History: Laurie Collins does not know who her father is, but she knows she inherited her mutant abilities from him. Sean Garrison, a self-help guru, used his pheromone powers to make quite a few women love him. One of them was Gail Collins. When Gail became pregnant with his child, she became immune to his abilities. She soon realized she'd been manipulated and snuck off, leaving him unaware he had a daughter. Feeling violated, Gail withdrew socially and raised her daughter on her own. Laurie fed off her mother's isolation, and became a shy girl herself, a wallflower all through her younger years.

Laurie's mutation developed when she was a teen, nd only made matters worse. She feared that any time she came out of her shell she would manipulate those around her, and that she could never trust that anyone's feelings for her were real. When the Xavier Institute went public, Gail brought Laurie to attend. She moved to Salem Center to be near her daughter, but had Laurie room at the school. Laurie's powers and withdrawn behavior kept her alone until the arrival of Sofia Mantega (Wind Dancer). Sofia's wind abilities could keep Laurie's pheromones at bay, and the optimistic Sofia persisted until the two became friends. At Sofia's urging, Laurie started meeting other students, and they formed a group of friends, who would eventually become the New Mutants training squad.

But coming out of her shell has had negative effects on Laurie as well. She began a relationship with teammate Elixir, which ended when it was revealed that Elixir had briefly had a simutaneous romance with one of the faculty members. The hurt over this betrayal hardened Laurie, who used her pheremones aggressively as a response - first to chase off an apologetic Elixir and later to make her teammate Prodigy kiss her to make Elixir jealous.These manipulations have put some distance between Laurie and her friends, as well as between Laurie and Gail. They have also brought her that much closer to behaving like her father.