Seba Kosciusko (full name: Sebastián Demetrio Kosciusko-Galván) was born and raised mostly on the outskirts of the hilly northeastern Argentine city of Eldorado, overlooking the Paraná toward Paraguay and surrounded by the rich vegetation of the Misiones jungle. The second of five children, most of his young life was spent in relative poverty. His father, a black-crowned night heron of Polish stock whose ancestors crossed the Atlantic about eighty years before, worked as a bricklayer, painter, and even as a fisherman at various points during his childhood. His mother, a keel-billed toucan from Oberá -the nearby city where she met Seba's father, known for its verdure atop orange-soiled hills- sometimes took on odd jobs to feed the family.

In between too-infrequent meals and classes, Seba would play with his siblings and neighborhood children in soccer games on the local field; despite fútbol being the preferred sport of the neighborhood, he also discovered that he had a propensity for básquet. While he had decent enough agility on the field, he could never develop the power or coordination to direct or dribble the soccer ball. With his hands, however, he had more than sufficient skill to shoot, block, and dribble - of another sort, of course.

After saving for a time, he and his family were able to get him accepted into a local athletic club, where his skills soon surpassed his peers'. Both Seba and his parents saw in his abilities something more than a hobby: it was a potential escape from the family's chronic economic woes, and they would invest in it.

Shortly after he turned 14, a local labor shortage and better prospects for the family led them to leave Eldorado for the provincial capital, Posadas. Taking up residence in a much larger city was difficult socially, but Seba's sport life shot forward when he was taken on by the prestigious Club Sokol, a springboard from which he was able to participate in regional and even national tournaments with those his age. While he discovered that his best talents did not lie in the flashy realm of point-scoring guards, his teammates slowly realized that on top of his above-average rebounds, Seba had an uncanny ability to limit the opposing team's capacity to score. Whenever Seba had to sit out, even though the team did just about as well as it would normally, its opponents were more likely to match or exceed their performance. Some assumed that the team from Club Sokol was merely lucky, but the rumor began that one of the campesinos had made a bargain with a demon to rig games in their favor. A devout Catholic, Seba tried to quash the rumors, but his opposition merely fueled the speculation and attributed the supernatural hijinks to the unamused toucan. Some even considered making pacts themselves when Seba got selected as one of the best young basketballers in Argentina.

Beyond basketball, Seba also had another goal: attend college, if possible in the United States. Not only might basketball help with his admission and pay for his education there, but time in America -whether from his degree, a career obtained there, or even professional sports- would provide him and his family both notoriety and financial stability. To this end, he held his beak to the grindstone throughout secondary school; when he wasn't sweating his feathers off on the court he was immersed in his studies, especially English. Even though he was never the most brilliant student, his determination was exemplary.

In the end, he was able to land a basketball scholarship at El Alado College, a Southern California school dedicated to avian excellence with a large international contingent in its student body. Having been recruited for the basketball team, he immediately began preparing on arrival, surprised by the quality of the college's training facilities and the nonchalance of many of his teammates. When his teammates heard about his place of origin, they nicknamed him the "King of Eldorado" - an epithet which, at first to Seba's consternation and later to his amusement, stuck.

One benefit of El Alado, furthermore, was that Seba's older cousin Danny Almirón, whose parents had moved to California from Argentina when Danny was very young, was also in school there. Danny, in his senior year when Seba began, lived close enough to El Alado that after fulfilling his year at the dorms, Seba was able to move into Danny's apartment, whence he would leave early every morning and return late at night. Classes, homework, practice, and a part-time job to pay for expenses beyond tuition and to help out his family occupied nearly all of his time, and Danny rarely saw him outside of his bed or a textbook on organic chemistry or immunology.

Even though they were of a feather (their mothers were sisters), flocking together proved a challenge. Seba's hard-nosed frugality and experience of poverty gave him a sober outlook that clashed with his cousin's laid-back, contented manner, which Seba attributed to a spoiled American childhood. Danny attempted to bridge the gap by attending some of Seba's games, but this somewhat backfired, as it was seen as a reminder of his leisure time. He proposed working out with Seba, but Seba's studies and Danny's work in the admissions office meant that they could never coincide. Seba never had time or interest, either, in the games of touch American football Danny enjoyed so much.

While he had prepared for a medical career -something he could do either in America or Argentina- Seba decided partway through his college career to seriously attempt for a spot in Furry Basketball Association draft in 2014. He carefully balanced his skills, keeping an eye on his competitors from around the world to best leverage his own strengths. He did not care about the stardom that would come with professional sports; for Seba, the attempt at the FBA Draft would be the dream of the young bird in Eldorado, watching grainy footage of his heroes and trying to replicate their moves on the court down the street. Though unwarranted feelings of insufficiency sometimes overtook him, he had resolved that he would try it, and he worked tirelessly for his new goal.

His work paid off when he was selected as player of the year at El Alado in addition to being team captain. Though his team had originally confused his quietness for misanthropy, they came to appreciate his keen analytical mind, capacity for organization, and dogged determination. Furthermore, though his school was often overlooked in college basketball commentary, during his time the El Alado Phoenixes rose from the metaphorical ashes to their first winning seasons in years. Recognizing Seba's contributions to this turnaround, El Alado's league selected him as one of their all-star players.

With only the draft and graduation lying between him and the rest of his life, Seba hopes for both the realization of his childhood daydreams -now in reach- of playing the sport he loves as a career and helping repay with gratitude his family's constant support of his efforts.

---

Possible FBA draft candidate for next year. Drawn in about 1.5 hours this morning on a whim. XD