[AU] two worlds, a lot of demons, and a new set of problems

[gavemea_45]

It's still hard to believe it's over; that the yellow-eyed demonic bastard they'd spent their whole lives hunting is finally dead.

Sam figures it'll sink in eventually. Given everything else -- right now he's still pretty numb.

He's also desperately tired, but that doesn't matter. There's something he needs to do, and he can't afford to delay.

He waits until they've settled in for the night, and then waits still longer. Once Dean's been asleep for half an hour, Sam picks up his messenger bag -- already stuffed with books and his computer -- and heads straight for the bar.

He orders black coffee and snags a table with a good view of both doors and the stairs, then pulls out the first of the old texts and starts to search through it.

There's work to do.

Comments

[gavemea_45]

"What Dean means to say," Sam hastily interjects, "is that if these bones turn out to be something bad, salting and burning them's a pretty sure way to deal with the problem."

[totalitarstupetballs]

She gives Dean a wary glance and reaches out for the skull, opting to keep it in her hand and away from him. "Well, you can check the piano," she tells him. "But I'm pretty sure it's just a piano."

[gavemea_45]

"Why don't I make a quick circuit of the room," Sam suggests. "Waverly, where else do you think your uncle might have hidden other bones?"

[totalitarstupetballs]

She looks around the saloon and shrugs. "Maybe in the basement?" she hazards.

"If not here... they could be at the homestead. Although that wasn't the safest place to be for a long time."

[gavemea_45]

"Is it now?" Dean wants to know. "Sounds to me like there isn't a lot you'd call 'safe' around here, with that many revenants running around."

Sam busies himself with scanning the piano - no reaction - and begins quartering the room.

[totalitarstupetballs]

"It is now. From revenants, anyway."

She thinks of digging up the talisman; of being convinced to bury it in the first place. "The homestead's built on ammolite. The revenants can't come onto it."

[gavemea_45]

That gets both their attention. "Ammolite?" Sam asks. "What's that?"

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Oh, it's really cool."

Waverly gestures out the window, inviting them to look out over the plains that lead to the jagged lines of the Rocky Mountains. "It's a biogenic gemstone. Meaning it's created from a life form," she explains, when Dean looks blank. "Like amber or pearls. Only this is made from ammonite shells."

She glances from one to the other of them, beaming. "You know, fossilized cephalopods. Well, mostly Placenticeras meeki. But this is one of the only places in the world where you find deposits of it this large."

Waverly grins, delighted. "Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, some Indigenous legends say it has supernatural properties."

[gavemea_45]

"Oh my god, she's just like you," Dean mutters, after a long second or two to absorb that. "If you were a girl, that is."

Sam gives Dean a flat stare and turns back to Waverly with real interest. "That is cool," he assures her. "What kind of supernatural properties? Protection, I guess, to start?"

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Well, it varies," she says, addressing Sam after giving Dean a small, bemused frown. "Protection, yeah, but supposedly it also strengthens your connections to ancestors and helps provide spiritual clarity and good luck. There are some accounts of people using ammolite to connect with past lives, through meditation."

[gavemea_45]

Dean rolls his eyes but stays silent, listening, as Sam presses, "And your place is built on it? What does it do to the revenants, act as a barrier, have some other effect or what?"

[totalitarstupetballs]

"They literally can't even step on the land," she says. "It's like there's an invisible wall. When we got rid of the talisman that had let them onto the land before, one of them just got flung off the property like someone had him in a slingshot."

[gavemea_45]

Dean snorts. "I'd love to see that."

"Me too," Sam agrees. "Just revenants? Not demons?"

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Yeah," Waverly says, a laugh in her voice. "It was hilarious."

She shakes her head at Sam. "That, I don't know. I only know for sure about the revenants."

[gavemea_45]

"What about other haunts or ghosts? Any idea?" Dean asks. Sam grins ruefully at Waverly. "I hope it's okay that we're picking your brain like this, but in turn I promise you can ask us anything you want to know about how things work where we're from. Maybe we'll find stuff that can help."

[totalitarstupetballs]

Waverly crosses her arms and gestures with one hand. "It's fine, but I don't see what it has to do with the problem at hand," she points out, tipping her head toward the skull. "Can we maybe focus on my dead friend, first?"

[gavemea_45]

"It depends a little on what kind of supernatural resonance Yorick's exhibiting," Sam explains. "So, like, if it's something that could be affected by this ammolite, then there might not be bones on the homestead. It narrows down the search area."

"Could just cart him out there and find out if he gets to play slingshot," Dean points out.

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Hilarious as that would be, why don't we try asking the only other person who might know?"

She goes back to the table and lifts the note from Uncle Curtis, then waves it at them. "The Blacksmith?"

[gavemea_45]

Sam eyes her. "I still say you shouldn't go alone."

Dean eyes Sam, in turn. "Why not?"

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Well, you can come," she points out, then gives them both a considering glance. "But you might need coats."

In the weeks since Wynonna returned, the tail end of summer had given way to winter, and there's snow on the ground and frost on the windows. "It's pretty cold out there."

[gavemea_45]

"Right," Dean drawls. "Canadian."

"How far away is it?" Sam asks.

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Too far to walk."

She glances at the stairs that lead up to the second floor, thoughtful. "But if you don't want to go back for coats, I might be able to scrounge something up for you."

[gavemea_45]

Dean shrugs. “We’re not fussy. I’ll be impressed if you have something that fits Sasquatch here, though.”

[totalitarstupetballs]

"Just give me one minute," Waverly says, holding up a finger, before she turns and scurries up the stairs towards the second floor.

[gavemea_45]

Sam braces as Dean rounds on him. “Seventy-seven revenants? And you were going to come alone? What the hell, Sam?!”

“We’re not looking for them, just the blacksmith,” he argues. “Who's a witch, but not the big problem witch. It’s fine.”