Sebastian Kondraki

Childhood

Sebastian’s early life was not pleasant, to the point of severe trauma they now rarely, if ever, mention. The punching bag/scapegoat of an abusive family, all Seb knew was a cycle of physical pain, emotional devastation, and pretend love to keep them roped in. No one cared to help them; even the relatives who didn’t outright hurt them stood aside as others did so instead. Family became synonymous with hurt in their young mind. Sebastian learned to hate themself-they learned to think of themself as unwanted, a useless burden of a child. When the time eventually came that they were adopted by Dimitri Kondraki, their parents threw them away without even attempting to fight back.

Being removed from their abusive household did not magically fix their life, nor their mental state; not only was the damage done, the trauma of separation and adoption further burdened Sebastian. It was because of this situation that the important ‘rules’ of their new life were later established: the main one being that they did not have to see Dimitri as family or as a father, nor did they owe him anything. Seb was given their strict boundaries without any sort of struggle. They weren’t held back from being hurt, or angry, or even hateful towards their new guardian. Dimitri had been adopted himself as a child, and remembered the pain of losing his biological family along with his first home. He refused to let Sebastian suffer the same way he had, and thus never pushed them. The kid was fragile, and needed not just love, but both respect and space.

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Over the years, Sebastian has grown close with their guardian, and has even recently started to refer to him consistently as ‘dad’. Because he didn’t force them, they chose themself when the time was right to see him as a paternal figure, and so the trust between the two is all but ironclad. They lived for years in Johto-Seb hadn’t been ready for the emotional burden of moving for a long time-but have recently moved to Paldea, so that Sebastian can attend school there. In a twist of fate, it’s here that Dimitri meets very old friends from centuries ago, somehow reborn in the universe they once left. Despite his own, still mysterious immortality, it’s a shock to both father and child; he reconnects quickly with them, but Sebastian is less enthusiastic. Though they eventually warm up to their dad’s friends, they can’t help but feel that old, intense fear of abandonment, as if they won’t be necessary now that Dimitri has other people he loves.

Sebastian does, however, befriend the child adopted by their father’s old friends, and becomes close friends with him. Despite some rocky patches brought on by the past shared between their parents, this holds true; Sephy is very important to them. Throughout the story of Scarlet/Violet, they also get drawn into the canonical friend group (Nemona, Penny, Arven), and are currently still besties with everyone. They’re closest with Arven, though, having spent the most time with him via the Path of Legends. The two are very rarely seen apart whether they’re at school or not, and have very recently started dating; this is technically a secret, but pretty much everyone with even the slightest observational skills knows about it. Tl;dr: Sebastian finally has love and happiness. Whatever could go wrong?