another promise another seed

[integrity]

Who: Crowley [integrity] and Ruby [arealgem]
When: May 13th, after sirens.
Where: Purgatory. After hours. Crowley has a sense of humor, secretly.
Summary: Crowley has two of his largest problems in the Port at the same times. He needs allies. And he sees a potential one in the demon who has a lot to be pissed off about.
Warnings: Crowley and Ruby are hanging out together with a lot of liquor. :|

It had taken a matter of days for Crowley to decide on what to do.

His position in the Port was unstable. He had several powerful allies, but his enemies were stronger. And with the addition of Meg, Lucifer's golden child... Crowley loathed to admit it, but he felt confined. Constrained. And, as much as he hated to admit it, what Meg had said bothered him. That he, by some insane stretch of the imagination, was worse than Alastair, who had driven them to torture to insanity.

So perhaps it wasn't really a strategic manuveur. Maybe Crowley just needed to prove to himself that he could do it -- have one demon understand, truly understand, why he had defected. Why he had betrayed. Why he, the demon who was on the fast track to power and success, had jumped ship and taken the entire dimension instead of follow Lucifer to the death.

Either way, Crowley knew that his only shot of getting someone to listen to him lay in the demon that had helped lead Lilith to her death. They had something in common -- and Ruby was smart. Smarter than most individuals gave her credit for, Lucifer included. And Crowley, if the demon knew Ruby, knew that she would never say no to an offer of protection.

So it was with a slight sense of trepidation that he sent the following text.

I have a proposition for you.

Meet me at Purgatory. [x,y] Alone.

x Crowley.

He would be waiting for her there.

Comments

[arealgem]

Again, Crowley had somehow managed to surprise Ruby with his words. It was an incredibly interesting story, that was for sure. One that made a spike of odd jealousy and admiration go through her very core. Honestly, Ruby wasn't sure how to take any of that news, it was quite a lot to absorb in one go.

So everything had been for nothing, and in technicality...Crowley was here telling her that everything she had done had been so sweetly fucked by him and the Winchesters. If Ruby didn't know that Crowley would be one of the worst enemies to make at the moment, she might have spit in his face for it.

It showed with the disgusted look she gave him as she stared for a moment, trying to figure out what to even say to this arrogant bastard. It was the worst start to a proposition ever, or the best, if Ruby looked at it from his angle.

"...so let me get this straight. You called me here to inform me that you single handedly destroyed everything I worked for in my life...and you want to proposition me to join your side. Your logic is incredibly twisted, Crowley, and I'm not sure if I want to say fuck you or applaud you."

[integrity]

"Ruby."

Crowley was quiet, as he stared at her.

"You know just as well as I do that even if the Winchesters hadn't killed you, then Lucifer would have smote us all upon the country side. We're nothing to him but toys -- he created us because he was bored. You, better than anyone, know the price of allying yourself with the Devil. What happened to everyone else who sided with him?"

Crowley began to tick off his fingers, each name a grave marker.

"Azazel was shot. Alastair was killed. Lilith was stabbed to death because of a so-called destiny she didn't need to follow. You met with the same fate. All of his best and brightest were killed because he couldn't be bothered to rescue them or even defend them."

He settled his hands on the table again, confident and sure of himself.

"When I took Hell, I changed it. I rid it of the mindless torture and the chaos. It's sensible. There isn't any need to kill one another in order to make it to the top, you simply do your job and rise through the ranks because you're good enough to.

"It isn't fair, what happened to you. To Lilith, to Azazel -- even to Alastair, as much as I hated the bastard. I was in the right place at the right time, no more, and no less -- you, the opposite. Here, you have every opportunity to fight back against what is expected of you, and I assure you, with Lucifer here, he will continue to use you as the toy he thinks you are."

And, finally, the King of Hell settled back against the booth, shrugging slightly.

"If you want to be a pawn, be my guest -- but I'm of the full belief that we -- the demons -- are worth more than that. More than what Lucifer sees us as, more than what the Winchesters see us as -- we are ever bit as meant to be on that planet as they are. So to hell with their wars, let's focus on our own."

[arealgem]

Ruby's dark expression didn't change one bit, even after he had finished. Maybe it was because it pissed her off that he was right. About everything. Her loyalty to Lucifer had only ever been measured by her own despair and hatred for God, in reality, and that was going to get her a whole lot of nothing here. Lucifer was so full of himself that of course he would continue to use them all however he could, so he could rise above the rest.

The renewed desire for living itself had her considering the younger demon, especially considering how many enemies she had just by breathing once again. Humans or not, having the Winchesters against her along with the Angels was a bad place to be. Crowley was right. They had just as much right to exist, and technically Lucifer was no better than the Father he too had rebelled from. He had created them to be his worker ants, that he could destroy without a second thought later when all of the hard work was done.

And Ruby was sick of working harder than the rest to no end, no productive result or reward. It wasn't fair.

The brunette sighed suddenly and picked up her drink, shaking her head at Crowley before tipping it back and taking very large gulp this time. Then, with a heavy breath, Ruby set it down and raised her gaze to his face to give him a serious 'don't fuck with me' look.

"Suppose I agree with everything you've said, and want to say yes. What would that mean for me?"

[integrity]

That look was all Crowley required in order to know that he had done it.

"A great many things," Crowley said idly, folding his hands in his lap as he watched her. "Accepting the truth carries your own personal difficulty -- you won't look at Lucifer the same way again. Daddy, so the saying goes, has left for cigarettes and is never going to come back."

Accepting the truth meant going to Lucifer for aide will never be a thing that can happen. You were, effectively, on your own. That was what rebellion truly meant.

"But besides that and getting to the facts, which I know is what you're concerned about -- " Crowley shrugged slightly. "You'll have me, my extensive knowledge on how to keep safe despite Lucifer wanting you dead, access to my home where the majority of people cannot get into, and the protection of both me, my pet angel, the archangel that likes me, and a host of God figures that have seen fit to defend me whenever I've needed it."

Crowley won for a reason. He was smart. And collected allies quickly and efficiently.

[arealgem]

Smart indeed. Ruby's eyes seemed to widen a tiny bit in pure interest at the mention of his pet angel, and the rest that followed. But it didn't last long, because the older demon was snorting and looking down at the table instead.

"Here's my question. Do they like you enough to look past the fact that I was the one who caused the start to the end everybody tried so hard to stop? I just have a hard time seeing angels going with the whole 'the enemy of my enemy is an ally' thing, you know? But then again..."

Ruby moved to take the bottle and pour herself some more, shrugging lazily as she went on. "I've been out of the loop for a while, it seems. But my point is, you are going to have a hell of a time convincing them that I'm not there to listen to all your secrets and whisper them in Lucifer's ear."

She set the bottle down, her lips tugging up into a smirk as she picked up her glass again and raised it. "Actually, how do you know that that's not what I'm going to do?" The glass tipped in his direction as Ruby raised her brows, and then took a sip.

"Don't worry. I actually think you're offering something pretty damn golden here, and if I were to do any secret telling it may go the other way around. But my point is, I'm known for being a snake, and getting them to protect a snake is going to be a bitch. Are you sure you want to do this?"

[integrity]

His lips twitched.

"You have absolutely nothing to gain by ratting me out to Lucifer and everything to lose."

It was simple -- should Ruby spill to Lucifer and endanger his life, Crowley could just kill her. Lucifer wouldn't actually give half a damn if she died, nor would he lash out against Crowley for doing so. Ruby was just a demon to Lucifer -- to Crowley, she was an able-bodied ally. Crowley was the one who held the power in this scenario, not Lucifer -- and if Crowley were Ruby, he knew precisely what path he would take.

"Besides -- everyone makes mistakes," Crowley added loftily, nudging the bottle toward Ruby again, with a slight smirk, "and no one is a bigger snake in the grass than I. If I am found trustworthy and redeemable, you certainly will be. Besides -- "

And the King of Hell took a sip of his glass.

"The Winchesters possess two weapons that I want -- and I think you'll be interested in one of them. Why not test this newfound alliance out on a group of people we both hate?"

Crowley's fingers drummed against his glass.

"I want the Colt. And Sam Winchester has your knife. I also happen to know that Sam Winchester is recovering from his little demon blood addiction you facilitated -- and is in the perfect spot to be manipulated into handing over the key to the Colt and the knife that was once yours. He likes me well enough to leave me alone, but I don't trust the hunters with two of the most powerful weapons against our kind. Not lately."

[arealgem]

"My fucking knife."

If there was one way to buy Ruby into this deal, that was it. Suddenly, the brunette was leaning in with a fiery look, her hand gripping her glass tight. If there was one thing Ruby was definitely sure about, it was the fact that she wanted to live, and having her knife would be one great way to go about doing that.

And the fact that Sam still had it only sold her more. To come back, and take what was rightfully hers back, and then maybe fuck up his world a little bit would be the perfect revenge for killing her with her own weapon. It wasn't like she could actually kill Sam or Dean here, as nice as it would be, so settling on making one or both miserable would work good enough for her.

"Sold. Your Angels are just going to have to get used to the idea. I want my knife back, you have no idea." And yeah, apparently that demon vanquishing knife was a hell of a lot more important than any cause Lucifer might have nowadays. Besides, according to everything she had learned about this place, Lucifer would never get what he wanted, nor would he be able to reward her for a damn thing. And would he even offer to try? Probably not.

[integrity]

"I would love for you to have your knife back too, seeing as all I've seen of it since your passing are various people trying to shove it between my ribs."

The last encounter with that damn knife had been with Meg. Crowley would have cut her throat with it if Castiel hadn't needed to make an appearance to show he was still on the Winchester's side. How annoying.

"Castiel will be easy to convince," Crowley continued, shrugging a shoulder, "and Gabriel doesn't really care either way. You'll be safe."

[arealgem]

"They'll get over it. And I can deal anyway, so long as they know not to go smiting me when I walk in the door. That one is a little hard to prevent, I doubt the sigils Anna taught us will do much since there's nowhere to go."

Ruby settled back in her seat, suddenly feeling more relaxed than she had since her arrival. Not that that was to say the demon wasn't still alert, but honestly this solution was almost too good to be true. To get her knife back, to have protection so she could just live? To not be busting her ass for a useless cause that would end in her demise anyway...

"So how do you propose we go about getting the Colt and my knife back? Sam isn't going to be happy to see me, addiction or not, and I suspect he might even try to cut my throat. You know... the whole apocalypse thing really probably got under his skin."

[integrity]

"The banishing sigils work, but there are other things you can use to defend yourself."

He paused before he drew a piece of paper out of his coat, along with a fountain pen. It only took a few seconds of work before Crowley drew out a strange sigil, from memory, for this was one of Crowley's biggest strengths. Enochian warding and protection against the angels was something he researched extensively -- it was a dog eat dog world out there, after all, and the angels were the bigger kids in the sandbox. You had to be prepared for the worst at any passing moment of the day.

"This nullifies the power of their Grace so long as it's activated within a twenty yard radius of the angel in question. I have them all over my liquor cabinet, actually, because with a slight adjustment -- " And Crowley added one last symbol. " -- they activate upon contact with Grace itself. Castiel can't get into the liquor cabinet as long as he's touching it. He still hasn't figured it out yet, bless his three brain cells."

The demon nudged the piece of paper toward Ruby, for her to keep, before he continued.

"As for the Colt, it is in the possession of the Winchesters -- John Winchester, specifically. He died and has yet to return to the Port, so I assume the boys have it under lock and key. The knife is with Sam. I trust you have his tender spots still memorized."

His lips twitched into a lazy smirk.

"Whatever strings you can pull in order to get him to crumble a little would be of the utmost enjoyment to watch on my part."

He still hadn't forgiven Sam completely for attacking Castiel and using him in the first place -- nor for breaking their deal and endangering Crowley's standing. He could stand to watch the moose squirm a little.

[arealgem]

Ruby leaned in to watch him with interest. She watched each line he drew as he spoke, and when he slid it across the table to her, she grinned at him and took it. "Wow, you're officially my new best friend. Who would have thought?"

She picked up the paper to look at it again before shifting to tuck it into her back pocket. "Angels were only just deciding to pop up right before I died, so I have to admit I'm a little clueless in that field. And as for Sam? Don't worry, where there's a will there is a way and my will is like a fucking giant. Besides, he is a walking tender spot, didn't you know that? Push him in the right spot and he'll go miles for you, all on his own."

Ruby moved to take her glass so she could take another drink, before offering that same charming smile from before.

"The only thing left for you to tell me is what kind of boundaries I need to follow? Who do I avoid? I don't know who your friends are, or aren't, after all. Aside from Castiel...?"

[integrity]

"Avoid an individual named Michael Xavier."

It was said evenly, as Crowley glanced toward the bar area.

"The individuals from our world should be obvious. Castiel is trustworthy. The archangel Gabriel won't bother you. Anna, you already know. The prophet Chuck will leave you alone provided you don't try to kill him. And certain others will make themselves known to you. Elaine Belloc is one of them, she is trustworthy."

Also, God. But Crowley figured Ruby could discover that on her own.

"Christina Nickson is an Anti-Christ, but I like her a lot better than ours."

[arealgem]

"Noted. So why do I need to avoid this Michael Xavier? Knowing why makes it that much easier, after all."

Ruby took another drink as she watched Crowley look towards the bar, and her gaze followed for a moment before flicking back to him. She couldn't help but wonder just how foolish her decision to do this would end up being, but she supposed she wouldn't know until she actually met with Lucifer in person as well.

But if Ruby didn't know one thing for sure, it was that it would be smart to hide under the battling people, just like they had when Alastair and the Angels were fighting over Anna. It would also help her establish her own level of independence here, in the long run. If she found out enough from both sides, or all three, she would know how to avoid and or/fight her way to the very top like she had always wanted.

[integrity]

"He has a nasty habit of wanting to kill demons."

How Crowley knew this, he didn't say. But in the way he said it, he was deadly serious.

Just stay away from him.