Temporary Blindness

During his time with the First Bangalore Pioneers, a chemical attack left Tyson temporarily blind.

Despite its illegality, mustard gas continues to be used and it is one of the tools that the web provides that Tyson is least likely to use. He spent three weeks without sight due to mustard gas and when his PTSD is getting affected, Tyson can still feel his eyes burning.

Though ‘mildly afraid’ - read: utterly terrified - that the blindness might be permanent, whilst feeling like a sitting duck in the compound and useless in his inability to help out during that time, Tyson now looks back on that time as one of the better moments in his relationship with The Colonel.

Captain Samson’s death had already thrown Tyson into Sebastian’s arms, but Moran’s abuses hadn’t started yet. He was rough in his manhandling of Tyson during his blindness, but Tyson honestly appreciated that: not getting treated like glass and in feeling solid where Sebastian’s grip bruised his arms.

As they were already paired as sniper and spotter, Sebastian was largely benched whilst Tyson recovered, outside of a few group patrols. He spent most of his time sitting with Tyson, reading aloud for him, and using the excuse of guiding him around to get away with touching him.

It was …nice. Overwhelming, hallowing, yet - somehow - nice. It felt good to know that Sebastian had his back, that when he was hurting Sebastian would be there to help him, that Sebastian cared about him. He felt completely exposed, but safe so long as Sebastian was by his side.

Nostalgia

Even though Tyson can clearly remember his childhood with great clarity, it is very difficult to trigger nostalgia for his childhood.

A lot of that time, though clearly remembered, is suppressed on an emotional level for Tyson; similar to some of the time he spent on the run with The Colonel. It’s as though he spent those years watching his own life through a window; aware, yet notably separated.

Pangs of nostalgia for his years in the army are incredibly easy to summon - antiseptic and memories of John’s laughter, overripe fruit with Captain Samson’s voice, old PS3 era games with free time between rounds in the compound - but anything before that time is near inaccessible.

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.

Death

Tyson doesn’t handle death well.

He copes incredibly well, but Tyson doesn’t internalise death in a healthy way.

He wears it like a second skin. He doesn’t let go of the deaths he’s caused. Tyson makes sure that they stick. That his blame lingers like the smell of smoke. Even deaths that aren’t his fault, like Captain Samson, Tyson shoulders - and internalises - the blame almost immediately.

Before they received news that General Clarkson survived Sebastian’s attack, Tyson had internalised the blame for that as well.

Tyson has spent so long doing that, taking that weight, that he’s almost numb to deaths that aren’t his fault; that even Tyson can’t blame himself for. He actually feels better when the guilt of thoughts like ‘why didn’t I prevent this from happening?’ come around.

Army Buds

Naturally, Tyson served with many people during his army days. Here are the touch notes on notable people from those days in increasing rank order and faces approximated in Fallout 4′s character creation, because screw finding FCs.

Corporal Melissa Gordon

• She was the chef at the base Ty & Seb last served in before deserting.
• She was always telling jokes whilst hanging out food, the life of the party.
• She had a two-year-old son, Simon, back at home with her husband, Olan.
• During his escape with Sebastian, Tyson clipped her arm with a bullet. Purely by accident, he had been trying to avoid hitting anyone directly.
• Mel loved to dance, dragging anyone looking glum upon onto their feet.

Staff Sergeant Emma Porter

• She signed on as a field reporter and stayed out of a sense of duty.
• She loved pasta and garlic bread, even in operational ration pack forms.
• Emma always got a new book with her mail & was constantly sunburnt.
• She was kinda quiet in compound, just watching everyone around her.
• Emma was the only person killed in their escape. Unlike Tyson, Sebastian hadn’t been pulling his shots.

Second Lieutenant Harold ‘Hal’ Malone

• He served in Turkmenistan with Tyson, training military service dogs.
• He was hard working, usually the first up, but also the first to take a break.
• Hal was excellent at getting dogs through the water training sections.
• He loved rhubarb and custard sweets, and never judged Tyson’s relationship with Kimiko.
• Hal was killed on active service in Iraq by friendly fire: 7th of April 2009

Lieutenant Michael Griffiths

• He panicked and shot Tyson in the chest into his bulletproof vest during a training drill in full view of Moran. He died a few weeks later from friendly fire, that no one could prove came from Sebastian.
• He signed up to pay for his university tuition and intended to retire as soon as possible.
• He served as a mechanic, working to repair the various army vehicles.
• Michael was constantly taking pictures of everything around him.
• He was blatantly afraid of the attack dogs when they were working.

Captain Andrew Samson

• Tyson latched onto him like a baby duckling once he went to the front lines.
• He had several shrapnel scars on his face and his arms were covered in tattoos.
• He died in Tyson’s arms from enemy fire, a shot through his throat. Tyson unfairly took the blame for his death from a grieving compound, which pushed him into Moran’s waiting arms.
• Andrew loved history. He would talk about Rome and the French Revolution with Tyson over dinner.
• He was big on pull-ups and sit-ups as punishments.

Captain John Watson

• John served with Tyson and Sebastian during a joint stationing between Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers and the First Bangalore Pioneers.
• He was the only one to believe Tyson’s innocence in the shooting of General Clarkson.
• He and Tyson are brothers-by-all-but-blood, though for the sake of appearances often pretend to be mere passing acquaintances.
• Tyson rarely lies to John outright, but John was kept in the dark about the extent of Moran’s abuses during their service together.
• Tyson still blames John’s two left feet for breaking his nose in compound.

Major Hannah Smith

• Hannah was Sebastian’s spotter before Tyson went to the front lines and was around to show him the ropes.
• She was incredibly fight-y. Like fight you, her own shadow, and her own reflection at the same time fight-y.
• She hated the taste of coffee, but she was absolutely useless without caffeine in her system.
• She retired to become a mother at the end of her deployment.
• Hannah chain smoked every day, but insisted she’d quit once she became pregnant.

Colonel Sebastian Moran

• Sebastian didn’t enter a relationship with Tyson to abuse him. Sebastian wanted to be with him, he loves Tyson, but Sebastian is simply an abusive person.
• He is an alcoholic and, whilst aware of this, Sebastian has no intentions of stopping.
• Moran’s decision to shoot General Clarkson was not tactical. It was an inevitable temper tantrum as the tension between them grew to a head.
• Unlike Tyson, Sebastian was officially given a dishonourable discharge and continues to be a wanted man.
• To this day, Tyson has no idea how Hannah & Sebastian’s tempers didn’t lead to them killing each other long before he arrived.

Brigadier Abigail Bennett

• Tyson never met her in person, but she was the one in charge of the hunt for Sebastian & Tyson when they abandoned the army.
• She had a ruthless, cut-throat, no-nonsense reputation as a leader.
• When Tyson was proven innocent, she stepped down as head of that assignment and let someone else take over the hunt from Moran.
• Legends say that she got the scar above her eye in a knife fight, and that she won without a knife.
• The truth is that she was drunk during leave and headbutted a lamppost with a rusty edge.

General William Clarkson

• He was a good commanding officer, if very by the books.
• It was that by the books nature that put him at odds with Moran and caused countless arguments between the two men.
• Sebastian shot him twice. Once in the chest and once through the stomach.
• Though he survived Sebastian’s shots, he ended up in a coma for three years, from early 2009 until August 2012.
• Once he was awake, he confirmed Tyson’s innocence and sent him an apology letter, alongside a gun to protect him from Moran.