Knowledge. Emotion. Willpower.

Knowledge. Emotion. Willpower.

Oh where, oh where - does Tyson belong?

For all that Tyson has great control over his emotions, far too many of his decisions are led by his emotions. He doesn’t allow himself to be overwhelmed by his emotions easily, but he gives them far - far - too much weight in his decision-making process; especially his feelings around The Colonel and the Moriarty Mirrors.

Tyson has incredible willpower when it comes to survival, in being too stubborn to die and refusing to back down. However, Tyson does not have the willpower to make the decisions he knows are the right ones: to walk away from the web, from the Moriarty Mirrors and from The Colonel. His willpower is incredibly specifically focused.

But - in his heart of hearts - Tyson will always be a scholar. Endlessly curious.

He values knowledge above all else. He wants to learn, to discover new things and understand how they work. He wants to share knowledge, to see other people take previous knowledge and build upon it, or even tears its foundations down and build something better.

Medication

No matter how much pain he is in at the time, Tyson is always reluctant to take painkillers; or medication in general.

His propensity to fight doctor’s orders aside, Tyson hates anything that takes control away from him and loathes the idea of becoming depending on anything else.

Tyson would rather grit his teeth through pain that threatens to make him black out than take painkillers. Unless he is in a dangerous situation where he needsto take painkillers to make it out alive, Tyson has to be strong-armed into taking his medicine.

Being the general hypocrite that he is, Tyson will never fail to remind Dick to take his anti-depressants or for Jethro to take his medication to recover from chemotherapy.

Smoking

Though he has largely quit to keep as much control over his own life as he can, Tyson allows the occasional indulgence towards smoking: for several reasons.

Sometimes, when his workload within the web is particularly taxing or after a month of very close encounters with The Colonel, Tyson will smoke to soothe his nerves. A quick fix to focus himself enough to stop his hands from shaking, to finish his task and get back home without having a panic attack.

At times, he can choose to smoke because he’s sharing a cigarette with another pet or employee of the web, or someone he’s undercover around. It’s can be a good way to bond with people quickly and definitely a good way to deflect suspicion away from him, by offering to share. And good cover to loiter without attracting attention.

Whenever he’s on a job with Lex, Tyson has two options: let Lex go smoke on his own and get into trouble or to keep an eye on him. Needing his wildcard in hand to be useful, Tyson nearly always chooses to accompany him. Then one of two things happen, he’ll accept his offer to share a cigarette or he’ll decline and end up shotgunning the smoke from Lex anyway.

Tyson knows how to make smoke rings, though he rarely choices to. There are too many bittersweet memories of the army associated with that for him these days. However, he does do the smoke in a bubble trick to entertain his nephew (James) every now and again.

Occasionally, Tyson will smoke others things than tobacco. That’s not the typical route Tyson takes for recreational pain relief or to escape his own mind, but when it’s available - usually when Tyson is visiting Dick in New York - Tyson is amenable to smoking marijuana.

Focus and Control

With the notable exception of his interactions with Moran, Tyson has near infinite patience and self-control.

Because of his interactions with Moran, Tyson has near infinite patience and self-control.

Tyson is so used to have control stripped away from him that he jumps through a thousand hoops to make sure that control is where he wants it to be, given to the Moriarty Mirrors rather than taken from him by force with The Colonel; and any slack in the leash, is firmly within his own grip. He, largely with the occasional indulgence, quit smoking because it took control away from him.

The former Lieutenant is constantly holding himself back and keeping himself in line with strict routines, such as introducing himself with ‘Lieutenant Tyson Delaney, at your service.’ to minimise his stutter. He forces himself to take whatever shape he needs to take, because it is what Tyson has to do to survive.

He has always been a patient person, but having to handle The Colonel’s explosive temper and the Moriarty Mirrors’ eccentricities have honed that talent to patented perfection. There are naturally breaks in the facade, something that will get under his skin, but Tyson can wait patiently for hours or days at a time without upset.

Without the routines and discipline that Tyson imposed upon himself daily, it would be all too easy for him to get swept away and swallowed up, completely overwhelmed without a focus point. Left listless Tyson would wallow until his psychosis’ consumed him, every mental disorder building upon the last to drag him over the edge. 

Tyson is kept taut and stretched thin at the same time. When he breaks, Tyson completely shatters, but he’s an old hand at taking all of his broken little pieces and patching them back together: with control, discipline, routine, and endless self-control. Self-sacrifice. Stripping away whatever isn’t necessary to survive.

Submission

Tyson has no issues with submitting, but he loathes being submissive.

To Tyson there is a world of difference between being submissive and submitting: submissive is a nature, submitting is a choice.

Tyson would rather follow orders by choice rather than it being his nature to submit, which he knows it is.

He doesn’t want to be controlled; he just doesn’t want to have control.

Tyson has a need to submit. He always puts himself in positions that put control in another people’s hands: the army, Sebastian, the Jims. He isn’t a leader, he needed to have someone else in charge to have lasting order in his life. He needs that structure to feel safe. Everything in Tyson’s life if built around routines and patterns. He has made himself a world where he is protected by routines all the time but without someone, something, else in charge Tyson feels helpless. He’s needs the structure that having someone else in charge provides.

His routines, patterns, twitches, etc. only go so far. They work well enough to keep him sane and safe, but not happy. Without someone else in charge, without his owners, he becomes overwhelmed. They give him something else to focus on, they give him a purpose. Having the two Moriarty’s in charge takes away that stress, they make him happy and he will be loyal to them because of it. He doesn’t understand the reasons behind it but he knows he needs it. This is why he’s free to stop being their pet at any time, they can offer him that because he’ll never take that option. He is and will always be their Pup.

Every breath counts.

Ever since he stayed in the first Monastery, Tyson has always made sure to regulate his breathing. In through his nose then out through his mouth, even when he's just walking. It's the technique used when he meditates.

He does this because of several reasons, the most important being it causes him less pain when Sebastian injures him. This works because it puts less stress on his ribs as he breaths.

The second reason is that it keeps him calm, meaning that his head is more clear and he can come up with a better way to address a situation even if he is angry or upset it allows him to think properly.

The third reason is that it allows him to feel some control. Since he met Sebastian he's had very little control over his life and controlling his breathing lets him feel as though he has some control.