Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He heads up to the office, looking tired, but professional. Completely shaved, hair carefully pulled back into a ponytail, dressed appropriately. Still has his ever-present staff, of course.

Karlos Basoalto: Seeing Jer's approach on the monitors he unlocks and opens the office doors, gesturing him inside. He looks like someone killed his pet goldfish the night before.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He knocks on the door, lightly. Though tired, he's got an re-energized feel to him. He's focused. He believes in what he's doing.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: ((Delete the first sentance.)) He moves inside, giving Karlos a hug. "Hey. You look like all of us."

Karlos Basoalto: He hugs Jer, half-heartedly, patting his back a little. "I am all of you," he replies quietly.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods. "Yeah." He pulls away and sighs a little, taking a seat.

Karlos Basoalto: He chuckles dryly. "I think the Heart is sick."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "Anything beyond the obvious? Not that the obvious isn't more then enough, mind you."

Karlos Basoalto: "No, no. If I'm being obvious about anything, I consider that pretty ill." He mooches to the couch and slouches down, leaning against Jer a little. "So tell my what Jimmy says."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods. "Well, he's all about getting the Leiutenant. He told me that he is knows he's alive, and killed three of their people on Sunday. I told him that wasn't possible, that there was a mistake perhaps, and he said that those he had on the other side of the Gauntlet were very specific about his signature."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "It's crap, of course, they just refuse to let go of the issue. But I told him I'd investigate further, and called Nabiki to see what had happened. She told me about the rescue."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods wearily.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He purses his lips there, but continues. "Anyway, she told me she killed the people Jimmy was talking about, and she told me about the Dragons killing all the Snakes. She thinks it's just about that, but that doesn't make sense to me. Are they misguided? Sure. Fallen off the path? Yeah. They're our adversaries, but I can't they'd kill the Snakes just because they could, particularly when it seems like they probably could have done that for a while now."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: ((cant=can't believe))

Karlos Basoalto: "Of course they wouldn't, so long as they manage to break the Firesnake's back, which they have. All his supporters have gone underground, and to the Dragons that's good enough. Why go to war when you can rule in tyrrany?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods. "Exactly. Which is why I called Jimmy back. I told him that I was positive the Leiutenant was dead, and I had spoken with the person who had killed his people, and it wasn't him. I also told him that, as a seeker of Truth, I'd continue to search for him. That at least turned him from 'lies and postponers' to 'Thank you for being reasonable.'"

Karlos Basoalto: He nods again.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I'm hoping that, when he sees I have truly searched and can't find him, he'll believe me, and maybe we can move past that. In the meantime, I asked him if he would tell me why the Snakes were executed. He wouldn't discuss it over the phone, so I asked to meet him in person." He sighs. "Which is when he brought up Angelia and Ingvar."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "He asked if I would bring them with us, and I said I had to bow to my elder's wishes, and not act one way or the other. Deflecting the issue. He wanted to wait and see what happened there, so I hinted that if he were to speak to me beforehand, it could sway the outcome of the hearing." He smiles a little. "Not that I said which WAY it would swing it."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: ((bring them with me))

Karlos Basoalto: "Mmm-hmmm..."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "He said he'd contact me, and hung up." He shrugs. "I can only hope that means before the hearing ends."

Karlos Basoalto: "It means he'll contact you as and when it suits him to do so."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "Oh, I know that. I just hope he takes the bait and does it before the hearing ends. If not, there's one other way in that I can think of...Brian Wheeler mentioned the General's niece, as I told you." He shrugs. "If we can find her and talk to her, maybe we've got an in that way."

Karlos Basoalto: "So this hearing's still going on?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "The decision isn't made, at least. Angelia and Ingvar are supposed to be back later tonight. Which doesn't give me a whole lot of time, I'm afraid."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods slightly. "I have faith in her. She will extract herself from this situation."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods. "I do, too. Which means the courts will be far from happy. That's why I need to talk to them BEFORE the decision is made."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods slightly. "You won't get that chance. Make a backup plan."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: A sigh. "I've got a couple formulating, not that I particularly like either of them. They might work, but if they go wrong, they go so wrong that we can't fix it."

Karlos Basoalto: He laughs softly. "If we don't raise Zi Teng by the New Year, we're fucked anyway."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods. "All right. Well, the first is this. I pleadged to bring Trevor to trial, and prove his guilt or innocence. I did back at the beginning of last year, on the condition it not be a rigged trial, of course. Then, my dad died, and I fucked up huge. I lost it a lot, dropped everything, went back to Portland, and stayed there for far too long." His eyes betray his obvious guilt over this.

Karlos Basoalto: He nods softly, putting an arm around Dream's shoulders, hugging him softly. "And they're holding you to that pledge."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "No, I'm holding myself to it." He gives Karlos a small, grateful smile. "However, since there's obviously no way in Hell I'm going to find the man, I'm going to fail. So I tell the Courts I want to surrender and offer restitution for failing. I try and negotiate it so that the Courts are distracted enough. That might give you all just the opening we need."

Karlos Basoalto: He chuckles a little. "I'm sure this satisfies some self-destructive urge you have, but I must insist you try to think of something less suicidal."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He smiles. "I'm not suicidal. Again, I'm taking calculated risks. It's a minor thing, compared to killing some of their people, so if I do get taken, then I have a much better chance of getting out alive then, say, Angelia and Ingvar. But if it's timed right, I could even get away. IF it's done right."

Karlos Basoalto: "Do you think you could do it right?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I don't know. This can't just be me, though. I'd be buying the opening, is all. You guys would need to actually pull off the rest of it, and let me know somehow when to split. And I'd need backup to help get away."

Karlos Basoalto: He purses his lips, thinking. "We need a Mind to make that kind of calculation. I cannot do it."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods. "The Body would need to be rebuit for that plan to work. And that in itself will be difficult to do on such short notice." A slight shrug. "Like I said, it's not a plan that I particularly like. But it's something, at least. I just don't know how feasible it is."

Karlos Basoalto: "Perhaps not. Have you met Reyna?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He shakes his head. "No, I haven't."

Karlos Basoalto: "You should. She's very astute. Quite intelligent. I think she would make an admirable Mind."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He gives a contemplative frown, thinking. "All right. What about Hands?"

Karlos Basoalto: "Ita..." He bites his lip. "If Firesnake would accept a corpse..."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He gives a bit of a surprised chuckle at that. "Yeah, I met her the other night. She seems nice, for a leech." He looks to Karlos. "You think Firesnake would? I don't know her that well, so I don't feel comfortable making guessing on that. The undead thing's gotta count as a mark against her, though..."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: ((post - "making" = actual post))>

Karlos Basoalto: He nods a little. "Ask him. And... I was also considering Brian Wheeler. Although my encounters with him have hardly been the most favourable, from what I have heard from others that I trust, he has shaped up considerably since then."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "Wheeler..." He frowns, but nods. "I was thinking he could be a possibility as a follower of Firesnake. I hadn't thought of him as a part of the Body, though. Then again, I wasn't thinking along those lines at all, so..."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I'd would have thought maybe Ingvar before yesterday, since he seemed reasonable enough to see the good side of the treaty the other night when I talked to him, but after he got on the Truthcatcher's extreme bad side by opening his mouth and letting some very stupid shit stream out, I'm feeling rather disinclined that way."

Karlos Basoalto: "I could have told you no on Ingvar from the moment I met him," he replies dryly.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He shrugs, accepting the point. "So that would, if our three new candidates were accepted, give us a full Body again, at least. A very strange, partially dead body, but a Body nonetheless."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods. "Try to speak to Angelia. She may have some ideas."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods. "I'll call her. I do have one other back-up plan formulating. Again, I don't like it, but it may work. It involves Yuki, Jinchiro's niece."

Karlos Basoalto: "Who are either of those people?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "Jinchiro Satu is the Dragon's General, from what Brian told me. Okami Yuki is his niece. It's all in the stuff I faxed you on Monday."

Karlos Basoalto: "Oh..." He blinks. "I'm sorry."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He smiles a little, patting Karlos's knee. "S'okay. We've all been busy. Anyway, Brian said that he was working on Yuki to get to Jinchiro. We can step that up, contact Yuki ourselves, try and get in that way." He pauses. "Or failing that, we can take more hostile, but hopefully injury-free, action. Basically, we either convince Yuki to come with us or kidnap her, which might distract the Courts enough for our opening."

Karlos Basoalto: "Er... Okay."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "Thus why I dislike both of my backups. The first is very risky, and requires a lot to happen. The second, there's a hell of a lot of variables we can't control there, and the aftermath could be ugly." He gives a small, helpless shrug. "I'm just trying to work with what we've got."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "Plus, I'm not a fan of kidnapping."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods. "I know. And I'm not giving you much." He rubs at his nose. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I'm going to talk to Angelia, see if she has any ideas. If you can feel Brian out and see how he'd take the idea of being involved with a group of nutso Warriors of Gaia, maybe even see how far he's gotten with Yuki, that'd be a huge help." He thinks. "Is there anything I need to know, in case I do get a call from Jimmy before the hearing ends. Something that could give me an advantage, something that could throw him off, or just anything that would keep me alive?"

Karlos Basoalto: "I don't think that's the best idea. For me to do that," he adds. "I'm completely misready people at the moment, as evidenced by our phone call earlier."

Karlos Basoalto: ((misreading))

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He takes a deep breath, and looks at Karlos, his expression calm and soothing. "Why do you think that is?"

Karlos Basoalto: He shrugs. "Because I'm a bitter, jaded old man, Jeremy."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He smiles a tiny bit at that, without humor. "Karlos, you're still the Heart. And you're the Heart for a reason. I know you're overworked and stressed, and probably on the edge of a nervous breakdown...we all are. But you can't second-guess yourself." He tilts his head a little, looking into the other man's face. "I don't think you're as jaded as you believe. If you were, you'd say fuck it all, and stay here locked inside the Office forever. The fact that I'm here, talking to you, because you asked me to come by and discuss the plan, means you still care."

Karlos Basoalto: His lips quirk a little.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He remains silent, watching him, awaiting a response.

Karlos Basoalto: "The only advantage you will have is your mind. Use it wisely."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He looks a little sad, but nods. "Thanks." He checks his watch and sighs. "I don't have a lot of time left...I'd better find the Voice."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods. "Be careful. And remain alert."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I will." He stands up, and looks at Karlos. "I told you, it's not over yet. I'm not giving up. On anyone. Find your Heart again, Karlos. It's in there. Not just for us or the mission, either. For you."

Karlos Basoalto: He chuckles a little. "What would you do if you knew where Trevor was, Jeremy?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He blinks, as that question throws him a little. "I'd hold myself to my pledge. To ensure he gets a fair trial. And I'd do my damnedest to prove his innocence."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods slightly. "He's Adam."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: The blink becomes look of stun. "He...what?"

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: ((DLP)) He looks confused. "He's...what?"

Karlos Basoalto: ((*lol*))

Karlos Basoalto: "Fausto."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: THERE'S the stun. "Fausto?" He stares at Karlos, comprehending the words, but not understanding. "What are you talking about?"

Karlos Basoalto: "Fausto was a persona constructed by Adam to enforce the DMZ and the Treaty. Adam was once Trevor."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "But...Trevor died. I know I wasn't there, but..." He's confused, but something's clicked on in his head. He's getting a touch of wariness in his eyes, a hard edge to his jaw. "People saw it. They told me he died."

Karlos Basoalto: He nods. "Trevor did die. In mind, in body, and in spirit."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "But he became Fausto, too."

Karlos Basoalto: "You know me, Jeremy. I can't resist a good resurrection or two..."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "Why didn't you tell me? I was gone then, obviously, since Fausto was here when I got back. And then it wasn't an issue anymore, sure. But when it became an issue again, with the Courts? I thought we were working together." He can't hide the hurt very well at all in his eyes. "And why tell me now?"

Karlos Basoalto: He gazes at him. "Because Trevor was dead, Jeremy. He was executed for his crimes. Adam should not have to answer for them. But I'm telling you now because you may eventually find out on your own, after what's been done to Adam. I would rather you found out from me than from the Chaya."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "After what's been done to Adam?" He looks at Karlos suddenly. "So is Fausto dead, like everyone thinks? Or is that another resurrection."

Karlos Basoalto: "That was done to Fausto. Adam's safe. But Jeremy..." He watches the young man intently. "If the Dragons figure out we can kill people without killing them, we lose a major advantage. So I would discuss with Adam, if I were you, what he wants to do about being taken to trial."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He sighs, reaching up to rub his eyes. "Well, the secret's out now, Karlos. They saw him from across the Gauntlet--his signature as they put it--as they killed three of his people."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: ((their people))

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He shakes his head. "Fine. Where do I find him?" His tone is flat.

Karlos Basoalto: He bares his teeth slightly. "Don't judge me for this, Jeremy. Trevor was dead. Now he's not. Now that he's not, I'm telling you. But I cannot tell you where to find him. You will have to ask Angelia."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I'm...trying not to. I don't want to. Intellectually, I understand. But knowing this doesn't mean I don't feel this." Pointing at his chest.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I'll get over it. It doesn't matter, anyway." He tries a smile, and kind of succeeds. "I wish you hadn't told me at this point, in case I end up talking with Tran again. But thank you for doing so."

Karlos Basoalto: "You're going to pull that High School 'I can't believe you never told me even though you just did right now' crap on me, aren't you." He looks disappointed, but unsurprised. "I'll ask him to call you."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: "I'm in shock. And yes, I'm hurt. But I just found out something I always believed to be true is not. The shock and hurt will fade." He shrugs. "I'm sorry to have disappointed you so. I'll call Angelia, and have her put me in touch with him."

Karlos Basoalto: "It is true, in a way." He sighs. "Just not a way that will satisfy the Dragons."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods a little. "Yeah." His eyes target Karlos's face. "This doesn't change what I said. Find your Heart. For yourself."

Karlos Basoalto: He laughs bitterly. "I know where it is."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He frowns. "Where?"

Karlos Basoalto: He taps his chest. "In here."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He shakes his head. "That's not the only place." He mimics Karlos's action. "Nor is that."

Karlos Basoalto: He laughs a little. "Jeremy, you're acting like a spine. Get out there and save Adam's life, maybe resurrect us a General while you're at it."

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: He nods a little. "I'll see what I can do." He gives the man a small smile, then turns and heads out the door.

Karlos Basoalto: He gently closes the door.

Jeremy "Dream" Thomas [Feb 3rd]: And out the back of the Concerto he goes, already pulling his cell to call Angelia.