woman of many faces

Mary-Jane Scarlett Ravin || 29 || Shapeshifter I am a thousand stories, built upon the ruins of a ten hundred stars. I am an artist of fire, my canvases covered in dust and ash. I am a temple, holy in my prayers.

[marowitty]

Curiosity and Twisted Satisfaction || Marowit & Scarlett

[shiftermaryjane]

marowitty:

Wendigo are silent. Marowit understood it as part of the curse. Developed language and writing and speaking was for humanity, and Wendigo never had a place with the fleshy, pink humans. The whole meaning of Wendigo was someone who ate human flesh and became a monster. No part was allotted to comforting or receiving comfort.  Yet the monster remained fixated and quiet, inky eyes blinking at the woman. She shushed him, reassured him, and if he believed her to be stupid it would be fitting reason for her insistence to give. Thing was, he didn’t. Marowit twitched, a full body convulsion, and his head tilted from her hand to her face and back again. Who is she– What was she?  Marowit sniffed the air, glancing away to check their surroundings. But when he looked back, her hand remained in the air. Shaking and trembling and the stench of fear clung to her clothes. Fear so strong it could shackle the strongest of men like his father, but her arms were so thin and her hands so unused to hard labor. Her scars on her neck and part of her face told of a different side to all the faces. Marowit huffed out a breath sharply, his empty gut tossing and turning like a child in the mist of a nightmare.  The claws clicked together as his fingers twitched nervously– nervously like such a small human hand could destroy him. And still Marowit finally hesitantly dipped his head close, close, closer until the bone snout bumped gently into her outstretched hand. Technically he can’t feel the fingers, but the effect was instantaneous. A small shiver rushed down his spine and Marowit squeezed his eyes closed. He froze there all except for his twitching claws. Even there, with her gentle hand, Marowit wished to eat her starting with that hand. Like a dog with a treat on its nose. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the moment control shattered like ice on concrete and his jaw to unlock and snap down on the fragile bones. Even smelling her so close was torturous. Was the agony of edible, soft meat worth the knots in his stomach and the newness of the situation?

Mary-Jane had heard once that being brace was not a lack of fear, but continuing on in spite of it. She had never in her life considered herself brave. Her spine was not made of steel but of paper thin tissue, always threatening to crumple when even the slightest pressure was put upon her. Running was what she was best at as it had been what she had been doing every day for the past twenty-six years.

Yet there was something different when she looked at him, something that scared her but also spurred her own to stay right where she was. Perhaps it was the fact that the fear was mutual, even if it wasn’t exactly equally distributed. Perhaps it was the part of her that understood what it was to be something different on the surface compared to the truth of oneself. Perhaps it was just a callous disregard for her own life in the guise of kindness. Somehow, she thought the last would be the easiest for her to face. Her own softness had always been something she loathed as it was vulnerability that she hated to have.

The sensation of bone against soft skin was strange and without a doubt something that she had never experienced before, but she kept herself from pulling away from the dampness of the blood. “There you go,” she murmured, voice only just audible over the cold wind that whistled in the trees. She was still for several long breaths, trying to soothe the heart in her chest that hammered so hard she was certain it was audible. As she worked up the courage to do anything else, she spoke again. 

“My name is...” A pause again, this time focused on her fear of herself, rather than a fear of the creature before her. Fighting herself and the thorny vines of self loathing that were always tight around her lungs, she made her lips move. “Mary-Jane. My name is Mary-Jane.” Her movements were slow as a glacier as not to frighten or startle him, but she moved her hand against the bone. It was a gentle, reassuring movement almost like petting a dog but far kinder and far more...human. 

[shiftermaryjane]

TEXT POST MEME

Mary-Jane Ravin 1/?

[shiftermaryjane]

M O O D B O A R D

Ridley Shea&Mary-Jane Ravin

[shiftermaryjane]

severinvolke:

“Then go commit crime in my name for all I care. You may be able to mimic my appearance, but you can’t mimic my abilities so the fact you don’t use them will be a dead giveaway that you’re not me. Take some damage too and you won’t be able to maintain an altered appearance since you shapeshifters can only change appearance while in optimal health. Has it ever occurred to you that some people like the sight of destruction?” Severin challenged with a dark smile. “On the contrary, I was meant to be perfect, like any other angel, compassionate, and so on. But I rebelled against the expectations, things turned into a bloody mess, and I got kicked out of Heaven and this is supposed to be the redemption arc of my life, I guess? Beats me. Kind of pointless when there’s more people to fuck with here than up there. More interesting too. You take things way too seriously. If you’re saying that and thinking of actually getting into bed with them you miss the point of the comparison, but hey, I don’t care what analogies you choose to use or not.”

“I may. I may not. I know how to get around silly little technicalities like that. Shockingly, I do actually know how my powers work. I know it’s pretty crazy, but take whatever time you need to cope with that fact,” she drawled sarcastically. “I like destruction, but only when its tasteful. Destruction for destruction’s sake is boring.” Another chuckle escaped her. “I guess God isn’t all that great then, right? I mean if he screws up his own angels, that’s not a great job he’s doing.” She quirked a brow. “Did it occur to you that I might be joking?”

[shiftermaryjane]

marcellalaurent:

Marcella’s work shift didn’t start soon so she had time to spare and decided to spend it running a few errands. Except those didn’t take nearly all day or even half the day so she was left trying to find ways killing time. Buying herself an iced coffee, she’d barely gotten more than a few paces from the shop when someone approached her. Marcella eyed the stranger skeptically, not answering right away. “Define fun,” she responded after a beat, her ever-serious expression remaining in tact.

Well, she seemed like a tough cookie, but Mary-Jane had never been one to be discouraged by a few steely looks. Stubbornness was always one of her top qualities, though she generally preferred to call it determination. Sounded better on a resume. “I’m flexible. We could go bowling or go to to the abandoned theme park or to the aquarium or the secret gardens or rob a bank. I mean really. The possibilities are endless.”

[shiftermaryjane]

reganalmira:

“Beasties,” Regan repeated with a grin, very much enjoying the name. “That’s true, there may be… or those same beasties could be the ones causing it,” she said with a raised eyebrow. While she didn’t really think that or want to believe it, it was possible. Anything was possible in Ithaca she had learned. “Does that mean you think you’ll stick around for a while longer?” Regan couldn’t understand why people would leave. Ithaca had everything. You could finally be free. For Regan freedom was the most important thing that could be offered.

Mary-Jane hummed a little, turning the idea over in her mind. “That’s definitely true. I mean, I’m not exactly an expert in the crazy things running around here, but I’m sure something has that power.” What power that would precisely entail she had no idea, but she’d be more than a little interested speaking to the person who had it. “Maybe. I haven’t decided yet. The longest I’ve ever stayed in one place was a year and a half when I was thirteen.”

[shiftermaryjane]

By now she was used to how frequently the other person changed their appearance and had no reaction when they did so again. “I’ll leave being the good samaritan version of myself to you then,” Severin remarked with a short laugh. “Hate to break it to you, but you can be predictable in your unpredictability.” She rolled her eyes, letting out another scoff at the question. “I was supposed to be one of His angels.” Key words, “supposed to be” because the angel was certainly the furthest thing from what one was expected to be. “Yeah, I’ve been told that before, but if you think about it, the analogy does work.” She didn’t always know if people intended such a comment to be an insult or not, but either way she didn’t care and saw no reason for it to be a flaw.

Mary-Jane grinned, chuckling. “Don’t get too confident in your assumptions. Complacency is the first step towards destruction.” She may have been pretty typical when she was just messing around, but with the right motivation she could disappear into a crowd or flawlessly disguise herself as anyone at all. There was a reason she was so successful in what she did. “Supposed to? What’d you do? Crawl your way out of the reject pile?” Agnostic was the best word for what she believed, so the mention of the woman’s angelic ties were interesting but nothing terribly shocking. “Kind of. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people I’d rather not think about like that however.”

[shiftermaryjane]

“Most people don’t realize there are other people out there who are anything but human so I’m not surprised to hear a shapeshifter’s not the first thing that comes to mind for them.” She felt a little hotter thinking about the man the other person before her spoke of, not knowing how he could bear it. Then again he had come from somewhere with a hot climate and being in anything cooler than what he was accustomed to would only make sense that he would feel cold. Aislyn watched as the shapeshifter examined her body, feeling a slight unease, but brushed it off as she moved on to think of the words that followed. “I’m not worried about that,” she responded with a chuckle. “It would just feel weird to me.”

"It is funny to me sometimes though. I mean, there’s so many of us that aren’t human and yet so many humans live their entire lives thinking that they’re the only things that exist.” Of course, she hadn’t known anything about the supernatural until her first accidental shift when she was twelve, so she couldn’t really blame people for not knowing. Not that logic ever stopped her from finding it amusing. “Ah, well, I guess I’m a fan of trying new things more than most. I change faces like most people change clothes. I can’t exactly expect everyone to be the same.” With that, she decided to make things a little easier and stop mimicking the other woman.

[shiftermaryjane]

fealladh:

    A low chuckle sounds forth from lips composed in a smile, at ease is he—the creature of the night among the trees and remains of a make believe war. In the company of a mystery given flesh with a taste he can’t quite name born from the scent of too many secrets wrapped with a bow. “Have you a problem with dogs?” he asks as he works, an idle and perhaps innocent question.

    Why he was making small talk was beyond him, perhaps this was his life now—this was the way things would continue on with his life, small talk with strangers. He supposed it was a step up from his socialization habits prior to Ithaca. Only conversing with his soon to be meals or the friends of the individual who he pretended to be. What a life, what a grand grand existence. So he scoffs then, a noise of great amusement to her jab “Nah lass, I don’t see a Chihuahua as the type o’ dog to suit you,” he says in absolute mirth as he finishes his task “If you go small, you go sturdy—look for a good working hound if any, but you don’t strike me as the sort to look for a companion in your canine.”

    His hands curl into the pockets of his jacket as he steps back from the collection of bags, watching her from where he stands “Too much bite—won’t have trouble either way makin’ it known to the poor thing who the alpha is.”

    Unmoving where he stands, a statue in vigil as he observes her from the distance between. My dear, I’m the last man you want to learn about I’m sure “I have no use for such things,” he says instead “I’ve no use for toys, merely cleaning up after startling them.”

     For I know what kinds of monsters do hunt within these woods.

    “Would you prefer I had left it all strewn about?”

"I love dogs, but I’ve always been more of a cat person.” Truth be told, she never owned a pet in her entire life, or at least not that she remembered. Her real parents may have had pets, but she could hardly be blamed for not remembering what happened so early in her life. That wasn’t exactly something she liked to think about a lot, however, given the fact that her parents were still a raw spot for her.

She let out a low chuckle, lipstick covered lips tugging up into a smile. “I’ve always been of the train of thought that no dog should be small enough to fit in a purse. Having something that little is just asking for trouble. Around here, it’d probably end up eaten by something,” she remarked jokingly, even though it wasn’t that ridiculous of a thought.

He amused her, though she couldn’t say much more about him, at least for the time being. She expected to change that soon, however.

“Oh, is that it? Just being a good Samaritan?” She questioned, one eyebrow quirking up curiously as she glanced towards the toys and then back up at him. “Surely they’ll come back for their toys. What then?”

[shiftermaryjane]

M O O D B O A R D

Ghislain St. Amant&Mary-Jane Ravin

[shiftermaryjane]

[limitlessplaylist]

Visit Original Link

I don’t want to wake up lonely I don’t want to be just fine I don’t want to keep on hoping Forget what I have in mind…

[shiftermaryjane]

New Faces || Mary-Jane&Ghislain

[shiftermaryjane]

matthew715:

Ghislain laughed lightly at his joke. Jokes!! He was obviously a big fan of jokes. That’s a way straight to his shriveled, literally blacked heart. “Indie, let’s see. Interpol’s a favorite. They’re not new, but.” he giggled at himself as he glided over to the section labeled ‘INDIE’ in intricate sharpie on a board that hung from the ceiling. Interpol. The police organization. From France. He’s French. Oh, how he amused himself. 

“Then you have the popular stuff; The National, Neutral Milk Hotel, Fleet Foxes.” Ghislain went down the aisle to look for something more special. Gingerly he picked up an album to show it off. “Recently I’ve picked up The Front Bottoms. It’s a weird sound, but their new stuff is good. Oh! And First Aid Kit is my favorite Folk duo.” 

She gave a small chuckle, even though she didn’t quite understand what was so funny about the comment. That was an unusual sensation for her; normally she was the one that knew everything. She had about as many secrets as she did faces and that was saying quite a lot with the collection she had amassed over her twenty-nine years alive. Still, as with everything else, she relished in the feeling of experiencing something out of the ordinary.

Following him down the aisle, she gave a pleased and curious hum as he listed off some names. “Oh, I love First Aid Kit,” she chimed, glancing at the album Ghislain lifted up before reaching out to gently take it from him. “You, sir, have fantastic taste in music.”

[shiftermaryjane]

New Faces || Mary-Jane&Ghislain

[shiftermaryjane]

matthew715:

If only poor Ghislain knew what was going on. All those unrighteous, twisted bits of hers were what was drawing him closer. The damned seek the damned after all, and demons quite literally thrive off it. It was really too bad his love of lust was busy clogging his senses and making him into a fool. 

“Take advantage, why I’d never!?” Ghislain put a hand on his chest and composed his face to look shocked. When would a demon ever seek to take advantage of such a pretty thing as this man? Yesterday. Yesterday was when, but that was the past, wasn’t it? He stepped around the counter, unabashed about looking the man in his shop over while he ran a hand through his hair to fix it. In a helpful tone he continued, “What do you normally listen to?” 

"Good to hear. I’m pretty delicate, you know. Don’t go breakin’ my heart,” she hummed, unable to keep the laugh out of her voice. It was delicious the way Ghislain seemed to blind himself with the way he sought after a pretty treasure. He wasn’t alone in such pursuits, of course, or else nothing she ever did would work out, but she still had a special sort of appreciation for him. Maybe it was because he really was quite cute.

She paused for a second before deciding to appeal to his potential hipster side. “Indie and some folk stuff, mostly. Foxes, Two Gallants, Bear’s Den, Wye Oak, Anya Marina and that sort of stuff.” All stuff she really listened to in case he tried to quiz her. She just had a broad taste in music that extended beyond a couple genres.

[shiftermaryjane]

New Faces || Mary-Jane&Ghislain

[shiftermaryjane]

matthew715:

Ghislain’s head popped up over the counter as soon as the bells on the door chime. Sometimes he napped on the floor behind the counter when it was dreadfully slow. Demons bore easily, don’t blame him. Eyes too sharp to have just woken up followed the new customer some before he sprung up, standing there like he wasn’t previously passed out on the floor. Don’t mention his hair, it does that normally. Alright, that was a lie, his hair was defying gravity better than Elphaba. 

“Welcome to Bird of– oh, thank you!” he chirped, steadying himself against the counter. Ghislain was 100% more interested because, well, look at that scruff. Lazily he draped on a smile of his own, and leaned forward to show this complete interest outwardly. The look he was going for was ‘casual but also a proud sleaze, too good for the money you have in your pocket’. “How can I help you?”

By god he was a sucker for a pretty face, now wasn’t he? A weakness, for sure, but a weakness that she could exploit and that was nothing she could complain about. If anyone in the world was an expert in the phrase of ‘not everything is as it seems’, it was her. A great power to have if she was honest and if she used it for not so righteous reasons, well, it was no one else’s business, now was it?

She strolled forward, glancing around a bit before turning her attention back to him just as she got to the counter. “Well, I was looking for some new music. Do you have any suggestions?” She gave a a chuckle, leaning on the space between them. “Try not to take advantage of the fact that I’d trust anything coming from someone as gorgeous as you.”

[shiftermaryjane]

New Faces || Mary-Jane&Ghislain

Things had gone pretty well on her date with Ghislain and, much to her satisfaction, the topic of what exactly she was to live in the town never came up. It left her with the splendidly mischievous chance to go visit him again under a different disguise and perhaps mess with his head. Of course, messing with people’s heads was her favorite hobby of all, mostly because it got people thinking about her--or at least about the people she pretended to be. That and the fact that she could never resist the rush she got from it all.

So she made her way towards his store, taking the face of a guy who once helped her steal a car. He’d been nice enough but he got busted for drugs only a week after they met and she’d bailed. Still a nice face to have in her collection, she supposed as she walked into the store with an easy grin on her scruffy face. She walked slowly, glancing around as if it was all new to her before turning her attention to the man she knew. 

“Nice store you got here.”

[shiftermaryjane]

“Flattery will get you everywhere, mon ami.,” the demon purred at his shiny, new, attractive acquaintance. “But sadly, I’m the only one working today.” Sadly, he’s also the only one working ever. Happily, he’s also the only one that owns the store. You see, over the years Mr. St. Amant has lined life after life with savings he kept in various places. The devil’s in the details, really, so they can be spared here. This is a learning experience. He’s not really a struggling hipster doing his best to stay afloat and make rent, but when second-hand leather jacket fits… 

Ghislain walked on light feet past the man, shoulder gently brushing him. He stopped at the door and looked out with a single finger over his lips. Then with a flick of his wrist he reached up to click the switch, killing the neon “OPEN” sign.

The demon looked over his shoulder and shrugged. “Not any more.” 

Disappointment crept onto her face when he said that he was the only one working today, though she was already fairly certain she would stay in the shop anyway. Being the ever wealthy scammer than she was, it was hardly as if she had some important job to get to. If she was honest, she hadn’t worked a day in her life since she was seventeen and figured out that pretending to be someone else was comically easy when you could just wear their face.

She watched him walk by with a curious smile that only increased when he turned the sign off. “Well, that takes care of that,” she hummed with a light chuckle, pausing for a second afterwards to revel in the sound of her current body’s voice. “Shall we go then?”