Sebastian pauses, taking a bit of time to check over what he wants to say before speaking. "Some of this is a bit out of order, because you'll need more information about how my world works before it makes sense, but the basic story is that my parents died when I was very young, they were wizards and there was a terrible war. After that, I was given to relatives that knew of magic but hated it and told me nothing about it."
"Which didn't stop my talent from cropping up in strange ways: talking to snakes, outrunning bullies, and things like that. I tried to stop, I tried anything to stop and nothing made it go away." His voice is distant, as if he's working to maintain a strong separation between events and his emotions. "One day, when I was ten, letters started to come and when my relatives didn't answer, eventually, the wizarding school sent someone to take me away and it was wonderful. I had a birthday cake."
"After that, six years of practical education. All spells were taught by rote, with latin or latin-like words, specific actions, and that was the norm. All wizards need a wand and very few can cast without one -- I could, still can," he says wryly. He might not be able to cast a variety of spells, but there is power in the one he can wield. "It was brilliant for me. I was always very poor in written work, didn't really read anything until I got older, but the hands-on was good. I didn't do well in memorizing spells or the fussy things, but for charms or defense against the dark arts, I did well. And, Merlin, I could fly to beat the best of them."
"Even in my first year, the war began again and I was fighting. It continued on, with periods of quiet and short, hidden battles for years until I was eighteen and then it was all war. There was a lot of disagreement on our side because it wasn't considered sporting or, ah, appropriate to adapt spells, but I thought it less sporting to die because the traditional counter-curse didn't always work." Sol might notice that it's easier for him to talk about war than his early childhood. "In the final days of the war, we found a way to remove the magic of their leader by tying my talent to his and ripping them both away. So, we did."
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"Which didn't stop my talent from cropping up in strange ways: talking to snakes, outrunning bullies, and things like that. I tried to stop, I tried anything to stop and nothing made it go away." His voice is distant, as if he's working to maintain a strong separation between events and his emotions. "One day, when I was ten, letters started to come and when my relatives didn't answer, eventually, the wizarding school sent someone to take me away and it was wonderful. I had a birthday cake."
"After that, six years of practical education. All spells were taught by rote, with latin or latin-like words, specific actions, and that was the norm. All wizards need a wand and very few can cast without one -- I could, still can," he says wryly. He might not be able to cast a variety of spells, but there is power in the one he can wield. "It was brilliant for me. I was always very poor in written work, didn't really read anything until I got older, but the hands-on was good. I didn't do well in memorizing spells or the fussy things, but for charms or defense against the dark arts, I did well. And, Merlin, I could fly to beat the best of them."
"Even in my first year, the war began again and I was fighting. It continued on, with periods of quiet and short, hidden battles for years until I was eighteen and then it was all war. There was a lot of disagreement on our side because it wasn't considered sporting or, ah, appropriate to adapt spells, but I thought it less sporting to die because the traditional counter-curse didn't always work." Sol might notice that it's easier for him to talk about war than his early childhood. "In the final days of the war, we found a way to remove the magic of their leader by tying my talent to his and ripping them both away. So, we did."