Get Your Kicks On... [Open]

[RIN COOPER]

The diner was located right off the old Route 66 and the owners had taken that maybe a little too much to heart. Despite that the building was a remodeled 80s era Shakey's, the interior was decorated like some kind of Happy Days/American Graffiti nightmare. The floors were black and white checkered tile, the light fixtures were pink neon, and anything that could have chrome slapped on it, did. The waitresses were forced into white tee shirts and black jeans with pink ribbon bows around their ponytails. Rin made the ridiculous outfit work for her, but a person would have to be a monster of insensitivity not to pity the fifty-something career waitress who was working the other section.

The young brunette stepped up to the booth where a new customer had just sat down and handed over a laminated menu with a wide, very wide smile. "Hey there, welcome to the Stardust Diner." Yes, everything about this place was that cheesy. There were even hubcaps on the walls. Hubcaps rimmed in pink neon. "Can I get you something to drink?"

It was like one of those drawings in a kids' magazine. What's Wrong With This Picture? At first glance everything was fine. Touristy diner, smell of french fries in the air, cutey waitress who may or may not be jailbait. But there were things wrong. Subtle things, easy to miss at first glance. The smile on the waitress's face was too big, too wide. It could be overfriendliness, but it could be strain. Customers all around were eating, chatting, looking fine and dandy, but the busboy was just standing near the fire exit, gripping the handles of his tub so hard that his knuckles were turning white and staring out the window at...something. The older waitress was moving stiffly, and though she'd just finished topping up coffee cups at a four-top near the kitchen entrance she walked right past the booth where a couple of blue-collar guys were both holding up their cups for a refill. Also, despite the smell of food in the air, the number of people with plates in front of them, there was no sound coming out of the kitchen. No clank of dishes or metal tools, no radio going, no sign of the cooks through the passthrough window. Everything was fine in the broad strokes but wrong, very wrong in the details.

But the waitress whose name tag read RIN was still standing at the end of the table, smiling far too brightly and looking like she might jitter out of her skin if she didn't get a drink order very soon.

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: FaerieChar, and anyone else who wants to play. Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OK Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Settle Down - Kimbra OOC: Might as well start things off with the potential for death and mayhem, right?

[GWEN MORGAN]

It had been a long day and the week hadn't even truly started yet. The last few days had been a collection of disasters- cleaning up the messes of some of the other hunters who had tried to get rid of the growing zombie population. Days like those caused Gwen to question what she was doing.

The diner had looked like the perfect place to take a load off and get some rest considering how weary her body was. It had been day since she had eaten and though she did not require it, she had gotten so used to regular meals that it almost hurt not to have anything. Her stomach rumbled and Gwen let out a sigh, finally deciding to pull over and park in the only available place.

It seemed relatively busy but that didn't deter her in the least. The comfort of having normal bodies surround her intead of the hostile ones of enemies was calming down her heart. She slipped through and let herself be led to a booth in the corner, glad for the position. In the corner Gwen could examine everything and if there was anyone here not human who could harm anyone... Gwen sighed and shook her head. If something like that happened she would be ready but this was a time for relaxing and taking a load off.

"Excuse me, could I have a cup of coffee please?" Gwen asked the waitress nearest to her, with a soft tired smile. She was exhausted and it no doubt showed but maybe a bit of caffeine would reenergize her.

[RIN COOPER]

"Sure thing!!" Nobody should be that excited about an order for coffee, but there you have it. Rin slid the menu over closer to the pretty blonde and turned away to grab the coffee pot. As she turned her head it revealed a funny curved scrape on the side of her neck, just below and behind her ear. It was an odd place for a scrape, and looked a little like a very bad fingernail scratch.

She headed off toward the prep station with a bounce to her step that could have been cheerfulness but was a little jerky and off. A minute later she was back with a full coffee pot and a side salad with Italian dressing that Gwen hadn't asked for. For some reason she fumbled with the dishes as she put down the empty cup, the plate, and then got the coffee cup filled, it left the paper napkin that she'd brought folded in half under the edge of the plate.

"There you go. When you know what else you want, just let me know?" She gave Gwen a too-significant look, then a hard glance down at the folded napkin tucked under the edge of the salad plate. It wasn't folded quite evenly, from up close the writing in the folded-over middle could be seen around the edges. Rin gave the blonde woman a desperate almost-smile and then retreated to the passthrough, keeping her body turned to where she could see both the kitchen and the table with her newest, most important customer.

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: Gwen, and anyone else who wants to play. Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OK Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Settle Down - Kimbra OOC: She's so very subtle. Really, it's like she's a ninja superspy or something.

[GWEN MORGAN]

Gwen tilted her head to the side, narrowing her gaze in thought as she regarded the young waitress thoughtfully. She seemed a bit too cheery-as if she was wearing a mask of happiness that covered up her true feelings. It was strange. Gwen had been on earth many years each time coming down but to see the covering up of emotions in humans was still...unusual for her.

She was used to the nonchalance among her siblings, angels such as Astrid and Castiel but not humans. Most humans she met were fairly easy to discern and she herself was becoming the same way slowly but surely.

Gwen figured she could use the food anyway, shrugging and decided to eat and drink while she had a chance to take a break. Her eyes kept flickering over to the overly-cheerful waitress whose name she discovered by her nametag as Rin. Something about her seemed off and Gwen knew she was human but still... She pursed her lips in concentration.

The next time Rin came around Gwen signalled her down with a soft smile. "Are you all right? Is there anything I can do to help you?" In most cases being blunt and direct helped her to avoid confusion and conflict so Gwen decided to be right out with it but spoke in a low voice to keep the conversation private and to try to be gentle going about it.

[RIN COOPER]

Rin positioned herself so that her back was squarely to the passthrough window and gave the blonde a too-wide, too-toothy smile. "I'm fine," she said cheerfully, even as she tried to catch the customer's eye, then looked down at the napkin where she'd written the warning, then back up to the woman. "What'll you have, hon? Kitchen's running a little slow today, but at least that way you know it's fresh, right?" Look down at the napkin. Look up at the blonde. Down at the napkin. Up at the blonde. Over and over again and she probably looked like she had a seizure disorder but Rin couldn't risk letting that...that thing in the kitchen figure out that she was trying to signal the woman who seemed to be what it was hunting.

The nib of her ballpoint pen jittered slightly where she held it poised over the green and white order pad, Rin could see her reflection in the window next to the booth and knew she looked like a death's head with that horrible fake smile on her face, but she wasn't going to break. That thing had Joyce in the back, had made very clear that it would kill her without a second thought, and Rin was holding herself together with gritted teeth and knotted shoulders but she would. not. scream.

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: Gwen Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OH Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Settle Down - Kimbra OOC: Sneaky, If she gets any less subtle she'll be grabbing pompoms and doing cheers. 'Give me an M! Give me an O! Give me an N-S-T-E-R! What does that spell?' What can I say, she's not used to dealing with this kind of crisis.

[GWEN MORGAN]

Something was very wrong. Gwen could feel it in the air. It crackled and tensed like there was something it was waiting for- the last straw to break the camel's back. She narrowed her gaze as she watched the waitress.

Rin was acting like a prisoner, a hostage that was being threatened. Gwen had seen situations like this before only a couple times but she memorized the signs just in case she needed them. It was tense and drawn-out.

"Do you need help?" Gwen mouthed, when Rin managed to get close enough to her that she was a sort of human shield with nobody else able see her mouth move. Her eyes darted over to the door to the kitchen, wondering if there was some sort of creature there. She tried to figure out the aura, to see if she could sense anything different about the surroundings to try to figure out what was holding this girl (hopefully only her) hostage.

[RIN COOPER]

The impulse flashed through Rin's mind, unkind but brief, that she should just let the thing in the kitchen have this woman. Really, how obvious did she need to be here? But the memory of that man...thing...creature crouching over 'Gelio's body with blood smeared all around its mouth, the sounds it had made as it pulled the prep cook's kidney free and devoured it with the exact same enthusiastic bliss that she'd seen people dig into a slice of banana cream pie. No. She couldn't let that just happen again. Not to Joyce, not to this lady, whoever she was to have spooked the awful thing so badly, not anybody.

"Just your order, ma'am." Rin reached over and grabbed the coffee pot off the station, topping up the coffee cup even though the blonde woman hadn't drunk much, if any of it. It gave her an excuse to deliberately slop a few drops over onto the table so that she could make a little distressed sound and set down the coffee pot to mop up the spill. A flick of the finger opened up the folded napkin that she'd set down earlier, the one she'd written the warning note on:

She mopped up the tiny spill, leaving the open napkin on the table, and gave the woman a very significant look. "What'll you have?"

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: Gwen, and anyone else who wants to play. Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OK Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Settle Down - Kimbra OOC: Next stop? Skywriter.

[GWEN MORGAN]

Gwen pulled her sack into her lap, understanding Rin's hesitance at letting her help. Most normal people tried to handle it without dragging anyone into the mess. Right now, however, it was causing more problems than solving them. There might be people in the back being kept inside.

She looked up at Rin confidently, lifting up the flap and showing her the short-sword she had. It was made of pure silver and though that wouldn't stop mosts baddies it was one of many weapons she had tucked away in her sack. "Take me to the kitchen." Gwen spoke softly so not to alert anyone around them but insistently.

"I can help. If you let me go to the kitchen, I can get rid of it and you can pull the fire-alarm to exacuate all these people." She watched her with a hard gaze, not wanting to make a scene but she would if Rin wouldn't cooperate with her and accept the help.

This was life or death and Gwen wouldn't allow anyone else to die...if there were any casualties already. Her gut screamed at her that it would be so but she still was optimistic that she might have caught it in time before it took any lives.

[RIN COOPER]

"You're crazy," Rin breathed out, even as she was gauging the distance between her and the red fire alarm box in the prep station. She didn't even know if it worked, ferchrissakes. "It's you it wants, it's killed two people just to get us to bring you close."

She gave the blonde woman a fierce, fearful look but hissed out an answer. "Steel doesn't bother it, it eats people, and it stinks like bad dirt. There are three people in the kitchen with it, two cooks and one waitress, plus the corpses. Kitchen door's around the corner to the right, but that'll run you right into it. You're better off going through the passthrough if you can." And then with no particular warning, at least not from the point of view of whoever or whatever was watching her from the kitchen, Rin sprinted off to one side and yanked down the lever on the fire alarm, which started up a wheezy clanging sound.

"Guys," she shouted over the sound of the alarm, "there's a small oil fire in back, we need you to evacuate. We've got it handled, just clear out because we don't want to risk losing any of you guys." Her voice was hoarse but calm, encouraging people to get the hell out and the desperate looks she kept casting over her shoulder at the kitchen probably looked to the customers like worry about the imaginary fire.

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: Gwen, and anyone else who wants to play. Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OK Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Steel's Gonna be the Death of Me - Gangstagrass OOC: Gwen's instincts are not Rin's. Which really only adds to the funness, but still. Her little mind is blown.

[GWEN MORGAN]

Gwen put the strap of the satchel over her shoulder, with a smile. "If he wants me then it'll have to fight to get me. Trust me, I can handle myself." She was already strategizing how to kill it. It sounded like a zombie to her, and that made things easier and harder. There was so much lore on them but it would doubtful the coffin would be nearby to stake it to. A headshot would have to do.

She made her way towards the back entrace of the kitchen as Rin suggested, pulling out her shot-gun and readying it. Once everyone had left in a panic Gwen gave Rin a confident smile. "You might want to leave too. Things might get a bit dangerous." More than dangerous as Rin had probably already witnessed herself. Gwen didn't want another casuality to add to the list of people that might already be dead.

[RIN COOPER]

"My friends are in there," was all Rin said or felt like she needed to say. Of course, it wasn't like she had time to say anything else since all the talking and activity was plenty to clue in the...whatever that thing was back there that events were no longer happening according to plan.

There was some shouting in the kitchen, a harsh scream that Rin very much feared was Joyce, and then the swinging doors burst open and there was a sick imitation of a person moving directly toward Gwen.

It had been male, once. Mid-forties, a little tubby, thinning on top. The kind of man who might have managed a grocery store, or worked as a middle manager in a cube farm. Now there was grave dirt caked in all the creases of his cheap gray suit and dark, organ-rich blood smeared around his mouth and drying stiff and blackish-red on his shirtfront.

Whatever it was it was moving toward Gwen, fast and awkward and unnatural in its motions. Ignoring Rin for the moment, filthy broken-nailed hands outstretched, it lunged for its prey.

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: Gwen, and anyone else who wants to play. Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OK Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Steel's Gonna be the Death of Me - Gangstagrass OOC: Yum, monster.

[GWEN MORGAN]

Gwen moved with speed that wasn't human, darting back and forth in order to get out of the creature's way and confuse it. "Go check on your friends!" She cried out to Rin when the doorway was clear. "And lock the door or bar it, whatever you have to do to stay safe!" The thing was too focused on her to go after them which relieved Gwen to no end. It was better for it to be focused on her so she wouldn't have to worry about more casualties.

She paused for a moment, eyeing the creature as they both stopped briefly. "You know what I am, don't you?" A shadow of her wings appeared and disappeared in a second. Her grin widened, aiming her shot-gun at it's head. "Well, come and get me, sweetheart."

Gwen rushed toward it, shooting at a couple of it's limbs in order to try to slow it down before making a shot straight through the zombie's brain and then bashing her gun against it's head for extra measure. She flipped back, dodging out of the way again and hoping her shot and bash worked.

[RIN COOPER]

Rin barred the door all right. From the outside, kicking the ice machine across the swinging doors and then wedging a mop handle under it and against the half-wall to make it harder for the thing to get back in through there. Whoever was left in the kitchen could go out the employee entrance.

In the time it took her to do that, the blonde woman who was definitely not a normal chick shot the shambly organ-eating thing and did a few high-flying ninja moves to prove how badass she was. Rin would be impressed later, just then she was a little busy with the running around to the dubious cover of the coffee station while the creature, inevitably, stood right back up and headed for the blonde again.

It's got to be understood here that Rin was just a waitress with a lucky trick of genetics. She really didn't know anything about the supernatural world except a couple of encounters with hunters who'd sketched in the basics on ghosts and demons to impress her and in hopes of getting in to her pants. She had no idea what did or didn't work against this kind of monster, but she had to try something, anything, to put it down.

All across the room salt shakers raised from their spots on the tables, the caps twisting off and falling to the floor as the cheap glass bottles flew toward the shambling thing and dumped salt all over it. A gray rubber tub of steak knives pulled out of the stainless steel shelving under the prep counter and the knives started flying up and toward the thing's back, stabbing in deep and sawing back and forth, trying to sever the spine. Every time one got wedged too much to move another came up, working through sheer persistence to try and get all the way through the spinal cord. Hey, it worked in horror movies.

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: Gwen, and anyone else who wants to play. Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OK Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Steel's Gonna be the Death of Me - Gangstagrass OOC: She's working off Romero movies and adrenaline at this point.

[GWEN MORGAN]

With Rin and the others locked up in the kitchens Gwen could stop worrying about them and finally devote all her attention on the zombie. It was fairly fast and powerful, more than she had expected and knew it wasn't a normal case. Maybe James or a demon had something to do with this? It seemed super-charged with power.

She was surprised at by what happened next, raising an eyebrow and watching with a quirky sort of smile at the sight. That had to be one of the strangest thing she had seen a human psychic capable of. Gwen was grateful for the help, giving Rin an appreciative smile as she jumped out of the way again. Her mind flipped through the pages of the books and journals of other hunters she had read and memorized in order to find another way to hurt this thing.

Weak spots...no coffin nearby so that was still out of the question. It hadn't reacted all that well even to the head-shots. What else was there to do?

[RIN COOPER]

Pure luck, but one of the steak knives that had been hacking and sawing away at the small of the creature's back finally got all the way through the spinal cord. It didn't exactly topple it entirely, but it sagged down onto one knee, making some kind of awful growly sound as it did. Not pain, more like confusion.

Whatever it was, it was enough to make an opening if Gwen wanted to exploit it. Also enough for Rin to give a whoop of triumph and send two squeeze bottles of mustard flying over toward the monster, gouting the bright yellow goop directly into its face. If it had been human, the mustard might have actually burned. As it was, Rin just hoped it would be a distraction while it had to first bat the bottles out of the air and then wipe the mess out of its eyes.

"Kill it!" The waitress screamed it out like maybe the idea hadn't occurred to Gwen before, like it would be a new idea.

[atrb=border,0,true] Tagged: Gwen, and anyone else who wants to play. Location: Stardust Diner, Warwick OK Time of Day: Early Afternoon Soundtrack: Steel's Gonna be the Death of Me - Gangstagrass OOC: Hey, I've got a neat idea...