Free Ride and a Show!

It gave him a bit of peace of mind, to know that his end would be not at the hands of law, but to be torn apart and consumed by the very darkness he held dear.

Look into the cold, uncaring eyes of a Grimm and speak to it of hope. It will tear you apart all the same. Hide behind your flimsy shield of camaraderie, and see how utterly useless the word is in the face of pure chaos.

The inverse is true for himself. That somewhere in the vast murk of his malice, there remains a tiny sliver of compassion that he can’t quite seem to suffocate.

He sees the night as holy, the time when Her dark veil gently covers the world, when Her favored children do their best work, and when the moon haunts the sky; a beautiful reminder of the mark She’s left on this world, its cracked pale face a reminder that She is with him no matter how far he travels.

♪:  three songs that remind me of my muse

I have a whole playlist for him, but I’ll pick three of my favorites.

Ready to Die- Andrew WK For obvious reasons, but I like the juxtaposition of aggressive metal instruments playing a very upbeat tune about killing people.

2econd-2ight-2eer- Will Wood I only let myself pick one Will Wood song for this and this is my choice. “The devil made me do it, but I also kind of wanted to” is literally his entire character.

Last Caress- Misfits Violent and obscene, and addresses death like a person; calling it sweet and lovely and waiting for its embrace.

★:  a wish my muse has

Sometimes, Tyrian wishes he could be more. More than just death, something a little more human. Something deeper, with pieces capable of loving. But he can’t. He can never move past it. He craves it, it’s not just a part of him... it’s all he is. Without it, there would be nothing left. And he loves it too much to want to let it go, to try to fight it when he knows he will inevitably fail and have the dark pull him in again.

Sometimes he wishes he could have something softer. But most of the time, he wishes he could just kill that softness. Carve it out of himself so that there’s no more doubt, no more feeling besides pain, nothing left of him but claws and fangs and barbs and knives.

✄:  is my muse creative?

Yes, and in all the worst ways. When it comes to twisting people’s emotions against them, or causing as much widespread panic as possible, or simply imagining all the different ways to torture a person, very few people are creative as Tyrian. He’s very good at adapting, improvising a plan on the fly, and he’s far better at it than plotting up something beforehand. He’s the most creative person you’ll ever meet when it comes to bloody fantasies.

♈:  the most daring thing your muse has ever done

He outdoes himself on this front constantly, but a few moments come to mind of him staring death right in the face and grinning.

Salem’s inner circle is the most informed on Her intentions, Her truth, but there are some others less important that She has twisted the arm of, manipulated, or otherwise blackmailed into acting as informants. The Grimm are Her eyes in the countryside, but these informants can be vital in providing information about more populated areas. Tyrian has had to meet with some before; sometimes for leads in his hunt for maidens or huntsmen, but at other times simply to scare them into obedience when Her Grace catches wind of their wavering loyalties.

It was one such time he found himself meeting in a seedy bar in Anima. Nearly all the dealings here were shady, and nobody’s hands were clean enough to bother batting an eye at any sort of questionable behavior, so long as they didn’t cause any property damage. He sat at the opposite end of a table with the informant in question- A human man, late thirties. Unspeakably plain-looking and unassuming. Perfect for gathering intel undetected. Or at least, he would be, if he were to dismount his high horse. Tyrian bit his tongue and refrained from tearing the man apart at his insolence, the sheer nonchalant disrespect the man showed his Goddess. He knew it came from a place of ignorance. If he truly knew what She was, he wouldn’t say such ridiculous things.

However, the man’s general lack of understanding of his situation was beginning to get on Tyrian’s nerves. He wanted compensation for his work. A reward.

“I don’t think you fully grasp your situation here, Cole Blackwell,” He spoke with a sharp tone, using the man’s full name to add weight to it as he leaned across the table slightly, staring him down. “Your reward is your continued existence. You are in a very poor position to ask for a prize. It is either your cooperation... or your life.” Tyrian’s eye’s bore into the spy, the glint of malice and bloodlust evident in them without him having to say a word. The fool continued to blunder.

“From where I’m sitting...” Cole kept his voice steady, although it was clearly an effort on his part. Tyrian noticed his arms shift under the table. “There’s a third option.” With that, he reached his hand out from below to reveal a gun, and pointed it in Tyrian’s direction. The faunus didn’t so much as flinch. It took everything in him not to break into a fit of cackles and draw attention to their little confrontation in their corner of the bar. A few restrained chuckles shook his shoulders despite his best efforts.

Tyrian leaned even further forward, licking his lips and pressing his forehead against the barrel of the gun, his crazed stare never once straying from the little rebel’s eyes.

“Then do it,” he hissed with a wide grin, “I’ll even drop my aura for you.” And sure enough, Tyrian drew a clawed finger across his face rough enough to leave a mark that noticeably did not heal. He pressed his head into the gun again, relishing in the way he man’s hand trembled slightly in a mixture of fear, confusion, and uncertainty. “You know a bullet in my brain won’t stop this.” Tyrian’s voice was low and dangerous as he stared the man in the eyes like he was daring him to blink first. “She knows where you live. Perhaps if your own life isn’t enough to convince you, we should see if you find theirs more valuable. Two girls, isn’t it? Holly and Ivy?” The color in Cole’s face drained at the mention of the names, his steely facade cracking into a picturesque depiction of absolute dread. Tyrian chuckled darkly. “My Fair Lady would be very displeased to lose me, and I wouldn’t be around to convince Her not to take from you whatever She deems fit as..... retribution.” The man’s hand trembled. Tyrian pulled away with a smirk, never breaking eye contact as he licked the barrel of the gun just to rub salt in the wound. The informant’s eyes were so beautiful as they were, filled to the brim with fear and disgust. He lowered the gun in defeat.

“I knew I could trust you to listen to reason, mister Blackwell~” Tyrian spoke cordially and cheerfully as if he hadn’t had a gun to his head mere seconds ago, as if he didn’t just threaten the man’s family.

“Get fucked,” The man spat, his voice dripping with disdain and reluctance. A sweet sound. “You’re sick.”

A high-pitched cackle was unavoidable at the comment, Tyrian no longer caring to hold it back. As he gathered himself again, he replied, “And you’re in over your head. I suppose we’re both beyond saving then.”

He stood up from his seat, leaning close to the shocked, broken man once more to speak lowly in his ear.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you, as always, Cole Blackwell. I’ll see you soon~” his excitement was ominous, and he left the poor man alone to marinate in the darkness of his reality as he sauntered away. Sure, he didn’t have to drop his aura to make a point, he didn’t have to cut it so close. Grey’s finger could have slipped at any second, or perhaps he could have grown a spine and pulled the trigger on purpose. Tyrian simply kissed death because he wanted to. For the fun of it. It’s part of what made his job so ceaselessly entertaining, to be so close to death in so many different ways without letting it take him just yet, was a simple delight he relished in often.

♓:  my muse’s biggest secret 

1. He gets really close to things to look at them

This could be written off as him having no concept of personal space or even being intentionally unnerving, but I think that actually just helps him hide the truth behind his actions that much easier. It’s a much more solid point when combined with the other pieces of evidence I have.

I believe that Tyrian isn’t fully blind, but rather incredibly nearsighted and light sensitive.

2. He can block attacks he doesn’t see

In both of these cases, he is deflecting projectiles without looking even remotely in their direction. The fact that the fight in Volume 4 stops in its tracks to have this scene play out also makes me think it’s worth analysis and inspection. This proves that he’s capable of using cues like hearing or simply intuition to block attacks, and doesn’t need to be able to see them.

3. He was thrown off guard by a punch

A lot of people took away from this scene that Tyrian was just somehow weak in hand-to-hand combat, but I don’t understand how anyone could say that considering his fighting style. I think it’s more likely that a fist makes less sound moving through the air than a massive broadsword, and is thus a lot more difficult for someone who relies on sound to anticipate and deflect.

4. He had to wait for an auditory clue to tell him where Qrow was

Another point in which his fight with Qrow is halted to draw attention to a specific moment is when Tyrian disarms Qrow. Qrow slowly walks over to where his weapon is embedded in the wall, and the moment he touches it, it makes a noticeable sound. A sound that Tyrian immediately turns to and rushes toward, after having sat still for seemingly no reason just moments prior.

In this moment, he has located Qrow based on sound, not sight.

5. His attention is drawn to sounds

This is slightly related to the above point, but I have a few more examples that I wanted to add that supported my claim.

He looks towards where the bullet impacted, instead of where the muzzle flash would have come from.

His attention stays on harbinger even when Qrow isn’t holding it, because he is basing his movements on where he’s hearing harbinger swing in the air.

6. He didn’t seem to notice finer details of his surroundings

Remember this part in their fight? Qrow leads Tyrian to an obviously unstable part in the roof, and Tyrian jumps right on it without noticing. Surely a skilled fighter with years of experience would know to be more aware of their surroundings, right? He is, but the way he gathers that information is not reliant on his vision, which is why he missed the weak point in the roof.

7. Beady little eyes

Tyrian’s irises are noticeably smaller than any other character in the show. This could be a design choice to make him look more unhinged, but I think it’s worth noting, when taking all the previous points into consideration.

8. Actual scorpions have poor eyesight

Some faunus are known to have the ability to see in the dark, and many have quirks reflective of their traits [Blake likes tuna, Sun likes bananas, etc.]. This is interesting, because scorpions in real life also have very poor vision! They are light sensitive, meaning most of their vision is detecting variations in light and shadow, and because of this, most scorpions prefer to hang out in dark or dimly lit places. Isn’t that interesting...

It’s easy to assume that he worked just fine in the dark in volume 7 due to being a faunus, but with this in mind, it’s possible that it’s simply that the absence of light doesn’t make his vision any worse than it already is.

BONUS ROUND: His semblance

This isn’t a point towards Tyrian being nearsighted, but I wanted to add it in here because I think it could possibly explain how he’s able to track people from further away.

Essentially, I think Tyrian is able to sense aura in a way that supplements his vision, as an extension of his semblance.

Tyrian’s semblance is very closely tied to aura, and his ability to directly affect it. This lends itself very well to the idea of him being more attuned to the aura of others than the average person.

My best example of something similar to this happening is what we’ve seen with Ren in the past. He clearly has some sort of sixth sense, we’ve seen it as far back as volume 1 and it has even been emphasized in volume 7 as something that he is honing. I believe that this is an extension of his semblance, perhaps the ability to sense hostility, tying into his semblance having a direct relation to negative emotions.

With this in mind, I don’t think it’s out of the question for someone with a semblance linked with aura to be able to sense it better than most.

This also explains his interest in Jaune, who we know to have an abnormally large amount of aura.

I think that like any of his other senses, however, it can be disoriented in a number of ways, namely blunt force trauma to the head. This would be why, despite this ability, he couldn’t sense Qrow during their fight in volume 4 after being punched in the face. His ability to detect aura had been thrown off kilter and he had to rely on sound alone to locate him.

This also, interestingly enough, lends itself to Tyrian’s surprisingly insightful nature. He’s disturbingly good at reading people, and I think it could be interesting if that had something to do with his ability to literally see people’s souls. This part I am not as certain about, and it makes just as much sense for him to just be naturally good at sensing tension, but I thought it was an interesting idea, with the concept of him being able to see aura in mind.