Ellynne wrote: <Anyhow, I came up with a comprehensive list of worse case scenarios for Cally surviving in Rescue and what's the worst Dorian could have done to her short of leaving her in the basement and how much guilt and angst could we put Avon through on account of it (the last was kind of interesting.>

Neat idea, yes.

<Anyhow, Cally's nightmares wound up having all 200 years of Dorian's cruelties to draw on (drawbacks of telepathy [well, he was planning on using her as the main link to pull in the others, ergo . . .]). >

Very neat idea, yes :-) I like that rather a lot.

<Even Avon would notice that.>

Possibly, but this is where *I* might have have problems (speaking as someone, remember, who ain't keen on Avon&Cally anyway and might be biased). It's the timing. Possibly he would notice ... but right at *this* moment, possibly he might not notice or - if he did - much care. In fact, despite the fact that I really believe he is quite fond of Cally, his reaction just at *this particular minute* might be - "just get over it."

Post Terminal, Avon goes into an almost complete deep-freeze IMO and yes, while it might not be as bad if Cally wasn't killed, it'd still *be* bad (he lost the Liberator, he thinks he's lost Blake for good. Did anyone die in Cally's place?) He starts *seriously* using the others, and seems totally oblivious to Vila's souring humour and drinking problem and the more systematic denigrating that goes on (and Vila is as important to him IMO as Cally, remember). Re Dorian's bit about the bond between them - it's there, but it's bitter and cracked by the events of Terminal. And the general nastiness and tragedy of Power comes in part from the fact that both Avon *and* Pella are both at a nadir at the exact wrong moment.

OTOH, if Cally could start broadcasting the nightmares and affect Avon at a time when he needs every bit of his strength just to get by ... now *that* might be interesting as well.

<Dang, Avon's bratty little sister is a Mary Sue. Ah, well . . . .>

There are ways round it. Make her as plain as a pikestaff, or built like a Soviet tractor-factory queen, or a bimbette or the bimbettiest (though how she *could* be with Avonic genes I don't know) or be a compulsive chatterer with a voice like a dyspeptic cockatoo ... or Angela Anaconda, maybe?

Ah, well, there may be hope. She was a compulsive chatterer. Her red hair is an obviously artificial shade (she's competitive about attention). Actually, she was an AU sister, literally. I was working on a story where Avon got to meet his counterpart in the rose colored glasses Trek universe. The product of a stable (if sardonic) family, his half Vulcan double had quite the extended family, including the little sister (all of them seem to act like firstborns who think any others in the family are really neighbors Mom and Dad are showing excessive [and soon to end] tolerance for). The perky little sister did decide it was her mission to save Avon from himself (kind of literally, as it worked out).

Unfortunately, it ground down to a halt halfway through, at about the time all Avons present had attacked her, come to think of it.

Family, the ties that bind.

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