Name: Jean Mallory Grey
Alignment: Lawful Good
Affiliation: X-Men
History:Jean Grey's childhood was a fairytale, that ended with a nightmare you don't wake up from. Jean is the only child of Percy Grey and Matilda Jennings-Grey. The Greys trace their bloodline back to a Norman knight, and had been in Boston since the days of the Massachusetts colony. The Jennings an Irish descent that saw them become part of a new wave to power in more recent American history, related to Kennedys in ancestry and political agenda. Both Percy and Matilda grew up in the machinisms that is the New England traditional life of high society, with its class structures, rules and concepts of appropriate behaviour.
And they both rebelled against it as they could until they found each other at Harvard, and rebellion became open dissent. For Percy that meant not using History as just an in to Law School, but actually wanting to pursue the life of an academic in the field. For Matilda it meant getting a job after graduating with no more than a Bachelor's in Biology. Refusing to use family connections, all Matilda found for work was that of a night shift nurse in a beaten down downtown Boston hospital. The couple moved into a small apartment in the city, and spend their time together sipping wine from plastic cups. Far from lavish, but they were happy.
The cycle of life would change that. Matilda lost her father, uncle, and a brother within the span of two years. Two to old age, one to drug addiction. While she would be okay, when the dust settled the family lawyers revealed her inheritance. Roughly at the same time, Matilda revealed to Percy that she was pregnant. It took Percy all of four minutes to go from finding out he would be a father, to announcing they would have to move. The couple agreed Matilda would quit her job, for now, and Percy would finally begin talking to schools outside of the Ivy League that had been offering him jobs for years.
Nine months later Matilda gave birth to a girl the couple named Jean Mallory: Jean after Percy's grandmother, Mallory after Matilda's favorite aunt. The day she was born was a bright pretty spring day, with a horrible storm that night. Matilda recounts having fever dreams that night, and remembering of them only stars and a starfire that spoke to her in tongues Matilda couldn't understand. Matilda had the first of many 'Phoenix' dreams that night, and though it was her last Jean would continue to have them for the remainder of her life. While she was young they were nightmares that never went away, dark scenes and darker tones that were the only cloud in an otherwise cloudless life of happiness and love.
Her father became a respected professor of History and later Dean. Her mother would go on to be a hospital executive, the representative for nurses and other lower scale health workers at the very hospital she once worked the night shift as an ER nurse for. Jean spent her time between Boston and Cape Cod; the Red Sox and the boardwalks, even becoming the very thing that brought her parents and their families back together on good terms with her cotillion and work with the DAR. Life was all but perfect when Jean was twelve, a passenger in a car with Abby, driven by Abby's older sister and her best friend. Jean still doesn't remember the accident. Police reports say the car swerved to avoid something, and flipped. A lot.
Jean remembers Abby dying; except she remembers it from Abby's point of view. She remembers holding Abby as the girl died in her arms, though police reports say that was impossible, as Jean was unconcious when they arrived. Jean even remembers dying, and hearing a voice that cracked and popped like a raging fire telling her to let go of Abby in the darkness: that if she stayed with Abby's mind too long, too far into death, it would be dangerous.
When her parents brought her to Xavier, Charles claimed the voice was just a manifestation of her own natural abilities. That if it were real, he would sense it in Jean's mind, and in her memories. But the bird of fire still appears in Jean's dreams, though it's never spoken to her since the accident. Charles believes this to be because Jean's training has come far. She has fought alongside her fellow X-Men against many foes, and took her place side by side with them and other heroes against the Brotherhood.
Losing one of their own shook every remaining member of the original X-Men that day. Jean saw the true stakes at hand; it wasn't just good and evil, it was life and death. Doing the right thing, fighting for Xavier's dream...there would be a price for it. There would be a price for all of it. Just as Abby and Jean's mutant powers had been her price to pay for such an otherwise happy life. Jean was close to Warren, they were from similar backgrounds, they could relate to each other in ways the rest of the team never could, and more importantly they were friends.
Losing a teammate she was so close to has changed Jean Grey forever, just as Abby's death changed her once. Jean has rededicated herself to her training, and has increased her attention to other metahumans around the world. Not only does she continue to be a spokeswoman for Xavier and his dream, as well as the most searched for X-Men according to Google, but she has begun to make inroads throughout the superhero community.
Supporting Cast:Abby Alcott - BFF, sister from another mother, soulmate, partner in crime, keeper of secrets and crushes; there was nearly nothing in Jean Grey's world that Abby Alcott was not to Jean. The two girls came from similar backgrounds, had parents that were friends since college, and considered the other's homes to be secondary residences. Although she died much too young, for more reasons than simply telepathy, Abby will be with Jean forever. This is the relationship that defines Jean Grey as a human being. The reason she will never give up on humanity.
Charles Xavier - A fact very few people know: Charles Xavier is saved into Jean's phone as "Uncle Chuck." The image used for "Uncle Chuck" is a red faced, likely intoxicated, Xavier making a face close up to camera. There is a chance it is the only such image that exists of Charles Xavier to date, but for two people that have had a hard time adjusting, it represents the very nature of their relationship--he is the person who reminds her how to smile, she is the person who reminds him how to smile. Their friendship is unending, their link far beyond what any normal mind could comprehend, and they just so happen to share a dream worth fighting for.
Scott Summers - The break-up that came like a storm in the night. On their darkest day, in their worst hour, it seemed every word between them was lightning strikes and thunderbolt to Jean. He was angry, jealous, and she was angry, exhausted. It was a bad mix. There was no cooling off. Though friendship remains, it's still at times tense with Scott for her. They remain very very close, and there are moments it's like they never broke up...but they did. And it's never long before they remember it. Both have moved on, though Jean has yet to be seen seeing someone.
How (if at all) does the New Frontier version of your character differ from the original?:From a wealthy New England family, distantly related to the Kennedys. Outgrew her romance with Scott. Has been getting Phoenix visions her entire life, even before the manifestation of mutant powers.
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