Here is all about Dr. Zo!! Feel free to ask questions over comments, the Discord, or over dms as some of you have/do already!
General
Dr. Zo is a local therapist, one of only a few in the area. He greatly enjoys his job, and loves getting to know people in a way most don't. He is a fantastic secret-keeper, good at getting on someone's page, and his personality and empathy makes it easy for others to share with him.
He mainly spends time with his clients, his son, sometimes a therapist that's still in the area that he went to college with, and a few people he knew from high school. He balances work with a social life pretty well.
Childhood
Dr. Zo is the middle child, and has always been a bit of a peacekeeper and problem-solver. Not receiving the same attention as his needy younger sister or loud older brother, he often was left to his own devices.
He's always been his grandma's favorite though, and before she moved in with his parents she would invite him over to her house more than his siblings. He learned most of his shapes, colors, letters, and numbers while with his grandma. They would do a lot of baking and reading together, and when his grandpa was still alive, he would help him mow their lawn and take care of their garden.
Young Adulthood
From high-school to the end of college, Dr. Zo was almost unrecognizable from how he is today. He rode a motorcycle, wore all leather and sunglasses, had several piercings and was very headstrong. He cared a lot about helping people, but didn't go about it in a way his older self would approve of. He doesn't talk about this time period unprompted, and honestly might not have pictures. However, his ex-wife and Clara would definitely have pictures.
Therapy
Dr. Zo found a love for therapy crop up repeatedly throughout his life, and decided to actively pursue it after his first two years of college. He has training in CBT and more narrowly DBT, both and especially the latter will come in handy for treating his newest patient, Ratticus.
First Name and Nicknames
Dr. Zo does not share his first name almost ever, and you'll have to learn it when you get to know him better. In universe, it's not odd for rats and mice of his practice to only use their last names even in everyday life. His brother has called him Zoey as a nickname before, and he nipped that in the bud quickly by calling Todd 'Toddley', to which Clara said, 'Aw, like a little toddler!' Todd hated this and they both quit. However, Annie- his hairdresser- calls him Zoey and he not-so-secretly loves it.
Coffee
His coffee is one cream two sugar, caffeinated. If he doesn't have any coffee in the morning, it greatly affects his mood and responsiveness. Usually he has a cup at home, and a cup at his office in the morning while he does paperwork. Though at this point (age 32) he hasn't met Ratticus yet, upon meeting him Ratticus becomes an early-morning client, and current canon is they meet on Thursdays.
Thoughts on Todd
Dr. Zo and his brother have a long history of disliking one another. Dr. Zo tries to be neutral when talking about Todd, but his nonverbal cues always give away his contempt, despite his best efforts. He finds Todd to be annoying, self-centered, and extremely unpleasant to be around, and generally speaking others would agree. He only ever sees him for family get-togethers, and for Todd's birthday, as Todd insists all his family come to celebrate him.
Thoughts on Clara
Dr. Zo loves his sister. They get along well, though Clara does most of the talking and Dr. Zo does most of the listening. He is a fan of knowing the drama of her life from outside of it, and likes that she hypes up the small details he divulges about his own life as well. He's always taken care of her to the best of his abilities, especially when it comes to their mother, who notoriously rags on Clara. Moreso than Clara will ever know, Dr. Zo has had talks with their mom defending his sister and often redirects their mom to help keep her ridicule at bay. Clara has expressed she dislikes him coming to her defense in the moment, as she likes to fight her own battles, but secretly she wishes she had never said that, as their mom and Todd can be relentless.
Son & Ex-Wife
Dr. Zo is close with his son. Dr. Zo is who his son goes to for school crafts and homework help, and they watch a lot of movies together. Dr. Zo's fridge is already filling with macaroni art and doodles, and his shelves with little projects they did together. He has Sam on weekdays, Monday mornings through Thursday mornings, where he then drops him off at his ex-wife's home on his way to work, and she takes him to preschool on her way to work.
The only holiday he gets Sam for is Hollow's Eve, their equivalent of Halloween. This is agreed upon by both parents, despite the blatant effect of Sam building memories with Dr. Zo that are intermingled with school time inherently, and Sam building memories with his mother that are on the weekend and holidays, where there is more fun, activity, and travel involved.
Dr. Zo and his ex-wife met in high-school, but she outright disliked him. He was neutral about her, and they did not connect until partway through college, and then spent over a year getting to know each other before they started dating. They then dated much longer than they were married, and current canon is that Dr. Zo had to propose twice.
Thoughts on Annie (Added!)
Dr. Zo adores Annie. He finds him to be sweet, attentive, and great at listening. Not to mention handsome and charming as well. He loves how easy Annie is to talk to, and is very very nervous to try anything more than just friendship with him because of how well they do as friends. He's also always concerned about potentially introducing someone new to his son, and a bit stressed by his own small streak of dating men that didn't pan out. He also now has his relations with the cameraman to worry about, in that he's not sure how Annie would react to what they do together.
Dr. Zo's Glasses
Dr. Zo's glasses are odd, as an understatement for our universe, and as a general statement for the Theratpy universe. The other rats and mice are inquisitive about the glasses properties, and the way the glass shows what's behind him as though his head is not there. While our human curiosity is strong enough to ask, something with the characters in the universe and the way Dr. Zo carries himself keeps them from saying something. It might be how he's able to get them talking about themselves, and it ends up slipping their mind. Ratticus is the only one we'll see explicitly say something about his glasses.
Current knowledge is, if his hand passes behind the glasses, the color of his hand erases. if his hand passes behind his head, the hand outlines disappear completely. It is also fact that he takes them off to sleep. His eye color is not known.
Fan Question: Is Dr. Zo Trans?
He is not! While I did mess with the idea of it, he is most comforting for me (and many others) as someone who has not had the trans experience, but is still just as kind, open, welcoming, and understanding as someone who has. There is a lot of value in a cisgender man who makes you feel you can be yourself, and who you can look up to as well (which many of you have expressed you do)!
Thanks for reading !
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