✞ 「 the weight of familial expectations burdening your shoulders, longing to play god and turn back time, test tubes and research books littering your room and makeshift lab 」 cisgender male. he/him. ╱ now nobody in lafleur is saying IVAN BURKE is trouble, but nobody's exactly rushin' to defend them either. folks have been talkin' about the 35 year old surgeon since the day they rolled into town. seems there's always some new story about how they're allegedly a human and have been here for all his life. i don't put much stock in every rumor that floats through this shithole, but with a intelligent, obsessive & reclusive reputation like theirs, something tells me we only scratched the surface of the jacob anderson wannabe's story. ╲ 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚢 alyx, 27, she/her, est.
FILE.
full name: ivan theodore burke
age: thirty five
gender / pronouns: cis man, he/him
orientation: bisexual
affiliation: n/a
occupation: surgeon at lafleaur hospital, independent researcher
inspiration: victor frankenstein (frankenstein), henry jekyll (dr. jekyll and mr. hyde), temperance brennan (bones)
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BIOGRAPHY.
Your story isn’t one of ease. You weren’t born with a silver spoon in your mouth and the world’s riches at your fingertips. No, you were born to a mother whose lover ran out on her when the reality of raising three small children became too much. You were the oldest of the trio and the only one who remembers life as a two-parent household. You had watched as your mother pushed your father to love you and your siblings, only for him to withdraw at any smile or touch from you or your siblings’ hands. You had sensed the feeling of responsibility even then— had been the one to hold your siblings back whenever your father had shown nothing but the feeling of dread at the thought of his life never being his own again. And as your father packed his bags and left in the middle of the night, you were the only one watching as the door quietly closed shut and his car drifted out into the darkness.
The rest of your childhood was lonely as your mother picked up multiple jobs to try and support you and your siblings. You played the role of pseudo-father to your younger siblings, helping them get to and from school as your mother rested in between shifts. You felt that weight on your shoulders, and that knowledge that you were the one who was expected to help take care of everyone propelled you to push yourself in school. You spent countless all-nighters studying for tests, doing extra credit work, and ensuring everyone else kept up with their own studies as well. You told yourself you needed to help the family get to a secure place— that you owed it to your mother to take care of her in a way your father couldn’t— and you ended up accomplishing that goal.
You were naturally smart, and the intense way you studied helped you graduate at the top of your class. You ended up getting a scholarship to a state school, and after achieving high marks there as well, you went on to study at medical school. Years of internships and residency at Lafleaur Hospital helped you become a successful surgeon, and you were finally able to take care of your family like you longed to do since you were a child. Half of your earnings went to your mother and your siblings, and you felt like you could rest for the first time in your life. That is— until the day you failed to protect your sister from the harsh reality of the world.
You didn’t know how it happened exactly, but you came home to a frantic sight. Your sister had been attacked by some creature and had begun acting strangely. She tried to attack you and your brother, had muttered about being thirsty and the smell of blood, and you had no choice but to keep her tucked in a room until she settled down. You thought she contracted some sort of rabies virus, but after looking into the symptoms more, a more unreasonable explanation began to take shape— she had been turned into a vampire.
You helped her as you always had by bringing her blood from the hospital to help momentarily cure her thirst, but you knew it wasn’t a permanent solution. She needed to be cured, needed to go back to her old self, and you knew you were the only one with the mind and resources to do it. You ended up becoming an independent researcher whose goal was to cure vampirism. You studied vampires’ flesh and blood in an attempt to understand the workings of this condition, all to help your sister and those who need it. You don’t care how many vampires you have to injure and dissect to get to the bottom of this illness— you’ll study everyone until you can turn your sister back to normal and find a semblance of peace once more.
WANTED CONNECTIONS.
THE TEST SUBJECTS: Ivan obviously needs vampire flesh, blood and other body parts to research for his cure, so this wc is for those vampires that have willingly (or unwillingly) taken part in his studies. He has his brother act as a lure to draw him vampires (for he doesn’t trust him to do much else), and helps himself to whatever he needs to further his studies. There could be compensation at play, or a promise to share the cure once it’s complete— anything to help him get what he needs.
THE SABOTEUR: Ivan wishes to cure vampirism and turn people back to humans, but there are obviously vampires who are against that concept. This vampire, in particular, wants to ensure that Ivan never accomplishes his goal. They have snuck into his makeshift lab (which I imagine resides near a graveyard), and destroyed some of his samples more than once. They’re essentially enemies, and Ivan wants nothing more than to get rid of them so they won’t hinder his work again.
THE SUSPICIOUS: While Ivan looks for a cure, he continues to sneak out blood for his sister in the meantime. This person works at the hospital and is growing suspicious of Ivan. They may not know he’s slipping blood bags away from the hospital, but they know he’s up to something and want to get to the bottom of it.
OTHER: people trying to partner with him, someone trying to become his lab assistant, workplace rival, workplace friends, mentee/mentor relationship, exes, one-night stands, situationships, childhood friends, childhood enemies, unknown half-siblings from his dad’s side, anything and everything!
