Element AU: Air

Tyson is most naturally aligned with Earth, but how would Tyson manage with the other four elements?

Elemental AU: Book 3 (Air)

With fire in second and water in third, air is the element that Tyson would struggle with the most, and a simple exercise proves it:

Hold open your arms in a welcoming gesture, then throw your arms wide open, like an Airbender.

Now try and imagine Tyson completely exposing his front that way. Even welcoming back his brother after years away, Tyson’s arms would be closer to his body and no where near as open as a normal ‘welcoming gesture’.

Whilst Tyson would appreciate the move defensive and evasive nature of air, Tyson is ill-suited to its open positioning. He has the flexibility, in his tactics and physicality, to work with air, and yet it simply wouldn’t work for him. ‘And yet’ is a common theme when describing Tyson’s connection to air.

When it’s said that Tyson is Icarus that means he is made to try and fly, to reach for the sky, but to always fall back down to the ground. Broken, but not beaten. To climb in through your window, stay long enough to lick his wounds, then jumping out again. A constant cycle of falling and trying, and not ever flying.

Much like water, air is something that Tyson can admire and understand, but it’s not an element that Tyson could comfortably wield. He can understand the roaring rage in untamed winds and the delicate dancing of the breeze, he can feel the pang of longing in his chest for those things, but that simply isn’t who Tyson is at the end of the day.

Air is the element of freedom and spirituality, of endless horizons and lungs full of life. New begins and new hope. Tyson is perseverance and structure, of planting his feet and refusing to say die. Keeping to the status quo, and repeating the same mistakes over and over again with grim resolve.

Elemental AU: Book 2 (Fire)

Tyson is most naturally aligned with Earth, but how would Tyson manage with the other four elements?

Tyson’s phobia of fire is well-established, but he would do rather well with fire.

His pyrophobia is one of his oldest and deepest phobias, yet it is also the one that Tyson has the easiest time handling; fearing something has never prevented Tyson from loving it or flourishing with it. He is Icarus, after all.

His tendency to throw himself in the pyre aside, Tyson has fantastic self-control and discipline; near infinite patience. He has the focus to push past his fears to harness fire. In many ways, having control over fire would help dissuade his fears, which mostly rotate around the wild and uncontrollable nature of fire.

He favours defence over attack, but the best defence is a good offence and Tyson is an old hand at turning something intended for attack into a viable defensive strategy. Sometimes that strategy is clever and cunning, and at other times it’s as simple as no longer needing defence if the enemy is defeated.

It may not be his favourite technique, but Tyson knows the defensive potential of power yet to be unleashed; of having superior firepower. In a more physical sense, though it too applies to larger strategic thinking, Tyson knows how effective taking an attack stance can be at providing a defence. Defending by forcing the opponent to retreat into their own defensive position.

He is an opportunity attacker who would be well-suited to fire’s versatility of attack styles and the idea of unleashing a flurry of blows into an opening to inflict as much damage as possible once an opening presents itself - or using that onslaught to force an opening - is something that Tyson regularly utilises.

Tyson is destined to burn by flying too close to the sun - several times - yet until the day that arrogance finally finished him off, that experience gives him an intimate knowledge of fire. He knows the dangers of playing with fire, but he also knows how to toy with it; how to tease and dance away with minor singes.

And that’s fire, taking a surprising second place.

Elemental AU: Book I (Water)

Tyson is most naturally aligned with Earth, but how would Tyson manage with the other four elements?

Tyson loves water and he’s a great stamina swimmer, but Tyson doesn’t mesh with water as an element.

Water is the element of change and adaptability. Whilst it’s true that Tyson is incredibly adaptable, that is a combination of always having a backup plan for every backup plan and thinking quickly on his feet, rather than an agree-ability to change. Tyson is very resistant to change.

He will roll with the punches like an expert, but it is far more in Tyson’s nature to plant his feet and endure whatever is thrown at him than to change his form.

In combat, he does prefer to use his opponents’ strength against them, but the way Tyson utilises that it more direct - in using it to force an opening for him to exploit, taking advantage of a moment - rather than his primary fighting style.

As a fighter, Tyson wants to be darting in-and-out of the mid-to-close range. Defending until an opportunity opens, then doing as much damage as possible before waiting again. A largely reactionary style doesn’t suit him. He’s an opportunity fighter.

He has the self-control and discipline that water demands as well as the poise and patience, but Tyson simply does not work with the slower more graceful style of water. He is more comfortable planting his feet in one place between bursts of movement. Stop and start fighting, rather than flowing from one movement to the next.

Water is something that Tyson can admire and understand, but it’s not an element that Tyson could comfortably wield.

So, that’s water coming in third.

Earth

Of the four traditional elements, Tyson has the strongest connection to Earth.

Earth - Connection

Of the six medication elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space, & Consciousness - the one Tyson connects most with is earth.

Earth in Tyson’s mind is about connection, everything being the same. This appeals to his mathematical mind because to him everything is connected through numbers and patterns. His favourite example of this is the hexagon…

…when Tyson just wants to calm himself he will think of nature - of earth - and how everything is connected. This also relates to his thoughts on how he is never alone because of mathematics. Full headcanon [x] 

Tyson can very easily be kept entertained by giving him an hourglass or zen garden, but he is absolutely on the side of #fucksand. Sand can become annoying for anyone, but with his OCD, sand - in collaboration with glitter - is the bane of Tyson’s existence.

To touch on some of his verses, Tyson’s Marvel AU is called Earth!Verse and his mutant power is Geokinesis. Naturally following on from that, Tyson is an Earthbender in his Avatar!verse and in his Hogwarts AU, Tyson’s connection to earth carries over into being a Hufflepuff.

In Tyson’s Pokémon AU, he makes use of whichever Pokémon is best suited to the job and has trained many Pokémon for other people. However, Tyson has the strongest connection to Rock and Ground-type Pokémon; with Steel coming a very close second, and Grass & Water tying for third place.

In expanded earthen headcanons, Tyson has a rock collection.

Tyson doesn’t have a rock collection because he’s interested in geology, but rather because he finds the rocks he finds pleasing to look at.

He keeps his rocks as souvenirs of places he’s been or memories he has. Some rocks he finds in nature, others are bought from tourist shops that he’s passing: he doesn’t actively search through the rocks, but if one catches his eyes in passing he’ll usually buy it.

He keeps the rocks, like most of his possessions, under his bed in a box. Though he hasn’t labeled any of the stones he knows where he got all of them and the story behind them too.

Some of the stones aren’t nice to look at, those are rocks he’s kept from places with bad memories. The smoother the stone then the nicer the memory, usually. There are some exceptions where it was the colour or shape that took his fancy.