Bete Noire Application
1. Player Information
Name (or internet handle): Emma
Current characters in Bete Noire: None
2. Character Information
Name: Bennett Halverson
Livejournal Username: glassesonachain
Fandom: Dollhouse
Image: Icon!
Reserve: Reserve!
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: Bennett appears to be a few years younger than she actually is; many people have mistaken her for being a teenager, even. She's actually around 26 years old. She is about 5'6" with long dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match. She looks a bit like a twig seeing as she's so skinny on account of frequently forgetting to feed herself. Her wardrobe tends to be an odd mix of old-fashioned and childish. Bennett never really learned how to pick out clothes that match well. She never wears excessively bright colors, tending to favor things that are gray. For work, her outfits usually consist of a cardigan sweater, pencil skirt and mary janes. Bennett absolutely never wears pants. Not because of any religious beliefs or anything (seeing as she's a bit of a cynical atheist), pants just aren't very comfortable to her. She also wears her glasses on a chain around her neck, which just adds to her nerdy appearance. The one feature about her that probably stands out above all others, however, is her paralyzed left arm. Instead of opting for amputation, Bennett kept the useless appendage. She wears a sling and a leather glove to keep it under control.
History: (Wiki page is over here! Since she was a small character, I've written a…much expanded version of her history, including headcanon bits about her childhood and garbage like that.)
At first glance, the world Bennett comes from is exactly like our own. But underground, there's a a sort of sinister little operation going on. The Dollhouse. But that doesn't really sound too sinister does it? Well, it is. The Dollhouse operates under the Rossum corporation, a multi-billion, multi-national company that deals with medical research. Still doesn't sound too bad, does it? Okay, well, the Dollhouse is basically a brothel. Sort of. Its more than that. Its just there to give people what they need. Whether that be a quirky woman to love or a super thief or a U.S. Senator. Using technology invented by the company's founders, the Dollhouse wipes people's minds clean and imprints them with new personalities that are built from the brain scans of real people. People "volunteer" for this, to become a "Doll" and have their minds wiped clean for five years. After those five years, they get their original personality back and a hefty paycheck. Bennett Halverson is a highly skilled professional given the task of building the new personalities for the Dolls. She is the chief programmer from the Dollhouse in Washington D.C.
The second of three girls, Bennett was born into an average middle class family in Hallock, Minnesota. Her family moved around frequently, though. Before she was 16, Bennett had lived in Maine, Virginia, Nebraska and then finally Los Angeles, California where her family finally stayed.
From a very early age, it was quite apparent that Bennett wasn't exactly a normal little girl. Her genius was clear even as a small child. Her sisters held this against her and they didn't get along very well. Her parents never saw anything wrong with it and when Bennett got in trouble, they'd frequently scold her with a "Why can't you be a normal girl, Bennett?" Because of this, she has problems developing meaningful relationships. Since school bored her, she was allowed to skip a few grades. She could have skipped more but Bennett didn't like being teased for being the youngest in her classes. To make up for her boredom, Bennett would study on her own, play the piano or help her classmates with their assignments. Once she was old enough, Bennett got a job at the local library and spent as much time there as she possibly could. Being surrounded by knowledge comforted her. While most of the things she read were academic, Bennett did enjoy reading classic literature. She has a huge soft spot for Jane Austen. Bennett graduated valedictorian from high school when she was 15 and started attending UCLA. She majored in neuroscience and computer science and she minored in whatever was piquing her interest at the time; it tended to change frequently. Unrelated to her pursuits in science, Bennett also extensively studied art history and music. After a few years at UCLA, she caught the attention of the Rossum corporation for her work with proteins. They quickly offered her a full scholarship to the Tucson Institute of Technology, the leading neuroscience school in the country at the time.
She took the scholarship eagerly and began working towards eventually earning her PhD's in neuroscience as well as computer science. For her research, Bennett started to gain quite a reputation in the neuroscience community. This was also when she first learned about Topher Brink, a very accomplished (and very cocky) fellow scientist. From all his advancements, Bennett developed a sort of crush on him. Though she would never acknowledge it as that. Towards the end of her time at Tucson Tech, Bennett met the first close friend she ever had, Caroline Farrell. Caroline was only interested in Bennett because she found out that the young neuroscientist was valuable to the Rossum corporation, though. (Because of past events and the discovery of Rossum's vile experiments on humans, Caroline wanted to destroy the corporation.) Even after discovering that Caroline was only using her to get close to Rossum, Bennett still foolishly wanted to help her friend. The two planned away for weeks and eventually broke into Rossum's headquarters not far from the Institute. Since Bennett currently had a job there, breaking in wasn't too difficult with her employee keycard. Caroline went throughout the building and planted bombs while Bennett lead her around from a laboratory. Caroline, however, got curious when she found a laboratory that wasn't in the building schematics. Bennett urged Caroline to place the rest of the charges and just move on but Caroline wouldn't because there were people in the lab she discovered. The bombs exploded with both of the women inside. Aside from a few bruises and scratches, Caroline emerged unharmed. Bennett, on the other hand, was not so lucky. A large concrete block from the ceiling collapsed on top of her, trapping her left arm beneath it. When Caroline found Bennett in this state, she immediately tried to help her friend but the block just wouldn't budge. So Caroline left Bennett behind. Truly, it was to protect Bennett from getting caught and getting arrested for assisting in an act of terrorism but Bennett didn't see it like that at all. Bennett was deeply hurt by the fact her friend had left her behind considering she would have never done the same to Caroline. Because Caroline was caught in the crime, she was sent to the Dollhouse's branch in Los Angeles to become a Doll. Bennett got to walk away but she was changed forever. When the firemen and paramedics were trying to free her, another piece of concrete collapsed on top of her and the increased pressure on her arm effectively severed the nerves, paralyzing it. Though it was advised, she didn't get the arm amputated and chose to keep it. Somewhere in the back of her head she was confident that technology would advance enough in her lifetime to make repairing the severed nerves successful.
Once she recovered, Bennett graduated at the top of her class from Tucson Tech and was offered a job in Washington D.C. as the chief programmer of the Dollhouse. By taking the job in D.C., Bennett became Topher Brink's equal and someone he greatly admired. (He always had a crush on her too, even when he thought she was a dude!)
About two years later, Bennett crossed paths with Caroline and Topher. Senator Perrin, a Doll from D.C. was leading an investigation of the Dollhouse. Suspecting that Senator Perrin's wife was a Doll, the L.A. house sent Caroline, now a Doll named "Echo" to figure out what Cindy Perrin's parameters were. Instead, they discovered that Senator Perrin was actually the Doll. Echo ended up kidnapping the senator but then his wife ended up kidnapping her, bringing her across the country to Washington D.C. Upon recognizing Echo as Caroline, Bennett immediately started to use her tech to torture Caroline for her past actions. Clearly, Bennett was very amused at seeing her former friend in so much pain. Her little torture session was cut a little short, however, because Adelle DeWitt, the woman in charge of the L.A. house and her chief programmer, Topher Brink, came to Washington to retrieve their Doll and also figure out what Senator Perrin's parameters as a Doll were. Bennett was absolutely thrilled to meet Topher in person and didn't make it too much of a secret that she liked him. He made it pretty obvious that he liked her too, though. When Bennett got the all-clear that Topher could take Echo back to L.A., Bennett let Perrin and Echo escape the D.C. Dollhouse. To make it look like Echo attacked her, Bennett rammed her head into a security monitor. Using Topher's disruptor technology, the two teamed up to create a way of incapacitating the escaped Dolls so that they would be easily captured and brought back to the house. While Topher hacked Senator Perrin's brain map out of her system and sent it on home, Bennett went behind Topher's back and imprinted Perrin with an assassin protocol to kill Echo. Of course, once Topher found out that Bennett was trying to kill his Doll, he had to stop her. So he knocked her out, uttering "You were so close to perfect!" before he ran off to fix the damage that Bennett had done.
A few months later, things had gone relatively back to normal for Bennett in D.C. Until Topher had to come interfere with her life some more. In order to prevent the apocalypse, Topher Brink needed to fix a broken personality wedge to get some information that only that person know. He had no idea what he was doing. Bennett, however, was reasonably famous for reconstructing a broken wedge and not losing any data. So what did he do? He hacked her chair and the L.A. Dollhouse kidnapped her. At first, she was less than pleased. She eventually agreed to help, hoping that if she did, the sooner they'd let her go. She and Topher started to discuss what could be done and then he apologized for knocking her out. The two very nearly kiss but then Bennett ruined the moment by inquiring who that personality belonged to. The wedge belonged to none other than Caroline Farrell. That angered Bennett a lot and she let her temper get the better of her. She punched Topher in the face. After that, Topher had to put her in a holding cell to make sure she wouldn't get into any trouble.
A bit later, Echo came in with a proposition for Bennett. Echo, who had come to dislike the personality her body originally held, told Bennett that if she fixed the wedge so they could get the information they needed that she'd let Bennett do whatever she wanted to Caroline afterwards. Echo even said that she'd "hold the bitch down." Bennett liked this idea. A lot. Echo let Bennett out of the cell and took her back up to the lab to start working on repairing the wedge. Soon after, Topher started helping her. Echo left to avoid the awkward nerd fest.
Bennett and Topher, well, mostly Bennett continued to work on the wedge. Topher mostly made googly eyes at Bennett. Then he interrupted her by growing a pair and kissing her. And what a kiss it was! Quite possibly the most awkward kiss that had ever been kissed. They admitted their feelings and agreed that there'd be more of that after they prevented the apocalypse. The happy was effectively killed hardly two minutes, later though. The house doctor, Claire Saunders came up to the lab and started talking to Bennett as she worked. Claire made the observation that Topher was in love with Bennett and that she was surprised he was capable of admitting the existence of another human being. And then? Claire pulled out a gun and shot Bennett in the head, killing her instantly.
Personality: Bennett is a rather shy and quiet girl. Most of the time she prefers to stay by herself. Because of her extreme genius, she always found it to be very difficult to relate to other people. Despite her shyness, she is relatively friendly and polite. She isn't afraid of public speaking, though she doesn't particularly enjoy it. It may also be a bit surprising but she can be very brave and stubborn when she needs to be. She's not easily intimidated by anyone. She has a very technical and more often than not, awkward way of interacting with the people around her. She typically doesn't pick up on slang terms and a lot of the time and a lot of jokes go over her head. Bennett very rarely exaggerates anything and has a tendency to take things a little too literally. She tends not to sugar coat anything and is very realistic. She may be insanely book smart but she has awful street smarts. Fashion isn't a high priority for her and she wears what she wants even if it doesn't match that well. Did I mention her natural nerdy weakness for argyle sweater vests? No? Well, argyle is definitely a staple in her wardrobe. Along with other wacky prints. Usually in gray because that's her favorite color. She probably won't ever admit it but yes, it is because brains are gray.
Bennett has some low self-esteem issues. Even though she might just be one of the smartest people who ever lived, Bennett isn't one bit arrogant and is actually pretty humble. She usually tries to downplay her accomplishments, acting like they aren't that big of a deal. This comes from her childhood and how she felt like she had to hide her intellect from her siblings to avoid getting teased. She was raised in an environment that valued beauty over brains. Bennett tends to be blown away whenever someone mentions they admire her work. Bennett is a bit self-conscious about her appearance. She honestly thinks she's kind of homely and if you suggest otherwise, she'll stare at you like you're insane. Part of this is because of her left arm, though. Her paralyzed arm is definitely a sensitive subject. If you stare or ask about it, don't be surprised if she gets a little testy with you. The rest of it comes from her childhood, being considered the ugly duckling of her family definitely convinced her that she's ugly.
It doesn't take much to make Bennett happy, though. A good book or a new idea can keep her occupied for hours at a time and she frequently gets lost in her work. Because of this, she startles easily, so watch out. If she's holding a pencil, you might just get it inadvertently thrown at your eye. While she is normally guarded and somewhat formal with most people, she acts notably different when she's around a certain Mr. Brink. In fact, she has developed a sort of school girl crush on him. Her attraction towards him tends to make her blush and stutter as well as go off on strange tangents of thought. Such as comparing his complexion to that of a pig. (Don't worry, she loves pigs so it really was a compliment.) She has great respect for Topher and her feelings for him are very strong; she's never been able to connect to another person quite like she connected with him. Though after he knocked her out to save his Active, Bennett was a little angry with him, understandably. But as evidenced by later in her canon, she was very quick to forgive him which is something she's very unlikely to do with anyone else. She'll hold a grudge forever if she wants to.
But this seemingly pleasant genius does have a dark side. A very dark side where words like sociopath, deranged and manipulative come into play. Her process for imprinting and wiping her dolls is clearly more painful than Topher's and Bennett seems to enjoy it. When it comes to Caroline, the woman Bennett holds responsible for losing the function of her left arm, Bennett is very malevolent. She tried to murder her former friend, thinking it'd be for the best. Bennett also had no issues lying and hurting herself to help fabricate a story that would help her kill Caroline. She can be cynical at times and has a rather nihilistic approach to the world. She is an incredibly vengeful person as well. If you wrong her in some way, if its big enough, she will try to get back at you somehow. She's very neat and orderly too, getting angry and upset when her plans are interfered with. Being a scientist, she doesn't have any faith in a God of any kind and values logical thought above anything else. Her scientific mind has also lead her to have rather gray morals, putting the advancement of science before people in general. This doesn't mean she'll be actively pursuing acts of evil, though. For the most part, she is a relatively good person, if not just a little misguided. Because of Caroline's abandonment, Bennett has developed some issues with that. It is difficult for her to trust people initially and she doesn't like to let herself get close to anyone. Except for maybe Topher. She's afraid that if she does grow close to someone that they'll just abandon and hurt her. She is scared to death of being left behind again. If you do manage to break down her shell, Bennett will become incredibly loyal. Her loyalty very nearly borderlines on obsession, wanting to do whatever she can to keep that person around since its so rare for anyone to actually show an interest of any kind in her. Because of this crazy loyalty she nearly got herself killed when she helped Caroline blow up a building.
She exhibits some minor Asberger's syndrome tendencies like the difficulty in relating to others, her intense focus and her need for a rigid routine and cleanliness. She occasionally also exhibits echolalia and palilalia, repeating her own words or the words of others more than once. While this was more prominent in her childhood, as an adult it mostly comes to prominence when she's upset, worried or angry.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: To pretty much all the people she meets, Bennett comes off as having little interest in sex outside a scientific way. 95% of her coworkers would probably identify her as completely asexual seeing as she treats it with a bit of indifference. Much like most of the other things in her life. Her indifference to sex is mostly because she basically doesn't believe there'd ever be anyone interested in her in that way. The only friend she's ever had was just using her so its very difficult for her to think anyone would want to be friends with her, let alone have sex with her. When she lost her arm, this thinking just became stronger. Having a dead arm isn't typically something people consider sexy. Her sexuality probably leans more towards heterosexual, though. She has admired women in the past but it was mostly because of scientific accomplishments or a particular personality trait she envied. Nothing Bennett would consider an actual attraction. She may not be entirely asexual but her sex drive is incredibly low. She's 26 years old and has never felt aroused enough to masturbate. Sex isn't something she needs but she wouldn't object.
If she was ever to have sex with someone, she'd have to love and trust them completely. Which would be an incredibly hard thing for her to do. It's hard for her to open herself up to someone like that. Sex would probably be off the charts awkward for her and since she's never really thought about any kinks, very vanilla. If she was comfortable though, she might be open to more things. If she were in a relationship, it'd most definitely have to be a monogamous one. Bennett can be a rather selfish creature and would probably want to keep that person as close as possible to her and would feel betrayed if they ever expressed interest in having an open relationship. She'd be extremely loyal to that person and would likely put them on some sort of pedestal because oh look! Someone is paying attention to her for once! Bennett would want to do whatever it took to keep them in her life. She doesn't let people in often, but when she does she tends to realize just how lonely she is and how much she doesn't want to give it up. Deep down, Bennett really is something of a romantic too. She tries to hide it but if someone started making genuine advances on her, she'd likely become putty in their hands.
Just be careful. If you ever break her heart, she'll probably hold a grudge, want revenge and try to kill you. =D
Reason for playing: I enjoy playing this character because she's a fun balance between two extremes. On one hand, she can be incredibly hilarious because of her social ineptitude and just generally adorable. On the other, she can be incredibly dark and even murderous. Exploring just how dark and crazy I can get her to be has always been something I've wanted to do and it seemed like Bete Noire would be a good place to do it in! I'd really like to see, if given the opportunity, she'd make the switch from morally questionable but relatively nice to full-on villain that'd orchestrate some kind of nefarious world-ending thing. Or if on account of her stubbornness, she'd try to fight the darker aspects of her personality. For being a character that was only in a few episodes, she's incredibly complex.
4. Original Character Supplement
N/A
5. Samples
First-Person: Sample!
Third-Person: Sample!
Third-Person #2: When Bennett saw that face on the monitor, it felt like time had stopped. That face which she had never thought she'd actually see again. Caroline's. Caroline's unconscious, pretty face. And Cindy Perrin was delivering Caroline right to her. It brought on a slew of strange feelings in the programmer. She was excited, for one. Angry, for another. And then there was just the feeling of utter glee that washed over her as she thought about what she was going to do with that body. Her pulse quickened and she felt a little flush as that nasty, vicious little smirk of her's twitched itself on her face. Caroline was a doll now. An active. Someone Bennett could easily control. The manipulated was now the manipulator and the irony of that pleased Bennett more than she could say.
It was all too much. She needed to be alone for this. Completely alone. Bennett sent her assistants away, giving them all some other mundane assignments to accomplish and ordering them not to bother her. They all knew better than to argue with their slightly mentally unstable boss. They obeyed without much question.
Once Caroline had arrived in the lab she was brought into the imprinting room and attached to the chair. Bennett entered soon afterwards. She first examined the specimen before her. Yes, definitely Caroline. Unmistakably Caroline. Bennett typed a few parameters into her computer. Stimulate these neurons, increase flow to these paths, decrease flow to these, increase electrical currents. It was all rather complicated but for a genius of Bennett's calibre, it was so, so simple. And now? Now it was playtime. She turned one knob just a little bit, there was a whir of her tech coming to life and then? Oh and then. The light from the chair flickered brightly as it crackled. And Caroline's body started to writhe in complete pain.
That twitchy smile came back to Bennett's lips as she watched with amusement. The jerky, seizure-like motions of that body, oh how she loved this. She turned the knob a little more and this particular brand of torture just got even better. Cries and wordless screams started coming from Caroline's lips. There was absolutely nothing in her head but this. Nothing in her head but pain. Pain and suffering in which she had no idea why she deserved it. But she did, Caroline deserved this pain so much. Almost as much as Bennett felt she deserved to see it happening. It was revenge, of sorts. Getting back at that, well, that bitch for using her, abusing her, betraying her and leaving Bennett to die in that building that was still collapsing all around them.
She left for a moment and came back with a personality wedge. There wasn't an entire consciousness on it, no. Just one memory. Bennett's memory of that entire incident. She wanted Caroline to know just what she had done to the girl she called her best friend. She wanted Caroline to know what it was like to only have one arm. How hard it was just to function day to day. All those simple tasks people took for granted were now so very difficult for Bennett and it was all Caroline's fault. As she loaded the wedge into the chair and made it imprint into Caroline's brain, Bennett made another decision. She didn't care what it'd take, what she'd have to do to make it a reality but today?
Today Caroline was going to die.
Name (or internet handle): Emma
Current characters in Bete Noire: None
2. Character Information
Name: Bennett Halverson
Livejournal Username: glassesonachain
Fandom: Dollhouse
Image: Icon!
Reserve: Reserve!
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: Bennett appears to be a few years younger than she actually is; many people have mistaken her for being a teenager, even. She's actually around 26 years old. She is about 5'6" with long dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match. She looks a bit like a twig seeing as she's so skinny on account of frequently forgetting to feed herself. Her wardrobe tends to be an odd mix of old-fashioned and childish. Bennett never really learned how to pick out clothes that match well. She never wears excessively bright colors, tending to favor things that are gray. For work, her outfits usually consist of a cardigan sweater, pencil skirt and mary janes. Bennett absolutely never wears pants. Not because of any religious beliefs or anything (seeing as she's a bit of a cynical atheist), pants just aren't very comfortable to her. She also wears her glasses on a chain around her neck, which just adds to her nerdy appearance. The one feature about her that probably stands out above all others, however, is her paralyzed left arm. Instead of opting for amputation, Bennett kept the useless appendage. She wears a sling and a leather glove to keep it under control.
History: (Wiki page is over here! Since she was a small character, I've written a…much expanded version of her history, including headcanon bits about her childhood and garbage like that.)
At first glance, the world Bennett comes from is exactly like our own. But underground, there's a a sort of sinister little operation going on. The Dollhouse. But that doesn't really sound too sinister does it? Well, it is. The Dollhouse operates under the Rossum corporation, a multi-billion, multi-national company that deals with medical research. Still doesn't sound too bad, does it? Okay, well, the Dollhouse is basically a brothel. Sort of. Its more than that. Its just there to give people what they need. Whether that be a quirky woman to love or a super thief or a U.S. Senator. Using technology invented by the company's founders, the Dollhouse wipes people's minds clean and imprints them with new personalities that are built from the brain scans of real people. People "volunteer" for this, to become a "Doll" and have their minds wiped clean for five years. After those five years, they get their original personality back and a hefty paycheck. Bennett Halverson is a highly skilled professional given the task of building the new personalities for the Dolls. She is the chief programmer from the Dollhouse in Washington D.C.
The second of three girls, Bennett was born into an average middle class family in Hallock, Minnesota. Her family moved around frequently, though. Before she was 16, Bennett had lived in Maine, Virginia, Nebraska and then finally Los Angeles, California where her family finally stayed.
From a very early age, it was quite apparent that Bennett wasn't exactly a normal little girl. Her genius was clear even as a small child. Her sisters held this against her and they didn't get along very well. Her parents never saw anything wrong with it and when Bennett got in trouble, they'd frequently scold her with a "Why can't you be a normal girl, Bennett?" Because of this, she has problems developing meaningful relationships. Since school bored her, she was allowed to skip a few grades. She could have skipped more but Bennett didn't like being teased for being the youngest in her classes. To make up for her boredom, Bennett would study on her own, play the piano or help her classmates with their assignments. Once she was old enough, Bennett got a job at the local library and spent as much time there as she possibly could. Being surrounded by knowledge comforted her. While most of the things she read were academic, Bennett did enjoy reading classic literature. She has a huge soft spot for Jane Austen. Bennett graduated valedictorian from high school when she was 15 and started attending UCLA. She majored in neuroscience and computer science and she minored in whatever was piquing her interest at the time; it tended to change frequently. Unrelated to her pursuits in science, Bennett also extensively studied art history and music. After a few years at UCLA, she caught the attention of the Rossum corporation for her work with proteins. They quickly offered her a full scholarship to the Tucson Institute of Technology, the leading neuroscience school in the country at the time.
She took the scholarship eagerly and began working towards eventually earning her PhD's in neuroscience as well as computer science. For her research, Bennett started to gain quite a reputation in the neuroscience community. This was also when she first learned about Topher Brink, a very accomplished (and very cocky) fellow scientist. From all his advancements, Bennett developed a sort of crush on him. Though she would never acknowledge it as that. Towards the end of her time at Tucson Tech, Bennett met the first close friend she ever had, Caroline Farrell. Caroline was only interested in Bennett because she found out that the young neuroscientist was valuable to the Rossum corporation, though. (Because of past events and the discovery of Rossum's vile experiments on humans, Caroline wanted to destroy the corporation.) Even after discovering that Caroline was only using her to get close to Rossum, Bennett still foolishly wanted to help her friend. The two planned away for weeks and eventually broke into Rossum's headquarters not far from the Institute. Since Bennett currently had a job there, breaking in wasn't too difficult with her employee keycard. Caroline went throughout the building and planted bombs while Bennett lead her around from a laboratory. Caroline, however, got curious when she found a laboratory that wasn't in the building schematics. Bennett urged Caroline to place the rest of the charges and just move on but Caroline wouldn't because there were people in the lab she discovered. The bombs exploded with both of the women inside. Aside from a few bruises and scratches, Caroline emerged unharmed. Bennett, on the other hand, was not so lucky. A large concrete block from the ceiling collapsed on top of her, trapping her left arm beneath it. When Caroline found Bennett in this state, she immediately tried to help her friend but the block just wouldn't budge. So Caroline left Bennett behind. Truly, it was to protect Bennett from getting caught and getting arrested for assisting in an act of terrorism but Bennett didn't see it like that at all. Bennett was deeply hurt by the fact her friend had left her behind considering she would have never done the same to Caroline. Because Caroline was caught in the crime, she was sent to the Dollhouse's branch in Los Angeles to become a Doll. Bennett got to walk away but she was changed forever. When the firemen and paramedics were trying to free her, another piece of concrete collapsed on top of her and the increased pressure on her arm effectively severed the nerves, paralyzing it. Though it was advised, she didn't get the arm amputated and chose to keep it. Somewhere in the back of her head she was confident that technology would advance enough in her lifetime to make repairing the severed nerves successful.
Once she recovered, Bennett graduated at the top of her class from Tucson Tech and was offered a job in Washington D.C. as the chief programmer of the Dollhouse. By taking the job in D.C., Bennett became Topher Brink's equal and someone he greatly admired. (He always had a crush on her too, even when he thought she was a dude!)
About two years later, Bennett crossed paths with Caroline and Topher. Senator Perrin, a Doll from D.C. was leading an investigation of the Dollhouse. Suspecting that Senator Perrin's wife was a Doll, the L.A. house sent Caroline, now a Doll named "Echo" to figure out what Cindy Perrin's parameters were. Instead, they discovered that Senator Perrin was actually the Doll. Echo ended up kidnapping the senator but then his wife ended up kidnapping her, bringing her across the country to Washington D.C. Upon recognizing Echo as Caroline, Bennett immediately started to use her tech to torture Caroline for her past actions. Clearly, Bennett was very amused at seeing her former friend in so much pain. Her little torture session was cut a little short, however, because Adelle DeWitt, the woman in charge of the L.A. house and her chief programmer, Topher Brink, came to Washington to retrieve their Doll and also figure out what Senator Perrin's parameters as a Doll were. Bennett was absolutely thrilled to meet Topher in person and didn't make it too much of a secret that she liked him. He made it pretty obvious that he liked her too, though. When Bennett got the all-clear that Topher could take Echo back to L.A., Bennett let Perrin and Echo escape the D.C. Dollhouse. To make it look like Echo attacked her, Bennett rammed her head into a security monitor. Using Topher's disruptor technology, the two teamed up to create a way of incapacitating the escaped Dolls so that they would be easily captured and brought back to the house. While Topher hacked Senator Perrin's brain map out of her system and sent it on home, Bennett went behind Topher's back and imprinted Perrin with an assassin protocol to kill Echo. Of course, once Topher found out that Bennett was trying to kill his Doll, he had to stop her. So he knocked her out, uttering "You were so close to perfect!" before he ran off to fix the damage that Bennett had done.
A few months later, things had gone relatively back to normal for Bennett in D.C. Until Topher had to come interfere with her life some more. In order to prevent the apocalypse, Topher Brink needed to fix a broken personality wedge to get some information that only that person know. He had no idea what he was doing. Bennett, however, was reasonably famous for reconstructing a broken wedge and not losing any data. So what did he do? He hacked her chair and the L.A. Dollhouse kidnapped her. At first, she was less than pleased. She eventually agreed to help, hoping that if she did, the sooner they'd let her go. She and Topher started to discuss what could be done and then he apologized for knocking her out. The two very nearly kiss but then Bennett ruined the moment by inquiring who that personality belonged to. The wedge belonged to none other than Caroline Farrell. That angered Bennett a lot and she let her temper get the better of her. She punched Topher in the face. After that, Topher had to put her in a holding cell to make sure she wouldn't get into any trouble.
A bit later, Echo came in with a proposition for Bennett. Echo, who had come to dislike the personality her body originally held, told Bennett that if she fixed the wedge so they could get the information they needed that she'd let Bennett do whatever she wanted to Caroline afterwards. Echo even said that she'd "hold the bitch down." Bennett liked this idea. A lot. Echo let Bennett out of the cell and took her back up to the lab to start working on repairing the wedge. Soon after, Topher started helping her. Echo left to avoid the awkward nerd fest.
Bennett and Topher, well, mostly Bennett continued to work on the wedge. Topher mostly made googly eyes at Bennett. Then he interrupted her by growing a pair and kissing her. And what a kiss it was! Quite possibly the most awkward kiss that had ever been kissed. They admitted their feelings and agreed that there'd be more of that after they prevented the apocalypse. The happy was effectively killed hardly two minutes, later though. The house doctor, Claire Saunders came up to the lab and started talking to Bennett as she worked. Claire made the observation that Topher was in love with Bennett and that she was surprised he was capable of admitting the existence of another human being. And then? Claire pulled out a gun and shot Bennett in the head, killing her instantly.
Personality: Bennett is a rather shy and quiet girl. Most of the time she prefers to stay by herself. Because of her extreme genius, she always found it to be very difficult to relate to other people. Despite her shyness, she is relatively friendly and polite. She isn't afraid of public speaking, though she doesn't particularly enjoy it. It may also be a bit surprising but she can be very brave and stubborn when she needs to be. She's not easily intimidated by anyone. She has a very technical and more often than not, awkward way of interacting with the people around her. She typically doesn't pick up on slang terms and a lot of the time and a lot of jokes go over her head. Bennett very rarely exaggerates anything and has a tendency to take things a little too literally. She tends not to sugar coat anything and is very realistic. She may be insanely book smart but she has awful street smarts. Fashion isn't a high priority for her and she wears what she wants even if it doesn't match that well. Did I mention her natural nerdy weakness for argyle sweater vests? No? Well, argyle is definitely a staple in her wardrobe. Along with other wacky prints. Usually in gray because that's her favorite color. She probably won't ever admit it but yes, it is because brains are gray.
Bennett has some low self-esteem issues. Even though she might just be one of the smartest people who ever lived, Bennett isn't one bit arrogant and is actually pretty humble. She usually tries to downplay her accomplishments, acting like they aren't that big of a deal. This comes from her childhood and how she felt like she had to hide her intellect from her siblings to avoid getting teased. She was raised in an environment that valued beauty over brains. Bennett tends to be blown away whenever someone mentions they admire her work. Bennett is a bit self-conscious about her appearance. She honestly thinks she's kind of homely and if you suggest otherwise, she'll stare at you like you're insane. Part of this is because of her left arm, though. Her paralyzed arm is definitely a sensitive subject. If you stare or ask about it, don't be surprised if she gets a little testy with you. The rest of it comes from her childhood, being considered the ugly duckling of her family definitely convinced her that she's ugly.
It doesn't take much to make Bennett happy, though. A good book or a new idea can keep her occupied for hours at a time and she frequently gets lost in her work. Because of this, she startles easily, so watch out. If she's holding a pencil, you might just get it inadvertently thrown at your eye. While she is normally guarded and somewhat formal with most people, she acts notably different when she's around a certain Mr. Brink. In fact, she has developed a sort of school girl crush on him. Her attraction towards him tends to make her blush and stutter as well as go off on strange tangents of thought. Such as comparing his complexion to that of a pig. (Don't worry, she loves pigs so it really was a compliment.) She has great respect for Topher and her feelings for him are very strong; she's never been able to connect to another person quite like she connected with him. Though after he knocked her out to save his Active, Bennett was a little angry with him, understandably. But as evidenced by later in her canon, she was very quick to forgive him which is something she's very unlikely to do with anyone else. She'll hold a grudge forever if she wants to.
But this seemingly pleasant genius does have a dark side. A very dark side where words like sociopath, deranged and manipulative come into play. Her process for imprinting and wiping her dolls is clearly more painful than Topher's and Bennett seems to enjoy it. When it comes to Caroline, the woman Bennett holds responsible for losing the function of her left arm, Bennett is very malevolent. She tried to murder her former friend, thinking it'd be for the best. Bennett also had no issues lying and hurting herself to help fabricate a story that would help her kill Caroline. She can be cynical at times and has a rather nihilistic approach to the world. She is an incredibly vengeful person as well. If you wrong her in some way, if its big enough, she will try to get back at you somehow. She's very neat and orderly too, getting angry and upset when her plans are interfered with. Being a scientist, she doesn't have any faith in a God of any kind and values logical thought above anything else. Her scientific mind has also lead her to have rather gray morals, putting the advancement of science before people in general. This doesn't mean she'll be actively pursuing acts of evil, though. For the most part, she is a relatively good person, if not just a little misguided. Because of Caroline's abandonment, Bennett has developed some issues with that. It is difficult for her to trust people initially and she doesn't like to let herself get close to anyone. Except for maybe Topher. She's afraid that if she does grow close to someone that they'll just abandon and hurt her. She is scared to death of being left behind again. If you do manage to break down her shell, Bennett will become incredibly loyal. Her loyalty very nearly borderlines on obsession, wanting to do whatever she can to keep that person around since its so rare for anyone to actually show an interest of any kind in her. Because of this crazy loyalty she nearly got herself killed when she helped Caroline blow up a building.
She exhibits some minor Asberger's syndrome tendencies like the difficulty in relating to others, her intense focus and her need for a rigid routine and cleanliness. She occasionally also exhibits echolalia and palilalia, repeating her own words or the words of others more than once. While this was more prominent in her childhood, as an adult it mostly comes to prominence when she's upset, worried or angry.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: To pretty much all the people she meets, Bennett comes off as having little interest in sex outside a scientific way. 95% of her coworkers would probably identify her as completely asexual seeing as she treats it with a bit of indifference. Much like most of the other things in her life. Her indifference to sex is mostly because she basically doesn't believe there'd ever be anyone interested in her in that way. The only friend she's ever had was just using her so its very difficult for her to think anyone would want to be friends with her, let alone have sex with her. When she lost her arm, this thinking just became stronger. Having a dead arm isn't typically something people consider sexy. Her sexuality probably leans more towards heterosexual, though. She has admired women in the past but it was mostly because of scientific accomplishments or a particular personality trait she envied. Nothing Bennett would consider an actual attraction. She may not be entirely asexual but her sex drive is incredibly low. She's 26 years old and has never felt aroused enough to masturbate. Sex isn't something she needs but she wouldn't object.
If she was ever to have sex with someone, she'd have to love and trust them completely. Which would be an incredibly hard thing for her to do. It's hard for her to open herself up to someone like that. Sex would probably be off the charts awkward for her and since she's never really thought about any kinks, very vanilla. If she was comfortable though, she might be open to more things. If she were in a relationship, it'd most definitely have to be a monogamous one. Bennett can be a rather selfish creature and would probably want to keep that person as close as possible to her and would feel betrayed if they ever expressed interest in having an open relationship. She'd be extremely loyal to that person and would likely put them on some sort of pedestal because oh look! Someone is paying attention to her for once! Bennett would want to do whatever it took to keep them in her life. She doesn't let people in often, but when she does she tends to realize just how lonely she is and how much she doesn't want to give it up. Deep down, Bennett really is something of a romantic too. She tries to hide it but if someone started making genuine advances on her, she'd likely become putty in their hands.
Just be careful. If you ever break her heart, she'll probably hold a grudge, want revenge and try to kill you. =D
Reason for playing: I enjoy playing this character because she's a fun balance between two extremes. On one hand, she can be incredibly hilarious because of her social ineptitude and just generally adorable. On the other, she can be incredibly dark and even murderous. Exploring just how dark and crazy I can get her to be has always been something I've wanted to do and it seemed like Bete Noire would be a good place to do it in! I'd really like to see, if given the opportunity, she'd make the switch from morally questionable but relatively nice to full-on villain that'd orchestrate some kind of nefarious world-ending thing. Or if on account of her stubbornness, she'd try to fight the darker aspects of her personality. For being a character that was only in a few episodes, she's incredibly complex.
4. Original Character Supplement
N/A
5. Samples
First-Person: Sample!
Third-Person: Sample!
Third-Person #2: When Bennett saw that face on the monitor, it felt like time had stopped. That face which she had never thought she'd actually see again. Caroline's. Caroline's unconscious, pretty face. And Cindy Perrin was delivering Caroline right to her. It brought on a slew of strange feelings in the programmer. She was excited, for one. Angry, for another. And then there was just the feeling of utter glee that washed over her as she thought about what she was going to do with that body. Her pulse quickened and she felt a little flush as that nasty, vicious little smirk of her's twitched itself on her face. Caroline was a doll now. An active. Someone Bennett could easily control. The manipulated was now the manipulator and the irony of that pleased Bennett more than she could say.
It was all too much. She needed to be alone for this. Completely alone. Bennett sent her assistants away, giving them all some other mundane assignments to accomplish and ordering them not to bother her. They all knew better than to argue with their slightly mentally unstable boss. They obeyed without much question.
Once Caroline had arrived in the lab she was brought into the imprinting room and attached to the chair. Bennett entered soon afterwards. She first examined the specimen before her. Yes, definitely Caroline. Unmistakably Caroline. Bennett typed a few parameters into her computer. Stimulate these neurons, increase flow to these paths, decrease flow to these, increase electrical currents. It was all rather complicated but for a genius of Bennett's calibre, it was so, so simple. And now? Now it was playtime. She turned one knob just a little bit, there was a whir of her tech coming to life and then? Oh and then. The light from the chair flickered brightly as it crackled. And Caroline's body started to writhe in complete pain.
That twitchy smile came back to Bennett's lips as she watched with amusement. The jerky, seizure-like motions of that body, oh how she loved this. She turned the knob a little more and this particular brand of torture just got even better. Cries and wordless screams started coming from Caroline's lips. There was absolutely nothing in her head but this. Nothing in her head but pain. Pain and suffering in which she had no idea why she deserved it. But she did, Caroline deserved this pain so much. Almost as much as Bennett felt she deserved to see it happening. It was revenge, of sorts. Getting back at that, well, that bitch for using her, abusing her, betraying her and leaving Bennett to die in that building that was still collapsing all around them.
She left for a moment and came back with a personality wedge. There wasn't an entire consciousness on it, no. Just one memory. Bennett's memory of that entire incident. She wanted Caroline to know just what she had done to the girl she called her best friend. She wanted Caroline to know what it was like to only have one arm. How hard it was just to function day to day. All those simple tasks people took for granted were now so very difficult for Bennett and it was all Caroline's fault. As she loaded the wedge into the chair and made it imprint into Caroline's brain, Bennett made another decision. She didn't care what it'd take, what she'd have to do to make it a reality but today?
Today Caroline was going to die.