Cold Water

One of the worst triggers for Tyson’s PTSD is cold water over his head.

Cold water is never fun for him, given the hypersensitive nature of the dog bite scar on his shoulder and the dent in his torso, but cold water pouring over his head is especially triggering for the former Lieutenant.

It’s a mix of his most traumatic memories of Sebastian’s attacks during the monsoon in India and memories of being waterboarded, during his time spent captive in Afghanistan and by his former brothers-in-arms once captured after Moran abandoned Tyson to save his own skin.

Basic Training

Though Tyson will often shrug off the first four years of his time in the army as ‘basic training’ and the remaining seven years as active service, split as five years training the dogs and then two years on the front line with Sebastian, there are glaring holes in that story for those who know better.

Just basic training generally does not last four years and there are entries in his service record before those four years end. In part, Tyson’s additional time training was spent learning how to train the service dogs which - at most - added a few months, but the primary reason is that Tyson was being trained as a specialist strategist; a mathematical prodigy with calculating tactical mind.

Tyson will comfortably admit that he ‘was doing long-term planning before joining the front lines’, though he always makes it sound as though that purely began during his days in Turkmenistan whilst training the service dogs*. Tyson did spend a lot of time in Turkmenistan doing exactly that, but that still leaves the prior service records unaccounted for.

The truth is that the last two years of his ‘basic training’ alternated between Tyson going through increasingly intense training regimes, participating in multiple wargames, and dropping into active combat zones as an ‘in compound only’ strategist; including the first time he brushed shoulders with Captain Samson, before joining the First Bangalore Pioneers.

During that time, Tyson never went out on patrol and his mathematical abilities were hushed up to keep him as a ‘secret weapon, of sorts’**. This was a role that Tyson would end up taking during his actual years on the front line too, before becoming Moran’s spotter, after which only the extent of his strategical abilities - rather than his entire existence - was considered classified.

* When Tyson would go out with the trained service dogs to get them situated in their active deployments, there was always a reason that Tyson was chosen to go to those particular compounds and Hal to others. Whichever compound Tyson would be handing off dogs to would also be one that he had been working as a strategist for, or was needed as a ‘strategic adviser’ to handle the current situation. 

** Any specialised soldier has a target painted on their backs and strategists (alongside doctors) were prime targets to takeout/kidnaps to disrupting efforts/undermind plans on both sides.

Candles

Given his pyrophobia, it’s not all that surprising the candles are one of the few - and, from his point of view, agonisingly important - parts of Jewish tradition that Tyson tries to distance himself from as much as possible.

Some of his earlier memories are being afraid of the Shabbat candles lit by Ms Appleby, and - even though Tyson knows that it’s an entirely irrational fear that isn’t his fault - there is an inescapable feeling of guilt in Tyson about that.

His Jewishness is one of the most important things about Tyson, to Tyson; even though he’s rather non-observant in his faith. When he does or does not go to Synagogue, that’s an active choice that Tyson can make, but flinching away from Shabbat candles isn’t. It’s reflexive and it hurts him every time it happens.

SciFi!Verses

*Science Fiction Verse* {OPEN}
↳ SciFi!verse

Previously Tyson served with Colonel Sebastian Moran upon the 1st SS Bangalore Pioneer under General Clarkson. Until a mission gone wrong when Sebastian shot the general and dragged Tyson off in his grand escape. After being abandoned by The Colonel, Tyson lived as a fugitive until a scouting ship picked him up and brought him back to Earth for trial as an traitor.

Now, exonerated of Sebastian’s crimes, Tyson serves on Moriarty Mirrors’ ship - SS Napoleon - as a Navigations Officer. Life is good for Tyson as a pet aboard Jim’s ship, if one remembers to avoid the mercenaries passing through as hired goons on the latest job. He often missed earth, but will loyally follow both Moriartys across any universe.

Details of this verse can be changed to better suit the specific science fiction universe the thread takes place in.

Mass Effect Sub-Universe
↳ MassEffect!verse

Tyson joined the Alliance to avoid ending up as a teacher on earth. Prior to joining the Alliance Tyson had been implanted with an L2. He never suffered headaches from the L2, instead its malfunctions would cause the maps created by his Synesthesia to warp wildly across as his vision; often making him dizzy and nauseous.

Before being found innocent of Sebastian’s crimes, Tyson needed to hide from the Alliance. Tyson took refuge on Eden Prime after paying a Krogan mercenary to get him to a human colony safely.

Tyson is an L3-R Sentinel. Once recruited by the Moriarty Mirrors, Tyson agreed to have the operation to upgrade his L2. The Jims had their own medical staff carry out the operation. For the most part, it was a success. His PTSD and OCD had developed before the operation, but it is believed to have been the trigger for his developing Split Personality Disorder. The Soldier had certainly never shown himself beforehand.

Within MassEffect!Verse, Tyson has a pet Pyjak called Cinnamon. It was very much a case of Tyson being adopted by the Pyjak when he went out on a mission. Cinnamon is a troublemaker, but since he largely contains his trouble to Tyson’s quarters, he has managed to avoid the airlock.

As a Sentinel, Tech Armor, Overload, & Throw are Tyson’s bread-and-butter in combat.

He prefers to conserve and redirect enemy energy, augmenting his weapons and Tech Armor to reinforce his shields or amp up his own biotic power. ‘Recycling’ energy that way allows Tyson to pull off powerful double-projectile Throws and he’s learnt how to Reave effectively. His Barriers, however, are - and have always been - shaky at best.

And, a new addition:

Mass Effect Andromeda Alternative Sub-Universe 
↳ MEA ASU

The Moriarty Mirrors were never ones to put all their eggs in one basket and with the imminent arrival of the Reapers in the Milky Way, the Andromeda initiative presented an opportunity for their continued legacy; regardless of how events played out in their home galaxy.

Whilst the Mirrors remained to see the war against the Reapers, part of them would leave for Andromeda inside an AI implant adapted from SAM implants to be hidden within an L3-R implant, and that was how Tyson found himself emerging from cryo-stasis aboard the Nexus 600 years later; elevated from loyal Pup to (puppet) kingpin of a criminal empire.

In the chaos of the uprising, Tyson split the web employees that had been sent to Andromeda with him into two groups: those heading for Kadara under Tyson’s direct command, and those who would remain on the Nexus to smuggle supplies and information to the latest branch of the web’s criminal empire.

Though the Moriarty AI in his mind is an amalgamation of the Moriarty Mirrors’ memories and plans to help guide their Pup, through the Mirrors own brilliance enhanced by Artificial Intelligence, there are definitely times when Tyson can tell a certain piece of advice came from Sunshine or Mischief.

Star Trek Sub-Universe
↳ Star Trek SU

This is the SciFi version of Tyson’s army!verse; where rather than abandoning the space corps/Alliance/Federation when Sebastian did, Tyson remained and continued his service.

Originally Tyson joined Starfleet Academy to become a Navigation’s Officer. His Synesthesia made him perfect for the job and the opportunity to explore deep space to map out new territories couldn’t be missed. During his time at the Academy, however, Tyson changed his mind several times and studied as many options as possible. His endless curiosity driving him to learn as much as possible. Eventually he settled on Engineering. He’d always had a soft spot for it, as mathematics given physical form and enjoyed the opportunities to tinker, to test new ideas.

Tyson remained in the engineering department for the first few years of his service with the Federation. When Sebastian shot General Clarkson, he tried to force Tyson into letting him into the escape-pod and to abandon with him. Tyson refused, having never gotten close to Sebastian following Captain Samson’s death; the Captain survived his wounds, barely, and continued to serve on the ship. His bravery earnt him Sebastian’s ire, a vicious attack that resulted in the formation of his dent, and a promotion to Lieutenant following Moran’s capture.

After that, Tyson couldn’t face being in the Engineering Department anymore. It was bad enough seeing his Captain almost killed, but Tyson couldn’t face the memories of Sebastian. He was given the option to serve on a different ship, but Tyson declined. Instead he transferred department and became a Science Officer. He favoured Engineering more, but physics went hand in hand with mathematics. Tyson is largely happy in his current position and intends to service for as long as possible.

Films

Tyson honestly doesn’t watch that many films.

If you ask him, have you seen [blank], the answer is probably, no. He almost only ever ends up watching films with other people rather than an independent choice to, but he has a soft spot for old Hammer Horror films and anything Noire; the spy/detective genres as a whole, but especially Noire.

When he does decide to watch a film on his own, Tyson tends to find himself watching something independent and in a foreign language. Partly because this decreases the chance of the dialogue triggering a bad memory for him, but also because Tyson likes hearing other languages and trying to understand what is being said. He always leaps at an opportunity to learn.

Tinkering

Though it does double as storage, Tyson’s warehouse is for him to tinker in.

Tyson honestly doesn’t mind getting messy when working on projects:

In this same vein, Tyson has specific clothes to wear when tinkering on his motorbike or other machines. He can get covered in grease and oil, even wiping it off his hands onto his shirt like a regular grease monkey without batting an eye. He’ll want a wash once he’s out of those clothes, but for the duration that Tyson is wearing them, he may as well be wearing armour.

He loves engineering, and working with technology in general, as mathematics given physical form. Something he can take apart and understand how it works, to piece it back together in different ways and figure out how to improve it.

There are few times to catch Tyson looking more at peace than with pieces of metal encircling him, a notebook covered in mathematical formulas in his lap, a clipped piece of wire between his teeth, and increasing streaks of grease in his hair as he runs his oil-stained hands through it in thought.

Prickly

Tyson has a poor habit - that he would argue is a survival tactic - of pushing people away, to make himself as prickly as possible if he thinks they’re getting too close, to prevent himself from getting hurt and to avoid others getting hurt by associating with him.

All too often, Tyson can be accused of lashing out in fear, but more often than that, he puts a hard wall between other people and himself by being standoff-ish. He is rarely outright mean, but Tyson will be more dismissive and keen to pick a fight if he fears someone is getting too close; someone that he can’t immediately run from, for whatever reason.

As often is the case with almost everything Tyson does, he ends up hurting himself most of all with that behaviour, but that has never been a mark against a plan in Tyson’s skewed perception.

Tennis

Though he was a member of the tennis club at his secondary school, Tyson hated playing tennis. He only played because it made his brother happy to see Tyson playing the sport that their mother used to play.

His distaste for the sport didn’t stem from the association with his mother or loathing his trainer, as was the case with other sports that were forced on Tyson at a young age. Instead, Tyson simply found tennis boring to play. He still does. He can’t explain why, but it just never clicked with him like rugby and cricket did.

He was aware of the pressure in being the only player on his side, instead of part of a team, but that had never stood in the way of his enjoyment of fencing.

Tennis is simply one of those annoyance that Tyson cannot explain. It makes him bristle with unanswerable resentment. Not towards his mother or brother for asking him to play, but simply towards the monotony of the sport itself.

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.

Army!Verse and Veteran AU

In army!verse, Tyson was never filled with guilt over the death of Captain Samson, because he lived through his wounds, so Tyson never became too close to Sebastian which means he is still serving in the army, when you meet him it will be during brief periods of time when he is deployed back home, or when he’s in active service in compounds or training service dogs in Turkmenistan.

Without the damage he suffered with The Colonel Tyson was never damaged in the way he is in his normal!verse which means that The Soldier doesn’t exist in this verse. This makes Tyson much more confident than he normally is in his main!verse. He isn’t cocky and is rather insecure about his scars, but he’s more accepting to interactions with other characters and rarely stutters.

In this verse Tyson doesn’t have Lily or Bobby but he does have a Welsh Boarder Collie called Meg that he got from a rescue shelter and Jack. In this verse Tyson still has the dent and all his other wounds but they happened for different reasons, most of which were in a landmine explosion. In this verse he doesn’t work for Jim nor does he run the pet store.

In this verse he gets around on his motorbike.

In this verse he switches between living in the family manor, thought obviously everything is much more up to date and in use since Tyson actually lives there now, and a house he owns a thirty minute drive outside of London, views of the house under the tag army home.

In this verse, the roles of the people Tyson served with also changed accordingly.

• Tyson never shot Melissa, but Emma still died in Moran’s escape.
• Michael was never killed by Sebastian and eventually retired.
• Samson continues to be Tyson’s direct superior within the First Bangalore Pioneers.
• Since John’s injury made him retire, Tyson does his best to keep in contact with Watson.
• Hannah’s retirement was the spark that ignited The Colonel’s escape.

---

Sub-verse of army!verse
Involves: former military characters, Open to all,
↳ Veteran AU

In this sub!verse, after the landmine explosion that caused most of his scars/dents, Tyson recovered very slowly rather than bouncing back. He was deemed unfit for service and given a honourable discharge.

Tyson is on prescription medication to cope with the pain of the dent, but is slowly recovering. After months of flashbacks, during which Tyson refused to see anyone about them, Jethro forced his brother to see a specialist and the former Lieutenant was diagnosed with PTSD.

He spends most of his weekends looking after his nephew, James.

He lives in the army!verse house and has Meg & Jack in this verse too.

Within Veteran AU, Tyson has taken to rollerskating […] as a form of physical therapy in his recovery. He sometimes finds long walks difficult and rollerskating is an easier way for him to move around, Meg and Jack love to run after him like that.

In this verses, Tyson spends a lot of time at The Biscuit Tin and that is where he met Billy, who unofficially hired him to help out with her investigations. Largely Tyson is paid in cold brew coffee, confectionery, and whichever pretty boy Billy sends his way that month.

Less rather than more

Tyson frequently acts like something he isn’t to make people underestimate him, despite refusing to admit that he’s an underdog, and prefers to be seen briefly rather than completely invisible; leaving a false impression, rather than none.

It is incredibly rare that Tyson will pretend to have an ability or be something that he isn’t, that implies more knowledge than he has. Tyson is completely comfortable convincing people that he isn’t as smart as he actually is or that he isn’t as physically capable as he actually is.

However, Tyson hates the risk of giving the impression that he’s more talented. That impression can bite him in the arse much easier, especially if the wrong person is given that impression and needs to rely on him to provide something that Tyson isn’t capable of giving.

Uniform

Tyson always buys multiple versions of any clothes he purchases so that he can wear the same thing every day, like a uniform; like armour.

His tendency to pressure stim plays a role in this, but another part is that Tyson has spent years of his life wearing a uniform and separating different parts of his life by the clothes he was wearing.

What he chose to wear around the family manor during Sabbath wasn’t the same clothes that the Delaney family heir would be permitted to wear whilst his tutors were at the manor or whilst representing the family, at home or outside of the manor grounds. One of his few acts of rebellion was wearing his brother’s leather jacket.

Even when Tyson is dressing casually, he will choose specific shirts on days when he’s visiting the Moriarty Mirrors as opposed to sprawling across his settee with Bobby on his chest, both of which are entirely different to the casual clothes he’d pick for days when he intends to run a bunch of errands around London.

Taeko Dōjima

Dōjima ‘Tae’ Taeko (堂島 妙子)
↳ Local coffee-shop entrepreneur, amateur lion tamer.

The face claim for Tae is Naoko Mori.

Within walking distance of Tyson’s apartment is his favourite café in all of London: The Biscuit Tin, est. 1997. The Biscuit Tin was opened by 堂島 妙子 when she was only 28, and has been owned & operated by her ever since. Tae enjoys making tea and coffee, pastries, and cakes, but she loves making people happy with her tea and coffee, pastries, and cakes.

Originally Tyson was drawn to the shop because it was so close to his home and accepted dogs inside. He kept returning when he discovered that 妙 served Turkish brew coffee and his two favourite type of tea, Jasmine & Pomegranate and Peppermint & Nettle. Since then, Tyson and Tae have become good friends.

Technically Tae doesn’t make takeaway drinks, however, she always lets Tyson - and anyone else who provides their own flask - take a flask of coffee away; officially for himself, but truly for the Moriarty Mirrors. Tyson and James, his nephew, will always say that Jasmine makes their favourite treats, but James asks to visit The Biscuit Tin for Zebra Shortbread every time Tyson babysits him.

She has a Leonberger called Simba who joins her for her morning jogs every morning. Though their schedules don’t always align, Tyson (with Lily & Bobby) join them. Afterwards, after briefly parting for showers, Tyson will join Tae at The Biscuit Tin before her employees arrive and help her set up the store whilst chatting.

When Tae takes her yearly trip to Japan to visit the rest of the Dōjima family, Tyson looks after her house: watering the plants, cleaning, feeding the tropical fish, and taking care of Simba from her home. He’s a sweet dog who gets on with both Lily and Bobby, but he is also a very large dog and Tyson’s apartment is already crowded.

Tae doesn’t know the truth of Tyson’s work, only his usual cover story, but she’ll always let him duck into her kitchen when he needs to escape The Colonel. He told her that Sebastian is an ex-boyfriend that it didn’t end well with, which technically isn’t false. As far as she knows, Tyson is a very popular, social person. The truth is that Tyson uses her café as a safe place to meet with the employees and pets of the web.

When neither have much on their plate, Tae can convince Tyson to join her for a hike out with the dogs. Far less frequently, Tae can talk Tyson into joining her for kickboxing. Even when he agrees to go without having his arm twisted, Tyson feels tricked into the situation, and bruised. Very bruised. Both in body and ego.

The most important fact to remember about Taeko is that she is fire. Through and through. She is burning at 100%, 100% of the time.

---

Dōjima ‘Tae’ Taeko

UNIVERAL TRUTHS

• Blood Type: A Negative
• Date of Birth: May 23rd 1969 - Gemini - Rooster (Earth)
• DnD Alignment: Lawful Good
• Dominant Hand: Left
• Ethnicity: Japanese
• Myers Briggs Type: ESFJ-T | The Consul
• Orientation: Heterosexual
• Religion: Shinto
• Signature:

FAVOURITE

• Favourite Animal: Lion
• Favourite Author: Kendra Elliot
• Favourite Colour: Baby blue
• Favourite Film: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Favourite Food: Peach Flan
• Favourite Plant: Sundew
• Favourite Poem: I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud (Daffodils) - William Wordsworth

VERSE DEPENDANT

• Avatar Element: Fire
• His Dark Material’s Dæmon: Red Eyed Tree Frog
• Hogwarts House: Gryffindor
• Hybrid!Verse Pairing: Horse
• Mass Effect Species: Batarian
• Pokémon Team: (Alolan) Exeggutor, Rotom (Heat), Tepig, Panpour, Pyroar, & Hawlucha

Colour Tyson’s Synesthesia Projects Onto Them: