BETHANY

 AGE    4 (chronologically) / late twenties (biologically)

 ORIENTATION    demisexual

 APPEARANCE    designed to slip into spaces not easily navigated by the average person, beth is small in both size and stature, standing at around 5'1". her piercing blue eyes, lack of scarring and blemishes, and tendency to stare gives her an unncanny appearance in the wasteland; most can tell she's not your average wastelander. she enjoys changing her hair and wearing wigs, and she frequently experiments with new styles, cuts, and colors. her hair, naturally a dark brunette, grows rather quickly. she has a fascination with pre-war fashion and can sometimes be found wearing bizarre combinations of whatever clothes she finds that fit her. she has a soft, youthful face and, due to her programming, does not age.  FACECLAIM    carly rae jepsen.

 PERSONALITY    on first meeting, beth can come across as monotone and even a little cold. this is a remnant of her years spent hiding her emotions in the institute. in truth, she's an empathetic, compassionate individual who sees the pain of others and longs to soothe it -- be it physical, mental, or emotional. despite her compassion for others, she does lack some measure of emotional intelligence and cannot fathom why strangers don't want their behaviors studied or to be asked deeply personally questions. while she respects their boundaries, she certainly doesn't understand them. 

beth is an inherent problem-solver and is quick to offer solutions before sympathy and a listening ear. her observant nature can make her quiet to a fault, even when someone expects a response to her. offending or angering her takes a great deal of effort, as she tends to assume most people are not acting out of malice, but rather a range of other emotions, like ignorance and fear.

she is incredibly intelligent and soaks up new information like a sponge. as a result, she understands a variety of medical practices, ranging from family medicine to behavioral health to dentistry. 

  HISTORY  

b6-24, later known as beth, was created on an undisclosed date in the year 2283. part of an experiment in varying heights and body types, she was intentionally designed smaller than the average synth. her stature was ultimately deemed unhelpful for wasteland infiltration, and she was assigned to the scientists and doctors in the institute's medical bay. like many synths, beth didn't begin her life fully aware of her own sentience. she did as she was told, as she was programmed.

something clicked into place several months after her creation. while sweeping, she paused to watch a burgeoning physician as they were taught to stitch a wound. she noted their patience, their nervous, shaking hands, the careful, perfect stitches they applied to fake flesh. from that day on, the idea of healing others fascinated her. with that fascination came the realization that her interests were something she would forever have to hide, so long as she remained in the institute.

for a year, she worked hard to staunch her feelings, but she longed desperately to learn: to stitch wounds with that same precision, to diagnose the pesky colds that cropped up within the otherwise sterile compound, to hear the problems of others and study the inner workings of the human mind. she knew those desires were dangerous. one wrong facial expression, one movement that implied too much interest in the subject at hand, and she could have her very existence stripped from her.

she learned to carefully regulate and hide her emotions, which only furthered her interest in the nature of them. she began to study the scientists around her, noting their joy and sorrow, their fury and calm, the things they loved and hated. humanity became her passion.

in time, she would get more rebellious, sneaking books and notes from scientists when she cleaned their labs or rooms. (she chose her name, beth, from the novel little women after snagging it from somebody's bookshelf.) eventually, she grew tired of being an outsider to the rich lives of other humans. when rumors of escapes reached her ears, she was quick to investigate. ultimately, this led her to z1-14 and liam binet. together, the three of them arranged her escape from the institute. she fled to the wasteland in february of 2285.

her initial wanderings brought her to the town of goodneighbor, where she earned the good graces of its citizens by pure coincidence. shortly after her arrival, a raider attack called for her medical expertise, and the weird, too-clean girl who appeared out of nowhere became begrudgingly accepted. a few months later, she opened her own small shop/clinic, where she offers a variety of services, including medical aid, therapy and pharmaceuticals.