Mememe

[lyricality]

I have today off and I am spending it mostly on writing. YAY.

In order to give me a worthwhile distraction from that lofty goal, here is a meme that I stole from mmouse15:

Pick a character and I will give and explain the top five ideas/concepts/etc I keep in mind while writing that character that I believe are essential to accurately depicting them. Any and all characters welcome (including ones I haven't written but might know about...[at least in Transformers, Lyric added]).

Now, time for lunch. :3

Comments

[lyricality.livejournal.com]

*is tackle/hug/glomped and purrs* ♥

Yeeee Ratchet. Sorry for being so late. @_@

1) Snark. I try to walk a careful line with this, because I don't picture Ratchet as idly tossing around wrenches or randomly snarling obscenities. He does have tact--he was the liaison to the Council of Ancients, according to his biography--but he tends to make the willful decision against using it. He would rather give an immediate and honest opinion than waste a lot of words on euphemism or diplomacy, given what he's seen of how politics can corrupt the simplest of truths.

2) Compassion. Ratchet is second only to Optimus in terms of outright caring, and the margin between them is narrow indeed. Catastrophic injury demolishes all faction lines--Ratchet will repair anyone he can push, pull or drag off the field of battle. While he considers that generosity as part of his professional duty, his own ethical code prevents him from ignoring the need for aid--whether someone has actually requested that aid or not. Suffering of any sort tends to unsettle his fuel tanks. The transition from civilian to soldier was particularly difficult for him, as a result, and while he now fights with fairly ruthless determination, the early days of the war left him with a number of scars both external and internal.

3) Compartmentalization. Dividing his actions, his reactions, and his emotions into appropriate boxes has become Ratchet's default setting. He prefers professionalism over passion, because he deeply values his own self-control. As long as he can maintain separation of his medical duties and his personal feelings, he remains in control. Outside of those rigid boundaries lurks the sort of chaos that he never wants to experience again. If he were allowed to make a choice, he would prefer to keep everyone at arm's length, but he recognizes both the impossibility and the irresponsibility of that wish. Optimus recognizes the conflict between the safety of solitude and the desire for connection--he bears something like the same burden, after all--and he does his best to help Ratchet maintain balance.

4) Skill. Ratchet is the most talented Cybertronian medical professional still functioning. Autobots and Decepticons alike respect and value his capabilities, and Megatron's standing order has always been for capture rather than execution. On the infrequent occasion that Ratchet fails to save a patient, he considers the loss a highly personal failing, and he keeps that pain entirely to himself.

5) Experience. I don't imagine that this is canon in any way, shape or form, incidentally, but I suppose it counts as my personal canon. Ratchet is old enough to remember Cybertron as it was--during those long ages of peace under the joint rule of Optimus and Megatron. Unlike Ironhide, he remembers those vorns as a civilian, not a soldier, and he regards the past with a certain regretful romanticism. Additionally, as liaison to the Council of Ancients, he needed a strong foundation in the traditions of Cybertron as a whole and Iacon in particular. While his interest in culture is far more insular than that of Bumblebee or Jazz, it has granted him a certain refinement that they lack.