Ideal Team

Tyson works better as part of a team with his comfort levels increasing as the group becomes larger, but he never stacks the deck completely against his opponents; even though doing so would clearly play to his strengths.

The ideal situation for Tyson would then to be paired with a small team of people he knows. Though they would never end up working together naturally, Tyson would ideally be part of a five-man team alongside Sebastian Moran, Lex, John Watson, & Levi McCullum.

When there isn’t an apocalyptic level event happening to force them all to unite towards a common goal, the best bet is to pair Tyson with somewhere between three to ten people who all bring a unique - and necessary - skill to the table and to put him in charge of that group.

That way, Tyson is forced to utilise the people at his disposal as each one is essential and cannot be dismissed by his skewed sense of fair play. He is forced to step up and trust his instincts as a leader and there is a reasonable number of people for most tasks.

Soulmates

Though Tyson doesn’t believe it to be necessarily romantic in nature, or that it is limited to one per person, Tyson does believe in the idea of soulmates.

That two or more people can compliment each other so perfectly as to be considered part of a bigger whole; no lesser when apart, yet in perfect harmony when together. In his mind, the best example of that would be the Moriarty Mirrors.

However, he has seen plenty of other people who compliment each other in that way: inseparable siblings who seem like one being in two bodies, soldiers who fought together as though they had been born to do it, and partners who could have told Tyson that they had been lovers since the earth was formed and Tyson would have believed them.

As for who Tyson would say his soul mates are?

If he asked, Tyson would politely yet firmly refuse to answer. Because to Tyson, the truth is that the two people he’s met who complete his best are now standing on opposite sides of the battlefield from him and from each other: Captain John Watson & Colonel Sebastian Moran.

He’ll freely describe himself and John as simpatico, brothers by all but blood, and yet whilst their temporary peace continues, eventually Tyson knows they will be forced to stand in opposition in the Moriarty Mirrors’ game against Holmes.

The reasons for Sebastian Moran are all to plain to see, as are the reasons it hurts to admit. 

Sherlock boys

Tyson’s opinions of the main Sherlock boys are as follows: my brother by all but blood, "I can’t stand you - I promise", and ‘I don’t love you, but I could’.

John Watson
↳ Former fellow service man and brother-in-arms.

It is a generally accepted head canon that at some point in their army careers Sebastian Moran and John Watson served together. In Tyson’s main timeline he served in the First Bangalore Pioneers with Sebastian. It stands to reason that he would have met Watson at the same time as Moran did. Therefore Tyson knows John from the army.

Most people who served with Tyson in the army didn’t believe that he was innocent when he abandoned after the shooting of General Clarkson. The only people who believed Tyson was innocent were General Clarkson and Sebastian Moran - because they were there at the time - and John. John believed Tyson was innocent, that he wasn’t involved.

When Tyson got back to Britain he hid for a long time before he crossed paths with John again, in London. After a brief conversation where John said he knew Tyson was innocent they went their separate ways. They got on well in the past and John is one of Tyson’s few connections to his previous life in the army that he still has.

Their paths cross every now and again, briefly, and Tyson suspects John knows who he works for but chooses to ignore it for the sake of preserving a friendship. They occasionally talk about the ‘bloody flatmate’ and the 'damn Irishman’ when, once a blue moon, they meet up intentionally but its brief and often avoided; out of a sense of protective guilt at ending up on opposite sides.

Most of their interactions are just a nod of understanding across the street, but it’s enough to keep part of their former companionship alive. It’s a bittersweet reminder of what they once had, and how much has changed since then. Tyson and John were more than brothers in arms, they were brothers-by-all-but-blood.

And they still are. When they can spend time together, Tyson and John are still perfectly in sync with each other. Trading quips and insults without a worry. However, conflicted interests and a desire not to see the other hurt by those interests keep them apart. Pretending to be no more than passing acquaintances.

Mycroft Holmes
↳ The government, begrudgingly accepted acquaintance.

Tyson’s encounters with Mycroft Holmes have all been short, and rather uncomfortable for the former Lieutenant. He knows that Mycroft was ‘aware of’ Tyson’s innocence in the shooting of General Clarkson, and allowed Tyson to enter the lion’s den of the Moriarty Mirrors in the hopes of getting information out of him.

He doesn’t begrudge Mycroft for wanting to take out the Moriarty Mirrors. It comes with the territory, but he does object to the way Mycroft tried to use him - and other people - as pawns.

Mycroft made the decision to force Tyson to live as a fugitive on the off-chance that the Moriarty Mirrors would be interested in him, rather than letting Tyson make the decision himself and clear his name.

From what Tyson now knows about the Moriarty Mirrors? It would not have mattered to them in the slightest if he was working for Mycroft when he was recruited, and Tyson is pretty confident that Mycroft knew that. It was simply more convenient for him to let Tyson suffer.

As far as Tyson is concerned, Mycroft Holmes is a coward who always takes the path of least resistance, least effort, least conviction. And he will keep telling himself that until it rings true, because staying angry at Mycroft is Tyson's only real defense against him.

Sherlock Holmes
↳ John's flatmate, begrudgingly accepted acquaintance.

Most of what Tyson knows about Sherlock Holmes comes from Jim. Tyson doesn’t share his owners’ fixation with the detective, but he stays up-to-date enough to understand what the Jims are talking about in relation to Sherlock. He tries to keep his distance from Sherlock, he doesn’t need the Moriarty Mirrors game with the detective to get anymore complicated by altering his own - largely - neutral opinions towards Sherlock.

He does not like Holmes, but Tyson knows that he has a paper thin defence against caring for him; that defence is avoiding him like the plague. He purposefully keeps a distance from the detective, because he does not need the Moriarty Mirrors game to become any more complicated by falling for another genius determined to burn themselves up.

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.

Holmes Verses Watson

There is a fundamental difference between ‘I could love you, but I don’t’ and ‘I don’t love you, but I could’. That is the crux of the difference between Tyson’s thoughts about John Watson and Sherlock Holmes. The type of love differs, but the point remains.

Tyson absolutely does love John. They are simpatico, brothers-in-arms, brothers by all but blood. Romantically? Oh, Tyson knows that he could have fallen for John, easily, but he doesn’t love him romantically. And that’s fine. Whatever alternative path they could have taken, Tyson is happy where he stands with John.

Sherlock, on the other hand, is a more complicated feeling for Tyson. He does not like Holmes, but Tyson knows that he has a paper thin defence against caring for him; and that defence is avoiding him like the plague. He purposefully keeps a distance from the detective, because he does not need the Moriarty Mirrors game to become any more complicated by fallnig for another genius determinded to burn themselves up.

Doctors' Orders

Though generally an agreeable person, Tyson is a walking nightmare for any medical professional.

He will go out of his way to defy doctor’s orders, even - and often - to his own detriment. The only medical professional it can reliably be assumed that Tyson will actually listen to is his dentist and, on the bluest of all blue moons, to John Watson.

It’s not even that he doesn’t respect his doctors, Tyson knows that most work very hard and that the web only employs the best, but whenever he is met with orders from a doctor, agreeable Tyson who will jump through a thousand hoops for a stranger suddenly does a complete and utter turn-about.

Need to rest and avoid pulling his stitches? Well, his weekend plans were to stay inside, but sure, he can go parkour across London. Be careful with that leg? Tyson will put all of his weight on that leg without fail. Keep that brace on for a week? The time it takes to get out of the doctor’s eyesight is a week, surely…

Choosing the right pet

Though Tyson rarely opens Pup’s Pet Store for the public, one of the services he offers when the store is actually open is to help people find the right pet for them; and more importantly in his eyes, the right person for that animal.

Tyson struggles to read and understand people, but Tyson knows animals and he’s good at reading how they’re feeling.

Within his main!verse, he found homes for all of Lily’s puppies: with the exception of Bobby, the runt of the little whom he always intended to keep. He was also the who found Toby (the Beagle) for John Watson to adopt and helped train him in the year that Sherlock was pretending to be dead, and he took Billy to adopt her cat, Quip.

He has a good memory for the general behavioural quirks for the majority of cat and dog breeds, though Tyson will admit that he can give far more detailed answers when it comes to how a dog can be expected to respond.

Having spent so much of his life handling service dogs for the army, Tyson has a good understanding of what an animal will need in those first few weeks and what they will need once they’re acclimatised. He knows how to train them and how much energy/time is needed to achieve certain things.

Tyson is an incredibly patient person, but he still understands the frustration of not feeling as though progress is being made with an animal. He is in a good position to help break through that communication wall and encourage a person to keep trying, to offer alternative solutions and provide that training himself if needs be.

Within Canon

Though it’s ultimately academic as Tyson exists in a world with (limited) magical influence and duplicate Moriartys, within the timeline of BBC Sherlock canon, Tyson technically becomes an AU after Series 2.

That said, elements of Series 3 and Series 4 exist within Tyson’s world.

On the rooftop of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Mischief earnt that nickname from his previous CCT. He faked his death with hyper-realistic blood packs and nanobots to ensure his vital signs were absent for any checks, should his clean-up team be delayed or his body intercepted before they could arrive.

Meanwhile, Sunshine was the one pulling the strings of the web to make sure Sherlock had to follow through with his half of the ‘deal’. Theoretically, Tyson was doing his part to make sure everything went to plan, but in truth, he was having his heart ripped out listening to John’s anguish.

Sherlock then went on to dismantle parts of the web, that is true. However, the Moriarty Mirrors viewed this more as a spring cleaning. They laid low for a while, protected what was essential, and allowed Holmes to tidy up anything that wasn’t clever enough to survive without linking back to them.

For now, with Sherlock’s return to London and notoriety, the Moriarty Mirrors are content to leave him alone to his own devices. If Sherlock is aware of their continued existences, he has also left them alone. Tyson doesn’t expect that peace to last indefinitely nor for the next round to end so bloodlessly.

Though John didn’t know that Sherlock lived before he returned, he knew that Moriarty was still around. Simply due to the fact that Tyson hadn’t fled London or committed suicide to escape The Colonel once more. Now that Sherlock is back, they’ve returned to pretend not to know who the other is talking about in relation to a maddening flatmate and an insufferable Irish boss.

Charles Augustus Magnussen is alive and occasionally has dealings with the Moriarty Mirrors, but the events of Series 3 around Sherlock have not happened yet in Tyson’s timeline; and aren’t ever likely to. The Moriarty Mirrors would not take kindly to him poking their consulting curiosity.

Though Mary Morstan exists, in Tyson’s main universe Mary is not currently married to John Watson; who moved back into 221B Baker Street a few months after Sherlock’s return to London. Tyson won’t even pretend to know the current dynamic of their on and off again relationship, but he can say with certainty that John doesn’t have a child with Mary.

However, John does have a beagle called Toby, previously called Gladstone at the shelter. He was adopted as a way to help John grieve after Sherlock ‘died’ and has since started working with Sherlock during his detective cases; having already received some training from Tyson during that year where Tyson could pretend that he and John weren’t still on opposite sides and could see his former brother in arms a little more frequently.

If she exists, Tyson has never heard of Eurus Holmes and the Moriarty Mirrors have never mentioned her either. It wouldn’t have been the first time they had kept secrets from him, especially concerned their obsession with Holmes, but to date, there is no reason for Tyson to know of Eurus.

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.

Lonely

Old headcanon reminder, but it’s needed to preface this.

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.

The reassurance that Tyson will never be alone doesn’t stop him from feeling lonely at times. The usual cause for Tyson feeling lonely is seeing friends from afar, rather than a complete absence of them.

When Tyson is on his own or with his dogs, his thoughts rarely stray over to anything that makes him feel lonely. The closest are moments when he’s missing The Colonel, but that’s a pang of loss rather than feeling alone because of Moran’s absence in his life.

Tyson feels the most lonely when he’s walking away from Captain John Watson, knowing that he’s on the other side of the street, but that they have to keep their distance from one another to keep each other safe. Knowing that he may never walk the same path as his former brother in arms ever again.

It’s those moments when he wants to talk to Lestrade, someone who understands the weight of the web from inside whilst also openly disliking the web’s activities, but Tyson knows that he can’t risk blowing the other man’s cover by seeking companionship with him.

Those moments when he’s people watching in the park or at a café and the reality of it hits him.

Usually, those are nice moments for Tyson. Content by seeing others contentment and happiness. Sometimes, however, it hits him that he is entirely outside of that. That Tyson could never simply strike up conversation without putting innocent people at risk: from The Colonel, enemies of the web, and even from within the web itself.