we do terrible things for the people we love

[brandishes]

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Marie
AGE: 23
JOURNAL: loftarasa
IM / EMAIL: sharknado#3914 @ discord
PLURK: sharknado
RETURNING: N/A

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Elizabeth ( Beth ) Childs
CHARACTER AGE: 28
SERIES: Orphan Black
CHRONOLOGY: 1x01, post-death
CLASS: Begrudgingly, but Beth is definitely a Hero.
HOUSING: Random!

BACKGROUND: Beth Childs at the Orphan Black wikipedia & a basic write up in case that's not enough.

PERSONALITY:

The thing about Beth is that, once upon a time at least, she was a damn good cop. It's one of the biggest sources of pride that she has in life, that despite everything that has happened in her life she has still managed to maintain her professional integrity. The only problem is, she's really not.

Due in part to circumstance (mass conspiracies and the revelation that you're a clone will throw a person, to say the least) and in part to her ever increasing drug use, Beth has been -- in one of her clone/sister's own words -- "losing it, like clinically" for quite some time now. The combination of these two things have seen her devolve into a state of paranoia and aggression, to the point where she even draws her gun on the boyfriend that she suspects of wrongdoing. She doesn't pull the trigger, or even let him know that she came that close to harming him, but the moment is a big sign of her deteriorating mental state. Things have been going wrong for Beth for a long time now, even before she found out about her origins and the mess that came with that knowledge, but by being thrust into the middle of a grand conspiracy where people die and no one can be trusted, her already wavering psyche is taking a severe hit. She's always been painfully insistent on dealing with her own problems, so much so that she holds out even on her police partner, but when her issues become this bad it just results in an internal spiral. She can't share anything, convinced that people will end up in danger because of her, and the internalisation of these struggles only send Beth further over the deep end. People have started to notice, her work are paying more attention to her than ever, and she's having to get other clones to provide urine samples for her drug testing. In short, she's chaos.

That said, she's not just a mess. Both from her character-centric episodes and through the time her sister, Sarah, spent imitating Beth, we see that she's a sarcastic and quick witted person, always ready to throw loving insults in the direction of her partner. She's desperately trying to hold onto this humour, even in the face of her life as she knows it collapsing, and sometimes it can translate as barbed or mean, but there isn't usually much venom behind it. At the end of the day it's just how she expresses herself, a defence mechanism of sorts. It's far easier to trump out a glib response than actually admit any kind of weakness or shortcomings, after all.

Ultimately, Beth's primary motivator is to protect. There is a history of abuse in her past from her father, and it's hardly surprising that she ends up in law enforcement. When she uncovers the shady mechanics surrounding her origins her focus immediately turns to the other women who are tangled in all of this, and she uses her position as a detective to shield them in any way she can. All of Beth's decisions become focused on protecting herself, Alison and Cosima in any way she can, and this is how she ultimately ends up in the position of shooting a "civilian".

( It is later revealed that the woman Beth shoots and kills is in fact tangled up in all this cloning business in a Big way, but tragically she doesn't know this at the time of the shooting, and an "innocent" death on her hands only sends her deeper off the rails in a big way. )

Her final act, her moment of big sacrifice, is to end her life to protect all of these people. She's advised that she knows too much, that her very presence is enough to put both herself and the lives of every person she cares about in danger. To prevent another massacre, Beth makes the decision to let it end with her. There's an eerie calm about her as she prepares herself, and when the moment comes there's no hesitation when she steps in front of a train. Her final decision, the moment that leaves everyone believing she has just finally had to much, was ultimately done to protect. That's all she's ever wanted.

POWER:

Beth Childs in her regular form is just pure, unadulterated human. She's a human clone, but the emphasis is on the human part. In short, no extra powers. For the purpose of the game, Beth's power will be Enhanced Intuition. Sounds fun, but is kind of boring. As a police officer Beth is already quite in tune with her instincts, has a knack for when people are lying, knows when to push etc. With the help of this power, that's going to become a full blown ability. If danger is nearby, her spidey senses will start tingling. If someone is evading answers, she'll feel an inkling to push harder, if someone is lying (and not particularly talented at covering things up in their own right) Beth will literally feel it. This is innate rather than activated, and the success when using it on other people will highly rely on how talented the other person is. If they're particularly skilled in disguise, whether superhero'd or just because of who they are as a person, Beth's own ability will be less reliable. As a caveat, it will also be far less reliable to more intoxicated she is. She's only going to get a good reading if she's sober.

〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:

( Now, the face might be familiar enough to the people here when it appears over the network, but Beth doesn't know that yet. She's quite happy to bring it out for the world to see, tired as she might feel, and even if it feels like the effort of mustering a smile might just do her in completely right now she still musters a twist at the corner of her mouth that is, at least, a gesture close enough to pass. )

So, this place is wild. ( The voice is accented, but not heavy, Canadian if anyone knows to listen for it. More prominently, she speaks with a tight jaw, clipped with a slightly mocking drawl to the words. If nothing else, that should set her slightly apart from the other lookalikes floating around. ) Who've I gotta murder for a decent cup of coffee, huh?

( It's supposed to be funny - and she's smiling as if it was - but something is just...off. It's not quite far enough off of a grimace to be a real grin, the muscles twitch in her jaw like she's clenching her teeth, and she seems incredibly distracted despite the fact that she's obviously chosen this moment to make her post. Finally she gives up the act, face falling into a neutral expression as she huffs out a breath forceful enough to blow the sprawling hairs out of her face. )

I could do with another...arrival 101, if anyone's got a minute. Still wrapping my head around the whole...superhero deal. Let me know if you've got any info.

( There's another pause, another attempt at a grin, and then a weak wave: )

Thanks.

( And with that, she's out. )

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE: Here!

FINAL NOTES:

The two big factors in Beth's canon points are a. her pretty horrendous drug problem and b. her head on collision with a train, to put it mildly. Given she's going to be pretty whacked out about coming to terms with the apparent non permanent nature of her death, point b is likely to cause some issues surrounding point a. A big part of my plan for her general in game arc is going to be involving her both coming to terms with her drug problem and eventually dealing with it, so there isn't any like in game mechanisms needed to nix that or anything, just thought it'd be worth mentioning in here!

Comments

[brandishes]

The funny thing is the story starts with Beth jumping in front of a train. Except for Beth, of course it doesn't start there.

It actually begins with a scientific study led by the military into human cloning. Apart from this (incredibly notable) difference, the world in which Orphan Black is set is largely one and the same as our own, with a few scientific advances that have been hurried along for the sake of plot. While the cloning study begins as a military endeavour, it split off into two sects - project CASTOR for the males and LEDA for the female clones, who are taken over by a corporation, Dyad. The men were raised on a military base and were aware of their state from birth, but the female clones were kept in the dark. Instead monitors were placed into their lives in the form of friends, family members or even partners, to observe the clones as they went about their day to day business and report back to Dyad. Enter Elizabeth Childs.

Beth' origins are something of a mystery. We know at least that her parents desperately wanted her, a product of IVF like all of the LEDA clones, and that a stringent screening process was in place to prevent so called "undesirable" candidates from signing up. Something was missed in the Childs family though, and Beth's own creator apologises years later for not picking up on this quality sooner, implying that he was in some way harmful towards Beth.

Beth is 28 when her life completely changes. She's a detective in homicide, living with the love of her life Paul, and she may or may not have a bit of a substance abuse issue but things are good, until another clone tracks her down. A German woman, Katja, finds Beth and tells her the truth about their origins and that there is someone killing off the clones in Europe. Using facial recognition software that totally exists (???) Beth is able to pull the licenses, passports and photo IDs of women all around the world that share their faces, the other LEDA clones. This is how she finds two of the prominent figures in this story, Cosima Niehaus and Alison Hendrix, and of course she promptly shatters their worlds as well.

The trio become as tight as any three women connected only by a shared genetic code can be, Beth assuming a leadership role as they try to figure out what the hell is going on and just how it might come to affect them. Cosima moves schools to be closer to them. Beth becomes more stressed. Alison learns how to shoot a gun. Beth's drug problem is becoming more and more apparent. Her relationship with Paul continues to break down as Beth discovers that he is her monitor, and the knowledge that the man she loves is only with her as a spy only pushes her further down the spiral. The discovery of yet more shady technology pulls her further into the conspiracy, and a traumatic set of events witnessing scary surgeries and generally grim things leads a panicked and drugged up Beth to shoot a supposed civilian. Later we discover that Maggie Chen, the woman shot, was in fact involved in all the creepy Dyad business. Beth, however, thinks she's shot an innocent, and her mental state only gets worse.

Her quest for answers ultimately leads her to be batted back and forth between the creator of the clones and Evie Cho, the woman responsible for the horrific surgeries Beth had witnessed prior to her civilian shooting. Ultimately she believes the woman responsible for their creation, Susan Duncan, when she professes to be both professionally and emotionally invested in the wellbeing of the clones. Beth turns her sights on eliminating Evie Cho, beating the woman severely before Cho drops the kicker on her - even if Beth kills her tonight, they are no longer safe. Her loved ones are now a target - in fact almost anyone she's come in to contact is at risk of becoming collateral damage in the quest to silence Beth Childs. And there's only way to stop it - to turn the gun intended for Evie on herself instead.

After an emotional farewell with one of the clones she'd grown close to, Beth heads to the train station. She methodically removes her shoes, her jacket, and her handbag, leaving them neatly on the side of the platform. Moments before she makes the jump, she crosses paths with one Sarah Manning - but it's too late by then. She doesn't have time to educate and induct another clone into the club. Only seconds after seeing Sarah, she steps off of the platform and into the path of an oncoming train. She dies almost instantly.

OCT '17 - POWER UPDATE.

[brandishes]

Light Manipulation.

- Light absorption. Will require some level of control, but at its peak this would give her the ability to control the levels of light in an enclosed space. Total darkness will be achievable but limited to a few minutes at most, and a total blinding levels of brightness would come with an even shorter sustain time - 1-2 minutes max, and it would leave her visibly drained. the larger the space, the more difficult she'll find it to use this effectively, and outdoors it will be near impossible. If she's really focused, she might be able to make a sunny day a little dimmer at best. This can also be focused in a manner similar to a magnifying glass and can cause fires as a result, although it will be hard to focus initially, and require a lot of control to use.

- "Invisibility", sort of. Beth will be able to manipulate the visible light in a way that it 'bends' around her, preventing her from being seen. This is an all or nothing ability, she can't be selective about who does or doesn't see her, and only works when the area is lit enough for a person to be able to see reasonably well. The dimmer the space, the harder she'll find it to use this, and it will be harder in artificially lit spaces (i.e. rooms that are indoors with little/no windows will be much more difficult than standing in a park on a summer's day).

- Light creation. Very difficult to do and heavily limited, this will take a lot of working up for Beth to be able to use it at all, even longer to be able to do it effectively/on demand. The end goal is she'll be able to "light up" dark spaces like a little glow bug. This will also come with the added bonus of Beth lowkey glowing for a couple of days post-update while she figures out how to consciously switch this off, as she'll be essentially radiating just a little bit of that light constantly. It'll also have the side effect of her feeling a bit drained that whole time (think low iron levels type side effects) until she has a better understanding of how to consciously choose to be using her abilities.

- Light Element Manipulation. The OPest top tier of her ability. There's something of a 'purity' aspect to this one, in that she'll only ever be able to use it in a positive manner and when she is in herself less mentally distressed (lol), incredibly unlikely that she'll be able to come close to being able to use it until she's fully sober. Directly linked to natural light from the sun, when harnessed properly she will be able to essentially strengthen and encourage life and vitality. It isn't as clear cut as a straight healing ability. Beth on her own won't be able to just vanish a cut or fix a leg, but by using this she will be able to amplify the person's own healing ability (whether just your regular human stuff or an already enhanced edition due to powers/physiology etc) to the point where she's able to quite rapidly speed up the process. This can be focused (someone trips, Beth's encouragement brings on the scabbing process almost immediately), or when she's much more stable emotionally and mentally can be innate (people will just feel fitter and more healthy when they're hanging out with her).

She also won't be able to cure life threatening illnesses or trauma but she will be able to preserve and sustain that life for an extended time beyond what the body would normally be capable of, potentially allowing the time for someone with a more clear cut healing ability to give a more permanent fix. Can potentially work well with people with healing abilities, with the caveat that the other person would have to also fit Beth's limitations - general mental/emotional wellness, positive intentions and outcomes. This will also come with a draining element as a side effect, though the exhaustion will feel much more satisfying, closer to the achievement vibe of a good work out than the tiredness after a long hard day.