Aug. 17th, 2024 05:41 pm
Expiation Application
Player: Liv
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
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transferred from the bank account of a notorious drug lord to one in Trent Russell's name, and then had all the cash withdrawn.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!!