As mentioned in this headcanon, Tyson has a rock collection.
Here are some notable rocks from that collection:
- Purple Tanzanite - Top Left
Tyson purchased this at a large craft and collectables fair that Jethro & Rosie dragged him to during their wedding prep. What they were looking for, Tyson honestly can’t remember. Largely they left with food, so it couldn’t have been too important overall.
There was no reason for Tyson to buy the stone other than the fact that it was pretty, but now he associates it with his brother and his sister-in-law. A simpler time before the stress of Jethro’s cancer and when Tyson was an honest, hardworking soldier.
- Verdite - Top Middle
Tyson got this piece of Verdite by chance from an old crank machine the day he began working for the Moriarty Mirrors, for both of them rather than only Sunshine. It was one of those (capsule) vending machines filled with tumbled stones and a sticker explaining each spiritual purpose each type of stone had.
Verdite is apparently used to access wisdom and information, from past lives. As with most thing of that nature, Tyson finds that interesting, but he doesn’t believe it. He didn’t really care what he got back from his pound coin, Tyson only wanted a stone to mark the occasion.
- Ammonite Fossil in Slate - Top Left
Tyson acquired this one on a trip to a beach with his Uncle Richard as a child. It’s the oldest stone in Tyson’s collection, in so far as when Tyson acquired it.
They were visiting Monmouth Beach in Lyme Regis, otherwise known as the Ammonite Graveyard. You can’t take a single step without finding an ammonite there, especially by the cliff of loose breakable rock where shards can easily be knocked out.
Tyson decided to keep that one as it was the most complete ammonite he had managed to find, that wasn’t merely an imprint or outline in the rock.
- Sandstone - Middle Left
Tyson picked up this piece of sandstone in Turkmenistan, during his last day there spent training service dogs. He was doing a patrol of the far compound in the morning, standard safety procedure that gave the dogs a walk before training began.
He was pausing for one of the dogs to relieve themselves when the stone caught his eye on the path. It was utterly unremarkable from any other stone around them and that was how Tyson felt in that moment. It was a big day, his last day as a soldier before he went to the front lines, before he would be told to kill, but it felt… like any other moment.
- Slate - Middle Center
Tyson found this oddly round, golf ball sized stone during a stupidly long wait with Moran. The worst part about being a sniper’s spotter, aside from entering an abusive relationship with one, was having to sit through the long stakeouts before they could take the perfect shot.
The Colonel was scuffing at the ground with his boots, trying to keep feeling in his feet after being laid on the ground for so long, and he kicked up the little rock. Tyson caught it mid-roll and began rubbing off the dirt, because he has nothing better to do, and once clean he decided to keep it.
- Limestone - Middle Right
Tyson grabbed this stone on the border or Afghanistan after abandoning the army at knifepoint with The Colonel. His Synesthesia allowed him to know that they were about to leave Afghanistan and it felt important to Tyson to have something, this was the point of no return. That had actually been a while back with the shooting of General Clarkson, but it felt important.
When Sebastian asked what the hell he was doing, Tyson told him that the rock had a pretty sharp edge; it could be used to cut through thinner branches for firewood and kindling without needing to blunt their knives, before they could buy something to sharpen them. Sebastian seemed to accept this excuse and the rock made itself useful.
- Rough Red Jasper - Bottom Left
Tyson joined Jethro, Rosie, and James for a family trip up to Scotland. Whilst there they visited a pebble beach with a lot of agate and jasper.
James decided to start collecting any interesting stones and shells in a bucket, before getting bored and going to explore some tide pools with his father. From those collected rocks, Tyson decided to keep four pieces of Jasper: one to symbolise each of them.
- Wulfenite - Bottom Middle
This one only exists within the universe of threads with gamblingtigersniper.
This is the crystal he found on the pavement, when out with the dogs, on the day he first heard Sebastian say that he loved him and got to return the words, in his pet store.
He took the light scuffed stone as a keepsake, not only for the memories of that day but for his relationship with Sebastian in general: a sign that he finally had what he had thought to be unobtainable for so long; Sebastian.
Side note for all universes: Tyson has found a fair few stones that way, simple picking them up of the pavement. When people are using stones as for stimming, fidgeting, or stress relief, that also means that people then tend to drop and lose them.
- Geode - Bottom Right
Tyson picked this up at a little corner charity shop when in Cambridge for his father’s funeral, after receiving news of Jethro’s cancer. It felt like an ending and a beginning, of a lot of hardship and stress for his brother. It was something Tyson wanted to mark, but not with something overly pretty.
Now that ugly palm-sized brown geode is proof that Jethro beat cancer and thrived, and Tyson couldn’t possibly be prouder of his big brother.