text, un: Anonymous

[strongroots]

Since everyone else is asking questions:

Bonding Pacts: How revealing are the connections? Can you feel everything the other is feeling? Can you keep anything private?

Has anyone had a bad experience with a bond?

Did your bond help with corruption or beasthood?

Did you regret getting one?

[ ...and then another, since he might as well: ]

And unrelated: How many times have you died here? Does it have side effects?

[ By the 15th, this post will have disappeared off the network. ]

Comments

(TXT) — UN: BOMBSHELL

[opheliac]

curious AND shy? jinxie thinkie there might be a hidden motive here. 😏

what's the REAL reason ure asking? share it w/ the rest of us!

[strongroots]

I have bad luck that follows me and I don't want to hurt my lover. But I want to keep them safe from corruption.

No one knows I've died here except people gone.

[ also isn't it pretty obvious?? whatever. ]

[strikefirster]

Four times.
I haven't noticed anything weird or different.

[strongroots]

[ Goddammit, dad. This takes him a second to think of what to say. ]

I see. Thank you for sharing.

[ ...even if it ends up being lame. ]

Text UN: ClickClickBloom

[onekindsoul]

I died once in the dream and it was pretty miserable.
Haven't died here but from what I've seen it doesn't seem to be as bad as it was there.
It got worse every time you died back there and I haven't seen anyone dealing with the effects that popped up there.

I've got two bonds. A romantic one and a rivalry one.
I'm not quite sure if they're like 24/7 kind of things. But I feel like it more comes and goes-
I've only really tried to hold things back once. I probably wouldn't recommend making the connection if you aren't willing to share that much of yourself with someone.

If that's giving you second thoughts. You might not be ready to make that decision.

[strongroots]

I'll be frank: I have heard of emotional and physical connections in different bonds, and I wouldn't want anyone to be privy of when I'm with my partner.

This is my concern.

[ god why did he go with this persona, does anyone in Trench even speak like this?? ]

Text | un: mister_hatter

[payingfordeliverance]

I have made two in my time here, both the "familial" sort. The first was made with a young lady I considered to be a niece of mine, and only because the practicality of being able to draw one another back from corruption if necessary sounded like a wise thing. However, I found that the connection brought me a great deal of comfort in my day to day, and the feel of her presence made things much less lonely. In that sense, I believe the bonds may well help to protect from corruption before it even has a chance to set in, if one is connected to someone so trusted.

These days my bond is with my lover. Because we can sense one another's feelings but not hear one another's thoughts, there is a certain sense of privacy to it. Knowing one of us is feeling this or that, the other may investigate or offer comfort. However, there is no need to speak of anything if we do not wish it. I find the sense of respectful companionship to be a welcome thing.

And, if one of us is ever in danger, the other knows immediately, and can stand at attention right away.

[strongroots]

[ ...ugh, he should have expected people to share personal stories, but he still feels bad asking for, well... maybe dumb reasons. ]

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I have someone I want to support with a connection, but our ages are different. If I can help with their corruption, I will, but there are certain experiences I wouldn't want them to be privy to. As someone with a lover can imagine.

text, un: v

[mehanizovati]

I have one, an empathetic one with my partner. In terms of privacy I've found it is possible to obscure or hide matters, though it will be obvious you are doing so. I strongly recommend a long discussion on matters of privacy with whoever you may be interested in doing this with.

Ours has helped with corruption. I have not regretted it in the slightest.

As for deaths I have not. I have seen people unable to walk for a time after waking again, that seems somewhat typical. Blood ministers might have more to say on death sickness in general.

[strongroots]

[ Oh... Viktor would be a good guy to ask, huh. ]

Have you ever experienced side effects to the bond due to the nature of this world?

How long have you been in this world? Would you say there is an unusual number to deaths among Sleepers? I don't need details. I just want to know how often people die.

[Text] [Anonymous]

[icanhearscreams]

I have two, with the same person. If he comes back... you can keep some things private if you're good at detaching yourself from things mentally.

I haven't had a bad experience with a bond. When I was in danger he was able to come find me.

I don't know how much it's helped with corruption, but it probably has.

I don't regret it, though.

I haven't died here, but I've heard it does have side effects. I've died before, though.

[strongroots]

Thank you. Since you're anonymous, how many people have died in your life? Here.

I don't intend to ask for details or circumstances. I'm sorry for yours. I know people see this place as a second chance.

[Text] un: QueenCobra

[abornfighter]

0 deaths and hoping to keep it that way. I've heard it's kind of like waking up like when we first arrive when you come back.

[strongroots]

[ ...well, he can be glad about that. ]

I hope it stays that number for you. Have you known many people who have died here?

text; un: tabris

[peripheries]

You can try to resist but things flow between the bond like an endless loop and it seeps through. You give and receive feedback, especially with emotions. Sometimes you can almost drown in another person's feelings.

Still, I don't regret it.

Do you fear bonding and regretting it?

[strongroots]

My caution wasn't strong enough to be fear, but the stories shared give me pause.

Maybe some of us find in bonds what we were always looking for. Did you?

anon

[dyaddyissues]

Died once. Disoriented and confused, hard to remember who I was or what happened, took several hours for that to come back. Body didn't feel like it fit properly for at least a few days. Almost similar to waking up on the beach upon arrival, only worse.

[strongroots]

I'm sorry.

Do you feel changed by your experience? Mentally or physically. Some say they die with purpose.

text; un: Shiro

[shiro2hero]

It depends on the kind you do.

I have one with my husband, and had one with one of my kids. We all made them to

In case we lost each other. So we'd know the other person was still there, somewhere.

[strongroots]

Has your kid known about when you spend time with your husband? There's an emotional connection there.

text; un: ushiromiya

[entreats]

I'm pretty sure the bonds are super effective when it comes to dealing with corruption, considering the one time I did get really corrupted was when I couldn't sense the person on the other end anymore because they were unconscious.

But they are really revealing, in my experience.

Or maybe that's just because my wife doesn't bother to filter, so I'm stuck with thoughts about pizza pockets all day.

[strongroots]

You have the lovers' bond?

Answers so far has been no, but have you had the bond affected by happenings around Trench?

text un: vi

[faceblocks]

havent died yet but theres always today
known a few people that have
some ppl a few times

no side effects that ive noticed
but it might be hard to notice when theres every other thing going on here u know?

ive got a familial bond w/my sis
its a lot but i dont regret it
its the least i can do

i think it helps yeah
but idk about the private
i went in p much being ok w/giving that up
i guess i could if i rly tried but that would be way too much
and itd be against the whole reason i did this

im not saying it should be that way for everyone but thats my deal

[strongroots]

It's the trade for guaranteeing a safety measure against corruption and beasthood. Did you get it for that reason, or because you're both sisters?

Text; UN: Seeingtheworld

[schoolingfish]

yeah, you feel everything the other person feels

but it's brought me back from beasthood before, so it was worth it. i don't regret it, i probably would have eaten people i cared about if it wasn't for my bond

[strongroots]

I'm glad it helped. It's a good reason to have a bond. Have you ever felt the other person come close to beasthood?

Text - UN: Onerthes

[onerthes]

I have only ever had one bond. It was chosen carefully, and we didn't select one that melded our minds. I have been told that privacy can be kept, but it would be known?

The only thing that was unpleasant about it was when it severed because of her departure.

Once. My next week was unpleasant, particularly the first day of it, but it was nothing worse. Some less fortunate haven't experienced worse ones to my knowledge. It's different from the nightmare in that.

[strongroots]

I'm sorry for your loss. Did you go for the emotional bond? It's the one I'm interested in. Some for reasons that couples would not mind being known, but my main reason of interest was for its effectiveness against corruption and beasthood.

The nightmare is aptly named for what I've heard of it. [ From...Vira-lorr herself... ] So far, some immediate symptoms seem to be common, but nothing lasting.

Does it take time to come back from death?

text; username:mariathorpe

[givetheslip]

i haven't experienced one.
but they sound like a bad idea to me.

[strongroots]

[ And that opinion is why Robby likes her. ]

Having a connection to someone where you can feel them at their worst and best does sound like trouble.

But even keeping away corruption doesn't sound worth it to you? If it was with the right person.

text; @skywalker

[facultative]

I had one forced on me.

I could feel him in my head all the time. It was like someone constantly trying to drag me under.

[strongroots]

[ Okay, what the hell? ]

Why would they do that? They're two-way links.

text; un: quibbler

[creidim]

I have a romantic bond with my boyfriend. We talk to one another in our minds, and we can hear one another's thoughts but we can shut it off if we want to. They say that's something that can lead to madness, but we have a lot of trust in one another so we can do it without it causing that.

It was a way of keeping each other safe. He brought me back from Beasthood last year with our bond without having to resort to the usual method of killing the person who's a Beast. It does sound like a scary thing, having a Blood Bond, but I don't regret doing it, not for one moment.

[ As for the other question, well— ]

I haven't died here, but I died twice in Deerington. One time was an accident, the other was at the hands of another Sleeper. I can't be sure if dying here has side effects, but it did have consequences in Deerington.

[strongroots]

[ Oh. Look. ]

It doesn't look like there's many lasting physical effects after a person comes back, but mentally? It must be different to die. Difficult. If you're not someone who deals with dying and come back in your own world.

I'm glad you haven't had any run-ins with death here. It's so easy, with corruption and beasthood. And your boyfriend managed to save you from death? Lucky. A good thing it didn't turn out worse. It's easy to murder in that state.

Text; un: darkness

[survivalthroughhate]

[If he knew who was asking this, he'd pass on answering. But since it was anonymous, Maul responded.]

I have a number of bonds with people. The romantic one with my husband allows us to read each other's thoughts all the time. And that is ALL the time, there's no turning it off. But I already knew some techniques to help keep people out of my mind before, so we've learned ways to keep each other out so we can have some privacy in our own minds.

There was also a hostile bond that I had with someone which has since been severed. While it seemed like a good idea at the time and did help give me more power, it had too many ramifications for me to think keeping it would have any benefits, so I allowed others to sever it.

I died once. It was bad. I was full of guilt and anger about what had happened so I came back out of the ocean completely corrupted and close to beasthood. Someone had to help purify me in order to get me back to normal.

[strongroots]

[ Robby is going to be good and not sass Maul, unlike Luna, even anonymously. It will go without a reply. ]