“Well, well. If it isn’t Eli Fawcett. Rough night? You look like shit.” Iolanthe chuckled as she saw the state he was in.
“Anyways, I have a question for you, if you would be so kind. What does magic mean to you? You’ve picked a career in the muggle world so you must not practice it much, unlike myself,” she gestured to the air without a wand and a couple small balls of light illuminated the dark room, gently floating and orbiting each other.
[Cue a big, cheesy, cocky grin.]
Eli: “(cheerfully) Morning, Lanny! I do, don’t I?”
Damn it, my head hurts…maybe if I just spike this pear juice with the tiniest bit of gin, it’ll take the edge off…
Eli: “(still grinning) But hey, at least at the premiere, I didn’t have to eat any. Something I can’t say, for all the critics present…”
“Only an absolute imbecile would try to cast ‘Funnyman Fawcett’ as a leading man” — eat those shitty words of yours and enjoy it, you chatter-mags…
[Eli takes another bite of egg toast, considering the question.]
Eli: “…Magic’s smashing. But it’s a talent, just like any other — something some people have potential for, and nurture, and profit off of…while others don’t. It’s just like acting, or dancing, or singing, or playing the piano…or anything else, really.”
[His hazel eyes actually become a little smaller.]
Eli: “…The only problem is that a lot of people see our talent as something more: as something indicative of higher worth. Something that makes us better than other people, somehow. And yet even then, we’re only truly great if we use that talent in very particular ways and under certain guidelines that only those in power have much of any say in…”
[Eli reaches into his bathrobe pocket and fetches out his wand, waving it at the window so as to silently close the curtains and darken the room.]
Eli: “When I came to the States looking for work without my family name and reputation being a chip I could ‘cash in’ to get ahead, it wasn’t my magic that helped me earn enough to feed myself. It certainly helps, don’t get me wrong — but it’s the talents I’ve acquired through working alongside incredibly talented Muggles — pardon, No-Majs — ”
I will never get used to that word.
Eli: “ — that have helped me give back and do some real good for people…however small and significant it probably is, in the grand scheme.”
Eli: “But hey, aren’t we all that, anyhow?”
[Rather than sound cynical, though, Eli only seems to sound sunnier than ever, saying it.]
If we’re all insignificant, then what must that say about all our pain, misfortunes, unhappiness?