Past Experiences

I think what Chris will tell Minerva in the car on the trip to Sant Cruz is about his background and why he made the chakra template for the particle beam. That will relate to the idea of soulmates and resonance matches in the chakras. His explanation will help Minerva understand more of what the chakra level was doing on her assignment list.

Since Minerva has trouble grasping what makes cars go, Chris will try to clear up the difference between scientific processes and the magic or miracles she's used to. Like combustion or the chemical processes in developing photographs.

To show the kind of affect she has on people, while heading to the temple they stop at a light and a guy stares at Minerva and when she smiles and waves at him, the guy is so stunned by her beauty that he forgets to go when the light changes and causes a traffic backup.

As they are walking down the Boardwalk, some guys can try to hit on Minerva and Chris will drive them off. Minerva will open up and tell him that most of her experiences with men are that they only treat her as a servant or sex object. Chris can agree that can happen with a lot of guys but not all of them are like that and it makes it a lot harder on the guys that aren't. Taking her on some of the rides, dancing to the concert music and playing some of the games there will help to show her he's not just after her body.

Maybe at one of the games Minerva can make a coin bounce or a ring hang in a miraculous way to show that she still has her powers, she just has to learn ways to focus them better.

There has to be some more obstacles and goals for Minerva to achieve before she can get back to Elysium. Maybe I should have them go to the Boardwalk before they go to the Kiva Retreat. That way Minerva can soften her attitude toward Chris and start to be attracted to him before they contact Odin. Then Odin can tell Minerva that her next assignment is to find a girl for Chris. That'll set up a conflict in both of them that she doesn't want to admit that she's attracted to him and he doesn't want to stop her from completing her assignment and going back home. It also gives them a reason to separate before Chris takes the big risk to get her back. It's the old "starcrossed lovers" syndrome that has been used in a wide variety of romances, where he's a mortal in the ordinary world and she's an angel with a job to do so the societies they are in won't accept the match easily. A lot like Ariel and Eric in "The Little Mermaid"

Going to the Boardwalk first also gives them an example of Minerva still retaining her powers that shows that she has the ability to contact Odin if she can relax and focus, that will let Chris tell her that she might be able to do that better at the Kiva Retreat. When they get to the Kiva Retreat House, Minerva can recall how the peaceful atmoshpere there reminds her of the gardens in Elysium when she sees someone pick an orange off a tree and it will help her relax more and focus on contacting Odin.

Since Chris is going to be resistant to accepting another gal, maybe I could have him object to her idea of a dating service by claiming places like Great Expectations have the problem of the people that use it are looking for those with wealth and power, not the qualities that he's interested in. Minerva might suggest that he change it to something he liked better or start his own dating service and Chris could try to introduce some more Zen and Tantra ideas into the service more like Match.com is starting to do now.

But that would mean that I would have to come up with a character good enough to be an acceptable match for Minerva to believe she had done her job and still have something lacking that Chris wanted in Minerva.