#sr2 zoo

[zoo-the-saint]

Since I'm sharing older pride art, here's another piece I did of SR2 Shaun's trying to be supportive of Zoo (she does not know what any of the flags mean-). Again, I adore how I drew her, hate how I drew Zoo. Also I hc that Shaundi is mixed

[masschase]

"I didn't ask, Zach." "No, but you need one." "Says who?" "Says your face, love."

This started as a quick doodle bc I didn't have the energy for a comic I wanted to do with them but I just kind of kept going and then regretted not putting more work into the initial sketch. I don't like how their faces came out to the point I liquified the fuck out of them several times to try to fix them but ANYWAY.

This is my Boss, Casey and @zoo-the-saint's boss Zoo in the Double Boss AU. This is them in their ANGERY bebes phase (SR2) and I would imagine it's probably after killing Julius. Although some decisions are split throughout the games, it's only fitting they do this together with the way Jules deliberately tried to pit them against each other from the start.

This AU is something I have... SO much backstory for to be honest but I never know how much people want to hear. I wanted to write a world for the triad of Zoo x Matt x Casey to eventually exist but that left me with a good 15 years (half of their fucking lives!) of friendship between these two before that even coming to fruition, and they have an interesting dynamic in their own right.

I like to think Cass bought Zoo the custom lighter because she's always bumming his cigarettes. I cannot stress more that the girl has never bought a pack in her life.

Anyway this is more than I meant to write but obviously I'm always happy to answer questions about my AUs. 😊

[whoredmode]

on my to-draw list (writing it here for my own sake n also y’all can hold me to it):

design concepts for Guy and the Tera-based character (and deciding on an actual name for her) in the LoP story. refine designs for the LoP themselves

concepts for stilwater zoo and aquarium

design concepts for steelport’s mayor, considering doing a Monica Hughes redesign too to match her sr2 model and age better

[zoo-the-saint]

Thinking about the development for Zoo from SR2 to SR3. He's like a completely different person in the span of only like 5 years. Current Zoo knows how terrible he was back then, and he definitely regrets some of his actions.

SR2 Zoo was practically on a rampage, plus he was on a massive power trip with being the new leader of the Saints. He had been betrayed and blown up and put in a coma for five years, from a teenager into his early 20s. He was a young gang leader, had to rebuild the Saints from pretty much nothing. He had to watch as his best friend almost died because of the Ronin, because of him. He had to put Carlos out of his misery after The Brotherhood got to him. Because of Zoo. Aisha was dead, Shaundi almost got killed by Veteran Child. Zoo was on a rampage and it cost lives, but that didn't stop him in the time being. It drove him further. He was filled with blood lust and angry at the world and had no sort of control over himself. He acted impulsively and didn't stop to think about consequences whatsoever. SR3 Zoo still has a temper and doesn't often think about his actions, but he takes a bit more pause now, and he actually feels guilt for his actions.

Zoo actually hates the person he was back in SR2, but he doesn't say it. He blames the person he was for a lot of the blood that's on his hands.

[zoo-the-saint]

Even though its halfway through the month, I am so gonna draw up some Pride art of Zoo (perhaps with Matt 👀) and I wanna draw Mel too for Pride

[zoo-the-saint]

I can't believe I don't know this yet-

How did Zoo get his facial scars?

(We're gonna pretend I saw this and it was just sent and not however long it may have been because I never saw the notification for this-)

So Zoo got most of his face scars between SR2 and 3. He got jumped outside of a bar by a few guys trying to mug him and one of them had a knife, they slashed his face several times. He was able to fight em off even being drunk and having his face cut to hell.

He got another scar or two during the events of SR3 when Matt crashed the helicopter him and Shaundi were in when they were trying to kill Killbane.

[zoo-the-saint]

Some older Zoo doodles from SR2-SR4

I swear I'm gonna do some ref sheets of him and Mel throughout the different games-

[zoo-the-saint]

Boss ask meme:

For Zoo: 17 and 19

For Mel(I know she's not a Boss but you asked 😅): 7 and 9

Thank you for the ask!! 🥺

Zoo

17: which romance option is my headcanon?

So obviously I love Matt x Zoo, but the Boss and Johnny romance option actually inspired me to have Zoo have subtle feelings for Johnny. The feelings were really strong back in SR2 but Zoo back off because Johnny had Aisha, then after her death, Zoo really didn't want to come onto Johnny because he knew he was hurting. So finally having some downtime on the Ship and having Johnny back, Zoo just starts rambling about all of the feelings he's had over the years that he's kept hidden and Johnny just cutting him off. It's honestly my second favorite romance option and it helped me develop Zoo quite a bit.

19: Favorite gun/weapon?

I don't know guns, but Zoo's favorite weapon is dual-wielded black pistols because he's an angsty bitch.

Mel

7: OTP/OT3 pairing?

Okay so for like SR3/SR4 Mel, I genuinely still have no idea who to ship her with. But for SR2, I ship her with Matt (SR2), and then semi-jokingly, her, Matt, Maero, and Jess being two couples that mess around with each other. 😆 I do wanna try to think of more ships for her for later games, though!

9: any family, and who is most important?

So Mel has an older brother and a mom. She has no idea who her dad is because her mom definitely got around, and Mel's brother was in jail for armed robbery when she was born, so he was in prison her entire childhood. She was never close to her mom; Mel's mom had a heavy drug problem, and any money she got went right into drugs. So Mel pretty much ran away and got into the crime life so she could survive. Mel has always been closer to her brother and used to always visit him in jail (their mom never visited him). Now that she's been in the Saints and he's out of jail, she doesn't really know where he's gone, but she feels like he has been avoiding her due to her being involved in crime and him possibly trying to avoid that life.

[masschase]

xixi and casey for the ship section of the ask meme? pretty please? 👉🏻👈🏻

Of course you may has some Xic 😊

Ask meme (Mr. Krabs voice: More. 😈)

001 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

• when I started shipping it if I did: 30th June 2023 because I checked our messages 🤭 we were talking about various Boss x Boss possibilities and got into just how messy those two would be together, especially in their SR2 era so we... specifically paired them up in that era 😆

My thoughts:

It's a ship I can't quite see for Boss Casey, though I can see them knowing each other. But non-Boss? Absolutely! If it seems like I sideline them at all it's only because I do prefer Casey as a leader in some capacity and I'm careful where I make them work. But for example working them in as exes in the Sinners AU fits quite nicely. It's definitely not supposed to be a aspirational dynamic though, and some stuff they do to each other is downright toxic. For example Xixi repetitively lying to Casey about taking harder drugs. Casey sleeping with other people when she's mad about that.

What makes me happy about them:

I love that they're a bit of a mess, I love that Casey follows Xixi around like a puppy but still tries to say it's just sex, it's quite a departure from her as a leader and that's always hard because sticking an OC in a completely different situation does make you start to wonder by what measure they are the same person. But I see the aspects of Casey that the AU would lend itself to. I just enjoy that it's something different, I think your enthusiasm about it kind of helped me out of my comfort zone to do something a bit different.

What makes me sad about them:

I mean the reason this is out of my comfort zone is that I do generally prefer that people bring out the best in each other whereas with these two it's the worst. Like that's an important part of them but it leads to some downright painful moments when instead of moving past their issues with each other they just retaliate against each other. Then there's the fact they're practically designed to end in disaster. It's definitely the angstier part of me that likes them.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I mean if there's ever a fanfic it'll be you or I that write it Carrie so I can't see anything going wrong? If I wrote Xixi in a way you weren't happy with obviously I'd be upset with myself 🥲 I think I have a sense of her now though!

Things I look for in fanfic:

Hmm. Again things we would both write pretty naturally. Make it messy and a little sad. Make them bring out the absolute worst in each other because the oof moments are something unique to them. But make sure the love is there.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

Pretty easy since they both had established ships before discussing this!

Xixi: Obviously Johnny and I really eagerly await your fanfic, I will eat that up. But I also really like her with Viola! I mean I even said yesterday that Boss x Viola fascinates me.

Casey: Matt or Zoo or both. I think we also discussed Van x Matt x Casey being a possibility after a version of Xixi x Casey that lives. Maybe Shaundi or Johnny in some circumstances.

My happily ever after for them:

Retiring on the beach after one last big job that somehow works out. That's the kind of thing they have going.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon:

I think that's a hard one! I think I see them more with Casey's head on Xixi's chest than spooning most of the time! Casey seeking that warmth without actually having to be the one who initiates a cuddle because we know she struggles with that, and Xixi being the one who actually puts her arms around her. If they did spoon it'd be very drunk/high collapsing whichever way around.

What is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Drinking and smoking, mostly. Getting high and people watching. Adrenaline highs. Bad driving.