Empatheias Application

[spectacularlyhighking]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Laurel
Contact: personal journal and Plurk are both eternalferret
Age: 32
Current Characters: Deadpool


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Eliot Waugh
Age: 24
Canon: The Magicians
Canon Point:  After Season 2 Episode 3

Background:

Wiki link here

At his chosen canon point he's been proclaimed High King of Fillory, gotten married, and found out he can no longer leave or be with anyone else. They've killed the Beast, one of his friends is dead, one is horribly wounded, and one has lost the ability to use his hands or do magic. Everything sucks.

Personality:

Eliot is a tough nut to crack. He has layers upon layers of walls surrounding a very squishy interior. Many of those walls were built up out of necessity during his adolescence, others were built up out of a desire to hide several truths about himself. He doesn't let many people get close enough to see through the bullshit, but when he does he can be a fiercely loyal friend.

Eliot says that the best and largest creative project in his life has been himself. Only one of his friends knows the truth about him and even that is only because of an initiation ritual that required him to bare his deepest truth to her. Born to very religious farmers in Indiana, his childhood wasn't what one would call ideal. Especially when he discovered he enjoyed the company of both men and women. As such, as soon as he left home he began carefully crafting the mysterious image he portrays today. No one knows where he's from, many think he's from some exotic location or that he summers with the Kennedys and that's the way he likes it. He affects a slight accent and puts on airs of superiority and gravitas. He dresses to the nines, often in a waistcoat with an intricately tied tie or cravat. Often seen with a drink and/or cigarette in his hand, he isn't just the life of the party - he is the party, and he isn't about to let anyone forget that.

In the beginning of the series he's almost a Cheshire Cat-like character. He's often seen sprawling on walls or in chairs, ready to languidly give advice to the underclassmen he's decided to adopt (mostly Quentin Coldwater, but he apparently comes as a matched set with Alice Quinn). He never seems to go to class and cares more about his signature cocktails, the parties at the Physical Cabin, and getting laid than academics. Despite this, he does appear to enjoy being a mentor to the few lucky newbies to the school he's deigned to accept into his social circle. No matter how much of a partier he is, though, when things need to get done he has no problem stepping to the plate and taking care of business. When he discovered a book had gone missing from the Physical library he grabbed Quentin for backup and went on the hunt, fearlessly walking into a den of Hedge Witches to retrieve the book. Badass, with a healthy dose of sass.

As the series progresses, however, that partying attitude begins to fade as shit gets real on campus. People are dying, his boyfriend was possessed, and it's only a matter of time until he's next. He's not properly equipped to deal with everything, so instead of dealing with it he turns to drugs and alcohol to run away. Instead of consuming just enough to enjoy the party and get a good buzz, he begins consuming enough that his friends start to express concern for his behavior. His desire to run pushes him to join Quentin on a quest to defeat The Beast. It literally brings him to a different world and away from his problems. It gives him something bigger to focus on instead of how his carefully crafted life is slowly circling the drain. It shows that when things get too bad for him to cope with them, he alters his mental state enough that he doesn't have to. He'd rather drug himself to the point that he's not sure if his eyes are even open than deal with the problems at hand. He also has difficulties talking to people about his problems, even the one person he's closer to than anyone else in the world - Margo. She tries to get him to talk to her, but he avoids it at every turn. Emotions are not something he deals with well. If he can't stuff them down, himself, he uses chemicals to force them down.

When things got truly bad he also turned to self destructive behavior. He ran off with Quentin and Alice on an adventure without even knowing what they were doing. He agreed to join another one because he heard the word "illegal." If the booze and drugs weren't enough, he throws himself into danger and the unknown because of a desire to run away... and boredom. A bored Eliot is a busy Eliot. He can be a very productive man when he's bored... but it can also lead him to do some dumb shit. Boredom is something to be avoided at all costs.

Despite all of his character flaws, however, when the chips are down, he's quick to step up and save the day. In Fillory, he's identified as the High King and finds out he'll have to marry a girl he's never met in order to get the knife needed to kill the Beast. Instead of running away, as he usually does, he agrees to do it. He not only sees this as a chance to do the right thing and help save... everything... but as a chance to change his life. He finally admits to Margo that he's miserable back home. He sees a chance to save his life, as well as magic itself. It's not until later that he realizes that he's taken one for the team at the tune of the rest of his life, and that scares the shit out of him. He doesn't know how to be a king, he barely knows how to be an adult. He's frightened and desperately trying not to show it to those he cares the most about. But his determination to be the best at everything he does, and his talent at reinventing himself, keep him moving forward.

Abilities:

Magic: Eliot is a trained magician. He's been at Brakebills for several years honing his craft. His primary focus is in physical magic - the manipulation of matter. The depth of his knowledge is not really known since he's not shown doing magic quite as often as some of the other characters. One important item of note, however - Brakebills has rules against teaching "Battle Magic" so he is not versed in many offensive spells. The most violent spell he's seen using is one which he uses to break his possessed boyfriend's neck after they murdered someone. He did learn some Battle Magic in preparation for a showdown with The Beast, but it requires him to separate himself from his emotions - something he's not often able to do, especially in stressful situations. Some of the more complicated spells need material components to complete them, so that will limit their use. By and large, he uses magic for his own personal gain (i.e. charming a flask so it never empties], unless he needs to. Most magic is performed using verbal spells and/or hand gestures.  More information on magic can be found here

One spell I will be setting up a permissions post for is one that can be used to see through illusions or see wards or spells that have been placed on objects or people. He wouldn't use it unless he believes there is a reason to, but I will put up a permissions post about it so people can say what he could or could not see with it.

Telekinesis: In addition to being a skilled magician, Eliot is also telekinetic. He discovered this when he was a teenager, when a bully who was chasing him flew into the path of an oncoming bus. Again, he mostly uses this for personal gain or to show off, usually in conjunction with other magic.

Alignment: Daimonia. At his given canon point he's got a lot to grieve for - one of his friends has died, he's stuck in a strange world, he can no longer party and sleep around like he used to... Of all the emotional alignments, that's the one that sticks out the most. There is joy in his life, too, he just needs to find it.

Other:


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Remember that we ask for samples that show 1) core character portrayal and 2) some use of emotions, such as environmental effect. You can also use the same sample source for both, just make sure to directly link or quote the emotion portion. We highly encourage using the Test Drive, and you can use prompts from the Test Drives, Intro Logs, and the Task board if you need them. Refer to the main application page for links and more suggestions.

General Sample: Test Drive Meme threads

Emotion Sample: 

Eliot had been in this new world a couple of days and things weren't looking any better than they did when he first arrived. Sure, he'd been told that he'd return to the exact time and place he'd been removed from, but that didn't make him feel any better. It sucked to be here... but it would suck to be there even more.

Alice was dead. Quentin was unconscious and he had no idea if he'd ever wake up again. Penny... well, he may not like the guy but he didn't deserve to have his hands fucked up like that. And he was stuck in Fillory, married to a girl he barely knew. Sure, he was king. But what was good about what he'd be going back to?

"Fuck..."

He took another pull on his cigarette and gestured for the bartender to bring him another of whatever the hell he'd been drinking. His heart ached and he wanted to numb it with whatever intoxicants this backwards fucking world could give him. If he drank enough, maybe he'd be able to push aside the tears he felt welling in his eyes whenever his thoughts drifted to his friends, lost and broken. His hand shook as he brought the refilled glass to his lips. He couldn't help but think of the last time they'd all drank together in his throne room. The lights above him dimmed, leaving him in darkness. All color seemed to sap out of the space around him, leaving him in a pool of gray. The bartender either didn't notice, or just pretended not to as he refilled his drink again. 

Questions: