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"I give up!" Emma Frost shouted. "You are very intelligent, Jubilation Lee, but you absolutely will not learn!" Jubes was feeling lower than dirt at the moment. "I just can't get it, Ms. Frost." She said very meekly. This didn't help Emma's emotional state. She walked out in disgust, saying that Jubilee was in danger of failing several subjects this semester. Banshee was concerned that Emma's emotional outburst would hinder Jubilee's ability to learn further. "Donna let her frighten ye. She's got a lot on her mind." He said solemnly.
Inwardly, he knew there would be trouble. Jubilee, unlike most of the other members of Generation X, had family only in China, which was very distantly related and generally wouldn't accept her back. Well, they were in a quandary indeed. Banshee suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Get the one young man Jubilee respected more than anyone else... Esteban. He was very smart, and Jubilee would go gaga over mentioning his name. So he turned to her and said: "Jubes, if ye pass yer upcoming test, I'll give ye the weekend t'see Esteban." Jubilee knew that if she failed, she may be sent back to China. That was not an option that appealed to her.
In Fort Worth, Texas, Doctor Esteban Vazquez was preparing the infirmary for an operation. He had heard about a woman who desperately needed a liver transplant, and so he told her if she could get a donor liver, he would do the operation for free. About 15 minutes ago, he got a call from her. There was a donor liver ready and coming their way. Esteban and some of the other members of Group X had scrubbed the operating theater down until it shined. Then everyone left the room. "Computer, bathe the operating area in the sterilizing agents." The young man known as Sonnos said. The computer bathed the area in a greenish laser light, and then it was as sterile as it could be. "I'll be in the sterilizing chamber. When she comes in, clean her up and get her into the operating room." He told Starshot. Sonnos then went into the sterilization chamber. He was bathed in the same greenish laser light that had cleaned the room previously. He made sure to get his hands, his arms, and especially his face. This is one operation that would take awhile, and he wanted no chance of infection.
The woman had come in, nervous and excited. She had waited over 5 years for this. She wanted to be normal again, not have to live on drugs, which were slowly killing her (as opposed to liver failure, which was quicker.) The Group X people showed her to the sterilization chamber, from which Sonnos had left. She too was sterilized, and then dressed in a hospital gown. She was lead into the operating chamber, where she donned a mask and met Sonnos and a local nurse. The nurse administered the anesthesia, telling the woman to count backwards from 100. The woman never made it to 90. The sodium pentathol was doing its job. Sonnos then hooked her up to the machines, so that if anything went wrong, he would know immediately. The donor liver came in, sealed in a vacuum bag and sterile box. Sonnos performed the operation, which took several hours to complete; after all, there are thousands of blood vessels in the liver that had to be cut and sewn. Using all the technology that was afforded to him, Sonnos completed the operation. He sewed her up, and then sonically closed the incision. The nurse took the woman to the infirmary to recover. "Let's hope she doesn't reject the new liver." Sonnos thought as he pulled off his bloody surgical gloves and threw them into a plastic box marked with the biohazard symbol.
Afterwards the woman's husband came to Sonnos and thanked him for saving his wife's life. Sonnos smiled at him and told him it was his duty as a doctor to help out. After all, he was once one of los pobres in Mexico; he knew what it was like not to have enough money for anything. Well, Sonnos decided to take a break when the call came in. Jubilee had barely passed the test, and so she was coming down to see him. However, Banshee warned, it was a visit solely for the educational purposes of Jubilee; they would spend the weekend studying. Well, it's better than nothing, thought Sonnos. He really missed her deeply, as it seemed forever that they had last parted.
Well, when the weekend came, Jubilee came in, and was greeted by Sonnos. "Esteban! God I've missed you!" She shouted just before she embraced Sonnos. Esteban returned her embrace, and smiled. When they parted, Banshee talked to Lotus. "I'll leave her in your care f'r the weekend. And remember about what I said." Lotus smiled. "Relax, Sean. She's in good hands. I'll get to the root of this problem and solve it." Jubilee knew that the fun weekend she planned was not what she was going to have. It was going to be a weekend of drudgery, learning, and *ICK* homework. Lotus smiled as they showed Jubilee to the guestroom. "Relax, Jubilation. We're going to try several learning techniques on you to find out which one works the best." Jubilee was less than enthusiastic. "Oh great, now I'm some kind of a Guinea pig." she thought. But she knew she didn't have a choice, and resigned herself to the situation.
Lotus had Jubilee sit in the briefing room, with some books. "Gawd, this is totally BOR-ING!" Jubilee thought. Jubilee merely sat there, very agitated. Technique #1 was a complete failure. So, time to move onto technique #2. Lotus entered and sat next to Jubilee. "She's definitely not a self-starter." Lotus thought. Well, The two of them opened a book of International Literature. The poem Lotus selected was "You'll Take the Entire Universe to Bed with You" by Charles Beaudelaire, as translated by Edna St. Vincent Milay. Lotus said "O.k., read the first stanza." Jubilee did so.
"You'd take the entire universe to bed with you
I think, just out of boredom,
You lecherous, idle shrew!"
Jubilee stopped. "Like, that is a total bummer." She said. "Try to understand the poem from the Author's point of view. At the time Beaudelaire wrote, the artist was evolving into something different. No longer was it the artist's duty to capture events as they were recorded; the camera did that. The poet was no longer confined to strict Shakespearean interpretations. Beaudelaire felt his duty now was to shock the reader out of their old consciousness and into a new one. In Victorian times, the biggest taboo was sex. So he wrote about some sexual subjects, to shock the reader into a new awareness." This pearl of wisdom was completely lost on Jubilee. "I like still don't get it." She said. Lotus had to consult higher powers. Was there a way to
Get her to learn? Perhaps some meditation with her would help.
"Meditate? You mean, like, sit around and do nothing? Hell-o!" Jubilee wasn't particularly religious, and scoffed at the idea that meditation could help bring out the cause of her problems. "Just give it a try, Jubilation. Right now, we need to get to the root of why your subconscious is apprehensive about learning, and meditation is the fastest, most convenient way." Lotus knew her words were falling on deaf ears. "Oh, Pl-eez! Like, all you do is just sit around. That's like a total snooze alert." Lotus knew she'd have to do something to get Jubilee to try it. "Hmm... such resistance to a new (to you) concept is not healthy, Jubilation... Look, this may be your last shot at getting a passing grade in anything this semester. You should take it." Jubilee pulled the sourest of faces she could. "Like, you're not giving up until I do it, are you?" She asked. "No. Because it's your future that's at stake. A future with the X-Men, or a future wearing a Mao suit." "Eugh," Jubilee thought. " That shade of blue looks totally hideous on me." Realizing that she had little alternative in the matter, she agreed to the meditation. "Wonderful. Just be in our meditation room in 1 hour." Lotus told her.
Lotus was sitting in the meditation room with Sonnos, Jubilee, and Walking Eagle. The four of them had sat down to concentrate. Lotus said "We're going to try a past life regression on you, Jubilation. Basically all I need you to do is relax, close your eyes, and concentrate... go back in time with yourself. The four of them assumed the lotus position, and began to concentrate. "Aum... Aum... Aum..." Lotus and Walking Eagle intoned, using the sound of the top chakra to open a door into Jubilee's past lives. At this point Jubilee thought that this was going to lead nowhere. She was very wrong on that count.
The next thing Jubilee knew she was in medieval Europe, in a castle. She was reading a book that was written in Latin. She had a hard time reading it, she remembers, as she was not accustomed to Latin. She looked over the item, and turned the page. "Because... the... human... body.. is.. (a word she didn't know) of many... different? (another word she didn't know) it is... safe to... say that..." She read, half aloud. Suddenly The door opened, and Jubilee moved away from the book. It was Sonnos, who looked her over. "Love, what are you doing?" He asked. "Er... nothing, my lord." She responded to the man she recognized as her husband. "We need you. Some guy's got an arrow in his leg." Jubilee went out with Sonnos to do her act.
She found out she was a nurse in the middle ages, something that was considered scandalous for a woman to be. After all, the job mostly entailed holding a man down and letting him look down your dress. That's exactly what she did here, however. Sonnos went to work on the man's leg, pushing the arrow through it and Jubilee heard the sickening sound of metal tearing flesh. The man screamed, and nearly stood up, if it wasn't for Jubilee and another woman holding him down. Sonnos cut off the end of the arrow, then pulled it out. Again the main screamed like he was on fire, right in Jubilee's ear. Sonnos then bled the wound and covered it with rags. "He should live, if God has mercy on his soul." Sonnos said. "Now, I would like to see Julie in my study alone for a moment." Jubilee knew he was asking her to be alone with him. So she went into his study, where he closed the door. "Julie, I caught you reading this book. You know that women aren't allowed to practice medicine." He told her. "I - I'm sorry, my lord." Sonnos managed a half-smile. "Well, I will let it pass, because you are my wife. However, should others find you studying this, they will most assuredly hurt you for it." The words were lost on her.
Later Jubilee was in the study again, and reading the book. She was fascinated about how she could learn about what other people thought. People she had never met, nor never will meet. People who are dead. People who don't speak her language. She looked the book over, and read it some more. Then suddenly the local shire-reeve entered the place. "Zounds! You are a disgrace, maiden!! You should be ashamed for reading!" Jubilee was confused. "But ... is it not our nature to learn?" The shire-reeve was unmoved. "You are under arrest. And I will see to it that you are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!" Because it was, after all, his job to do so.
At the trial Sonnos came to the aid of his wife. "Please, she is not an evil person, she just wanted to help me if something went wrong with me." He told the crowd. "So you acknowledge teaching her medicine?" The judge said. "I have caught her before trying to read the books. I forbade her to read more." Sonnos responded. "Then the matter is settled. Both shall be burned at the stake until dead." Next thing Jubilee knew she was tied to a wooden sake, with a lot of kindling wood around her. To her side was Sonnos. "I am most sorry for getting you involved in this." She said. "Well, we are about to face final judgement. Make peace with God now, because you won't get to do so later." Sonnos replied. The torch was lit as it was brought in, and then touched to the kindling. The flames grew slowly, but soon Jubilee found herself engulfed in fire.
Suddenly she was back in the meditation room, standing and screaming. "NO!!!!" She shouted. She then immediately turned to Sonnos, and fell into his arms. "It's alright, mi amor. I understand now. Go ahead, let it all out." He told her in a soothing voice as she cried. "Well, now that we've found the root cause of your phobia of learning, it's going to take awhile to undo the damage." Jubilee cried on Sonnos' shoulder: "I never meant to hurt you. I didn't want to hurt anyone." Jubilee sobbed. "You haven't hurt anyone, mi amor. In fact, it is because of your bravery then that you can learn now." Jubilee continued to cry as Sonnos continued to comfort her. "I forgive you. The world forgives you. You were doing the right thing at the wrong time." Lotus was pragmatic about this. "One experience shouldn't dictate what you do with your life. Just relax, Jubilation. Learning can be a joyous experience." Jubilee pulled her head away from Sonnos' shoulder. "You mean there's like... hope for me?" She asked. "There's hope for everyone." Lotus responded. Jubilee was confused. "This is like so totally heavy." She said.
Well, Lotus' next step was to take Jubilee into a room for some one-on-one training. Lotus decided to keep it basic, and stick with some simple psychological material. She chose Maslow's hierarchy of needs; it was something that Jubilee could grasp easily, if she tried. "So like the first need we have is for food, clothing and shelter?" She asked. When Lotus responded yes, Jubilee continued. "Then we have the need to survive, and then needs for social acceptance, and then at the top are spiritual needs." Lotus smiled. "You're on the right track." She said. Lotus then thought it was time to apply the model to the situation. "Which one are you working on right now?" She asked.
"Er... well..." Jubilee stammered. "I like really can't tell. I would guess social acceptance." Lotus was soft but firm in her correction. "Actually, you are trying to take care of higher needs. It's not essential to learn things, but it is important to survive. Humans are designed to go further, learn more, and attempt to do more. We're the only species on earth who will alter our surroundings so that they will suit our needs." Jubilee started to get flustered. "But... like..." She said. Lotus tried to calm her down. "Relax, Jubilation. We have plenty of time to learn this. One of the things about school is sometimes you need to learn something at a slower pace than what they teach at. So you have to seek outside help in those cases. You're not being stupid; you just need things a little clearer. Sometimes schools will gloss over something, expecting you to understand it. That's when you call for outside help."
Lotus knew what to do. "I'd like a little one-on-one with her here for a moment." She said to Walking Eagle and Sonnos. So the two of them left. "Your spirit is scarred, and for that, you're going to need some spiritual healing." Lotus said before she discharged a white light from her forehead, hitting Jubilee with it. "UHN!" Jubilee said in her panic. She saw what it did to Timelasher and other bad guys; she didn't want to feel that pain. However, once the initial shock was over, Jubilee felt warm, loved, cared for, and safe. She relaxed and opened herself up to the light, then Lotus stopped the light. "Mmm... that was totally incredible. It's like being kissed by Esteban." Lotus smiled. "Well, loving him serves your divine purpose, Jubilation." Jubilee stood up, then swayed like a drunk. "Woah! this is one big head trip!" She said as Lotus caught her, stopping her fall. "Relax, and allow the energies to sink in. It could take awhile for you to absorb them all." Jubilee caught herself, and straightened up. "You mean I'm cured?" She asked. "In matters of the spirit, time is the only true cure. You have been healed somewhat, but once you've completely recovered, learning should be no problem." Lotus told her.
About an hour later Jubilee sat next to Sonnos, reading a book of post-quantum physics. Sonnos had an arm around her, and was helping her study. "So, like this Heiselberg's uncertainty principle says that you can't know an electron's position, it's speed, and its direction at the same time." She said. "Sí. But what you can do is calculate a probability table by taking a random sample of the three. The main problem is to see an electron, you have to use subatomic particles. When one of them hits an electron, it can change course, speed, and direction." Jubilee was elated. "I... I understand it now. This is like so amazing. I feel like a bird that has been freed from a cage." Jubilee said. "That's great, mi amor... because we still have tons of stuff to go."
