[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]
[url=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/710908524602851461/1119732958107021322/f7059321aefbfb8ce4923b133f1f9d6d.png?width=343&height=625]Outfit[/url]
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 [color=6644ff]”…You-“[/color] The idea that Ororo, more than the universe itself by his understanding, expected him to carry this burden was unsettling to Jack. She expected him to protect life- Why? Why [i]him?[/i] Jack often had something to say in response to anything, he was never slow to retort anything. But now, Ororo had challenged him in a way that went against all he was. Jack did not protect, he simply wandered. But perhaps this was what Ororo expected. After all, she knew him quite well once, and Jack Hawthorne was not a man to back down from a challenge. To be surrounded by so many legendary people was no small fear. Steven Strange, Storm and the X-Men themselves- They all expected something of Jim that he simply could not bring himself to give.

 Jack gently took the acorn into his hands. Even through a hand that was not fully there in the normal sense, he could feel its magic like warmth from a fire. It was unconditionally a figment of Ororo’s will. Her strength, her compassion, her power… These were all of the things that Jack resonated with. At last, he found his voice. 

 [color=6644ff]”Ny sacred pact. I’ve never known anything to be sacred… But you always did know how to convince me into something that deserved more of my dedication.”[/color] Perhaps that was why he stuck around for as long as he did as a boy, however fleeting. [color=6644ff]”It seems there truly is not way for me to avoid this further… I expected this to be a hollow endeavor. That Steven Strange’s cloak would move on from my shoulders one it found a truer candidate, and that the pieces would simply… Fall together as they always have.”[/color]

[color=6644ff]”But something is telling me that I’m wrong. I am not one to push against a change…”[/color]

He doesn’t say it out loud, but Jack made a decision. If the universe he lived in called out for help, then what was another night in Limbo? Besides, if anyone were to replace Stevie, it might as well have been someone competent.

[color=6644ff]”Ororo, I may not ever see you again. Clearly, I have places to be for the first time in years, but I don’t know if I can ever return here. I found you by mistake…”[/color] He paused, trying to find the words that would matter. [color=6644ff]”When I was there, at Charles’ mansion with all of you, I had a home and more than I could ever ask for. I never showed an ounce of gratitude for that… But know that I will never forget that time. You were all the closest thing to a family I’ve ever known.”[/color]

He held up his magical hand, and it’s surface rippled. Shapes rose up from its surface like an ocean, as a pitch black rose formed. Jack laid his hand on a patch of grass between them, and the flower rested there, planting itself in the earth. [color=6644ff]”You’ve given me something with a great meaning behind it. Let me to do the same for you. This will remain here for as long as your garden stands, as a reminder that I am out there in the universe, and that I have not forgotten you.”[/color] Ororo’s penchant for drama and being poetic rubbed off on him.