Pratt was always fascinated with magic, and was always on the lookout for means of actually being able to perform. He started with slight-of-hand and misdirection. During his time in univesity he met with some like-minded individuals, who shared tricks and various feats of impressive, yet mundane, illusion.

Occasionally, one of the members of their so-called Society of Mundane Magic, or the SMM for short, would present some folk tale, or snake oil that would bestow magical abilities. As long as there would be no ill effects to any of their members health, they would partake in various rituals, or consume or otherwise manipulate various sundries that would supposedly give them magic powers. They did not have any illusions that any of these would work, but they did it anyway for both fun, and as a means to fulfill the requirements for such an officially-sanctioned on-campus society.

One day though, one of the members have introduced a small subset of the group to a spellcaster named Carmen Saint-Pierre. Though she was a caster, she was not a member of the Apgarian Military, which does mandate a forced conscription of magic users in the country.