Dana wrote: <Oh, I don't know - about the first thing Avon says to Cally is that if she had hurt Blake, he would have killed her. He doesn't look like he's kidding about it.>

No, but there is a spark there that is sadly lacking later - loook at the way they're *looking* at each other (especially Cally's smile).

<And neither he nor Jenna seems able to get past the fact that she's an alien.>

That comes from the way she ran amuck in The Web (for Avon, at least; Jenna does seems rather hostile beforehand) and yes, he gets really hostile there for a while - the way he grabs her face is fairly savage. But they both get over it faster than I would imagine is normal for Snarly. Me: <Of the three people he's closest to in the crew, two of them - Blake and Cally -> and Dana: <I think he's much closer to Vila than to Cally.>

Give you three guesses who was third (and I do agree with you.) It makes it all more interesting *that* the third is the most un-crusader-ish of Our Heroes by a trillion miles; there are of course a lot of other reasons why he finds these people attractive, each in their own way, but it is notable that the person who pours most scorn on crusades does have these stronger ties to the crusaders themselves.

And Helen:

<Another possibility, of course, is a telepathic link being created. <snip> still, it might make Avon more inclined to trust fully.>

No wish to offend, *purely* mine own opinion, but I have to say I think it would IMO drive him literally insane. The idea of having *anyone* able to read his mind would be intolerable to someone as private and as inclined to shields and misdirection as he is.

It's bad enough that Blake and Vila can read him so well as it is (see that lovely moment in Breakdown, where they tumble to why he's got a list of boltholes).

<the mind may be harder to censor than the mouth>

Exactly. And that censorship is very very important to him ... I love Avon, but I have to say that IMO if he ever thought Cally or anyone else *could* actually get inside his mind, he'd quickly come to hate her. Even want to kill her. Or even himself, if there was no other escape.

_________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.