Can't we give ourselves one more chance?

[filloryfanatic]

WHO:. Quentin Coldwater & YOU
WHERE: Dreams, Red Wings, Life, first use of his power!
WHEN: OOC: July, IC: May/June
WHAT: Adventures with Q!
NOTES OR WARNINGS: One dream will involve violence, death, and loss of a loved one. There may be mentions of depression and anxiety because it's Quentin, but I'll update if anything else comes around and it's not going to be a major part of any of the prompts.



See individual prompts below!

Comments

Playing House with Queliot! (locked to Eliot)

[filloryfanatic]

It was a mixed bag when Quentin found out about the apartment because it meant that both Klaus and Kol were gone, and they were important to him. The loss of Klaus and his guidance was felt a lot of the time, so being in his former space made him wistful and a little sad too. But on the other hand, it meant they thought of him, and that he and Eliot had a place to go that was just theirs. He didn't want to stay at the safehouse and felt adding Eliot to Clarke's place would be too much for everyone. He planned on getting a small apartment ... and this one just fell into their lap. So he was trying to be just grateful. For this, for having met them, and for having Eliot back.

However, with the apartment (two-bedroom, kitchen, dining room, and living room) came all of their clothing and Klaus' belongings from his time there. Klaus had a stylish fashion sense and so the first thing Quentin did when they got into the apartment was tell Eliot to go look at the closet. Yeah, it's a little strange, having someone's wardrobe, but they didn't have a lot of options and all of Quentin's clothing was taken from people kind enough to offer. Still, he thought Klaus would like a man who would appreciate his style, and that was Eliot.

There is also good liquor which Quentin sets on the kitchen while he sorts out what Kol left there too. It reminds him a little of cleaning out after his father died, and he's really trying not to think about that.

[endlessflask]

It's a lot to happen in a very short amount of time. Eliot's handling it the way Eliot handles most things, which is squish it all down to be dealt with at a much, much later date. (Honestly, he's getting better at processing things, but he has a decade of bad habits to undo.) Besides, there are more pros to this situation than cons - he has Quentin, they have a home for themselves, he has clothes that are less second-hand than what he got upon arriving.

So he goes to the closet, like Quentin said, and it's definitely something Eliot can work with. He figures he knows enough to be able to fix or embellish what he needs, provided he has the right materials. Maybe it's a bit shameless, but Eliot changes right away, and when he rejoins Quentin, he's rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

"Oh, good, there's something to drink."

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin's also very good at squishing things down, at least until they explode at him like they did in the simulation and afterward. This place can be overwhelming and he knows that, so giving them both as much stability as possible was top of his list. He's allowing himself to step back from the drama of the Displaced, at least until the next mystery turns his head. Or until their investigation of Ball goes anywhere. But for now? Now it's them.

He glances up when Eliot walks back in and grins, satisfied he was right about Klaus' look working for him. Klaus is (was) a very handsome man, but Quentin's more than a little biased toward Eliot. "Yeah, there's plenty of that. They were both vampires so there's probably blood in the fridge, which is a disposal problem for future us."

They can just pour it down the drain. He's just not into it yet. Gross. "Something I didn't expect in a cyberpunk world, becoming friends with a lot of vampires." Quentin grabs two glasses from the cabinet and slides one to Eliot.

[endlessflask]

"Of course they were."

Eliot's actually surprised that he's never met a vampire before. Centaurs, fairies, talking animals, gods, but no blood suckers. It's sort of funny, so he cracks a bit of an amused smile as he leans against the counter.

"I think at this point in our lives, we should accept that weird shit is going to happen to us and we should stop expecting anything."

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin felt the same way; they've come across so many supernatural creatures, but he thinks Julia and Kady are the only ones who have met one. or so Jules told him. "There's also Caroline and Godric. You'll like Godric. He was paired with you at the start and we lived with him for a bit." He's not sure how weird it is to talk about a whole time that Eliot was here but he doesn't remember, it's helpful to know who might spot him though.

He moves past Eliot and tugs him lightly on the arm, leading him over to the couch so they can both settle down and have a drink. It's a nice place, nicer than he could afford for sure. "There is so much weird shit. Some of it is super cool. I'll show you the ruins and portals when New Amsterdam's gets fixed." Quentin thinks they're working on that. He places his head on Eliot's shoulder once they sit, breathing him in. "We can just jump to other cities, it was super Indiana Jones. I may have hummed the theme song like the entire time."

[endlessflask]

"Of course you did."

Eliot settles on the couch and against Quentin easily. He decides to focus more on Quentin being a giant nerd than anything else. He gets it. There's a lot to explain, and he'd rather have Quentin tell him than anyone else, but for Eliot, it's a lot of information for him. He'll figure it out as he goes.

Hopefully.

"You know, when we were in Fillory, I really missed technology. But now that we're sort of surrounded by it, I kind of wish it were a little less."

DREAM - ALICE TURNING INTO A NIFFIN OTA!

[filloryfanatic]

[TW for death, grief, violence. If a character wants to walk in on the dream they can at any point in the following scene!]

The dream is set in a deceptively quiet and rural space. There's trees and green around them, the beauty of Fillory, harmed by the brutality of the scene they're caught in. Eliot and Margo can be seen hiding nearby, panicked by what they're watching, and Quentin himself is injured in the dirt, bloody and unable to stand. A beautiful blonde girl - Alice, no Quentin says - is using magic against an injured man. The first part of the dream is just that, Quentin struggling and trying to get her to stop.

The next part Alice bursts into bright blue flame, screaming as she does, the kind of screaming that can haunt someone for a lifetime if that was the end. All three of the Magicians watch with pain on their faces as she disappears, burned from the level of magic she was trying to create. Quentin attempts to struggle to his feet but can only get on his knees as the Beast walks toward him, smirking, saying let's finally finish this.

Then Alice appears again. This time she is burning with power, blue light flickering under her skin at times, and she rips the Beast's chest open. Moths come flying out, and he falls, finally dead. This moment of triumph is ruined by Alice turning on her friends, planning on murdering them, because she is a Niffin now, not that anyone outside of them would know. Quentin begs her not to and then says a word quietly.

A shadow demon seems to pop right out of Quentin's back and attack Alice. She screams again and then when the light and dust settles, she lies on the ground, dead. Quentin crawls to her, panicked, and cries over her, lost in grief and guilt.

The dream occasionally rewinds, going back to Alice turning into blue flame, and then fast-forwards to her screaming again, as if it's the scream he can't get out of his mind.

[evasives]

Cassian is very much working on the ability to stop himself from randomly wandering into other people's dreams, but it's a work in progress. He does not know where to even start processing this dream, though he has a vague recognition of the host, probably from around Red Wings.

It's the scream that he seems to understand best even as nothing else makes much sense, the repetition of it as the dream rewinds itself. Cassian knows what it's like to be haunted and this is a haunting. This isn't anything he can fix by being here, it's already happened; he's just an unwilling audience likely on both ends.

He finds himself again watching the woman lighting up blue and grits his teeth. He hasn't hid his presence, he doesn't like to be a surprise.

"Is this magic?" That seems like a safe place to start.

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin has only a little experience with the dream walking on either side, but since he's stuck in a spiral of pain, he's not fully aware of it yet. He still feels like his arm is nearly come off, he's bleeding and in pain, and Alice just keeps screaming. He recently told Rey about this moment, so it might be why his mind is reliving it. In a lot of ways her 'death' led to so much later, instead of it being the Beast's end and everyone moving on.

He is focused on Alice who is still screaming as he struggles to sit up, his mind not processing yet that he's not in actual pain, but only when Cassian speaks does he get jolted out of that moment. He is not supposed to be there. Quentin feels faint as he tries to focus on him. He's familiar, but not because he's from this world.

Alice burns out and there's merciful silence for a short time, but they both know it won't last. The Beast doesn't get to his feet just yet, and Quentin's mostly sitting up now, tears streaming down his face.

"Yeah," he mumbles, sniffing. "This happens if you use too much magic, it consumes you." Magicians are very controlled for a reason. I did it on purpose, she says in only a few moments from now, when she appears again as a Niffin. "We weren't trained enough. We had to do it alone."

[evasives]

One day he will figure out how to leave, but it's such a tenuous thing. He's been getting a lot better at waking himself up from his own dreams, though he was very good at that even before the dream walking.

"And there is no way to stop this consumption? Or is that part of your missing training?"

For Cassian, logistics are always a default focal point when trauma and awfulness are playing out around him. There is magic with training, therefore it should be possible to explain it, and Cassian hopes it could be a good starting point to helping Quentin ground himself. Facts and knowledge. If not, he'll simply try another way.

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin slowly thanks his head. He's thought about this a lot. It's possible with a god's power, but he'd drank from the Wellspring. He was too powerful. "Even the experienced magicians couldn't handle the Beast. He ripped the eyes right out of our Dean at school while we were all frozen and forced to watch."

The man in question doesn't look like much now, just before the end of his life. In his suit and normal appearance, he'd barely register, but he was the stuff of nightmares. "We tried really hard." And look where it left them. Quentin was bleeding out at the moment, his arm nearly off. The others were hurt too. They'd all be dead in a matter of seconds if Alice didn't come back.

Quentin tries to breathe, rubbing his hands over his face, his bloody arm ignored. "She did it on purpose."

[evasives]

He has a lot of questions. There's a systemic element to the magic and he's sure he'll get the gist, or at least enough to work through this dream. Cassian has worked with far less. The Beast is the enemy, not the girl, though he had already gotten the impression she was a friend.

No wonder it's a nightmare.

"Was she trying to save you?"

DREAM - WELCOME TO BRAKEBILLS! OTA!

[filloryfanatic]

You're on the quad of what looks to be a beautiful college campus. It's sunny and bright, the positive energy is everywhere, and if you look around you'll see students doing magic. They are doing all kinds of tricks and skills right out in the open, the physical kids working on telekinesis, lifting items into the air like a circle of apples you can pluck right out of the air and eat.

There's little groups all over the quad. Doing illusion tricks, changing the sky around them and laughing, nature magic causing flowers to grow, elementals working on fire and air, and psychic sisters that will read whatever you think and say it out loud either mockingly or playfully, depending on what it is.

Quentin is walking through it with Eliot and Margo, looking very lost and just as much in awe as someone who is seeing this for the first time. He looks very out of place with a dress shirt and tie, but there's a smile on his face as he separates from his friends and simply glances around. Remembering Brakebills from the start, before things got too complicated, when it was a dream come true and all he ever wanted.

Come enjoy a magical day!

[bloodbathing]

Having come from a universe devoid of magic, this is a lot for Maine to take in. He saw magic occasionally back on the station, people capable of growing plants and reading minds, but it wasn't like this. It was something rare. Something unusual. Now, it's all around him, and he's not sure what to make of it.

Fortunately, it doesn't look like he's the only one seeing this for the first time. An awed man wearing a dress shirt and tie separates from two others; Maine approaches without hesitation. Maine looks even more out of place: he's huge, for one, and his clothing style is reminiscent of fatigues — a tight t-shirt and cargo pants tucked into combat boots.

"Hey," he says, his deep, rough voice making the word sound somewhat less-than-friendly. "Where are we?"

[filloryfanatic]

This was basically Quentin's dream. Going to a magic school where everyone had powers and it was always thrilling and interesting. And Brakebills really was, for some of the time he was there. Nothing ever really matched this first day and the amazing quality of how vivid and real it all was. People were using magic like it was nothing, playing games with each other and laughing.

The giant man who looked like he should be in the army and not on the campus definitely threw the whole thing off. Quentin looks at him, startled, as the rest of the quad around them remains idyllic. He's doing the dream walking thing a few times, but it's usually the other way around.

"Um. Brakebills University in New York?" This dude is super intimidating. Quentin takes a step back. "It's the best magic school in the world. Well, in like ... this Earth." He takes another step back. "We're on the campus quad."

[bloodbathing]

New York. A place Maine has never set foot, though he certainly knows about it. Associates it primarily with an ex-teammate codenamed after the state. Seeing as Maine doesn't like the teammate in question, it's not necessarily a positive association. But he doesn't glare or growl in displeasure: he just frowns, more confused than annoyed.

It takes Maine a moment to realize that the strange man is backing away. He's accustomed to inspiring fear in others. Finds it far more unusual when people don't cower. So, he's not offended when he realizes this man is indeed intimidated. He stays where he is and doesn't pursue — something he would do if threatening the man were his goal.

"Magic school," Maine repeats, and there's a hint of incredulity in his tone. He looks around again, realizing that it does indeed look like a campus full of magic-users. "Those exist?"

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin knows on some level that despite being in a dream, he can't really use his magic, not against someone who is from New Amsterdam like he is. Not that he would attack anyone in his dreams, it's more that he'd be confident going up against an opponent no matter how big they were if he had magic at his fingertips. But he doesn't. Being surrounded by it here is a double-edged sword. He loves this place so much, it's vivid in its details, like it was lovingly visually crafted in the most idealistic way possible, but he will never see it again.

"In my world they do." Quentin smiles hesitantly, easing up when he sees the guy is more confused and curious than he is confrontational. There aren't any wands, it seems to be everyone using obscure and complicated hand gestures.

He thinks for a few seconds before he continues. "So like ... the universe is made of energy, right? Energy can be harnessed and manipulated, and we use a type of energy, arcane, to make magic." Quentin glances around. "It's actually really hard to do, so this might seem misleading, we're a very small percentage of the magical-capable people."

Mirror Mirror on the Wall - Using powers for first time OTA!

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin is in the bathroom of the apartment just getting ready for the day. He's looking into the mirror and fixing his hair, which is starting to grow out fairly well and he doesn't think he'll let it get to the longer style he used to sport. He likes it short and he's trying to learn how to style is. Woefully badly, to be honest. There's nothing more shocking than that going on, him focusing on the mirror and trying for the casually tousled look by running fingers through his hair.

While doing that, he's letting his mind wander, and he starts thinking of places that he should really check on later that day. Whenever he thinks of it, something happens without him realizing ... at first. He thinks of the Morningstar safehouse, the Red Wings safehouse, and some of his friends.* As soon as he does that, his chest glows blue and he's startled, putting his hand over the glow.

What he doesn't realize yet is that in a mirror of each of those locations, he is suddenly appearing there clear as day, his expressions and his touch of his chest, exactly as if he's in the same spot as they are. Only it's on a reflective surface in an entire other place. He won't know it, unless someone comments on it over there.

*[ooc: if you have CR with him and he's been to their apartment, assumed or otherwise, feel free to react to this!]

[chocolateries]

A fact Silena will never admit aloud is that while she brushes her teeth she sings the toothpaste jingle from Grease. Brusha, brusha, brusha, get the new Ipana with the brand new flavor, it's dandy for your teeth!

Brushing and singing, she keeps a close eye on her reflection in the mirror to make sure she gets her teeth squeaky clean, when suddenly there is a Quentin Coldwater in the mirror. She jumps back, toothbrush clattering to the floor and skittering around the tile before she can snatch it up and turn it off.

"Quentin?" She touches the mirror. It is only a mirror but it looks exactly like Quentin is in her bathroom, in her mirror. It has none of the water distortion of an iris message but there he is anyway.

She wipes the toothpaste off her lips.

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin hears her singing first. It confuses him and has him look around, confused. It sounds like Silena but she's not there. Maybe it's on the neural implant? He's about to text her but then she comes into view on the mirror as if she's literally in front of him. Quentin very maturely squawks and jumps back, bumping his head on the wall. Not badly, but enough for a thump.

"Silena?" He says back, confused, and he's about to ask if she's doing something except well, he's the one fricking glowing at the moment! Q looks down at the glow in question and gapes, glancing back up to her. "Oh my god, can you see me? Of course you can see me, you said my name." He wasn't talking after all.

He reaches out to touch the mirror the same as she does, but it really does look as if she should be standing right where he is. "Holy shit I think I'm doing this."

[chocolateries]

"That's so cool," Silena squeals, excitement brightening her entire expression and wiping away all of the confusion. "Oh what is the word for it..." Since she doesn't immediately think of the word, she decides to ignore it entirely.

She touches the glass again, still half expecting to poke Quentin in the eye.

"This is straight up Harry Potter." A beat, a terrible Hagrid impression: "You're a wizard, Quentin." Another pause. "Which, like, you actually are. If someone tries to get you to the Ministry of Magic, Do Not Go!"

#millennials

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin's enthusisam is only strengthened by Silena' enthusiasm, so him being like that's cool is now up to that's really cool! levels. He grins and puts his hand up to where hers should be, but they can't actually feel anything through the mirror, just see it. Q's mind is reeling with this. Maybe an extension of illusion magic?

He laughs at the Hagrid impression. "Bestill my heart, I've wanted to be Harry Potter since like, birth." Okay, not really, since he was born before he read the books, but it's the sentiment that matches. "I'm actually more of a Hermione if you ask, like, any of my friends." He has that nerdy side of him. He can ramble about magic until the end of time. Quentin's amazed.

"Well no wonder I haven't been able to figure this out yet!" It requires a very specific setting in order to work, at least for now. Practice will make perfect and he's very practiced. "Also it's low key rude, but I'll forgive whoever gave us the powers because yay powers."

General Red Wings - OTA!

[filloryfanatic]

Quentin works at Red Wings and it's been doing well since the simulation, so he sometimes is out in the bar itself, trying to be friendly and engaging with others. As the marketing guy he's interested in talking to them about what they'd like to see, and sometimes watching sports while there, although he's never been a sports guy. He is not an official bartender but he does help clean glasses and dishes sometimes if they're overrun, and he tries to keep busy.

He can also be found playing pool, either with other people or by himself when it's quiet. Quentin is a very skilled billiards player and he's always willing to teach people how to if they want, or play against them. He seems to be less skittish and overwhelmed than he was right after the simulation, building back up his fragile confidence and just trying to live his life again.

[kgbs]

I did not know you worked here.

( illya doesn't stop in often, preferring the fighting rings as his evening activities to sitting in a bar to drink.

but tonight, he's there for no other reason than he doesn't feel like a fight. he finds quentin wiping glasses as he sits down. )

Then again, I don't come here very often so that might be expected.

WILDCARD! OTA!

[filloryfanatic]

[ooc: if you have another idea for him just throw it here or let me know at waftingcurtains on plurk.]