S107 - Lyon, Bethany [DECEASED]

#1

Name: Bethany Catherine Victoria Lyon
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: Senior
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Politics & activism, law, musical theatre, history, Christian club

Appearance: Naturally speaking, not much about Bethany physically causes her to stand out: at five feet and six inches tall and around 120 pounds, with a figure that might be called slim but not noticeably slender, she is quite average in body and thoroughly aware of it. She puts a lot of effort into making herself stand out beyond the basics she has to work with, carefully dieting and exercising to meet the conventional ideal of appearing thin and fit, and putting great thought into clothing and makeup that accentuate her features to be maximally feminine and striking. In terms of colouration, Bethany fits easily into the stereotype of the old money New England WASP: pale of skin, blue eyed and platinum-blonde haired. Her face is sharp featured, with prominent cheekbones and chin, a narrow jaw, and a hawkish nose. Bethany's lips are naturally thin with a prominent philtrum, both features she regularly conceals as part of her makeup routine. She wears her hair a little below the shoulder, and usually swept back with a darker-coloured hairband.

Bethany's fashion sense could be described as conservative or traditional, but also expensive. Benefiting from wealthy parents, she enjoys an extensive wardrobe of designer labels, and is typically seen in a light jacket over a blouse, paired with either loose trousers or long skirts intended to not draw attention to her legs, plus subtly heeled shoes for additional height and a tastefully restrained selection of jewellery. On the day of the abduction she wore a heavy white parka with a faux-fur trim, a cream blouse, long black skirt, heeled boots, and a small silver crucifix necklace.

Biography: Bethany Lyon was born on the 5th of July 2003 at Massachusetts General Hospital, to proud parents Daniel and Catherine. The couple had tried for over a year to conceive and would later learn that having Bethany had been extremely unlikely owing to separate conditions rendering both of them not infertile, but at a very low chance of successful pregnancy; Daniel's low sperm count and Catherine's endometriosis alone would have made pregnancy difficult, and combined made it almost impossible. Whilst Bethany remained blissfully unaware during her early childhood, as she grew older and developed intellectually, she eventually began to feel the simmering resentment both between her parents and from them, both of whom had been hoping for a large family and for a son to carry on Daniel's name and legacy.

Nevertheless, Bethany's childhood was a comfortable one for the most part. She enjoyed extensive material comforts thanks to her father's well-paying work for a well-regarded Boston law firm, and though her mother busied herself with many community organisations and personal hobbies, she was ultimately a full-time mother and homemaker and was a constant presence in her daughter's upbringing. Bethany and her family are members of the Tabernacle Congregational Church. Though she attended public school, Bethany benefited from private tutors, particularly for the sciences and mathematics which she struggled with. She was also trained musically from a young age, learning the piano and studying with a vocal coach for both singing and diction. The family made regular trips to New York to enjoy theatre on Broadway, and Bethany cultivated a particular long-lasting affection for musical theatre.

During Bethany's adolescence, her father began to make overtures towards bonding with his daughter in ways that might typically be seen as normal father-son activities. All the while admonishing her to remain demure and feminine, he would take her camping at first, then later to gun ranges to learn the practical reality behind the Second Amendment, and eventually in her senior year the two began to go hunting together. For her part, Beth despised the experience. Though she would have to admit she learned useful, practical lessons from it all, she simply didn't enjoy any of her father's favourite masculine activities and especially chafed under the constant, subtle judgement that seemed to radiate from him, as if she were a failure as an heir for not taking naturally to manly hobbies and simultaneously a failure as a daughter for participating at all and eventually becoming moderately skilled. Although she learned how to track and shoot well, however, much to her mother's chagrin Beth never learned to cook what she shot, or indeed cook anything else beyond the most basic level.

Her memories of this time, outside of a few positive moments, are overwhelmingly negative ones and the focal point of considerable emotional turmoil for Bethany. She wants to impress her father and be both kinds of child he seemed to want, whilst refusing to admit to herself that the goal is practically impossible and that she harbours deep resentment towards him for his lack of approval. With this ill-feeling growing each successive summer with her father, by the time of her senior year the notion of hiking or spending a night outdoors fills Bethany with an apprehensive dread that she struggles to articulate even to herself.

Throughout her early school career Bethany enjoyed modest popularity and got along well with most kids and teachers alike. She'd been raised to be polite and courteous, patient with others, and generally inoffensive. High school changed this dramatically. Growing more into herself and her adolescent personality and beliefs, Bethany grew distant from her liberal peers; where her erstwhile friends had Democrat-voting parents and uncritically accepted their worldviews, Beth convinced herself of her status as a free-thinking outsider. She regarded herself as someone smarter than those around her who accepted the cultural climate around them without question, all the while failing to question the more conservative views she herself had been raised with and treating them as natural maxims that others simply failed to grasp.

However, as she grew older and started to better understand the contradictory expectations of her parents, she likewise drifted from their politics, delving into online spaces that reinforced some of her beliefs whilst challenging others. The proverbial pipeline lead her briefly into alt-right circles, though their attitudes towards women drove her away swiftly. As a result, she more closely questioned the more religious-conservative views of her parents and ultimately positioned herself as a libertarian, her stance as of senior year could be summed up as believing other people should have the right to openly do all the ungodly things that disgusted her, and she should have the right to be openly disgusted. Knowing her during this time was most likely an unpleasant experience for anyone to the left of the Republican Party as she flirted on-and-off with religious and ethnic nationalism to a minor extent and bought whole-heartedly into the President Canon hype early on, before finally admitting he'd been a fraud a few years into his presidency.

Academically during this time, Bethany nonetheless excelled. Between the pushiness of her parents, her own natural inquisitiveness, and taking the idea of being a rational thinker as a point of pride, Beth was a dedicated student and benefited heavily from her financially stable home life, top-quality school supplies, and access to private tutelage whenever she struggled. Her favourite subject throughout high school has been history, and she greatly enjoys learning about American history in particular as it strongly informs her political beliefs. Having studied her family's lineage as a result of learning about the early years of the United States, she has recently taken a great interest in the founding of the state of Vermont and the life of her distant ancestor Matthew Lyon, whom she idolises as a hero for free speech due to his imprisonment on charges of sedition for criticising then-President John Adams.

Though her low popularity quickly put an end to Bethany’s ambitions to join the Student Council, she proudly represented her beliefs as a member of both the school’s Debate Club and Model United Nations. Besides this, she dedicated much of her free time to the local area’s small Young Republicans organisation, and to the school’s drama and choir societies where she could make use of her vocal and piano talents and express her passion for Broadway. She also joined JEM's Christian club early in her time at the school, and remained a member through her senior year, though her attendance at meetings has been sparse and her attitudes generally considered to be on the fringe compared to the more liberal majority.

In the future, Bethany plans to apply to a slate of Ivy League schools to study law, following in her father's footsteps both professionally and politically. Daniel Lyon had run unsuccessfully for the Massachusetts State House of Representatives hoping to represent the 7th Essex District several times throughout his life, and Bethany hopes to one day win that seat. This is in part because she does genuinely believe she can do some good in government, but more substantially out of a desire to prove herself and to spite her parents whose dissonant and essentially sexist attitudes to her gender have shaped her young life.

Advantages: Bethany has an inquisitive and rational mind that, besides the bluster about being a free-thinker, does offer an edge in analysing the truth of situations and thinking up solutions to problems. She's learned to persevere under adversity and cope well with stress both academically and in her home life. Though she hated learning it, Bethany also possesses rudimentary survival skills and some practical knowledge of firearms.
Disadvantages: Conversely, Beth's survival skills are closely linked in her mind to stressful memories she'd rather not engage with, and she puts little work into physical fitness outside of maintaining her looks. While she knows how to hunt game, she's never learned how to prepare or cook it, nor forage for anything else. She's also generally not well liked among the student body, and her judgemental attitude will harm any attempts at diplomacy, especially with any minority peers or those who remember her past pro-Canon stance.

Designated Number: Student No. 107

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Designated Weapon: Pair of ski boots, skis and poles

Conclusion: Ski you later, S107- Abby Soto