Gunnery Sergeant Dick Gannon

The face claim for Dick is Adam Rothenberg.

Though the web is based and largely operates in London, its influence reaches far and wide. As such it became necessary to have employees in various places around the world. By no means the only or most important employee in the Big Apple, but Dick is Tyson’s main contact in New York; and America in general.

As a crack shot and decent brawler with no great talent for words, most would assume Dick was hired muscle, if anything. In truth, the former marine has dozens of informants due to the web and overhears many things himself as he gives off the impression of not caring enough to sell your secrets, whilst also having an excellent memory for anything he does hear.

Generally apathy takes no acting to achieve for Gannon. Dick fades easily into the background, just a friend-of-a-friend. Don’t mind him, won’t even notice he’s there. A gambler, a smoker, and a drinker; Dick can camouflage himself in any situation. At times, he almost looking presentable if one doesn’t look close. Tucked away in the shadows, the cuts on his hands, the bags under his eyes, and razor burn on his neck are easily overlooked.

Tyson has always had a soft spot for strays. This old dog is no different, though not as old as he pretends to be. When he’s not pretending to be furniture, Dick is a prickly man, but then so is Tyson. When the salty dog grumbles that he “Don’t need no minder, kid,” Tyson know he meant ‘thank you’ and continues tidying up the beer bottles from Dick’s apartment.

When he visits New York, for leisure or business, Tyson rarely bothers finding a hotel. He simply shows up at the web provided penthouse with Dick’s favourite takeout - Pad Kee Mao - and a case of expensive cigars, knowing that the other man would let him inside even without the gifts. He’s paid generously by the web, but Dick rarely bothers to buy himself anything more than the bare necessities; feeling he doesn’t deserve it or not having the energy to fetch them, depending on the day.

More often than not, Tyson could have emailed and gotten the information from Dick, but Tyson will take any excuse to check on his stray mutt. His depression isn’t difficult for anyone to see. G.S. Gannon had a rough life. His days as a marine ended not during service, but during shore-leave when a car skidded across the ice, pining him against a wall by his right leg.

Ultimately, despite initially looking as though he may recover, Dick’s leg was amputated bellow the knee. His honourable discharge had one silver living, Dick could now propose to First Sergeant Val Harding who he had been unofficially dating during their shared service. She accepted before he was halfway through a bumbling lead up speech.

He began drinking far more to cope with his leg, but largely Dick was happy and - needing a hobby to keep him busy - learned how to play guitar. Until one day news came in that Val was missing at sea, and nothing else ever followed. By the time the web found him, Dick had to be hauled out of a Mariana Trench of debt. Tyson makes it his mission to try and cheer Dick up every time he visits.

He lets Dick lead them around New York, despite his Synesthesia and the fact that Dick always gets lost. He claims that he’s a New Jersey boy, ain’t his fault. But as Tyson points out, he has lived in New York for far longer than he ever did New Jersey. Dick waves this off with a whatever, but he’s smiling and that’s what matters to Tyson as he redirects them to their actual location.

On a good visit, he can cheer Dick up enough that he’ll play a few songs on his guitar and buy himself some rainy day treats. One a bad visit, where Dick is too deep in his own head, Tyson makes sure to clean up his apartment, restock the food, and has someone check on him every day to make sure he hasn’t done anything drastic.

Rather than ever talking directly about how they are feeling, Tyson and Dick will rank how they are coping mentally and physically with each other by using the phonetic alphabet: with ‘alpha’ being an amazing day and ‘zulu’ being awful.

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Gunnery Sergeant Richard ‘Dick’ Gannon

UNIVERAL TRUTHS

• Blood Type: B Negative
• Date of Birth: December 2nd 1972 – Sagittarius – Rat (Water)
• DnD Alignment: True Neutral
• Dominant Hand: Left
• Ethnicity: White, American
• Myers Briggs Type: ISTJ-T | The Logistician
• Orientation: Demi-romantic, Pansexual
• Religion: Christian, Protestant
• Signature:

FAVOURITE

• Favourite Animal: Orangutan
• Favourite Author: Joseph Delaney
• Favourite Colour: Blue
• Favourite Film: Ponyo
• Favourite Food: Pad Kee Mao
• Favourite Plant: Lotus
• Favourite Poem: Invictus - William Ernest Henley

VERSE DEPENDANT

• Avatar Element: Water
• His Dark Material’s Dæmon: Raccoon
• Hogwarts House: Gryffindoor || In universe, Ilvermorny: Thunderbird
• Hybrid!Verse Pairing: Water Buffalo
• Mass Effect Species: Turian Biotic
• Pokémon Team: Nidoran♂, Dudrio, Cloyster, Sharpedo, Maractus, & Minior

Colour Tyson’s Synesthesia Projects Onto Them:

RWBY AU

Tyson attended Atlas Academy, and later chose to remain with the army, to spite his father: the late John Delaney. He trained as a fighter at a smaller hunter school before joining the army, to spite his father: the late John Delaney. He made it to the rank of Lieutenant, before Sebastian forced his hand into abandoning. Now, he uses his skills in his work for the Moriarty Mirrors.

In this AU, Tyson is a faunus; specially, a (Roe) deer faunus, not that most people could tell. He shaves down his antlers regularly and hides the slight stumps under a beanie. Though he misses his antlers and shaving them down can hurt if he’s not careful, Tyson thinks that it’s worth while to keep his identity hidden. Even in the criminal world, faunus aren’t always welcome.

Tyson’s weapon is a shield that transforms into a combination [fencing] sabre/estoc. When out of combat, it’s usual resting position is a circular shield that straps onto Tyson’s back, typically over his rucksack. His shield is silver with purple details, while the estoc has a silver and purple striped blade and a silver hilt/handle with purple accents. His weapon’s tertiary form is a glock-style handgun, primarily silver with purple accents; and uses the same hilt/handle of the sword form. He uses a variety of magazines each with a different type of Dust.

He uses Dust explosions to hide his strikes, thrown from vials kept on his belt. Tyson, also, uses rocks and earth for cover in fights; such as hitting up dust* with the sabre to blind opponents. Though being part of the web means that Tyson has access to any type of Dust he desires, Tyson tends to only keep three types on his person at any one time; liking the ability to adapt on the fly, without being weighted down by too many vials or magazines: that could be struck and explode accidentally. Largely he uses earth, ice, & gravity with water, steam, & lightening substituting where necessary. 
*real dust, fine dirt.

Tyson rarely uses his semblance. To effectively access it, Tyson needs complete concentration and to stay perfectly stationary; rarely possible mid-combat. His semblance is a shockwave that pulses out of his aura in all directions. Primarily it exerts forces against anything it contacts, but - providing that Tyson is aware of his surroundings - he can make it pass through/over something without damaging it; such as a team mate. It will sustain for as long as Tyson can keep still and focused, and has aura remaining; more powerful shockwaves will shake him too and break his concentration.

In his RWBY AU, Tyson has his emblem tattooed between his shoulder blades. He had it done - alongside his teammates having their own tattooed - when he was in a team with Captain Samson, Hal Malone, & Bùi Kimiko; before meeting The Colonel and before the dent in his torso was formed.

Tyson’s original team was ATHK (Artichoke), led by Andrew Samson. Now, Tyson is the leader of TCLD (Stormcloud) with Charlie Hotchner, Lex, & Dick Gannon. Though he and Sebastian were partners in the Atlesian army, they were never on an official huntsman team together. 

Tyson’s emblem represents a (digital) map pointer, a compass needle, & a compass rose. A compass pointer/rose rotates, as his weapon does, and resembles a shining sun; with one falling silhouette, who flew too close.

A motif continued in some of the other emblems. His mentor, Andrew Samson, has burning wings, or Roman-esque laurels, too close to the flames. Hal and Lex - who Tyson could have been, and who could have been Tyson in another life - have wings: Hal, as doomed to fall in glory as Tyson, and Lex with his false Caduceus; harming, rather than healing.

Kim, golden and glowing, has her arrows; fallen feathers, ready to shoot Tyson - and anyone else - completely out of the sky. Charlie’s favourite flower is Foxgloves, and here she is a fox who fights with her fists. And lastly, Dick: simple and to the point, he’s a salty old guard dog who has a trident and a shield. Simple.

Team ATHK - Artichoke

• Andrew Samson - Atlas - Flint & Steel || Tattoo on the centre of his chest
  Weapon: Fire-Dust infused parrying dagger & scimitar/SMG & Hunting Rifle
  Semblance: Practically immune to fire damage, redirects fire into his weapon.
• Hal Malone - Atlas - Aether & Fortuna || Tattoo on his left upper arm
  Weapon: Javelin/Spear/Wind and Fire Wheels & Off-hand Revolver
  Semblance: Never discovered before death.
• Bùi Kimiko - Mistral - Neith || Tattoo on the back of her neck
  Weapon: Recurve Bow/Twin Dao/Double-Barrel Automatic Shotgun
  Semblance: Quickly travel/teleport as a burst of gold-aura that leaves a trail of smoke.

• Sebastian Moran - Vale - Vae Victis - Tiger Faunus (Tail) 
  Weapon: High-Caliber Sniper Rifle/Zweihänder with removable Rapier core
  Semblance: Can activate his aura to boost his strength to tiger levels.

Team TCLD - Stormcloud

• Charlie Hotchner - Vale - Glamour & Valour - Fox Faunus (Ears) 
  Weapon: Dust-infused knuckledusters & Bladed-Tonfas/Kusarigama/Shotguns
  Semblance: Can manipulate her aura to appear invisible.
• Lex - Vacuo - Midas
  Weapon: Revolver Dust-infused Bo-Staff/Escrima Sticks/Nunchaku/Blow Dart
  Semblance: When touching another’s aura, ‘saps’ its energy to enhance his own aura.
• Dick Gannon - Mistral - Bulwark & Corvus
  Weapon: Expanding Scutum Shield & Trident/High-Caliber Sniper Rifle
  Semblance: Can repel liquids, from redirecting rain off his aura to ‘walking on’ water.

Originally from Atlas, Tyson works in Mistral & Vacuo within the web.

In this verse, the Delaney family is notable for making a place for themselves as a faunus family within the Atlas elite; a place they fought tooth and claw to secure, and continued to ruffle metaphorical feathers by primarily hiring other faunus.

• Anne Samantha Williams - Marsh Harrier (Wings)
• James Delaney - Rabbit (Ears)
• Jasmine Dartmoor - Persian (Ears)
• Jethro Andrew Delaney - Brown bear (Ears)
• John Delaney - Gemsbock (Antlers)
• Richard Delaney - Wolf (Ears)
• Rosie Delaney - Mountain Lion (Tail)

His aura is maroon and his semblance manifested at a family ball, when a drunk patron began tugging on Tyson’s antlers and threatening to snap them off. When using his semblance or activating his aura, the remaining stumps of his antlers glow like beacons under his beanie, alongside any red in his clothes; like the red in his gloves and the red stripe of his beanie. 

Alongside his actual weapon, Tyson keeps a secondary/back up weapon on hand: a store-bought dust-powered pistol/dagger - Pale Sigil that doesn’t require him to carry additional ammo. His weapon is called Triumph, because it uses three separate forms:

Throughout all three stages of Triumph, the handle/hilt with its dual-triggers (and open end for ammo magazines/dust vials) remains the same. To change between the three forms, Tyson rotates the handle in a particular direction. From the sword, rotating clockwise changes the weapon into a pistol and counter-clockwise goes to the targe-style shield.

As a pistol (Tres), Triumph has three modes of fire further augmented by the type of ammo that Tyson is using: single shot, three round burst, and fully automatic. The scope uses a red circle-dot sight and he can turn the guidance laser on/off as desired. Largely Tres is used as a mid- to long-range distance closer.

As a light-weight finesse sword (Trois), Tyson can load in a vial of dust to affect the strikes: typically with ice to freeze opponents once a strike lands. The tapering blade is shaped like an estoc, but has slightly less length; the length of a fencing saber. Tyson generally uses Trois as one would a fencing sword or rapier to fight in his preferred close- to mid-range.

As a targe-style shield (Drei), Triumph’s handle becomes the front grip for his hand and a second securing strap appears behind it for use on either arm. Typically Drei is only used to defend against a particularly strong attack, but he will use it with his backup weapon and vials of dust when he knows he’s in a tricky position.

The purple pattern on Drei is the central part of Tyson’s emblem, based on a compass rose and the sun. Having partially based each form of Triumph off of weapons his family used in the Faunus Rights Revolution & Great War, Tyson decided to keep the traditional family purple rather than matching his own maroon aura.

To keep the element of surprise, Tyson can spin Triumph through several forms before pausing on the desired mode. When not in use, Triumph stays as Drei and attaches to the metal plate on the back of his rucksack. It can stay in any form, but Tyson finds a shield safer to carry around than a gun or a sword.

Miscellaneous fluff headcanons

• Tyson is pretty good at tying shoes for other people. He first learnt how to tie shows by sitting under his father’s desk whilst he worked and pulling on the laces of his father’s shoes until he knew how to do it properly.
    
• Lily loves playing with bubbles. Tyson can keep her entertained for hours by blowing bubbles for her to snap at and chase around. Whenever she actually manages to catch one, she spends a solid minute making a fuss, rubbing her tongue on the ground to remove the taste, before chasing them again.
   
• Harmonica lessons with Sebastian were more or less always an excuse to kiss, but one of the few times they were walked in on, harmonica lessons were a good enough excuse for why they were kissing. That it was John who walked in and he was 90% asleep at time is probably the only reason that excuse passed without follow up questions. Watson was too tired to deal with their nonsense.
    
• Since their father was too busy at the university, Tyson had to be the one to give Jethro a pep-talk before his first proper date at fifteen. This went about as well as a conversation between an eleven-year-old and a fifteen-year-old about going on a date could be expected to.
    
• One time after sharing a plate of pot brownies with Dick, Tyson ended up answering a call from a telemarketer whilst tangled up on the kitchen floor with Dick; after the pair had tripped over each other in the livingroom, and been too content to bother walking to move. He ended up rambling about the pretty stars for the better part of half an hour on the phone. The stars in that instance meaning the series of LED lights in the kitchen ceiling.
    
• When Bobby was a puppy, he loved water just as much as he does now. He once ended up falling asleep in the bath whilst settled on Tyson’s chest. This left Tyson unable to move as the water cooled and Lily outside of the bath licking her puppy clean of soap, whilst being completely unwilling to get touched by the water herself. 

Medication

No matter how much pain he is in at the time, Tyson is always reluctant to take painkillers; or medication in general.

His propensity to fight doctor’s orders aside, Tyson hates anything that takes control away from him and loathes the idea of becoming depending on anything else.

Tyson would rather grit his teeth through pain that threatens to make him black out than take painkillers. Unless he is in a dangerous situation where he needsto take painkillers to make it out alive, Tyson has to be strong-armed into taking his medicine.

Being the general hypocrite that he is, Tyson will never fail to remind Dick to take his anti-depressants or for Jethro to take his medication to recover from chemotherapy.

Important Songs

Everyone has songs that hold a special place in their heart.

For Tyson, some of those songs are:

• Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf
  Whenever Tyson found Kim doing her carpentry, she was almost guaranteed to be listening to that song if not something from the same album.
• Big Iron on his Hip - Marty Robbins
  The first song Tyson got Dick to play on guitar, after a long period of harsh depression.
• Chocolate - The 1975
  A song shared between Tyson and his nephew James.
• I Won’t Send Roses - Mack & Mabel
  Sebastian used to sing this to Tyson.
• Life less ordinary - Carbon Leaf
  Reminds Tyson of the Moriarty Mirrors + Old Playlist for Tyson
• Oh, Danny boy
  Jethro used to sing this to Tyson, and Tyson sung it to comfort himself after some of Sebastian’s worst beatings.
• Pumped up Kicks - Foster the People
  Tyson’s default ringtone, when he doesn’t have it on vibrate.
• The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
  Tyson’s father used to play this a lot.