Elise Gosset

Elise Gosset is an original fictional character.

Background
When a user going by the internet handle Bluebird made a long post in support of mutant rights on the forums of the anti-mutant blog Sentinel.com, it is unlikely that she anticipated the severitiy of the backlash against her. Along with the usual slew of curses and insults came suggestions that Bluebird spoke with too much empathy for an ordinary human, and subsequent accusations that she was a secret mutant herself. Angry forum members were quick to hack the Bluebird account and track it through an email address to the Facebook profile of Elise Gosset, a 16 year-old Glaswegian.

The angry and threatening phone calls and e-mails came first, followed by physical hate mail, and young Elise and her family soon grew fearful for their safety. When her parents contacted the police for help, Elise locked herself in her bedroom and refused to come out.

Meanwhile, all the way over in New York, Alexander Derasmo had gotten wind of Elise's pro-mutant plea and had also come to the conclusion that she was in fact speaking out not as human, but as a fellow mutant. However, unlike the angry mob at Sentinel.com, Alex chose to reach out in support. He appeared to her in her room, his sudden presence and his signature green glow proof of his own mutant heritage, and offered her a chance to escape. She took it.

In the safety of Unity headquarters in Wakanda, Elise admitted that she didn't even want to remain a mutant, but had hid the tiny blue feathered wings that had begun to sprout from her back for fear of winding up a "Rem": a depowered mutant whose physical features remain even after taking the Hope serum. In truth she hated her useless wings - what greater insult could there be for a girl who already struggled so much with her weight and body image than wings? - but her crippling anxiety had kept her from revealing her mutation even to her own loving parents.

Elise has only been with Unity for a little over a month, but has had a hard time fitting in with the team - with Anole in particular. The nickname "Bluebird" has stuck with her, though she would all the same let it drop. So far only Vivian Meeks has had any success in getting close to the shy, and ashamed young mutant, though Elise remains very grateful towards Alex and thinks of him as her personal hero.

Powers and Abilities
Elise is a Gamma-level mutant. While she initially presented with only a small pair of blue feathered wings growing from her back as the only external sign of her mutation, physical examinations have revealed that her bones are hollowing and that she is gaining muscle density and developing new muscular structures to support her wings. Elise's wings also continue to grow, though to date they have a span of barely two and a half feet - nowhere near enough to lift her 230 lb figure.

Elise is a talented writer and artist and hopes to one day author and illustrate her own series of children's books.