Seasons

Spring

By the time Spring rolls around, Tyson has usually stopped bristling every time someone mentions Christmas and is slowly dragging himself back into healthy vitamin D levels as he’s sent back out into the daylight occasionally.

Spring is a time of recovery for Tyson, for the aching of the dent in his torso and the dog bite scar on his shoulder to slowly fade away, and for him to begin seeing daylight again; no longer taking advantage of excessive darkness for his work within the web.

Summer

Given how many layers of clothing Tyson tends to wear - to provide a layer of protection, for himself mentally and for the dent in his torso - it’s not all that surprising that he tends to overheat in the summer.

Not that this fact actually encourages Tyson to remove layers. All this actually achieves is Tyson berating himself harder when a panic attack hits as he begins to hyperventilate. He knows its stupid, but when his mental state is so much worse in high temperatures, Tyson has to take the risk of having those extra layers.

His anxiety and OCD are relatively consistent the whole year around, but Tyson’s PTSD is always worst in hot weather. The most traumatic years of his life were spent running for his life across Afghanistan, Pakistan, & India. When he thinks of hot, he thinks of being afraid and helpless.

The heat brings those memories to the front of his mind much easier. Especially when it’s too hot to sleep, his restless mind thrashing for anything to hold onto. When a heat wave hits London, Tyson will go days without sleeping to avoid nightmares.

Summer will mostly find Tyson laying on the cool tiles of his bathroom, resigned to his fate. Defeated.

Autumn

Autumn is Tyson’s absolute favourite season.

Cooler weather, pretty colours everywhere, and the return to school. That last part was especially important to Tyson as a child, he has always loved education and going out to school was one of the few times that he could escape the family manor and his father’s clutches for a few hours during the day.

Winter

Though he’s whine about feeling cold until all city boys are safely tucked away inside where they belong, Tyson actually prefers winter over summer. He finds it much easier to warm up than cool down, though the hypersensitive dent in his torso and dog bite scar on his left shoulder tend to ache when the weather turns.

He likes the way London looks when its covered in snow, the way the number of hot drinks vendors seem to double, and he especially likes the excuse to stay in his jacket all day; using it for warmth as much as a layer of protection for the dent in his torso as much as a pressure stim that soothes his anxiety.

He loves getting to throw snowballs around for his dogs to catch, especially Jack, and the feeling of brushing snowflakes out of their coats with his frozen finger tips. Tyson always uses winter as an excuse to have handmade hot chocolate and warm soup with fresh bread.

All in all, winter suits Tyson better than he thinks it does.

Ice-Cream

Tyson’s favourite type of ice-cream is raspberry ripple, with sea salt ice-cream coming a close second.

Usually, however, Tyson eats Häagen-Dazs Vanilla ice-cream cups or White chocolate Magnums, because ‘consistency and avoiding overwhelming his easily shattered appetite’ is the name of the game.

There is usually some kind of dog-safe ice-cream in his freezer and a tub of Ben & Jerry’s Caramel Chew Chew Ice Cream stashed in there for the days when Tyson babysits James.

Ice-cream is one of the things outside of ‘needs heat’ cooking that Tyson can actually make delicious versions of.

Voice

Tyson comes from a family of late bloomers, especially when it comes to male voices dropping.

For Jethro, his voice began breaking when he was fourteen and lasted for almost an entire year before it settled. John’s voice began breaking when he was sixteen and took five months, where Richard’s began at fifteen and took almost seven months.

Tyson’s voice didn’t begin breaking until he was fifteen and took roughly eight months to finish*; which meant that Jethro didn’t hear his baby brother’s ‘adult voice’ until he was nineteen and used his break in army training to visit his older brother.

James’ voice won’t begin breaking until he is sixteen (20th March 2022) and will take around seven months to properly settle.

* This means that in Teen!Verse and Hogwarts AU/Honey Badger SU Tyson’s voice is still breaking: teen!verse is beginning to break, and Hogwarts AU/Honey Badger SU is towards the end of his voice breaking.

Cambridge

Even as he tries to run away from his upper-class upbringing there, Tyson would never run away from his love of Cambridge. Lovely Lady London may be Tyson’s first love, but he still adores his home city.

The bad memories that Tyson has of growing up there are all linked to the Delaney family manor, which is far enough outside of the city that - despite knowing it’s part of Cambridge - always felt separate from the city whilst Tyson was growing up.

It was close enough that Tyson could sneak out at night and skateboard or bike into town without any trouble, but there was always a moment when Tyson could recognise that he had left the Delaney manor grounds and has entered Cambridge, even before reaching the buildings he’d associate with the main areas of Cambridge.

Jeremy Thornton

Jeremy Thornton
↳ Manipulative Scotsman, falsely protective butcher.

Jeremy runs in a butcher shop, two stores down from Tyson’s pet shop on [Old] Board Street. Tyson and Jeremy have a business deal, of sorts. Tyson purchases the bones he sells for dogs in his store from Jeremy and sends people looking to feed their animals a raw diet to Jeremy’s butcher shop, as well as picking up his own meat from Jeremy. Tyson agreed to this because Jeremy sells good quality meat and because the Scotsman offers him a place to hide when his anxiety gets the better of him.

During the come down from one of Tyson’s social anxiety induced panic attacks, Jeremy took advantage of Tyson’s openness to coax out every little piece of information about Tyson. Tyson still doesn’t know Jeremy’s reasoning for wanting that information, but it makes him very unease that the other man knows it. Mostly because the butcher keeps ‘joking’ that if he ever asked Tyson for a sexual favour, Tyson would be almost obliged to agree.

Despite the butcher knowing almost everything about Tyson, up until Tyson met Moriarty, Tyson know virtually nothing about Jeremy; all Tyson knows is that his wife is Welsh and called Sue, that he owns a female English Bulldog called Cait, that he used to work as a plumber, and that he has three children, all boys. In Tyson’s opinion the butcher is too crass and too loud.

Jeremy often comes across as protective of Tyson because, in a way, he is. A happy Tyson is a Tyson that brings customers into his store, so - with financial motivations in mind - he does as much as he can to make sure Tyson’s safe and happy. When Tyson brings anyone into his shop, he makes it clear that he’s there to look after Tyson.

His hair is mostly grey, with last vestiges of its black colour on the sides. He has dull, pale blue eyes. Jeremy’s hands are covered in little scars, nicks from knives.

Even knowing that he could easily overpower Jeremy without regrets, the butcher still sets Tyson’s teeth on edge. He fundamentally does not trust Jeremy, but Tyson has never needed to trust someone to enter business with them; especially when that means he has an excuse to keep a wary eye on them.

Jeremy is a scavenging, cowardly opportunist who cares only for himself. He would gladly sell out any of his children - Rhys (28), Adam (24), & Gavin (23) - to save himself, without remorse.

---

Jeremy Thornton

UNIVERAL TRUTHS

• Blood Type: B Negative
• Date of Birth: March 24th 1959 - Aries - Pig (Earth)
• DnD Alignment: Neutral Evil
• Dominant Hand: Right
• Ethnicity: White, British
• Myers Briggs Type: ENTJ-A | The Commander
• Orientation: Bisexual
• Religion: Christian, Protestant
• Signature:

FAVOURITE

• Favourite Animal: Polar Bear
• Favourite Author: George RR Martin
• Favourite Colour: Purple
• Favourite Film: Breakfast Club
• Favourite Food: Caesar Salad
• Favourite Plant: Calla lily
• Favourite Poem: Nothing Gold Can Stay - Robert Frost

VERSE DEPENDANT

• Avatar Element: Earth
• His Dark Material’s Dæmon: Weasel
• Hogwarts House: Slytherin
• Hybrid!Verse Pairing: Meerkat
• Mass Effect Species: Human
• Pokémon Team: Farfetch’d, Murkrow, Houndour, Purugly, Bouffalant, & Patrat.

Colour Tyson’s Synesthesia Projects Onto Them:

Fashion

Across all of his wardrobe, there is a general style that Tyson sticks to: to the nines, or college student.

Though Tyson hears a lot of second-hand accounts about the latest fashions from Billy, the only area where Tyson actually cares about fashion is with his suits and needing to look good for work with the web.

The ‘pushing the boundaries’ style of fashion honestly exhausts Tyson and he doesn’t understand it in any way. However, he would be willing to have a conversation about seasonal fashion, about the clothes that look best in summer or autumn; even though he doesn’t fully understand that either.

Disappearing

Whilst certainly not a master of illusions by any stretch of the imagination, Tyson has a talent for disappearing.

In part, this can be attributed to his habit of wandering away from conversationsand leaving without a second thought about saying his goodbyes. He can certainly behave ‘like a ninja’ when he desires to, but Tyson largely hears that when people don’t register him walking away.

That is where most of Tyson’s disappearing happens. He makes sure that rather than going unnoticed, he is quickly dismissed from people’s minds. He didn’t slip off quickly into the night. Tyson paused to politely ask people to move out of his way and was easily dismissed from their minds the second he left their vision.

When he actively needs to disappear, however, Tyson is gone in the blink of an eye. With his form of Synesthesia and talent for parkour, he has no trouble losing pursuers and Tyson is an old hand at avoiding security cameras too.

Television

Generally, Tyson prefers to have instrumental music on as background noise, finding silence too oppressive and lyrics distracting when he’s not out and about.

He doesn’t watch much television, but there is a rotation of shows that Tyson will put on as background noise when he needs voices to shake away the effects of a PTSD, panic, or anxiety attack.

Usually, he’ll listen to something calming like How It’s Made, Blue Planet, Planet Earth, or basically anything that David Attenborough narrates. He’s watched Red Dwarf so many times that it’s become a comfort watch that he can easily tune out whilst still enjoying it, the same applies for the original Batman the Animated Series.

When he needs grounding in the present, when he feels displaced by bad memories, Tyson will look up the latest episode of Mock the Week or Have I Got News For You to ground himself; something topical, yet lighthearted enough not to exasperate his mental state.

Holmes Verses Watson

There is a fundamental difference between ‘I could love you, but I don’t’ and ‘I don’t love you, but I could’. That is the crux of the difference between Tyson’s thoughts about John Watson and Sherlock Holmes. The type of love differs, but the point remains.

Tyson absolutely does love John. They are simpatico, brothers-in-arms, brothers by all but blood. Romantically? Oh, Tyson knows that he could have fallen for John, easily, but he doesn’t love him romantically. And that’s fine. Whatever alternative path they could have taken, Tyson is happy where he stands with John.

Sherlock, on the other hand, is a more complicated feeling for Tyson. He does not like Holmes, but Tyson knows that he has a paper thin defence against caring for him; and that defence is avoiding him like the plague. He purposefully keeps a distance from the detective, because he does not need the Moriarty Mirrors game to become any more complicated by fallnig for another genius determinded to burn themselves up.

Spring Masquerade Ball

Having taught at Cambridge University almost since the university was founded, it was inevitable that the Delaney family would be involved in some of the school’s traditions beyond teaching mathematics.

One of those traditions is the bi-annual spring masquerade ball at the Delaney family manor grand hall. Every two years, an event for the top students from all across the university to mingle with those in the top of those fields: doctors, lawyers, business entrepreneurs, et cetera.

This event serves two purposes: it gives the best students an opportunity to mingle and make connections to set up opportunities for when they graduate, whilst also being an opportunity to bring in sponsors and donators for the university by showing how ‘supporting the future can benefit you’.

Though he hated having to play ‘perfect Delaney heir’ at those events as a child, Tyson continues to allow the university to use the manor for those events. Primarily, Jasmine is the one who takes care of the ‘Delaney estate’ side of the event, but Tyson makes sure to show up every time.

He knows that his family name carries weight and that he can use that to bring more funding to the university, and to encourage more people to attend and extend opportunities to the students. It’s exactly the kind of upper-class posturing that Tyson loathes, but he’s willing to swallow his pride for their sake.

Patrolling

Tyson will end up walking the same route, over and over.

In part, this is familiarity, taking the direct path to the nearest supermarket to buy extra milk is the simplest course of action. However, when Tyson is on edge, it reaches a point where his behaviour couldn’t be called anything other than patrolling.

He’ll take Lily and Bobby with him, and fastidiously adhere to one route around an imaginary perimeter around his apartment: one that stretches far enough to include The Biscuit Tin and the nearest Underground entrance. Tyson will walk that path over and over again, until he’s too exhausted to continue or other responsibilities call him away.

There is never a point in that patrolling where Tyson goes ‘oh, okay then. There is nothing to be worried about nearby’. He falls into a trap of tunnel vision and paranoia that would have him marching for hours on end.

Teenagers

Tyson isn’t afraid of teenagers.

He distrusts everyone equally, regardless of age, but Tyson is overly aware of how easily teenagers are manipulated by people like him for the web or other causes. Despite his best of intentions, Tyson knows that he is one of the worst influences to be around a teenager.

When recruiting for the web, Tyson goes out of his way to avoid anyone too young, no matter how much talent they possess and - if he suspects that others have their eyes on that person - will try to direct them elsewhere. If they are still as useful to the web once they’re older, then it’s no longer Tyson’s responsibility.

Warehouse

Though not a home by any stretch of the imagination, Tyson feels more at home in his two-storey warehouse than he does at the Delaney family manor.

For the most part, it’s storage for old projects, pieces of his motorbikes, and various works in progress, but Tyson has carved out a little area on the first floor for comfort whilst working on his own, or with the Moriarty Mirrors.

It’s not much - a queen sized bed, two three-seater settees, five dog beds scattered throughout both floors, a coffee table, and two wooden chairs that were in the warehouse when Tyson bought it - but it’s enough to feel as though the space is his own.

On the ground floor, he’s managed to get a working bathroom with a shower installed, and substituted the idea of a kitchen with a kettle, microwave, and mini-fridge filled with drinks on a table.

More than the bare-bones furnishing, though they are appreciated after a long day of tinkering and getting covered in grease, the warehouse feels more homely because it’s filled with things that Tyson made or helped make, or helped destroy depending on the items in question.

The Family Manor

Even in the verses where Tyson lives in the Delaney manor, he doesn’t consider it to be his home. It’s the family home, it’s Jasmine’s home, but it’s not Tyson’s home. Not anymore.

He views the manor as a middle place, with the same ‘communal second living room’ place that a pub exists in. Tyson only tends to visit when meeting with Jethro’s part of the family or when he’s come to Cambridge to guest lecture, so he assumes that he’ll be meeting someone whilst there; even if it’s only Jasmine and Jack.

When staying the manor, Tyson will alternate between sleeping in his childhood bedroom and sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms. There are times when Tyson finds it comforting to be back in that room, and times when he needs to be in a completely separate wing of the manor from it.

No matter how affected by the memories of it, Tyson will always end up in the library at some point, and he may never stop viewing it as his father’s library. Sometimes he’ll be returning books or taking new ones away, and sometimes he just needs to feel grounded in the room he spent most of his childhood in.

Lex

Liam Edward Xavier, a.k.a. Lex

The face claim for Lex is Aidan Gillen.

Lex is for hire.

A mercenary? A pilot? A prostitute? A realtor? A solicitor? Sure, if you’d like~

A man of many talents, Lex is whatever he is needed to be. So long as that thing is a smartarse. If he can’t provide what is being asked of him, he’ll either find someone who can from a seemingly endless list of people who owe him favours, or he’ll learn to provide it next time.

He’s loyal to his next pay check, nothing else. Until the web stops providing that pay for him, that is where his loyalty lays. Though Lex has no love for the Moriarty Mirrors, he sings theirs praises and flirts with them at any opportunity, but if left alone with a mop, Lex would start flirting. And likely succeed.

Though Lex usually isn’t Tyson’s first choice to fulfill a mission for the web, preferring someone who has mastered the one specific trait he needs for the job at hand, the former Lieutenant and - supposedly - former Major have ended up working together many times. One man of many talents who actually enjoys his company is better than bringing along half-a-dozen other employees, who largely dismiss him as the second-hand pet.

Tyson knows to keep an eye on Lex, that as soon as someone is brazen enough to offer him a better deal Lex would betray the web. However, Tyson genuinely enjoys Lex’s company. At times his constant need to fill silence with jokes can get on Tyson’s nerves, but for the most part it’s reciprocal; throwing quips back and forth, using barbed insults as compliments, flirting as a first line of defense and because it’s simply fun.

After getting paid, fun is Lex’s main priority. He want to have fun, he wants to be fun, and that is how Tyson thinks of him. He is an explosion of jokes and smiles, and damn near costing them multiple undercover jobs because he broke character into waves of laughter mid-con. In return, Tyson is a lot more fun around him. He’s willing to let his hair - if not his guard - down. Tyson’s behaviour and morals reflects those around him, and Lex is a kaleidoscope of fun.

When Lex says he needs a hand, Tyson nods and agrees; then sends a flurry of texts to make sure that it’s a job for the web, or at least not damaging to the web if it’s an independent contract. When Lex says he is in deep water and desperately needs Tyson’s help or he’ll die, Tyson rolls his eyes, orders take-out, and makes some coffee to bring with him for whatever stake-out Lex is currently bored out of his mind on.

When Lex is riding high from a job well done and runs his hand up Tyson’s thigh, Tyson doesn’t falter. He nods and threads his fingers through soft greying hair, pulling Lex closer. Knowing that it’s just fun, that there are no consequences to agreeing or declining. There will always be another time, whether its just fooling around or rolling between the sheets. It’s all in good fun, just blowing off steam.

Knowing that Lex is infinitely less annoying when his mouth is busy, Tyson goes out of his way to buy ice-lollies for Lex; specifically Rowntree’s Fruit Pastille Ice Lollies, because of how perfectly they match the colours Tyson’s Synesthesia projects onto Lex.

His name is Liam Edward Xavier. Or was is Lewis Eliot Xavier? Or perhaps, Leonard Elijah Xavier? Lex may even be short for Alexander. He’s pretty consistent about Xavier, so that’s properly true and when he’s half-awake or drunk, there’s no mistaking that his Irish accent is genuine. He consistently comes back to the rank of Major in his cons, so Tyson suspects that part may also be true.

Ultimately, Tyson isn’t concerned about what the truth is around Lex. He’s harmless. He wouldn’t hesitate to slit Tyson’s throat if someone offered a better deal than the web, but - as no one can offer Lex something better - he remains utterly harmless.

Whenever he’s on a job with Lex, Tyson has two options: let Lex go smoke on his own and get into trouble or to keep an eye on him. Needing his wildcard in hand to be useful, Tyson nearly always chooses to accompany him. Then one of two things happen, he’ll accept his offer to share a cigarette or he’ll decline and end up shotgunning the smoke from Lex anyway.

Lex is useful in his role as a wildcard. He can mix up the deck and disrupt the web in a way that keeps the Moriarty Mirrors entertained, without causing too many problems. Naturally, he does end up causing problems here or there, but Tyson has his wildcard in hand: be that the metaphorical hand on his wallet, or the literal hand cupping him through his jeans.

Lex has a pet caramel carpet python called Toffee. She was originally called caramel, but Lex grew frustrated by the inevitable debate about how that word was pronounced and changed the name to Toffee instead. He genuinely loves Toffee and her terrarium takes up an entire wall of his apartment.

---

Allegedly: Major Liam Edward Xavier, a.k.a. Lex

UNIVERAL TRUTHS

• Blood Type: O Negative
• Date of Birth: January 17th 1970 – Capricorn - Rooster (Earth)
• DnD Alignment: Lawful Evil
• Dominant Hand: Left
• Ethnicity: White, Irish
• Myers Briggs Type: ENTP-A | The Debater
• Orientation: Pansexual
• Religion: Catholic raised
• Signature:

FAVOURITE

• Favourite Animal: Bush Viper
• Favourite Author: Neil Gaiman
• Favourite Colour: Red
• Favourite Film: Dungeons & Dragons
• Favourite Food: Mango-Mint Smoothie
• Favourite Plant: Moon flowers
• Favourite Poem: The Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson

VERSE DEPENDANT

• Avatar Element: Water
• His Dark Material’s Dæmon: Chameleon
• Hogwarts House: Slytherin
• Hybrid!Verse Pairing: Leopard Gecko
• Mass Effect Species: Drell Biotic
• Pokémon Team: Girafarig, Serviper, Shuckle, Camerupt, Kecleon, & Zorua.

Colour Tyson’s Synesthesia Projects Onto Them: