Billy was always getting into fights as a kid. He never really fit in with others, and bullies tended to love kids like Billy. Billy quickly learned to give as good as he got, and it toughened him up considerably.
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Billy was 15 the first time he learned magic was real.
He was sitting in the living room of Howard, the old guy who ran DnD for a bunch of the kids in the neighborhood on Saturdays.
Howard was this old hippy, nerdy guy who seemed to know everything; to a bunch of pre-teens, he seemed like a wizard in real life.
Howard used to talk about the game as if it was rule, or how spellcasting worked was real, at any rate. Howard, it turned out, was one of the players that helped create DnD, although he had to play infrequently because of life responsibilities.
Howard did however, claim that he wrote the rules for magic himself.
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It was a long fight the group was having the table. The enemies were coming in waves, and the creatures were getting bigger with each wave, with the last waves being giants.
The giants were massive miniatures on the table, and soon all of the available space on the table was taken by miniatures.
One of the players leaned to heavily on the table edge in the excitement, and managed to tip it. Players on the other side quickly counterbalanced the table on the other side, and everything was quickly restored.
Not, however, before Billy noticed that Howard had caused the miniature to hover above his hand for a good 30 seconds before catching it.
After the game, Billy asked Howard about what he saw. After denying it for a while, Howard eventually admitted that he was, in fact, a wizard.
That was the start of Billy's apprenticeship.
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After several years of training, Billy (now Bill) set out for college. After college Bill decided that he wanted to become a police officer, but after washing out of the police academy he decided to become a PI instead. He also moved out to Salt Lake City to live with a lady he had met online. While the relationship didn't work out, he liked the city enough to settle here.
Bill never talked to anyone about his ability to use magic, but one night a Shadowkind showed up at his door; an Elf who noted the protections around Bill's house and wanted the protection of a mage.
It was during this case that Bill first met officers from Department 7. They worked together to help Bill's client, and several others, who had just crossed over to Earth that were being hunted by someone looking to sell their body parts.
Once the issue was resolved, Department 7 offered Bill a job. Bill declined, but did offer to work as a consultant for Department 7.
