#max's masterpieces

[stars-n-spice]

It's like Tech said in the panel; "Even failures can create windows of opportunity."

Redraws of the whitest I've ever seen the Batch (which is saying a lot).

Comparisons under the cut:

[mbumblebuzz]

helloooooooooo bushfire nation how are we all today

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🦈 Sharpshooters AU

Went to the aquarium the other day, saw some divers cleaning a tank and was reminded of this AU that's been floating in the back of my mind for some time now.

These were supposed to be doodles, but it was rainy and cozy today so I watched minecraft streams and aviation disaster documentaries while drawing/coloring this.

Kinda dumb to be making my own AUs with OCs but whatever man,,

Close-ups and AU info under the cut!

Tay: You come here often?

Crosshair: Uh. Yeah. I have a membership...

Not going to lie, this AU stems from an original story idea I've had for a bit that I never got around to writing. The premise was basically about a guy working at an aquarium as a diver and it was going to be called "Going off the Deep End" and I was debating between making it a workplace romcom (hence the single parent trope) or a drama of sorts with the MC having suffered some traumatic incident in the ocean and is now doing exposure therapy by working at the aquarium.

Idk. Ultimately I think I ended up writing about cowboys instead for projects in class, but it was an idea that stuck with me because I thought the title was fitting and funny.

ANYWAYS. It sorta translates well into Sharpshooters because in-universe Akona LOVES marine life, so she'd love aquariums, and Tay's amphibious, so he'd enjoy being in the water and doing things.

On top of that, there's also a nearby Naval Postgraduate School by the Monterey Bay Aquarium (where I'd picture the story taking place) so it made sense that the Batch would be in the area being like with the military or some shit.

Technically, Akona is adopted and would be adopted in a Modern AU, but for this particular modern AU she'd be biologically Crosshair's because I don't see him adopting during the time period he's at in his life in the AU (she was an accident).

That being said, either she's the byproduct of some one night stand Crosshair had with some lady and somehow got full custody of her OR I'm thinking fuck it, Trans Crosshair and Akona is his and Mayday's.

HEAR ME OUT ON THE LAST ONE.

In Modern AUs I don't see the clones all being related. Like some are brothers, twins, or cousins, but I see some not being related by blood - like Mayday and Crosshair. I don't care about cloneshipping in universe (it's not a tag I have blocked nor is it something I seek out) but like in Modern AUs I see there being some loopholes or whatever. Like you can't deny Cross and Mayday didn't have chemistry together and I see Mayday being like the first decent boyfriend Crosshair has in a Modern setting before something happens to him. Does that make sense? Idk.

Whatever, I'm leaning towards the latter anyways, so that the 'Mae' part of her name makes more sense and it's more in line with canon events (and also because I personally don't see Crosshair being with a woman willingly) because I see Crosshair and Mayday meeting in the military and getting together -> then down the line, something happens to Mayday -> he dies, leaving Crosshair with their daughter (a surprise accident) -> but his death was preventable and the result of Nolan's actions -> so Crosshair goes AWOL and like probably attempts to murder Nolan -> he's dishonorably discharged, but is allowed to like live with his brothers on the Naval Postgraduate School Campus.

Something like that.

Ok this is already a lot,,

I'll probably make a separate post or whatever going into better detail of the AU as a whole but this is like the gist of it/what I'm thinking at the moment.

[stars-n-spice]

That moment when you realize that you have very real feelings about your coworker with benefits, but before you can talk to him about it, his ass gets shipped to Barton IV.

Lyrics from Malcom Todd's "Earrings."

This song was stuck in my head the last couple of days and I realized it was pretty fitting for Sharpshooters. Don't ask me how many times I looped that song while making this.

Some close-ups and stuff under the cut:

Instead of earrings, Tay'kaa accidentally leaves behind the Devaronian Victory Necklace his late mother/mentor, Ko, gave him in Crosshair's barracks. He gets it back eventually, but then also finds out Crosshair's off planet now.

Tay using text to speech to try and get in contact with Crosshair because he's semi-illiterate and thus doesn't really text much, but Crosshair's not answering his calls.

Before Crosshair does end up being sent to Barton IV though, he's sorta been avoiding Tay for his own reasons so they're emotionally apart from each other before physically being apart from each other. They're just emotionally constipated traumatized men, so communication and talking feelings is hard.

Tay'kaa 🫱🏾‍🫲🏿 Phee

falling in love with the Batch twins' eyes

Crosshair's aim? Tech's brains? Nope, the real weapon they yield is those mf brown eyes.

[stars-n-spice]

DAY 02 - BRATTING/COLLAR & LEASH

Art - Suggestive ⚠️

With Lighting:

Without Lighting:

Woof.

lyrics from Gorillaz's "She's My Collar"

Tag List: @bottomcrosshairweek - Let me know if you want to join!

[stars-n-spice]

Hey Batter Batter Batcher ⚾️

Yes I'm posting about baseball on the hockey site again but idc, I went to a Korean baseball game this past weekend (my absolute favorite) and baseball season has started, so balls have been on my mind.

Take that as you will.

Bonus Tay and Jung because why not?

Anywho, individual pieces in better quality + AU info under the cut.

Additional Notes:

I think their numbers are obvious to figure out (Jung's is an Order 66 reference and Tay's gladiator tag had '80' in it)

At first, I went with '14' for Echo's, since that's the first two numbers of his CT # but then I realized the last two, '09' was more fitting since everyone else had a '9' in their number

With Tay, football is probably more fitting in terms of a modern equivalent of the gladiator matches he grew up doing, so he would've done that first before switching over (which some athletes have done irl, like Bo Jackson) - joining baseball would be like his equivalent of joining the Black Sun Crime Syndicate (hence 'The Mercenaries')

Similarly, Crosshair's Empire switch up would just be him signing to another team - but then he fucks up his arm and is dropped and goes back to his brothers

So for a time, Tay and Crosshair were on the same team "The Imperials" or some shit, idk and have an on-and-off relationship

Also, instead of Tech jumping from a cable car and fucking dying, instead he made a diving catch and fucking hit his head + sprained his wrist trying to catch himself and was benched for a time

Jung going to play for minor leagues is a reference to him working in literal mines after Order 66, lol

My brother said Wrecker would play 3rd/1st but because catchers have fat asses and wear their helmets like Wrecker likes to, I made him a catcher

Omega's their batboy

Really this was an excuse to draw Crosshair with tear marks again

Additionally, my brother's (who's been playing baseball since he was 5 years old) input.

Originally, I thought his text said "Crosshair would be a POS" and didn't blink an eye. I was just like, "Yeah he is."

[stars-n-spice]

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Had this idea randomly come to me while thinking about Crosshair and Tay's parallels because they really are just two sides of the same coin.

More thoughts underneath the cut:

Anywho, said defining moment of their arcs being when someone they care about dies in front of them.

Indirectly by the hands of the organization Crosshair gives everything to - directly by the hands of the organization Tay gave up everything for and then was betrayed by, but both of them ultimately blame themselves for their deaths. In Crosshair's case, it's Commander Mayday, and in Tay's it's his surrogate mother, Na'yeli Marr.

The text in the first image reads "Samson" in Hebrew and "Icarus" in Greek - two characters from mythology that I think are incredibly fitting for Tay and Crosshair, respectively.

The story of Icarus, I think, is pretty well known, so I won't really talk about it for Crosshair - but it's just that bit of 'flying too close to the sun' and the whole wings motif - like with the ice vulture - that I think is fitting for Crosshair. He doesn't really listen to his brothers, stays with the Empire, his ambition and stubbornness gets the best of him and he falls - right into the unforgiving hands of Tantiss.

Then there's Tay.

Initially, I wasn't really thinking about the story of Samson when coming up with his lore but in the process of doing so I was like "Wait a minute, this seems familiar...", because here I had this physically capable character who falls victim to a woman's charms and manipulation, leading to him falling to his lowest point.

He doesn't get his eyes gouged out like Samson does in the Bible when he's finally broken down and overpowered by his enemies, but he does get branded with the mark of the Black Sun as a sort of punishment and a reminder for him to not cross them again. That and they also kill his mom.

In Samson's story, he's tricked by a woman named Delilah into revealing his secret of what makes him so strong–his hair–so Samson's enemies learn his weakness and use it against him–they cut his hair off and he initially loses his god-like strength.

In Tay's story, he's led on by an old fling, a Falleen (Dehlila - is her name because I'm uncreative lol), who is still working for the Black Sun, unbeknownst to Tay. She makes amends with him and starts making moves again, but is only doing so on behalf of Black Sun to see what kind of weaknesses they can use against him since Tay betrayed them and began to work for the Empire, using his knowledge about the Syndicate to disrupt their workings.

As a result, Dehlila finds out about Crosshair - but fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) when they decide to make their move, it's when Crosshair is sent to Barton IV, so they can't use him against Tay. So instead, they turn to his mom.

It's the lowest point for Tay (which is saying a lot for all that I've made him go through lol), because it's like the third time he's let someone that he loves down and gotten them indirectly killed. The first being his other mom/mentor, Ko, and the second being his mentee/surrogate daughter figure, Phelia–both of whom died in the Cauldron gladiatorial arena.

Anywho - all that to say they both have an instance where the death of someone they admire breaks them down, sending them to rock bottom, but also opens up their eyes to reality–breaking them away from what they initially thought about the galaxy and themselves.

Also, something I found to be cool while doing more research on both Icarus and Samson - the name Samson means "sun child" or "child of the sun" - which I thought was funny because Tay is very much a 'sun' type character, so it was fitting in that sense.

Then there was also the fact that the sun is a very prominent factor in Icarus' story and Tay was a part of the Black Sun Crime Syndicate for a time. It was just a cool coincidence, I thought.

Ok I'm rambling, but if you read all of that nonsense I appreciate it 🩵 I just really love character parallels if you couldn't tell lol

[stars-n-spice]

Uno debe amar lo más que pueda.

Idk. With all the shit going on right now in the US, I've felt a surge of pride for my Latin roots and the communities that I've grown up around as a result of living and growing up in SoCal. Even though I'm currently in Korea studying Korean, I've been looping Bad Bunny for the past couple of weeks because his music slaps (and I'm also homesick and tired of hearing Korean all the time), so his songs have been stuck in my head for a bit.

I just needed,, idk a break? Or something to clear my head with everything going on, and because Benito's just made history at the Grammy's and is about to perform at the Super Bowl, I thought this up. Really, it's an excuse to draw Crosshair in a mariachi outfit.

Idk. I just haven't felt this proud to be Latino in a while, and of course, I have to project that onto my ocs (also Space Latinos are where it's at!) and include their partners in it. Because as someone who comes from parents with two very different cultures (who kinda wishes that they took the time to understand each other's cultures better and pass them onto my siblings and I more than they did, so I could feel some sense of belonging somewhere) I think it's important that if you do have a partner from a different culture you actually take time to appreciate it.

Idk I'm rambling, anyways-

Benito deserves everything he's achieved so far and everything he'll continue to achieve. Chinga la migra and support any and all immigrants in your communities, because nobody is illegal on stolen land. Quite frankly this shit is ridiculous to witness, because my mom's family has been here long before white man made it to this continent, and my dad has done way more than the average american in his lifetime to earn his citizenship and yet they're the ones whose families and communities are being targeted?? Fuck off.

This is becoming a rant, my bad - but my points still stand.

Also, if you want to, you could read this fic. It's one of my favorite fics I've ever written and centers around Tay serenading Crosshair on the daily with different Spanish songs. :P

Thank you 🩵