Christian Stephen Mathews
Dr. Mathews [if you want to get fancy]
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Role: Animal and Ethology Behaviorist - More specifically his studies were primarily focused on the behaviors of predators. To understand the language of The Hunt and How Predators think. In order to maximize the efforts of recovery programs for the Non Profit Organizations he had been working with. Wrote his thesis on How Humans Can Help Predators a paper theorizing the efforts of environmental recovering programs could best be suited understanding how predators find out territory, how they hunt, why they hunt where they do, and so on. And became a Proclaimed Predator Expert in the field, a joke among others, though nonetheless holds some merit.
A man with platinum blonde locks, who stood at 5'9", he wore a tacky sweater, and a pair of good hiking boots with tan cargos. He looked more like a regular tourist in a ugly sweater, of the couple he owns, rather than an expert in any field. But his teal eyes lit up with passion when he spoke about the things that interested him and fascinated him. Though some can see his disapproval at times, or his distaste at times he's the type of man to wear many expressions on his face. At 130 lbs, he might seem like a lightweight, but Christian can carry his own if it comes down to it.
Personality:
Christian is a hard man to swallow at times, he really can come off as a bitter pill to swallow. He's the type of person who will sit at the break room water cooler and start ethical arguments about politics, government, animal welfare, environmental activism and so and so forth.
He's also simply a hard person a boss wants to work with, because he challenges decisions if he deems them irresponsible. But he's kept around because he's educated, smart, knows his information. He doesn't talk outside of his own realm of knowledge. And doesn't talk out of his own ass, if he's saying something it's because he knows what he is saying.
And that's something to admire about Christian. While he may not be a personable person, he is passionate, has a drive for his work and his knowledge. You see his whole face light up when he knows the answer. His intellect and careful understanding of the things around him, is what makes him a man to be respected.
The qualities those in the field admired about him is his hard drive to work. His ethics in believing a job is worth doing and worth doing well. To work smarter and not harder, because smart was always an easier shortcut then doing anything in an inefficient manner. And the actual care he has for the safety of others, animals and the environment.
Those are the things most important to Stephen, doing what he considers good work. Which puts him in a difficult position. He's not 100% happy with his job in Jurassic Park. It conflicts with a lot of his motivates, morals, and ethics. But under the circumstances Stephen couldn't quite refuse at the time he took the job.
He tends to be a sailor mouth, one of his coworkers caught him saying fuck at least four times in a row. He likes nature, he likes to draw which is surprising to anyone, and he likes learning again another surprise considering his edginess. He dislikes greedy money dirtbags, he dislikes immoral scum, lairs, and his ex.
Weapons: NA - A weapon on any animal is the moment you lose their trust.
Equipment:
-Weatheproof Journal with a Waterproof Pen
-An Alert Whistle, Used to call a tourist back when they get too close to an enclosure, or to signify a team in a pen when an animal in a small enclosure is getting or near or is spotted.
-A portable notebook to record information
-A worn hiking bag
-A water bottle that hangs at the end
-A Tranq Handgun, 4 Syringes and 4 Darts in a case in his bag [not meant to be used as a weapon]
-First Aid Kit in Bag
-A few different types of vegan trail mixes, a few vegan granola bars
Strengths:
Knowledgeable -
Dr. Mathews is knowledge in ethology and animal psychology. It was his field of study throughout college and throughout his years traveling through the American Corps. He also has an extensive research in natural resources and environmental biology. He is quite gifted in these areas. But Christian has always been a quick learner, and has a handful of general knowledge at his disposal.
Reliable -
Does Christian get on people's nerves? Yes. Does Christian curse a lot? Yes. Does Christian often have a cruel sense of humor? Yes. But that doesn't make the man unreliable. If you ask Christian to get something done, he will get it done. If you have earned Christian's trust and respect, then he will stick his neck out for you. And he's always been a hard worker, sure he is frustrating to deal with, but he is reliable in getting the job right the first time.
Critical Thinking -
Christian relies a lot on his logic. There's a joke among those who don't like him, that he's the environments perfect robot warrior. Since he rarely emotes beside being bitter, neutral or apathetic most write him off the moment they meet him.
Animal Lover -
It's not all stuffy facts and hard to read textbooks for Christian. He's an animal lover at heart. He doesn't just approach the animals like it's his job. He's always approached the animals with respect for their boundaries and tries to truly understand their behaviors. To him the most important part of environmental protection was the empathetic bond you share with these animals you're trying to save. Too bad he cannot shed some of that empathetic bond to people, sometimes.
Weakness:
Distrusting of others -
He's not without his flaws, maybe the reason he comes off to some people as cold and distant has to do with how he guards himself. He's relatively distrusting of others. Considering his past with few who manipulated him, broke his heart, or in some ways blackmailed him into a job he didn't necessarily want, but had to accept.
Ill Tempered -
He can be at times ill tempered, especially with his coworkers. More or less when no one is on the same page. He likes structure, organization, good planning. Anyone who cannot provide any of those things better learn how to do so or get out of his team.
Aversion to Blood-
Not true hemophobia. He seems to be okay with minor small wounds. A papercut or a minor wound with some blood coming out, fine. It's when people's limbs go missing or their neck is gushing with blood that he starts to get a little queasy. He can barely stomach looking at dramatizations of serious traumatic wounds in the ER shows or the detective shows. This might be due to the fact that his Grandfather forced him to watch the slaughter of a chicken on his grandfather's farm when he was six.
Foul Mouth-
Ah Christian loves to curse. Well love is probably not the right word. But cursing seems to come out of his mouth as fluently as someone reciting poetry.
Background:
It was after watching the Crocodile Hunter when he was six he knew he wanted to work with animals. At seven he wanted to become a zoologist. At ten that turned into wanting to become a veterinarian. His grandfather owned a farm in those days. Every summer he was forced down to help with his grandfather's moderate sized farm. It wasn't a very large farm, it yielded a local yield, that their Illinois community did business with.
But his grandfather was never really big into environmentalism. Criticizing the documentaries Christian liked. The people he admired. His dream to this day is to meet David Attenborough, though he doubts he'd like to talk to him now that he sold his soul to the devil. It wasn't always this way. Christian had big plans and big dreams in the realm of environmentalism.
He became vegetarian at ten and vegan at eighteen. That mostly due to his grandfather's influence. At six he had Christian involved with "ethical" slaughter of a chicken. He just remembers there being a geyser of blood. And the nervous system twitching even after its head was cut off. Those were not his favorite parts of being around animals as a kid.
Helping a cow give birth to a calf. Or simply playing with the dogs was enough for him. His parents didn't necessarily encourage him either way. Though they tried to nudge him away from becoming an eco warrior. And falling into the trap, as they called it.
Of course Christian never listened to them. The more he became environmentally aware. The more involved he got with environmentalism and understanding it's importance. The more he began to recognize he wouldn't help animals or save the planet by becoming a zoologist or a veterinarian.
It was when he was fifteen he got involved with a local conservation non profit organization close to his family home. There they educated him about topics like climate change, why certain pieces of land needed to be protected. He took the public out on public tours, told them the importance of the land he was protecting and he realized something about it felt right.
It was seventeen he fell in love with a girl, Laurely in his high school. She seemed to have passion where had passion. She loved science and animals. Instead of going to his grandfather's farm in the summer, he worked for the AmeriCorps. Youth programs on protecting national forest. Youth programs about wildlife rehabilitation and so and so forth.
He graduated high school when he was eighteen and decided to take college courses in Environmental Biology, Natural Sciences, and Ethology. He would pursue the thing everyone told him he shouldn't pursue not being the type to listen. Laurely and him also married straight out of high school at nineteen. She was encouraging, despite her work in environmentalism, she decided to follow a path in a veterinary track rather than continue into the save the world eco education.
It was in college at twenty he met a friend in his Natural Science classes, Conor Romero. Conor and him were fast friends. They worked on projects together. Got along together. Agreed on many of the same points, with a few arguments here and there.
It was a good time. When tragedy struck. At twenty-one he got the news both his parents were in a car accident. Neither of them made it. Devastated, he was ready to throw away his whole entire career plummeting himself into grief and despair. Laurely and Conor kept him together, tried to encourage and push him through the loss of both parents.
While he may have never had a strong relationship with them, he never wanted them to die. And he wracked his brain on how this could happen to him. While in his grief, too blind to realize how close his wife and friend became.
At twenty-four he graduated and was served divorce papers. Conor and Laurely had become closer than friends. When he questioned her decision, she said that they grew apart after his years of on and off depression. For a long time he was angry. Then he just let it go. Shutting that part of himself off. If he buried himself in his work and studies he wouldn't feel anything.
He went to Brazil. Shortly after that Africa. Working with the Sons and Daughters Coalition, the idea was to bring back apex predators to Africa in hopes to restore the ecosystem and environment like they did in Yellowstone in America. Though expenses quickly piled up on him. Travel expenses, hospital bills served to him years after his parents death, and child support bills made him crippling poor.
And no one was paying the non profits or the employees to do the work. They relied on grants and scholarships. It started to become an overwhelming task to try and balance all of this out at twenty-five. Christian fell in despair. He tried to hide it from the people he worked with. But they all knew something wasn't entirely right with him. He knew they knew. But he kept a distance. Doing what he always did. If he hid himself in his work. Then he'd feel nothing.
At twenty-six he received an email about a paying project. Except there wasn't any information about what the project was. Or who he'd be working for. Just that his travel expenses were already paid for and that he should come down and see the site for himself. Falling into crippling poverty and desperate need of money, he took the plane to an island.
It was when he was first welcomed to Jurassic Park. Except welcome wasn't quite the word. They preyed on the fact that he needed the money. He criticized their work in the interview;
"You had the technology to bring back dinosaurs from millennia ago. But you won't use the same technology to help apex predators of today restore the ecosystem of today. Your head's so far up your ass you saw the future and looked backwards."
Though his comments didn't seem to bother the head director at the time. They found him amusing. And knew he was desperate enough. He signed the contract. He calls it the day he sold his soul to the devil. A few short months later, he received an email from Conor, with an attachment file. It seemed out of his own curiosity he did a paternity test to see who had really fathered Laurely's daughter.
A part of that old rage he felt when she first divorced him came bubbling up, when according to the papers he had been paying for a child that was not even his. Christian knew for his own health and sanity of mind, he needed to cut himself off entirely from that past life.
He was here now. A new start. A new lease on life. And maybe he could start saving money. Despite the fact that he sold his soul to a corporation.
