(🐀💕+) Ratticus Character Sheets (Full!)

RATTICUS <3 <3

General

Ratticus is a college student who lives at home. His full name is Ratticus Alexander Tierney. His presentation around new people— and what we have seen with Doctor Zo— leads you to believe he is intrinsically flippant, careless, disrespectful, and irresponsible. He comes off like he has a strong sense of self in how bold, reactive, and opinionated he can be.

Childhood

Ratticus grew up in a household where children are to be seen, not heard. His thoughts and opinions have never held weight or value, and been belittled when expressed, and to bottle them up and simultaneously not to trust his own lines of logic. His parents are insistent he become a doctor or lawyer, despite neither appealing to him in the slightest. If asked what he wants to be when he's older, he doesn't have a straight answer. His responses range from funny, to almost-reasonable, to very dark, implying he won't need to worry about it.

High School

He's always done very well academically, straight-As in his classes without need for extra credit assignments. This is largely due to the punishment that ensued at home if he brought back anything less, but also is undoubtedly a testament to his smarts. However, he got suspended in his senior year after getting into a fight, long enough to need to take summer courses to still pass.

College

He attended college on campus for a semester before his mother pulled him, as he was having what she calls 'outbursts'. Anybody his parents know, including the rest of his family, believe he is now taking online classes through an uppity school in the city, but is staying home for college due to his grandmother being sick.

Mother

Mrs. Tierney is always seen with a headband and often has a pearl necklace on. She is Ratticus's biggest constant, and most reliable person in his life, despite her being shaky on both fronts. She cares a lot about appearances, and is often worried more about looking bad than about being open and genuine. She put Ratticus in therapy and often drives him wherever he needs to be, as Ratticus does not have his license (training him to drive was acutely nightmarish). She used to work in telemarketing, but currently is a stay-at-home parent and wife, and spends a good chunk of time taking care of her mother, who we haven't met yet and is in the hospital. If her mother gets better, or if she passes, Mrs. Tierney will likely go back into telemarketing so that Mr. Tierney can work more locally, as he currently travels for business often due to it paying much more.

Father

Mr. Tierney is always seen in a pure white dress shirt with a black tie, sporting a brown fedora. He holds a glass of whiskey or a cigarette, sometimes both. Ratticus both looks up to and deeply fears his father. He is required to call him sir when addressing him, and at this point they only share a chat if Ratticus smokes or drinks with him.

It is an enormous relief for him that his dad is away on trips more than he is home, and Mr. Tierney doesn't know that he is in therapy as his father would most definitely take other drastic measures to 'straighten him out' in a heartbeat over sending him to therapy.

Intrusive Thoughts

Ratticus's intrusive thoughts are a constant in his life and have been happening as long as he can remember. He's had some outlets come and go in the form of certain friendships, relationships, and hobbies where he could unpack and express.

His thoughts greatly worsened his senior year of high school, having to do with the incident where he was suspended. Around this same time he also lost his main outlets, which we'll dive into further how and why another time. We'll also dive into what exactly are some of the thoughts he has as the story progresses. His thoughts are a defining part of him spiraling to the point of therapy being nothing short of medically necessary.

Impulsive Action

The visible actions seen by Ratticus such as drinking Dr. Zo's coffee, spilling it, and throwing the table, are all impulsively-based, and do not often match up with his intrusive thoughts. However in doing them, it helps him to quiet his intrusive thoughts briefly, which are usually extremely morally frightening but also jarringly persistent. When exhibiting these actions, for him it is like picking the lesser of two evils.

The disruption gives his brain something else to think about and focus on, even if just for a few moments, and with him lacking other healthier outlets, he acts on impulse more and more often. This is, in part, why Dr. Zo's mirroring with taking off his tie and settling in also helps Ratticus to sit quietly for much longer than he otherwise would've been able to.

Ratticus also deals with anger issues and general anxiety, and has a strong need to be in control whenever possible. all these exhibit differently and mesh with one another, creating a fuzzy visual of what all is going on. Dr. Zo certainly has his work cut out for him.