Tarot Cards

The tarot card that matches Tyson - both in the sense of traditional tarot cards and their usages within the Persona universe - would be the Hanged Man.

Three cards of the major arcana could easily be drawn from the deck and justified to personify Tyson: Hierophant, Justice, and Hanged Man. So, what makes the Hanged Man the card to represent Tyson?

Portrayed as a man hanging upside-down from one leg with his other leg crossing it, forming a “4;” the Hanged Man Arcana is associated with self-sacrifice for the sake of enlightenment, the bindings that makes one free, paradoxes and hanging between heaven and earth. In Tarot readings, this card’s appearance can be seen as an advice to take the time necessary to reflect over one’s upcoming actions.

Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana are commonly Personas excelling in survivability. Hanged Man Personas are typically mythological figures that exist between two different forces, or find themselves in transition. They are also sometimes martyr figures.

Hanged Man characters are sometimes self-sacrificial, but are more often notable for being caught between two different extremes, parties or stages in life.

Our dear sweet Icarus will always be carried by themes of self-sacrifice and the idea of getting caught between two extremes, good and bad. 

Tyson has structured his life around bindings to make himself free, to avoid having control taken away from him by giving away control and keeping in constant control of himself.

Despite his best attempts to run away from the family legacy and his upper-class upbringing, Tyson will always be a scholar in his heart of hearts; and his endless curiosity will always lead Tyson straight into trouble. Any risk he takes and price he must pay is worth it in Tyson eyes to find the answers he seeks, to find the truth.

The Lawful Neutral Tyson will always be balancing the scales of two extremes. He has a confusingly big heart and will go out of his way to do good, because he genuinely wants to, but also to make up for the evil he does: to survive and out of love and loyalty to the Moriarty Mirrors.

One of his defining characteristics is that his determination to live - to survive - is (almost) as strong as Moran’s to kill, and Tyson takes all the time in the world to consider his options: a backup plan for every backup plan.

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Beyond commentary on Tyson’s personality, tarots also carries weight in Mythical!Verse and Tyson reading the cards for cons, weaving tales around those he knows to sell his story to his audience.

The following are how Tyson associate people with different arcana for storytelling and for magical purposes, depending on the verse.

0 Fool - Bùi Kimiko & Jim Moriarty (Mischief)
I Magician - Jeremy Thornton & Rosie Delaney
II Priestess -  Dōjima ‘Tae’ Taeko
III Empress - Charlie Hotchner
IV Emperor - Jethro Andrew Delaney 
V Hierophant - Professor John Delaney 
VI Lovers - Liam Edward Xavier
VII Chariot - Captain Andrew Samson
VIII Justice - Professor Reginald Arlington
IX Hermit - James Delaney & Professor Isaac Alinson
X Fortune - Anne Samantha Williams & Levi McCullum
XI Strength - Second Lieutenant Hal Malone & Sienna McCullum
XII Hanged Man - Lieutenant Tyson Delaney 
XIII Death - General William Clarkson & Jim Moriarty (Sunshine)
XIV Temperance - Greg Lestrade & Billy Ramsey
XV Devil - Irene Adler
XVI Tower - Colonel Sebastian Moran
XVII Star - Jasmine Dartmoor & George Cartwright
XVIII Moon - Dick Gannon
XIX Sun - Nathaniel Morrison & Molly Hooper
XX Judgement - Professor Richard Delaney
XXI World - Captain John Watson

Moriarty and Animals

Over the years, Tyson had heard the Moriarty Mirrors compared to many different animals.

Crow/Raven

Every now and again, and constantly in Redemption!Verse, Tyson keeps a crow plush in his bag as a good luck charm because it reminds him of the Moriarty Mirrors.

He understands the comparison and at times enjoys it. They’re smart birds and he certainly does enjoy seeing them in black, but Tyson cannot take hearing another ‘sly’ reference to the Raven poem directed at them.

Fox

An apt comparison in Tyson’s mind. One that he hears most often from the Moriarty Mirrors themselves or those within the web, rather than those he meets on business for the web.

If he hears the comparison to a fox outside of the web, it’s usually in more vague terms that Tyson has to intuit from: sly, Wiley, et cetera.

Magpie

The Magpie is the comparison that Tyson agrees with the most. It’s the symbol they always use on their wax seals, to which Tyson answers with a compass.

Though the Moriarty Mirrors may deny this, Tyson can say with certainty that he’s seen them acting like magpies before. Mischief with new tech and trinkets, and Sunshine with antiquities and trinkets too. Not that Tyson is any better, always snagging shiny objects from passing pockets that he thinks might interest them.

Snake

His shoulders are rounded from much study, and his face protrudes forward, and is for ever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion. 

Tyson is fortunate enough to have avoided having their fangs directed at him, but he has seen the consequences of their venom plenty of times.

It’s a comparison that Tyson agrees with, but one that he prefers not to think about.

Spider

Their criminal empire is called the web.

Stress Relief

When it comes to stress relief, we already know that meditation works well for Tyson and that he tends to avoid sex or masturbation, but how does Tyson handle other traditional ways of relieving stress?

Tyson has the same problem with distrusting strangers and not wanting to be touched by anyone he doesn’t know with massages as he does with sex. That said, Tyson enjoys giving massages and finds the repetitive actions calming.

He has never tried acupuncture, but Tyson doesn’t trust strangers to be near him with sharp objects enough to let them cut his hair. He cuts his own hair for that very reason. On the other hand, fear of needles isn’t a problem.

The dent in his torso stops Tyson from doing yoga, but he isn’t against the idea and if it weren’t for the pain from that hypersensitive wound, Tyson would probably get the same amount of stress relief from yoga as he would his meditation.

He tends to get good results from anything that requires heat, however. Hot springs and saunas are great for getting Tyson to relax and, even though trusting a stranger is still a problem, hot rocks do help Tyson unwind his stress.

Mud baths go into the category of acceptable dirt with Tyson’s OCD, but he doesn’t enjoy them that much. He dislikes being stuck in a bath anyway, vulnerable on his back like a turtle and forced to stay in one position, and adding a thicker liquid that restricts his movements more simply makes it worse.

But for Tyson, the best stress relief of all is laying on the settee with something warm and fuzzy snuggled on top of him. Even if Bobby wiggles too much.

Plays and Opera

As a child, Tyson was dragged to dozens of plays and operas whilst his father entertained his fellow professors or schmoozed with potential donors to the manor.

He definitely prefers watching plays rather than performing them, but being in a theatre isn’t something Tyson would choose to do on his own. Even if one of the opera top boxes, Tyson’s anxiety is set off by the sheer number of people below.

Pagliacci was a favourite of Tyson’s father and the young heir was dragged to several performances. He’s convinced that he’ll never get the words out of his head now, but Tyson never grew bored of hearing it as he did some of the other performances he was taken to.

Tyson saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with Sebastian whilst they were between deployments. It was one of the few moments that they stole together between times in uniforms that could be called a date; not their first, but close to it and certainly more memorable than the café that took that honour.

The Pirates of Penzance was one of Jethro’s favourite performances. He’ll squirm in his seat and deny it now, but Jethro adored that performance when he was eleven. That Jethro was firmly in his pirate phase at the time probably helped.

Despite Jethro’s concerns that it might be a little too mature for him, James shared his mother’s love of The Who’s Tommy. Though that might in part be due to Rosie always playing The Who’s music and James already knowing the songs from her.

Sunlight

Though Tyson has rather sensitive skin when it comes to chemicals, he doesn’t get sunburn easily nor does he tan. His eye colour is affected by light exposure, but Tyson’s skin is always pale from a lack of sun, and far too long spent working by night.

Tyson’s freckles come and go but on his left shoulder, there are always a cluster of five soft brown freckles on his pale skin. It takes a lot of sun for freckles to appear on Tyson’s face, but he can end up with a few across the bridge of his nose. It’s most noticeable in the photos from his days serving in Afghanistan.

In bright sunlight, Tyson needs his sunglasses far less then he acts as though he does. He picked up the habit of always wearing his sunglasses during his army days and it never really left. He can’t afford to miss a threat because he’s squinting against the sun. Plus, it gives him an excuse to conceal his eyes from view; to avoid direct eye-contact and flit his gaze around for threats.

He tends to wear sunglasses with straight arms, because he hates the feeling of anything behind his wear.

Hands

Though Tyson has absolutely no poker face when it comes to his emotions, it can be difficult to follow what he’s thinking from his face; as he ricochets from one thought to another at a breakneck pace.

His hands, however, are more consistent and slower to react. A lot of his tells and nervous ticks can be observed in Tyson’s hands. The ring finger of Tyson’s left hand twitches when he’s lying, as Sebastian once broke it after Tyson lied to him, but that twitch doesn’t account for Tyson telling half-truths or teasing.

It simply happens, and - because of that tick - Tyson can easily be mistaken as lying by those who recognise the tick for what it is. Because of that, and all of his other nervous twitches, Tyson is very conscious of what he is doing with his hands and noticing one of his nervous ticks can snowball into Tyson becoming even more nervous.

Dropping into parade rest can be a comfortable fall back that Tyson feels more confident in, or it can be a deliberate decision to conceal the movements on his traitorous hands.

Sports

Tyson’s brother and P.E. teacher can be quoted as repeatedly saying that Tyson “improved with the weather” when it came to sport, which was true. Until his issues with excessive heat rear their head, Tyson’s sporting proficiency blooms with the weather.

As part of the archaic series of endless lessons that Tyson was required to learn as an heir of the Delaney legacy, Tyson took part in archery, horse riding, fencing, and dancing lessons; his dance lessons included ballroom, classical, tap, and contemporary dance.

His favourite one, and the one that he was best at, was fencing. Though Tyson never believed his tutors when he said this, Tyson could genuinely have made a living out of fencing professionally if he wanted to. He favours Saber then Épée, and then Foil.

Though Tyson was pretty good at rock climbing when he went with his brother, Jethro, to his classes, it wasn’t one that Tyson particularly enjoyed. He prefers the freedom to pick his own paths that climbing trees, mountains, or parkouring around London provides.

Tyson played cricket on his secondary school and university teams. At his secondary school, Tyson was also a part of the rugby team, but he always prefers to watch rugby than play it.

He was also a reluctant part of the tennis club at his secondary school. Tyson hates playing tennis, but he joined because it was a sport his mother used to play and Tyson saw that it made Jethro happy when Tyson practised the sport.

Through forces unseen, Tyson ended up getting roped into the cross-country team at his primary school. He didn’t mind that too much, even if he still doesn’t know how he ended up there. He regularly goes for runs around London, with or without his dogs at his heels.

In his free time, Tyson actively enjoys swimming - especially swimming outdoors - and goes mountain boarding with his sister-in-law, Rosie. He likes skateboarding during the early morning hours with his dogs on lazy days. His bicycle is his primary mode of transport around London, though Tyson enjoys cycling more off-road.

Pretending

Tyson’s acting ability has been discussed, as has how effective he is at disguising himself, but more important than either of those is how Tyson pretends to be something he’s not.

He pretends to be an uncaring killer when working for the web, but then he’s donating to charity and anything else that Tyson can do to make up for the bad things he does; though never for a single second believing that he can ever do enough to fix things. 

Tyson pretends to be a lot of things - not a threat, not as intelligent as he truly is, et cetera - but, his own self-worth about never being smart enough and his achievements not meaning anything aside, Tyson knows those aren’t true. He doesn’t try to believe them to be true. There is a huge exception, however.

Though he freely admits that he loves The Colonel and the Moriarty Mirrors, making Tyson admit that he’s (to a greater or lesser extent) homosexual is like pulling teeth. If there is one person Tyson is capable of lying to, it’s himself and - as mentioned here - Tyson is good at pretending that it’s not men he’s attracted to, just the person he’s head over heels for/in a relationship with.

That’s not true, but it’s never stopped Tyson before. The same applies to getting Tyson to admit that he is polyamorous. He’s not. He just… openly admits to loving multiple people at once: Kim, The Colonel, and The Moriarty Mirrors.

Tyson has always been best at giving half-truths than outright lies. He can admit to loving those people and all at once, but so long as no one questions if he is poly or if he is gay, then Tyson isn’t lying when he pretends inside his own head that he isn’t those things. That he’s ‘normal’.

Kitten!Verse

In Kitten!Verse, Sebastian and Tyson live in the same house as army!verse. This was done because Sebastian wants Tyson to have the illusion of choice. Sebastian does not care about the house he lives in, so long as he gets to choose the furniture. So he found a house where Tyson was comfortable, let Tyson pick it, and then redecorated and furnished it in his design.

The former Lieutenant is responsible for the army of cactus’ out on the wrap around patio and for all of his cat’s furniture, but everything else is from Sebastian. The bookcases are a combination of their tastes, however.

Tyson can leave the house whenever he wants, because Sebastian knows that he’ll always come back and usually with things for him. Tyson still struggles socially, but in this verse, he always has a mission when going outside. Even just getting groceries is easier when he’s buying for Sebastian, rather than for himself.

With Sebastian handling all the cooking, this may, in fact, be the verse where Tyson has the best diet and eats the most regularly.

Though Tyson has never run his pet store, nor ever received the nickname Pup, they get their meat from Jeremy’s butcher shop. Sebastian once overheard Jeremy ‘teasing’ Tyson about owing him sexual favours, then later - in a completely unrelated incident - lost his left index finger when his butcher’s knife slipped.

Tyson always gets discounters on the meat he picks up for Sebastian there.

The Biscuit Tin exists in this verse and Sebastian likes Tae’s baking, so when Tyson goes out in the morning to fetch a newspaper for Sebastian, he stops in to say hello to Tae and to pick up a treat for Moran’s lunch. She doesn’t know that Tyson is being abused. She bought the lie about him being a roughed up veteran with chronic pain. It helps that it’s technically true.

As Tyson has become more complacent, Sebastian’s abuse hasn’t gone away. He liked when Tyson fought back, that Tyson challenged him, so now he sometimes attacks to simply provoke a response. To force Tyson’s fight or flight instinct to show and chase him around the house.

Mandy, his grey Tabby cat, makes Tyson feel better after those attacks. So do the painkillers. He’s wavering on the edge of dependency on painkillers from chronic pain, but Tyson’s not addicted. He just needs them to get through the day due to the level of pain his body is in at almost all hours.

That said, Tyson has picked up a bad habit of mixing painkillers with alcohol when he shares a drink with Sebastian to make the other man happy.

Sebastian still published his adventures under the name ‘Zachary M. Cohen’ in this verse, but Tyson actually helped him write them in this version and provided the sketches that appear in his book. Tyson goes under his usual fake name of Anthony Hawthorn; after his Great Grandfather, coming off of his father’s then grandmother’s side of the family.

Corruption!Verse

Even in corruption!verse, Tyson couldn’t bring himself to kill Sebastian Moran on purpose. He forced Sebastian to back off by stabbing him during one of his attacks, having never previously stuck out against Sebastian with any weapon, but even then, Tyson couldn’t bring himself to kill Sebastian.

Tyson had The Colonel at his mercy and he just… pressed a kiss to Sebastian’s forehead and walked away. He shrugs it off as not being worth the effort to kill Sebastian, but Tyson simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Tyson’s relationship with his brother, Jethro, had become somewhat strained. Jethro doesn’t know exactly what’s happened to Tyson, but he knows that his brother has strayed even further from the right path and he doesn’t know how to discuss it without escalating into an argument.

Sleeping with Lex has gone from an occasional, rare distraction to frequent stress relief in corruption!verse. His wildcard continues to be exactly that. Tyson could easily put him to heel, but his usefulness in keeping the web dynamic and the Moriarty Mirrors entertained remains.

Billy is in too deep, too compromised, to stop Tyson anymore with all the evidence he has to hold over her head. However, it’s rare that he pressures her for information and information that would damage enemies of the web usually end up in her hands instead.

Dick Gannon and James Delaney continue to be Tyson’s precious boys. Within corruption!verse, Tyson indulges Dick’s drinking a little more, but he stills cares about getting his stray back on his feet. Tyson’s nephew remains enamoured with his uncle and Tyson will do anything to keep him safe.

For all the Moriarty Mirrors efforts in corrupting Tyson into a weapon, the man who joined the web isn’t completely gone. He doesn’t go out of his way to make up for the bad he does within the web, but he will go out of his way to nurse a baby bird back to health out of principle. He won’t abide anyone hurting a child.

He is their weapon, but he is also their Pup. The mathematical prodigy with too keen eyes, a talent for maps, and secret smiles hidden behind his palm as he watches Jim’s tongue poke out in concentration as he works on his latest gadgets or toy. He’s still the pet to show up with coffee and sandwiches because he cares about looking after the Moriarty Mirrors.

Though Tyson is good at covering over his tattoos with make-up when he needs to for the web, he has never stopped hating having to conceal the ones on the back of his neck. They have become the bane of his existence.

When he’s not having to cover them up, Tyson honestly loves those tattoos. Running his fingers over the runes and sigils has almost become a nervous tick, a simple comfort taken from the temperature of them. A constant connection to his owners.

Prophesy

Though Tyson believes that fate can always be changed, Tyson is interested in the mathematics of prophecy and predicting the future.

He uses his own form of predicting the future for the web, Game Theory. Previously, Tyson used Game Theory as a strategist in the army. The police may utilise it to catch criminals, but Tyson uses it to predict targets of the web and the decisions the police are likely to make to protect employees of the web, himself, and The Colonel.

His favourite part of Game Theory is being proved wrong. That there is always another option, a new variable to consider next time. He can predict the most likely outcomes, but life had so many different variables that he can’t be correct every time and every time that Tyson gets it right, it feels like a victory.

As mentioned when discussing cards, Tyson knows how to read tarot cards. He mixes the interpretation and meaning of the cards with Game Theory to make it sound more believable. Tyson puts complete faith in mathematics, he believes that predictions based on mathematics are the most likely outcome, so his audience is more likely to listen and accept his words. 

Children

When it comes to children, Tyson really isn’t good with things younger than a toddler. Handing him a baby is the equivalent of saying, “here, have a minor meltdown.” Once talking and/or waddling age is reached, Tyson manages to curb his panic a little better.

From a toddler to a teen, Tyson has a tendency to work himself into a panic about the possibility of them getting hurt, but he is generally pretty good about looking after them; even if he is far too susceptible to puppy eyes in a way that he never caves to when it comes to actual puppies.

Though he was groomed to teach at a university level since his own childhood rather than to teach children, Tyson finds those skills to be rather transferable. Swapping into his ‘Professor Delaney’ voice is easy and it helps Tyson keep his focus on what he needs to do to help and look after the child in his care.

Lights

Though he is most definitely a night owl when sleeping on a more regular schedule, Tyson takes great comforting in having light around him.

When trying to avoid the Colonel or escaping the police, Tyson keeps to the shadows to avoid detection, but even having a street light in his peripheral vision is incredibly soothing for Tyson. He doesn’t even need it to illuminate his area, just for it to be nearby.

He finds it much easier to sleep when there is a light on and he’s less likely to devolve into a panic attack if he wakes from a nightmare with some light around. Usually, this means that Tyson will put his phone on charge, on one of the shelves above his bed, and keep it locked open and bright.

He keeps a blue lamp in the bedroom cupboard of his apartment.

The walk in cupboard has several shelves and two racks to put clothes on. There is always a spare shelf encase anyone stays over. The clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories that Tyson keeps in his cupboard are here. Tyson uses the cupboard as a ‘den’ to hide himself away in when he has PTSD episodes. Tyson’s den was a place for him to retreat when he had episodes of PTSD or was just generally distressed. The floor is covered in pillows, quilts, and blankets and any other items in the cupboard are hidden behind large sheets that hang down from hooks in the ceiling. This is so that when he goes in there with an episode nothing he sees can trigger him because all he’ll be able to see was a white sheet. The only items in the cupboard that he doesn’t hide behind the sheets are a teddy-bear that used to belong to his mother, now deceased, and a lamp that emits soft blue light. The sliding door has a bolt lock on the inside.

For all his fear of fire, when he was on the run with Sebastian through Afghanistan, into Pakistan and then India, Tyson appreciated the light the fire provided much more than its heat. The light giving them away was always a risk, but with a Dakota Fire Pit, the flames were out of sight whilst providing a reassuring pool of light for Tyson to watch.