Radar

Though Tyson is incredibly talented with maps, one of his least favourite assignments was having to coordinate with the radar to track enemy movements whilst in flight.

It was rare that Tyson was taken on those missions, and it was easier than trying to coordinate from second-hand information from someone else reading the radar, but that did nothing to diminish Tyson’s hatred of those assignments.

He can’t explain how difficult it was to combine the way radar displays area information with the way traditional maps displays area information. The latter is the structure of Tyson’s entire life, the way he literally viewed the world through his Synesthesia and has shaped his entire thought process.

The former is an entirely different being. He can work out how to transfer that information if given time, but it’s apples to oranges. As though suddenly working with an entirely new language. He feels lost and off-kilter.

For Tyson, the worst part if that he can’t explain why it’s so difficult to understand or what makes it so different from his usual type of mapping.

Ankles

As a child, a calcium deficiency let to Tyson having fragile ankles and his first broken bone was his right ankle.

It would surprise no one to discover that it was the fault of Tyson’s father that the seven-year-old was injured, but he didn’t intentionally hurt him. Most of his abuses were directed at Jethro until the elder heir ran away from home at eighteen, leaving a fourteen-year-old Tyson to shoulder the weight of the family legacy.

Tyson had run away from yet another tutor, taking refuge in the attic with his textbook. He always completed the assigned work, but Tyson kept running away and hiding from the tutors that he didn’t like. He didn’t mean to exactly, but his anxiety would build and build until he jackrabbited away.

He always kept a copy of the key on his person, with Jethro having the only other key into the attic, so Tyson knew his father couldn’t get to him up there, but John knew that his children hid up there from time to time. He never realised how frequently they escaped into the attic.

John called Tyson down to join him for dinner to discuss finding a new tutor for his English lessons. As Tyson paused to discreetly lock up the attic access, John got impatient and assumed that Tyson wasn’t going to come down. He banged on the ladder to get his son’s attention, and Tyson came tumbling down.

That was one of the few times that Tyson could say his father was earnestly apologetic and concerned about his son as he was taken to the ER. Tyson had tears in his eyes from the moment he hit the ground, but he barely let out a whimper. Even as the doctor was poking at his ankle.

He was too afraid of disappointing his father. Of angering him further. Even with Jethro sat next to him on the hospital bed asking if he was okay, Tyson was silent. He just shook his head. Tyson got a button for being so brave.

Once his father finally left him alone that night, having given him more attention and love than Tyson had received in months, Tyson broke down into tears. He barely even realised when Jethro snuck into his room to comfort him. He knew it was an accident, but he was so afraid of upsetting his father again.