Jack Sollo

From Last Heaven

Contents 1 Information 1.1 → stats 1.2 → in-depth 1.2.1 personality 1.2.2 background 2 Social 2.1 → relationships 2.1.1 family 2.1.2 friends 2.1.3 other 3 Miscellaneous 3.1 → random facts

jack SOLLO
always stays the same, nothing ever changes

and i can't sleep
without your breathing
and i can't breathe
each time you’re leaving
and i’ll pray
you won't stay away
that you'll come back
to me someday

Information

→ stats

• Name: Jack Sollo.
• Nickname(s): Jay, Soyo, Mr. Sollo.
• Date of Birth: 16 July 1957.
• Age: 51.
• Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual.
• Height: 1.85m (6‚11„).
• Weight: 81kg (180lbs).
• Hair Colour: Grey.
• Eye Colour: Hazel.
• Spoken Language(s): English (Native), Spanish (Fluent), Latin (Fluent), German (Fluent), Greek (Passable).
• Image Song(s): English Summer Rain by Placebo.

→ in-depth

personality

First thing’s first: Jack has a very domineering personality. He won’t accept anyone attempting to overshadow him in anyway, preferring to lead as opposed to following. People aren’t really his forte, if that much wasn’t obvious, but he understands them better than one might think. While he might not be outwardly compassionate and more inclined to be aggressive when correcting someone, Jack never the less cares about the ultimate fate in the world and believes very firmly that it is his lot in life to ensure it doesn’t get sucked into Hell. Or at least try to, anyway.

As cynical and snarky and generally mean-spirited as Jack can be, there are times when he can be just a lovable old dude. Of course, this may involve Jack Daniels, but there have been some cases in which no alcohol has been present and he still managed to cease his normal cynicism in order to provide real console to someone he cares for. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes Jack will offer some words of wisdom – and not just his snarky “wisdom” he dishes out to snot-faced punks, but his own brand of personal experience-wisdom.

To top it all off, Jack has a tendency to be very protective over people he actually likes. Once you’re in his circle of care, you’ll probably never get out and he’ll probably never let anyone hurt you. It’s one of those situations where it’s both a bad thing and a damn good thing, because having Jack Sollo mark you as a douche bag in his book of douche baggery isn’t something you’d really want, to be quite honest.

background

There’s nothing spectacular about Jack’s early life. He was born to a farmer and his young wife as the first of eight children, quickly learning that enjoying childhood wasn’t really much of an option in the middle of nowhere. In spite of the hardships the Sollo family was faced with, they always somehow managed to pull through and make the best of what they had, and it was in that little house where everyone was cramped together that Jack learned the most important lessons of his life – starting with patience.

Being the oldest of eight children made life a bit more interesting than Jack generally likes. With his oldest younger sibling being a mere year apart from him, it seemed as if it were up to the two boys to look after their younger brothers and sisters. Though the house was packed and hand-me-downs were the best that his siblings received in terms of clothing and toys, it was filled to the brim with love and devotion, perhaps to make up for the lack of contact they had with people outside their family. The idea and practise of isolation never truly bothered Jack, to be quite honest, and he was perfectly content on the little farm they all shared.

It would be years before Jack would learn why his family had been so far removed from the world. Thirteen, to be exact, and it was at this age that both his parents and younger brother, William, were brutally murdered by several men who called themselves “vampires.” Due to the fact that William had insisted that Jack take their siblings and run away while he went to fetch their mother, it is because of this that Jack blames himself vehemently for their deaths. Had he gone, he decided, he was sure to have done a better job at saving his family. Instead, Jack managed to make it to the storm cellar with his other seven siblings and hold off the vampires until daylight.

Traumatisation and the pain of losing loved ones would have to wait for Jack, however. He had many more things to do before he could allow himself a moment of emotional recollection. Getting his younger siblings, a couple of which being mere toddlers, to the closest town was a rough and incredibly trying journey. He had never driven his father’s truck before in his life, but it was on this day that he decided to do his best for the sake of his remaining family. It would take the small brood the entirety of a day to reach the closest town, the journey very nearly putting them in danger a second time against the same creatures what murdered their parents.

It took no more than three days for the family to be relocated from the police station to their closest living relative – Uncle Martín. Among his nieces and nephews, Martín took the most interest in Jack, perhaps out of concern for the boy’s mental health. Not once since their arrival in their uncle’s home had he expressed much emotion, always remaining stoic and rarely even so much as smiling. Martín at first assumed it was his own way in dealing with grief, and thus left him to do whatever it was he felt best. But nearly three months had gone by since the unsolvable murder of their parents, and still Martín had seen no difference in Jack’s behaviour. He was by no means a juvenile delinquent, but his lack of even the most base of emotions was more than unsettling.

So it was shortly after Jack’s fourteenth birthday that he began to see a child psychologist – an older man by the name of James Blackwood. While Jack resisted his help for nearly a year, Dr. Blackwood never once gave into his refusal to cooperate with the sessions. When Jack wouldn’t speak, Dr. Blackwood would simply talk for him, or even bring his dog, Frank, in for a visit now and again. It was through his patience and persistence that Jack finally broke and was able to speak about the past that he had tried so hard to bury. What had happened to him had indeed affected him more deeply than even he himself could’ve imagined, and to that day he blamed himself for their deaths. Had he been brave enough to go after their mother, he had explained, perhaps they would be alive now. He was the oldest brother, after all – why had he been so afraid when his younger brother had not?

But Dr. Blackwood didn’t allow that type of thinking in his office, and made it perfectly clear to Jack that had he not done what he did, he would’ve lost so much more than his parents and brother. “Sometimes one must lose something good in order to gain something even better,” Dr. Blackwood had said during one of their sessions, and those words stuck with Jack to this day.

Several years would pass and Jack had made incredible progress, from being an apathetic teenager to a relatively normal guy who just happened to be incredibly mature for his young age. He focused more on his studies and worked his damnedest to ensure he passed every class with nothing less than a “B”. It was before he even considered entering a university that the Watcher’s Council confronted him with the offer to train him so he, too, could become a Watcher like his late father. Perhaps a part of him was driven by the idea of seeking revenge on the beings that destroyed his family, but no matter what his reasons were, Jack began his training with vigilance and vigour that rivalled even the most enthusiastic of Watchers.

Years would pass and whatever contact Jack had kept with his siblings and uncle dwindled as time went by. One of the few people he made sure to keep in touch with had been his previous therapist, Dr. Blackwood, and he would continue to do so even after he met and fell in love with his future wife during a “trip” to Mexico. Esperanza was everything that Jack was not, and yet still he found himself smitten with the young Mexican woman. The two of them returned to America after only a few short weeks of casual dating, and before long they were married and expecting their first child.

And yet even now in his adult years, there was still more grief that he would be forced to confront. After months of growing anticipation and excitement for the new addition to their little family, the two of them were met with a very unexpected, very cruel twist of fate. Mark, the name they had chosen for their unborn son, was a stillbirth – something that caused both Esperanza and Jack a great deal of pain. Their marriage was shaken by the event, the two of them needing more than just a little bit of time to themselves so they could regather their feelings.

By the time the two of them had come to terms with their loss, things with Jack’s Watcher duties was getting very serious. With the whole End of the World thing happening every other damn day, it didn’t seem as if he’d be getting much of a break in the years to come. It didn’t really help that Slayers seemed to be popping up left and right and, to tell the truth, Jack was pretty sure the world was biting off more than it could chew with its number of Slayers appearing out of seemingly nowhere. While the world nearly ended for the jillionth time, Jack was hardly bothered by the idea because, frankly, what was it he was supposed to do anyway? It wasn’t until recently that he had a reason to care, and that reason came in the highly elusive form of Oliver Gonmole…

Social

→ relationships

family

• Carlos Sollo — Father, deceased.
• Elizabeth Sollo — Mother, deceased.
• Martín Sollo — Uncle, deceased.
• William Sollo — Younger Brother, deceased.
• Emily Joyner — Younger Sister, alive.
• Katherine Kern — Younger Sister, alive.
• Abraham Sollo — Younger Brother, alive.
• Anthony Sollo — Younger Brother, deceased.
• Daniel Sollo — Younger Brother, alive.
• Jonathan Sollo — Younger Brother, alive.
• Keith Sollo — Youngest Brother, alive.

---

• Esperanza Sollo — Wife, alive.
• Mark Sollo — Son, deceased.

friends

• James Blackwood — Former therapist and best friend forever, James has been Jack’s only friend for years now. The two of them keep in constant contact with one another, often times informing one another about some things they may not be able to share with other people. James is the only person other than Esperanza who actually knows about his duties as a Watcher, and therefore one of the only people he cares for.

other

• Oliver Gonmole — Very speedy young girl he’s supposed to be Watcher to. Jack simply cannot catch up to her.

Miscellaneous

→ random facts

• Most people see Jack as the type to sit around with a cigar and glass of some expensive alcohol on a Friday night, but they’d be wrong. He doesn’t drink or smoke, and Friday nights are poker nights with a group of men he pretends he likes more than he really does.