Mordax et al

This post originally appeared as advice to a specific person, however, I think it has enough merit to appear, in edited form, as a general advisory.

Healthy skepticism, while not a particularly *fun* trait to have, is I think a very important thing. Just accepting anything someone tells you might seem like a good idea at first, but then you can be blindsided when things turn out differently. Is it weird to be kin and also a skeptic? Maybe, but that’s just the way I have to be.

How do you treat a friend, when they suddenly appear to have a new headmate who just happens to have a relationship with your headmate and you’re suspicious they may be playing you false? My advice, which has stood me in good stead in many supernatural and paranormal settings, would be to treat it as subjectively real to them, until evidence comes to light to prove it one way or the other.

Are they just pulling the headmate out because he thinks it will please you in some way? Its possible. Its also possible to do that subconsciously and unintentionally. I’ve found one of the problems one has when one has headmates of any kind is that some friends feel the need to be liked by every single member or they feel that “you” don’t like that. That can sometimes lead to them creating personas to match each headmate. This can be awkward, both for you, who knows there’s no need for it, and for headmates who then develop real relationships with what amount to rp-characters.

On the other hand it is within the realm of possibility that your headmate’s presence here flipped some kind of switch, or somehow “pulled” your friend’s new headmate along with them down the path of least resistance. Every situation is different, and its important to remember that everyone, especially people we consider our friends, need to be treated with the respect and understanding that we would want to receive ourselves.

-David