This manifesto contains the following eleven things:
· Meta - why I love the ship
· A list of the shops best canon moments
· Meta - Eliot/Quinn’s potential future
· Fanfic - Understanding (showcasing the ship)
· A mini fanmix
· A front cover and back cover to accompany the mini fanmix
· 500 words of an AU fanfiction
· A rec list
· Icons
· A picspam
· Sig tags
Write 100 words telling us why you love your ship/character. [Meta]
There are so, so many reasons why I love the Eliot/Quinn ship. Some of them are completely personal reasons - the ship helped me and my best friend bond not all that long after we first met and we had a RP which I have fond memories of - but there are a lot of other reasons more directly linked to the show and characters as well.
Eliot’s done a lot of bad things in his life - we’re told that time and time again. To me, it makes a lot of sense that Eliot/Quinn would work because Quinn’s also a hitter, he’s also done some terrible things. Having that understanding of where the other is coming from would be super important for any relationship Eliot or Quinn could have, I think.
In a less serious reason, they just have chemistry! Even in The First David Job when they’re working on completely opposite sides there’s a dynamic to their fight that’s very different to other fights Eliot has. There’s more respect there, for one, and there’s also banter - albeit with an edge! When they meet again, we get oodles of shippy moments - bonding over hackers being stupid, harking back to the First David fight and the scene that includes the Huckleberry moment. A moment where they share a movie reference but more importantly a moment where Eliot actually allows Quinn to see him at in a vulnerable moment and Quinn responds brilliantly. There’s trust there.
So there’s a really good canon foundation for the ship. In a fandom shipping sense, there’s also a lot of potential in the ship for fanworks - h/c, angst, funnier fics with their banter, both of them being so easy to crossover into other fandoms. I love the ship because it’s flexible and fun and I like both the characters and there are so many ways it could play out.
A bullet point list of your character/ship's top ten best canon moments.
· Eliot and Quinn meet! Without that moment, the ship would never have happened. Straight away, Quinn is introduced as a mystery and we’re not quite sure where his loyalties lie - although we find out he’s been hired with Sterling, I think not being sure about Quinn’s loyalties is a theme that sticks and makes the dynamics between Eliot and Quinn super-interesting.
· Quinn almost manages gets the better of Eliot, breaking his rib and giving him a tough fight. Although he’s ultimately defeated it helps Quinn to earn Eliot’s respect and sets him up as a formidable force that could help form an equal-footing relationship.
· In The Last Dam Job, Eliot chooses Quinn to help them. Although the point of picking Quinn was because people wouldn’t expect Eliot to, I also think that there’s no way Eliot would have hired a hitter who he didn’t think he could trust with the team.
·The rescue scene - they negotiate terms as they take out the people holding Quinn. It’s funny, they work as a team and show a mutual respect.
· Quinn immediately fits in with Eliot’s team, especially compared to Chaos. We see him helping with the portrait and asking about it and he seems comfortable next to Eliot during the briefing etc, whereas Chaos immediately causes conflict. (Interestingly, the way Quinn handles Chaos is quite similar to how Eliot sometimes acts around Hardison - is Quinn imitating Eliot because he admires how he handles a hacker?)
·Quinn asks Eliot if he can hit one of the hackers - ‘see, it isn’t just me’. As well as being a funny moment of understanding between the two of them, it also showcases their compatibility.
·Eliot is vulnerable in front of Quinn when they confront Dubenich - he shows a lot of emotion and struggles with himself. To do that in front of Quinn is actually quite a big deal.
·‘I'm your huckleberry’ - although this is outwardly a jokey moment, it’s also following a scene where Eliot has been quite vulnerable in front of Quinn - Quinn’s reaction defuses the tension, as well as hinting that he does genuinely want to help out if need be.
· Eliot thanks Quinn for helping out and they shake hands - they’ve come a long way since that first fight!
· Eliot reminds Quinn that he beat him in the last fight and they banter good-naturedly, showing it is possible for the two hitters to get along.
·+ A bonus almost-canon moment! According to John Rogers’ blog the sniper in The Rundown Job was originally supposed to be Quinn (oh, why did that not happen?!) - imagine the delicious shippy tension that could have led to!
Write 100 words telling us of your ship's/character's potential future. [Meta]
I think one of my favourite things about Eliot/Quinn is that if we’d gotten to see more of them anything could have happened. The Last Dam Job definitely seemed to indicate that they’d be willing to help each other out again in the future and I can certainly envision them getting closer after working on more jobs together. There’s also a lot of future potential for shippy conflict, with the possibility of Eliot and Quinn ending up on opposite sides again because of the clients they work for. I think it would take a lot of time - and hopefully some casual hook-ups *G* - for Eliot and Quinn to get to the point where they trusted each other enough to enter a full-time relationship but I can see them getting there eventually, although whether they’d ever fully trust each other is a different question.
Write 300 words of fanfiction showcasing your ship/character.
Title: Understanding
The first time Quinn meets Eliot they fight, breaking ribs and causing bruises.
The second time they meet, Eliot’s bailing him out of a bad situation, and then he’s helping Eliot and his team out of one in return.
The third time, they’re on a more equal footing. No-one working for anyone else, no-one calling in favours, just the two of them randomly bumping into one another in a bar. Quinn loves coincidences.
“It must be different with just the three of you,” he says, placing the beers he’s just bought on the table in front of Eliot before sitting down. They’re onto their fourth round now, but the night’s still young and Quinn’s enjoying the unexpected meeting.
Eliot leans back in his chair. “It is. It’s good, though. Parker’s doing well, we’re still doing plenty of jobs.”
“Fighting the good fight.” Quinn laughs softly, shaking his head. “You’re a better man than me, Spencer.”
Eliot scoffs. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that - I’ve got a history.”
“Haven’t we all?” He doesn’t ask what Eliot’s is; he knows he wouldn’t answer if the tables were flipped. Quinn’s fairly sure he’s never tell anybody half of the things he’s done in his life, because they aren’t things that can be forgiven.
“Guess it comes with the hitter territory.”
Quinn doesn’t say anything in reply to that, takes a long drink from his beer instead.
“Do you ever wish you’d done something else?” asks Eliot, suddenly, surprisingly, personal. “Been, I don’t know, a lawyer or a builder or a teacher.”
“Do you?”
“Those kind of regrets don’t help anyone.”
Quinn shrugs. “But we still have them.”
Eliot nods, their eyes meeting and there’s understanding in the gaze. It’s not often Quinn is around someone who understands. Daring, because if Eliot is like him then he needs this too, he stretches out his leg under the table and rubs his foot against Eliot’s.
There’s a moment where Eliot’s eyes narrow and Quinn thinks he’s read the signals wrong, and then they’re both moving, tossing money on the table and heading for privacy with an urgency Quinn hasn’t felt in a long time.
They don’t trust one another, but they do understand where the other’s coming from - for that, Quinn can trust Eliot with this.
Make a mini fanmix (3 tracks, maximum 1 instrumental) with youtube or download links and lyric extract.
Make a front cover and back cover to go with that mini fanmix.
1. Renegades of Funk - Rage Against The Machine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K626gMvu2dsNow renegades are the people with their own philosophies
They change the course of history
Everyday people like you and me
We're the renegades we're the people
With our own philosophies
We change the course of history
Everyday people like you and me
2. Warriors of Time - Black Tide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9mo7rFWLbYAnd we will fight, 'till the day that we die
And we will live, for the battle and for the people
And they will tell all the stories about the Warriors of time
3. Walls - All Time Low
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn3ypkOkJoII'm gonna break down these walls, (down these walls) I built around myself.
I wanna fall so in love (so in love), with you, and no one else,
Could ever mean half as much, to me as you do now.
Together we'll move on, just don't turn around,
Let the walls break down.
Write 500 words of fanfiction showcasing your ship/character in an AU or crossover setting (show why their awesomeness transcends universes :D
Note: This is a scene from a longer fic (because apparently I can’t just stick to 500 words!)
Eliot had seen the inside of a hospital way too often since he’d graduated from the academy. His first week on the job, he’d seen a colleague get shot and had ridden with him in the ambulance - that time had ended well, others hadn’t. The plastic chairs in the waiting area never felt comfortable, and he’d never enjoyed watching the endless other people - friends, partners, kids - waiting for news.
Waiting in the hospital for Quinn, though, was affecting him more than he’d thought it would. He couldn’t stop pacing up and down the room, earning himself concerned glances from the woman at reception. He supposed he probably shouldn’t be using so much energy when he’d just been shot, but his injury was nothing he hadn’t had before whereas Quinn… for all he knew, Quinn could be really hurt.
“You okay?” Shelley came hurrying up to him, forehead creased with worry. “Sophie said you’d been shot and-”
“I’m fine, partner, fine. Not so sure about Quinn though - idiot took the second and third bullet for me.”
“Wow. That’s…” trailing off, Shelley reached out to grip Eliot’s uninjured shoulder.
“Yeah. It is. And he said something, after, that-”
“Detective Spencer?” The nurse who’d dressed his wound earlier came to a stop in front of them. “The doctor says you can see your colleague
now -he’s going to be just fine.”
“See, no problem. He’ll live.” Shelley grinned, slapping Eliot on the back.
“I’m going to go in and see him.”
Nodding, Shelley settled down into one of the chairs. “I’ll wait here, drive you home when you’re done. Man, who’d have thought it - Quinn taking bullets for you, you visiting him in hospital. It’s like some sort of alternate reality.”
His partner wasn’t wrong; there’d been a time when they hadn’t been allowed to work together because their superiors hadn’t been able to guarantee they’d have one another’s backs. Something between them had definitely changed.
Entering the hospital room with a sudden reluctance now he was actually there, Eliot was surprised by the scene he walked in on. Quinn was already sitting up in bed, looking lots better than Eliot had expected after how pale and lifeless he’d looked earlier in the day.
“You don’t have to stay so far away you know,” said Quinn, gesturing for him to come closer.
Eliot didn’t move. “You took a bullet for me. Two.”
“So I did. Least you can do is come over here so I don’t have to squint at you.”
He took a couple more steps into the room, dropped down into yet another plastic chair. “So what’s the verdict?”
“Guilty.” Quinn smirked. “The guy who shot me was definitely guilty.”
“Idiot -you know what I meant.”
“I’m going to be fine - doctor wants me to stay in a couple of nights to be sure, but I’ll be back annoying your ass at work before you know it.”
“I can’t wait.” Eliot had been aiming for deadpanned, but even to himself he sounded genuine. It was different, feeling something other than annoyance for Quinn - it wasn’t necessarily bad, though.
Make a rec list of Leverage fanworks (fanfic, videos, icons, etc.) other people (not you!) have made. 5 links, 100 words minimum telling us why it's good.
1.Fic - The Rescue Job (
http://leveragexchange.livejournal.com/95402.html) - by seraphina_snape
Summary: Quinn's nephew is kidnapped by rogue hunters. Instead of trusting his rescue to the boy's ragtag pack, Quinn calls in the favor Eliot owes him.
My notes: I cannot rec this enough! It’s a Leverage/Teen Wolf crossover that works so well and depicts a really easy, awesome dynamic between Eliot and Quinn. It’s sometimes hard in a crossover to stay true to the characters or to the ship but seraphina_snape pulls this off perfectly here!
2.Fic - Five Times Eliot Surprised Quinn (
http://archiveofourown.org/works/839370) - by ScoutLover
Summary: Eliot’s not at all what Quinn expected
My notes: This is an awesome take on the developing relationship between Eliot and Quinn, lovely from Quinn’s POV. The ending made me smile and laugh as well, and it all feels so believable!
3.Fic - Bait (
http://archiveofourown.org/works/415754) - by kentucka
Summary:
Right there in the doorframe leading out into the hallway stands Mr. Quinn. The gun is raised, aimed straight at Eliot’s heart, ready to fire. Sneaky bastard.
“You should’ve called,” Eliot says, and then agony shoots through his shoulder.
My notes: This is a really nice take on the ship - the fic fully acknowledges the violence that is bound up with the characters and has some good banter moments.
4.Fic - Establishing Dominance (
http://archiveofourown.org/works/451047) - by telaryn
Summary: After the events of The Last Dam Job, Quinn is determined to have the final say on his last night with Eliot.
My notes: Hot, hot, hot! The fic is, of course, also extremely well written! Did I mention hotttt!
5.Fic - Paying Debts - (
http://archiveofourown.org/works/621818) - by seraphina_snape
Summary: Quinn calls in his favor and asks Eliot to help out on a job.
My notes: fake!boyfriends! kissing! Eliot/Quinn banter! I started with a seraphina_snape rec and I’ll finish with one - this is a great read! (Be sure to check the warning notes that are at the end of the fic, though.)
Make a set of 5 icons showcasing your ship/character.
Make a picspam (500px x 500px minimum, ten images minimum) showcasing your ship/character
Make two sig tags (300px x 150px) showcasing your ship/character.