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Jeremiah Joseph McGregor
Certified normal person
***
Cismale, 22 years of age
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PERSONALITY TRAITS
Highly intelligent
- Knows his way around the natural
sciences and could easily rival
educational scholars
- Uses logic to explain things
Expressive
- Allows himself to feel and express
emotions
- Always expresses himself and doesn't
care what other people think
Intuitive
- Can read people extremely well,
knows how to work them
Stagnant
- Will not budge if he believes he is
in the right; very unflexible
- Lives in the past
Introverted
- Finds himself more comfortable
in smaller spaces
- Very quiet person; keeps thoughts
to himself
Loyal
- To those who deem themselves worthy
of his loyalty
- Will not hesitate to call someone out
Other personality aspects
- Views himself more as a realist
- Heavily invested in family
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JEREMIAH'S STORY
On May 10th, 1997 Jeremiah McGregor was born to Jesse Taylor and Elizabeth McGregor in Amherst, Massachusetts. As a black lesbian couple existing in the late 20th century, life was not easy for any of them- they consistently faced discrimination due to their orientation and race. The two women each had to live in the closet in every aspect of their life. Jesse worked as a waitress while Elizabeth was a hairdresser. Neither career made much money, so when they both decided they wanted a child they knew it was going to be a hurdle and a half. They had agreed that they wanted to have a biological child rather than adopt one, so it took a few years before they found someone who would be willing to help them have a baby. After a great deal many of tries, Jesse became pregnant with who would become Jeremiah.
Childhood
As a little boy, Jeremiah was rowdy. He loved to cause trouble wherever he could, making it so that his parents would never get bored. Most mornings, Jeremiah would jump out of bed and then hide somewhere so that his mothers would be forced to find him. As he approached kindergarten age, his parents were unsure whether they would be able to afford to put him through school, so they kept him home through his kindergarten year to save money and sent him to school for the first time in first grade.
This decision caused Jeremiah to be behind in every way in first grade. His mothers had attempted to teach him the kindergarten education, but they hadn't been able to cover all of it. Jeremiah had figured out that the other students were ahead of him, leading him to act out even more than he usually did. Jeremiah struggled his way through the elementary school, always barely able to keep his head above the water.
Tween to teen years
Jeremiah’s entrance into junior high was a transformative set of years. He slowly realized - with each trip to the principal's office – that maybe acting out was not a good idea. With the threat of detention hanging over his head, Jeremiah began to try harder in his classes, studying for every test for hours and making any attempt to catch up on the time he had missed. In 8th grade, Jeremiah tried out for his school's junior division of Science Olympiad and made the team. The years of studying his butt off had begun to pay off, and he made some of his closest friends through it.
Jeremiah entered highschool in 9th grade and for the first time ever, school no longer felt like a prison. He enjoyed being there, now that he had Science Olympiad and a closeknit friend group. Because the junior division of Science Olympiad ended after 9th grade, Jeremiah found himself trying out for the advanced division – the one that travelled all over the world to compete against other highschools. This opportunity gave Jeremiah unforgettable memories and had his eyes opened to numerous amounts of different cultures.
It was at this time Jeremiah also began to question who he was. The world excursions had done him well, opening him up to numerous identities. One day, Jeremiah sat down with Elizabeth and talked to her hours on end about identity and what shaped her. The biggest thing that Jeremiah took away from their discussion afterwords was that he could be whoever he wanted to be. There was no box he had to fit into and if other people didn't like that, then that was their problem. And although Jeremiah knew that on a surface level, it hadn't really hit until he had that talk with his mother.
Having this support from his mother was exactly what he needed. Though no one could tell besides Elizabeth, Jeremiah carried himself a little taller and expressed himself without fear. The biggest change, however, was the way he dressed. Jeremiah's style became uniquely him, always wearing something that would set him apart from other guys in his grade. Of course, this did not take well with some of his peers. People tried to make Jeremiah's life horrible, and to say that Jeremiah was not affected would be a lie. The school administration was subpar at dealing with bullying and pretended that it didn't exist. He knew that he had to stay strong and that people were wrong about everything - because being gay was not a bad thing, even though Jeremiah didn't know his own sexuality yet - but there were times when he would just hide in the bathroom for the whole day and then sprint out of school. No one seemed to want to forget Jeremiah's changes and so began the years of bullying that Jeremiah would have to live through.
Of course, his mother found out about the bullying and was outraged. Jeremiah had begged her to not get involved, but his mother was adamant about doing something. They threatened to sue the school, which was an empty threat, but they hoped that that would make the administration do something. The only thing the school did was issue an empty apology and "promise of doing better". Anyone who knew anything knew that the school administration wasn't going to take matters seriously. Jeremiah ended up being pulled from the school and completed his junior and senior years as a homeschool student. It wasn't cheap, but at least Jeremiah wasn't going to be mercilessly bullied.
The tragedy
Existing in a world alongside the Avengers was okay at first. They were Earth's mightest heroes, sworn to protect. Jeremiah had once supported their cause, admiring their bravery. But that was before his mother, Jesse, had died at the hands of Captain America.
It was 2012, when everything was going right in his life. He was discovering who he was and had recently joined Science Olympiad. His mother, Jesse, had taken a train up to New York City to visit her family who lived up there. She hadn't wanted to pull Jeremiah away from school so she had gone alone.
When she arrived, everything was in chaos. The city was being destroyed by God knows what and she had been hurried into an apartment building off the streets. -She had gotten glimpses of a shield whizzing by, followed by a man in a red, white and blue suit. He was fighting off aliens of sorts, but he hadn't been able to stop all of them. He had rushed to the building that the aliens were swarming, but he was seconds too late.
When Jeremiah had found out this was how his mother had died, he felt a multitude of emotions. Anger, hurt, despair... but mostly betrayal. Captain America was supposed to protect everyone- why couldn't he just do his job right? This forever tainted his view of the Avengers because they ruined his life. He swore to never believe in superheroes again – all they did was destroy without guilt.
The present
Being homeschooled ultimately ended up being better for Jeremiah's mental health. Although there were a fair amount of cons (dropping out of Science Olympiad, not being able to see his friends on a regular basis), Jeremiah was able to focus on getting better after the whole school fiasco and his mother's passing. He got into a local university (UMass Amherst) studying biochemistry, which allowed him to start over and make new memories. He also was able to get a job off-campus at a local coffee shop. It wasn't much, but after saving most of the money for 4 years, it gave Jeremiah the apply to graduate school. Jeremiah graduated last year with honors and is currently pursuing his Masters degree.
College was also when he really began exploring his sexuality, getting into relationships with a plethora of people. He knew that he wasn't purely heterosexual but wanted to take this journey before officially coming out. However, Jeremiah decided that labels were not going to be his thing, so he didn't officially come out as anything. He just knew that if he loved the person, it wouldn't matter.
JEREMIAH'S PROMISE
The day Jesse died, Jeremiah made a promise to himself that he would never believe in superheroes again. All they were were narcissistic humans with big brains. He started researching them, finding out what other destruction they had caused. This search had left him feeling satisfied and angry at once. Satisfied that he had found what he was looking for, angry that the Avengers didn't care. He supposed he wasn't surprised, but he wished he was.
