[Child of the 7th Age]

OK, here are my thoughts.

First, I think Pio is the one who should decide which way to take this scene. It is her posts which are the "lead ones" in terms of setting the tone for this particular scene. Cami will adapt to her choice.

Having said this, however, I think we need to make known our preferences and feelings about this sequence to her. I think Mith and Helen have already done that. Bird also raised an earlier question. (Bird, If you have any other feelings on this, please weigh in!) So I guess it's my turn now. Then Pio will have the information she needs to weigh things and make a good decision.

Cami can live with either scenario, especially since Pio may or may not have her original posts. I would definitely not want to ask someone to redo posts yet again if they've already been discarded! That's a no-no!

I also think it's a very legitimate concern not to set up too many detours so the story becomes too lengthy. We all seem to agree on this. So either Cami and Pio stick fairly close to the Inn, or they run off that night and reappear the next morning.

From my personal perspective, it does seem more realistic that Pio would respond negatively to Lorien's message. (If someone told me that a close friend was going to be allowed to spend six weeks with someone they loved, and then be forbidden to see them ever again, I might also be enraged at such a ridiculous situation!)

In the beginning of the story, Pio talks with Cami about Lorien in a way that shows she's very suspicious, both of him in particular and the Valar in general. I think Pio's first response, the one she removed, was truer to that.

We could retain this suspicious element in one of two ways. Door #1: Pio could put back her first post, and throw Lorien out of the Inn. If she does that, Cami will send Lorien down to the deserted burrows with a blanket, etc. She will go trooping down to see him the next day to ask two questions and collect her letter from Maura which the Vala has carelessly thought to deliver.

Door#2: The other alternative would be to leave your existing post, but to insert at least a bit of suspicion into Pio's mind. This could be done in a three sentence paragraph where Pio thinks something like this.....I really don't trust this Vala but I don't want to blow it for my friend, so I'll go along with this, and keep an eye on him. Cami will respond as above, minus the blanket for Lorien.

Or--- Door#3 --- we could simply retain the revised posts that are now in the story. Cami can live with that, although she will comment on how unusually obliging her friend is being, given her usual feelings about the Vala! Cami will put it down to Pio not wanting to blow things for her.

OK, everybody's had a say, so Pio knows how folk think. Now she gets to choose Door #1, #2, or #3!

sharon

[ March 07, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]