Crickets

Though Sebastian found the sound grating and would reach for the bottle sooner on nights with cricket song, Tyson found it soothing. A reassuring sign that they weren’t completely alone, but weren’t being threatened either.

Though there were a handful of moments in Afghanistan and Pakistan where they could hear crickets, that largely came towards the end of their shared journey, as they crossed over into India.

Maybe Tyson should have seen that as an omen of things to come, that everything was going to chance.

Before they were forced back out of India by increasingly close army patrols, things actually seemed to be better. Though Sebastian was annoyed by the crickets, he was generally happier than he had been in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There were moments of incredible violence, such as his attack during the monsoon that saw them to the monastery, but overall, Sebastian was more inclined to pull Tyson into his lap to make love rather than assault him.

So now, Tyson finds the sound of crickets to be bittersweet. It was an awful time of his life, but… Tyson can’t help but treasure those days in India with Sebastian, grumbling about damn crickets whilst dragging Tyson in against his side.

Triggers

Though all of the triggers listed in Tyson’s masterlist are indeed triggers, they trigger Tyson’s anxiety/OCD/PTSD to varying degrees: depending on the moment and his mental state at the time.

• Being called Poppet

It’s not a very common pet name and one that Sebastian used a lot when talking to women, so Tyson tends to find this one very jarring.

It will always trigger his anxiety, often to the point where he’ll end up fighting a panic attack later in the day, but when he’s in a rocky mental place it can trigger his PTSD as well.

• Being called Kitten

Sebastian called Tyson his ‘kitten’. This one will always trigger his anxiety, often to the point where he’ll end up fighting a panic attack later in the day.

However, as he’s become desensitises to it as a mocking name from employees of the web, this one doesn’t hit as hard and rarely directly triggers his PTSD.

• Being called Kiddo

This is in a similar place to Kitten, though coming from Sebastian and from Tyson’s father. This one will trigger his anxiety, but never his PTSD.

Occasionally, this one will set off his OCD and have him performing some of the rare ticks associated with his OCD. This stems from watching to tidy up and look perfect to appease his father’s impossible standards.

• Being around alcohol

This one is from The Colonel’s alcohol fuel abuse and he was Tyson’s father used to drink, especially before disciplining Tyson with his belt.

By and large, Tyson has this one under control, but being around it will always affect him to some extent and tasting it by surprise can instantly trigger a panic attack on the wrong day.

• People touching the dent in his torso.

It’s a hole in his torso caused by years of abuse that triggers instant pain when struck.

Tyson can cope with people touching it - very gently - when he trusts them and when they telegraph every motion to him, but even when his own hands brush it by mistake, he can end up fighting the gut reaction to vomit.

Actually striking the dent can cause anything from panic attacks to flashbacks.

• Barns

This one is only when Tyson comes across a barn by surprise whilst out on a walk, once he knows its there or was expecting it, Tyson is fine. When he can’t brace for it ahead of time, Tyson goes into a terrible mental place around barns.

When The Colonel abandoned Tyson to die/for the army to find, they had been sheltering in a barn and in a desperate attempt to escape the army - who he assumed would shoot him and leave him for dead - Tyson attempted to hang himself, before the rope snapped.

• Raised, angry voices

When Tyson is in a bad mental place, this is the usual trigger. The straw that breaks the camels back and leads to him having a flashback or panic attack.

• Hands being raised quickly, close to him

This only applies when it’s within his personal space and coming unexpectedly, not during a mission for the web, for example, when Tyson is always braced for attack.

Usually, this one would lead to a panic attack. One he can contain, suppress and keep his cool until he’s behind closed doors, but he’ll eventually break.

• Men with grey hair

This one usually sets off his anxiety.

He’ll be walking through London completely fine, a good mental space day where his social anxiety and general anxiety are tucked away for the time being, then he’ll catch a head of grey hair in the corner of his eye and every fragment of fear he’s ignored will wash of him like a bucket of ice.

• Men with similar voices to Sebastian

When he’s in a bad mental place, this is usually what leads to fragments of memories with Tyson’s PTSD rather than a full flashback. A sentence that he once heard from Sebastian coming from somewhere he can’t see, his familiar footsteps behind Tyson, a glimpse of his face in a crowd, things like that.

• Thunder and Lightening

This one is variable. Maybe they set off his anxiety or maybe they trigger a full flashback. His reaction is visceral.

As mentioned in this headcanon:

It’s not simply that Tyson tenses up around thunder and lightning. His entire body locks upand he will stay frozen for several seconds that feel like hours, heart hammering, before coming back to himself. 

• Cold water on his head

This doesn’t apply to rain, but rather a sudden wave of water getting dumped over Tyson’s head. This will be a panic attack. He will hyperventilate. His hands will be shaking for almost an hour afterwards.

This comes from an incident in Afghanistan that led to Tyson always wearing loose collars. During that time, along with having his air restricted by things around his throat, Tyson was waterboarded several times.

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.

Kisses

Tyson’s first kiss was when he was fourteen and his first kiss with a guy was when he was sixteen with Peter Campbell; one of two students that his father had paid to pretend to be friends with Tyson, an action that ended both of those friendships.

In a non-romantic context, Tyson is very liberal with his kisses. He’s a very tactile person. He kisses the top of his dog’s heads when giving them praise. He’ll kiss his nephew on the top of his head to give praise and say goodbye. He kisses Jasmine and Rosie’s cheek in greeting, and every morning he sees them thereafter.

Overall, Tyson prefers kissing - and others forms of intimacy - to sex. He won’t use sex to manipulate people, for his own needs or for the web, but Tyson isn’t above using other people’s sensuality against them. It’s been used against him so many times that Tyson chalks it up as fair game.

To keep his wild card in line, Tyson is much more inclined to distract Lex with a kiss than trying to pull him into bed. When The Colonel has him pinned, Tyson isn’t above using kisses to distract him; and in those brief moments when Sebastian is being nice before trying to reclaim him, all that Tyson will allow him to have are kisses, not sex.

Sebastian Moran

UNIVERAL TRUTHS

• Blood Type: O Positive
• Date of Birth: November 14th 1956 – Scorpio – Monkey (Fire)
• DnD Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
• Dominant Hand: Left
• Ethnicity: White, British
• Myers Briggs Type: ENTJ-A | The Commander
• Orientation: Homosexual
• Religion: Non-Observant Catholic
• Signature:

FAVOURITE

• Favourite Animal: Tiger
• Favourite Author: Charles Dickens
• Favourite Colour: Blue
• Favourite Film: A Street Car Named Desire
• Favourite Food: Chicken Tikka Masala
• Favourite Plant: Cherry Blossom
• Favourite Poem: I Speak Not, I Trace Not, I Breathe Not Thy Name - Lord Byron

VERSE DEPENDANT

• Avatar Element: Fire
• His Dark Material’s Dæmon: Siberian Tiger
• Hogwarts House: Slytherin
• Hybrid!Verse Pairing: Siberian Tiger
• Mass Effect Species: Human Biotic L2
• Pokémon Team: Alolan Marowak, Gyarados, Scizor, Tyranitar, Gardevoir, & Toxicroak.

Colour Tyson’s Synesthesia Projects Onto Them: