These are the emails that went back and forth between WesleysGirl and Byrne while contemplating T&B:

From: WesleysGirl
To: Byrne

Okay, I wanna do an RPG with you.
Well, I also wanna co-write something with you, but maybe that could come later. Or maybe it should come first? I'm not sure.

Anyway...

Plot Bunny attack.

RPG - email format like RPGFH - Wesley, Giles, Spike in the aftermath of BtVS S5/Buffy's death. Wesley trying to make both Giles and Spike feel better about what happened (via email), etc etc etc. Lots of angst potential, gradually evolving into smut and then possible a co-written story when Wes actually goes to Sunnydale to visit them.

This could just as easily be just Wes/Giles OR Wes/Spike. But I suspect it might be more fun with all three.

I wanna be Wes. I would love it if you would be Spike. It might make the most sense for you to also be Giles, since Wes would be emailing both Giles and Spike and it would make less sense for me to play two characters emailing each other. Unless we wanted to invite a third person to play Giles? (Or obviously if you wanted to play Giles instead of Spike, we could get someone else to play Spike, but I sorta thought you were more attached to Spike - and I also think you are great at writing him.)

Wow, this is more complicated than I thought.

From: Byrne
To: WesleysGirl

OMG!!! I am so in. I would like to do both Giles and Spike because:

1) I'm a selfish little thing and

2) I'm not really doing anything with the other game yet. Lilah will always be a side story, so until/if Spike hits LA or I come up with some brilliant Wolfram and Hart scheme once Gavin's bugs pick up on the fact that Doyle is back I'm sitting on the sidelines.

From: WesleysGirl
To: Byrne

YAY! I'm so excited. I'm loving the Wes Visions RPG, but it's not moving fast enough for me. I want all participation, all the time.

I'm thrilled you want to do Giles and Spike. I think it'll be simpler with just the two of us playing.

I think you're right about doing it by email. I do love the LJ format though - maybe when this RPG runs itself out we can consider doing an LJ format one. We should come up with a code name for it or something, to distinguish it from the monster RPG. It's all the Brits, so maybe we can play off of that.

Okay, here's my theory. Wes and Giles have stayed in very limited contact since Wes was fired from the Council - Giles knows Wes is working for Angel, and they drop each other a line once or twice a year just to keep in touch. So when the AI team finds out from Willow that Buffy is dead, Wes of course emails him to express his condolences, and a correspondence starts from there. Spike and Giles, both mourning Buffy's death, are spending some time together socially in addition to doing the Scooby gang vampire hunting... mostly just hanging out at Giles' place, drinking, not really talking but sort of suffering together in silence. So one night after Wes and Giles have been emailing each other for a while, Giles gets particularly drunk and after he goes to sleep/passes out, Spike gets on his computer and comes across the emails and decides to email Wesley - a kind of "Hey there, thought I'd let you know that Giles is passed out drunk and can't respond tonight." And then Spike and Wes start to exchange email as well. We can start at the beginning of the summer (end of Buffy S5 and Angel S2) and then we'll worry about making the game fit S6/S3 when we get there.

Does this work for you? I'm not hugely set on any of it, it's just ramblings, so if you have any different suggestions I'm happy to go with them.

Also a question - after Buffy dies and Angel finds out, does he go away to that monastery or whatever it is for the whole summer? Or just at the end of the summer/beginning of S3? Because if he DOES go away for the whole summer, what does the rest of the AI team do while he's gone? Okay, I should look this up.

From: WesleysGirl
To: Byrne

Subject: And more thoughts...

Because, you know, wouldn't want to be actually sleeping in the middle of the night. More fun to lie in bed and overanalyze.

1) Yes, apparently, according to online resources, Angel was away at the monastery in Sri Lanka all summer after Buffy's death. Good to know.

2) Angel and Wes - I'm thinking that maybe, before the whole Pylea debacle, these two were maybe starting to flirt a little bit here and there. Nothing more than that, but enough to pique Wesley's curiosity.

3) Giles/Spike - Your call whether you want the two of them to be having sex in Sunnydale after Buffy's death and during the beginning of the Wes/Giles correspondence. (I'm all in favor of as much sex as possible, obviously.)

4) Wes/Giles - I'm having a hard time deciding on how friendly their relationship is when Buffy dies. There's a big difference between cordial-and-proper and friendly, if you KWIM. Our options:

a) Still in the polite but not quite friendly mode - Wes calls him "Mr Giles." (Giles would still call him Wesley I would imagine, though.) Wes would be tentative, deferential, until the relationship evolved.

b) Already past the cordial and into the friendly - Wes would call him "Giles" (but probably not Rupert until some time had passed.)

I'm happy either way, but I need for us to make a decision before I can write the first email! (Also need to go back and re-read RPGFH.) I am leaning toward the polite-but-not-too-friendly, because it will give us more time to develop the relationship and I think that would be fun, but I'm happy to jump in on the friendlier relationship if you'd prefer.

Okay, obviously I need to be doing more sleeping and less thinking.

From: Byrne
To: WesleysGirl

> Because, you know, wouldn't want to be actually sleeping in the middle
> of the night. More fun to lie in bed and overanalyze.

Hee!

> 2) Angel and Wes - I'm thinking that maybe, before the whole Pylea
> debacle, these two were maybe starting to flirt a little bit here and
> there. Nothing more than that, but enough to pique Wesley's curiosity.

Good.

> 3) Giles/Spike - Your call whether you want the two of them to be having
> sex in Sunnydale after Buffy's death and during the beginning of the
> Wes/Giles correspondence. (I'm all in favor of as much sex as possible,
> obviously.)

I don't think so...I see them sort of tolerating each other and hanging out
to avoid being with 'the children'. Giles is just starting to see that
Spike really did love Buffy, and he is kinda growing a grudging respect for
Spike, based on how he is with Dawn and how things went down with Glory
(Spike not betraying them, doing anything to save Buffy and Dawn). Giles
sees the pain that he feels reflected in Spike and they are still feeling
around the whole not hating each other thing. but, they are not blind and
are able to see the attractive-ness of each other. 'Cause I'm all for as
much sex as possible too. :P

> 4) Wes/Giles - I'm having a hard time deciding on how friendly their
> relationship is when Buffy dies. There's a big difference between
> cordial-and-proper and friendly, if you KWIM. Our options:
>
> a) Still in the polite but not quite friendly mode - Wes calls him
> "Mr Giles." (Giles would still call him Wesley I would imagine, though.)
> Wes would be tentative, deferential, until the relationship evolved.
>
> b) Already past the cordial and into the friendly - Wes would call
> him "Giles" (but probably not Rupert until some time had passed.)
>
> I'm happy either way, but I need for us to make a decision before I
> can write the first email! (Also need to go back and re-read RPGFH.) I
> am leaning toward the polite-but-not-too-friendly, because it will give
> us more time to develop the relationship and I think that would be fun,
> but I'm happy to jump in on the friendlier relationship if you'd prefer.

Your call, but if we go with the first I would like it to be on the brink of
more friendly; don't want to spend tooooooo much time getting Wes all comfy.
:P

> Okay, obviously I need to be doing more sleeping and less thinking.

Sleep? What is this sleep you speak of?

Yes, please! Take me to the insanity that is Tea & Biscuits!