The comics is another installment of the idea that Crosshair sees perfectly in the dark, also inspired by @kalm5‘sidea that they posted after we talked about how, if Clone Force 99 was such a top secret unit, that most clones, especially young clone cadets, wouldn’t know about them so The Bad Batch would probably became… some sort of Kamino’s urban legends amongst the clone cadets?
Clones obviously stumbled upon them one way or another but since they look different and probably the encounters were very brief that some sort of stories begun to form about them, then rumor mill would do the rest, blowing everything out of the proportion!
Crosshair would probably become some sort of cautionary tale that ends with a clone (cadet) becoming a ghost that roams the halls at night.
Hunter would be a clone (cadet) that looks off, but helps fellow cadets when they get lost (because he, himself, never is) then just disappears before a person in need could even thank him for help.
Tech is this disembodied clicking noise coming from the tech room in the middle of the night or a fellow clone that just works in computer room at night that will never reply (or even turn around) when addressed to.
Wrecker would become a story about a very disobedient clone (cadet) that was used for experiment as a form of punishment. He would often escape the labs located at lower level of Kamino and is constantly hunt down by the Kamino guards to be dragged back for more experiments.
So you better eat those vegetables or you’ll join the mutated clone cadet in his misery!
Of course everyone at Kamino claims the stories are just that… the stories! But clone cadets think it’s another conspiracy theory because there is a grain of truth in every story… right?
ok… strap in, because it’s going to be a WALL of text as @kalm5 and I came up with Rally racing modern!AU
The idea is “split” into 2 parts:
1. Anakin meets Rex and they form a rally race team (Anakin – driver + Rex – navigation)
2. Ahsoka begs Anakin to mentor her + Rex becomes the young woman’s navigator to see if she’s any good.
The bullet points (that are under the cut/read more) are for the “1st part” of the plot, and are NOT everything @/Kalm5 and I came up with (I might add more stuff if I decide to draw more artworks for this AU)
Enjoy!
BACKGROUND INFO:
ANAKIN:
As a teen Anakin worked in a Watto’s junkyard part-time
He used to illegally race to win cash because of a gang (the Hutts) that had a choke-hold on his neighborhood .
He worked on the junkyard as a cover up for his illegal racing so when his mother would question about the prize money he always excused it for working extra shifts.
Anakin enjoys driving and loves cars with manual gearboxes
Obi-Wan is Anakin’s former driving teacher (when Anakin was getting his driving license, Kenobi used to warn him that he’ll loose it almost immediately if he won’t change the way he drives, as Anakin is very good but pretty reckless driver)
somewhere along the lines Anakin starts to take part in desert rally races (something akin to Dakar rally)
(Obi-Wan hates to admit it but he always has the radio on when he teaches driving to hear how Anakin’s race is doing. students are so confused why this very calm and collected gentleman is so engrossed with rally races)
Unfortunately due to his racing team being up to the neck with some shady stuff. They decided to use Anakin as a scapegoat, since he is a loose canon. He got blamed for a stuff he didn’t do – unfortunately the whole affair went viral - forcing Anakin step away from racing, moreover - his sponsors pulled the plug on him so he had to “retire” and "go into hiding”.
Anakin basically stepped away from racing altogether but he loved it so damn much he couldn’t let go. Every time there is any mention of any racing he gets extremely distraught.
Anakin starts to work part-time as a mechanic. He meets Padme at the workshop. Fixes her car. They fall in love and get married.
REX/FETT FAMILY:
Fett household had very military upbringing as they were like 99% boys and their father was prominent solider/always on the missions.
Their eldest brother - [99] - who is terminally ill - is filling-in for a legal guardian for his younger brothers, so the older brothers kept younger in check so [99] was “parental figure” mostly on paper.
Most of the Fetts choose military careers because it pays very well and they had easy to get into the ranks due to their father’s „legacy”
every brother has a trade: some are carpenters, wielders, plumbers, roofers, chimney sweepers and so on… Kix is a paramedic, Jesse’s a cop, etc. Most of the guys have a hard time finding employment/contracts, due to the fact that they spend many years in the military, thus lost/have no contacts to spread the word about their skills.
as every Fett, Rex went to the military, but retired after AU!Umbara mission - it left him scarred, full of PTSD and depression.
once he got back from the military all his neighbors started to force him to find that “special someone”/a partner/wife.
He tries his best to find SOMEONE… anyone?
STORY:
Anakin still works as a mechanic.
Padme works at the city hall.
One day Cody’s car breaks down and he needed a quick fix, Obi-Wan gave him contact to Anakin who lives nearby, to check the car as he has all the necessary permits as a car mechanic. As he was fixing the car Rex came back from work and just helped him by giving him tools and stuff.
Next think they know they went for couple of beers in a local bar.
As they talked it turned out that they were both taught driving by Obi-Wan, like most Fetts were, to the point Kenobi even had a discount for Rex’s family. (Obi-Wan knew the struggled with money, thus the discount, as having a driving license opened up more job options)
then there is a broadcast of some racing stuff and Anakin gets sentimental, talking about how he misses rallies but he has no car, team, sponsors and stuff and also… eh.. it’s complicated
Anakin learns Padme is pregnant and he himself is conflicted as he doesn’t know what to do with his life. he really wants to pick up his rally racer career… but maybe his mechanic gig might not be good enough? so maybe he should put on a shirt and tie and go to regular work?
drunk, Rex encourages Anakin to maybe try once, agreeing to be his navigator… heck they can start “some Internet fund-riser or like clean windshields of cars at intersections like bunch of kids” for cash.
despite being excellent driver on a sandy dunes, Anakin refuse to drive on deserts anymore. So both him and Rex decided to pick the half-forest, half-mountain and plenty of mud scenery.
They kind of find a connection, they leave on the good terms, sealed the deal of being driver-navigator team.
The buggy Rex and Anakin use was build by Anakin. Parts provided by Watto’s junkyard (Anakin past-employer).
Watto dared Anakin that he will get a hefty discount for the parts IF the vehicle passes the necessary tests and he allowed to put a sticker of his junkyard onto the car.
Anakin is still conflicted despite the fact that Padme, in fact, believes he SHOULD take part in the rally race once again, as then he’d be able to make a decision on what to do (as in → at the finishing line he’ll know if it’s his last hurrah or he’ll revive his racing career).
Anakin basically build whole house Padme and him live at and he is the handyman of the house, so he was afraid that Padme would end up without no-one to help her around the house when he is away ← Rex’s gives her a whole contact list to his siblings so whenever she needs help with leaking faucet or roof, she can phone any of them for help.
(at work, a lot of Padme’s colleagues are complaining at various firms that butchered jobs… carpets, plumbing, tiles in the bathrooms etc. So Padme just gives those people Fett brothers business cards and suddenly they guys have like those better paid contracts from city hall people, no less!)
Rex has a tendency to bump his head at the frame of his and Anakin’s buggy. He once hit his head so hard, he started to bleed. Kix (who got a gig as a paramedic at the Rally) at the time run out of band-aid, but thankfully Anakin had some… Which were rainbow themed as Anakin was in this “upcoming dad hyper-mode” so the bought them because he though they were cute and didn’t even though someone might feel any less manly because of the colorful band-aid. of course Rex is manly enough to not care - he just doesn’t want his helmet smeared with blood!
Someone took a photo of Kix applying the bright rainbow-themed band-aid onto the navigator and it became instant meme + many people started to “ship” Anakin and Rex as their developing friendship was misinterpreted by certain parts of the Internet which made Rex super confused (not to mention Anakin LOVES Padme)
The first part of the race went… very bad!
Rex is by the book – giving very precise coordinates, while Anakin has „hunches” so he mostly wings it and plays it by the ear.
Since they didn’t understand how each other operate - they butt heads constantly and get lost.
they had a major screaming match that ends up with Rex falling off the small landslide and face planting into a mud (Anakin tried to catch him), it’s recorded on a dash-cam of their car and it became a part of some sort of Rally-race highlights compilation that became extremely popular on the Internet.
but after that fight, as Rex was spitting mud, they kind of started to understand each-other better.
Rex decided to start trusting Anakin’s hunches, and as it turned out… Anakin’s “sixth sense” saved their asses in the end so they barely made it to the finish line in time to be qualified for part two of the race
barely but they did it!
The second part of race is much better - they are both more in-tune with eachother other.
however they never finish that part as they have a terrible accident…
… after which Anakin has to have his arm amputated!
Okay, so I’m eating a string cheese stick and I had this thought
Crosshair definitely bites them. He doesn’t string them. He doesn’t have the patience to sit and string them, and it makes everyone upset because they think it’s wrong
Echo also does it occasionally because sometimes he’s just so hungry and doesn’t have the time to string it properly. Fives used to do it to annoy Echo
Tech goes absolutely feralwhen they do this. He hates it so much but he can’t give an actual reason as to why. He also doesn’t like string cheese, but he will grab one to throw at his brothers if he gets annoyed. One time, he was fixing up the ship and asked Cross for a tool and Cross gave him a half eaten string cheese and Tech didn’t notice right away until he tried to use it like a screw driver. Cross was effectively banned from ever helping with repairs again
Wrecker doesn’t really care if others bite it, but he doesn’t do it himself because he likes to try and sculpt his string cheese by stringing it
Hunter doesn’t usually eat string cheese. He’s lactose intolerant. But, every so often, he goes on a cheese binge and you bet he eats 20 string cheese a day
Also, I bite my string cheese. I’m not spending 5 minutes pulling it apart when I can bite it in 10 seconds
Ok but imagine Cross staring intently at Hunter, never breaking eye contact, as he bites the tip of the cheese and pulls it down out of spite to assert his lactose tolerant dominance
But, Jesse, this guy just tried to assert his dominance by biting down on cheese, CHEESE!
so… the background for this comics is: First I’ve read @perpetuallyaiming post before reading @monako-jinn-stories‘s OG one and I was sure @/preperuallyaiming meant a block of cheese not a string cheese.
You can thank @kalm5 for inspiring/prompting me to draw this piece.
It took me a while to draw with kalm cheering me through the process but also brainstorming with me the behind-the-scenes of this piece AKA mixing and matching many headcanons on top of creating new ones.
If you’re interested in the explanation. It is under the cut/read more:
Crosshair doesn’t really sleep for the whole night but relies on napping through day and night. He mostly takes graveyard shifts at the ship. It’s in parts due to the fact that he talks/mumble in his sleep (that is mostly stress related e.g. constant pressure, bullying, need for control, his perfectionism, etc.). Also he was once recorded by Tech, who found his incoherent mumbling interesting, and later refused to delete the vid, making the sniper paranoid – as it showcased that there are parts of him, he can’t control – his subconscious, which resulted with more talking and less sleeping which later evolved to Crosshair sneaking out after curfew to doze off somewhere he deemed more “secluded”.
However one day Wrecker discovered, during many play fights they had in their room, there is a way to make Crosshair less anxious thus “less talkative” during sleep.
Not to mention better rested Crosshair = less asshole-ish Crosshair.
As a cadet, Wrecker discovered that if he wrap Crosshair tightly in a blanket and then trap him under his body, then sniper-in-training would first trash around trying to escape, then go totally still, to finally fall asleep (the whole process, despite sounding like a lot, was much quicker than the regular bedtime routine).
From time to time, when Crosshair became too unbearable, Wrecker would just roll him in the blanket and lie on top of the sniper. As a cadet Wrecker sprawled all over him. As they grew older Wrecker chose to just half-lie, half-lean on his brother, kind of only restricting his torso and arms (one of the reason why, was that the bunks were very narrow).
He also opted for leaning on the sniper after one time, Wrecker had a freak-out that he accidentally suffocated Crosshair because the sniper went still unnaturally fast. In reality, the sniper was so tired he immediately dozed off.
What also makes Crosshair fall asleep quicker is Wrecker’s low chuckling because the demolition man has a lot of fun in trying to pin his brother, who always fuss over the whole procedure (he’s not as irritated by it as he let everyone to believe).
While needing to be still for couple of minutes himself, and Crosshair’s even breathing/chest movement lulls Wrecker to sleep as well, so they tend to fall asleep together.
—
I also had additional headcanons that goes along with this picture:
first, that I’ve already voiced out in my another comics, that Crosshair is not white-haired from the start but rather, due to his mutations, he went gray somewhere in his adolescence.
As cadets, Clone force 99 wore standard clothing. After Crosshair hit his growth spurt, his uniform was too short, while Wrecker had to wear bigger sizes after he hit his (at the time he was suppose to wear the red-blue cadet tunic – for early teens, he only fitted fully red ones – for older teens/young adults)
I got inspired by @corona-one tags under this post: #I like the headcanon I’ve seen that he grows out his hair to cover the scar from where he had his chip removed after Tup and Fives I merged it with another HC I’ve seen that Kix changed his haircut to a “standard” one to be harder to recognize during his investigation of the chips.
I also like to think, Kix planned to de-chip Jesse next, under guise of some minor medical procedure (the medic decided to keep Jesse in the dark so the ARC wouldn’t be accused of being a co-conspirator), but he was kidnapped right before it was arranged.
The perfection!!!!! I see that Crosshair is having Paczki!!! Awesome Job Paperback!!!
Hunter has a strange fascination about pickles. He likes how you make into a method of preserving. Through he has concocted a thing of mixing various pickle juice in what the Bad Batch calls as the Hunter’s Dead Juice.
It is soooo evil in taste but it curves that hangover!
Only the truly desperate Brother will take a shot of it because they need to be on their A-game for the mission.
But the fumes are so horrendous as well the Marauder smells for several hours later!
They are hungover as a result of “taste-testing” moonshine they brew themselves in their barracks!
(…) But- but it was sunny when we left. Right? Sunny and warm? So he should be okay, right? (…) He always- he always complains about how cold it is on the ship. So he’s got to be okay, right? Because it’s warm? And he likes places that are warm? It’s better than if it was raining, cause he hates the rain. So he’s-
let’s continue the tradition! shall we? @ct-crosshair
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EDIT: previous chapter of “sun kissed” and my comics related to the fanfics is available HERE
The helmets are very often a representation of the clones that use them, even more, in my opinion, than their faces: the helmet is what others see the most often (in combat and outside of it), it’s also a way to contact others, to asses the situation - a quick and direct way to communicate with others. They also are more versatile when it comes to personalization (and less painful than i.e. tattoos) it showcases the affiliation to the battalion they serve at or even squad they belong to, then also showcases the personal preferences.
Thebucket, by extension, IS synonymous of the clone trooper’s face, mostly to his brothers and people close to them. Finding it abandoned is a grim reminder of it’s owner going missing - either KIA, MIA, POW or AWOL - and this is something a fellow trooper doesn’t want their comrade to be.
I’m sure that interacting with a missing clone trooper’s helmet might be for some people like interacting with the missing brother and if they are still alive maybe they’d feel the connection… somehow.
Star Wars writers and fans have yet to grapple with the theological implications of the force playing barbies with The Childlike Empress and Samurai Space Jesus.
