07: [Action] Break on Through (To The Other Side)

[dashboardlite]

As he stands there, staring, Dean Winchester wonders why he's never noticed this door before.  It's not anything normal, by any stretch - it's just a huge door; tall, foreboding, made of something that looks like solid oak.  He hasn't touched it yet, he's simply been waiting.  Waiting for it to open, waiting for someone to go in or come out. 

It doesn't even have hinges or a knob or a lock, but he knows it's a door, and not some giant slab in the middle of the foyer.

Without dragging his eyes away, Dean slips a hand into the pocket of his coat, pulling out the comm unit he'd warped into an EMF reader.  Something this big and unexpected had to have a spike off the charts.  Switching the device on with a little click, he takes careful, precise steps towards the door, holding his electro-magnetic-frequency measurer up to the offending object - He really shouldn't be feeling like a gorilla out of 2001: A Space Odyssey right now, but he does - and his eyebrows shoot into his hairline as the EMF lights up and squeals, obnoxious beeping echoing through the front hall.

"...sonuvabitch," He mutters, tucking his little invention away and running his fingers over smooth wood.  "We chased our pleasures, here...dug our treasures, there, but can you still recall..."  Dean hums quiety, squinting at the grain and scratching a fingernail over it, half-expecting sulfur to come away.

"...the time we cried...break on through, to the other side, break on through, to the other side..."

Comments

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

"Hm? Oh...oh, it's am EMF reader. Electro-magnetic frequency detector." He holds it out carefully. "Sorta tampered with my comm unit to make it a little more useful. Ghosts, spirits, and demonic activity give off high EMF readings."

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

"Ghosts are electromagnetic?" He takes it gently, and after a few moments of fiddling seems to figure it out; he winds up taking a reading of Dean. "I wonder..."

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

"Sort of..."

He watches Jack carefully, making sure he handles the EMF in the right way. As the contraption is waved over him, the reading remains constant - nothing.

"It's not so much that they produce electromagnetic waves; they disrupt the waves given off by the EMF. Supernatural activity can be measured by how much the waves are affected."

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

"Huh." He swings the machine slowly around, keeping an eye on the meter as it coasts past various bits of the room. "I used to see ghosts."

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

"...really."

Dean purses his lips, quirking an eyebrow. "You used to see ghosts? What made 'em go away?"

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. I quit splicing, I guess."

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

"...dude. That sounds painful as Hell." He raises his eyebrows, making a face. "I dunno if there are any ghosts here, but if there are I'm gonna send their asses onto the next life."

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

"Splicing? It's a little uncomfortable." He is fairly okay with shoving giant needles into his arms by now. He grins at Dean's comment about the ghosts. "How do you do that? You can't touch them, can you?"

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

"You might not be able to touch ghosts, but they can touch you if they feel like it," Dean looks around the hall, appraising the others there as if deciding whether or not they're ghosts. "Iron repels 'em. And salt. But if you wanna get rid of 'em, s'easier than it sounds."

He shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Find the remains, salt 'em, and burn 'em. Bitches'll burst into flames and then you don't hafta deal with 'em anymore. Boom - ghost-free!" Dean holds his hands out to emphasize his words before fiddling with the cuff of his jacket, a broad grin on his face.

It falls soon afterwards.

"...used to do this shit all the time with my brother."

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure my ghosts were like that." He listens to the whole speech with an expression of bemusement, but it never dissolves into disbelief.

"What's your brother like?"

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well...ya win some, ya lose some," He shrugs a little defeatedly, tongue-in-cheek. The hunter glances up again at the question. He's hesitant about really going into detail about Sam, but it'd be nice to get some of this off his chest.

"Sam's...he's taller than me and damned smart, but I got all the good looks," Dean quirks a quick grin. "Born four years after me. Was gonna go to law school, but he got roped into the family business. Loves research. Sleeps with it tucked under his mattress. He, uh..."

The man rubs the back of his neck, thinking for a moment. "...he'd do anything for me, same way I'd do anything for him. We're the only family we've got."

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

"I know how that is, not having anybody else. What's the family business?"

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

"The family business...is...uh..." Why lie? Who the Hell cares here? "We gank demons and shit. Monsters. Werewolves, ghosts, vampires. Everything that goes bump in the night, man. S'my job."

Dean looks rather proud of this statement.

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

"Gank means kill, right? Sounds exciting."

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[Dean rolls his eyes a little.]

...yeah, it means kill. And sure, it's...exciting. Sometimes. When my brother isn't being held hostage, or when I'm not about to die. It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it. [Shrug.]

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

You mean that's the most exciting part. [There's no tone of argument. It's all very matter-of-fact.] It's just that it's horrible too.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

Yeah, actually.

[That is the most exciting part. For Dean, at least. It's all he knows, it's all he grew up with...so it's what he does best and derives the most pleasure from.

Except maybe sex.]

But there's nothin' like a job well done, right?

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

That depends. Does it stay done?

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

...

[He thinks for a moment.]

The job is never really done, man. There's always more bitches to gank.

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

It's better if you can rest at the end.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

Ain't no rest for the wicked.

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

What does that mean?

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

[He snorts.]

In my line of work...you don't get a break. Not even for one hot second. Shit sucks, man.

[kindly-done.livejournal.com]

You must not be very happy.

[dashboardlite.livejournal.com]

...thinkin' about it...no. I'm not, really. Hunh.