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Special talents come from the ability to tap into a force, an energy, that is part of the universe presented here. Normal people can't sense it but deviants with the talent can. Some people believe that all deviants have the talent but only some learn to tap into and direct it or that various talents are so innocuous as to be unnoticeable. This point is heavily debated.

All special talents involve sensing and drawing from this energy and focusing it. How it gets focused and finally manifests depends on the wielder. Just as some people have an innate knack and interest for playing a musical instrument, drawing, writing, math or medicine so too do they have a sense of what to do with the energy. If someone's talent is the ability to cause something to burst into flames further study will only yield greater understanding and control with that skill. The deviant isn't able to decide fire is too dangerous and try to channel the energy another way. Try as they might they will never be anything other than a fire-starter. They could learn how it's controlled and simply never use it but they can't bend it to another talent.

There are different ways deviants can sense and focus the energy. Some use their emotions, others meditative mantras, music, gestures and more. Most deviants are forced to learn by little more than trial and error unless they are lucky enough to have contact with an experienced deviant to help them. Even then practice can be a dangerous proposition depending on the talent involved. Let's imagine a person named John. John's first manifestion is that his steering wheel sets on fire while driving down the road. Assuming he survives he'd be left wondering what caused it. He might wonder, "Was it because I was thinking about that sexy person at my school at the time? Was it the song on the radio? Was it the guy that cut me off just before it happened?" People don't necessarily come to the right conclusions. Without the safe opportunity to test possibilities and a resource to guide them a person might spend a lifetime avoiding sexual thoughts for fear of starting another fire when really it was the focused intent that the situation brought to the fore. This could be especially true if John was raised in an environment where deviance is considered evil and lust a sin. The poor person in question might be so confused they'd be afraid to even think sexy thoughts lest they cause their willie to burst into flames as divine punishment.

Eric's case is unique. He lost one talent and gained another. The basic principles are the same but the manifestation is different. Imagine poor John again. John has several hundred thousand miles of driving experience in the United States. John wakes up one day to discover that as impossible as it may be all the cars and roads in the U.S. are flipped to the left, as in Great Britain and Japan, and everyone else doesn't even notice and is acting like nothing happened. He might even walk up, open the door and sit down in the wrong side of the car and, as such, not be able to go anywhere. It would be disorienting at first but it wouldn't take too long to figure out that he needs to get in the other side of the car and learn to shift gears with his left hand and drive on the other side of the road. He's bound to be slow and careful at first and to make an occasional mistake but would rapidly pick it up as he has already had so much driving experience on the other side. Eric's been so busy since he became Roger he hasn't had much opportunity to practice. However, things will settle down soon enough and it's only a matter of time before he reaches for the controls in his new car.