#the tldr answer without all the background supposition about their philosophies is: would tyr kiss eight? yes

[tiredassmage]

*inhales*

iT’S FREE REAL ESTATE.gif @eorzeashan​ I’ll bite because I would also really like to rotate this idea in my head, ponder them in an orb, etc. Also - I have no idea if any of this makes sense, but they sure are some thoughts. Hopefully even half of it checks out, lol.

Like, honestly, I’m a little obsessed with rotating the psuedo Alliance alert situation in my head, it’s delicious. And I think it’ll also found my opening statements. I might just end up walking us through Tyr’s thought process in response, tbh. It’d be important to him to resolve in some fashion or another before they get to figuring out what they want with each other in the long-term.

So, firstly, Tyr is hellaciously ride or die when it comes to fellow Intelligence operatives. Agree or disagree on how the fall of Intelligence should or shouldn’t have been handled, how the Empire runs, whatever the debate of the day might be, but they were the only family that ever mattered to him. Intelligence backed him, they looked out for him, they sought his success.

Tyr never has a reason to balk at abandoning his name to be Cipher Nine because what, structurally, was his family in his youth wasn’t much more than that - a structure. It wasn’t a home. It was a place.

And for all I’ve pondered about Tyr being more loyal to ideals than individuals, it’s maybe a weird mix of both. Tyr burns his ideals for people, yet he’d still go behind someone he loves for a long game of protecting them - these are all things that make it difficult for him to deeply bond with someone that wasn’t either present for what he went through and who somehow remained largely non-judgemental (we’re looking at you, Vector, the greatest MVP the agent ever has), or someone who just... gets how it is to be an agent.

I’d be fascinated to be a fly on the wall when these two would talk about ideals though, when the subject of Jadus inevitably comes up because it’s an almost inseparable notion.

Sure, dealing with Sith is something that still manages to set Tyr’s nerves on edge in a general sense given everything, but Jadus in particular can almost shut him down. It’s one of the first things that flashes through his mind when Jadus talks about fear - operatives do not thrive on fear. It can’t be what controls them or it doesn’t matter how good you were in simulations or training, it’ll all leave you to your own. And I think it eventually loops into how he balks at the idea of losing control.

Unfortunately, he kind of trips into a self-fulfilling prophecy when that’s his gut reaction to Jadus’s philosophy. Eight doesn’t. Perhaps ironically, Tyr would call it his conviction that he’d admire (he’d mean every word). It’d be such an interesting conversation for someone to be able to walk Tyr through the view that knowing fear is perhaps the first step, but to overcome it is, in a way, to know it - and, no, while he still wouldn’t like the idea of dealing with Jadus, that re-frames it tactically, strategically. It should have been his next instinct to kick in that generally does in the field - sure, feel things, but feeling and doing are two completely separate matters. One isn’t going to resolve without the other. Jadus isn’t... exactly normal though, lol.

In that way, how could he not respect Eight for doing something he failed to do? (There’s that idea of conviction again) And, also... the inevitable guilt of not being able to finish the job himself. Tyr hates leaving people behind. He doesn’t just give up on people he cares for or respects in some way. Come hell or high water, he’ll figure something out - even if it’s supernova self-destructive to pursue.

Kinda... short way around all of this, does Tyr trust Eight to catch him when he trips? Unquestioningly. Does he let Eight lead him into that cave despite the way his throat constricts at the very thought of facing Jadus again? Yes. He doesn’t have to trust Jadus. He does trust Eight. (Tyr and his... odd capacity to trust fellow agents despite their largely untrustworthy profession)

Is Eight pretty? Yes. : P

There’s a part of this that will likely feel like the same grief and regret the Minister has about what Eight had to become in all of this, but Tyr doesn’t have to leave things lie and he’s certainly no quitter. Whatever else he is or isn’t, the need to try to understand won’t let him leave it lie. Because he’d never be comfortable living with himself if he walked away. It was his job to start, he has to be there for however this ends.

But he’d also need to figure out if he’s robbing Eight of something if they pursue Jadus. Because if he is, can he really live with that? Tyr lost everything when they shut down Intelligence. Hell, it’s part of why he’d be so damn driven to find Eight, find someone else that made it out of all of this to whatever other side ended up awaiting them. The apprehension might be worth living with if he’s got at least one person that can understand what the hell it all was to go through.

And stars knows Tyr needs someone who can keep up with the way he can’t figure out himself. Hold on I wrote a line in a recent wip that I feel like I could also fit to whatever they’d have going on:

In the dark, it’s easier to hide and easier to tell the truth.

Something something not needing to be that honest in the shadows because it might hide your tells, something something that lack of pressure and established intimacy makes it easier to share nonetheless. There is an undeniable draw to someone who understands that experience that, ironically or not, makes Tyr far more comfortable with trusting his soul to those individuals.

Anyway, I have no idea if they’d do something good or make each other worse, but it’d be pretty neat of them either way, I think. xD Honestly, once they come to some sort of consensus about Jadus, Tyr won’t think twice about trusting him and I think they could have a lot of fun being obnoxious chameleons rising to whatever challenge meets them. Just expect Tyr to keep checking in occasionally. He can’t exactly figure out what he wants beyond all of this spy business stuff, so it’s important to him to keep a pulse on what a partner wants. In a way, that similarity in them might lead to a lot of “I don’t know’s” about it, but, hey... That’d be okay, too.