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Do you even know if you want to be found? (1530 words) by LaSourisRousse Summary: They've saved the world, they've killed the monster. Quentin gets back from Blackspire at the end of s3, and he's tired, and sad, and very angry (mostly justifiably). This is what happens next.

For @magiciansfanworksextravaganza's Welcome Home event (theme "returning to being themselves")

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It was sort of beautiful.

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Hale Appleman in a romantic time travel comedy Fireflies in the Dusk

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The Rainbow Bridge

@thewelterschallenge

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Pretty Little Lights (Art for @tbraves24's fic)

Drawn for the Magicians Fanworks Extravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, for the Week 4: Magical Creature theme. (Posted in Week 7.)

Please read Pretty Little Lights by @tbraves24! It's an exploration of all things Alice! Especially reconciling her Niffin experiences.

I'll be painting this; the watercolor will appear in Chapter 2.

For better resolution/details, visit the AO3 art chapter. And don't forget to read Pretty Little Lights by @tbraves24! Which is also part of this challenge.

Pretty Little Lights (Art) - EliotQueliot - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

Pretty Little Lights (Art for tbraves24's fic) (8 words) by EliotQueliot Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: The Magicians (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Alice Quinn (The Magicians) Additional Tags: Niffin Alice Quinn (The Magicians), The Lamprey, Niffins Summary: Niffin!Alice my beloved!

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MFEWelcomeHome Week 6: Continuation of an Existing WIP Submission 1

@magiciansfanworksextravaganza

Chapter 4 of In Family Found is now up! I think this may be the first time I have updated a fic after taking a break from it (every multichap fic up to this point was done in the Warm Ups lol), so I feel like I am learning some stuff about pushing through writer's block for this event! It may not sit in mind as the best work I've ever done, but what a wonderful way to start learning that skill! Thank you guys (especially @eliotqueliot) for making this event and supporting me in the discord lol, I really feel like this has been teaching me a lot. Anywho, fic link below cut! <3

In Family Found (6033 words) by violetsarefuckingpurple Chapters: 4/? Fandom: The Magicians (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh, Quentin Coldwater & Margo Hanson, Quentin Coldwater & Fen, Fen/Margo Hanson, Fen/Eliot Waugh (mentioned) Characters: Quentin Coldwater, Margo Hanson, Fen (The Magicians), Kady Penny and The Monster all make brief appearences, Julia and Eliot are mostly just thought about Additional Tags: Season/Series 04, Alternate Universe - Omegaverse, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Family Dynamics, Found Family, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, discussions of rape/non-con, Nothing actually happens but it is brought up as a possibility to be prepared against, Omega Quentin Coldwater, Alpha Eliot Waugh, Alpha Margo Hanson, Alpha Fen (The Magicians), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Fluff and Angst, Discussions of child loss, This fic is sad sometimes but it is also sweeter than the tags imply Summary: Quentin goes into heat in Season 4 and decides to hide out in Fillory for the duration. Eliot may be possessed (and "not" love him anymore) but Margo and Fen are perfectly willing to take care of him in the meantime. To my current knowledge this fic is not going to be particularly sexy; Q essentially has a fever and gets cuddled. Also, Q and Fen bond like they SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO DURING THE SHOW!

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Quentin reads the letter

Drawn for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, WEEK 5: Feb. 24-Mar. 2, Returning after absence (or returning to being themselves). (Presented in Week 7.)

Quentin's memories return as he reads the letter. He sees so deeply into stories, and it must feel amazing to him as this one begins to expand within his mind from a few lines into his entire life. He reads "we led full, good lives, and we took the quest as far as we could." But suddenly--he knows the entire story--in intimate detail. This is the most amazing moment. I'm so grateful they each got their memories back together.

To see this drawing with greater resolution/sharpness (if you have the chance to view it on a computer or laptop, you'll get more detail), visit Chapter 11 of Mosaic Haiku on AO3:

Mosaic Haiku (with Art) - Chapter 11 - EliotQueliot - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

More thoughts on this moment. This first post has three images from the sequence, with comments/observations about each.

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Eliot and the peach

Drawn for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, WEEK 5: Feb. 24-Mar. 2, Returning after absence (or returning to being themselves). (Presented in Week 7.)

This moment always touches me so deeply. You can see just how much the Mosaic and a life of love with Quentin actually means to Eliot as he first starts to remember. It's not just a moment of reflection, but a moment of experience, as memories carry sensations and emotions, and the whole thing is brought on by the smell and feel of the peach, and then even more so the taste as he bites into it as if it's the most amazing peach in the world. And it is. It carries a whole world home to him--a world that he deeply loves and longs for--a whole lifetime in which he gets to be with Quentin.

To see this drawing with greater resolution/sharpness (if you have the chance to view it on a computer or laptop, you'll get more detail), visit Chapter 11 of Mosaic Haiku on AO3:

Mosaic Haiku (with Art) - Chapter 11 - EliotQueliot - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

More thoughts on this moment. This first post has three images from the sequence, with comments/observations about each.

Also this might be of interest, a different post related to the image:

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Scenes for We Could Build a Castle, Ch. 5

Posted for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, Week 6: Welcome back to WIPs!

You can see some, but not all, of these in the animatic. I wanted to create the sense of movement for the still scenes as well. All are assembled from my watercolor paintings. The animatic is linked in both the fic and art chapters of We Could Build a Castle, a Howl's Moving Castle/Magicians AU by myself and @magicians4time (Librarity). (Links below the images)

Here's Librarity's beautiful fic with all the illustrations embedded:

We Could Build a Castle - Chapter 5 - EliotQueliot, Librarity - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

And here's the art side, where you can see the watercolor paintings in greater detail, as well as the drawings, stills for the scene, the animatic, and behind-the-scenes info:

We Could Build a Castle (Art) - Chapter 5 - EliotQueliot, Librarity - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

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Right After the Mosaic

Drawn for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, WEEK 5: Feb. 24-Mar. 2, Returning after absence (or returning to being themselves). (Presented in Week 6.)

Margo comes back and stops the quest. BUT for that to happen, Eliot and Quentin actually spent their lifetimes at the Mosaic. This was the only way home for them. So even though they "never went," they're also "returning home" the way they always thought they would via magic once they solved the Mosaic--in the only way possible for them (since Eliot is dead and Quentin is now an old man--magic is very literal and specific, returning them to the very time they left, and there's only one way to do that). It reminds me a bit of the way Lucy and her siblings return from Narnia--to the exact day and ages when they left. Only in The Magicians, magic is a bit more cruel and realistic: this means they never lived that life. But at the same time, magic gives them a gift: just like the Pevensie children, Eliot and Quentin are soon able to remember their adventures and lost lifetimes. One might say they have both "returned" after an absence...and returned to being themselves (the selves they were before the quest). And yet...there's another meaning here as well.

This scene itself, these portraits, are from the time where they're sitting with Margo in the living room of the Physical Kids Cottage. And although we see Quentin's hands passing Eliot the trail mix, we never actually get to see them looking at each other directly (I wish we did) because the camera keeps panning from Eliot and Margo on one side, to Quentin on the other. But Quentin has actually taken a seat on the end table right in front of Eliot. They're facing each other. So these expressions--are part of their conversation with one another. They each have such a pensive look. Though in the next moment, Eliot is reassuring Quentin that they didn't die because it was an alternate timeline, and thanking Margo for saving their lives...I can't help but wonder if on some level, they already have feelings/proto memories about the Mosaic...the memories already there inside them, ready to be woken up. This moment, when Quentin and Eliot both reflect on the fact that they died, feels like more than that. Quentin is sitting so close--while sitting on the end table so close to the couch, you barely get a glimpse of this when Q passes the mix, but his knees are all mixed in with Eliot's--not just brushing but their legs and feet are in between each other's. (How I wish we had them both in the frame!) And the way they're looking at each other seems so soft and wistful. I feel as though from the moment Margo looped them into not having gone...they have these feelings and memories, just waiting. Their hearts already know things have changed.

To see this drawing with greater resolution/sharpness (if you have the chance to view it on a computer or laptop, you'll get more detail), visit Chapter 14 of Mosaic Haiku on AO3:

Mosaic Haiku (with Art) - Chapter 14 - EliotQueliot - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

I say a lot more about it here, where I first had the thought and put this together:

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"We can do hard things." (Watercolor edition)

Painted for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, Week 2, "It's been a long time," with special emphasis on the Mosaic. (Posted in Week 6.)

Eliot is so encouraging! Especially with Quentin. They are each so good for each other in different ways (and many similar ones). Quentin just looks so tired and ready to give up. Eliot's calm, reassuring words about time and patience and eventual success are spoken with such love and understanding, I have a feeling that's what got through to Quentin as much as the logic of it all.

To see this drawing with greater resolution/sharpness (if you have the chance to view it on a computer or laptop, you'll get more detail), visit Chapter 6 of Mosaic Haiku on AO3:

Mosaic Haiku (with Art) - Chapter 6 - EliotQueliot - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

To see the original drawing, which I posted for this challenge when it actually was Week 2, along with additional thoughts about Queliot and the theme:

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Old Quentin, painted: for

We Could Build a Castle, Ch. 5

Posted for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, Week 6: Welcome back to WIPs!

Thanks to @magicians4time (Librarity) for writing the intense scene that inspired this piece.

Quentin transformed to an old man. I drew on a lot of different Mosaic reference shots. I wanted something similar to Sophie's response, but not exactly the same. We can see her huddled on the ground, and she does look at her hands (animation means that sometimes it's just her hands in the shot, but we know she's looking), but not this exact pose. This followed from my idea that under the weight of the magic, Quentin would slowly fall to his knees.

This is a watercolor painting. For better clarity (Tumblr is blurring the art a bit), you might want to visit the AO3 art chapter (below), where you can also see the drawing and more behind-the-scenes art info.

Here's Librarity's beautiful fic with all the illustrations embedded:

We Could Build a Castle - Chapter 5 - EliotQueliot, Librarity - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

And here's the art side, where you can see the paintings, the drawings, stills from the vid, the animatic, and behind-the-scenes:

We Could Build a Castle (Art) - Chapter 5 - EliotQueliot, Librarity - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

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Eliot hears about the Mosaic

Painted for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, Week 2, "It's been a long time," with special emphasis on the Mosaic. (Posted in Week 6: Catch-Up.)

"The beauty of all life? Sounds appropriately vague and impossible."

Trust Eliot and Quentin to do the impossible!

It hasn't been a long time yet when this scene takes place—but it's about to be. They have no idea how long (even though Quentin's approach in this conversation is that he knows all about the Mosaic). But I have a feeling they'd try it anyway. And they are (Eliot especially!) so eager to go on this quest together. And reasonably undaunted by finding themselves catapulted into the past! Time is involved from the moment they step through the clock. Eliot knows horomancy...and in their early arguments, even over a year in, Eliot is the one to convince Q they need to stay...

Note, to make this art, I needed to consult a number of other reference shots, as one side of Eliot's face is obscured by shadow.

To see this watercolor painting with greater resolution/sharpness (if you have the chance to view it on a computer or laptop, you'll get more detail), visit Chapter 6 of Mosaic Haiku on AO3:

Mosaic Haiku (with Art) - Chapter 6 - EliotQueliot - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

To see the original drawing, which I posted Sept. 28, 2024, with more thoughts about the image and theme:

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Queliot coronation ceremony (watercolor edition)

Painted for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, Week 6: Welcome back to WIPs!

I'm so glad that Quentin cared enough to stop Eliot from crowning himself and provide some ceremony that allowed him to show not only how much Eliot means to him, but how worthy Eliot is. Both these things clearly touch Eliot so much, and it's especially poignant because in some ways, I feel as though this is Quentin showing that he's no longer mad at Eliot about the threesome. In a way, simply by being so loving and real, this is Quentin's first overture of apology (leading the way for the overt apologies that follow).

To see this painting with greater resolution/sharpness (if you have the chance to view it on a computer or laptop, you'll get more detail), visit Chapter 9 of Mosaic Haiku on AO3:

Mosaic Haiku (with Art) - Chapter 9 - EliotQueliot - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

To see the original drawing, which I posted for the Magicians Fanworks Extravaganza Dec. 2024 Warm Up challenge, and more thoughts about Queliot and that theme:

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Young Quentin, painted: for

We Could Build a Castle, Ch. 5

Posted for the @magiciansfanworksextravaganza challenge Welcome Home!, Week 6: Welcome back to WIPs!

@magicians4time (Librarity) and I have been working on this new chapter for quite a while; but we have so much fun creating this AU. Hope you will enjoy it with us! It's a Howl's Moving Castle/Magicians AU.

Over the next few days, I'm going to be sharing the individual watercolor paintings that went into the illustrations for the chapter.

I created young Quentin from quite a lot of different reference shots. Part of his stance is from when he crowns Eliot; part is from the bonus content for Sea. 1, when he's looking at Eliot lying on Margo's bed; quite a number of others. These are his clothes from when he tested into Brakebills. His worried/scared/concerned/alarmed expression comes from so many sources in Sea. 1, but perhaps most of all from when he's reading alone in the Physical Kids Cottage and Margo spooks him the night the Trials begin.

Tumblr is sapping the resolution/details a bit, so you might want to visit the AO3 art chapter (below), where you can also see the drawing behind this watercolor painting along with more behind-the-scenes art info. But first, you may wish to enjoy Librarity's fic; it's exquisite! I love Quentin's inner voice in this AU so much.

Here's Librarity's beautiful fic with all the illustrations embedded:

We Could Build a Castle - Chapter 5 - EliotQueliot, Librarity - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

And here's the art side, where you can see everything that went into the art—the paintings, the drawings, stills from the vid, and the animatic.

We Could Build a Castle (Art) - Chapter 5 - EliotQueliot, Librarity - The Magicians (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

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Jason and Rachel at Milan Fashion Week - Tod's