Choosing the right pet

Though Tyson rarely opens Pup’s Pet Store for the public, one of the services he offers when the store is actually open is to help people find the right pet for them; and more importantly in his eyes, the right person for that animal.

Tyson struggles to read and understand people, but Tyson knows animals and he’s good at reading how they’re feeling.

Within his main!verse, he found homes for all of Lily’s puppies: with the exception of Bobby, the runt of the little whom he always intended to keep. He was also the who found Toby (the Beagle) for John Watson to adopt and helped train him in the year that Sherlock was pretending to be dead, and he took Billy to adopt her cat, Quip.

He has a good memory for the general behavioural quirks for the majority of cat and dog breeds, though Tyson will admit that he can give far more detailed answers when it comes to how a dog can be expected to respond.

Having spent so much of his life handling service dogs for the army, Tyson has a good understanding of what an animal will need in those first few weeks and what they will need once they’re acclimatised. He knows how to train them and how much energy/time is needed to achieve certain things.

Tyson is an incredibly patient person, but he still understands the frustration of not feeling as though progress is being made with an animal. He is in a good position to help break through that communication wall and encourage a person to keep trying, to offer alternative solutions and provide that training himself if needs be.

Climbing

As mentioned in Tyson’s sports headcanon:

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. 

He doesn’t find climbing rewarding in the same way as other exercises. He doesn’t mind being at heights and the view can be enjoyable, but the actual task is one that disinterests Tyson.

To take a break - or stop altogether - when he’s running or lifting weights before meeting any significant stopping point doesn’t feel like a defeat, as he has still achieved whatever distance and however many lifts as the point he stops at. Whereas when he’s climbing, Tyson has either completed that attempt at climbing the wall or he hasn’t. It feels like a defeat to lower himself back to the ground without completing the wall.

Parkouring around London goes into the running category for Tyson. It’s like running through an obstacle course in his army days. Every building he manages to get over, around, or through counts as a success.

Even when he needs to haul himself over a ledge or climb up drainpipes to make his way to a window, Tyson would never put that into the same category of climbing up as a rock wall. In his mind, it’s more dynamic and involved than a climbing wall.

Redundancy

Ageing out of usefulness isn’t the only way that Tyson could find himself becoming redundant within the web. Injury is a much more likely cause in fact.

A physical ailment could sufficiently reduce his usefulness, but Tyson knows that there are ways to work around almost any physical disability if he had to and - as mentioned in the other headcanon - Tyson’s usefulness to the web isn’t dependant on his physicality.

An injury to Tyson’s mind or memory would be a death sentence. Tyson is useful because he is a strategist and a mathematical prodigy. He is a genius. It’s easy to forget that with the number of stupid decisions he makes, but Tyson has a genius level intellect. He had three Ph.Ds under his belt by age seventeen.

He can follow the Moriarty Mirrors logic and - almost always - match them blow for blow. There are times when they get ahead of him and times when Tyson has to break down their chain of logic much slower than they would wish, but Tyson is kept around because he can follow along if given time and can provide actual input and challenges to those ideas.

If Tyson lost his ability to learn as quickly as he does, if he lost his ability to debate - mathematics, physics, grand plans for the criminal empire - with the Moriarty Mirrors, Pup would be gone. He would still be loyal and a great guard dog, but Tyson would become any other hound at their heel.

Not their Pup. Bright, argumentative, and loyal to a fault.

Tyson would survive losing a limb. He would find a way to be useful and adapt the ways he worked if he lost the use of one of his senses. Losing his mind would break him. Not only would Tyson lose one of his few reasons for self-worth, Tyson would lose his place at the Moriarty Mirrors side. Not immediately, perhaps.

He would still have use as an attack dog and a trophy to hold over The Colonel, that no matter what Moran doesn’t get to take what is theirs. And for a time there would be a hope of Tyson recovering his memories and his mental capacities, the Moriarty Mirrors would be willing to invest in getting their Pup back, but eventually, he would be put down.

A loyal hound that had given all he had to give and deserved a painless death. Poison in one of his cups of coffee, no longer having an immunity built up and antidotes prepared from his game of trading poisoning attempts with Sunshine.

Skateboards

Tyson skateboards in many of his verses, but the deck he uses changes depending on the verse.

The blue alien workshop skateboard with the grey outline is the skate deck that Tyson uses in this main!universe and in any other universe, unless otherwise stated.

The other grey outline is Tyson’s dirtboard, which remains the same regardless of universe. Outside of his mountain board, Tyson also has a bicycle (and motorbike) in his main!universe which also universally transfer over to his other universes.

Within Pokémon AU, Tyson uses his mountain board to get around. Often attaching a harness to Zenobia, his Zebstriker, and having her pull him around or removing its wheels and attaching a rope to Hermes, his Dragonair, and using it as a wakeboard.

* In Orphan AU 3 Teen!Verse, Tyson has the yellow/white panda skateboard with the blue box outline. The other blue outline is the skateboard that Tyson is saving up for as a replacement for when the panda one gets broken.

Though he takes good enough care of his things in this verse to keep the same deck from childhood to adulthood, as main!verse Tyson has, teen!verse Tyson has very limited money and had to get the panda skateboard secondhand from someone else in the orphanage.

* Within Hogwarts AU, Tyson’s skateboard has an enchanted deck that changes between those three designs/colours in the orange box depending on the angle that the board is leaning in. It’s designed as a beginners board to help understand their balance, but Tyson liked it enough to keep it.

To muggles, the board appears to be holographic/iridescent when viewed from different angles rather than dynamically changing because of the balance. 

In Redemption!Verse, a sub-verse of Corruption!Verse, Tyson is teaching his nephew James how to skateboard when they take the dogs out in the morning. James’ skateboard is the Punisher Cherry Blossom skateboard within the purple box.

In HDM AU, Tyson uses the surfskate longboard within the green box instead of a skateboard. He does this to make room for his dæmon, Yenta, to hop onto the board when she gets tired of running alongside him. This also makes room for his dogs when they wish to join, but only for one passenger at a time.

Within Veteran AU, Tyson has taken to rollerskating with the pair in the brown box as a form of physical therapy in his recovery. He sometimes finds long walks difficult and rollerskating is an easier way for him to move around, Meg and Jack love to run after him like that.

* Currently unpictured in his Orphan AU and Hogwarts AU, teenage Tyson absolutely has heelys. Those will be appearing in their respective Pokémon headcanon marathon posts, which sadly must wait for Generation 5/6.

Zoo

As with most social attractions, Tyson’s issues with zoos stem more from his social anxiety rather than any objections towards the attractions themselves.

He is always keenly aware that animals can easily be mistreated within zoos and that they can cause misinformation to spread, but for the most part, Tyson falls on the side of zoos being overall beneficial as a place to protect endangered animals and to safely provide education about various animals.

Though Tyson will always gladly take his nephew to the aquarium whenever he wants to go, he does enjoy the days when James wants to visit the London zoo instead. It’s something where Tyson can actually help explain things for James and answer his questions about various animals.

James’ favourite stuffed toy in his massive collection is Kevin, a lion that Tyson brought for him at London zoo.

Laughter

When Tyson laughs, it comes as a soft amused huff or a bark of laughter: shocking and brief, escaping before being clamped down again.

He dislikes how vulnerable laughing makes him. He’ll hide his laughter by smothering himself with his bicep.

His father used to snap at students for laughing during his lessons and at his heirs for disturbing him when he was marking papers or doing research, so Tyson got into the habit of keeping his laughter as quiet as possible and avoiding laughing openly.

Humour

Tyson’s sense of humour fluctuates wildly between a quick deadpan wit coupled with macabre gallows’ humour, smooth as butter flirtations, & awful plays on words and puns.

The latter mostly only comes out with people he’s comfortable enough around to make a fool of himself with, such as his family and old friends. He is a very guarded person with strong social anxiety. It takes a lot of courage for him to purposefully act the fool and to avoid flinching away if someone mocks him for doing so.

The middle one is either for those he’s comfortable with, used as a reflexive defence, or in response to another person’s flirting. He likes making other people smile and flattery is a good way of doing that. He finds flirting fun, so it comes more naturally to Tyson.

The former is most commonly seen, though the full extent of it is usually awkwardly stilted - as much of his words and speech patterns are - until Tyson feels comfortable enough around a person to speak freely.

Unown

Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back.

Tyson will always be endlessly curious and the unknown is simply a new puzzle for him to play with.

Finding something that he doesn’t understand and getting to poke at it until he does understand it is one of Tyson’s favourite parts of science and mathematics, and his work with the Moriarty Mirrors.

He has an ingrained fear from childhood about being reprimanded for not knowing everything - to admitting that he doesn’t know something that he feels as though he should, which is everything - but that doesn’t dim the spark of wonder in Tyson’s eyes when he finds something new.

He is a scholar in his heart of hearts. Any new knowledge to discover is a gift.

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.

---

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.