likeknives | The Village Application

Content Warnings: Violence, murder, self-harm and suicidal ideation, gaslighting, manipulation, drowning, claustrophobia, and implied killing a family or families, including child death.

PLAYER INFO

Name: Indy
Age: 35
Contact: Indymica

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Eliot Spencer
Canon: Leverage
Canon Point: Post Season 5
Appearance: Short and stocky, well-built, with hair that he tends to keep shoulder-length.
Age: 40

Character snapshot:

Eliot Spencer is a ruthless, dangerous, aggressive criminal who would stop at nothing to save a puppy or make the best damn chili this side of the Mississippi for his family. Eliot is the hitter (or muscle) of the Leverage crew, a team of thieves and con-artists who use their abilities for good and not evil. A former assassin who has done unspeakable things, he spends his days both working in a restaurant kitchen and busting heads for altruistic purposes. People tend to underestimate Eliot, which he absolutely uses to his advantage when in a con. People don’t expect the sweet, well-mannered country boy to be a clever strategist or a skilled martial artist. He has a great big heart that only a few people have managed to reach. He might be a bad guy, but he wants to do the right thing. And cook.

World description:

The world of Leverage isn’t any more remarkable than real-life, however there are quite a few things that they get away with that probably wouldn’t work in real life. For example, Eliot taking out an entire warehouse full of goons with Matrix-levels of extra gun-fighting and gun-kata. The team steals an entire country’s election, break into impossible places, and avoid getting arrested all the while. Eliot knocks people out and it doesn’t seem to cause them too many permanent injuries. All in all, it’s your typical action-movie type world with no extra magic. It’s very much a positive show at its core and a lot of justice that probably wouldn’t work out cleanly in our world work perfectly in theirs without any adverse consequences.

History:

Eliot grew up in Oklahoma, and was a jock in school. His dad ran a hardware store and expected him to follow him in the family business, but Eliot left after an argument and joined the Army instead. He was successful in the Army, eventually becoming part of an elite team-—possibly Delta Force. However, this led to many missions that he was morally opposed to and led to his own morals deteriorating until he had difficulty telling right from wrong. He left the military and ended up doing mercenary work, to the point where he became an actual assassin/hitman. At some point in his criminal career he began working for Damien Moreau, an incredibly powerful crime lord who is literally the bank for the world’s criminal activity. He became Damien’s right-hand-man and became incredibly close to him. At one point, Damien asked him to do something that Eliot called ‘the worst thing I’ve ever done’ and it was enough to eventually lead Eliot to leaving Damien. It’s implied that it may have involved killing an entire family. Some time after Eliot refused to use guns and kill.

He focused his talents on being a ‘retrieval specialist’ AKA a thief, and was eventually contacted to be part of a supposedly temporary team that would eventually become the Leverage crew. He found his family with this group of thieves, and for the next five years he became incredibly close to them. They help people with no other recourse, breaking the law themselves so that justice will be done. They are basically a group of modern-day Robin Hoods, going after corrupt CEO’s, other con-artists, and even Damien Moreau himself. Even after Nate and Sophie retired, Eliot stayed with Hardison and Parker as they continued the work that they started.

What are your character’s mental/emotional strengths?

1. Fortitude and strength, both mental and physical: Eliot is incredibly brave and self-sacrificing. He has no problem throwing himself in danger for his family and friends, not to mention the aspect of doing this for money, too. He is willing to take hits, he can work through the pain and violence, and has incredible mental control even in the face of actual torture. He’s been captured before and interrogated. He’s been shot in the line of duty multiple times, as well.

2. Resilience: Eliot has been through a lot in his life, and is incredibly resilient despite what’s happened to him. A lot of the things have been by his own hand—his descent into losing his morals and killing for money, and his subsequent rise into an attempt for redemption, even though he knows he truly won’t ever get it considering the things he’s done. He uses cooking as a way to feel again, as a way to ground himself. It’s his art, his way of expressing himself so he won’t lose himself again.

3. Compartmentalization and ruthlessness: Even though this sounds like it should be a weakness, this is how he was able to survive and thrive. He is able and willing to do the things that his team can’t or won’t do. Parker once asked him, since she also has this trait, if this makes them bad. Eliot simply replied that “It makes us, us.” He accepts the fact that he is the kind of person that would do anything to get to his goal. The end goal is the most important thing, and he uses it now to protect people. If that means killing bad guys to protect his new family despite his rule never to kill again, he is willing to do this and break his own self-imposed rules to make sure that he reaches his goal.

4. Emotional intelligence: For a person that’s always growling, grumpy, and sarcastic, Eliot has incredible emotional intelligence. He knows when something is wrong with one of his teammates, knows the kinds of questions to ask and how to delicately approach a situation. For example, he’s able to motivate Hardison and Parker when they were both afraid in different situations. This emotional intelligence allows him to be a very skilled grifter.

What are your character’s mental/emotional weaknesses?

1. Susceptible to manipulation because of his heart: Eliot is ruthless and is willing to do anything to reach his goals. He also has a very loving, open heart once you crack through all the layers to get to it. This leaves him incredibly vulnerable to manipulation at the core of things. If someone—such as Damien Moreau—is able to become someone he cares deeply about, that person can ask him to do anything and he will do it. Once Eliot trusts someone, he gives them everything—his whole heart, body, and soul. He will allow himself to get hurt for them, allow himself to become something he never meant to be for them. Eliot thinks he’s very guarded and cynical but the second he gets emotionally compromised it's all over.

2. Protective to a fault: Eliot ‘shielded’ (lied by omission) about knowing Damien Moreau because he thought he could get to him and take him down before his team got close to him, since he knew how dangerous Damien Moreau is. Taking on these burdens without telling anyone does come back to haunt him when it puts Hardison in serious danger. He claims that he did all this to protect the team and Nate, but he learned that he can’t do this kind of thing alone and he needs to involve the team. It’s suggested that maybe he did this because he simply didn’t want the team to know that he worked for Moreau because he didn’t want to lose them, or have them look at him differently. He’s finally found his family and he was afraid he would lose them.

3. Coldness as a defense mechanism: He almost lost the ability to feel emotion because of his work as an assassin and in the military. This happened actually because of his great heart and being able to care deeply—he had to push that part of himself so far down that it was almost locked away forever. He couldn’t be an effective assassin if he had empathy for the people he killed. This actually does come back to haunt him later on and he mentions that he remembers every single kill and has not forgotten them. He can’t allow himself to forget and become that person again.

What events or circumstances in your character’s past have impacted them the most?

1. The worst thing he’s ever done: Eliot talks about something he did in Moreau’s employ that is the worst thing he’s ever done, and that he’ll never be clean of. It’s implied later on that he may have killed an entire family. Eliot no longer uses guns but it’s also implied that this is the reason why he doesn’t, because using guns is now traumatizing to him. (He’s still willing to use them in emergency situations where he has no choice.) Whatever he did as this ‘worst thing,’ it was likely the reason he left Moreau in the first place. Eliot doesn’t believe he’ll ever have redemption for this act and it’s defined who he eventually becomes.

2. Damien Moreau: Damien Moreau terrifies Eliot. Eliot likely spent months trying to figure out how to avoid letting the team know about him and figure out a way to take down Damien Moreau without them finding out. Damien Moreau has defined Eliot and the person he eventually becomes. Eliot was a shell of himself working for Damien—a cold-blooded killer who did unspeakable things. Before this, Eliot had started out in the military wanting to save the world—what could have possibly happened to change him so greatly? He had already done a lot of morally and ethically questionable things when he was in the special forces and eventually as a mercenary. He was crossing the line and knew it, and was in it mostly because he was backing up the people next to him rather than believing in whatever cause they were fighting for. He was disillusioned and left the military, becoming a mercenary at some point, but Damien turned him into something even worse. It’s implied that Eliot cared a lot for Moreau and that he likely used his heart against him, manipulating him into becoming his weapon. Eliot spends the rest of his life haunted by this version of himself.

3. Meeting Toby Heath: Toby was the man that taught Eliot how to use a knife to build (via cooking) instead of destroying. Eliot reconned his restaurant in Belgium when he was working as a mercenary and was supposed to be in and out in under 90 seconds and ended up talking to him for three hours instead. Eliot credits him with being one of the few people to keep him from falling all the way down.

What impressions do others tend to have of your character and how do those impressions differ from who your character truly is?

It depends which version of Eliot they're meeting. If he's grifting or conning someone, he often is charming and unassuming, and plays people that others underestimate. People think he's just a simple person, a country boy, and that he's not intelligent. When in fact, he's actually already three steps ahead and probably has stolen what he's come for already. For those that meet his true honest self, they often think that he's grumpy, off-putting, and mean. He's the hitter after all, and looks like the typical violent muscle. He also gets annoyed easily and is sarcastic. It seems like he has a very hard shell on the outside. However, on the inside is literally the softest heart that loves to cook, wear beautiful aprons and jewelry, and will do anything to protect his friends and family. Just let him cook for you, dammit!

What motivates your character?

There are many things that motivate Eliot Spencer, the primary of which is protecting those he cares about. That originally encompassed an entire country, and he still will take a military-sanctioned job or two if they really need his help. His primary motivation now though is protecting his newfound family. He's their shield, and will take any hurt upon himself to save them. It could be said that guilt motivates him, though he was selfish for so long that it took meeting the Leverage crew to really get him to try to atone (even though he believes he can't ever truly atone) for his deeds. At the very core of things, it's really love motivates Eliot Spencer most of all.

How does your character handle crisis or adversity?

Eliot is extremely resilient. He has been traumatized and has PTSD from not only his time in the military but for his entire career as a hitman, to everything about Damien Moreau, but has what seems to be an effective management system in place for his own emotions. It's very rare to see Eliot lose control and he mentions at one point that he understands that what he needs to control is in himself. Eliot has a laser-like focus and he can get annoyed when others get easily distracted. He's often the wise one in difficult situations and is the one others look to for advice or to be their rock.

Skills, abilities, and physical weaknesses:

Eliot is an ordinary human, however he does have several extremely powerful skills:

1) Fighting: Eliot is skilled fighter and martial artist, which include elements of Boxing, Muay Thai, Jujitsu, Krav Maga, Kickboxing, Eskrima, Panantuken, Kenpo Karate, and Aikido.

2) Gunman: Eliot is extremely OP when it comes to guns. Not only is his aim impeccable, but he literally uses gun-kata to avoid getting hit (he does get hit sometimes, though. He's only human, after all.) There's a ridiculous Matrix-level scene in Leverage that shows us the one time Eliot will kill again. If this counts as a superhuman ability (thanks, Leverage-universe), I'd like to nerf his gun-fighting ability and aiming by having his hands shake badly when he tries to use any gun or gun-type weapon.

3) Deduction/observation and strategic combat/military knowledge: Eliot is an excellent strategist, has above-average observation skills and can deduce a lot about security forces because he knows so much about them. For example, he can tell if people in a crowd are CIA because of their shoes and what watches Navy Seals wear.

4) Physical weaknesses: Ordinary human weaknesses. Despite his career of being a hitter he doesn't seem to have any particular sore spots that he favors but he can be exhausted and injured just like anybody else.

Inventory:

1. Clothes: Jacket, hoodie, shirt, pants, undergarments, belt, shoes.
2. Glasses.
3. Wallet and car keys (to an orange Dodge Challenger).
4. Necklace.
5. Smartphone.
6. Bracelet.

HORROR INFO

What aspects of your character are you most interested in exploring in a horror setting?

Eliot's complex and terrible past coming back to haunt him. It's already been the focus of several episodes but I've always wanted to delve deeper into this aspect of him especially in a horror setting. Leverage is, at it's core, a light-hearted show but there were some moments of genuine horror that I would really like to explore more. We see Eliot get pushed to his limit a couple times but of course with the limitations of a TV show we can only see so much before it's time for the next episode. I would have loved to seen him pushed more to his breaking point--he's the team's rock both emotionally and physically but he does have a breaking point and I think this would be interesting to explore in a horror setting. His paranoia from his past coming back to haunt him could become a problem for him at some point in the future. Eliot is extremely resilient so I think he would be able to handle such a setting.

What is your character’s mental state upon entering the game? Thoroughness is appreciated here.

Eliot is going to be taken from the end of Season 5, where he's in an incredibly good place. He's finally realized that he's found his place forever at the side of Hardison and Parker, and that he's finally found people who have accepted him for who he is, his faults and all. He's living his dream of running a restaurant, even if it's Hardison's and he's doing good deeds with his team. He's content, happy, and still gets to help people. All in all, he's in one of the best places in his life he could hope to be. He does, however, still retain a measure of paranoia and caution simply because he is who he is and because of the things he's done.

What unsettles and frightens your character? What sort of encounters would chip away at your character’s psychological stability?

Eliot claims to have cured his claustrophobia as a kid by hiding in a small, dark shed for a few days, but it's likely that it still unsettles him. He's the type of person that would accept his fear and still do whatever needed to be done anyway, so even if he's faced with an unsettling situation such as this, he'd go right ahead and deal. Eliot tends to be paranoid because of the things he's done, he's well-aware he has enemies and that at any moment what he has could come crashing down on him because of someone coming after him. He's learned to live with it, but he considers the amount of paranoia he has to be helpful and healthy. If this is increased, however, I think it's possible to start to see him crack because of all the things he's done, and the guilt he has from killing so many people.

What he can't deal with at all is not being able to protect his family and team. If there was a situation where he was physically unable to get to them--or it being his fault somehow, it would absolutely wreck him.

Damien Moreau unsettles and frightens Eliot, because of the things he can make Eliot do. Eliot is, despite being tough, steady, and wise, is ironically easily manipulated if it's someone he trusts. Sophie is able to do neurolinguistic programming on him and got him to make her an entire cup of tea with a few strategic words and movements to activate his subconscious.

Being in danger of becoming the man he once was would also upset Eliot. He has his rule of not using guns because of the man he becomes when using them. He's afraid it'll make him who he used to be. Any encounter that would force him back into his assassin persona, especially if he's forced to protect his heart and to not feel, would be upsetting and terrifying for him. He knows he's a weapon and he knows the kind of damage he can do if wielded.

What horrifying events or genre elements would you like to see utilized in the game?

I really love cosmic and Lovecraftian horror, things like corruption and knowledge beyond human comprehension. Corruption is especially interesting for a character like Eliot who was canonically corrupted from being a new recruit to the Army who just wanted to protect people and see the world, to one of the world's deadliest, coldest assassins. Mental manipulation, body horror, and suspense are also aspects that I like to see.