fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #133 ]

2. How would you know, though? That's like if I said, "since I'm not the only person in my headspace, I can't imagine what that'd be like and therefore everyone like that is OMG TOTALLY CRAZY." So, y'know, it's not really a valid argument. >>

There are soulbonders and fictionkin out there, and some of them RP. Just because it doesn't happen to you/everyone doesn't mean it can't.

14. Best pairing ever. ♥

Isn't hearing voices in your headspace called schizophrenia? Or a psychotic break?

Schizophrenia doesn't happen to everyone, but it sure isn't something to brag about.

No, schizophrenia is something completely different (http://community.livejournal.com/multiplicity/692804.html). People with schizophrenia actually hear voices; being a soulbonder/multiple means you communicate in thoughts that are clearly different than actual outside voices.

I don't get why everyone thinks it's so weird.

...maybe 'cause it's freakin' weird? ^^;

It's just different. I don't think you'd be saying stuff like that if the secret had been about how everybody in the world is completely straight and anyone who says they're not is insane or anything.

I don't think you can compare the issue of sexuality to having fictional characters living in your head.

Ah, the internet once again provides comfort that somewhere, there will always be someone weirder than you. XD

Why not? Everyone has a sexuality like everyone has a plurality (totally wrong usage of that word, but I'm blanking out on the real term so let's pretend). They're both something you can't change and sometimes know about from early childhood, and can get into some pretty bizarre stuff like being pansexual or median, or even transgender or otakin. (Also, soulbonds are not so much "fictional characters" as they are "people with fictional origins.")

I don't think most of them actually hear the voices. It's like having imaginary friends; you like pretending that they exist, that you can see and hear them because they're real people, but deep down you know it's only a game. Some people take it way too far, but it's not schizophrenia until the person is actually incapable of distinguishing fact from fiction.

It's just really fucking weird.

Do you mean soulbonders or people with schizophrenia? Because if you're talking about soulbonders, you've really got the definition off.

Sorry if I wasn't clear or if I misunderstood or something. Er, I'll try explaining myself, and you can tell me if I'm still wrong.

Truth is I don't know much about soulbonding, so maybe the line isn't as clear as I'd have thought. Maybe I don't even have the right definition... the ones who explained the concept of it to me haven't had an experience like that, so I guess they wouldn't know what it's really like.

You don't see or hear characters like you would a real person, do you? You know that they're fictional; you just feel a very strong connection with them, as if they were more than just words and images, as if they were living, breathing, thinking people that just didn't happen to be on the same plane of existance. And eventually they sink in and become a part of you, so they're not so much characters anymore but another piece of your personality. Is that right? It's not quite the way it was explained, but I get that sort of thing sometimes (not so extreme though). Most writers do, I think. It starts getting a bit weird when the person stops refering to herself as one person because then it sounds like DID... but whatever.

Schizophrenia would actually be seeing them and hearing them and not being able to tell if the character was a real person or a hallucination. Really, the point of that post was that soulbonding =/= schizophrenia. :D;;

Ooh, that was a really, really wonderful explanation. ♥

Soulbonding is something different for everyone, I think. I know someone who just experiences it as feeling the character's presence, but then for me, it is like DID. My soulbonds have always been separate people, so while it maybe starts with some deep bond with a fictional character, after that, it's more like I just meet all these people who happen to have fictional origins. So the initial empathy comes from them having similar pasts. If that made any sense... I'm terrible at explaining things, so, um, sorry. ^^;; And normally they're not too much like the characters at all, and don't like to be compared to them. (Sometimes I don't even like the original character. XD)

I think your definition is what it's like for most people, though, except for the referring to yourself as one person thing, because while I am one person, all my bonds are definitely separate people too. I think all soulbonders would agree on that.

But, yeah, I know they're not actual outside people. Soulbonders don't actually see or hear anything, and it's not at all like schizophrenia. So, best comment ever. :D You rock.

2. Yes, they are out there. But the ratio of people who are "real" and those who are BSing because of who-knows-what-reason is about the same as getting struck by lightning.

Otakin are no different from Otherkin or Therians in the fact that a good portion of them are just finding a way to entertain themselves or want to believe so badly that they are special that they start making things up.

(edited for mispelling)

I can't speak for Otakin since I've never talked to any (to my knowledge XD), but I've only ever known two soulbonders who were making it up: one was having a reaction to changing meds, and the other was just trolling

fanficrants for fun. And I know a lot of soulbonders.

I don't really see why anyone would want to pretend to be otakin/a soulbonder because, y'know, look at the comments you guys are posting. It's obviously seen as pretty uncool.

I don't really see why anyone would want to pretend to be otakin/a soulbonder because, y'know, look at the comments you guys are posting. It's obviously seen as pretty uncool.

It's actually for that particular reason. It's so they can feel persecuted and alone. It helps them feel justified in their reactions to people not liking them. Never mind the fact that some of them are just jerks and hide behidn a label to justify it.

So if most soulbonders just want attention, why does

soulbonding have moderated membership and why are most of its entries flocked? :\

And if someone wants to feel persecuted and alone, it'd be a lot easier to say they're emo or goth or some kind of angsty subculture like that. I don't know why anyone would take the extra leap and make most of the world think they're crazy just so they can be percieved as misunderstood and alone.

So if most soulbonders just want attention, why does soulbonding have moderated membership and why are most of its entries flocked? :\

Get out of LJ-land and go look about the internet and you'll see what I mean.

And if someone wants to feel persecuted and alone, it'd be a lot easier to say they're emo or goth or some kind of angsty subculture like that. I don't know why anyone would take the extra leap and make most of the world think they're crazy just so they can be percieved as misunderstood and alone.

Hey, I don't understand it either, but it's true.

...Do you have a link or something? I actually went and googled "soulbonding," and I'm just getting the usual articles and then people's LJs. XD;

I really want to see some of these pretend soulbonders now. And, y'know, not just the ff.n soulpuppeters. >>

Wait, unless you mean all those people on fanfiction.net and similar who have their "soulbonds" talk in script format and make out with each other all the time and everything.

Then I totally agree. >> But the ratio's still higher than getting struck by lightning. [/comment spam sorry]

Wait, unless you mean all those people on fanfiction.net and similar who have their "soulbonds" talk in script format and make out with each other all the time and everything.

They count. :/

But the ratio's still higher than getting struck by lightning.

How many "soulbonds" or Otherkin/therian/Otakin have you met in RL? Sorry if this sounds like an assumption, but you'll find that Otherkin and Soulbonds mostly live on the internet and not in RL. As for me, it's been my belief that I was a wolf long before I had access to the internet to see others had beliefs like I did. It's like a fad to most people. And most of them grow out of it. Have you ever noted the influx of FF soulbonds or vampire/werewolf Otherkin whenever something new and popular comes out with them? The ratio may be a bit less than being struck by lightning, but in my experience, not by much.

I'm out as a soulbonder in real life. One of my best friends is multiple, too (and I've got another soulboding friend who I only know on the internet but am meeting IRL soon, if that counts? :D;).

And I still can't speak for Otherkin and Otakin (the vampire/werewolf thing does sound pretty fishy D:), but I tend to meet bonds of characters right after I play a game they're in or read their canon, so it makes sense that more FF-bonds would pop up after the new game or whatever's out...

I'm out as a soulbonder in real life. One of my best friends is multiple, too (and I've got another soulboding friend who I only know on the internet but am meeting IRL soon, if that counts? :D;).

Here's the thing...It's really easy to say your Sephiroth (just as an example) on the internet and pretend to be him. It's not so easy to be Sephiroth in real life. Most of the soulbond/otherkin/otakin/whatever-they-call-themselves I've met in real life are just acting. You can tell. When a person has to change how they act normally to be what they "are" then it's not real.

And I still can't speak for Otherkin and Otakin (the vampire/werewolf thing does sound pretty fishy D:), but I tend to meet bonds of characters right after I play a game they're in or read their canon, so it makes sense that more FF-bonds would pop up after the new game or whatever's out...

Okay, wait...the vampire/werewolf thing sounds fishy, but people jumping out with FF doesn't? It's the same thing. Something gets popular and they decide to be it.

While I understand that until you have a name to put to it (whether it be generic vampire or a specific character) you're not going to come out most likely, it's kinda suspicious that tons of people will suddenly jump aboard the happy ship and then slink away or just disappear outright once the newest thing come around, don't you think?

Wait, what? Of course you'd see the person's actions changing when they switched because it'd be a different person at the front. When my bonds front, they're not me, they're them being themselves. You kind of lost me there. o_O (Also, if that's your criteria, how could you tell if someone actually was a soulbonder? They'd only act like one person or something?)

And no, it's not the same thing at all. I get that some soulbonders are making it up and want to be whatever's popular, but a lot of people just happen to be into the popular thing and get bonds from it, and that shouldn't make their experience any less valid. I said the vampire/werewolf thing was fishy because isn't Otherkin/Otakin about actually being the character or animal? It seems weird to suddenly discover that you've been some kind of mythological creature all your life when that creature's becoming popular, that's all.

(Also, if that's your criteria, how could you tell if someone actually was a soulbonder? They'd only act like one person or something?)

You can tell. If they're pretending you can see them plan in they're head what they're going to do. And so here's my insanity right here: There's no aura shift when they're pretending. :P

It seems weird to suddenly discover that you've been some kind of mythological creature all your life when that creature's becoming popular, that's all.

It's about the same as suddenly realizing you have Sephiroth in your head, as far as I can tell.

If you couldn't find anything by Google, I'm sorry I can't help you. It was a while ago when I decided to look stuff like that up.

Well, doesn't everyone plan in their head what they're going to do, to some extent? I think you should give these people the benefit of the doubt, because it'd be crazy to go to all the trouble of pretending to be a bunch of different people in real life. We've had people not believe us, and think it was just me pretending because I hated them, etc etc, and that was pretty tough to deal with.

Realizing you've got Sephiroth in your head is totally different from realizing you're a vampire. Soulbonds aren't permanent... they're just like RL-friends who come and go, but if you're a vampire, you're always a vampire. It's like, my pet bird can't turn into a dog just because he feels like it, but he can make new friends and enemies whenever he wants. Except that was the worst analogy ever, sorry.

I found some stuff on hojo.org, which... that's not soulbonding. At all. D: Hopefully nothing like that is still going on.

I think you should give these people the benefit of the doubt, because it'd be crazy to go to all the trouble of pretending to be a bunch of different people in real life.

It'd be crazy, yes, but I've seen crazier. Like I said, a lot of people want to be victims and not take responsibility for themselves, so they do stuff like the above.

I'm not saying that they aren't out there. But the "real" ones are rare from my experience. And as for benefit of the doubt, I do when I first meet them. Most end up proving themselves otherwise.

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