[hr][hr][center][h3][b][color=6644ff]Jack Hawthorne[/color][/b][/h3][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1071511694637006920/1107753925676900392/20230515_153755_0000.png?width=1111&height=625[/img][hr][b][color=6644ff]Location:[/color][/b] Limbo
[b][color=6644ff]Skills:[/color][/b] Extra-planar Navigation
[b][color=6644ff]Spells:[/color][/b] Twilight Doorway
[url=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/710908524602851461/1119732958107021322/f7059321aefbfb8ce4923b133f1f9d6d.png?width=343&height=625]Outfit[/url]
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Of course she let them in. Of [i]course[/i] she did. Because knowing her, Ananym probably thought she was going to Reenact Home Alone by springing a quantum infinity number of traps all designed to fuck with, and traumatize her playmates. Or as Jack would’ve called them, her victims. He might’ve said something about not letting them in if Ananym was only going to get cornered like that. But maybe she was planning to scare the shit out of them with some sort of ambush. A teleportation spell to bring them all to a pit of magma, or a decoy perhaps- Was this the real Ananym? Jack certainly wouldn’t put that past her. He’d feel proud in some way if that was the case.

[color=6644ff]”I wouldn’t eat the knives,”[/color] Jack said to Annika. [color=6644ff]”They’re rather… Undercooked.”[/color] He was absolutely fucking with her- He didn’t know what they tasted like, he just felt like cracking a joke. Today was a humorous type of day by his own standards. Jack often found himself using humor as a way to lessen the burden that these stressful situations had. After all, if one person can set an example by being unbothered, others would surely follow. [color=6644ff]”It is rather difficult to add salt to metals, unfortunately. Otherwise, they might be a bit more palatable.”[/color]

The thunder of Limbo’s sky cracked in rhythm with Jack’s own heartbeat. It was soothing in an uncanny way. [color=6644ff]”I forgot how wondrous the place could be a times,”[/color] he said aloud. As intimidating and… Malevolent as the world was, there was beauty in chaos, and majesty in fury. Ananym pointed them in the direction of a castle on the horizon. Frankly, he didn’t recognize it. If she was familiar with it, then Jack assumed it was trustworthy. The only problem was that Ananym wanted to race there, and Jack wasn’t about to run through a forest in Limbo.

[color=6644ff]”Oh- Absolutely not. Between you and me, Annika, long walks through a forest on Earth are [i]far[/i] more pleasant than here. Madalyne! We’ll teleport there!”[/color] He honestly wasn’t sure if she even heard him. She was clearly fierce in her own right, surely she’d be fine. Besides, the girl seemed like better company than Kog’Thakan. [color=6644ff]”If she’s in a hurry, then so to shall we.”[/color] Jack brought his shadow arm up and held it out in front of himself and Annika. Trails of vantablack smoke began to arise from it and coalesce into the shape of a circle of swirling darkness. This was not an instant process, but after a minute or two, Jack’s creation was a churning portal of black and lilac wisps that nothing could be seen through.

[color=6644ff]”This is what I call a Twilight Doorway. I use these to cross incomprehensibly large distances with only a few footsteps. The exit will take us to the castle that Ananym mentioned. She means well, but her idea of the difference between “safe” and “life-threatening” differs from that of us humans. This will be safer. I believe Madalyne knows what she’s doing, and Ananym is much more dangerous than she lets on- Those two can handle anything Limbo throws at them. Shall we?”[/color]

Jack stepped through the portal. Fluid darkness curled around him and seemed to swallow him whole. If Annika followed him through, she’d feel a long chill wash over her. Not the kind that ran down one’s spine, but the kind one felt when they stepped outside on an autumn evening. It was inviting, wrapping over everything and taking it through to a place far away without so much as a rustle of momentum. Only Jack did not arrive where he expected to. No, this was not the craggy, demonic landscape he was just in. This was the opposite.

On the other side of the portal, a more lively sensation took hold. One that could be more readily associated with Limbo, as Jack dropped into a veritable Garden of Eden. Lush, green plants as far as he could see, and serenity abound. A beautiful place that could only be made reality by someone with an equally compassionate heart from which to pour out love. Jack took in the surroundings, and a breath of fresh air. This was… an accident. A pleasant one, but it made sense. Jack must’ve overlapped the portal with a stepping disc native to Limbo, and arrived here. 

That meant this could’ve been any place in any possible time. This could a billion years after Strange’s death, or a billion years before it. How would Jack explain [i]that[/i] to Annika or Madalyne? He noticed a woman nearby, tending to this garden. White hair… It was Storm. Gently and quietly, Jack stepped closer, ensuring he did not tremble her work with his intrusion. How long had it been, he wondered, since they laid eyes on each other. 

[color=6644ff]”…Ororo? Is that you? It seems I’ve taken a wrong turn. It is good to see you again. I did not think I would cross paths with you again in this way.”[/color]

Ananym had 15 seconds to decide to jump through the doorway or continue on after Ananym and Madalyne. It began to shrink before her eyes.