people don't like it when the flame becomes a wildfire. fuck them. burn anyway. — erin van vuren • • • • • • • • • miranda roslyn burke. twenty seven. ravenclaw. heir to the burke legacy. hard ass. rude. black coffee and cigarettes. fuck directly off.
WHEN : 9 june 1979
WHERE : borgin and burke’s
WHO : open
She was in the back of the shop, working with a new acquisition. She’d gotten it from an estate sale, some old woman who’d finally died and all her late husband’s things that she’d been hoarding since he’d died were being auctioned off. There were a couple pieces that had no business being in the home of a nice old lady — and those were just the sort of pieces Mira loved tracking down. There was a bell at the counter that she hated but had put there anyway so she could spend her time being useful in the back of the shop until a customer actually needed her. Which is why when she heard the first commotion, she glared at the solid door separating her from the shop but kept on with her work. The second sound was less a commotion than a crash, though, and it had Mira practically growling as she breezed through the door. “Oi, keep your bloody hands off the items unless you know what you’re damn well doing.”
feast your eyes on MIRANDA BURKE. she prefers to go by MIRA, though. she’s a TWENTY SEVEN year old witch who graduated from RAVENCLAW. she’s NEUTRAL in this war, but only technically. she supports the pureblood agenda and isn’t shy about it. she is the HEIR to the burke half of BORGIN AND BURKE’S
aesthetic : silk blouses and red wine, waking up in someone else’s bed, reading a hundred year old book at three in the morning, nail scratches down your back, blood red lips, slamming doors, snide remarks, men’s shirts as night gowns, curry flavors, humorless laughs, raging fires, harsh words
GENERAL
mira was the first child of orfeo and selina burke but she certainly wasn’t supposed to be the only. her father needed a son to carry on the family name. the burke name goes back generation to generation and to not have a son to carry on that legacy was orfeo’s worst nightmare. for nearly ten years, mira was raised as if she were the spare, not the heir, even though she was an only child. she was ten before her parents accepted their fate.
unlike most pureblood families, the burkes have a long history with ravenclaw house. a focus on the pursuit of knowledge, and the power that comes with it, is something they are well known for and is a trait that has wound its way down through the generations. rosalyn shares that curiosity, the endless desire to learn and know more. after all, the more one knows, the better suited one is to any situation one may find oneself in. knowledge breeds confidence, it breeds respect, and it breeds influence. rosalyn truly believes that knowledge is power and while she enjoys the pursuit of it, what she really loves are the benefits of having it.
school itself wasn’t synonymous with the pursuit of knowledge, though, and mira was easily bored. there was too much time spent on basic skills she could easily have taught herself and too much catering to the lowest common denominator. she didn’t see why she should waste her time on that when there were far more interesting things to learn and so mira never particularly excelled in her classes. her practical skills were exceedingly good, it was simply homework she didn’t bother with.
she never needed to come up with a life plan, her destiny was borgin and burke’s and she was quite alright with that. she is the acquisitions end of the deal though. the one who travels around the world seeking rare and dangerous objects. what she is not, unless she can’t help it, is the desk clerk. dealing with people - in a manner that is customer service approved - isn’t her strong suit and she avoids it whenever she can. it’s not worth the never avoidable argument with the simpletons who wander into the shop.
outside of the shop, however, mira is happy to get out from behind her books to go get a drink. or a shag. or a fight. or, if it’s a really good night, all three.
she’s considered joining the ranks of the death eaters more than once but her father has drilled it into her head that that would be counter-productive. they were business people first and foremost and tying themselves to an uncertain cause would only cause trouble.
mira is a tiny ball of anger, however, and is always on the lookout for a way to vent her frustrations on unsuspecting victims. while she isn’t officially a death eater, she is happy to provide them support in their endeavors, offering her shop and her wares and even, on occasion, her skills.
MIRANDA BURKE ✖ NEUTRAL ✖ TAKEN
↳ FC: Tessa Thompson
❝ people don’t like it when the flame becomes a wildfire. fuck them. burn anyway ❞
BASICS :
[ NAME ] : Miranda Rosalyn Burke
[ AGE ] : 27
[ HOUSE ] : Ravenclaw
[ BLOODSTATUS ] : Pureblood
[ OCCUPATION ] : shopkeep at Borgin & Burkes, one half of the heir to the shop/business
BIO :
she was supposed to be a SON , a boy to carry the family name with h o n o r and p r i d e. but instead she was a she, a girl who looked fragile and weak in her cradle. a girl whose DESTINY was to be a wife and mother, to facilitate the carrying on of someone else’s name. but her parents were young, they had more time. or so they thought. she grew up behind a shop counter, playing with objects that could have k i l l e d her. she asked questions until she had no breath left, always wanting to know where and how, why and what. she watched her father closely, admiring his strength and his cunning. he knew everything about everything, people respected him. she wanted to be just like him. but where he was cool, thin ice ready for unsuspecting travelers to fall into his traps, she was F I R E, eager to burn other alive to keep herself strong. when he realized he wouldn’t have a son, his daughter had already become her own person and it was all he could do to tame the blaze and shape it into something he was willing to leave behind. she was fiercely curious, sharply brilliant, with nails and intellect as sharp as the talons of the eagle her house crest bore. while others joined the ranks looking for meteoric rises, she preferred her spot behind the counter, buying and selling, trading in goods and information. they may hold the fight in their hands but it is the likes of her, of the borgin and burke families, that hold their secrets in hers.
Related to the BLACK and FLINT families, the Burkes have a coveted spot on the Sacred Twenty-Eight list. At least one member of the Burke family co-owns Borgin and Burkes - associating the family with dark magic and dark artifacts.
