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IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Eliot Waugh
Canon: The Magicians (TV)
Canon Point: Post- Season 4, Episode 5 "Escape From The Happy Place"

In-Game Tattoo Placement: on the right side of his neck
Current Health/Status: Eliot's mind has sort of, more or less, been separated from his body. Mentally, he's all good to go, but his body is suffering mild withdrawal symptoms from alcohol and drugs.
Age: 28
Species: Human.

History: The Magicians and Eliot.


Personality:

Upon first impressions, Eliot is a bit extra. When he enters a room he is immediately the centre of it, something he goes out of his way to make sure of, and there's something particularly peacocky about him. It's not just his manner of dress, which is always immacutely tailored, or his flair for the dramatics, but his flippant attitude that aides Eliot's air of self-importance. He's detached and aloof from most things going on around him, including his studies. Eliot, by his own admission, doesn't really try. He says on several occasions that he either failed classes or used sources such as wikipedia and Spark Notes, and has many "all beauty, no brains" moments. Still, somehow effortlessly, he's quite successful at things, and it's clear that he knows this.

A quintessential Mean Girl, Eliot revels in being both loved and hated. He is always quick with a humourous quip or a biting remark, nor is he afraid to be blunt when necessary. He can be quite blunt, too, sometimes coming off as vulgar. Eliot would rather tell someone a harsh truth, whether to hurt them or to smarten them up, than sugar coat facts. He takes a lot of pride in being able to throw a good party (he carries around an Instant Party in a ball), which helps to compound his outwardly nonchalant demeaner. Actually, partying might be just about the only thing Eliot seems to care about. Upon his arrival at Brakebills University, his discipline as a whole suffered a loss in the collective GPA, and you can bet that he's very proud of that.

What most people won't ever get to know, though, is that most of what Eliot presents to the world is (mostly) just a front. For as comfortable as he is in his own skin, he is also incredibly aware of himself - that is, he knows he's got a lot of issues, and while he acknowledges them, he's not sure how to deal with them. This manifests itself in several ways. Eliot suffers from very obvious and very severe dependency issues. His alcoholism goes beyond his Life Of The Party persona, as it's his preferred way to bury his emotions (he carries around a flask that's been enchanted to never go empty). Eliot enjoys that drinking, along with the occasional drug use, means he can blame his choices on the booze. He also enjoys the numbness that alcohol offers. Eliot is described as an addict by others in the show for a reason, and this isn't just limited to substance abuse.

Another major dependency Eliot has is on people. His childhood was largely unloving and unsupportive, so it's no surprise that Eliot does his best to keep people at arm's length despite his desire to let them in. He admits that he gets attached easily and that he tries not to, because, as he says, "things aren't usually worth caring about." His fear of committment comes from a fear of feeling he'll inevitably mess up a good thing. When Eliot decides to open up to a person, they become a crutch for him. Eliot seeks out strength in them along with approval. He finds a large degree of his self worth in what these chosen few see in him, and despite always anticipating being let down, the loss of this trust creates a massive spiral. It's a viscious sort of cycle that results in him once again losing himself in drugs and alcohol until something new comes along to boost him out of it.

His extreme emotional reactions stem from Eliot being a master of compartmentalization. Just like he uses a good drink to put a stopper on feelings, he's quick to brush things off in a dry and somewhat cynical manner. There are several indications that Eliot wouldn't even feel bad if he were to die, and it's this lack of real self-esteem combined with his casual indifference that causes things to build to their breaking point.

Eliot is a better person that he will ever give himself credit for. To begin with, he's actually quite intelligent. Not in a way that he could be called smart, but in an intuitive way - Eliot naturally picks up on difficult magic and is quick to come up with solutions to bizarre problems. When faced with tasks or quests, he displays a degree of bravery that usually wouldn't be assoacited with him. He doesn't blink at the idea of spending a life time away from what he knows if it means (sort of) saving the world, and he faces what should be his death with a resigned dignity. It's this bravery that also empowers Eliot to be vulnerable when he needs to be.

For a man who claims there's nothing worth caring about, Eliot has a large capacity for empathy. In the same vein as his intuitiveness, he has a knack for being able to put people at ease. Sometimes, it's simply about a well placed (and maybe self depricating) joke, but then there are times where Eliot will expose something raw and personal about himself. He takes a lot of pleasure in simpler things, almost thriving during moments of calm when he doesn't have to pretend to be anything to impress people. There's a softness that comes out when no one else is watching. It's a far cry from the detached and mindless Eliot presented to the world, and that's what makes them poignant moments. When combining this caring streak with his tendancies to bravery, Eliot can be remarkably selfless, putting those he cares about before himself. From the extreme to killing someone he loved to save his friends to something as simple as championing their victories at the expense of a loss to him, it's clear that Eliot possesses a lot of goodness in himself that he might never acknowledge.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: As his magic foundation, Eliot can do spells the majority of his peers can (see Josh and Quentin). Unlike a lot of popular magic fiction, this isn't something you can wave a wand over and say the right words. Eliot's magic is dependent largely on a series of elaborate hand gestures that need to be practically perfect to achieve the desired effect. It does mean, however, he can do extremely mundane tasks such as hammer nails without a hammer, or slightly more useful castings to peer through veils to see things like magical wards and disguises. For the most part, despite a spell seeming to exist for almost everything, Eliot doesn't use his magic flippantly.

On a more advanced level of magic, there are times when Eliot doesn't need to fuss with hand gesutres and words. His intentions and focus when it comes to spell casting seem to be able to do the brunt of work for him, especially in high stakes situations. On one occasion, it was easy for Eliot to summon an apparent energy source in his hand to intimidate someone, and another he was able to perform and control a spell that ended someone's life (whether this was an example of very hard to master Battle Magic, his disicipline coming through, or a combination of both is up for debate). Eliot also participated in a crash course of Battle Magic and understands fundementally how to harnass that power. The common issues that arise in more difficult areas of magic that Eliot attempts are the levels of emotional control required for flawless execution. In his case, the response is usually a fight-or-flight type of reflex that allows him these moments of mental clarity.

Eliot's school of magic is physical magic, with his discipline falling under telekinesis. At his basic, natural ability, he can manipulate things that already exist or create new things (all of his little magic side projects come back to the idea of creating something - for example, a portable party in a ball, creating a portal to a pub in another country, or magical gin distilling). As for his telekinetic ability, it manifests primarily during difficult emotional circumstances. Save for the one instance where he openly spoke about first noticing it in his teenage years, this is a part of Eliot's powers that remains relatively unseen and unused. In the setting of the game, this aspect of Eliot's abilities will generally follow the warping suggested for telekinetics, in that should it happen, it will either happen in flickers of smaller instances or leave a physical toll on Eliot in the wake of something major. His general magic also flickering on and off is something touched on in a TDM thread.

The idea that magic comes from pain is a common thread in his canon, and with everything that Eliot keeps bottled up inside of him, it's not hard to understand why he may be more adept at this brand of magic, and why different levels of difficulty and power appear dependent on the situation at the time.

Inventory:

1. a pack of Merit Ultra Light menthol cigarettes

2. eyeliner pencil

3. enchanted flask

4. a bag containing a Welters uniform

5. an outfit: button-up shirt, vest, tie, trousers, belt, square toed shoes, and a long tan coloured coat.

6. a crown of a king of Fillory

Writing Samples: Sample 1 and Sample 2

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Lausanne
Player Age: 29
Player Contact: fritzwinky

Other Characters In Game: Danny Rand
In-Game Tag If Accepted: eliot waugh: lausanne
Permissions for Character: Right here.
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes, this isn't a problem.
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: I enjoy the mystery of a good thriller, and not being able to see the obvious outcome. The sense of danger and the unknown is what I find effective. I'm the same with horror. I don't really get behind horror that relies on gore or jump scares. It's what you don't see or know that creates the scare.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Anything with self-harm/self-mutilation (such as wrist cutting, scratching skin to bleeding, etc.), and rape.
Additional Information: Nope.