the @gvartistsforpalestine commission said, "mals tattoo and part of his face"
I really enjoyed drawing on motifs from Southeastern Russian (including Slavic motifs and groups like the Shor), Mongolian, Kazakh, and northwestern Chinese art and embroidery for this design. Mal's background (even whether he knows his parents or not) isn't explored in the show, even at times it was deeply weird for it not to come up--like meeting the twins with Alina, or when he and Alina discuss their relationship to the Ravkan regime 🥴🤔. Yet season 1 clearly shows and implies Mal is somehow "other" like Alina, but is more ethnically ambiguous and presumably able to dodge some of the racism she gets. Therefore I made the designs on the theory that he, like Alina, is either half Shu or from a border area where the distinction is inapplicable.
That being said, I think show!Mal being half Suli would be very interesting. It is the analog to Archie Reneaux's background (in the sense that it appears south Asian actors are being cast for the Suli).
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yakuza / bratva au
extremely important note about this au is that, being russian, ino's name is ino yamanavka xD
many ramblings about this au vvv
hinata is the first daughter of the yakuza's hyuuga family. she murders her father in cold blood with his own katana after a psychotic break. hanabi becomes the boss by default and is out for hinata's head for revenge. hinata runs away to russia. she regains awareness somewhere in russia after her episode and after a few weeks is found by low level bratva members that answer to a certain faction led by ino.
ino is instantly taken by this exotic yet dangerous beauty and recognises that she's not all right up there. instead of wasting her she takes her in, much to the familys protest, and makes hinata her right hand. ino's goals are to climb the ranks and take over the entire russian mafia as the top leader.
hinata has reverted to a "childlike" state for self preservation. she is shy and cheerful and nervous and meek; qualities her father literally beat out of her to shape her up to becoming the next head of the hyuuga. despite this, hanabi would be the one to grow up to be the ruthless protege he always wanted and so tossed hinata to the side. the trauma endured and the pressure and ostracisation by the whole clan caused her to eventually snap.
the guilt and grief of killing her father then has her reverted to a childlike state where she constantly seeks for his approval. she took her father's sword with her and his "spirit" lives in the sword. she seeks the swords approval and talks to it as if it were hiashi himself. and in her mind the sword praises her for how far she's become, berates her for her mistakes, etc.
when she kills she becomes hysterically insane, and in the aftermath she becomes cold and unfeeling for some time before she goes back to her normal childlike state. basically she lives in a constant state of disassociation / multiple personalities (?)
ino manipulates her to do her bidding, assures her she's okay, that she's amazing, that her father is so proud of her. she eases hinata's nerves and anxieties with sweet words and sex.
ino came from a poor background where her father sold her to the bratva for money and medicine to help his sick wife. she grew up in the mafia and was used and abused all throughout. every year, every day that passed, ino would have an ever growing hitlist; members that raped her, beat her, humiliated her, etc. and on the top of that list was her fathers name.
when she was old enough to put her plans to fruition, she tracked down her parents house only to find that they had died long ago. not being able to have the last word she is fueled by hatred and goes on a killing spree on the rest of her list and kills her boss and takes his place and threatens the remaining living members of the faction to either join her or die.
over time she becomes a terrible and horrifying leader and is now the boss of a significantly large faction that has control of a sizeable area in moscow.
she has spent time in prison where she received most of her tattoos. (dot under the eye to denote homosexuality, rose to indicate that she turned 18 in prison, nautical stars that tell of her authority, eyes on her chest to mean she is always watching, "cyka" a forced tattoo calling her a bitch, spider to show that she's an active criminal, gun to show she's killed and is/was for hire to kill, roundstone that means trust no one, and various other tattoos with real world meanings).
half her face was burned with battery acid in prison. her back is littered with scars from cuts and from lashes as disciplinary measures growing up in the mafia.
hinata's irezumi tattoos include motifs of ame no uzume that represents inner beauty and kindness, with various other details like bamboo and ginko leaves and little creatures like crabs and goldfish that represent strength, perseverance, sacrifice and loyalty.
ino genuinely cares for hinata in a very fucked up, selfish, and narcisstic way. their relationship is very complex. ino has a girl that constantly seeks her dead fathers approval, and ino has to act like the concept of a father doesn't sicken her to her bones. in a way, they both drive each other mad. ino grows to hate the sword that has part of hinata's love and attention, but understands that if the sword were to disappear then hinata would too (mind and body).
ino drives hinata to kill, which frays her mind a bit more every time, and in turn the energy ino puts into not letting hinata fall apart at the seams causes her a great deal of stress and gets in the way of a lot of her plans to take over. by the end of their conquests they are barely held together by a thread.
they do get very far together but they meet a grim fate when after hinata is forced to kill a child, she loses the last thread keeping her together then murders ino then kills herself immediately after. they become stuff of legends within the mafia.
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