Welcome to Gaia! ::

Name: Tyson Christopher Velasco

Nickname: He shortened it to Ty as a kid to avoid the inevitable "Tyson Chicken" taunting. (His family didn't help. "Look, Tyson, we're eating your chicken tonight!")

Age: 25

Birthday: 27 December 1999

Sign: Capricorn

Gemstone: Black tourmaline

Blood Type: A -

Fav. Food: Ty is a diehard carnivore. He likes steak, and he likes it very rare.

Hated Food: Chicken, for reasons stated above.

Occupation: Shortstop and “bad boy” with the Comet City Supernovas, an exhibition baseball team in Destiny City

Hobbies:
Baseball -- His raison d'être. Ty has played baseball since age 7, and is currently the shortstop for the Comet City Supernovas, a comedy exhibition baseball team located in Destiny City. He loves baseball for its athleticism and tactical skills, and he loves being able to entertain the audience using only his body and his natural talents. He pushes himself to the limits of his physical ability, and then pushes more, just to test himself. If there were such a sport as Extreme Cage Baseball, he'd be all over it. He performs as though he were dancing on a knife-edge, desperately and as if his life were on the line, which in a sense it is, given his asthma. Deeply confident in his ability as a baseball player, he aspires to someday play on a Major League team like a few of his teammates have gone on to do.

Physical Therapy -- Getting, not giving: the price he pays for his ambition. Thanks to how hard he works himself, Ty is in a near-constant state of pain from over-extended muscles and tendons in his body. Besides availing himself of the baseball team’s physiotherapy staff, he has a standing twice-weekly appointment with his oldest sister, who's a certified massage therapist. He also gets weekly acupuncture treatments to keep the pain at bay. Dry saunas and long soaks in the family hot tub help, too.

Cleaning -- Ty is something of a neat freak, and not just in the sense of keeping his room tidy. Not quite a germaphobe, he is obsessed with dusting and sweeping and ensuring the entire house is clean. This is due in no small part to the asthma he suffered as a child. Too much dust in the house and Ty feels like he's suffocating, even though his asthma has mostly cleared up. Once a week he will don an N95 respirator mask and clean the entire house from top to bottom, and he'll do little spot cleanings when he sees something that he doesn't like. The only thing he doesn't do is the dishes. His parents and sisters don't have to lift a finger otherwise.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Eyes: Green, almond-shaped and narrow, with thick dark lashes and moderate brows.

Hair: Blue-black, sleek and slightly wavy, Ty's hair is thick and long, down to just past his shoulders. He wears it parted on the right side and hanging halfway in his face.

Face: Ty's face is spade-shaped and clean-shaven with a fairly strong chin and jawline, a strong nose and a full-lipped mouth that has a natural tendency toward pouting. His ears have multiple piercings.

Skin Tone: His skin is fair to medium with olive undertones. About #DEAB7F.

Body: At 6'3", Ty has a dancer's build, long and elegant, with a naturally casual grace to his movements even when he's just walking. He has a very strong body sense and excellent spatial awareness, and it shows in the way he plays. Lean, toned and athletic, he keeps himself fit not just for baseball but for his overall health as well. His single tattoo, a tribal-style design that could be a butterfly, could be a bird, is on the back of his neck beneath his hair. No body piercings… yet.

Clothes: Ty wears close-fitting t-shirts, skinny black jeans, hoodies, and Vans or Chuck Taylors. His preferred color is black, though he does wear a lot of white with it. When it's cooler out, he'll add a black motorcycle jacket of the old-school biker variety and a thick black and white keffiyah scarf he pulls up over his mouth and nose in winter. For team practice or games, he wears his take on the team uniform, rich purple with a rainbow starburst and the team name in blue letters. His team number is 23.

Father: Montana (Monty) Velasco, disabled Air Force veteran
Mother: Beverly Velasco, registered nurse
Sister: Rhiannon, certified massage therapist
Sister: Shiloh, active duty Air Force

The youngest of three kids, Tyson was born on the wrong side of the tracks in Arlington, Virginia. His working-class Catholic family is the story of hard lives that made good, having always fought for everything they have. Tyson's dad is, or was, career Air Force, a former pilot who was medically retired due to an accident that left him crippled and bitter; his mum is a registered nurse at Destiny City General Hospital. The family moved a lot, being a military family, eventually settling in Destiny City when Tyson was 3 years old.

Ty, like his two older sisters Shiloh and Rhiannon, attended Catholic school from age 4; he was an active child despite being asthmatic, and a temperamental handful who constantly got in trouble. He started Little League baseball at age 7 when Shiloh took ballet and he started demanding equal time (Shiloh eventually gave up ballet and joined the Air Force). Ty's dad was appalled by his son’s behavior, but his mum overrode him, thinking the discipline might do Ty some good.

It did, and he stuck with it for most of his youth.

At Meadowview High, Ty continued to play baseball, trying out various positions until settling on shortstop. Numerous times he was named MVP for games, and he helped lead the school to a state championship. He dreamed of playing for the DC Comets, as did most of his teammates, but as graduation came closer he was scouted by an unaffiliated minor league team. Deciding this would get him closer to his dream, he skipped going on to DCU's baseball program and went pro at 19 with the Valley Viceroys.

Minor league baseball was great, exciting and fun, and he loved the crowds and the atmosphere. He stayed with the Viceroys for a few years, but as they were unaffiliated with the Comets (or any other major league team), Ty felt his future was limited. Then he heard about this new team playing exhibition baseball, the Comet City Supernovas, inspired by the Savannah Bananas. The idea of theatrical exhibition ball intrigued him, so on a lark, at age 23 he tried out for the team. The Supernovas welcomed him with open arms and immediately assigned him the role of the "bad boy" character, based on his dark brooding looks.

Ty relished this more than he expected he would. He took to the role with enthusiasm, really playing up the "bad boy" image with his languidly strutting walk-up and playing semi-dirty (the Supernovas are the "good guys" in their exhibition games). He's grown to enjoy the team's antics when they score runs and make good plays, participating with laconic good humor. Ty is loving his time in the spotlight; he knows he'll make the Big Leagues someday, but for right now he's having fun and playing baseball, and that's all that matters.

04/23/21: bought Ty's MYO civ form
04/26/21: Ty's quest approved! And set up civ journal
04/01/24: submitted revision for civ and got it approved