Jay Guthrie - Phase 1

Template:Infobox Jay recently returned to the mansion after a failed attempt at a country music career, due to money issues. With the pressure of his brother, Sam Guthrie, he came to the school to start college, helping him with the business side of music, and an attempt to change genres.

Details

Character Journal: x_icarus

Real Name: Joshua "Jay" Travis Guthrie

Codename: Icarus

Aliases: N/A

First Appearance: September 1, 2004

Date of Birth: December 13, 1987

Place of Birth: Whitesburg, Kentucky

Citizenship: American

Relatives: Guthrie Family: Lucinda (mother), Thomas (father - deceased), Sam (older brother), Paige (older sister), Melody (younger sister), Elizabeth (younger sister), Joelle (younger sister), Jebediah (younger brother), Lewis and Meg (younger twins)

Education: High school diploma

Relationship Status: Dating Kevin Ford

Occupation: traveling musician

Biography

Childhood

Joshua Guthrie is the third Guthrie sibling, just about a year younger than Paige. As a young boy he admired both his older brother and older sister, but when he grew up and they left for Xavier's, the fondness quickly grew to resentment and distrust. He felt abandoned, that the responsibility to work in the mines and help their mother raise the family was thrust upon him without him asking for it. And when his mutation manifested just five months later, it only served to deepen his bitterness, instead of developing a sense of empathy with Sam and Paige.

Jay realized that he was gay at 13, but given his perception of Kentucky values, kept it a secret. He also developed a taste for music at a young age, and his mother bought him his first guitar after his father died. It became the outlet for all his pent up feelings, although he rarely let anyone listen to the songs he wrote. When he was fifteen, he and his only friend at school, Manuelo, along with his friends James and Zach, formed a rock band, performing at town fairs and the local outdoors restaurant, The View. And that was where Josh met Kevin Cabot.

When Jay's wings sprouted from his back in January of 2004, instead of hiding them, Manuelo suggested that he show them off during concerts, and pretend that they were prosthetics. Everyone thought that was really cool, and no one asked any questions. The following spring, Kevin went backstage after a performance to introduce himself to Jay, but before he could say anything, saw that his wings were real. Taken aback, Kevin could barely speak before his sister Beth found him and dragged him away. Angrily, she explained to him that Jay was a Guthrie, a filthy mutant, while he was a Cabot. Guthrie and Cabots don’t mix.

Jay went into a short bout of mild-depression at learning who Kevin was, but could not stop his feelings. Manuelo, tired of hearing his love-sick talk, finally told Jay to go get his boy. So one night he showed up outside Kevin’s window, who was arguing with his sister. They shared their first kiss, and snuck out to the pond by the Guthrie farm to make love for the first time.

Their secret Romeo and Juliet-esque relationship lasted until August of 2004, when the Cabot patriarch started growing curious about where Kevin was going all the time. So one night, he and Kevin's older brothers followed him in secret. When they saw Kevin and Jay kissing passionately by the lake, they jumped out of their hiding place and attacked Jay. One of his brothers held Kevin back, while the other two and Mr. Cabot proceeded to attempt to beat Jay to death. Satisfied when he was unconscious, they left him for dead, with Kevin crying over his body. Kevin was utterly distraught, and he dragged Jay to the nearby lake and drowned them both, feeling that he was unable to live without him. However, that was the moment when Jay's healing factor kicked in. Waking up underneath the water, he swam to shore, taking Kevin's now lifeless body with him. Blaming himself for Kevin's death, he took a wooden stake from a nearby broken sign and tried to kill himself in true Shakespearean fashion. But his healing factor prevented him from dying. Ultimately he gave up and carried Kevin's body home.

Outed as gay and as a mutant, Lucinda decided that her third son could only adapt if exposed to a change of scenery. So, against Jay's deepest wishes, she enrolled him in Xavier's for the 2004-05 academic year and sent him past the Mason-Dixon Line.

Living At The X-Mansion

Arriving in September 2004, Jay's first weeks at the school were not happy ones. Feeling betrayed by his mother, who had sent him away from his beloved family, resentful of Sam and Paige for 'abandoning' the family themselves and still grieving over the loss of Kevin, Jay was suspicious, brooding and difficult to approach. He began to slowly warm to his suite mates, as he, Forge and Kyle all arrived within a month of each other, despite initial issues with Kyle caused by their mutations, their very different outlooks on life, and their backgrounds. At one point, these issues led to a physical altercation, with the two being separated by staff. Over time, Jay began to relax, making some inroads with his relationship with his siblings and beginning to accept his mutancy, to the point he even began performing in public again, with a series of gigs in Salem Center and elsewhere.

It was after one of these gigs that history repeated itself for Jay in the worst way possible. Becoming the target for Tommy Jones' hatred of mutants, Jay was again severely beaten, this time almost losing the use of his wings. He saw the beating as some kind of punishment, for being gay or for being a mutant or for being plain dumb, and he refused to disclose to staff what had happened and who was responsible. When Tommy himself appeared at the school, close to death, it was particularly difficult for Jay to deal with, and difficult for those who hadn't known to understand the violence of his reaction. One good thing came of the incident - through the machinations of Catseye, Jay and Kyle found themselves sharing a bed, which led to them beginning a physical relationship, something which deepened as Jay let himself fall in love with the feral.

In April 2006, Jay, Forge and Kyle were attacked by a mutant with the power to change the faces and bodies of others. Turned into the demonic-like 'monster' he believed himself to be as a mutant, Jay was forced to re-examine his personal beliefs and finally began to accept being a mutant. Then in June 2006, Kyle got involved with a fight club and was indiscrete with a groupie - when the news eventually reached Jay, he was distraught. The relationship ended and as graduation approached, Jay questioned his future at the school.

Graduation and After

Upon graduation in July 2006, Jay returned to his mother, whose declining health required Sam to come back to the house now and then to care for her. With pressing encouragement, his mother gave Jay some money and he left for Nashville with his band mates, taking a stab at a brief trial of gigs and music career. Rent was expensive and food was as scarce as getting gigs that were all booked up. And the few times he did perform, the turn out was so poor that their group wasn’t invited back. With so few gigs, the band had to head back home for school.

As for him, he went back to his mother’s house, broke and broken, he had no where else to go. This time, she wouldn’t take no for an answer, wanting to send him back to Xavier’s for writing, music, and business. She was convinced that he just needed a little more schooling, more confidence and then he would be able to lift the music career he so desperately wanted, off the ground. Sam was called back home to help out when Jay’s mother accidently had a fall down the stairs. Sam was set to ‘sorting things out’ with Jay. It was under Sam’s pressure, joined with his mother's, that Jay went back to the school October 2007, for Music for September 2008.

He was put into a suite with a new student, Kevin Ford, and both found that they did not like each other at first. Jay thought his roommate was breathtakingly gorgeous but a basket case and Kevin thought the same. While both avoided one another, ultimately, they were brought together in a school evacuation, staying with Angel at the house of Bart Jones. It was there that Jay discovered the only part of Kevin that was touchable was his lips and Jay gave Kevin a kiss. Since that day, an awkward relationship has formed, bounding the boys to one another in ways they never thought and growing into something more.

In November, Jay approached Forge, then Scott summers about trying out for the team. Both seemed wary, yet Jay, searching for direction in his life, insisted that he could do it. As an after thought, he signed up for bartending schooling, to get his license so he could try and apply to a few bars to make some money. By mid January, he tried to patch up things with Tommy Jones, determined that if he was going to join the team, he had to settle scores with old demons.

At the end of January, Jay went on a skiing trip. An avalanche happened on a little town the next day and Xavier’s grads were called in to help with a rescue receiving aid from the Red X team in Whistler. It was there that Jay realized he wasn’t really cut out for the team, but still wanted to explore that side of him. A further interaction between himself, Tommy and a psychotically disturbed Betsy Braddock had Jay liking his initial idea less and less. However, Jay is determined to prove everyone wrong, that he can do something more than be a space filler in the mansion. In a trip to Cuba provided by Garrison and Marie, Jay got shot getting in a cross fire between two groups. He returned to the mansion healed physically but shaken emotionally, resetting old fears and questioning whether or not he had it in him to still join the team.

In April 2008, Jay got a placement at Silver as a bartender which only strained his unsteady relationship with Kevin. Kevin didn't like Jay as a bartender, worried that Jay would be the target for mutant haters. Not only that, Kevin didn't like it that Jay rolled in the door around 4 to 5am four days a week and claimed their relationship non existant.

Currently, Jay is trying to salvage his relationship, work hard and manage some sort of life before he enrolls in school September.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 129 lbs.

Eyes: hazel

Hair: red/dark blond

Other Features: A pair of wings on his back. Stretching a wingspan of sixteen feet, his impressive wings take on an angel-like gleem, much like Archangel, except they are the colour red. His attire is often a t shirt of a favourite band, or a button up if he is trying to impress. Blue faded jeans are his choice of pants, not often seen wearing shorts and may have a few holes in them to add to his ‘band’ appearance. He likes to wear beaded necklaces but does not stick to one favourite, switching between many depending on what he is wearing. He had a tattoo at some point but with the manifestation of his healing powers, it disappeared.

Powers

Jay shares an almost identical mutation with Angel. Red birdlike wings sprout from his back, which he can use to fly. His total wingspan is sixteen feet across, and they are strong enough to allow him to carry two-hundred pounds in addition to his own weight. His entire body is adapted for flight: hollow bones made of a strong but light calcium-like mineral, almost zero body fat, and an extraordinary musculature. He has a special thin but strong membrane over his eyes to protect them from the wind when he flies, and a respiratory system that enables him to extract oxygen even at high altitudes. He is able to fly at heights of up to 10,000 feet with little effort, and a maximum of 29,000 feet, at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour for a few hours before needing rest.

Jay also has secondary and tertiary mutations. His blood carries a healing factor, which has already proved itself strong enough to revive him after being beaten nearly to death. His last ability, almost trivial compared to the wings and healing factor, is his voice: he can sing multiple harmonies at once, sounding like a one-man choir.

Equipment

Jay owns two guitars: an acoustic one that his mother bought him after his father's death, and an electric one that Forge built him. He wears a pewter necklace handmade and designed by his boyfriend, Kevin Ford. The pendant is of a guitar.

Trivia

Jay has a huge celebrity crush on Billy Joe Armstrong of the band Green Day.

Jay doesn't eat chicken or any other meat from birds. He finds it too close to cannibalism for his tastes.

He is very wary around telepaths.

Romeo and Juilet is a favourite of his. He recites it often. Especially when he's around his boyfriend, alone.

He used to wear a small golden cross on a gold chain that used to belong to Kevin.

Jay is a serial monogamist.

Plots

2004

Hand Me Down

2005

Traitor

2006

Not So Plain Jane

Masque (plot)

2007

Thirteen Days

2008

Red X Mission: Whistler

The Shadow King (plot)

Red X Mission: Reconstruction

Prayer on the 26th of July

Meta

Player: Andrea

E-mail: 150px

AIM: Twin Black Out

Player Icon Base: Trent Ford

Meta Trivia

Formerly played by Ben, former PBs: Travis Fimmel, Guillaume Guichard and Barry Watson