galacticmalpractice | boldly going

Player Information

Player: Jans
Pronouns: she/her
Over 18: Y
Invited By: my own two hands
Current Characters: Xenk Yendar, Hans, Wyll Ravengard

Character Information

Character Name: Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Character Pronouns: he/him
Canon: Star Trek AOS
Canon Age: 36
Canon Point: Post Star Trek Beyond
Canon Link: Link!

AU Information

AU Name: Leonard McCoy
AU Age: 36 at death, 9 years as a vampire (he's a bit baby)
Physical Differences: Bones will appear pretty much the same as his canon self, just a little more prone to growing facial hair/keeping a five o' clock shadow. He has faint scarring around his left eye from some kind of accident before his Becoming, but it's largely faded. (Gotta give him mirrorverse vibes.) He otherwise takes care of his appearance, and his permanent scowl carries none of his humanist heart. And of course as a Silver Court vampire, he'll have silver eyes and silver blood.

AU History:
[cw: alcoholism, unhealthy coping mechanisms, some mention of miscarriage and just a bad environment to be raising a child. Pre-Courtsheart Bones destroyed his relationship with his ex-wife and child, and found "comfort" in alcohol]

Born in Blue Lands, father was a human doctor so Bones followed him around as a child and learned the trade early. He was a prodigy, aiding his father's practice in his youth and completing his first successful surgery at 15.
Resented vampires more for the fact that they cause so many injuries and made his father's life hell. Truthfully he resented humans for this too—lots more people came in with injuries from their fellow humans than vampires, let's be honest.
Meets and marries his childhood sweetheart, they try to have children at first but a few miscarriages makes them give up. His wife's health was ultimately more important to him, so Bones doesn't mind. He keeps helping out at his father's clinic to keep his family stable, and also because he really does enjoy the work.
Some years later, Leonard's father dies from an unexplained illness, which Bones was unable to cure or prevent. Feeling powerless and unmoored, his father's death rattles his faith in his own skills, and leaves Bones in charge of the family business.
Bones does not handle the death of his father or the responsibility of his new job well. He begins drinking. Feeling he owes his father after swearing on his deathbed that he'd keep helping people, he devotes himself to his work to an unhealthy degree, neglecting his family in the process. The alcohol sure doesn't help.
Despite being in a bad place emotionally, or perhaps because of it, Leonard and his wife end up successfully having a child. Unfortunately this happens while Bones is still deep in the throes of depression and barely coping, so while he loves his daughter deeply, he winds up putting his job first.
Those first few years, (which are so important for a child, c'mon Bones!) Bones barely sees his family. The stress of the work and guilt for not being there for his wife weighs on him, and his drinking only gets worse in the months that follow. He found it easier to drink to forget than come home to what he perceived as his disappointed family.
The few times when they actually saw each other, Bones and his wife largely just argued. They try to tough it out, but they both know it's not working. Bones retreats further, spiraling into his poor decisions.
Bones continues to overwork himself, the stupor of his life only breaking through as a morose sort of joy when strange cases or obviously clawed people turn up on his door, instead of the same twenty colds and fevers that he has to treat every week. Night terrors don't usually leave survivors, but when they do, it's a ghastly sight. Bones can hardly save anyone when they're that injured, but it actually fuels his desire to succeed -- to save those that are impossible to save. Maybe then, his daughter might actually be proud of him someday.
After a particularly nasty bender, his wife kicks him out, telling him to leave and never come back. (Note: While Bones was negligent and an alcoholic, never there for his wife and daughter, he was not physically or emotionally abusive. He was not there when he should have been.)
This is his rock bottom. He has nothing left but his clinic, where he eats and sleeps, and tries to trash and even torch the place, but can't commit to it in the end.
The sick and injured still show up at his door the next day, (wisely, no one asks about the stink of alcohol and the shattered glass everywhere.)
Without his family or anyone to fall back on, his morbid fascination for illness and injury leads him to rumors of vampires and their more advanced medicine. Some part of Bones does want to help people, but he yearns to learn more and find solutions and cures to illnesses, rather than just treating the symptoms. Human medicine, at the point in time, can only do so much. Bones finds he wants to see those limits and surpass them.
He doesn't exactly seek out a vampire or anything, but on one of his routine "drink until you get kicked out of the bar and fall asleep in an alley" nights, a Blue Court vampire finds him and feeds off of him (a little Dr. Cocktail with how much he'd been drinking.)
Taking interest in the fact that this drunk happens to be a doctor, the vampire shows up in town the next day for a Finding, and picks Bones out of the lineup. The village actually resists, as Bones may be a drunk, but he's the town's best and only doctor.
Bones half-heartedly argues against it, but his complaints die down when his ex-wife offers to go in his stead. What follows is a huge, dramatic, public argument between the two of them, that ends up with Bones getting exiled from the village anyway. He's allowed to grab a few things from his clinic before they leave, but he closes shop and abandons it to the elements.
In Courtsheart, Bones excelled at Silver (no surprise,) and Gold, barely passing his Blue Court classes. He expresses no interest in Red Court (he prefers a scalpel anyway,) and fails almost on principle (he passes Blades but gets kicked the fuck out of Seduction.) He avoided Black Court classes and resents that the Black Court are the only ones allowed to wield dread blades since they could prove useful for surgical purposes. He thinks their secretive nature is bullshit.
His mask is a cleaner, though older version of himself, with blue eyes (he doesn't use it much.)
Since entering Courtsheart and becoming a vampire (and gaining an incredibly strong tolerance to alcohol,) Bones has cleaned up his act quite a bit—he doesn't drink to excess, as he discovered that he was a much better surgeon when he's not drinking (who'd've thunk.) That said, he far prefers to better himself than put on airs or mask away his prickly side, so good luck trying to get him to smile.
Since becoming a member of the Silver Court, Bones has dedicated himself to the study of vampiric and human medicine. He still wants to cure illnesses and help people, but that fascination for injury and rare diseases has only worsened thanks to becoming a vampire. He hasn't been one for too long, but the freedom it allows him isn't something he'll let go to waste. He's just really not a big fan of the emotional bits.
Since he's capable of healing most injuries, he is not beyond using torture and breaking bones to get his patients to do as they're told. It's well known that he carries a scalpel with him at all times, just in case.

AU Personality:
Like his canon self, Bones cares deeply about healing others and the people who are close to his heart—about helping the world at large and saving lives. Deep down. However, AU!Bones is closer to his mirrorverse counterpart. He's willing to yield certain morals for the "greater good," and will happily cause injury or harm in the pursuit of what he sees as progressing the medical field. This would be unheard of for canon!Bones, who often serves as the voice of reason in the movies. Where canon!Bones believes that there's no such thing as a "worthwhile" sacrifice, and that do no harm is the standard, AU!Bones is willing to maim or experiment with unethical treatments if it means finding the permanent cure for a disease, or discovering something new that might cure someone down the line. Basically, he treats thralls like bodies donated to science. He respects their usefulness, but they're just another tool in the end.

Personality-wise, Bones is just as prickly and easily angered as he is in canon. However in this version, he's a lot more unbalanced—committed to his work to a degree that is unhealthy (good thing he's a vampire!) Where his cynical remarks and frustrations hide a gentle interior in canon, that gentleness is something his AU version tries to hide, and it comes out very, very rarely. (He does have a soft spot for novices, though you'd never see him admit it.) His unchecked attitude got him into a bit of trouble during his novice seasons, so he's tried some yoga and the like, but it's still always simmering beneath the surface. He'll try to be respectful to his elders, but anyone who comes to the infirmary is fair game for his brand of care (which is to say, getting insulted while he treats you.)

Still, he swapped the bottle for a lab coat, and retreats to his studies or experiments when he's stressed or tired of being around people. Which is often, as Bones tends to enjoy more the idea of helping people than the actual bedside manner needed to be a proper doctor. He just doesn't have patience for people who waste his time, and would rather run a well-oiled machine than fake nice.

Overall, he sees his Becoming as a net gain for the world. His ex-wife and daughter are a sore point that he tries not to think about, though some part of him still looks into curing human diseases out of a desire to keep them, and the world at large, safe. Despite this, Bones has not sought out or contacted either of them since entering Courtsheart. It's likely they wouldn't recognize him, as he'd barely recognize himself, so he'll lie and snarl at anyone who dares ask about it. His animal form is a bearded vulture, with blue and silver feathers. Yes, real bearded vultures are not blue or silver. Oh well, Blue Court was never his best.

Basically, this Bones has a fractured heart, barely any ethics, and an itch for science and violence fostered by his undeath. He'll fix what ails ya, but if you come back to him with another stupid injury, he might break your kneecaps until you promise to stop doing stupid shit.

Course Information

Court: Silver Court. Bones is a doctor through and through, with an interest in advancing medicine and curing diseases. His academic pursuits leave him with subpar social skills which he doesn't care to improve.
Subjects of Interest: Bones will teach one basic first season class (which is terrible, no one should take it,) and provide advanced medical classes for third and fourth season students. His entry class is intended to purposely dissuade students from becoming vampires by going over the changes they can expect in gruesome detail. His advanced courses will be more general pathology courses, with vivisection and autopsies, as well as advanced medical treatments. Basically: 1st Season: Welcome to Vampire School: You're Gonna Die, 3rd Season: Anatomical Pathology and Healing for Dummies: Don't Put Your Mouth On Everything, 4th Season: Ethics and Preservation

Maker/Blood Claim: Karma will be Bones' maker. Bones would also make a good maker, and it might actually calm him down a bit. That said, with a volatile novice he'd get to "enjoy" their emotions, so it might just piss him off more.

Samples

Samples: A TDM Sample is indeed required.