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[Dean wakes up in his car.

It's troubling enough as he's fairly certain he didn't go to sleep in his car- or, you know, at all, and it takes him a minute to realize this. He sits up slowly from where he'd been slumped over the steering wheel, brows furrowed, eyes bleary, lips parting in confusion.

What the hell...? He didn't get massively drunk last night, it doesn't feel like a hangover, it feels like... Wait, what did he do last night? He was... with Sam, and... shit, shit, shit-]

Sam!

[A certain amount of fumbling has him half-falling out of the car and into the stables- the stables?

Wonderland. He'd forgotten. He'd gone home for nearly a year, and he'd completely forgotten about... shit, about everything. His hands disappear into his hair, tug at the strands as he turns to look around, to be sure, but there's no denying it. It's like a half-remembered dream smacking him in the face all over again. How long was he gone? What did he miss, where's Sam, where's Cas-

Oh, shit. A slow, steadying breath, a hand passed over his mouth, and then he moves. His first goal is to find Sam. His second is to drag Sam to the clinic, to make sure he's not going to drop friggin' dead, to see if there's anything left over from aborting those trials, and a nice, long conversation with Martha Jones.

It's fortunate that she happens to have his communicator. When that's safely returned, he's been back at least an hour.]

[He sets the device to video.]

[He appears on screen haggardly, looks as exhausted as he feels.]

Cas.

[Because that's the next most important thing. He doesn't take the time to filter it, doesn't even think to do it, just...]

Cas, buddy, I need you right now.

[He starts to turn it off and then falters, like he's only just remembered the rest of the world exists, like there are people here he's got an obligation to. A soft puff of breath, a downward glance and then back up again. An apologetic tilt of his head.]

Sorry for leaving you guys hanging. It uh- Well, you know how it goes. Blake, you still here? James? ...Dad?

[He clears his throat.]

Matter of fact, if anyone wants to give me an update, that'd be... You know. Swell.

[ooc: Sorry for the TL;DR! All network responses are assumed to take place after any thread with Sam and Martha.]

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[Thank the lord or Wonderland or Santa or whoever that he came back without the crutches, because climbing those stairs had been a real bitch, he remembers as much pretty damn clearly.

He gives a short nod, even if he does look a little confused as to why they'd need a couple dozen handy dandy notebooks.]

Be right up.

[He ends the feed promptly. It's a few minutes before he's upstairs, a good fifteen at least, and he knocks on the door.]

[James is getting really impatient by the time Dean shows up. Sure he hasn't been able to apparate relatively long compared to older wizards, but it makes life so much easier and quicker and what did he even do with his life before he could poof himself anywhere he needed to be quickly?! Granted, he's usually more patient with Muggles, but he has something really amazing to share. When Dean gets there though, James grins and ushers him in quickly.]

Dean! Welcome back!

[On his desk there are two stacks of little notebooks, each one with a pen pushed through the metal coils. It'd probably be easier than carrying around quills and ink, after all, since the point is stealth. His room's mirror is covered by a tapestry, and there's glass on the floor under it that shows it's been shattered recently, so they can speak freely for at least a little while. But since that runs on a bit of a time limit, James gets right to the point.]

Alright, so. I've found our way around the network so we can organize ourselves. And it's pretty brilliant, if I do say so myself.

[He gestures over to handy-dandy notebook mountain.]

Take any one you want and write something in it. Anything you want; it doesn't matter.

[...Technically he hasn't had a chance to see if it'll work if a Muggle does it. But it should.]

Alrightie, then.

[Handy-dandy notebook mountain gets a good once-over and James, in turn, gets a skeptical glance. He's not so sure what in the hell notebooks are gonna do for the Great Cause, but hey. Whatever, he'll give it a shot.

He plucks up a notebook, nudges the little pen through the coils and flips the thing open.

Another skeptical glance, and then he sprawls boobs elegantly across the first page.]

Now what?

[James pulls a notebook out of his back pocket, and turns it to Dean before flipping open to the first page. He's so confident that this works by now that he doesn't even check to see what Dean's written. And sure enough, it's there in James' notebook. boobs.]

Go look at any of them. They'll all have it now.

[And they will. Every single notebook in Hand Dandy Notebook Mountain has boobs written in it, in Dean's handwriting.]

It's called a Protean Charm - when you change one thing in a set of things, you change them all. I've heard of people using coins to send messages this way, but it had to be something a Muggle could change, so a notebook's perfect.

[It's only now that James looks at what Dean actually wrote, and he snickers at it like he's ten years old again.]

[There it is, written there in the notebook James holds up. Boobs, in his own handwriting, exactly as he wrote it, staring up at him.]

...No way.

[He moves swiftly, selecting a notebook at random. Flips it open. Boobs. It's a combination of James's reaction and the accomplishment itself that has him grinning.]

That's awesome, man, we can actually get the goddamn word out without blowing our cover all over the network. I feel like I need to give you a ribbon or a trophy or something.

I know, right? It took a while to figure that one out. I'll happily take a trophy! Here, it can look something like this -

[And he takes out his pen and scribbles a doodle somewhere under boobs. Mostly to show off the charm again.]

[But he doesn't turn it to show Dean. He can look for himself in any of the notebooks.]

[He flips open his own notebook as James draws, huffs a laugh and shakes his head.]

Nice skills, Picasso.

[He adds a little detail to James's picture, then flips the notebook closed.]

Thinking pretty soon we're gonna have a meeting, get everyone together, take 'em down to the spot. Maybe we can pass these notebooks around, are they ready to go?

[James gives a little mock pout at that, before scribbling it out entirely.]

They're definitely ready to go, and the fort's all set too. All the protections are up, the password's been made, and Daryl's done a great job camouflaging it. I don't think I would have figured out where it was if he hadn't led me there himself. It's perfect.

[He slips the notebook in his pocket- the others they can pass out at the meeting, but he's keeping this one on him just in case. Couldn't hurt.

He knows a thing or two about Daryl's camouflaging skills, enough to trust them, but as far as the magic goes? That's something he's a little less experienced in, even if he did see a few of those Potter movies.]

Sounds good. Gonna have to get you to take me out there- what'd you decide on for the password? Better yet, what happens if you get it wrong?

[James glances casually over at his mirror, making sure it's still broken before he speaks.]

Back on the block. It was Daryl's idea.

And, well. It doesn't work like that. You just need to know the password. And really, that's more secure than more than a dozen people going out in the woods and blindly saying the password until they find it. Anyone could hear them!

[James knows just how careful they need to be, and he's not convinced that the Queen of Hearts wouldn't have eyes or ears out in the woods somehow.]

If they don't know the password, they won't find us. We called Blake out to test it and it took him ages to figure out the right area, and that was only because we were nice enough to give him a couple of hints. When he got there, all he found were some odd tracks and nothing else. So, if you think you've got the password, but don't...you just won't find anything. It's all imperturbed, so no one can hear anything going on inside or force their way in.

[Even if an enemy did figure out where they were, they would have the advantage. The Resistance members would be able to see them first. It would be even better if he had been able to cast a Muggle Repelling Charm, but that would repel a good number of the members themselves, so that was out.]

[He blinks.]

Back on the-- like the military term? ...Huh.

[His father was a marine, he's been around a few other servicemen in his time, he's pretty sure he's heard it around before.

At any rate, it catches him off guard and it's fitting, so he tilts his head in acceptance and plows right on ahead. All this magic crap (and he uses the term crap loosely, becuase it's pretty goddamn nifty actually) goes a little over his head, but as long as it works it's good enough for him.

He's gonna have to test it out on his own, but if Blake couldn't find it, it's almost good enough by proxy. Still needs to give the place a once-over.]

Thinking it's getting to be time for a meeting. We can round everyone up in the next couple'a weeks, drag 'em out there and pass the notebooks out. The ones we trust, anyway.

[James shrugs. I mean really, does he look like he knows anything at all about the muggle military?]

That's what Daryl said it was. He said it meant something like "being back home again" so it seemed appropriate.

[They all want to get out of there, or at least James assumes they all do. His whole face brightens when Dean talks of actual meetings.]

Great! Fantastic. I've definitely got a few recruits in mind. I'm looking forward to it!

[He just looks so incredibly hopeful about all of it. Maybe they can actually make some progress!]

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