season of the witch ; {open}

[Ruby]

Demons these days. They were always just...lookin' for trouble. Present company excluded, of course, because Ruby hardly had to look for trouble. Trouble usually ended up finding her - or being caused by her. And she wasn't complaining, because trouble kept things interesting. But the moment you went and said something like that, you wouldn't ever get a peaceful moment again - like today, for instance. Today...Ruby really wasn't in the mood to put up with any sort of bullshit. From anyone. She'd walked into the little Jersey diner just looking for a quick bite to eat and a moment of rest, but no. Oh no. A peaceful moment for Lucifer's most loyal demon, the one who'd given up everything she ever cared about - her reputation, her dignity, the one person she'd ever actually felt something for - to free him from his hellish prison, was of course far too much to ask.

French fries. That was all she'd wanted. Spending a couple of months (years, down there) in hell really made a girl crave some french fries. And she'd been perfectly willing to pay for them, too! She hadn't even been planning on killing or maiming anyone, just...paying! With the money from a wallet she'd swiped off of an unsuspecting working-class man, off course, but all the same. Instead of french fries, though, she was faced with six dead bodies. Six. Throats slit. Blood pooling on the floor. Two waiters, three customers, and the cook in the back. Ruby quirked her head ever-so-slightly to the side, her dark eyes sweeping calmly over the scene. The restaurant...still smelled strongly of another demon. Some sloppy, idiotic, amateur had done this - and now she was going to have to clean it up. Oh, if only she still had her knife...

Smoothing her slightly windswept dark brown hair back into place, Ruby carefully stepped around the nearest body - the one practically blocking the door - and made her way through the tiny little diner towards the phone behind the counter. There was still a chance that one of those bright-eyed, bushy-tailed heroes who wanted to believe so desperately that they were doing the right thing, would show up to try and 'save the day'. If that happened, well, that'd be just peachy. It'd give Ruby the opportunity to have a little fun with them, 'point them in the right direction', so to speak...depending on your definition of 'right'. If any of them were nearby, she'd give them a few more minutes to figure out that there was something very, very wrong.

...And if none of them showed? Well, then it'd be time to call the cops. Using the phone in the back, of course, not her own damn cell phone - there was no way in hell she was giving these losers a way to get in touch with her whenever they chose. The police weren't quite as much fun to play with as the do-gooders of the world. Cops had a way of falling into the very boring middle: they were too cynical to sway into her way of thinking, but most of them weren't quite messed up enough to make them really damageable.

The demoness leaned slightly against the counter, watching the dark splashes of crimson seep slowly across the clean white floor. "Sucks, really," she tsked at the lifeless form of the waitress slumped nearby. "Wrong place, wrong time, and you're dead. But think of it this way," A tiny smirk played across her lips as if there was something amusing about all of this, as if the fact that she was standing here talking to a bunch of dead people...wasn't completely insane. "In a small town like this, you'll be making headlines by tomorrow. Which means there's an off chance that someone out there might finally give a damn about you people."

Because she was done caring. She'd had quite enough of that. If she hadn't cared quite so much, she could have easily snapped both of those Winchesters' necks before they'd plunged that knife into her heart. ..But she wasn't bitter, because none of that mattered now. Now? Ruby was just going to sit back and watch the world burn.

[pinhead]

A lesser demon was nearby. Pinhead knew this from experience, from the fact that he'd been near them for years. Spending time in Hell allowed one to easily recognize demons - and what sort of demon they were. This case was oddly different. The lead Cenobite couldn't recognize this demon, or what type it was. Pinhead inferred that it was too lesser for him to have taken heed of in his time in Hell. Pinhead nearly scoffed. What sort of Lesser Demon found themselves worthy to travel to other domains alone?

As Pinhead approached he noticed a woman standing within the diner in which he'd sensed the demon. It couldn't be that this human was possessed by the demon. What sort of Lesser Demon could possess humans in such a way? Pinhead decided to be wary - it could be that she was a powerful demon, powerful enough that even he couldn't sense it. He did doubt this - Cenobites were the highest class of Hell's demons. So much so that they were not fully considered demons. Demons to some, yes, but angels to others.

The closer Pinhead got to the scene the more he was inclined to believe that the woman was the demon. If that were the case, it had taken a rather pathetic form. What sort of demon was going to lower themselves to a human form permenantly. Even Pinhead, who could take human forms, had opted for his demonic form. It wouldn't be sensible to pretend to be a human. If they discovered him, what would they be able to do? They was very little a human could do to him. Pinhead stepped into the diner, watching as the demoness inspected the bodies.

"What business have you on Earth?" Pinhead asked, his booming voice reverberating through the room. A long chain coiled around his arm as he walked towards the demoness. What sort of demon would stay on Earth for longer than necessary? Certainly going to a diner to get food wasn't a plausible reason.

[Ruby]

Oh, look! Someone had finally bothered to show up! Ruby watched the figure curiously through the wide glass windows as he approached, her expression slightly inquisitive. Granted, she'd been expecting someone a little more...well, human. But this would do. She'd never seen a creature quite like this one, and the distinct dark essence that clung to him was fairly disappointing (it was just no fun manipulating evil beings), but this might still prove to be at least vaguely interesting.

As the man (for lack of a better word) entered the diner and walked purposefully towards her, Ruby arched an eyebrow. She wasn't particularly looking for a fight - but if this guy came much closer to her with that chain, she wasn't sure she'd be able to resist breaking his nose for good measure. His words...puzzled her a little. Obviously he'd sensed that she wasn't human, but the fact that he seemed to think she didn't belong on earth was a little disconcerting. Where else would be expect her to be? Was this one of those obnoxious 'omg! all demons should be locked in hell forever!' types? Perhaps he thought she was the one responsible for the deaths of these people, and was more heroic than he looked - or maybe he was the killer. Ruby shrugged inwardly. She didn't know, and she didn't particularly care.

"Careful," she quipped, tapping her fingers lightly against the counter as she regarded him. "You keep talking like that, and you're gonna make me feel unwelcome." Flashing the stranger a small smirk, Ruby straightened up and adopted a slightly more wary stance. She hadn't quite decided whether or not to label this newcomer a threat yet - but you could never be to careful. If he proved to be one, then she certainly wouldn't be caught off-guard.

"You know, I'm used to humans being the ones who have trouble sharing their..." the demoness cast an openly disdainful glance around the diner. "...home. I've never really gotten such a direct inquiry from a, um..." Here Ruby paused again, tilting her head slightly as she stared at him. Wouldn't want to offend him by choosing the wrong word to describe him, after all. Well...actually, she really didn't care much about that. But she hardly wanted to appear ignorant. "...whatever you are." she settled on at last, her curiosity prompting her to lean forward slightly.

[pinhead]

What sort of foolish demon was this to speak to a Cenobite in such a way? It was beginning to seem as if this weren't a demon at all. Very few demons took human shape, and those that were were usually fleeing from Hell. Pinhead's face showed no emotion as he took a step over one of the bodies. The body's wounds showed no sign of any craftsmanship when it came to how they were slain. Without even a gesture of his hand chains shot from the roof of the building to impale the bodies. The chains brought the bodies upwards, causing them to hang from the ceiling. Pinhead walked towards Ruby, his pitch black eyes focused on her.

"You are no true demon." The lead Cenobite's voice seemed to echo more than it previously had. The sky itself seemed to darken just a bit. Pinhead could not stand for being disrespected by a demon such as she. Perhaps she was such a low type of demon that the Cenobites were simply beyond her understanding. Humans, too, couldn't fully comprehend Cenobites, nor could many of Hell's other residents. They couldn't understand just what they were. Not quite demons, yet not quite angels. It was almost a shame, the only way to comprehend them was to become one. Not quite a shame, actually. The life of pleasure and pain that came with being a Cenobite was one that was born of both Heaven and Hell.

As he had suspected, the demoness hadn't quite understood the Cenobites. "What I am is beyond your understanding." He said, stopping his advancing on her. "Let this - at least - be known. I am not a demon, nor am I an angel. I am both. Demons to some, angels to others." The Lead Cenobite summoned more chains to tear the two corpses behind him apart. It would be better to at least right the murderer's wrongs.

[Ruby]

The rather smug expression Ruby was wearing didn't change much when the man impaled the bodies with his chains, leaving them to hang limply from the ceiling. She merely blinked, her gaze lifting briefly to the chains and then flitting back down to survey him again. Well. Though his outwardly dark, distinctively inhuman appearance had initially suggested to her that he was trying just a little too hard to be all 'big and scary', it seemed he could pack a bit of a punch after all. And he'd answered one of her questions through his actions: he wasn't too worked up over the murders that had taken place in the diner. So that wouldn't exactly place him in the 'hero' category.

His next words, however, did manage to make the demoness pause. Angel to some, demon to others? What was this crap? Angels and demons were two very...very different beings. And this man, she was beginning to suspect, was neither. "Well, let's see," was Ruby's soft reply, her smirk widening slightly. "To me, you kinda just seem like a crazy little critter who forgot to do his homework - if you can't even recognize a demon when one's staring you in the face." Even as she finished her sentence, her eyes flickered to black - the unmistakable (in Ruby's world, at least) pitch black of a demon...not unlike this man's own eyes, in fact. The similarity made her wonder, but she quickly dismissed it with another blink, returning her eyes to their normal, human chocolate-brown color.

"The chain thing's kind of impressive, though. A little much - I don't know if the word overkill means anything to you - but impressive. Are you the one who..." Ruby glanced again at the now-mangled bodies of the victims. "...did this, then?" Perhaps she'd found the murderer without even knowing it - though why he'd be stupid enough to return to the scene of the crime was beyond her. But this was good! If she'd found herself a killer, and some sort of do-gooder was to stumble upon the scene now, it'd be all too easy to convince them that she was on their side, maybe even play the victim. After all, there were some distinct advantages to appearing to be a normal human - it made her look a hell of a lot more trustworthy than someone like the man she was dealing with now.

[pinhead]

Pinhead's destruction of the bodies was not at all for show, nor was it to impress Ruby. He saw no purpose in impressing a demon he considered lesser than him, even if she were a demon at all. Upon examination of Ruby he found no reason to believe that she was a demon. There were few, if any, demon-like qualities to her. It was possible she was simply a crazed human who found some way to change her body's workings to appear to be a demon. It would not be the strangest thing he'd seen here. There were far stranger things than that, or anything on Earth, to be found in Hell.

Pinhead had not expected her to understand his words. The Cenobites were far too underground not like any demon she'd likely seen. Though Pinhead had not yet seen whatever sort of demon she was, either. The thought crossed Pinhead's mind that she was possible a higher level than the cenobites. But the thought was quickly dismissed. He knew that the Cenobites were the most powerful of demons, not by his own knowledge, but by the very fact that they were chosen to go to the most powerful level of Hell. There they were introduced to what made the Cenobites. Pleasure and pain together, a seemingly impossible combination made possible.

"Your eyes mean nothing." Pinhead said, watching as her eyes changed color. It was no doubt an attempt to prove her own demonic nature to him. What she hadn't expected was Pinhead's knowledge of other species. There were many which had eyes that were pitch black, much like Pinhead's and Ruby's. Pinhead began to question why she chose a human form if she wished to prove herself to be a demon. It was very easy for Pinhead to prove himself to be a human if the need arose to pretend. All he needed was to switch his form to one more human-like. "I did not do this." He responded, crossing his arms. "I believe it was a lesser demon who did this..."

[Ruby]

His brief, simple comment - that her eyes didn't necessarily make her a demon, according to him - actually took Ruby aback for a moment. Well...way to...defy all logic right there. She wasn't quite sure how to respond, but if he hadn't recognized even the most basic symptom of demonic possession...she wasn't sure there was much else she could do to convince him. "...Just out of curiosity, you've met a demon before, right?" she asked him skeptically. Because really, as much as this guy went on about demons (lesser or otherwise), he didn't actually seem to know much about them. Unless, well, the demons he typically dealt with were more like him. But that was ridiculous. How could there be an entire race of demons (she was disregarding the 'angel' part for now - that seemed like a little too big of a stretch) that she'd never even heard of?

Ruby narrowed her eyes slightly, exasperation seeping into her already-rigid body language. This hadn't been what she'd bargained for. She'd been expecting one of the 'good guys' to show up, not some crazy who was actually successfully managing to confuse her. ...Heck, before all of this had started, all she'd wanted were some french fries! But whatever. This...man was here, and now she'd have to deal with it. ...What 'dealing with it' might entail, however, she wasn't yet completely certain. But he hadn't murdered these people, if his words could be believed. This was news to her.

"Really." It wasn't a question; if he'd actually killed these people Ruby doubted he'd have very much reason to lie about it. But then...if he wasn't here to senselessly slaughter people, what was he doing here? She could hardly believe he was one of New Jersey's (admittedly strange) citizens. "Well then, chuckles, what brings you to this neck of the woods? Because I get the feeling you don't typically frequent cozy little American towns." And then she was smirking again, amusing herself slightly with her words. "No offense, but you're not really the type that...blends in." Well, she was standing here making small talk with this whatever-he-was, and these bodies were getting colder by the second - she supposed she was eventually going to have to call someone soon, or maybe just...allow some innocent civilian to stumble upon the horrific scene - but Ruby wanted to get a few things straightened out first.