"When I was a young man...probably around your age, I'd imagine." Strange pauses for a moment to look a bit wistfully in the distance. This is honestly the most relaxed he's looked since the conversation started. That last trace of grumpiness is starting to fall from his face as his smug smile turns to something a bit gentle. "I came into my magic around six months or so before the Severing—and honestly, I'm thankful I got to experience that world even for just a little bit. Magic was different back then."

Truth be told, the more he thinks about it, the more Strange realizes that he has no idea just how different magic was before the Severing compared to after. But it must have been different, right? The realm of faerie right there, mages able to draw from that supply of magic as well as those inherent on Earth. It must have been...easier, or something. He's only forty, he can't be going senile already, but considering that Strange has had the year from hell recently, it only makes sense that his memory was a little stressed.