Dean answered, slow and quiet, "The alien word thing...  Say that again..."

Fletcher, lost in thought at problem solving their way out of this situation was pulled from his reverie by Dean's sudden interest in Harry's story.

He wondered if this was a good thing and it meant Dean was on the verge of "snapping out of it" or the exact opposite.

Harry looked over at Reefer Man. "Did that gizmo register anything when I said it before? I'm willing to say it again, but I want someone watching that when I do, because it might be revealing."

Robert shook his head, "Sorry, wasn't watching the first time.  I'm on it. Go".  He resets his device and some the scanning wand at Dean...

"Right." Harry says. "So, the word sounded like 'GANKANAAR'. I have no idea what it means."

It didn't sound Biblical, so Kelly was no help.  But she felt a little smarter having gone and retrieved these fellows.

When Harry said the word again, a few things happened.

Dean's face went rigid.  His eyes widened....and darkened at the edges.  Like a black...something...was trying to reach across.  His brow twitched, trying to knit in fierce concentration.

Robert's eyes went a little wide as well while he watched.  Though probably for different reasons.  He glanced at his gizmo, made a quick adjustment, and aimed the sensor again at Dean, "Wow...  The other signal...  Levels spiked all over the place when you said it...whatever that word is..."

The blackness began to pull back from Dean's eyes and he spoke, voice tight, "Name...  Its a....name.  Its name."

"The Skinny's name?" Harry asked. he didn't think that was right. "Or is it a place name? Or the name of whatever it was the soldiers stole?"

Dean was working to steady his breath.  In.  Out.  At Harry's question, he slowly answered, "What's in my head....  It knows its name.   ". In.  Out.  "What it is in my head...  I don't know.  I'm not... where I'm supposed to be."

Kelly didn't know what to tell Dean, but something did come to mind.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

"Your time of war has passed Dean, save for the metaphorical war we all fight now.  For good or for ill you are exactly where you are supposed to be, here and now.  But what is happening is someone, something, is compelling you to be otherwise.  The question is, do we follow it, or defy it?"

"Guess that might depend on whether it's a ghost, 'r a demon.  In the stories, ghosts 'r usually just lookin' ta do somethin' they missed out on, 'r find a way ta let go 'n move on.  Demons want ta be here, 'n you're just a means ta 'n end."  Fletcher commented.

"Exorcism works on both if we can't figure out which this is."

"Do exorcisms work on syker-related things?" Harry asks. "Because is this is some weird psychic ghost-demon-thing, then I don't know if a standard exorcism is gonna cut it."

"Was speakin' metaphorically."  Fletcher replied.

"Dunno what you'd actually classify whatever this is.  Still, knowin' the energy wavelength it seems ta give off means there's 'prolly some way ta use that against it.  Only thing is, like Reefer Man pointed out, is makin' sure the seperation's clean."

Harry nods. "Yeah, I hear that. The thing must have gotten from Banshee to Earth somehow, though, and figuring out how might be our best bet to figuring out how to deal with it." he rubs his jaw. "Do you think it might be a body hopper? Maybe it hitched a ride with another syker comin' home from Faraway, and then got stuck in Dallas somehow." he taps his skull as he says this. "Like my demon buddy, except more mobile. Could be the original host was crippled or died right near where we made camp, and it hopped on to Dean because he was the closest compatible link to it."

"Could be."  Fletcher stated in partial agreement with Harry's theory.  "We really didn't know 'nuff ta say with any cer'ainty."

Fletcher thought for a moment more and then said.  "'Prolly the only way ta know for sure is ta talk ta it, 'n that's 'prolly not too good for Dean, if he's talkin' for it.  Might be less risky ta ask it directly."

Kelly contemplated if she could beat it out of Dean with the flat of her sword, but reasoned that was still a fundamentally flawed idea.

When all you have is a hammer sword...

"How? Do you think you could modify that thing you built to talk to The Driver?" Harry asked.

"Maybe I could rig up somethin' similar, but easiest way's prolly through the dream."  Fletcher suggested.

"Dunno if that alien that shows up at the end there is the one we're dealin' with, but if the thing in Dean's head is what's pullin' folks in ta that dream, it's gotta be 'round in there somewhere."

Dean kept pushing down whatever the thing in his head was, battling it back down into a corner of his mind.  Being a syker, he actually has training in this kind of thing and is likely paying attention to the conversation.  His opinions on the plans, he keeps to himself.

Robert, though, was much more open with his opinion.  In fact, he was looked like he was getting a little excited about the problem.  Some people just like puzzles, "Dive back in?  Maybe we could use the...uh...Psycho-Disruptor we were discussing.  Weaken it at the right time, maybe?  Distract it?"

Turk had kept his tongue up to now, but he was starting to get a little antsy.  He pulled up a sleeve to reveal a wristful of watches.  Whatever he saw there didn't help.  He raised a hand, "Alright.  Alright.  Obviously this here is a concern and important.  I'm all for helpin'.  But, unless you can pull all this off in the next two minutes we gotta call time-out.  We've already sat still longer'n I'm comfortable...."

As if on cue, the walkie hanging on Turk's belt squawked, "All Drivers...  Smoke on the Water.  I repeat.  SMOKE ON THE WATER."

Turk grimaced, "Well...  Shit."  He grabbed up the walkie and clicked back, "Ten-Four, Trouble.  OPTIMUS PRIME.  TEN-SIXTY SEVEN.  OPTIMUS PRIME."  Turk looked up to Harry, "All roll out.  Sorry.  Best to get your Sunday Best on.  Large calibers always looked good on ya."

Harry sighed. looked like they'd have to put the dream-diving talk on hold. "Sorry about this." he says. "We got the rest of you stuck too long. We'll try to sort this out on the move once we clear out these buzzards." With that, he heads for the cab to get his guns.

Kelly sighed.  "Crowboy, get the lever gat.  Might be useful.  But don't move out until the whole crew's ready."

She shifted her scabbard from its discrete Mostly Hidden Behind Me position to her hip in its I'm Gonna Cut a Fool position.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:01, Wed 25 Aug 2021.

Fletcher moved outside as well.

He moved generally towards the front of the trailer as he looked around to try and see what had triggered the warning.

All the idle crews begin running for their rigs as the word goes out.  Engines rumble to life.  Smoke belches into the air.  The Black Dog itself, seeming to take notice of the goings on of the convoy, growled to life without being asked.  More specifically, without any driver at the wheel....

Reefer Man clambered awkwardly down and began heading for his rig, "I'll...  I'll find my notes on the syker-tech!  When I can!"

Maytag calmly kept working on his bandaging of Prudence's back.  He just said calmly and quietly, "Almost done."  Obviously someone who knows better than to rush an important job.  No matter what was going on.

Prudence chose not to quip or quote for once, simply gritting her teeth and allowing the work to get finished.  Quietly frustrated that there seemed to be some action afoot which she could do very little about.

Dean stepped out with the others.  He might not know precisely what was going on, but he looked like he had a sense that there were allies and enemies.  Defend the allies, kill the enemy.  Training runs deep.

Turk had been shouting more into the radio conversation, then turned back to the Dogs, "Scouts spotted dust clouds and smoke heading our way.  This areas lousy with the bastards.  No details yet.  We fight on the move.  Make 'em chase us and waste fuel, risk their rides.  Sitting still lets them bunch up."  He points the radio at Harry, "Keep that back door shut.  They shall not pass.  You need back up, call out."

Around this point, Crowboy and Mateo come jogging back up to the rig amidst all the confusion.  Each has a bag with the trades they managed to gather up.  Crowboy, being given responsibility veers off to head for the cab and the lever gun.  The bag will get stowed there.

Mateo hops up on the trailer, stows the bag in the camper and speaks just briefly with Syb.  He then turns back around as though ready to do whatever was needed...

Harry nods. "They shall not pass." he heads for the driver's side of the cab.

Fletcher thought about backing up Harry in the trailer, where it would probably be safer, and he could take over if need be, but then decided against it.

If the enemy were coming up from behind he might be able to be more of a help to those at the back fighting them off.

So resigned he looked for a good place on the flatbed to situate himself where he might have some cover, or at least a handhold if things got bumpy and swervy.