#ionzhar. private and selective, mostly friends-only writing blog for an original character some thirteen or fourteen years in the making. based in the universe of m*rvel comics, specifically rooted within x-men lore as well as department x.
in affiliation with: max 'magnus' eisenhardt ⁽ ♡ ⁾, hương nguyệt vân, warren worthington iii, johann dreyman ⁽ * ⁾, le chiffre ⁽ * ⁾, rogue, emma frost, yehya badr, moon knight, penelope gibson, sofia falcone,
⁽ ♡ ⁾ : default universe partner. byasha is not whole without magnus, i am not whole without fen. unless we've discussed some kind of dynamic, one can assume byasha is married to magnus and will be by default.
⁽ * ⁾ : affiliated in their own separate universe(s).
JOHANN DREYMAN X BYANKA STARKOVA, a complete zine information regarding their relationship ( @ionzhar )
THE BOOK OF STOLEN GLANCES: prelude, the eyes bear witness. their first encounter happened during his fleeting visit to HƯƠNG NGUYỆT VÂN / LOUISE's apartment where he caught a glimpse of BYANKA / BIANKA within the apartment——he has never seen her beforehand, as he fathoms that LOUISE'S requires solitude within her personal space thus her presence was rather unexpected, almost jarring because within briefest moment, he knows her from somewhere in passing, written within classified files: she has intrigued him from the beginning.
arc one, curiosity. their second encounter would be yet another fleeting, unexpected rendezvous within inauspicious circumstance; he had to fetch an owed money from an eliminated client, which amounted to millions. blood smeared within the place had been meticulously cleaned whilst he walked out from the building——merely to encounter her yet again. he fathoms that she sought for the client as people had been looking for him for their money, however he slipped through from her fingers merely because she found his existence to be annoying because he kept coming back to LOUISE'S apartment to no fail: his lunch offer had been turned down, however it is merely the beginning of his curiosity to find her clients &. her past.
arc two, valentine. johann has become a constant nuisance lurking within the apartment——purposefully linger merely to take a glimpse of her once again, even when it is brisk or fleeting, he just needs a moment to have a conversation with her. perhaps she knows him thus she tried to avoid him evermore, but a quick text of mere greet lead to a date he audaciously invited her upon merely because he had planned it before extending the invitation. he behaved gentlemanly; making sure that she enjoys his company than loathing him for simply lurking, &. it succeed: there'd be following dates around the parks, the shows, &. the dinners——it almost happened rather quick, just like mere glance from her before.
arc three, partnership. they have become closer than before within LOUISE'S absence; entangled 'tween sheets or sofas or floors or walls——physically attracted with each other whilst their conversations escalate from constant teases &. banters to uncharted territory of her vulnerability. she has been honest to him, within her limited words she could convey——he extends the same favour, regardless of how untruthful or truthful it could be; she becomes too close to him, without a title borne from their relationship; he was hesitating, for it may have been too much for her. a simple jest taken into contemplation, she says otherwise &. he confirms their relationship——partnership, as lovers.
arc four, where do we go from here? unexpected circumstances will make them question themselves &. others: where do they go whilst the sky is vast, &. they are still stagnant. regardless of her meltdown from a prevelant issue, they are still together, almost cautiously opening up, &. blurring the affectionate embrace into steadfast love.
arc five, the surprise. days have become shorter, nights have become everlasting——their love is a burning fuse with inexplicable intensity; arguments, making outs, doubts, celebration, a creation. her birthday become a sacrament, awaits within the dark until an unfortunate accident occurs; fear turns into an instant happiness, intertwined with unexpected disbelief because of her veiled circumstance——she thought it was impossible, &. he thought it was too fast to have it after three moons have passed above their heads; overjoyed &. overthinking, with solemn convince solidifies the seed: he was afraid of losing her &. she was afraid of it is their only chance. the surprise, become an understanding; they are having it.
arc six, the engagement. everything feels predestined, a constellation of happenstance become a happening. each days the baby becomes stronger within her, &. each days his love becomes full that it slowly pouring into his hand as he tries to pick the best reflection of his love between her finger——at the back of his mind, the little rational mind whispers it is too soon for everything; to have a family, to have a lifetime partner, however heart takes the lead as he kneels in front of her, with the cathedral built from love &. the vast - deepest sea behind it; drowns, &. yet saved, with the flick of her cold finger into his stubbles, a kiss to seal their love. he wants her to wait, but she is his nonetheless.
arc seven, the birth. there is nothing that can describe his life is starting to slipping away from his eyes as the fire engulfing them; even one of the strongest person in the planet is succumb to the cruel ember of vindicated revenge——with blood he spew from his lips, as soft call reminding him to stay awake, but lullaby becomes softer, &. slow, until darkness plunges into his subconscious . . . a scream, a beep, a light; woken up with machine into his lungs to breath, with delirious mind staring at blurry visions——death sounds imminent, knocking at the door, waiting to be allowed to come in, however a jolt sends him to the surface, with a tube between his lungs, &. a finger tries to points at the decision to save either one of them; the baby or the mother——death has slithered away from him, only wants to embrace one of his loves, &. he has to play a god for them whilst god could take both of them instantaneously. he didn't even choose, for belief sounds ridiculous but she is one of the strongest person in the world; she would survive, so is their child. a soft cry, delirious plea, a small body on an almost unconscious lady; they survived, but neither would get to see him until life decides to. until she recovers, only few days, &. he is still on breathing tube.
arc eight, always. doubts, fights, urgencies are their bane——with each days feel heavier than the last; recoveries, baby, lovers spats between texts &. conversations . . . he didn't think he was ready to solidifies it, everything is happening too fast, with urgency that they can lose it in one evening, or a day hangs on his tail; love feels like a plunge, but also a comfort. but marriage within a couple of months feel like an exaggeration to their timeline——a year, he had planned, but she knew, everything can change in instant &. she is afraid. convictions, rationalising, conclusion; she is right. he loves her, even the time sounds like a leap into finality. at the break of dawn in quaint chapel, with two witnesses anchors their matrimony, an always etched to their rings, with a kiss seal their union; marriage doesn't so scary, or too abrupt, but a perfect timing to begin their lives,
arc nine, forever. &. forever, spoken earnestly to her lips, with their hands are interlock to walk upon the path they have forged; a life that is beginning to incised ahead, another wedding on the summer where people can witness they have become a lifetime partner for the first time in front of them, but the second time for them. a life, where nobody knows where it shall lead, but two or three or five years down the lane will be discussed for living on another continent for the sake of their child, or the home they have built just now in the city where they met. neither have known, but either have a lifetime to figure it out. always, and forever.
ALSO also in case it was unclear before,,, idk, but i feel like it needed to be brought up. Byanka joined the k*gb in 1961 at 21 years old,, in 1962 she first came into contact with the red room…. HER MUTANT GENE DIDNT TRIGGER UNTIL 1965 DURING HER FIRST SERUM ADMINISTRATION. meaning Byanka had three (3) full years of physical and psychological training before gaining any (mutant) powers. TLDR: just because i rewrote her lore doesnt mean i scrapped her entire background story and character arc. any and all training Byanka had between the years of 1961 and 1965 are still very much a part of her and means that, even powerless/without her mutant abilities, she is still beyond that of most.
a heavy brow draws low, contemplative. he passes it off as begrudging. too sharp, too mean. he knows the way his mouth curls isn't pleasant, that the haunted, unshaven features draw anxious looks. the culmination of fear / that's what he is. bigger than the bullies that sit in memories that don't belong to him. ( i am not you. i am my own. ) next to him, this woman is pristine. sharp, perfect lines; where he is sharp, serrated edges. ❛ you're spoiling her. ❜ @ionzhar
“ i am not. ” colorful eyes; hues of both jade and hazel alike stayed with the young girl some paces from them, minding her own business ( or perhaps just steering clear of the adults ? ). though kaine may not have been entirely wrong in his accusation, byanka was not going to let him have the time of day ⎯ particularly not when it came down to her treatment of aracely. THAT GORGEOUS, LOVELY GIRL, the very same she had taken a liking to as though she was of byasha's own blood. “ ...i bought her one thing. it's hardly the end of the world, ”
⁽ ¹ ⁾ unprompted things to make me suffer, * @wrathbit, kaine parker said: you’re still here?
even if she didn't much care to, byanka's gaze was drawn to meet with kaine's in an equally cold stare ⎯ like two mirrors facing one another and their selves simply reflecting onwards and on within one another. so alive and yet still so motionless. byanka weighed the question itself rather than she did the man standing before her: it wasn't his fault he was this way, just as people kept telling her it wasn't hers either.
however late or early it was, the rain that tapped against glass and cold, rusted metal somewhere distant was naught but a nuisance and scratched that one sensitive part of her brain all wrong. byasha's jaw shifted to swallow a lump in her throat before bone structure tightened once more: she was hardly unaccustomed to people's disagreeing or displeasure with her presence however this was still somewhat different. to whatever end, kaine and byanka had. . . . shared something over the past few months, even to the part where she'd gotten to meet his daughter, a most prized person to him.
“ i'm still here, ” her words were barely audible, barely above that of the scoff that curdled and coated her voice, forcing an instinctively move to fold her arms across her chest in a somewhat defensive manner. WAS IT REALLY DEFENSIVE OR WAS IT RESTRAINING? “ do not worry, kaine, i shall be gone before long. ” the pause that followed was longer than byanka had anticipated whilst she tried to manage and arrange the words that all now seemed to wait their turn on her tongue.
“ had you stayed abed, i'd have been gone before you knew it... ” it wasn't much a surprise that he dealt with a few of the same things she did: that sleep didn't always come as easily to the two of them as it did everyone else. “ . . . and no. i needn't talk about it, ” raising a hand in the air betwixt them with a flattened palm towards kaine, it spoke more than a thousand words could. “ not that i thought you..where even offering..? ”
⁽ ¹ ⁾ random lyrics that make me emo-prompt, * @razorfst, mattias andrei said: i'll be in denial for at least a little while. - lil arranged marriage au of our royalty verse
COLORFUL BUT COLD GAZE STARED THROUGH THE WINDOW GLASS BEFORE HER, how lifeless and barren the hazel and the greens in each of her eyes could seem whence peering into vast nothingness, MARRIED ONLY BY RAINDROPS PLUMMETING AGAINST THE GLASS BEFORE FALLING INTO TRACKS LIKE TEARS. pale fingers once again tugged at--, before once again smoothing the fabric gathered at her wrist as though the movement in itself could disguise the electricity that curdled at her fingertips or even the sharpness that tried to carve its way through her ribcage.
“ perhaps... perhaps denial is the wiser. ” the tsar's daughter had been taught since birth to survive rooms of varying temperatures, COLDER THAN SIBERIAN WINTERS AND WARMER THAN THE SUMMERS OF SAHARA. many a times she'd suffered through the dullest talks and plannings of war only to never see any of it carried out, all she knew was to hold her tongue whilst they continued their scheming.
“ both of us are better off going back to how things were before... before we met. ” though she didn't much want to face him in this moment, byanka's head tilted slightly toward andrei with a look in her eyes weighing more than THE MERE DIPLOMACY THAT WAS THE VERY REASON the two of them were getting married in the first place. “ no matter the development of any emotions, such things only seems to serve as an INCONVENIENCE in this arrangement yet to come. ” ⎯⎯⎯⎯ “ so yes, denial will serve our alliance better and ensure the joining of our two houses will become nothing less than a dynasty. ”
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] then come to the state ???
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] okay i want some beef tacos
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] and some chicken tacos
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] ask if they have mozarella sticks maybe ?
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] some loaded fries would fuck too ...
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] yeah i think thats it .
[ SENT: WILSON ( ALLEGEDLY ), WADE WINSTON ] so your monday special. got it.
[ SENT: WILSON ( ALLEGEDLY ), WADE WINSTON ] it'll be forty-five minutes or so, i need to find a place that's open at this hour.
⎯7 MINUTES LATER⎯
[ SENT: WILSON ( ALLEGEDLY ), WADE WINSTON ] okay, they don't have your mozzarella sticks. would you like something else instead, i can get you one of those blasts?
@ionzhar : [ TXT ] : i'm on my way, don't go anywhere.
[ OUTGOING … B❤️ ] - ik i don't have to tell you to hurry but pls hurry.
[ OUTGOING … B❤️ ] - the sunglasses and hat combo didn't work.
[ OUTGOING … B❤️ ] - and i can't jet out of here without the risk of hurting anyone.
[ OUTGOING … B❤️ ] - are you sure about this? it'll be like poking a hornet's nest. minus the hornets. and the nest.
#FLMED : you were moulded, with vigour, noise &. fits of rage · ࣪ 𓍝 ཻུ۪𖠄: * ind. priv. sel. original character. criminal + law + spy / fandomless. major suicide attempt mention, death, murder, etc. minors dni. his reign ends， 𝖐𝖆𝖎𝖘𝖊𝖗.
██ 𝗕𝗬𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗔𝑚𝑖𝑘ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑛𝑎𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗢𝗩𝗔 , STARTER CALL. this would be the thing that killed her. wasn't that ironic ? she'd survived being stranded at sea ( twice ), sucked through a hole in a ship ( twice ), anthony fucking ivo, + league training but her conversation with @ionzhar was what was going to take her out. BYANKA WAS A JOB ── ra's saw a weapon in her. he was afraid of her, of the threat she posed to civilization ... them, so he wanted to control her. he waited years, tracking her movements within + outside program siberia just waiting for his moment. waiting for her to be ready. he tested her, pushed her mentally year after year with some of the league's best players, but she always fell short of expectations in one way or another. she'd become a sort of myth around nanda parbat ── the boogeyman's boogeyman. a story everyone told to keep them loyal + in line. nobody thought she existed so sara wasn't exactly thrilled when she was given the strict albeit perceived illogical instruction to make her an offer.
the coordinates written on her palm branded her skin + carried her to a dead end, one stoplight town. it felt like a trap. a test to her loyalty + commitment to not just the league, but ra's. she'd been fed a bullshit story + given a bullshit file on a person that was a fable. she'd convinced herself of it during the seventeen hour plane ride, but she was incapable of letting things go. she needed proof, concrete confirmation that would put the whispers of the white death to bed for her. she should've left it alone. god, wasn't hindsight a bitch ?
fingers gently tap against the wooden shipping crate that held her weight. no woman should have to suffer at the hands of men + if everything in her file was true, man had made her suffer enough. the instinct to simply follow through on the order received was heavy enough to drive her six feet into the concrete. make her an offer. have a conversation + make an offer. it was all she had to do ── likely the easiest thing she'd ever be assigned to by the league, but she couldn't. she tried, but what came out instead was ❛ he is never going to stop looking for you. ❜ + just like that ... she was dead.
... SHE'D HEARD THAT BEFORE. IT ALWAYS CAME DIFFERENTLY, BUT THE MEANING BEHIND THOSE WORDS WERE ALL THE SAME. YOU ARE DOOMED, YOU WILL DIE, YOU WILL FALTER, SUCCUMB TO POWERS GREATER THAN YOURSELF. the words were always all the same despite their mouths and tongues changing⎯russian. arabic. english. mandarin. something else entirely. yet every tongue carried the same frightened shiver on their tongue once words left their lips ⎯ as if byanka needed the reminder. as if there'd ever been in a single moment in her life where someone's hand(s) weren't wrapped around her neck, either trying to squeeze the life out of her or trying to steer her in a direction useful only to themselves.
THE SILENCE PAST SARA HOWEVER, STRETCHED NEARLY THIN ENOUGH TO SPLIT SKIN. there was no reason for her to move just yet, no reason for her to twitch or pop a flick of her wrist, nor even reach for the hunting knife hidden beneath her coat ⎯ one she normally only carried as a last resort. byanka could do things beyond the imagination of most; as quickly as one could pull the very dagger from her jacket, as quickly could she burn this very room to ash ⎯ just as quickly could she infect both sara and everyone within a twelve mile radius with radiation poisoning that would kill them within the next forty-eight hours. lest she'd learned to control herself.
SHE ONLY SAT THERE IN THE HALF-DARK OF THE WAREHOUSE, ONE BOOT BRACED AGAINST CONCRETE AND THE OTHER AGAINST A TABLE PRESSED UP AGAINST AN EVEN STURDIER WALL. overhead light flickered once with the turn of byanka's neck to face the other blonde. most would've considered it a coincidence, but sara knew better than that. “ ra's al ghul thinks the world will end if people like me come to see the light of day whilst he does not control them. ” just from the way sara had walked in there, byanka knew nearly everything she needed to know about her. she was nearly untraceable in the way she moved, even her very footsteps were feather-light in a way that none ought to be able to read her presence whence both had left this place. AND YET SOMETHING WAS STILL OFF ABOUT HER. BYANKA HAD ENCOUNTERED LEAGUE ASSASSINS SEVERAL TIMES OVER THE YEARS, ALL OF WHOM HADN'T MADE THEIR RETURN TO TELL RA'S ABOUT WHAT'D HAPPENED. something about sara now felt off. she'd almost been able to smell the guilt on her skin, perspiring unlike never before.
“ he sent you because he thinks, out of everyone, you will be the one to convince me. that you will not let him down. you never do⎯ ” you never do, her words were spoken as toxic as they were challenging, finally standing from the stool and pushing it aside with nought but a flick of her wrist ( the electromagnetic pulses shot through it to make the metal jump ).
GOD ⎯ SHE WAS EVEN TALLER THAN THE STORIES OR EVEN THE FILE HAD SAID. THINNER, TOO. ALMOST SICKLE IN THE SAME WAY STARVING WOLVES WERE, ALL SHARP EDGES AND SENSES GETTING NEARLY TOO CLOSE WITH TEETH HOVERING AGAINST THAT OF A SENSITIVE JUGULAR. “ ...if he really told you everything in that file, sara.... ” the same way the lights above them had flickered only moments before, now did the very light in byanka's eyes ⎯ scary, eerily, uncanny. there was no way she could be linked to that⎯ “ then you would not be here. ”
# 𝙸𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙴𝙲𝙺 .⋆ ··· @ionzhar :
[ TXT ] : i'm not bringing you tacos at 2am .
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] why not ? you seem to be awake .
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] so you can get me some tacos on the way back to the safe house .
[ txt - bi ( usually doesnt pick up ) ] pretty pretty please with a cherry on top 🥹🥹
