jubilee and her adopted siblings as ward of the state once more. While her siblings were devastated by the news, Jubilee expressed little sorrow since she had never been too close with her family. She seemed even less inclined to get close with other families as well. She was sent to another foster home in the suburbs of Sacramento, but continued to show a greater preference to hanging out with friends rather than being part of a family. If her new family was more determined to make an effort, that quickly subsided when her mutant powers manifested.

Shortly after Jubilee turned 15, she was involved in an incident at a mall where a few of her friends snuck into an area that was being renovated. They began fooling around with some of the discarded power tools when a security guard found them and chased them. Jubilee and her friends scattered, but she ended up tripping over a power saw with faulty parts. It triggered a release of sparks that covered Jubilee and sparked a small fire. In the process it caused her powers to manifest, which involved the creation and projection of sparks of her own. This only worsened the fire and complicated her home life.

After the security guard identified Jubilee as the source of the fire, her foster parents tried to turn her over to the police. This caused an argument that resulted in Jubilee using her powers to short out every light in the house and spark another small fire. Before her foster parents could get too hostile, she packed her bags and ran away. Having had enough of the California foster care system, she struck out on her own.

At this point it’s not clear where Jubilee went or how she survived. For a time it appears she stayed with friends. She even managed to keep attending school for a while. But after word about her mutant status spread, she left Sacramento completely. She later left the state of California, drifting to areas in New Mexico and Arizona. For a while she survived by living in malls or making friends. During this period she became more daring and adventurous, using her powers and martial arts training to survive. As time went on it became increasingly clear her mutant status would draw a great deal of hostility so she began seeking out alternatives. This is what led her to District X.

Character Breakdown: Jubilation Lee’s character demonstrates some unusual contrasts. Despite having developed a fairly outgoing persona, she also appears to struggle with abandonment issues. She was abandoned by her birth parents and did not develop strong emotional ties with her adopted families. Part of this may be due to her inability to meet the expectations of her foster family. Her learning disability ensured she would always be in the shadow of her siblings so she apparently became resolute to the notion that she would never measure up. Another part could be her own unwillingness to forge any close bonds that could later abandon her, almost to the point of her being defensive. It is most likely a combination of the two that has kept Jubilee from forging too many close emotional bonds.

Yet despite the lack of these bonds, she demonstrates an ability to compensate by utilizing strong social skills. She may have shut herself off from her adopted family, but she did not do so with her peers. In many ways she found more approval in her peers than she ever did with her family, which probably served to reinforce her outgoing traits. It also helped widened the gap she had with her family. This gap grew to a point where the death of her foster parents had hardly any emotional impact on her. It was more a matter of pragmatics because her parents had only offered her shelter at that point and not approval. So Jubilee was able to find that approval elsewhere, eventually leading her to District X.

This ability to seek approval beyond family ties also helps feed a mindset that is adventurous and willing to take risks. It showed early on in her enthusiasm for martial arts. This became more pragmatic later on as she went on the run from further foster care. Her skills along with her mutant powers became survival tools with which she could use to find the approval she needed. District X provided that environment for her as well as a place where she could put all her skills and passion to use. While she’s clearly capable of making friendship ties, her ability to forge deeper relationships is still lacking and may continue to lack if such abandonment issues persist.