The usual suspects

Across all of his verses, Tyson has an army of pets, but there are three that are his pets across most universes and regardless of whether the magical/advantaged technology level of Tyson’s main universe is active, and those are Lily, Bobby, & Jack.

Lily

The Dalmatian/Dhole hybrid has been with Tyson since Pakistan, where she began tailing him for food and eventually led him to water. At this point in time, she is nine years old.

Lily’s spots are black and her coat white, though most the time it looks more grey from rolling around outside. On her left thigh, there are only three spots that make a triangle like a bowling ball’s holes. She is normally wearing a brown leather collar and her leash is a black rope. Her dangling ID tag looks like this, the bell jingles as she walks and the information is inside. 

She loathes water with a passion. When they first met, Lily was terrified of water; including the river she led him to for water. Since those days, Tyson has helped her calm down and taught her to swim, but she still hates taking a bath and she never wants to stay out in the rain. More often than not, Tyson will wash her in the en-suite’s walk-in shower instead.

Lily is one of two dogs to give Tyson serious scars. She is very protective of Tyson and will actively stand between him and anyone she doesn’t like. Lily is well-trained and will immediately fall back when given the command, but generally, Tyson trusts Lily’s judgement.

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. 

Most often, Lily can be found perched on top of the armchair in Tyson’s living room, looking out the window onto London’s streets. At night, she does tend to join Tyson (and Bobby) in his bed, but usually, she prefers to curl up at the end of the bed to save a little space to herself whilst still being near.

Bobby

He is a Dalmatian/Dhole/Beagle. At this point in time, he is five years old.

Bobby has black spots. His floppy ears are completely black, which is the only distinctive part of his coat, as the rest of his spots are just spread about randomly. He was the runt of the litter, Lily’s litter, she gave birth thanks to a Magic!Anon. Bobby’s collar is a red fabric collar and his leash is a red rope. His dangling ID tag looks like this. 

He hates having his belly rubbed. Bobby is perfectly fine with his chest being touched and the inside of his back legs, but he gets upset whenever his stomach is touched. Tyson has to be extra careful when drying him off. He isn’t aggressive when touched there, yet clearly distressed and wants to get away.

Bobby loves water, and swimming, and rain, and jumping in puddles, and… anything wet. When he was a smaller dog, Bobby used to swim laps in the bathtub. Whenever Tyson goes to take a shower, Bobby insists on jumping in to join him.

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.

Bobby can see ghosts and is able to seek them out. He will go out of his way to find ghosts, even taking Tyson miles off course. Though Tyson has his dogs trained to an incredible level, the former Lieutenant largely allows his dogs to do as they wish unless given a direct instruction. That training means he can trust them enough to allow such a loose metaphorical leash.

Unless Tyson is trying to get somewhere specific, when Bobby starts leading him and Lily off to the left on their morning walk, Tyson shrugs and follows the course Bobby would like the walk. He doesn’t understand what exactly is catching his Dalmatian’s interest, but he enjoys the opportunity to take a new route and see different areas of London when it happens.

Bobby loves people, but he tends to be unsure when initially meeting other dogs. After a minute and no negative reaction, Bobby will gladly play with other dogs, but he does need a moment to make sure everything is fine. No amount of time will ever convince Bobby that cats are anything other than malevolent.

Jack

Jack is a Doberman. At this point in time, he is eleven years old.

Jack was originally a dog that Tyson trained for the army, but when he refused to take orders from anyone other than Tyson he was deemed unfit for service. Tyson agreed to take him in without hesitation and now he guards the family manor under Jasmine’s care.

Most who meet the black Doberman would call him cold, but Jack is a one-man dog: Tyson’s dog. With Tyson and Lily, he is loyal and friendly. He is slightly more reserved with Jasmine - who he is in the care of, most of the time - and Bobby, but still loyal and protective of both. Jack, like Lily, doesn’t seek affection and is more comfortable with having company to lay next to.

Tyson has a tracker on Jack’s purple collar. It’s not that he distrusts Jasmine or her ability to care for his dog, but it soothes Tyson’s anxiety to be able to check in on Jack from time to time. Jack is one of the few constants from the time before he was forced to abandon the army.

Jack is largely impartial about water. Whilst he won’t care about walking out in the rain, he also won’t jump into the water; unless it’s a very hot day or ordered in by Tyson. Bath time has always been easy with Jack. 

Jack’s favourite toy seems to be washed up seaweed. It’s like a tug-toy that he can destroy and rip up in minutes, and always have more to play with.

Whenever Tyson visits Cambridge, he makes sure to visit the manor and spent some time playing with Jack. If spare weren’t already at a premium in his apartment, Tyson would love to have Jack with him, but he knows the Doberman is better off with the space and grass of the manor.

Beaches

Though the beach isn’t to Tyson’s personal tastes, strongly disliking sand for its effects on his OCD and preferring to swim in fresh water, he will often end up visiting a beach during holidays; usually for the benefit of his nephew James, but also to give his dogs a change of scenery.

Bobby is overjoyed at the chance to swim in the sea and to dig up the sand, from a reasonable distance from Tyson to avoid getting into trouble.

Lily doesn’t like getting wet, but she adores the opportunity to run on the sand once more; having joined Tyson whilst crossing the desert in Pakistan.

Jack’s favourite toy seems to be washed up seaweed. It’s like a tug-toy that he can destroy and rip up in minutes, and always have more to play with.

Meg is in the ocean before Tyson can even register releasing her leash, swallowing salt water despite Tyson’s best efforts to discourage her.

Tyson has good memories of being at the beach with his family, having BBQ with Jethro, Rosie, James, & Charlie. Most of those good memories are during late evening or night, once most people have cleared away and Tyson can relax more. The beach always reminds him of blackcurrant drinks.

He remembers day trips to Blackpool the most. Starting the morning at Sandcastle Waterpark, then running around on the beach with James before a picnic lunch and taking a midday nap, grabbing fish & chips for dinner before going into Blackpool Pleasure Beach (theme park). Then, when the Blackpool Lights get turned on, driving back through that way until James falls asleep on the way home.

Service Dogs

Tyson trained service dogs for the army in Turkmenistan.

These are some of the dogs that Tyson trained:

• Ace

Tyson has only ever served on the front lines with one of the dogs he trained*, and that was with Ace. He was a German Shepherd with a plush tan & black coat. By the time that Tyson joined the front lines, Ace was already an old boy: reaching towards retirement but not quite there yet.

He only saw Ace for a handful of weeks, during a brief joint stationing before the old team were given leave and the First Bangalore Pioneers were given control of the compound. Ace served primarily as a patrol and attack dog. When he was off duty, Ace loved getting to play with a yellow squeaky chicken plush.

On September 2010, Ace was retired. He joined the program of former military service dogs to be re-homed to veterans, who could handle the requirements of a military dog and the PTSD that they can exhibit. In April 2011, Ace found his new home.

• Boots

Last dog Tyson trained with Hal Malone was a female Springer Spaniel called Boots. She was trained to track scents and primarily she was used as a bomb sniffer dog. Hal was the best man to call on for helping a dog take to water. The problem with Boots was convincing her to get back out of the water.

Boots took to the job like a duck to water, or an overly eager dog after a duck minding its own business in the water. She had a keen scent of smell, as expected of her breed, and had a good attention span for following a single scent for an extended period of time.

She was killed in action in 2013 by enemy fire during a sweep to clear bombs off of a transport route.

• Dodger

Dodger was a female German Shepherd with a solid black short coat.

Her time in the army was short lived. She passed all the temperament tests and responded well to training, but she was injured when following Tyson through an assault course. She missed the post she was supposed to stand on and tumbled down, breaking a bone in her front right leg.

Dodger eventually recovered enough to run a slow trot, but not to the speed required of an attack dog. She was early enough into her training, not even having begun bite training, to be sent to a standard shelter for adoption and found a new home as a family pet.

• Jack 

Jack was originally a dog that Tyson trained for the army, but when he refused to take orders from anyone other than Tyson he was deemed unfit for service. Tyson agreed to take him in without hesitation and now he guards the family manor under Jasmine’s care.

Most who meet the black Doberman would call him cold, but Jack is a one-man dog: Tyson’s dog. With Tyson and Lily, he is loyal and friendly. He is slightly more reserved with Jasmine - who he is in the care of, most of the time - and Bobby, but still loyal and protective of both. Jack, like Lily, doesn’t seek affection and is more comfortable with having company to lay next to. 

Tyson has a tracker on Jack’s purple collar. It’s not that he distrusts Jasmine or her ability to care for his dog, but it soothes Tyson’s anxiety to be able to check in on Jack from time to time.

• Nuke

Nuke was the last dog that Tyson trained before going to the front lines. She was a German Shepherd with a red sable, short coat.

There was nothing particularly special about Nuke, just one of many attack dogs that Tyson was tasked with training, but she was the last dog who’s training Tyson got to complete during his time in Turkmenistan.

As with all the dogs that Tyson trained, her photo is kept under his bed in the box with everything else from his days in the army: including a stolen file, his uniform, and a lot of photos with Colonel Moran, the other members of the First Bangalore Pioneers, and Captain Watson.

• Razor

On the 17th of May 2001, Razor caused the jagged scar on Tyson’s right wrist during bite training by biting into the arm without a protector on it. He was a German Shepherd from the first class of dogs that Tyson taught with a gold/tan sable, plush coat.

Tyson’s scars are largely smooth, but the dog bite on his right wrist is rough since it didn’t heal properly and Razor didn’t release as soon as he bit down. There wasn’t a doctor on base when Tyson was bitten and they had to wait for her to return from a supply run before it could be seen to properly.

It was difficult not being able to use his dominant hand while his wrist healed, as this was long before Tyson became near ambidextrous due to needing to cover the dent in his torso. He was very lucky that Razor didn’t do more permanent damage, given how the dog jerked Tyson’s arm around before finally relinquishing his hold.

Razor had gotten agitated from heatstroke and lashed out at Tyson, which is the same reason Tyson got the scar on his left shoulder from Lily too. Tyson blamed himself for not noticing that Razor was feeling off and, once Tyson recovered, the German Shepherd completed his training.

• Skipper

Skipper was the male Doberman with a red coat that Tyson was training whilst he was with Kim; trading in-compound chores with other soldiers to take their out-of-compound chores so that he would have an excuse to go and see Kimiko.

As such, Skipper is the dog that Tyson trained the least of all the dogs that were put under his care. Though Tyson traded chores, not training time, he often took the dog around with him when the chores would allow it. That way he could reinforce good behaviours and discourage bad behaviours outside of training time, without overtaxing the dog.

From what he remembers, Skipper was a good dog who struggled at heights, but would still listen to commands. Honestly though, Tyson’s memories of those months largely come down to: Kim! Kim is so pretty, and clever, and witty. I love Kim.

* Tyson has served with plenty of service dogs and handled their care as one of the service dog handlers on the front lines, but those were dogs that had been given their training by other people.

Jasmine Dartmoor

The face claim for Jasmine is Sally Bretton.

Though Tyson only knew Jasmine for three years before going away to join the army, she became a surrogate mother to him in that time. Tyson’s father was hardly affectionate and Jethro ran away from home shortly after Jasmine started working at the family manor; content that there was someone else there to look after Tyson. Originally Tyson was cautious around Jasmine and hid from her as he had done with his tutors. Tyson began warning to Jasmine after finding out she could speak Hebrew too. Over time they learnt how to work around each other. Jasmine didn’t reveal Tyson’s hiding space in the manor’s attic to Tyson’s father if Tyson behaved and attended his sessions with his tutors.

Jasmine had only intended to work at the manor for a year, to help pay off her university debts from learning to be a therapist, but she decided to stay on full time to look after Tyson, having felt so protective of the skittish teen. Jasmine introduced Tyson to a way of calming down after his anxiety attacks; this technique carried into Tyson’s adulthood, becoming more effective when Tyson learnt to meditate too

When Tyson ran off to join the army, Jasmine stayed at the manor to make sure that when Tyson returned he’d still have a home. Tyson’s father didn’t see eye to eye with Jasmine, but he respected her opinions and Jasmine knew how to manipulate the late John Delaney into being less strict about his sons.

Currently Jasmine lives at the family manor and looks after Jack for Tyson. Once a month Jasmine sends a care package of cookies down to Tyson. Whenever Tyson goes up to Cambridge to guest lecture he makes sure to stop in and visit Jasmine.

UNIVERAL TRUTHS

• Blood Type: A Positive
• Date of Birth: August 2nd 1972 - Leo - Year of the Rat (Water)
• DnD Alignment: Neutral Good
• Dominant Hand: Right
• Ethnicity: White, British
• Myers Briggs Type: INFP-A | The Mediator
• Orientation: Heterosexual
• Religion: Atheist
• Signature:

FAVOURITE

• Favourite Animal: Guinea Pig
• Favourite Author: Agatha Christie
• Favourite Colour: Orange
• Favourite Film: Johnny English
• Favourite Food: Fruit Cake
• Favourite Plant: Hydrangea
• Favourite Poem: Double, Double Toil & Trouble - William Shakespeare

VERSE DEPENDANT

• Avatar Element: Earth
• His Dark Material’s Dæmon: Sugar Glider
• Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
• Hybrid!Verse Pairing: Persian Cat
• Mass Effect Species: Quarian - Jas’Min nar Dartmoor
• Pokémon Team: Furret, Bellossom, Pachirisu, Tangrowth, Cinccino, & Swanna

Colour Tyson’s Synesthesia Projects Onto Them:

Water

This is a headcanon that has been told several times:

Tyson loves water.

Tyson was taught to swim by his brother, Jethro Andrew Delaney, who used to take him to a small creak near the family manor, and sometimes to the river in the family manor’s ground when it was summer and there had been a heavy rainfall making it deep enough to go in.

Though he’ll whine about being wet when he gets out of the water Tyson does love being in it, except when it comes to baths. He hates taking baths, even after a long run when he feels like he never want to stand again he’ll take a shower rather than getting into the bath, because he didn’t like just sitting in a pool of water. It’s the same reasoning he gives when his nephew wants him to join him in the sea or in a swimming pool. However, when presented with an open lagoon Tyson would gladly sit in the water for hours on end.

He likes being in fresh water with lots of room the best though, especially those near waterfalls. Tyson adores waterfalls, almost to the same level as he does mathematics, maps, and dogs. They are a source of wondrous beauty for Tyson that the man-made world cannot corrupt.

Swimming gives him a freedom. It takes him away from the world. He can’t fully meditate when floating because he has buoyancy issues. He can flow perfectly, but only face down which causes an issue if he wants to breath. If he tries to float on his back then his head would sink under water - unless he keeps pushing it up - until he rotates around to floating on his stomach.

Rain holds less affection in Tyson’s heart. The constant, dismal onslaught of rain from the British weather takes away a lot of the joy rainfall can bring, but even so he appreciates the mathematical challenge that rain can give. He knows the formulae for predicting where each rain drop will fall. His view on rain does improve once he’s inside, however.

There is a divide amongst Tyson’s pets when it comes to water.

Lily [Dalmatian/Dhole] hates water. When they first met, Lily was terrified of water; including the river she led him to for water. Since those days, Tyson has helped her calm down and taught her to swim, but she still hates taking a bath and she never wants to stay out in the rain. More often than not, Tyson will wash her in the en-suite’s walk-in shower instead.

Bobby [Dalmatian/Dhole/Beagle] - on the other hand - loves water, and swimming, and rain, and jumping in puddles, and… anything wet. When he was a smaller dog, Bobby used to swim laps in the bathtub. Whenever Tyson goes to take a shower, Bobby insists on jumping in to join him.

Jack [Doberman] is largely impartial about water. Whilst he won’t care about walking out in the rain, he also won’t jump into the water; unless it’s a very hot day or ordered in by Tyson. Bath time has always been easy with Jack.

Meg [Welsh Border Collie] also loves water, natural water anyway. Unlike Bobby, Meg would take some coaxing to get into a chlorinated pool. As soon you’ve spotted a pond, lake, or river, Meg is already in it. And pulling out the biggest stick she can find to play fetch with.

Mandy [Tabby] is continually curious about water, especially running water. However, that thought is abandoned the moment her body gets wet. Tyson can clean her legs, tail, and ears without her raising a fuss. She’s easy to calm and, unless she falls in the water, doesn’t start scratching, but she’s clearly distressed.

Felix [Ragdoll] hasn’t shown a great interest in water, but he’s largely apathetic about being wet. He won’t even bother to dry himself. He just lays his soaking wet body down on the bed for someone else to deal with later.

Draco [Dragon] responds like a tiny bird to water. 

Jack

This is Jack:

He's one of Tyson's dogs. He is a guard dog entrusted with guarding the family manor.

Tyson would have preferred to talk Jack to London with him, but Jack is his best guard dog so he left him in Jasmine's care. Jack is six years old, two years older than Lily (four) who, in turn, is three and a half years older than Bobby (at this point in time.)