Jaidee

Jaidee Chayanurak
Portrayed By	Witwisit Hiranyawongkul
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	9 June 1995
Age	15
Zodiac Sign	Gemini
Aliases	Jai, Lek
Place of Birth	Bangkok, Thailand
Current Location	Xavier's
Occupation	Student/Former Monk
Known Relatives	Srisuda Chaynurak (Mother), Jackson Sommers (Father)
Significant Other	None
Identity	Private
Known Abilities	Elemental Manipulation
First Appearance	???

History

It may have been a cliché in the Vietnam war, but it is still a reality that some Americans come looking for cheap and easy sex in Thailand, and end up bringing another child into the world. When Jackson Sommers (no relation to the more famous Summers) was attached to the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, he certainly didn’t expect to fall in love with a bar girl, nor did he expect her to have used an off brand Thai condom that was less than effective.

To his credit, Jackson married Srisuda Chayanurak, and spent as much time as possible trying to make it work. He served out his three years in the U.S. Embassy and, despite the loss of credibility for marrying a bargirl (marrying a local is common, but bargirl is most often a thinly veiled term for prostitute), managed to get assigned to the posting for another 3 years. During this time Jaidee was educated at International Schools along with the other children of diplomats, learning English and Chinese at a Trilingual school and proving to have quite a gift for tongues. With his father’s pay (which goes a very long way in Thailand) he was also able to study with an English tutor, and take lessons in Muay Thai and Krabi Krabong (two Thai martial arts).

But all good things must come to an end. Six years passed, and there was no way that Jackson would be allowed to stay at his post any longer. In addition to the impending move, he had grown slowly less satisfied with the marriage and all that it cost him professionally. When he was set to move away, he divorced Srisuda. He left her money, and a way to contact him in an emergency, but that money was soon run out and she went back to work at the bar.

Life was difficult, but still happy during those times. Jaidee attended public Thai schools, and practiced his English and Chinese through the ubiquitous pirated cable channels available for a small monthly fee. Public transportation took him to and from school, and he learned to cook on his own as well, and leave something there for his mother. For a year, they depended only on each other.

When he turned seven, however, things changed. One night his mother found an old monk waiting outside of the rundown apartment complex they lived in, and began speaking with her. She brought him in to the apartment, where they were honored to feed him for the evening. Once fed, he began to speak. He had seen a vision that someday Jaidee would need his guidance (in reality, the monk’s own mutant power of precognition), and had come to train him. The family was stricken but, at the same time, were devoutly Buddhist.

They thought on it for a week, but in the end who were they to deny a vision from the Buddha himself? Jaidee left with the monk, Chunikorn, to begin the next phase of his life as a novice, and then as a monk in training.

And so at age 7 Jaidee began his training as a monk. He spent 7 years at the Temple, under the training of Ajarn (teacher) Chunikorn. Chunikorn taught him that like him, Jaidee was a mutant; that would have powers that needed focusing through training. These powers, he believed, were not a curse or sign of bad karma as Thais viewed them (the same way birth defects were viewed); but the sign of a step towards enlightenment.

For years he trained with Chunikorn at Wat Pha Tak Seu, a monastery in the hills somewhat outside of Bangkok. While out of the way, it attracted enough tourists he was able to continue practicing his Chinese and English. He was schooled, along with the other young novices, to a standard curriculum at a prefectural school for novice monks. And, eccentrically for a Theraveda monk, Chunikorn believed that physical focus helped focus the mind and made sure Jaidee could continue his Muay Thai and Krabi Krabong practices. It was a simple life, in tune with the seasons. He became a novice monk at 7 years old (normal and permissible for the Theraveda branch of Buddhism), and lived by the ten prefects. With his brothers he begged for food and meditated on enlightenment and the Sutras, and privately with his teacher he learned what he would need to control his abilities.

Finally, at age 13 and the onset of puberty, his Master was proven correct. One day the two of them went out to the waterfalls in the hills, and sat in quiet meditation. He was told to focus on the ebb and flow of the pool beneath them, on the sound of the water cascading down. To feel it in his mind, in his body and in his bones. After six years as a monk he was well trained in meditation, and fell in to it easily. For an hour they sat, not counting the passage of time, until his master had him open his eyes. When he did, Jaidee saw that the water was swirling in midair. His power was elemental control.

Thus began a year of intense study. Working on his abilities to hone them down, and find which ones he had the most affinity for. Always agile, and at the peak of athleticism for his age, he made great progress in controlling air as it increased that agility. And after years of Muay Thai and Muay Baran training, channeling the strength of the earth came naturally. His biggest problem is still fire, which requires an innate aggressiveness that the good natured boy is hard pressed to find within himself.

After 7 years of studying, having learned basically fluent English and Mandarin Chinese, and followed it up with Pali (the language of the ancient texts of Buddhism) as well as a relatively modern school curriculum and excellent athletic conditioning, Chunikorn told him that a change was coming. He would be presented with two choices, and which one he selected would shape his destiny. He meditated, and prayed for the Buddha’s wisdom in making it.

He was approached nearly simultaneously by Barnes and by Xavier’s. Barnes had heard about him through his father; Srisuda had finally contacted Jackson Sommers, who had made some calls in his now more prestigious posting. And rumor had come back to Xavier’s of a young mutant living in the hills outside Bangkok with great potential. Both schools made their pitches.

He looked at Barnes and saw their militaristic uniforms, their sponsorship by SHIELD, and their general military air. And he looked at Xavier’s and saw many of the same things; uniforms, training to fight. But he also read the information they brought him, and read about Charles Xavier. He saw Xavier as a man dedicated to fighting to protect one’s self, but overall of living in peace. A dedicated pacifist, Jaidee believed that the school founded by Xavier could better teach him the paradox of being a skilled fighter who refused to fight. And so, on his fifteenth birthday, he moved to Xavier’s.

Powers

Abilities

Jaidee is a natural athlete. He has trained in Thai martial arts for many years, and is quite skilled at them. He has studied Muay Thai and Muay Boran (modern and traditional unarmed combat), and Krabi Krabong (Thai unarmed and weaponry forms, including sword, staff, double sword, and clubs). He is nearly a black belt in both Muay Thaiand Krabi. He loves to run, and fly.

Jaidee’s athleticism and years of being a novice and monk have given him a far above average endurance. In addition to the running and training, Buddhist monks of his tradition only eat one full meal a day, and do not eat after noon. Consequently, he is quite capable of functioning normally all day on a normal sized breakfast, even when normally consists of long hours of training, meditation, and study.

He is very talented with languages. He can speak Thai as a native, and English, Chinese with basic fluency, and
read Pali. There isn’t really a spoken fluency in Pali anymore, it is mostly for Buddhist academic study.

Beyond being at peak athletic condition (for a 15 year old), he has a normal education under the standards of the Thai Ministry of Education. Thai language, mathematics, science and music all at appropriate levels for a 15 year old

Timeline

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Quotes

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Trivia

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