application; tw suicide, depression, institutionalization, brief mention of rape

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( tw suicide, depression, institutionalization, brief mention of rape )

PLAYER INFO

Name: Chase
Age: 20+
Contact: whitespire

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Quentin Coldwater
Canon: The Magicians
Canon Point: s4 finale
Appearance: here
Age: Late 20s

Character snapshot: Quentin's a strange amalgamation of cynical and hopeful. He's a clinically depressed, fantasy obsessed guy who learned that just because magic is real doesn't mean it'll fix all of his problems, but he tries anyway. He's loyal to his friends, tries his best, and despite everything, he perseveres. He can be a bit selfish at times, but at his core he's a genuinely good person who wants the best for people. He's generally pretty quiet, preferring his more extroverted friends to do the talking, but if it's something he's passionate about he spills into mile a minute rambles. He's stubborn and can come across as extremely judgemental at times, but he does it out of concern for the other person.

World description: The Magicians takes place in a modern-day world with modern-day things--with the exception that magic is very much real. Magic is not only real but comes from pain, with young magicians often being some form of traumatized or unhappy. There's a post-secondary university for magicians, Brakebills, where naturally talented Magicians scan hone their skills, although those that don't can still learn magic and are called Hedge Witches, often resorting to dangerous ways of getting spells. In the Magicians universe, Earth is but one of many worlds--the fantasy series Fillory and Further, essentially a non-copyright version of the Chronicles of Narnia--is very much real. Gods are real and are kind of dicks-- most supernatural creatures are such as vampires, although lycanthropy is an STD and dragons live in rivers, where they guard their hoards and serve as gateways. Essentially take Harry Potter and Narnia and put a cynical, millennial take on it and you get The Magicians verse.

History: As mentioned earlier, Quentin Coldwater is a clinically depressed New Yorker. In and out of mental institutions and hospitals for depression and suicidal ideation (and attempts) since a very young age, he found solace in the world of Fillory, children's books similar to Narnia, and in close up magic. Extremely bright, Quentin found himself perpetually dissatisfied with other people around him, full of self-loathing and hatred. It wasn't until attending Brakebills University and realizing he was a Magician that he started to realize who he really, truly was.

While his best friend (and first love, at least according to Quentin) didn't pass the enrollment test, Quentin did, and his whole world turned upside down. He still felt alone, but now he had others to feel alone with -- mainly a ragtag group of people who shared a similar aptitude to physical magic although he didn't -- and, of course, the fact that they accidentally opened a portal to invite a creature known as the Beast in, killing one of their professors.

The beast hailed from Fillory, which was not only very real but a place that Quentin got a chance to be King in. In Fillory, they killed the Beast at the expense of his girlfriend turning into a being of raw magical sociopathic energy Quentin trapped in his refusal to let her go and denial she was dead. He reunited with his childhood friend who was now a Hedge Witch (and also missing her Shade, but that's her story, not his).

They wound up returning his girlfriend to her proper form and killed a God of Fillory. Of course as a direct result he fucked up all of magic across the multiverse. Refusing to give up, Quentin and his friends went on a quest for seven golden keys, traveling through alternate universes, pocket dimensions, and musical worlds. The important one to highlight is when he and his friend Eliot was transported into FIllory in the past, trying to find the answer fo all of life: it turned out the answer was the love they shared with each other and by raising Quentin's son instead of putting together a mosaic like they thought.

In using these keys to fix all of magic, as typical of the Magicians, they fucked everything up again: a double-cross means magic being rationed once turned on by a fascist regime from a place called the Library, and Eliot Waugh being possessed by a monster more powerful than the Gods. Quentin, now a far cry from the selfish, self-entitled brat he was in the beginning, sacrifices his life in order to save both him and the world.

What are your character’s mental/emotional strengths? -Loyal: Quentin is at his core incredibly loyal -- sometimes to a fault. He sticks with Julia despite her issues with her Shade, for example, and despite his trust issues with Alice he does take the plunge when she warns him about the ending of his book.

-caring/fixing things/capable of solving emotional problems: what it says on the tin. Despite how self-centered he was in the beginning, at the end of his death he's a much calmer and intuitive person when it comes to other people and how they're feeling. Considering his aptitude in minor mending, it makes sense that he knits people back together. He helps his girlfriend remember what it's like to be human after turning into a Niffin, and he works tirelessly to save the good of magic, fighting against destiny and fate for what he believes is right.

-intelligent/passionate: Margo said it best: people know magic exists, but someone like Quentin really, truly believes it. Academically smart as well as savvy when it comes to lore (after studying it, of course), Quentin has a tendency to throw his whole self into something he really, truly believes or is passionate about. If he attaches himself to something, be it a problem or a Fillory book, he finds it all consuming until he knows everything and everything.

-Able to work under pressure: time and time again, Quentin's shown himself to be one hell of a problem solver when the clock is ticking. Between destroying the beast, killing a God, saving magic, and saving the world, his quick thinking and ability to think when the stakes are immensely high are invaluable. He also refuses to give up until something is fixed, being incredibly tenacious and stubborn.

-selfless: Quentin has sacrificed everything for a world he's never sure fully believed in him the way he believed in it. He sacrificed his father's life in exchange for the restoration of magic, and perhaps his ultimate act of selflessness was putting an end to his own life to save the world.

What are your character’s mental/emotional weaknesses? -depression and suicidal ideation: Quentin's been in and out of hospitals since he hit puberty, mostly voluntarily. He mentions countless suicide letters he's written as well as an attempt that was made before the series starts, although it's unclear how. It's strongly hinted that he lives with Juila while they go to school because of this. His mental health is so poor that, while in the underworld after sacrificing himself, he has to ask if what he did was suicide or if he really did it as a selfless act.

-anxiety: In conjunction with his depression, Quentin is diagnosed as an anxious person -- this is reflective mostly in his mannerisms and the way he talks.

-self-worth and self-loathing: Another bleed-off of his main fault (his brain), Quentin is often fixated on the fact that most things are his fault--and it doesn't help that with the state of the world he's from, sometimes it is. (Killing the God of FIilory meant angering the higher-ups, for example.)

-judgemental: While he's vastly improved, Quentin still has a habit of making snap judgments about people, often because he thinks he knows what's best for people. It's even worse when he's upset, because he'll often take things he's judged as slights and throw it right in the other person's face -- Julia not getting into Brakebills, for example, was completely her fault in his mind for the longest time, and her continuing education as a Hedge Witch was a colossal mistake he blamed her for. He's not above apologizing, it'll just take a while for him to get his head out of his ass.

What events or circumstances in your character’s past have impacted them the most? -Alice Niffining: His girlfriend sacrificing herself for the group to fight the beast in season 1 absolutely has had an impact on him. His refusal and stubbornness to let her go means, when she turned into a Niffin, he trapped her inside him and it took him almost half a season to realize that him doing so is selfish. Even then, Quentin worked hard on helping her recover once he was able to find a way to put her back in her human form.

-Life in the Day: One pivotal, incredibly integral part of Quentin happens because of this. After Quentin kills one of Fillory’s Gods and turns off magic for the entirety of the world, he and his friends decide to go on a quest to fix it. Whisked away to Fillory with his best friend Eliot, they find themselves trapped in the magical kingdom but in the past, where they must solve a mosaic puzzle. They’re supposed to construct an image that represents the beauty of all life. Quentin and Eliot, determined to get it done, get to work.

It takes them 50 years to do it. Quentin grows as a person; grows old, he even falls in love with Eliot and raises his child with him. It’s only when Eliot dies that Quentin solves the puzzle--the beauty of all life was in each other and the love they found in their relationship. This has a significant change in Quentin from then on forward--back in the future, once Eliot and Quentin remember what happened and the full, healthy lives they live, Quentin’s personality shifts.

-Sacrifice Quentin has sacrificed both his father's life (inadvertently, as turning magic back on triggered his fathers' cancer) and his own for the greater good.

What impressions do others tend to have of your character and how do those impressions differ from who your character truly is? Quentin comes across as a huge, giant nerd -- and he is, of course, but it's incredibly easy to dismiss him as such. He can also come across as incredibly grating, annoying, and a bit whiny if you catch him on an off day -- but he is, in reality, just a passionate guy with a thirst for escapism, trying to do what he can to help people he loves.

What motivates your character? Fixing and mending things, in a metaphorical sense -- Quentin's whole life has been one problem after another, be it his own brain, his relationship with Julia, his need to find (and fix) Fillory, and his relationships. Ultimately, what motivates him is trying to be happy -- and when he realizes that happiness is not necessarily attainable, he focuses on what he has.

How does your character handle crisis or adversity? For someone who's a stressed, depressed mess, Quentin can handle things pretty well. His whole life has been handling the crisis that is his brain, and that combined with the stakes constantly growing in the Magicians series, Quentin has proved he's a fast thinker, quick planner, and even if he doesn't have a plan B, he's usually good enough to just keep his head down and toil through it.

Skills, abilities, and physical weaknesses: A magician, Quentin has access to a myriad of spells, ranging from smoke tricks to magic missile. As a means of warping, if it's game-breaking or will mess with fun, I'll simply say the circumstances aren't correct and that it simply won't work.

Something unique to Quentin and who he is as a Magician is his magical discipline. Almost every Magician has something they excel at better than others, and it can range from light manipulation, telekinesis, to even just the amassing of knowledge itself. Most Magicians are all able to do these things with the time, proper hand motions, and energy, but it comes quick and easy to those who have it as their Discipline, often with better results. Quentin's specialty is minor mending, or the repair of small objects--useful and convenient, but nowhere near game-breaking or powerful. Like the name suggests, Quentin is able to fix small things that have broken such as cups, toy planes, cracked mirrors, and the like very simply and easily. This does not extend to things like healing minor injuries, being able to fix an entire car, or cleaning a room.

Outside of his magical powers, Quentin has the usual intelligence found in Magicians, but he's also a gifted sleight-of-hand expert, and his stage magician tricks range from coin tricks to card tricks. Making things 'disappear' is a specialty.

Inventory: -His clothes, his wallet, and an Underworld Metropass.

HORROR INFO

What aspects of your character are you most interested in exploring in a horror setting? Testing his resilience, having him rely on more than his cast in a game/interacting with different magic systems or people with no magic at all, having him be both resourceful and save the day but also a weak link due to his mental health.

What is your character’s mental state upon entering the game? Thoroughness is appreciated here. In a word? Fragile. Quentin leaves the show at an impasse that's not necessarily explained: he's prepared enough to move on from the afterlife, but has barely come to terms with the fact the sacrifice he made wasn't an attempt at suicide or some sort of deathwish. It's precarious, as his mental state has been slowly spiraling since the beginning of season 4. He's a fairly stalwart dude, but throwing him into a setting such as this will certainly test it, especially given that he's exhausted, all of his energy is drained mentally and physically, and he's been dealing with crisis after crisis for 4 straight years with barely a pause.

What unsettles and frightens your character? What sort of encounters would chip away at your character’s psychological stability? Seeing departed loved ones, being blamed and held accountable for actions he did in the past that aren't necessarily good (he blames himself for Julia's rape, for example), anything that furthers his depression or feeds into his lack of self worth and loathing. PRactical: moths (courtesy of the Beast), worlds similar to the world he did in (a normal world with things not quite Right or a little off-kilter), the fact that his death might be in vain.

What horrifying events or genre elements would you like to see utilized in the game? All about that psychological horror, possession, any chance for a bad end AU I'm here for.

SAMPLES

Test Drive: Claire Novak
Log Sample: Eliot Waugh
Log Sample: Malcolm Bright