Application for scorched
Out of Character Information
player name: Rhi
player livejournal: omgrhi
playing here: N/A
where did you find us? Psychic medium Mentions of the game on Plurk, RP!S, anoncomm, etc (all positive mentions, I might add!)
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yup.
In Character Information
character name: Quorra
Fandom: TRON: Legacy
Timeline: After being repaired by Flynn after the fight in the End of Line club, in which her arm was severed. She will remember this, but wake up in Anatole before she regained consciousness after being repaired.
character's age: Physically, mid-twenties; time-wise, closer to 1200 cycles - one cycle being equivalent to one human year.
powers, skills, pets and equipment:
Quorra's equipment consists of a skintight black undersuit, over which she wears her light armor. White illuminated 'circuits' run the length of this armor, the brightness and steadiness of which reflects her physical state. If she is low on power or injured, her circuitry will dim and flicker; at full strength, it's a steady bright glow.
She carries her identity disc on a holster on her back, which serves dual purposes as both a weapon and a means of accessing her code via a graphical interface that pops up when summoned. When used as a weapon, the outside rim of the disc lights up and becomes razor-sharp and searing hot. Only Quorra is immune to its damage, and when thrown, the disc will always return to her hand, much like a boomerang. She is extremely skilled in combat in this manner and is also proficient in hand-to-hand combat, adopting a mixed martial arts style.
She also possesses two 'batons' - short, black sticks that resemble sword-hilts. One, when activated, shoots out a beam of light much like a lightsaber, which can burn and slice through most substances. The other baton contains her lightcycle. When unfolded in half, the cycle 'rezzes' or comes into being from the code stored within the baton, forming into a solid mass in mid-air within seconds, able to be ridden on most terrain. She is adept at wielding both; she fights as well with the sword-baton as she does with her disc, and at the same time, using them in a sort of sword-and-shield combination. In addition to being a talented driver, she can pilot light jets and an all-terrain light runner (similar to a Jeep or other off-road vehicle) with ease.
Physically, Quorra is lithe, nimble and very fast when it comes to any kind of athletic or acrobatic activity - her acrobatic talents manifest in a style similar to Parkour; she can scale the tallest building or the most crowded urban cityscape at ground- or sky-level without breaking a sweat - on the Grid, at least. She can also survive falls that no regular human ever could.
With Quorra, in canon instead of bleeding from her injuries, the injured body part would leak or shatter into pixels (square, crystal-like shapes that soon melt away). She can reboot to repair herself, however this can take a while depending on the extent of the damage to her systems. Repairs can also be achieved, and quicker, through editing the code in her identity disc. However, as one of the Scorched, Quorra will possess a far more human-like body, in that superficial wounds will still produce pixel damage, but deeper wounds will draw blood, and she will need to eat, drink and sleep to replenish her energy each day.
Quorra's DNA is digital and triple-stranded, and as she is a somewhat more 'evolved' form of life, she is immune to most kinds of disease and ailments that plague normal humans.
canon history: Quorra's full canon history is provided at the TRON Wiki, here, but here is a tl;dr rundown just in case, with elucidation on the major events in Legacy:
Quorra is, more or less, a digital being. She was 'born' in a system created by genius programmer Kevin Flynn, but she is no Basic program - Quorra is an Isomorphic Algorithm, a program that spawned independently of the Creator's input. She, along with the rest of the ISOs, emerged out of the Sea of Simulation - a vast plane of random bits of unused information within the system, but outside the construct Flynn built, which was known as the Grid. The Creator was enamored with these immaculately conceived 'miracles', as he called them, but his opinion was not shared by all. CLU, a Codified Likeness Utility created in Flynn's image and his second in command, programmed to help create the 'perfect' system, saw these ISOs as a flaw and a threat to that system. He hatched a plan to get rid of them once and for all, and after a time during which it seemed that the ISOs and the original Basic programs might make peace, he took advantage of the situation and staged a coup and took over the Grid, ousting Flynn entirely.
From that moment, Quorra, too, became hunted. Never before fond of restriction or rules, she found that suddenly her life itself was fundamentally outlawed. She was devastated, angry, confused; she did all that she could to fight, resolving not to give in to CLU and his deranged, fanatical devotion to his warped ideal of 'perfection'. She, like the rest of the ISOs, wanted only to explore, to learn about the world within the system and without, but they were denied their very existence. Anger was a strong part of her then, during the destruction of the ISOs and their cities - anger and helplessness, since she was unable to stop any of it. Quorra barely escaped with her life, and it was only with the intervention of the Creator after her flight from the Grid that she managed to survive. Flynn found her on the brink of death, saved her, and took her under his wing; together they went into exile in the Outlands, a place untamed by the more orderly code of the Grid - essentially, the only wilderness in the system, and the only place CLU would not be able to find and destroy them.
There, Quorra and Flynn spent over a thousand cycles, hiding, watching, biding their time. And during that time, Quorra's anger slowly faded, but there was a part of her that would never forget what she'd lost. Eventually, though, she learned to redirect her energy into, well, learning - and she threw herself into it with voracious abandon. All ISOs possessed an innate curiosity, Quorra moreso than most; Flynn almost could not keep up with her hunger for User knowledge. He taught her all he could about the real world, about art, philosophy, religion, literature, and she soaked up the information like a sponge. To the Creator's delight, however, her own opinions formed solidly. She had passion, which was something a lot of the Basic programs had lacked. She had understanding as well, and the capability to comprehend what she learned, to incorporate thoughts and ideas into her own world view. She was his prized student, a true miracle. Although the rest of the ISOs had been lost, she was the one that had survived against all odds, and it was easy for him to see why. She was strong of heart and mind, despite all the hardship she'd endured.
Over the cycles, Quorra began to take joy in what she learned, to enjoy the small curiosities that added to her database of User information. They were a fascinating people, so adaptable and capable of change, and they intrigued her immensely. She vowed to absorb all she could, to experience as much of the outside through Flynn's teachings as possible. She adopted tastes in philosophy, literature, religion - Zen Buddhism kept Flynn afloat through the ages, and although Quorra's restless nature made it difficult for her to achieve a meditative state anything like the Creator's, he taught her as much about the concept of selflessness and altruism as he could.
It was mostly her unwavering trust in Flynn's judgment - he was the Creator, after all - that kept her with him in the Outlands all that time. The Portal to the real world was unreachable, or so he said, without extreme risk, but after some twelve hundred cycles, the game finally changed.
The Portal opened again. Like a safe, it could only be opened from the outside, and this time, it was Flynn's son, Sam, who opened it. CLU had sent a page to Flynn's old friend, Alan Bradley, who then passed it onto Sam, and completely by accident he discovered the laser that could digitize a human being and send them into the Grid, and he found himself in the digital world without any idea how to get back.
CLU found him, and knowing that Sam would lure his father out of hiding, placed him on the Games Grid - an arena where programs competed against each other to the death. Quorra, who had seen the portal open and went to investigate the Games on one of her more adventurous reconnaissance missions, discovered Sam and intervened, rescuing him and taking him to his father, a new hope blossoming within her for the first time in many cycles.
Flynn was reluctant to leave their fortress, as his return to the Grid was CLU's ultimate goal - he wanted Flynn's identity disc, which would enable him to leave through the portal and transport to the real world so he could mold that, too, into his idea of 'perfection'. But Sam forced Flynn's hand when, directed by Quorra - who finally thought there was a chance for their exile to end - he returned to the Grid to find an old friend of hers, Zuse, who could help him get to the portal.
At Flynn's order, he and Quorra followed, intervening just in time after Zuse betrayed Sam to CLU. However, Quorra was damaged by one of CLU's Black Guards, her arm severed and her systems sent into shut-down mode.
It is after she was repaired by the Creator, Kevin Flynn, that she will wake up in an unfamiliar bed with her arm intact and no knowledge of what has happened, or what that strange shiny device on the table next to her is.
But she's going to find out as much as she can.
personality: Strong and capable, Quorra hasn't survived the dangers of the Grid solely by luck. While bravery is often subjective, hers persists even in the darkest of times. Her optimism is something that can't be dampened - her very nature is to believe in change, to believe in hope, and not to give up. A certain amount of stubbornness leans her a somewhat contrary edge; in the face of adversity, she's more likely to meet it with a glare than to turn her back.
Her determination has driven her to survive where a lesser program might have perished. Danger, or perceived danger, doesn't bother her; which isn't to say she doesn't feel fear - she does, but tries not to let it define her or control her actions. Stubbornness, impatience and impulsiveness, however, she finds hard to keep a rein on sometimes. She has spent many years waiting, and often craves action, sometimes to the point of recklessness.
Fundamentally optimistic, Quorra prefers to see the good in people than to dwell on the bad, except when it's absolutely unavoidable. Her sense of humor is somewhat skewed, in that she can laugh at the most inappropriate of moments. Especially when it comes to the intricacies of the User world - she finds things funny that the average human wouldn't. She hasn't much of a sense of appropriateness when it comes to human society, although over time she has learned to control her mirth in more serious situations.
During the time she spent with the Creator of the Grid, Kevin Flynn, he taught her much about the outside world - about art, literature, religion, philosophy. Of the latter, hers is often to charge in head-first and think about consequences later, although the study of altruism - of removing oneself from the equation - has been a continued subject of research for her. She understands the occasional necessity for inaction, although sometimes that necessity can frustrate her. She much prefers to act rather than wait, to get on her lightcycle and drive than to sit still and meditate. She is assertive, if not overtly aggressive, and is not afraid to take a risk or two if the need arises. However, over the cycles she has become more patient, more likely to think before she acts, but she has been known for the occasional impulsive decision.
Although Quorra has lived for many cycles, as all of that time was spent in the digital world of the Grid and its surrounds, she still possesses a certain naivety about the outside world. She doesn't fully understand Users - humans - or their motivations, and it is one of her goals to someday learn what drives them, what defines them, what motivates them.
Quorra has always wanted peace between her people and the Basic programs, even when it seemed that peace was unattainable. She still held onto her hopes and dreams, though, even when it seemed none of them would come to fruition. She believes in freedom, which has made her isolation all the more difficult. But she cares enough about Flynn and about Users to make their self-imposed exile more bearable - and it has given her an opportunity to learn things about Users she never would have otherwise.
As an isomorphic algorithm that spawned independently in the Grid, Quorra was 'born' without a set function or directive, so she has basically had to make up things as she goes along. She believes strongly in justice, and in surpassing limits and fears and insecurities. The situation was such that she was not given much of a chance to prosper in the digital world before the ISOs became hunted, so she has spent much of her life on the run or hiding. As the last one left, she is a rare bird, one that lives in fear that her wings will be clipped. She has never enjoyed feeling trapped, although she is good at finding distractions to take her mind off a bad situation.
And someday, she hopes to be truly free to discover and explore the world as well as her own capabilities.
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? Quorra is a strong, courageous, able and spirited character, both physically and mentally. She was the only Isomorphic Algorithm to survive the mass genocide CLU, Kevin Flynn's former right hand, perpetrated against her people. Naturally that experience hardened her considerably, but at her core there's still a certain naive vulnerability and I think both elements would be interesting to explore in a place such as Anatole.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample: [Video]
[The face that appears on the screen is, at first, upside-down, until its owner figures out to turn the device the right way up. Said face belongs to a pale woman with wide, blue-green eyes, and she bites her lip and stares anxiously into the screen for a moment before speaking.]
Is this device functional? I think I've figured it out, but it's not any configuration of communications technology I've ever seen before. [A thoughtful pause.] In fact, it seems a little...outdated.
Speaking of outdated - What is this place? Have I been derezzed? Is this some sort of afterlife for programs? I don't remember how I got here. I think I must have rebooted.
Are there any Users here? I could really do with some advice from one right about now.
Third Person Sample:
The last thing Quorra remembered was pain. Pain, more intense than she had ever known, overriding every line of code, a physical and digital shock straight to the core of her systems. The hit had come out of nowhere, and she hadn't even had time to look for Sam before she'd been forced to her knees, and then -
And then, the pain.
The pain, and a feeling like falling without hitting the ground, and then a jolt that brought her out of it what felt like mere nanocycles later. She sat up all at once, drawing in a deep, gasping breath, her eyes wide open but blind to her surroundings for those first few moments.
Her arm tingled, a feeling like pins and needles crawling up to her shoulder. She glanced down, focusing finally, to see her arm whole and complete exactly how it was supposed to be. Exactly. But not everything was as it was supposed to be - she was supposed to be with Flynn, and with Sam, and yet she knew with a certainty that penetrated to the core of her code-base that they were not.
Their absence was like a physical blow, and the ISO looked around wildly, head whipping back and forth, her eyes wide and breath quick like a trapped, frightened animal. Where was she? Had the Guards taken her, had CLU had her repaired for some reason, did he have Flynn's disc - a myriad of questions fought for processing space and she pressed her hand to her forehead, a hand that had been dissolved into pixels mere moments before, and tried to draw on some inner reserve of calm she wasn't sure she had in order to focus.
When she opened her eyes again she was no less scared, but able to stem the panic rising in her, threatening to bubble to the surface like fragments of broken code in the Sea of Simulation. She looked around, forcing herself to focus on each object as her gaze fell upon the various items in the room. It was a small room, she could see that now, and she was on a bed; near her was a little table with a lamp and a strange bronzed device she'd never seen before.
She reached for it automatically, hesitated when her fingertips were mere inches away. If she was a prisoner, had CLU placed it there for her to find? Was it dangerous? Was it there to help her, or to hurt?
Maybe it would hold answers, maybe it wouldn't - but she had to know, one way or another.
Her fingers closed around the device. Her first conscious moments in Anatole began.
She learned.
Anything else? Um. I don't think so? Hopefully I've covered everything!