Work Text:
Sight
It is never failed to annoy Beth that her eyesight is appalling (she is extremely visually impaired without her glasses on), but her sense of vision is also very sensitive. She can’t see very well, yet at the same time her eyes take in absolutely everything.
If she is in the car, looking out of the window means her eyes focus on every little detail and soon she starts to feel motion sick, having to screw her eyes up before her vision overloads. In most situations, when there is too much visual stimulation, Beth ends up either screwing her eyes up or running to somewhere less bright or patterned or busy, wishing her eyes wouldn’t be so annoying.
Smell
Much like her sense of vision, Beth’s sense of smell is far too sensitive. Most smells (like perfume or cooking food or cigarette smoke) that don’t bother most people make Beth feel dizzy and sick, making her reluctant to leave her home.
In fact, this sense is the main reason why it was so horrible to be on Total Drama. Because everywhere smelled foul and it made Beth feel sick, and if she tried to cover the smells with perfume, most perfumes made her feel sick too. There is a reason why Total Drama Action was easier than Island, because there are far fewer disgusting smells in a film lot than a wild camp.
If it didn’t make her look really silly, she would wear nose plugs all the time.
Taste
Beth’s sense of taste is actually hyposensitive. If, like Lindsay, you don’t know what that means, it basically means that it is less sensitive than a ‘normal’ person’s sense of taste. So most food just tastes plain to her, meaning Beth prefers to eat very strong flavours. Her favourite things are very spicy, very sharp, very sweet, etc.
Unfortunately, Lindsay likes a very bland diet, so cooking together can become difficult. It probably explains why they almost always eat different things. Still, Beth doesn’t really care if they eat the same thing or not; spending time with her girlfriend in any way is enough for her.
Sound
But her sense of hearing is back to being hypersensitive again. Loud noises make her ears hurt, and Beth has a habit of amusing Lindsay by noticing noises that Lindsay never even hears.
She likes to listen to music, but it has to be at a low volume. Beth likes going to concerts with Lindsay, but she has to wear ear defenders and routinely leaves for periods of rest so she doesn’t have a meltdown, playing with her stim toys and hugging Lindsay, not wanting to ruin their outings just because her ears are so sensitive.
Lindsay always says she doesn’t mind, but Beth still doesn’t want to cause a fuss.
Touch
Beth’s sense of touch is hyposensitive, but it doesn’t bother her. Having hyposensitive skin makes touch stimming such a wonderful feeling, making her feel relaxed as she wrings her hands together or rubs soft fabric against her skin or manipulates one of her many stim toys.
This need to stimulate her sense of touch makes Beth a person who loves affection. She loves hugging Lindsay, snuggling up with her on the couch or in bed or just whenever they are together, and she loves kissing too.
Basically, she has an interesting relationship with her senses, but it doesn’t really matter. Because Beth likes herself for who she is, and Lindsay likes her too.