Purloining

Tyson practises his purloining to perfection.

Sooner or later, Tyson is going to get himself into trouble by reflexively pick-pocketing and stealing the things that catch his attention to improve his skills. It’s almost become a reflex for Tyson. If there is an easy pocket, he needs to pick it.

For all practical purposes, Tyson does not need to spend his ‘free time’ pick-pocketing people on the streets of London. He is an excellent pick-pocket already and he is only making more work for himself, having to find creative ways to return the stolen items later; whenever possible.

However, Tyson enjoys that. It’s a game and an adventure, and though he potentially ruined a person’s day when he stole it, Tyson knows that he can make someone’s day by returning the stolen item; anonymously or not.

He is an adept lock-picker, and took to it like a duck to water, but learning how to safe-crack has been an uphill battle for Tyson. He understands how it works and what he needs to do, but that simply does not click into achieving it - without several minutes of swearing and a snack intermission - for Tyson.

Dogs

At this point, it should be self-evident that despite having been severely bitten by dogs twice, Tyson adores dogs and that they love him back.

He spent years training service dogs for the army, and continued as a service dog handler once on active service. He is the Moriarty Mirrors’ loyal Pup and shares his apartment with a pair of mother and pup Dalmatians. His Doberman, Jack, guards the Delaney family manor in the care of Jasmine.

Tyson adores his dogs. He fusses over them all the time and they are nearly always by his side. They are his constant companions. Tyson keeps their leashes wrapped through his belt loops like a second and third belt.

Dogs within Tyson’s universe(s):

• Bobby - Dalmatian-mix - Tyson Delaney 
• Cait - English Bulldog - Jeremy Thornton
• Jack - Doberman - Tyson Delaney
• Lily - Dalmatian/Dhole - Tyson Delaney
• Meg - Welsh Boarder Collie - Tyson Delaney { Army!Verse & Veteran AU
• Riker - Poodle - Isaac Alinson
• Simba - Leonberger - Tae Dōjima
• Toby - Beagle - John Watson

Surveillance

Though Tyson can understand the worry of constant surveillance, he finds the cameras around London to be a comforting presence.

Wherever he goes, backup from the web is never far away. If he can spot a security camera and get close enough to clearly blink at it, Tyson can guarantee getting a message to the Moriarty Mirrors, even in situations where he couldn’t use his phone without alerting the people around him.

He knows that if he ever goes missing, the web can track him down and rescue him that way. There are times when that isn’t true, when Tyson is purposefully avoiding the cameras’ gaze to avoid enemies of the web tracking him, but in those cases, the web would already be aware of his intended destination and could track him down that way.

Hogwarts

Within Hogwarts AU, Tyson is in his sixth year at Hogwarts. He’s studying Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, & Care of Magical Creatures. He gets good grades and tries hard in all his lessons.

Alongside his wizarding studies, Tyson also receives muggle homework from his father to keep up with mathematical studies primarily, but he also receives work for other subjects as well. His patronus is a Robin, though later in life it would take the form of a Pine Marten.

In this verse, Tyson’s skateboard has an enchanted deck that changes between three-designs depending on the angle it’s at, but more importantly, Tyson has a pair of two-wheel black and yellow heelys that he’s charmed to glide forever until he puts down the toes of the shoes.

Tyson is largely away from his father, but Tyson is still bound by his responsibilities to the family legacy. His sense style remains less subdued than main!verse Tyson, but there is a stronger themeing and sense of loyalty to Hufflepuff in it generally, and specifically his choices with his punk jacket.

He is more than a little bit smitten by the seventh-year Gryffindor pure-blood prefect and seeker, Bùi Kimiko, and they have been flirting around the idea of dating since Tyson was in his first-year. He has been friends with fourth-year muggle-born Hufflepuff, Hal Malone, since Tyson’s third-year; helping tutor him through Transfiguration.

Though Tyson has gained a lot of confidence in Hogwarts AU by spending more time around people and gaining magical talent, in Honey Badger SU, Tyson is even more secretive and protective of his things.

He is especially secretive about the werewolf bite on his left shoulder. Tyson will immediately flinch away when someone touches his left shoulder and he does out of his way to make sure it can’t be glimpsed when he’s changing clothes.

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Tyson’s wand is made of Fir wood with a core of Unicorn Hair, 9⅖ inches and pliant.

Approximation of Tyson’s Hogwarts AU wand by combing the wands of Sirius Black,Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Percival Graves. The difference that I couldn’t edit in was that rather than circles and dots between the spiral (of Sirius’ wand), Tyson’s wand would have alchemical symbols instead. 

The end of Tyson’s wand is capped by pure silver with the Magen David inscribed into the top and ’אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה’ around the circumference. It was gifted to Tyson by a Wizard-Rabbi during his Bar Mitzvah to signify that his wand belongs to a Jewish man. Though wizarding law says that a witch or wizard is of age at seventeen and the trace is broken at that time, Tyson is still considered a man by Jewish tradition; in the same way that a Jewish muggle comes of age at thirteen, but is still bound by the age laws of their country and those they visit.

Before the silver cap was magically melted in place, the end of his wand wrapped in on itself, so that the two spirals of wood looked like a singular piece wrapping back around itself in increasingly tight coils as it goes down towards the tip of the wand; like Tyson, coiled impossibly tight. Or like folding a shoelace in half and twisting it a few times.

Wands for those within his universe:
Bold for those who Tyson knows & have magic within Hogwarts AU / Honey Badger SU

• Anne Williams: Hawthorn - Dragon Heartstring - 10¼” - Brittle
• Billy Ramsey: Spruce - Unicorn Hair - 11″ - Reasonably Supple
• Bùi Kimiko: Redwood - Dragon Heartstring - 14¼” - Brittle
• Charlie Hotchner: Dogwood - Phoenix Feather - 13¾” - Flexible
• Dick Gannon: Cherry - Dragon Heartstring - 11″ - Reasonably Supple
• Dōjima Taeko: Red Oak - Pheonix Feather - 13⅗” - Pliant
• George Cartwright: Black Walnut - Dragon Heartstring - 11 ¼″ - Flexibe
• Hal Malone: Alder - Unicorn Hair - 9½″ - Quite Flexible
• Isaac Alinson: Pear - Dragon Heartstring - 13¼″ - Quite Flexible
• James Delaney: English Oak - Pheonix Feather - 13″ - Supple
• Jasmine Dartmoor: Ebony - Unicorn Hair - 13¼″ - Rigid
• Jeremy Thornton: Hazel - Dragon Heartstring - 10″ - Brittle
• Jethro Delaney: Cedar - Unicorn Hair - 14″ - Reasonably Supple
• John Delaney: Walnut - Dragon Heartstring - 12¾” - Pliant
• Levi McCullum: Pear - Dragon Heartstring - 14¼” - Pliant
• Lex: Hawthorn - Dragon Heartstring - 12¼″ - Hard
• Nate Morrison: Chestnut - Dragon Heartstring - 13¾” - Flexible
• Reginald Arlington: Elm - Unicorn Hair - 14¾” - Flexible
• Richard Delaney: Aspen - Unicorn Hair - 10¼″ - Rigid
• Rosie Delaney: Cypress - Unicorn Hair - 13½″ - Slightly Yielding
• Sebastian Moran: Blackthorn - Dragon Heartstring - 10½″ - Quite Bendy
• Sienna McCullum: Sycamore - Pheonix Feather - 13¾”- Flexible

Family

Tyson’s concept of family is in a state of constant flux.

Found family will always be more important to him than blood, that Jasmine is his mother far more than Anne was, and yet he will resolutely plant his feet and insists that every Jewish person is kin to him.

He considers his brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings from the army as family. Even though Tyson wasn’t close to most of them, they fought together, shed blood together, and were a big broken family. His point is stronger for the more important people he served with: such as Second Lieutenant Malone, Captain Samson, Captain Watson, & Colonel Moran.

However, Tyson does not extend that same sentiment to those he works with within the web. He loves the Moriarty Mirrors with all his heart and Molly is - without a shadow of a doubt - his sister. There are people within the web that Tyson is close to, but he would not consider the web as a whole to be his family.

Upperclass

Though he tries to distance himself from it as much as possible, Tyson had an upper-class - highly privileged - upbringing that he can never truly get away from.

It’s always evident in the precise received pronunciation of his usual broad, yet posh, Cambridge accent; even more prominent as his stutter stretched out the vowels, further broadening his accent, and drawing attention to the sharp clipped edges of his consonants.

He may only believe etiquette and manners necessary to a point, but his upbringing is clear in the ways Tyson holds his cutlery, in the aborted movement of his arm to draw out the chair for his dining partner, and - if he always follows through on that reflex - in the manner in which he does so.

Tyson makes his distaste for the upper-class elite very clear, but he cannot escape the way he was shaped by his upbringing; endless tutors and schooling to groom him into the perfect heir for the Delaney family legacy.

He knows how fortunate he was, excluding the abuse from his father, but that doesn’t make Tyson resent that privilege any less. He hates the entire culture of it, the way he was an extension of his father rather than his own person, and he hates the feeling that none of his accomplishments will ever be his own; that he will always owe it to his upbringing amongst the elite.

Victories

Tyson is all too familiar with Pyrrhic victories.

Surviving Moran for one.

He honestly cannot recall any moment that could reasonably be considered a victory where Tyson doesn’t have a bitter taste in his mouth from it, either feeling that the price paid was too high or that he didn’t earn that victory.

There have been plenty of successes that Tyson can be proud of, but nothing that Tyson would consider a victory; something set in stone without a shifting finish line. Most of his accomplishments for the web land amongst those unclear finish lines. The battle is never truly done, there is always more work to be done.

Tyson isn’t good at savouring the moment and allowing a victory to stand.

Win the battle, not the war. Until the war has been definitively won, Tyson refuses to consider a battle a victory or anything more than a temporary success.

Origins

When it comes to the origin of Tyson’s character, the core of who he is as a person: He is a walking contradiction, and I love him.

Tyson is a verifiable - triple Ph.D by sixteen - Genius, but the most important thing you must remember about Tyson is that he is a fucking dumbass. For every mathematical theorem stashed in that supercomputer of a brain of his are a dozen circuitous ways to get him into trouble for reasons as convoluted as they are ill-founded.

His instinct to survive is (almost) as strong Sebastian Moran’s to kill, and yet Tyson is the limping walking embodiment of Icarus; a role he openly embraces with ‘calculates risks’ that avoid ever taking unnecessary risks.

If it will get him a second of the sun’s attention, our little Icarus will hurl himself off of cliffs - or, more accurately, rooftops - over and over again.

His talent for picking himself up, though admirable, would be entirely unnecessary if Tyson didn’t keep putting himself in situations that knock him to the floor. 

His greatest strength is his loyalty and his Achilles heel is his loyalty. Loyal to a glorious fault. It will be his downfall. Giving until he confusingly big heart has nothing left to give. Knowing that, and doing it anyway, because as ‘once bitten, twice shy’ as Tyson might be, he cannot stop himself from trying regardless.

He is a walking contradiction, and I love my hopelessly self-sacrificing, survivalist idiot of a genius.

Heaven

Tyson’s views on the concept of heaven are rather disinterested.

He cares about what happens in his life, rather than what might happen once he dies.

If pressed and forced to decide what he believes, Tyson would be stuck thinking for a long, long time. Eventually, however, he would settle on the idea of multiple universes and that in passing in one, life continues into a new alternative universe where alternate paths may be walked.

It isn’t something Tyson puts any particular faith in or that he’s counting on as a ‘safety net’ to fix the mistakes of this life, but it is the answer that Tyson finds the most satisfying in life not ending completely, in having a second chance, and feeling the most logically sound to him.

He finds the thought comforting, in a distance intangible way. He knows its comforting, but doesn’t feel that comfort. It’s unimportant to him when compared to what he may do in this life. Too distant to ascribe any strong emotion or intent behind.

Any future life is for that version of Tyson to handle, not for him.

Nightmares

Tyson gets nightmares every week, often more frequently. This is partially caused by his irregular sleep schedule, though that also helps him avoid some nightmares by not entering a deep enough sleep to properly dream. Stress is also a strong factor.

Generally, Tyson’s nightmares revolve around his memories, chopped up and remixed together.

Words he heard in one context used in another; Sebastian’s threats against another to protect Tyson, instead snarled into his face. Seeing Jethro out cold from a night of drinking in defiance of their father and a blood-soaked kitchen from his own work in the web mixed together into something worse.

It’s rare, and always worse, when once of Tyson’s memories play out directly as they happened. Usually the worst moments of Sebastian’s abuse and the most gruesome jobs that Tyson has carried out for the Moriarty Mirrors.

Teenage Tyson vs Teen!Verse Tyson

As mentioned in this post, where normal Tyson as a teenager was a punk, Teen!Verse Tyson leans more towards being a pastel punk/hipster.

As a teenager in Orphan AU, away from his father’s abuses, Tyson has much more confidence in expressing his own style; rather than the more subdued, secretive choices of the teenage Tyson from his main!universe. 

This general premise invokes the main difference between teenage Tyson & teen!verse Tyson. Teen!verse Tyson still fences, plays cricket, and skateboards, but unlike teenager Tyson, he does so with confidence rather than second-guessing his every action. He has anxiety, but it isn’t the same noose.

Where regular Tyson had an incredibly isolated childhood that meant he missed out on learning a lot of key social skills, ones that took him years to scrounge together as an adult and that he continues to struggle with due to a lack of confidence in himself, teenage Tyson grew up surrounded by people.

He finds that smothering and frequently goes off to find some peace and quiet on his own, but that meant that Tyson learnt those social skills at the appropriate age. He is in a much better place mentally, even if his abandonment issues sprung up much sooner after getting abandoned by his mother and father in quick succession.

Where teenage Tyson had a slight DC bias, teen!verse Tyson has a slight Marvel bias due to the comics they grew up/are growing up with. Their interests are more or less the same, but teen!verse Tyson is more willing to show his interests rather than hiding them.

Mythical!Verse

Within Mythical!Verse, Pup’s Pet Store is no longer purely for supplies and instead, Tyson sells a plethora of magical creatures within his shop of fluctuating size; depending on his needs at the time.

Tyson does magic through gestures and/or incantations, depending on the particular piece of magic. When performing a tricky spell, Tyson will sometimes choose to use both - even when it isn’t needed - just to be sure it will go correctly. This is especially true when using spells in combat, for attack and defence.

He’s more adept with brewing potions, mixing science and magic, in his work with the Moriarty Mirrors than he is at spell casting, but Tyson is no-lightweight in that department. He can hold his own and has a wealth of knowledge from his time in the army, with Sebastian, and with the Moriarty Mirrors, yet a skilled caster could easily exploit the ways Tyson uses his magic.

The advantage Tyson typically has is falling back on Hebrew and Yiddish incantations. Older, deeper magic that most Goyim wouldn’t have experience in fighting against, mixed with darker magic from the Moriarty Mirrors; enhanced through their connection to his magical tattoos.

The dent in Tyson’s torso was caused jointly by Sebastian’s fists and his magic. As they keep clashing, Sebastian has left more and more traces of his magic on Tyson, and - despite his best efforts to avoid hurting the other man - runes from Tyson’s magic are burnt into Sebastian’s forearms like chains.

He doesn’t use tarot cards as callously within Mythical!Verse, but Tyson is still easily identified as the Hanged Man. He can summon Jack to his side at a moment’s notice, intrinsically tied to his true familiar, and Draco is almost always curled up in one of Tyson’s pockets.

Within this verse, Tyson has further control over his wildcard Lex in being a reliable source of blood for the vampire, Rosie and Tae have bonded in this verse over shared Lycanthropy, and George (Tyson’s landlord) is a shockingly cheerful ghoul.

OCD Fears

Tyson has low-level OCD and though most of his ticks come and go, there are a few that always persist. OCD impulses aren’t random, there is a reason behind the need to perform those actions, even if it isn’t always consciously understood.

• He has to put items back in his bag in the reverse of the order he took them out.

This one is relatively simple to understand. If they go back in exactly as they came out, everything is where it belongs and Tyson knows that whatever emergency he finds himself in, he can quickly retrieve the things he needs.

• He has to have the handle of his mug facing left when he isn’t holding it but others mugs can face any direction.

The exact fear here is hard to pin down, but the reasoning is that he’s less likely to spill things that ways. If things spill, a mess is made and Tyson will get in trouble; a fear from his childhood that becomes exasperated by years of abuse and his OCD latched onto it.

• He has to tie his left shoelaces first, even if it means untying his right.

This one began in his army training years. There was a specific order to do thing. Things had to be done in that order. It just became compounded in his mind to do his left laces first or something bad would happen to those around him; if everyone’s uniforms weren’t perfectly in order, the entire unit would be forced into suicide drills around the training yard.

• He has to use particular towels.

His need for specific towels for each member of the household isn’t as easy to pin down into something tangible, but the general worry is one of unnoticed wounds and blood, the risk of cross-infection, and a need for an explicit system to avoid taking unnecessary risks.

• When being handed a food and drink, Tyson will always take the cup in his right hand and the food in his left hand.

Once again, this comes down to avoid making a mess and which hand Tyson trusts to avoid spilling things. Tyson is vaguely aware of this one, but in a non-specific way. He knows he doesn’t want to get in trouble, but can’t place why or what from.

• When stepping off or out of a vehicle Tyson will always put his left leg out first, despite being right dominant for both hands and feet.

This stems from his fear of vehicles and the control they take away from him, and the time he broke his right ankle as a child.

• When eating from a bowl he stirs clockwise twice, then takes a bite, then stirs anti-clockwise twice, then takes another bite.

Given all of Tyson’s struggles to eat enough food and a lack of appetite, it’s not at all surprising that his most persistent OCD impulses are around food, but there isn’t a direct fear here, other than needing to keep control for intangible reasons.

• He always picked up the phone on an even number of rings.

It can’t be bad news if he picks up on an even number of rings. Tyson doesn’t believe that this works, yet he cannot shake the fear that if he picks up on an odd number of rings the news is guaranteed to be bad.

• He always buttoned the second lowest button of his shirt, then the bottom button, before going up his shirt and buttoning up the rest, usually ignore in the very top - collar - button.

This is his oldest OCD impulse, a young childhood Tyson worried about failing the family legacy as he dressed himself for school. A way of making sure he looked the part, as though the order he buttoned his shirt would be at all visible.

• He always taps the spine of a book twice before he opened it.

This comes from handling rare, often delicate books in the library at the family manor. A way of showing that he wasn’t mishandling the books, that he was giving them the respect due, that evolved over time into an impulse to avoid punishment.

• When getting into a car he’ll buckle his seatbelt, unbuckle it, then buckle it again.

Compelled by his OCD, he buckled, unbuckled, then re-buckled his seat belt in rapid succession. Tyson wasn’t aware of that tick’s origin point, only that he felt safer knowing the belt wouldn’t stick; memories of a jammed harness locking him in place whilst under fire in the army were too hazy to remember now. [x]