This was the first time we met in Campfire, although we’d been talking in e-mail for days. Since we talked for two hours, it’s a long chat, so we’ve divided it into parts . . .

Jenny C. has entered the room
Anne S. has entered the room
Lani D. has entered the room
Lani D. Hello!

Anne S. Howdy.
Anne S. Hi, Lani.

[There followed an extremely boring internet discussion about how to upload files on GoogleGroups and why Krissie wasn’t getting Jenny’s e-mails, finally ending when Krissie asked us to read her first scene]

Anne S. So, you guys wanna read it and then we’ll talk?

Lani D. Yeah - I’ll be right back…

Anne S. I’m going to get get a bowl of spaghetti while you guys read

[later]

Jenny C. Love it. Matilda, great name for a dog.
Jenny C. The only thing I’d change is that she used to eat. We’re kind of going with the “they’ve been repressed forever” bit. So I can see her mother repressing her natural tendency to eat as her mother repressed hers, etc.
Jenny C. So that when she eats here, it’ll be the First Time.

Anne S. Oh, I’m fine with that. This will be her first (as well as first sex)
Anne S. That ok with you guys?
Anne S. And are any of the other dogs elegant and slight disdainful?

Jenny C. Wolfie’s insane
Jenny C. And Bailey’s hyperactive.
Jenny C. Bikki is Paris Hilton
Jenny C. And Ummi is curious.

Lani D. Oh, the Irish setter is perfect. I love her.

Jenny C. Bikki and Ummi are very well bred

Lani D. I love the bar, too. That visual is so great.

Jenny C. So there’s an elegance there but not like Matilda.

Anne S. Cool. The Matilda the Queen it is.

Jenny C. Me too.
Jenny C. I love how voluptuous she is.
Jenny C. Abby.
Jenny C. Not Matilda.

Anne S. Yeah, it just seemed right.

Jenny C. So I’ve been thinking about the settings bit.
Jenny C. And I don’t think they need to be at Shar’s.
Jenny C. I don’t think it fits, does it?

Lani D. Okay

Jenny C. Abby’s kitchen works because of the food.
Jenny C. But unless they’re getting something out of being in the top of the temple

Lani D. What do you mean - for the kick-goddess-ass meetings?

Jenny C. I think we’re going to go nuts trying to get them over there.

Lani D. That’s fine. There’s absolutely no need to force anything.

Jenny C. Well, we wanted them to eat three times, right?

Lani D. If it doesn’t feel right to you, it’s fine.

Jenny C. No, I’m good with it.
Jenny C. I’m just trying to figure out nine meetings.
Jenny C. And what the different places mean.

Anne S. If they eat three times one will be at the Jeff (at least one)

Jenny C. Maybe it should be they run into each other at the Jeff.

Lani D. Right - the first meeting is at the Jeff.

Jenny C. And then they go to Shar’s and Abby brings food.

Lani D. Sure. A little kismet.

Jenny C. And then they do the slumber party thing at Abby’s
Jenny C. When the guys all go wrong and things get bad?

Lani D. Sounds good.
Lani D. Yep - definitely.

Jenny C. That way all three places are in there.

Anne S. Slumber party at Abby’s!!! Yay! Someone can sleep on the bar.

Jenny C. I just wasn’t sure how we were going to get three at the jeff, three at Shar’s and three at Abby’s in there.

Anne S. Can Abby give Christopher some Kool-aid?

Jenny C. What would it do to him?

Lani D. Taste like Kool-Aid?

Jenny C. Is he descended from Mesopotamian priestesses, too?

Anne S. I thought she’d sneak some in and it would cure his dog allergies.

Jenny C. LOL
Jenny C. We don’t even know what the stuff is, so go ahead.

Anne S. Nope.
Anne S. I figure it does different things to different people

Jenny C. I had this idea that Kami was brewing it with the cylinder seals soaking in it.

Anne S. Might make Christopher really unhibited and horrified that he is

Jenny C. So that each brew was for that goddess

Lani D. Would it have any affect on a man not in the bloodline? Just curious.

Jenny C. Well, what does it do?
Jenny C. It awakens repressed memory and power, right?
Jenny C. We never decided
Jenny C. so it can do whatever we want.

Lani D. I kind of got the sense that in order for it to work, it had to be drunk by the right person.

Anne S. Hmmm. Do you think it would be too much if Christopher had a connection?

Lani D. Hence all the different smells that meant something to the drinker. An eye of the beholder thing.

Jenny C. I think it’s the awakening of power that makes it possible for them to hear the dogs.

Anne S. I got that sense too. I also got the sense that it affected everyone differently.

Jenny C. I figured that was a recognition thing.
Jenny C. I know this drink from somewhere before
Jenny C. and they made a connection on their own.

Lani D. I think it would. I just don’t know how it would affect someone not of that world.

Anne S. Hmmm. The more i think about it the more I want him to drink it and hear dogs too.

Lani D. Because Christopher is just a normal, everyday guy, right?

Jenny C. Sam can hear them.

Anne S. Does Jamie drink it? Does he hear dogs?

Jenny C. Unless Christopher’s family moved away long ago.

Lani D. Jamie is connected to the dogs, but he doesn’t hear them.
Lani D. I hadn’t planned on Daisy giving it to him.

Jenny C. The original priestesses were there in 1810.
Jenny C. I figure they moved during the wars maybe?
Jenny C. To be with their husbands?

Anne S. What about once they have sex they become bonded and then Kool-aid beings to affect him?

Jenny C. The ones who left?

Anne S. No, that wouldn’t work.
Anne S. Because then it would affect Jamie.
Anne S. Unless Jamie refused to drink the stuff.

Lani D. Well, let’s figure out what it is. Because I think we’re thinking different things here. Which is fine. It’s all up for grabs right now.

Jenny C. You know, we can make up anything we want.
Jenny C. If Christopher has the bloodline

Anne S. I’m guessing the priestess thing is passed down through the mothers.

Lani D. What I was thinking is that it’s Kool-Aid, with some special blessing infused by Kami to draw out the priestess in the girls.

Jenny C. He might hear the dogs without getting any powers.

Lani D. So anyone who wasn’t one of her seven would just taste Kool-Aid and remain unaffected.

Jenny C. That’s why I was thinking she’d put the cylinder seals into the casks.

Lani D. But we can do whatever we want.

Jenny C. But then she’s have to make sure each woman got the glass of Kool-aid she wanted her to. Not a problem.

Anne S. Oooh, I like that. I don’t want to give him power. But I like him hearing the dog. I want him totally bemused by Abby and by what’s going on.

Lani D. Well, what if Christopher drinking it puts him in some kind of danger?

Anne S. I think the kool-aid metamorphosed <?> into the right mix for the right person.

Lani D. What if that makes him another potential dying god? A potential sacrifice?

Jenny C. So if Christopher’s great great great took his son and left his mother in the mid 1800s because he found out she had powers.

Lani D. Right - it becomes what that person needs.

Jenny C. And then Christopher’s ancestors just went someplace else and had normal lives.
Jenny C. Then he could be latent for hearing the dogs and not even realize it

Anne S. Yeah, I like that.

Jenny C. Especially if he’s allergic.
Jenny C. Jamie can’t hear them talk
Jenny C. But he’s really good with dogs.

Anne S. So he’s got really distant blood lines.

Jenny C. Almost supernatural the way he can calm them down.

Anne S. Maybe his allergies aren’t real but he keeps away from them because they unnerve him because he thinks he can hear them.

Lani D. Right - Jamie’s got a connection with dogs. They obey him, they relate to him. Dog whisperer kind of stuff. But he doesn’t hear them.

Jenny C. Or we can make it easy and just say the Kool-aid makes it possible for anybody to hear the dogs

Lani D. But he also doesn’t drink the Kool-Aid.

Jenny C. and then do something funny with that.
Jenny C. The wrong person gets some Kool-aid and hears dogs talk and freaks.

Lani D. Well, Krissie - what do you want Christopher to be? A distant bloodline guy or just a normal guy?

Anne S. His bloodline would be really weak (It does get passed down through the mother’s side, right?). So if his great great great took the son away and maybe remarried everything would be pretty weak
Anne S. Yes, I want to him to be a very very very distant connection.
Anne S. I think that would be entertaining and explain why he just showed up there too.
Anne S. It could give me a lot to play around with.

Lani D. Okay. That’s cool. There’s a lot of fun to be had there. At least Jamie knows he’s in the bloodline.

Anne S. Do we want the kool-aid to enable anyone to hear their dogs?
[to be continued]