It's not my fault if I live and breathe; Eat, drink, sleep and put on clothes.

[heardmermaids]

Who: Sebastian LeMat, a collection of people from his cohort, and a few NPCs.
What: Podder gets a cake that a giant sat on?
Where: The Ankh
When: Givdi night.
Notes: Feel free to make your own threads, hop about, threadjack, etc.
Warnings: None. Yet.

As far as Sebastian is concerned, The Ankh is one of the better places to go in Baedal - accommodating staff, good food, nice ambiance, they're comfortable with Velcro and don't mind that he likes to sit at a table with clear lines of sight. While it's nothing he'll admit to, Sebastian knows that Christmas doesn't make him miss his friends and Britain quite as much as his birthday does. If pressed, he would likely say that the holidays are a celebration and a tradition, but his birthday has always been the sign of things to come, of the promise of a better year, and a reminder that change is always possible.

Comments

[inkdamage]

That trust is an afterthought to Severus - assumed. It hasn't occurred to him that it might be unusual for Sebastian (Harry) or that he might find Severus' lack of suspicion about it strange.

"He's got a few buttons that get funny, when you figure them out." His smiles are never comforting, but he seems genuinely amused at that. He slides a cigarette out of a black box, offers Sebastian one. "I wouldn't mind, if you'd like to get some air someday."

[heardmermaids]

"Brilliant." He accepts the cigarette with a nod to show his thanks. While it's not something he too often indulges in, a smoke on his birthday is hardly the worst possible thing he could be doing. "Now that I don't have the strength, I'm having to really work at altering my style."

[inkdamage]

Severus should probably cut back, but let's be honest: smoking isn't going to kill him.

"That sort of thing can take time even with strength," he admits. Sebastian has surely noticed at least in part how far off the beaten path Severus has gone with his own magic, approaching it with a kind of guerrilla intensity, with nothing held sacred. He wants all of it. "I'd hoped my counterpart had put you through the steps at some point, but judging from the state of things a few weeks back, I take it your dueling instructors were more on the polite side."

Not that, for the record, he thinks said counterpart was doing anything interesting after all - but regardless of dogma, it's difficult to have too wide of an edge on Severus Snape in that department.

[heardmermaids]

"Dueling is not an appropriate thing to teach to children. Don't you know, they could get hurt, Severus." Save the disaster with Draco and the snake, he and the other children had very little beyond a few short and very formal lessons. "Being self-taught had its drawbacks, but it did make most of us wildly unpredictable. Which was good, in a way."

[inkdamage]

The expression he makes is answer enough to the first remark. Severus knows that Dumbledore's authority was ultimately useless and very dangerous, but he himself is still young - too young to have ever seen first-hand the headmaster's means of managing the Boy Who Lived. Some part of him still doesn't grasp the full impact of just how bad it was - not out of any faith in his mentor being generous, but out of faith in him being a biased twat. Harry Potter is a Gryffindor, after all.

But that's a conversation for another day.

"It's easier to knock either side on its arse when you color outside the lines," he agrees, his tone of voice suggesting that might have been a joke. (The number of wizards and witches that Severus may have dispatched while in the service of the Dark Lord remains, as ever, a complete mystery.) "It's good, though, getting your feet back under you here."

As opposed to home sweet home, land of misery.

[heardmermaids]

And what a day that will be.

"Very much so. I'm confident that I'll return to Britain one day, but I don't want it to be any time too soon." There are moments when he's unsure that he ever should've left, but those are fleeting thoughts that he can tell are pointless and counter-productive as soon as he has them. It's not just that he wouldn't have been of use to those that remained, but that he was achingly miserable. The process of learning to value his own life has not been easy.

[inkdamage]

"That Britain isn't the center of the universe is the most important thing any witch or wizard can learn," he says - perhaps cryptically. (Does Sebastian wonder, sometimes, why Severus assumes such passive familiarity with him, despite being too young to have taught Harry at school yet? Who knows.)

"A horrid thing to talk about on your birthday, though. Hopefully someone capable of more cheer will materialize soon." Dry.

[heardmermaids]

"If we're very lucky, there may even be party hats." Isn't that what you've always wanted, Severus? A paperhat with a bit of glitter? "Although, I'm not entirely sure this is my birthday, but it's close enough that no one will begrudge me a bit of shoddy timekeeping. I don't know yours though."

From the time he left Bete Noire to his arrival in Baedal, there were a few extra weeks as he and the Malfoys traveled south and away from Britain. It was a good time.

[inkdamage]

Hell would sooner freeze.

"That's fine," he muses, of his own birthday. Something about his tone says that he has suffered a great many unwanted attempts at infusing some cheer and festivity into his life through the day, and is now permanently suspicious of the entire affair. "It's already passed."

[heardmermaids]

"Pick a date and I'll stand you a drink." It's the least he can do. "Or, if that's not for you, revel in the fact that you've got me owing you one for as long as you'd like."

[inkdamage]

"Considering my inability to hold more than a suggestion of alcohol, I'll opt to lord something over you from afar." That sounds almost like he's making a joke again! Good heavens. It's also an interesting admission, though perhaps the knowledge that Professor Snape is a cheap date isn't anything anyone wants to have.