maurevar is shirtless bc i forgot until too late that u can just use the piercings menu in any clothing store to get a good closeup. hes meant to be wearing a bomber jacket n plain tshirt
also im Never satisfied with how jasper looks :P his fallout face/model is way better imo. and i might redo bef when i have time, to closer match leandra and carver. i made her forever ago, before i settled on faces for them, so she now looks Way out of place
and solveig is missing, but we never like. did anything with her anyways, bc she got the fuck out of dodge when she had the chance and never looked back. if i still have motivation at the end, i might make her anyways, as well as clarion and nisha, the kids great-godmother and grandmother respectively. also both saints, and clarion was the leader before malcolm. fun facts
anyways. i love this disaster family. pinging @loghainmactir bc u wanted to know more about this au, and i dont want to keep u waiting forever for an in-depth wall of text so theres snippets below the cut :>
we start with malcolm hawke, mob boss who ruled the saints in the late 70s on through the 80s, and generally thought to be the saints last great leader, as they took a sharp decline following his sudden disappearance in 1989. one of the most well-known names of organized crime
maurevar carver, born icarus callaghan, who went from rooting out corruption in police forces to going undercover into the saints to defecting and joining malcolm instead of killing him. disappeared alongside him, only to resurface around 2006, by some reports, working overnight shifts at a 24-hour convenience store, of all places
leandra amell, heiress and acclaimed singer, whose brief affair in the 80s with malcolm and maurevar made national headlines, to much more scandal than any of her previous flings. rumors flew again in 2001 when she reappeared, young daughter bethany in tow, though no amount of gossip kept her from sliding back into music and making an honest name for herself once again. attempts to ask her about her 12-year hiatus, and the father of her child, went fruitless
jasper hawke, self-proclaimed child of malcolm (though nobody has been able to properly prove his story one way or another) and the youngest leader the saints had in decades. his arrival in stilwater in 2005 marked the start of a sharp uptick in violent crime, resulting in the saints wiping out the rival gangs that had pushed in over the years. an assassination gone wrong- or right- put him in a coma for nearly four years, during which time the saints were pushed back into near-dormancy once again. after recovering, though, he took back his hold over the city, and remained in power until vanishing off the map in 2018
bethany amell, wayward daughter of leandra, well-known to be gifted musically and academically, though wasting her talents on a life of crime. bethanys struggles with her mother and a string of boarding schools were well-documented, culminating in running away in 2009 to join a local street gang. over the next few years, she gradually made her way to stilwater, where she latched onto the saints. not long after, jasper openly claimed her as his sister, adding more public intrigue onto leandras continued secrecy. she took over the saints after his disappearance
carver callaghan, street musician gone viral, and inexplicably dragged into the politics of stilwaters criminal underside. by all accounts, he has no ties to the saints, stating himself that he grew up living in a truck with his father and older sister. conspiracy theorists claim his music contains hidden, or not-so-hidden, lyrics detailing connections with not only jasper and bethany, but malcolm hawke himself, although depictions of leandra and maurevar are notably absent
tl;dr- saints row hawke family au. bethany amell sends fanmail to a rising gang warlord to cope with a shitty personal life, jasper hawke continues searching for a connection to his estranged baby sister
the first postcard arrives shortly after he takes stilwater for the second time, penned in an unsteady cursive slope: “dear mister jasper hawke,” the blue loops eventually align themselves to read, “i have a homework assignment today to write a letter to my hero. i think i am supposed to pick gandhi or my mother, but i picked you instead because it would make both of them mad. how are you? i am annoyed and twelve and will get a c on this because you are a bad influence. don't tell my mom.”
he gives a soft huff of a laugh and sets the card on his desk, on top of a stack of takeout menus, movie ticket stubs, and old post-it reminders. after a couple weeks it’s joined by another card in the same wandering handwriting, “dear mister jasper, are you really as tall as you look on tv? have you always been that tall? i’m almost thirteen and i can still fit my fourth grade clothes. i think if i stood next to you i would only be as tall as your elbow maybe”
on the same schedule, a third. “dear mister jasper, we did family trees today in history. it took the teacher almost the entire class time to figure out i was making everything up. i probably shouldn’t have said that my dad is in witness protection because he witnessed a brutal murder. i got a b though”
“dear mister jasper, i hope you had a nice day today. i wonder if that would involve more explosions than normal for you or less?”
“dear mister jasper, the girl beside me in language arts copied off my test and told the teacher i cheated off of her. i got a 0, so i punched her in the nose the way i saw you do to a reporter in an interview last week. i think you would be proud of me. mom wasn’t” he does, in fact, feel a small swell of pride at this nameless kid standing up for themselves, as he shelves this card with the rest, under a tabloid clipping proclaiming ‘leandra amell’s out-of-control daughter suspended- again! jazz icon refuses to comment on preteen’s violent rampage’
“dear mister jasper, i heard my favorite song on the radio and wondered if my dad was listening to it too”
“dear mister jasper, mom visited the school today and gave a speech about following your dreams, and made me stand up and sing to demonstrate a point. i didn't get swallowed up by the earth, so i can't say i'm following my dreams”
“dear mister jasper, do you ever get scared of things? i have a math test tomorrow and if i get three wrong then my gpa will drop and i won’t get into the college mom wants. i’m also scared of eels. they’re creepy”
only a few days later comes the apparent follow-up, “dear mister jasper, do gangsters accept apprentices like in hogwarts? or maybe interns? i think i could be a good intern even though i don’t know what interns do. my report cards say i’m a fast learner”
“dear mister jasper, it was my birthday today. my roommate gave me fuzzy socks that her cousin sent her for her birthday last month and a card made from notebook paper. mom sent her love. at least i think she did. she didn’t say anything to me”
“dear mister jasper, today i saw a young mom with a baby and i wanted to ask her when she would get bored of it and put it in a boarding school. i couldn’t leave my field trip group though. we were at the art museum. it was nice”
“dear mister jasper, i tried to draw the saints logo. i think i did a good job on the shading. i want you to have it, and only a little bit because i already got in trouble for having a saints t-shirt” he pins the lopsided fleur-de-lis, carefully lined in glittery purple gel pen, to the wall above the desk
“dear mister jasper, my teacher wants us to write a letter to our dads for fathers day. i think you are more fun and would probably be a better dad than whoever my dad is. mom never tells me when i ask”
“dear mister jasper, mom had a party today and made me play a song for everyone. i wrote it myself and they all said it sounded nice. i will tell you a secret though: the lyrics are in italian i learned from the exchange student across the hall and they’re about telling my mom to sit on a cactus. among other things. it makes it easier to smile in front of everyone”
“dear mister jasper, you ran away from your home when you became a saint, right? how did you know where to go? or when to leave? were you afraid? did you pack a lot? the documentary i watched said you only had a dog, a gun and a hundred dollars. i don’t know if i think that is true but i have a stuffed cow, a pair of scissors, and fourteen dollars and seventy-three cents”
“i think i know where this is going and i don’t like it one bit, kid. wish you would put a return address that didn’t come out to some random fast food joint for once...” he mutters into his drink
sure enough, the next postcard comes, “dear mister jasper, i am leaving today to find a new family. i hope yours makes you happy”
he gives a grim sigh and sets it with the others. the next day the gas station newspaper stand shouts to anyone who will look down that bethany amell has been reported missing. ice crystals grow along his ribs and the small part of him that still believes in higher powers prays for more cards to come. it’s a full three weeks before he shuffles through his daily mail to find a familiar looping scrawl,
"dear mister jasper, i wonder if you got scared when new strangers cared more than old family. did you feel guilty, too?"
another several cards come through over time, narrating in brief a journey across half the country that- to his dismay- mirror the one he’d taken himself almost five years earlier. the kid moves in a wide arc around stilwater, though, wandering aimlessly and getting wrapped up in more obscure gangs
at length, ‘the kid’ starts to confirm their identity
"dear mister jasper hawke, she said i abandoned her on tv today. didn't expect that to feel like i got shot again"
he vaguely remembers hearing something like that, possibly from leandra- one of the other saints had an interview on the tv in the other room while he was trying and failing to take a nap. maybe it was her, maybe it was some other woman. either way, he thinks, if he ever meets this kid in person he’s taking custody on the spot
"dear mister jasper hawke, she always told me not to cry about my problems if it doesn't change anything. is it dumb that i keep writing these? i know she's right, but there's no one else to tell"
"dear mister jasper hawke, it's my birthday today. saw on the tv that she has a dog now. she takes it everywhere. i hope it gets taken away"
he distinctly remembers flipping through a checkout-line magazine and passing over a picture of leandra with a purse dog. one of the hairless glorified rats with a toupee of wispy white fur, sticking its head out from under her arm and staring directly into the camera with soulless beady eyes
with every new hint that drops, he doubles down on efforts to pinning down just where bethany is and who she’s running with. it takes months- she’s clever enough to stay out of the spotlight, smarter than he’d been. she wouldn’t be going and getting herself put on a bomb-rigged yacht anytime soon. eventually, though, a heist goes sour, her so-called new family leaves her to take the fall, and she lands herself squarely in the county jail
never one to pass up an opportunity, he pens a letter of his own, one that’s been building up in the back of his mind for almost three years
nothing fancy, there’s no earth-shattering revelations like ‘hey i think you’re my long-lost baby sister’ or ‘you had two dads and two older siblings and a twin and your asshole mother took you away from all of them because she was a selfish bitch’ or ‘if you’ve ever had an inexplicable craving for apple pie on your birthday it’s because our family has always celebrated with pie instead of cake’. just a constructed persona letting her know that she has someone watching out for her. that she’s not nearly as alone as she feels.
it’s a good month before the next postcard arrives. “dear mister jasper, i think i got punk’d by jehova’s witnesses. also state-funded cafeterias are terrible. i’m pretty sure you already knew that though”
he pins that one to the wall after a good laugh and immediately sits down to fire back, “dear miss bethany, i’m not religious. try again”
"dear mister jasper, i am impressed and mildly concerned. did stilwater have a slow week, or did you hire a private detective to read your fan mail"
"dear miss bethany, you’d be surprised how much free time there is at my job. got a lot of underlings, now, who i can just delegate to. besides, detectives charge too much and take too long to do their work"
they trade postcards back and forth for a short bit before a lengthy silence follows his last response. eventually she turns up again, in a new city, flying new colors.
"dear mister jasper, a girl kissed me today. when she asked me if it was okay, i panicked and left without a word"
"dear miss bethany, it happens. i did the same thing. she'll probably be okay with if it you explain to her, or you can leave it and move on. both work" this one he sends in an envelope, with $50 and an extra note- "i know staying on your feet on your own is hard. if you feel like it, come find me someday"
she doesn’t, although they keep talking anyways. it’s another two years before the subject comes up again, this time from bethany, in a scrawled card that reads only,
taking you down with me ||| bethany hawke de la cruz, her rise to power in the saints, and the gradual fall of every truth she thought she knew
pairs with [jasper amell] and [boss malcolm hawke]
01. the crooked kind - radical face [-] the thunder plays it's drum / the air is heavy with the smell of storms / and i sit beside my brother and i feel him shake / as he laughs himself right back to sleep / and i'm laughing with him
02. do you know, do you care - phil collins [-] you said you would, you didn't and i wanna know why / and don't make no excuses / you promised, you promised, you better explain / though i don't know what the use is / you said you could, you couldn't, now why did you lie / you made it look so easy / you did it, why do it, what was your point / laughing while you tease me
03. the payoff - royal deluxe [-] bright lights / big city / smell the cash / you know it's dirty / you never can / get enough / taking names / digging graves / pull the trigger / and walk away / it's just the cost / to be the boss
04. hustler - zayde wolf [-] looking at the city like i already own it / i'm standing on top cause i earned this moment / i took what was mine, now i won't let go of it
05. dangerous - royal deluxe [-] this is how it's gonna be / this is what you'll think of me / it's going down like i told you / this is how it’s gonna be / i'll be the last man standing here / i'm not going anywhere / it's going down like i told you / i'll be the last man standing here
06. pressure - youngblood hawke [-] i am the killer of the sun / just a glimpse of what i have become / you can't tell shelter from the shade / shadows move and leave you wide awake
07. can’t sleep, can’t breathe - digital daggers [-] you tried to tempt fate, be careful what you wish / i'll take you deeper and strip you of salvation / it's a crusade to bring you to your knees / it's what you wanted, your last manipulation
08. windows - awolnation [-] do we really know the way the wind blows / are we really safe around our shadows
09. big guns - ruelle [-] every little move is fixed / like a game of chess / the blood on your hands is thick / and you're placing bets
10. never enough - riot child [-] this could be our last call / i'm drifting as you fall / someone's gotta let go, let go / all that glitters ain't gold / you feel it and i know / someone's gotta let go, let go
