A surefire way to offend / upset Tyson

Tyson doesn't get angry easily, but one of the easiest ways to offend Tyson is to say that you'll 'fix him / make him better'.

Tyson doesn't want anyone to fix him nor does he need it. He needs support and someone to encourage him - to give him a nudge every now and again to encourage him to interact with other people and to talk in general, someone to go to for comfort, and to steer him in the right direction if he gets scared/confused - but he doesn't need anyone else to fix him.

This doesn't mean that Tyson thinks he is okay. Tyson knows that he isn't the best that he could be, he knows that he has a long way to go before he could be considered healthy (both mentally and physically), but he is still better than he might otherwise have been.

After the events with The Colonel Tyson was completely shattered. Completely broken. Tyson has worked himself up from, practically, nothing. He dragged himself out of the Middle East and back to Blighty. He put his life back together. He survived. No one else did that for him, Tyson did it on his own. He is far stronger than he, or anyone else, gives him credit for.

Since he started working for Jim, both of them, he has had a lot of help from his owners (some that he knows about and some that he doesn't) but even then most of the work has been done by Tyson. He dragged himself up to a state where he was good enough to take Jim's interest, good enough to be worth helping.

Tyson resents the idea that he needs anyone else to fix him. He will admit he needs help to continue getting better, if a little reluctant to accept the help, but he will never accept that he needs anyone to fix him; because he doesn't.

The scar on Tyson's foot

Scar: Scar on the base of his right foot.
Date:: Thursday 9th February 2012.

Whilst in Edinburgh Tyson had a brush with the police on George Street.

At this time the police were after Tyson because General Clarkson was yet to clear Tyson of criminal charges, though the police do still keep an eye on Tyson and bring him in for frequent questionings.

When he came out of a shop, at the time a small coffee shop which made surprisingly nice flapjack, Tyson walked almost directly into two police officers. They recognised him immediately. Obviously, Tyson ran.

As he rounded the corner onto Hanover Street his shoe came off. His shoelace had come loose and caught on drainage grate. Wisely Tyson didn’t pause to pick up his shoe as the police were right on his tail.

He kept running - ducking and diving between pedestrians - until he lost the police, just as he passed by Chambers Street. He kept running though, to be on the safe side.

In doing so his foot went over a rock, a rock which was presumably there because of the repairs being made to the road.

He sliced open his foot which left a long scar along the base of his foot.

This is one of the few scars Tyson doesn’t mind being touched, rather than hurting its very ticklish. Though he isn’t particularly fond of his feet being touched in general, because they are very ticklish.

Letters

Tyson keeps all of the letters he gets, other than bills and junk/advertising mail. Tyson has mail from him army days, from his owners, from his brother, and from his friends.

Tyson thinks that letters are special, that it matters that someone took the time to write or type it out. He keeps the letters in a box under his bed, where he keeps most of the things in his apartment. 

Tyson takes his time writing letters, making sure that it is neater than his usual slanted, scruffy writing and often using specific stationary for specific people. He takes his time with letters.

Stage

When Tyson was at University [Cambridge] he performed on stage.

He took part in many different plays but the ones he was in most [his favourite two to perform] were A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. Though in general Tyson favours Lord Bryon's plays.

It wasn’t the acting Tyson enjoyed nor being on stage, that meant people could see him, but instead he enjoyed being someone [anyone] who wasn’t himself. He liked ‘being’ another person/character so that he could escape from himself and his anxieties, if only for a little.

Tyson only other stage credits are playing piano/singing when in the Middle East to earn money whilst he was escaping from the army. He had to pay for food somehow, he also made maps for people and trained dogs for money, food, water, and clean clothes.

Tyson likes snakes.

Tyson wasn’t always fond of the scaled creatures but after his time in the Middle East he became fond of them. Watching them move across the sand and up trees had been his only source of entertainment for a long time. He’d learnt to appreciate them since. Before he found Lily they were his only company for long periods of time.

He prefers the smaller ones, but he still finds the medium and large ones interesting.

Glasses

Tyson’s father used to wear glasses almost all of the time, and his uncle Richard wears reading glasses.

Tyson knows that Jethro’s eye sight is fine and that his own is okay, but he’s ‘afraid’ that he’ll end up needing glasses too.

Tyson isn’t against glasses per-say - when they’re on other men he actually find them quite cute - but he’s self-conscious about how he looks and he doesn’t want to be reliant on glasses to do his job.

Or look more like his father because of them.

Tyson doesn't enjoy taking photographs.

He dislikes photos in general, especially those that have himself in frame, but when he has to take photographs they will be indirect and portrait.

He doesn’t like to have the focus of the image focused on the camera, not to make the image more natural or ‘real’ but instead, because he feels that when an image included the subject looking at the camera it makes part of the photo about the camera rather than just being about the subject.

Tyson prefers to take photos in a portrait orientation rather than landscape, because it means that there is less background to take away from the subject.

Tyson prefers this way because most of the photographs he takes are for work and he needs to make sure the focus is on the target - be it someone that needs taking out or someone that needs protecting - but he also uses this ‘style’ when taking photographs of friends and family, usually his brother and nephew. 

Tyson likes fish.

He finds it soothing to watch fish swim around and when he was still in the monastery watching fish in the pond helped him meditate through the pain of his dent, back then it was newer and caused him more pain.

If Tyson had enough space in his apartment, or at least somewhere practical to put a tank in the available space, he’d have fish.

Most likely 7-12 fish similar in a large-ish tank.

Tyson would find similar fish with slight colour differences the most soothing because there is a nice colour balance / pattern that way.

Colours

1. Red
2. Purple
3. Silver
4. Green
5. Navy Blue

He prefers the darker tones and shades, but thinks some of the brighter colours are nice. 

Red vs Blue

Tyson's favourite colour is red, but most of the larger items he buys - such as a bed (okay technically the bed sheets are blue, the bed is metal) and the carpet - tend to be blue.

He does this on purpose. By making the larger objects blue it means he can buy more red, smaller, objects - like clothes, mugs, pillow, et cetrera -  and still have a good/clean colour contrast in the room; which is important, due to the sometimes overwhelming colours brought into his vision by his Synesthesia.

Steaks

Tyson likes his steaks rare to medium rare.

Skate/dirt boarding

One of Tyson's less known leisure actives, because he never talks about it to anyone other than Jethro and Rosie, is skateboarding. Tyson started skateboarding in his teens, as a quicker - lazier - way of getting around the family manor.

When a skate park was made near-ish to the manor, on the outside of the city, Tyson used to sneak out late at night - to avoid other people - to practise tricks. He never tried anything too brave, he was always afraid of getting hurt, but he still knows a fair few. When learning the tricks Tyson would write out the equations for the forces involved in the trick to understand what he needed to do not to get hurt when trying to do it.

Though Tyson primarily gets around on his bicycle and motorbike Tyson will occasionally go out on his skateboard when he doesn't want to walk, or run. Bobby will chase Tyson whilst Lily jogs behind obediently.

Rosie got Tyson into dirtboarding, sometimes they'll go out together to dirtboard.

Rhombic Icosahedron

Though Tyson doesn't, usually, give gifts during Christmas or other such holidays (full headcanon here) he does give gifts at other times of year, usually as thanks.

When giving gifts Tyson gives metal boxes in the shape of Rhombic Icosahedrons. As a general rule the boxes are one inch in height and are made of stainless steel with a brass coating. The Rhombic Icosahedron isn't Tyson's favourite shape, time (and mathematics) has proven that to be the regular Hexagon, but from a mathematical point of view it is still an interesting shape.

Each 'set' of gift boxes are personalised to the person he is giving it to, usually by removing part of the layer of brass to allow the stainless steel to show through to make a pattern but occasionally pieces of other metals (usually bronze or aluminium) are added. The inside of the metal boxs are always lined with felt, to keep the contense safe, the colour of which is personalised for the person he intends to give it to. For example, when giving a gift to his brother, Jethro Andrew Delaney, Tyson makes a checkerboard pattern on the container with a red lining inside & when giving a gift to Jasmine, the maid at the family manor who served as his surrogate mother, he makes a series of butterflies with a white lining inside.

There are two different ways that Tyson gives gifts through theses containers: small items and microchips.

1. The small items that normally go into the boxes are usually money, jewellery, or (carefully folded, sometimes origami) letters. Tyson is very loose with his money. He grew up in a rich household with no reason to carefully monitor his expenses which leads to him often over-tipping and not checking receipts. It is rare that Tyson will buy jewellery, he doesn't really care for it, so if he does by some for a person it means that he really cares for them. Letters are important to Tyson, he thinks they are special. (Original head canon here). Every now and again there will be a small key inside the container that opens a pervious present, usually one delivered in the style bellow. 
2. For items too large to put into the small container Tyson uses microchips to give directions to the item or to send a digital item such as photos/programming/videos. How to use the information depends on the type of chip in the container: sometimes it will go into a GPS to give directions, sometimes it will be photo directions (usually showing the street name that a turn needs to be made at, sometimes with Tyson in the photo), sometimes it will be a digital copy of a customised map Tyson has made, and sometimes it will be step-by-step instructions on a .PDF file. Sometimes Tyson won't put directions on the microchip, sometimes it will be blank and he will put a small piece of paper (fortune-cookie fortune sized) with a riddle instead to give hints to the present or to the next clue/riddle/code.

Pornography

Tyson has a very low sex drive, because of this he can simply ignore any urges he has without feeling any frustration from it (outside of a few patches every now and again, usually three or five weeks apart).

This in turn means that he was no use of pornography in any form, though he isn't against pornography.
...

This was a very short, very boring head canon so here is the story of the first, and only, pornographic magazine Tyson got. It is now stored in one of the many boxes under Tyson's bed, the same one that has all the comic books in it.

When he was a teenager and his hormones were still settling down Tyson's sex drive had been a little higher than it is nowadays. He'd, obviously, been curious about sex and his sexuality so whilst at a newsagents he'd 'stollen' a gay pornographic magazine. He'd hidden it between the pages of a newspaper - Sunday addition of The Independant so there were already a lot of magazines that came with the newspaper to avoid suspicion - but handed over a five pound note and said to "k-keep the, um, change."

Tyson had then taken the magazine up to the attic, where no one else went and he could be alone, to look through it. Tyson had managed to find pleasure from looking at the pictures but he'd not found it that useful. He'd always had a good imagination and the images weren't really any better than those he could create with his mind, but it did help him realise the extent of his tie kink.

Tyson has never felt alone.

Given enough time a room full of monkeys with typewriters will make the complete works of Shakespeare

Tyson has never felt alone because of mathematics. He knows the laws of probability and that there are a finite combination of letters in the English language that make words.

Tyson knows that statistically there are going to be other people who have had the exact same thoughts as him, who likes the same things, who wants the same things. He'd always known this because of mathematics. 

Tyson has felt lonely and craved the company of other people but he had never felt alone, because he has never been alone, he isn't alone, and he will never be alone.

Broad Street and Lane

Tyson's home and pet shop are both on Broad, but not the same street. His Pet Shop is on (Old) Broad Street whereas his house is on Broad Lane. Tyson finds that symmetry comforting and has the money to waste on having that comfort.

Tyson lives where he lives because he has dogs and Broad Lane is in the perfect location to take the dogs to the parks, he is surrounded by them. In his main universe, Tyson was gifted this apartment by the Moriarty Mirrors as a gift. It was a former safe house of theirs and a place where Tyson would be comfortable and safe, somewhere to convince him to stay with them; that he was 'at home' with them. This apartment's close proximity to Heathrow also made it a valuable safe house and useful position to keep one of the Moriarty Mirrors' pets.

Tyson generally refers to the shop as being on Broad Street because - amongst a large number of people who live in or around that area in London - Old Broad Street is just called Broad Street, whereas New Broad Street was called New Broad Street. He chose the empty store lot on that street to make his store because of how convenient it is. It's only a few building away from his butcher, Jeremy. The shop is on the corner where Throgmorton Street joins it.

Tyson's buildings / territory

Tyson had many different places registered in his name as well as several areas that he thinks of as his but legally aren't.

The obvious ones are his London apartment, pet shop, and the family manor (registered to both him and Jethro). Army!verse has its own home.

Tyson also owns two storage facilities. On the other side of London to where he lives Tyson owns a storage locker where he keeps his motorbike and a few spare parts for the bike. Tyson doesn't keep anything else there because any other storage he requires, that he doesn't want to send to the family manor goes to the warehouse Tyson owns outside of London, near Bath.

So far Tyson has barely filled one-sixth of the warehouse but his intention isn't to fill it, it just to find homes for spare parts. There is a small work shop where Tyson will tinker with his devises / computers and tinker with his motorbike but other than that everything is pressed up against the wall or in boxes. There are the part if his old motorbike, which is does intend to do something with eventually, as well as several dismantlement computers. He keeps a lot of spare parts here as well as several books, mostly mathematical, and a handful of maps. He adores engineering because it is visible mathematics and had wanted to find a large space he could use to work in where he wouldn't get disturbed by anyone he didn't want to run into.

Scattered around the rooftops of London are Tyson's storage boxes. They are hidden from view and require Tyson's fingerprints to open but Tyson knows where all 64 of them are. He keeps different items in different boxes that vary from keys and money to fake IDs all the way to knives, guns, and ammo. These are his emergency supplies for quick escapes. Tyson had made sure that the boxes can't be found by mistake - hiding them in walls, under tiles, and above the line of sight - and that they will stand up to the trials of weather. He considers the sections of rooftops that his boxes are stored in as his - mentally and through the colour association of his Synesthesia - even though they aren't legally. 

Mathematical books

When Tyson wants to relax he'll re-read his mathematical (text)books. He had several, mostly kept under his bed, but his favourite are his tattered and dog-earred copies of:

1. Games of Life: Explorations in Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour by Karl Sigmund
2. A course in pure mathematics by G. H. Hardy
3. The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy by Sir Issac Newton

Morality

How moral is your character? Where would they be placed on a traditional alignment chart?

Tyson would be a lawful neutral, almost a true neutral but closer to evil than good.

Good - Neutral - Evil

Tyson has a moral code that he follows but because his job means blindly serving others regardless of his own views Tyson has bent the needle on his moral compass enough that he can use other people’s compasses. Tyson’s morals change depending on who he is around.

Example: When around Moriarty murder is fine, everything is fine, so long as he remains loyal to Jim despite that he has described Jim as follows, “Some men follow their moral compass like a golden thread. Others let it sway with every step. Jim, well, he uses his moral compass as a yo-yo.”

Tyson’s behaviour and views change depending on who he is around, so when he is alone and following his own he keeps to his own views which are mostly moral and correct.

When he is following his own compass he tries to be good - he does his best to help people and make people happy at the cost of his own happiness - so he could never be evil but, even [especially] to his own mind, he has done far too much bad to ever be good.

Lawful - Neutral - Chaotic

Tyson has far too many [nervous/OCD/general] ticks and routines, is far too predictable, to be chaotic or neutral. He has created too much structure in his life to be anything but lawful. Even the way he chooses when to be good or bad is lawful, it is dictated by those he is around rather than chance or his own opinions.

But he is mentally unstable enough to almost be a neutral. He is just after the boarder. Over time as he becomes more and more derailed he may drift over to being a neutral, though it is highly unlikely that he could ever loose enough of his ticks and routines to go over to chaotic. 

Tyson knows the "homeless code" and uses it inactively.

When Tyson was travelling across Europe he used this code to find safe places to stay with Lily. Now when out on missions that take him out of London he puts up the symbols, either in chalk or paint on walls or carved into wood, to let people know if any area if safe or not.

Full sized version of the image where symbols are easy to see, here.