Mar. 28th, 2025 11:40 am
OOC Contact
Contact the player here or at chirality @ plurk or whiskeyqueer @ discord!
Mar. 24th, 2025 12:30 pm
Singillatum Application
PLAYER INFO
Player Name: Liv
• Player Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
chirality or whiskeyqueer on Discord.
• Player Age: 36
• Permissions: Here.
CHARACTER INFO
• Character Name: Root
• Character Age: 38
• Character Canon: Person of Interest
• Canon Point: 5x10 "The Day the World Went Away"
• Character History: Fandom wiki page.
• Character Personality:
— POSITIVE TRAIT: DEVOTED. Root's most noticeable and primary characteristic is her uncompromising loyalty. Her devotion goes far beyond any sane level. Her canon death is a deliberate action that saves Harold, and she'd have sacrificed herself for him many times previous. She's repeatedly been tortured and tortured others, and expressed willingness to endure trepanning rather than betray the Machine. She's deaf in one ear because of her loyalty to the Machine and never once expresses regret or hesitation over it. She threatens to let herself die if the Machine won't help her save Shaw, not out of dramatics but because she knew that tactic would work on the Machine -- and it did. Once Root decides she's devoted to someone, she cares intensely, and she basically doesn't find a limit in what she will do or will endure for their sake.
— POSITIVE TRAIT: QUICK-WITTED. Root is incredibly smart. She's an infamous world-renowned hacker and assassin, and she demonstrates extremely quick facility with complex concepts and ideas. She decided to devote herself to the Machine after reading her source code, which means she 1) hacked in to see it and 2) understood what she was reading, neither of which are trivial matters in canon context. Root has plenty of book smarts but also, less commonly, is very fast at applying it. She can put together facts and decide on a course of action in an instant.
— POSITIVE TRAIT: SMOOTH. Along with her technical skills, Root is also very skilled socially. She has high emotional intelligence, which we see many times as she takes on different false identities and manipulates others in those roles. She can truly embody any persona at the drop of a hat, with almost no warning. She has a cheeky and irrepressible sense of humor, and she flirts openly, with a transparently warm admiration. She's confident all the way down, which makes her a fluid conversationalist. In short, Root is charming even when she's being terrifying or annoying.
— NEGATIVE TRAIT: DETACHED. Much of her social skill covers up a tendency for detachment. Root once said she doesn't enjoy killing people, but she doesn't feel very bad about it, either. Since we see her have strong feelings numerous times, we can take this to mean that unless you're on her short list of people to be loyal to, she can detach herself completely from the impact of what she does. Root can come across as utterly mercurial, flipping from warm and charming to cold and ruthless in the next moment. This comes from a core ability to simply turn off or compartmentalize her emotions.
— NEGATIVE TRAIT: RUTHLESS. The ruthlessness previously mentioned can be carried to extremes. In carrying out a course of action she's decided on, Root will stop at almost nothing. Although over the course of the series she flips from villain to hero, she never loses that ruthless streak. She tries to kill a woman Harold cares for rather than risk him getting caught because of her, and only changes her approach when he forces her to. Root says to Harold that she used to walk in darkness until he showed her light, and refers to war and violence as "ugliness" -- so she's aware that it's awful. She clearly regrets some of her previous hits when she was working as an assassin... but she'd still do it again if she needed to, without hesitation.
— NEGATIVE TRAIT: CONDESCENDING. Root is also characterized by a sense of isolation and loneliness. She's truly abnormal in a lot of ways, and her social skills mean she's very sensitive to her reception with others. Since that reception is often (justifiably) unwelcoming, she rationalizes that by scorning others and positioning herself as superior. She sees most of humanity as both incapable of understanding her and incapable of understanding the broader universe. They're limited, often pathetic, and easy to condescend to. There's no plan, no greater justification or higher being out there, and they're all just scrambling around foolishly looking for one.
• Character Skills:
— Marksmanship (highly accurate with a wide variety of guns, including dual wielding pistols)
— Computers, technology, and engineering, though she's more software than hardware
— Bloody-minded determination in adversity and high pain tolerance
— Social manipulation
• Character Inventory:
— ITEM ONE: Knife (folding for self-defense)
— ITEM TWO: Shotgun (tactical police weapon from episode 5x01)
— ITEM THREE: Dog named Bear
• Important Notes: Root is coming in from more or less immediately before her death with her wounds mysteriously healed. Only other note to make is that she has a cochlear implant in her right ear to make up for being forcibly deafened on that side during torture (her stapes was surgically removed). Without it, she's deaf in that ear, and she's going to have limited battery life available (about 72 hours) until or unless she works out a solution for recharging it. It will also be subject to the Auroras causing technology to go haywire.
• Writing Samples:
— SAMPLE ONE: In-game arrival with Shaw
— SAMPLE TWO: TDM top level
Player Name: Liv
• Player Contact:
• Player Age: 36
• Permissions: Here.
CHARACTER INFO
• Character Name: Root
• Character Age: 38
• Character Canon: Person of Interest
• Canon Point: 5x10 "The Day the World Went Away"
• Character History: Fandom wiki page.
• Character Personality:
— POSITIVE TRAIT: DEVOTED. Root's most noticeable and primary characteristic is her uncompromising loyalty. Her devotion goes far beyond any sane level. Her canon death is a deliberate action that saves Harold, and she'd have sacrificed herself for him many times previous. She's repeatedly been tortured and tortured others, and expressed willingness to endure trepanning rather than betray the Machine. She's deaf in one ear because of her loyalty to the Machine and never once expresses regret or hesitation over it. She threatens to let herself die if the Machine won't help her save Shaw, not out of dramatics but because she knew that tactic would work on the Machine -- and it did. Once Root decides she's devoted to someone, she cares intensely, and she basically doesn't find a limit in what she will do or will endure for their sake.
— POSITIVE TRAIT: QUICK-WITTED. Root is incredibly smart. She's an infamous world-renowned hacker and assassin, and she demonstrates extremely quick facility with complex concepts and ideas. She decided to devote herself to the Machine after reading her source code, which means she 1) hacked in to see it and 2) understood what she was reading, neither of which are trivial matters in canon context. Root has plenty of book smarts but also, less commonly, is very fast at applying it. She can put together facts and decide on a course of action in an instant.
— POSITIVE TRAIT: SMOOTH. Along with her technical skills, Root is also very skilled socially. She has high emotional intelligence, which we see many times as she takes on different false identities and manipulates others in those roles. She can truly embody any persona at the drop of a hat, with almost no warning. She has a cheeky and irrepressible sense of humor, and she flirts openly, with a transparently warm admiration. She's confident all the way down, which makes her a fluid conversationalist. In short, Root is charming even when she's being terrifying or annoying.
— NEGATIVE TRAIT: DETACHED. Much of her social skill covers up a tendency for detachment. Root once said she doesn't enjoy killing people, but she doesn't feel very bad about it, either. Since we see her have strong feelings numerous times, we can take this to mean that unless you're on her short list of people to be loyal to, she can detach herself completely from the impact of what she does. Root can come across as utterly mercurial, flipping from warm and charming to cold and ruthless in the next moment. This comes from a core ability to simply turn off or compartmentalize her emotions.
— NEGATIVE TRAIT: RUTHLESS. The ruthlessness previously mentioned can be carried to extremes. In carrying out a course of action she's decided on, Root will stop at almost nothing. Although over the course of the series she flips from villain to hero, she never loses that ruthless streak. She tries to kill a woman Harold cares for rather than risk him getting caught because of her, and only changes her approach when he forces her to. Root says to Harold that she used to walk in darkness until he showed her light, and refers to war and violence as "ugliness" -- so she's aware that it's awful. She clearly regrets some of her previous hits when she was working as an assassin... but she'd still do it again if she needed to, without hesitation.
— NEGATIVE TRAIT: CONDESCENDING. Root is also characterized by a sense of isolation and loneliness. She's truly abnormal in a lot of ways, and her social skills mean she's very sensitive to her reception with others. Since that reception is often (justifiably) unwelcoming, she rationalizes that by scorning others and positioning herself as superior. She sees most of humanity as both incapable of understanding her and incapable of understanding the broader universe. They're limited, often pathetic, and easy to condescend to. There's no plan, no greater justification or higher being out there, and they're all just scrambling around foolishly looking for one.
• Character Skills:
— Marksmanship (highly accurate with a wide variety of guns, including dual wielding pistols)
— Computers, technology, and engineering, though she's more software than hardware
— Bloody-minded determination in adversity and high pain tolerance
— Social manipulation
• Character Inventory:
— ITEM ONE: Knife (folding for self-defense)
— ITEM TWO: Shotgun (tactical police weapon from episode 5x01)
— ITEM THREE: Dog named Bear
• Important Notes: Root is coming in from more or less immediately before her death with her wounds mysteriously healed. Only other note to make is that she has a cochlear implant in her right ear to make up for being forcibly deafened on that side during torture (her stapes was surgically removed). Without it, she's deaf in that ear, and she's going to have limited battery life available (about 72 hours) until or unless she works out a solution for recharging it. It will also be subject to the Auroras causing technology to go haywire.
• Writing Samples:
— SAMPLE ONE: In-game arrival with Shaw
— SAMPLE TWO: TDM top level
Mar. 24th, 2025 12:22 pm
Permissions
O
O
C
I
N
F
O
player name: Liv
bracket/prose: Either is fine, slight preference for prose.
backtagging: Yes please, though I'll admit it's tough for me if it gets over a month old. I might ask to handwave or wrap things up.
threadhopping: Knock yourself out.
fourthwalling: In Root's case she would find it entertaining, so go ahead.
not interested in: Hardcore body horror.
very interested in: Root's weird semi-religious relationship with technology and computers, found family themes, and getting to show her freaky ruthless streak whenever possible.
content warnings: Nope!
bracket/prose: Either is fine, slight preference for prose.
backtagging: Yes please, though I'll admit it's tough for me if it gets over a month old. I might ask to handwave or wrap things up.
threadhopping: Knock yourself out.
fourthwalling: In Root's case she would find it entertaining, so go ahead.
not interested in: Hardcore body horror.
very interested in: Root's weird semi-religious relationship with technology and computers, found family themes, and getting to show her freaky ruthless streak whenever possible.
content warnings: Nope!
I
C
I
N
F
O
character: Root (Samantha Groves)
canon point: Post-canon
age: 38
physical affection: Extremely open. She's probably the one doing it, let's be real.
violence: Also extremely open and potentially the one doing it. Violence up to and including death is welcome.
relationships: Root is very non-traditional and freewheeling about her personal relationships. She rarely feels the need to define them and she's open to just about anything. Although she's intensely devoted to Shaw, Harold, and the Machine, she's essentially a relationship anarchist and will pursue whatever she's interested in. That includes sex or romance or strong platonic connections.
skills / abilities: In RPG stat terms she's highly skilled in intellectual, social, and shooting, with some additional skill in melee. Root is a great shot with a huge variety of guns, she is extremely comfortable with computers and an internationally renowned hacker, and she's socially skilled enough to manipulate people with ease. She has some basic survival skills but nothing substantial.
psychic info: Nothing of note. She's kind of a mild nutcase though so reading her mind is likely to be an interesting time.
magical info: Nothing of note.
physiological info: She's deaf in her right ear and has a cochlear implant she relies on to hear.
ic offensive subjects: General willingness to commit torture and murder, I guess. Insult the Machine or Harold to her at your own peril. Also her penchant for physics and math based philosophizing should probably carry a content warning.
canon point: Post-canon
age: 38
physical affection: Extremely open. She's probably the one doing it, let's be real.
violence: Also extremely open and potentially the one doing it. Violence up to and including death is welcome.
relationships: Root is very non-traditional and freewheeling about her personal relationships. She rarely feels the need to define them and she's open to just about anything. Although she's intensely devoted to Shaw, Harold, and the Machine, she's essentially a relationship anarchist and will pursue whatever she's interested in. That includes sex or romance or strong platonic connections.
skills / abilities: In RPG stat terms she's highly skilled in intellectual, social, and shooting, with some additional skill in melee. Root is a great shot with a huge variety of guns, she is extremely comfortable with computers and an internationally renowned hacker, and she's socially skilled enough to manipulate people with ease. She has some basic survival skills but nothing substantial.
psychic info: Nothing of note. She's kind of a mild nutcase though so reading her mind is likely to be an interesting time.
magical info: Nothing of note.
physiological info: She's deaf in her right ear and has a cochlear implant she relies on to hear.
ic offensive subjects: General willingness to commit torture and murder, I guess. Insult the Machine or Harold to her at your own peril. Also her penchant for physics and math based philosophizing should probably carry a content warning.
Aug. 17th, 2024 05:41 pm
Expiation Application
Player: Liv
Contact:chirality, whiskeyqueer @ discord
Age: 35
Current Characters: Toph Beifong
Character Name: Root (Samantha Groves)
Character Canon: Person of Interest
Canon Point: Mid-S3, after "/"
Age: 36
Crime: Murder. A lot of murder.
Background: Fandom wiki page.
Personality: Root was born Samantha Groves in 1979 in Bishop, Texas. She was too smart for a small town, definitely some variety of queer, and she had one real friend: Hanna. When Samantha saw Hanna get abducted by a man she recognized right outside their local library, she followed the rules and did what she was supposed to do: she told the librarian. The librarian told her to say nothing, because Trent Russell was a good man who wouldn't do such a thing. Samantha pushed it further, followed another rule: she called 911, told them the license plate of the car that Hanna was taken with. But nothing happened. Trent Russell was protected by his community, and Hanna was never seen again.
Two years later, $100,000 was transferred from the bank account of a notorious drug lord to one in Trent Russell's name, and then had all the cash withdrawn. The drug lord went looking for his money and Trent, unable to pay it back, was swiftly murdered. This was probably when Root as we know her really began, and Samantha ended. She stayed in Texas for a few years longer until her mother died, presumably her only family, and then at the age of 23 left and never returned.
She became a contract killer and an infamous hacker, living up to her taken name, Root (as in root directory on a computer). She was intensely disillusioned and cynical after what happened with Hanna. Root learned not to trust institutions and not to expect better. She tells Harold that one day she realized it wasn't anyone's fault that they were so awful -- people are all just bad code, following a flawed design. They did terrible things and they couldn't help it; it's human nature. Root isn't amoral so much as deeply bitter. What's the point in trying to make things better if the universe tends toward entropy?
Root got her answer when she eventually discovered the existence of the Machine, a sentient surveillance super-intelligence coded by Harold Finch after 9/11 to prevent acts of terrorism. The Machine was coded to love and protect people, and then Harold closed it off from all human input, including his own, and eventually set it free. The instant she discovered it, Root was fully taken in, and from that moment on she was unwaveringly devoted to the Machine's vision. She humanizes it with female pronouns and follows its commands unquestioningly, often not seeing its plan but trusting absolutely that it exists. The Machine represents something better than human, a perfect being that she can give her complete trust and loyalty to.
Through the Machine, Root learns to care about and value human life again. She gains human connections with the rest of the team, and she's forced, over and over again, to save lives because it's what the Machine wants. She becomes truly one of the good guys first in action and later in heart. Root never loses her ruthlessly pragmatic streak, and she works tirelessly under the Machine's direction or to protect it when it isn't speaking to her. Root is peppy, irrepressible, and wickedly funny. She is constantly going at 100 mph and usually flirting and cracking terrible jokes along the way. She endures horrendous torture for the Machine and in the end goes willingly to her death to save Harold, and not once does she express regret or reservation.
Tellingly, the only thing that overrides her devotion to the Machine is her devotion to another person, Sameen Shaw. As Shaw puts it, "the two of us together would be like a four alarm fire in an oil refinery." They're violent, merciless women who do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, and they initially meet as enemies. But Root is intensely attracted to Shaw and, over time, we see her capacity to truly love others without reservation aimed at a human person and not just her god.
Abilities: Hacking (S-tier), pretending to be someone she isn't (S-tier), covert assassination (A-tier). Nothing supernatural!
Inventory: Root is carrying a phone, a Taser, and two handguns, and she has a cochlear implant in her right ear. Without it she is deaf in that ear.
Samples: TDM samples!
Questions: None, thank you!!
Contact:
Age: 35
Current Characters: Toph Beifong
Character Name: Root (Samantha Groves)
Character Canon: Person of Interest
Canon Point: Mid-S3, after "/"
Age: 36
Crime: Murder. A lot of murder.
Background: Fandom wiki page.
Personality: Root was born Samantha Groves in 1979 in Bishop, Texas. She was too smart for a small town, definitely some variety of queer, and she had one real friend: Hanna. When Samantha saw Hanna get abducted by a man she recognized right outside their local library, she followed the rules and did what she was supposed to do: she told the librarian. The librarian told her to say nothing, because Trent Russell was a good man who wouldn't do such a thing. Samantha pushed it further, followed another rule: she called 911, told them the license plate of the car that Hanna was taken with. But nothing happened. Trent Russell was protected by his community, and Hanna was never seen again.
Two years later, $100,000 was transferred from the bank account of a notorious drug lord to one in Trent Russell's name, and then had all the cash withdrawn. The drug lord went looking for his money and Trent, unable to pay it back, was swiftly murdered. This was probably when Root as we know her really began, and Samantha ended. She stayed in Texas for a few years longer until her mother died, presumably her only family, and then at the age of 23 left and never returned.
She became a contract killer and an infamous hacker, living up to her taken name, Root (as in root directory on a computer). She was intensely disillusioned and cynical after what happened with Hanna. Root learned not to trust institutions and not to expect better. She tells Harold that one day she realized it wasn't anyone's fault that they were so awful -- people are all just bad code, following a flawed design. They did terrible things and they couldn't help it; it's human nature. Root isn't amoral so much as deeply bitter. What's the point in trying to make things better if the universe tends toward entropy?
Root got her answer when she eventually discovered the existence of the Machine, a sentient surveillance super-intelligence coded by Harold Finch after 9/11 to prevent acts of terrorism. The Machine was coded to love and protect people, and then Harold closed it off from all human input, including his own, and eventually set it free. The instant she discovered it, Root was fully taken in, and from that moment on she was unwaveringly devoted to the Machine's vision. She humanizes it with female pronouns and follows its commands unquestioningly, often not seeing its plan but trusting absolutely that it exists. The Machine represents something better than human, a perfect being that she can give her complete trust and loyalty to.
Through the Machine, Root learns to care about and value human life again. She gains human connections with the rest of the team, and she's forced, over and over again, to save lives because it's what the Machine wants. She becomes truly one of the good guys first in action and later in heart. Root never loses her ruthlessly pragmatic streak, and she works tirelessly under the Machine's direction or to protect it when it isn't speaking to her. Root is peppy, irrepressible, and wickedly funny. She is constantly going at 100 mph and usually flirting and cracking terrible jokes along the way. She endures horrendous torture for the Machine and in the end goes willingly to her death to save Harold, and not once does she express regret or reservation.
Tellingly, the only thing that overrides her devotion to the Machine is her devotion to another person, Sameen Shaw. As Shaw puts it, "the two of us together would be like a four alarm fire in an oil refinery." They're violent, merciless women who do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, and they initially meet as enemies. But Root is intensely attracted to Shaw and, over time, we see her capacity to truly love others without reservation aimed at a human person and not just her god.
Abilities: Hacking (S-tier), pretending to be someone she isn't (S-tier), covert assassination (A-tier). Nothing supernatural!
Inventory: Root is carrying a phone, a Taser, and two handguns, and she has a cochlear implant in her right ear. Without it she is deaf in that ear.
Samples: TDM samples!
Questions: None, thank you!!
