Grandmother

Tyson’s grandmother - Ellen Delaney - passed away when Tyson was nine.

This affected Tyson much more than his mother’s decision to leave had. He was only four when Anne divorced his father and Tyson can barely remember her.

His grandmother, on the other hand, was someone that Tyson adored. She taught him how to play piano and most of the limited Yiddish that he knows. She used to bake apple pies with him and gave Tyson his love of Jasmine tea.

Ellen’s funeral is one of the few times that Tyson got to see a chink in his father’s armour and one of the only times that Tyson can say John had an appropriate, and proportional, reaction to the things going on around him.

Whilst Jethro mourned Ellen, he was never as close to his grandmother as he had been to his grandfather, who passed away when Jethro was six. Lucus’ passing caused Jethro to distance himself from his grandmother subconsciously and they never managed to close that distance before she passed away.

Copying his father

As much as he tries to distance himself from John now, Tyson spent his childhood desperately trying to be his father.

Tyson idolised his father. He wanted to spend as much time around him as possible. He would - subconsciously - start mimicking the way John gestured when teaching and, purposefully, try to match the way John spoke as well.

By age ten, Tyson had his father’s posture and gait perfected. He then spent the next decade of his life trying to distance himself from that, eventually finding his own footing in a soldier’s gait and the way he walks on the balls of his feet at home.

Blackpool

Since James became tall enough to ride most of them, the number of roller coasters that Tyson has been dragged onto has increased exponentially.

Tyson feels oddly proud and yet somehow betrayed at the way Jethro weaponises his son to get Tyson to agree to things.

Usually, they’ll meet in Blackpool for the day: a comfortable mid-point in travel for them both, from Cumbria and London. First to the Sandcastle Waterpark, picnic lunch on the beach, then into the Pleasure Beach (themepark), a break for fish and chips on the pier, before driving out to see the Blackpool Lights; on route to drop Tyson back at the train station.

Tyson isn’t afraid of any of the rides, but he does become antsy on longer rides, feeling caged in and wanting to escape. He also does his best to avoid any that involve getting wet out of principle.

Friend of my friend

The idea of family is rather flexible for Tyson, but how far does he extend the idea of ‘friend of my friend is my friend’?

He doesn’t extend his trust easily, but Tyson cares deeply about his friends and - though he may not get along with friends of his friends and may not even remotely trust them - he will do anything for them; even if it means throwing his life on the line for their friends.

If any of his friends request that Tyson watches over or protects someone, he will do so in a heartbeat. He’ll push for answers about why and who they are, always a scholar in his heart of hearts and endlessly curious, but even if he was refuses answers, Tyson would still be willing to risk personal harm to protect his charges.

Voice

Tyson comes from a family of late bloomers, especially when it comes to male voices dropping.

For Jethro, his voice began breaking when he was fourteen and lasted for almost an entire year before it settled. John’s voice began breaking when he was sixteen and took five months, where Richard’s began at fifteen and took almost seven months.

Tyson’s voice didn’t begin breaking until he was fifteen and took roughly eight months to finish*; which meant that Jethro didn’t hear his baby brother’s ‘adult voice’ until he was nineteen and used his break in army training to visit his older brother.

James’ voice won’t begin breaking until he is sixteen (20th March 2022) and will take around seven months to properly settle.

* This means that in Teen!Verse and Hogwarts AU/Honey Badger SU Tyson’s voice is still breaking: teen!verse is beginning to break, and Hogwarts AU/Honey Badger SU is towards the end of his voice breaking.

Spring Masquerade Ball

Having taught at Cambridge University almost since the university was founded, it was inevitable that the Delaney family would be involved in some of the school’s traditions beyond teaching mathematics.

One of those traditions is the bi-annual spring masquerade ball at the Delaney family manor grand hall. Every two years, an event for the top students from all across the university to mingle with those in the top of those fields: doctors, lawyers, business entrepreneurs, et cetera.

This event serves two purposes: it gives the best students an opportunity to mingle and make connections to set up opportunities for when they graduate, whilst also being an opportunity to bring in sponsors and donators for the university by showing how ‘supporting the future can benefit you’.

Though he hated having to play ‘perfect Delaney heir’ at those events as a child, Tyson continues to allow the university to use the manor for those events. Primarily, Jasmine is the one who takes care of the ‘Delaney estate’ side of the event, but Tyson makes sure to show up every time.

He knows that his family name carries weight and that he can use that to bring more funding to the university, and to encourage more people to attend and extend opportunities to the students. It’s exactly the kind of upper-class posturing that Tyson loathes, but he’s willing to swallow his pride for their sake.

The Family Manor

Even in the verses where Tyson lives in the Delaney manor, he doesn’t consider it to be his home. It’s the family home, it’s Jasmine’s home, but it’s not Tyson’s home. Not anymore.

He views the manor as a middle place, with the same ‘communal second living room’ place that a pub exists in. Tyson only tends to visit when meeting with Jethro’s part of the family or when he’s come to Cambridge to guest lecture, so he assumes that he’ll be meeting someone whilst there; even if it’s only Jasmine and Jack.

When staying the manor, Tyson will alternate between sleeping in his childhood bedroom and sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms. There are times when Tyson finds it comforting to be back in that room, and times when he needs to be in a completely separate wing of the manor from it.

No matter how affected by the memories of it, Tyson will always end up in the library at some point, and he may never stop viewing it as his father’s library. Sometimes he’ll be returning books or taking new ones away, and sometimes he just needs to feel grounded in the room he spent most of his childhood in.

Family

Tyson’s concept of family is in a state of constant flux.

Found family will always be more important to him than blood, that Jasmine is his mother far more than Anne was, and yet he will resolutely plant his feet and insists that every Jewish person is kin to him.

He considers his brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings from the army as family. Even though Tyson wasn’t close to most of them, they fought together, shed blood together, and were a big broken family. His point is stronger for the more important people he served with: such as Second Lieutenant Malone, Captain Samson, Captain Watson, & Colonel Moran.

However, Tyson does not extend that same sentiment to those he works with within the web. He loves the Moriarty Mirrors with all his heart and Molly is - without a shadow of a doubt - his sister. There are people within the web that Tyson is close to, but he would not consider the web as a whole to be his family.

Upperclass

Though he tries to distance himself from it as much as possible, Tyson had an upper-class - highly privileged - upbringing that he can never truly get away from.

It’s always evident in the precise received pronunciation of his usual broad, yet posh, Cambridge accent; even more prominent as his stutter stretched out the vowels, further broadening his accent, and drawing attention to the sharp clipped edges of his consonants.

He may only believe etiquette and manners necessary to a point, but his upbringing is clear in the ways Tyson holds his cutlery, in the aborted movement of his arm to draw out the chair for his dining partner, and - if he always follows through on that reflex - in the manner in which he does so.

Tyson makes his distaste for the upper-class elite very clear, but he cannot escape the way he was shaped by his upbringing; endless tutors and schooling to groom him into the perfect heir for the Delaney family legacy.

He knows how fortunate he was, excluding the abuse from his father, but that doesn’t make Tyson resent that privilege any less. He hates the entire culture of it, the way he was an extension of his father rather than his own person, and he hates the feeling that none of his accomplishments will ever be his own; that he will always owe it to his upbringing amongst the elite.

Moran and Moriarty family

Though Tyson tries to stay out of the way of the extended Moriarty and Moran families, he has crossed paths with a few members and - to varying degrees - manages to get along with them.

Colonel Moriarty

Colonel Moriarty
↳ Owner's older brother, loathed acquaintance.

Tyson first encountered the eldest Moriarty shortly after becoming a joint pet. Saying that he isn’t fond of Colonel Moriarty is an understatement. The only encounters Tyson’s had with the man had been when he’s appeared to threaten Tyson: first not to cross his brother and his mirror, then later to remind Tyson of this.

Tyson tolerates Colonel Moriarty’s appearances because, and only because, he is the elder brother of his owner. He wouldn’t go out of his way to help the man, but he wouldn’t abandon him for dead either. Fortunately, their encounters have always been short and far between.

Interacting with Colonel Moriarty has given Tyson some perspective on his own Colonel. That isn’t perspective that Tyson particularly wanted, but it is now a realisation that he needs to internalise; one that Tyson is doing his best to avoid analysing too closely.

Richard Brook

Richard Brook
↳ Owner's twin, occasional friend.

To his own surprise originally, as he’d been expecting Richard to be as irritating as Colonel Moriarty, Tyson gets on well with Richard. Tyson isn’t sure which of his owners has Richard as a twin. No matter which Jim it is, Richard will always go deal with Jim when Tyson complains “your brother’s being difficult, Brook.”

Occasionally they’ll hang out together and share a pizza when neither of them wants to deal with the Moriarty Mirrors in their bad moods. There isn’t a reason that they don’t spend time together at other times, they simply haven’t gotten around to it yet.

He tends to view Richard favourably and enjoys his time in the other man’s company. He is somewhat protective of Richard, in the same way that Tyson is of anyone who is involved with the web’s activities without having too much agency within the web.

Severin Moran

Within Tyson’s main universe, Severin died in the childbirth that also took Sebastian’s mother.

Outside of Tyson’s main universe, Tyson reacts to the younger Moran in a similar way to the elder Moran: snapping at each other’s throat, before settling into begrudging respect and fondly barbed insults.

He isn’t as determined to impress Severin as Tyson is Sebastian, but Tyson still finds himself fighting like cat and dog with Severin. Out of principle more than anything. There’s just something about Moran that gets under Tyson’s skin, one way or another.

Family Connections

Tyson is very close with his brother’s part of the family, regularly babysitting his nephew and going mountain boarding with his sister-in-law.

However, an artificial distance is imposed by Jethro to protect his family from The Colonel and Tyson’s involvement in the web. Tyson isn’t allowed to visit them up in Cumbria. His work comes nowhere near them. They meet with him in London, at an arranged holiday location, or at the family manor in Cambridge. Never in Cumbria.

Despite that Tyson regularly talks on the phone with Jethro, Rosie, & James. He knows what’s going on in their lives and they know a sanitised version of what is happening in his life.

He knows when James’s hatred of carrots has returned and when he’ll agree to eat them. Tyson can tell just by the tone of his voice how stressful Jethro’s work has been that week. He knows what workout routine Rosie is currently going through, and if she’s flip-flopped on spelling her name Rosie or Rosy; again.

Jethro sends his brother a care package every month, rightfully, not trusting him to take care of himself otherwise. Rosie always seems to know when Tyson needs a distraction and has the perfect story in her back pocket to take his mind away from the problem. James adores his nephew and secretly suspects that he’s a secret agent.

Family Tree

Even though Tyson tried to run away from the family legacy, he is incredibly proud of it; that a prominently Jewish family managed to preserver for so long.

The Delaney family have been teaching at Cambridge almost since the university was founded in 1209. However, for the moment*, the Delaney family tree can seen going back to 1615 in the miscellaneous navigation, under the page tree.

The family tree can be viewed in a dozen ways, but the recommended settings for ease of navigation would be: No photos, Parents: 5, Children: 5, Others: 5, and either Life Dates or Profession.

Points of interest within the Delaney family tree:

• The (relevants part of) the family trees for Rosie Delaney, Colonel Sebastian Moran, and Kimiko Bùi.
• The history of the two brothers that Tyson’s brother (Jethro Andrew Delaney) is named after: Jethro Delaney and Andrew Jeremy Delaney.
  • This is also the point where the adopted Indian branch of Tyson’s family comes in and the Poppy Roll bakery is founded.
• The longstanding family friendship with the Murdock’s, which eventually leads to Tyson’s Godson Carver.
• The scandalising tale of Alice Delaney and the founding of the Taste of Tangerine private girls’ club.
• The Romani/Jewish branch of the family that came from Central Europe.
• The average life span for those born with the surname Delaney has been 56.2 years, and approximately 27% of those born Delaney have been female.
• The Polish part that fled Europe with Tyson’s grandmother during the war and Anne Samantha Willaim’s family, who’s farm took in Lily’s puppies.
• The maiden names of everyone who married into the family can be seen. More specifically, they can be seen as Jewish surnamed. The Delaeny family is Jewish. Ethnically and religiously at every branch of the tree.
  • A noteable exception is Clark Delaney who converted to Christianity for his wife and was, more or less, blacklisted by the family.
  • His grandson - Lord Jackson Delaney, born Jackson Partridge - converted back to Judaism and was welcomed back into the family.
• Miriam Delaney who sold off the majority of the Delaney family land to help local farmers, reducing the manor’s grounds to their current size.
• The bloodthristy mercenary who was cut down by his brother-in-law and the secrecty female soldier who reached the rank of Corporal.

* Tyson’s family tree will be periodically updated as new members join his family, as people die, and going back further into history inevitably.

However, crafting the relevant parts of his history around events that would have been happening at the time is a long process and the headcanon marathon must go on.

Jewish

Tyson is a non-observant Jew religiously and ethnically Jewish too, specifically  Ashkenazi.

Though he is largely non-observant in his religious practices, his Jewishness is incredibly important to Tyson. He will defend it no matter what. Tyson is proud to be Jewish. He is proud of the Jewish people. His people.

It cannot be overstated how much the Delaney family legacy matters to Tyson. That as a prominently, proudly Jewish family, the Delaney family managed to forge a legacy of their own around and alongside Cambridge almost since the university was founded.

It also cannot be overstated how guilty Tyson feels for having abandoned that legacy. He would never force his nephew to walk their ‘intended’ path, but it warms his heart that James is so interested in their family history and wants to carry it on. To earn his place in Cambridge and continued their legacy.

The sharper, clipped edges of the consonants in his usual broad, yet posh, Cambridge accent is led by considering Hebrew to be his first language. He could speak in Hebrew long before English. Tyson does wish he knew more Yiddish, however.

Though Tyson isn’t secretive about his Judaism, he can be somewhat protective about sharing it with other people. Defensive. Tyson would typically call non-Jewish people ‘gentiles’, but if he even perseveres someone to be attacking Judaism, they become ‘goyim’ and nothing else.

It is one of the few areas that Tyson has a hard unyielding line about defending.

Tyson’s belief in Judaism and Adonai wavers, but his belief in the Jewish people never wavers. That kinship, that family, is far more important to him than anything else. That isn’t to say the other parts do not matter, simply that he places more importance on the enduring future of his people, on their continued questioning and celebration.

He struggles to define exactly what he believes, as it ebbs and flows as time goes on. Tyson cannot say that he believes in Adonai; he wants to believe in Adonai, but he isn’t sure that it is the same thing. It’s a similar place to his thoughts on superstition: belief in it has power, even if the thing itself does not exist.

Mathematics, the hidden language wrapped loving through all of reality, actually helps Tyson’s belief. ‘Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of God.’ He doesn’t think that it’s proof of Adonai, per say, but it brings him comfort in a way that he cannot untangle from his Jewishness.

Tyson does not know if prayer achieves anything, but he would never dismiss someone’s prayers or blessings; regardless of religion. He will always offer prayers of his own if he thinks it would comfort another. Sometimes it feels like lip service to Tyson, a duty to fulfil, and at other times, Tyson genuinely feels better if he prays.

Holidays, in general, do not matter to Tyson. However, he does join Jethro, Rosie, & James for Chanukah - where they have developed their own tradition around Beyblades - and Tyson always observes Passover/Seder, and attends Synagogue as part of that.

Tyson has a large collection of kippahs with holes in them, where Tyson has been fiddling with them after removing them following attending Synagogue. He makes sure to attend some kind of service at least once a month, but Tyson does feel guilty about not attending more often.

With the exception of the times he decides to celebrate the high holidays, Tyson doesn’t bother keeping kosher outside of Sabbath; outside of Saturday more accurately. He struggles to eat properly enough without adding restrictions. However, sharing bread is incredibly important to Tyson.

Uncle

In Redemption!Verse, Tyson has gone from a legal guardian of James to his primary caregiver. He adores his nephew and would do absolutely anything to make that boy smile.

Tyson has seen poor father figures, both in his own father’s abuses and in his own uncle’s dismissive nature, and he refuses to subject James to either of those.

Richard Delaney could be just as cold as John Delaney. The difference was that when Tyson and Jethro were around their father, they had to live up to impossible standards or be punished, but they received attention. There was a goal. Something to hope for.

Richard did not care about either of them. They were the heirs to John’s legacy, Richard walked away from the family to forge his own legacy. The boys were pawned off on him every summer holiday and were nothing but a burden to him. Occasionally useful to carry things when he went hunting, but otherwise useless.

He would never have hurt Tyson or Jethro physically, but it was obvious that they weren’t wanted there. The best that they could hope for was to stay out of the way; out of sight, out of mind.

Going to Uncle Richard’s home every summer was a reminder that their father didn’t want them around as he went off on his own holiday, nor were they welcome at their uncle’s home. There was never a space for Tyson or Jethro, and even the Delaney heirs were simply tolerated.

They were to make themselves useful or disappear. 

Art

Though Tyson’s mother was the designated artist of the family, Tyson has a good hand for sketches.

He has a steady hand and a good eye for detail, helped along by a great memory. When Tyson doodles things, he tends to focus on a single subject with an occasional landscape that are usually done in monochrome with pencil or pen, but occasionally he’ll push into light watercolours if he likes the image enough.

When it comes to looking at art, Tyson enjoys almost all of it, but he cares about so little. It’s a passive appreciation for most pieces rather than actually enjoying them. He can appreciate the effort that has gone into them and occasionally summon the emotion its supposed to invoke, but they don’t typically leave an impression.

That said, Tyson has a real soft spot for pointillism pieces; especially the work of Théo van Rysselberghe, though he enjoys all of Rysselberghe’s work regardless of style. His favourite pieces of Rysselberghe’s is Sailboats on the River Scheldt.

He honestly loves concept art, for games he’s enjoyed playing or even seeing the original character concepts for films.

Beyblades

Though Tyson doesn’t much care for holidays, he will occasionally join his family for Chanukah.

With both Jethro and Tyson being largely non-observant in their Judaism, it was hardly ever going to be an orthodox celebration. The most noticeable change is that Beyblades are sharing a space with the dreidel.

Though James is interested in his Jewishness and their traditions, it was obvious to every adult in the room that he had no interest in playing with the dreidel. Knowing that his nephew watched and enjoyed the anime, Tyson excused himself to go walk the dogs and returned with a group of Beyblades from the local newsagents.

A spinning top is a spinning top, at the end of the day. The game is different and the overtly Jewish symbolism is gone, but that didn’t matter to Tyson’s family. It was a game they could play that kept the spirit of the holiday.

Their menorah is always traditionally Jewish as is their food and the trip to Synagogue. The dreidel stays beside the menorah and the Beyblades are brought out of their box to play with, a little tradition just for them. Something to bring them together.

When Tyson went out during Chanukah 2012, he originally came back with four Beyblades from the (at the time) current series/toy line, Metal Fury: Cosmic Pegasus F:D for James, Fang Leone 130W2D for himself, Blitz Striker 100SF for Rosie, & Meteo L-Drago LW105LF for Yithrô.

Since then, one Beyblade is added to the box every year: Bandit Genbu F230TB is never used and is committed to the memory of John Delaney, Rock Orso D125B became Jasmine’s, Cyber Aquario 105RF became Charlie’s, Twisted Tempo 145WD, & Driger MS was the latest to be added in 2017.

Plays and Opera

As a child, Tyson was dragged to dozens of plays and operas whilst his father entertained his fellow professors or schmoozed with potential donors to the manor.

He definitely prefers watching plays rather than performing them, but being in a theatre isn’t something Tyson would choose to do on his own. Even if one of the opera top boxes, Tyson’s anxiety is set off by the sheer number of people below.

Pagliacci was a favourite of Tyson’s father and the young heir was dragged to several performances. He’s convinced that he’ll never get the words out of his head now, but Tyson never grew bored of hearing it as he did some of the other performances he was taken to.

Tyson saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with Sebastian whilst they were between deployments. It was one of the few moments that they stole together between times in uniforms that could be called a date; not their first, but close to it and certainly more memorable than the café that took that honour.

The Pirates of Penzance was one of Jethro’s favourite performances. He’ll squirm in his seat and deny it now, but Jethro adored that performance when he was eleven. That Jethro was firmly in his pirate phase at the time probably helped.

Despite Jethro’s concerns that it might be a little too mature for him, James shared his mother’s love of The Who’s Tommy. Though that might in part be due to Rosie always playing The Who’s music and James already knowing the songs from her.

Children

When it comes to children, Tyson really isn’t good with things younger than a toddler. Handing him a baby is the equivalent of saying, “here, have a minor meltdown.” Once talking and/or waddling age is reached, Tyson manages to curb his panic a little better.

From a toddler to a teen, Tyson has a tendency to work himself into a panic about the possibility of them getting hurt, but he is generally pretty good about looking after them; even if he is far too susceptible to puppy eyes in a way that he never caves to when it comes to actual puppies.

Though he was groomed to teach at a university level since his own childhood rather than to teach children, Tyson finds those skills to be rather transferable. Swapping into his ‘Professor Delaney’ voice is easy and it helps Tyson keep his focus on what he needs to do to help and look after the child in his care.