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The re-emergence of soulbonding reminds me of the FF7 House from Internet lore circa 2002. It’s strange.
If i remember correctly the FF7 house all claimed to be “kin”, but its been a looooong time since I read that.
OH BOY BUDDY I COULD TALK ABOUT THE FF7 HOUSE AND WHY IT’S JUST BAD ON SO MANY LEVELS FOR A LONG TIME
But in a way, you’re both right. Soulbonding seemed to really be the only term used by… anyone involved, but the website documenting the event only lists a few of the actual soulbonds briefly on a list of names. For all intensive purposes, though, the context and language used does imply “kin”, but nobody may ever really be sure if Jen and Hojo are, well, Jen(ova) and Hojo.
IF YOU WANT ME TO GO INTO MORE DETAIL ABOUT WHY IT’S A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF HOW NOT TO EXPRESS KIN/SOULBOND STUFF JUST ASK ME I’VE READ THAT THING TOO MANY TIMES
PLEASE TELL ME ALL YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS SUBJECT I NEED THEM
OH MAN FELIX YOU SURE ASKED FOR IT.
First off, let me state that it all could have gone very, very differently if handled more maturely by the perpetrators. Communal living, soulbonding, otherkin, and helping people with all of the aforementioned things are not ever inherently bad.
One of the first mistakes made was Jen pressuring “Zack” into discussing memories that “Zack” previously stated didn’t exist. (Yes, there were issues on both sides, but I’m addressing kin/soulbond issues here, and I will be dropping name quotations from here on out.) I believe the first “commandment” of otherkin/fictionkin is “thou shalt not give unsolicited advice on kintypes.” If someone brings it up despite your repeated attempts to tell them not to without apology or if you know them well enough to understand they genuinely forgot, I’d advise ignoring them, especially if it’s the first thing they discuss upon meeting you.
Mistake number two (still one, since it was the same event, really) is Jen entering a fandom space and discussing kin with no prompting from Zack. Another “commandment” should definitely be “thou shalt not approach fans or creators with kin stuff unless you’ve talked to them long enough to know how open-minded they are.” She does this repeatedly with Zack’s friends, and even gives “Vincent” a cape at one point.
I don’t know how many people read any of the other pages on the documentation site, but Aeris/Raincrystal/Catherine (her name seems less consistent, I’ll call her Aeris because it’s the shortest one given for her) sent Jen a letter noting numerous slip-ups regarding a lot of things, but it goes into more depth about the kin-related things people should never do. Have some examples, pulled directly from the letter itself:
“You do not look like any FF characters. You look like Jennifer Cornet. End of story. I, for that matter, look nothing like Yuna. Yuna looks ASIAN.”
While physical similarities between kintypes are possible (and used to be discussed a lot more…), they are never, ever required and are not an indication of being otherkin or fictionkin of any sort. Pushing this issue is obviously only going to piss people off unless someone else brings it up first.
“Soulbonds may be important. However, if you treat them like they are more important than what happens in the real world, then your real life will probably suffer. Your soulbond life, however, will be wonderful. If these results are unsatisfactory to you, then give your real life priority.
I can’t stress this point enough. It is so, so easy to get caught up in the experiences of being kin or having soulbonds, and while everyone’s definition of a “satisfactory real life” is different, your spiritual life should enhance it, not take away from it.
“You, not your soulbonds, are responsible for what you do. You are responsible for what your body does. If you cannot live with what your soulbonds do, don’t let them out. If you cannot keep them from getting out, you may want to get help. Otherwise you will be blamed for what your soulbonds do. End of story. You are responsible for what you do even when you are puppeted. That is how it is. Do not expect puppeting to excuse your behavior. If you cannot live with this, choose a lifestyle that does not involve your being puppeted.”
This is another incredibly important point, and probably one of the most relevant points in the entire letter. Yes, some soulbonds may be initially hard to control, and they will absolutely tell other people things that you may need to say but you don’t want to (and if you have an issue with this, you can–and should–keep them from doing so), but if you have some troublesome bonds, you need to put restrictions on what they can do or say while fronting (assuming your soulbonds can front, like mine). The average person walking down the street will likely have no idea what soulbonds and otherkin are, so it’s strongly advised that you keep their behavior in check according to your own standards. Boundaries are important when it comes to soulbonds, but you shouldn’t be stifling about your restrictions.
“You do not know anything about anyone else’s soulbonds, except maybe their name, hairstyle, and a rough sketch of their past. You look silly when you pretend that you do know about others’ soulbonds. Most of the time you guess things and you guess wrong.”
MAN OH MAN IS THIS A REALLY UNDERSTATED POINT. If it goes without saying that you don’t know something about someone else’s kintypes, don’t assume you can know everything about someone else’s bond unless you can confirm you share them. Even then, things can get lost in translation depending on people’s level of experience with soulbonding, spirit work, or even just how they feel that day. Never assume things about people’s soulbonds, and unless you know you share them, ask the soulbonder.
Moving on from Aeris’s letter, I’m gonna talk about some really nasty things you should never do to anyone, and how to not help people get memories. Attempting to recreate scenes that could leave lasting memories should always, always, always be discussed beforehand, and nothing should be done that endangers the life or safety of any party. It was never explained how or why Zack ended up being locked in a recording booth, or what prompted Jen to think giving everyone too much Gatorade was going to help people with memories (especially considering it made zero canonical sense with most of Jen’s “suspicions” of people’s “kinselves”), but it happened and it was a really dumb idea. Even if you’re doing a past-life regression session with a buddy, always establish a way of letting people involved drop the session if they get too uncomfortable. Memories can be painful, but I fully understand the desire to uncover them and the mild extremes it can take you to. Hell, establish a safe word and aftercare procedures if you really need to. Trust me, it’s a good idea.
Jen also managed to show everyone a mangled understanding of how magic works. No matter how much you want to be able to cast Fire on someone, no matter if you’ve incorporated Materia into your practice or not (some shameless self-promotion, but okay), you can’t do that. As fun and exciting (and full of possibility) as LARPing is, that’s not how magic works. In an amusing recollection, Zack claimed Vincent was allergic to magic as a joke (due to the latter sneezing constantly during the visit), and Jen attempted to come to the rescue without actually managing to do anything, unsurprisingly.
Sensitivity to energies does exist, but often not to the extent of showing physical symptoms, especially not sneezing and coughing all the time. Also, constant magical attack is… not really a thing. Yeah, you can pick up some bothersome entities if you constantly believe this, but that’s not always the case.
(That’s everything I’ve got for now, I know it’s really long but I just can’t help but talk about all the stuff I’ve picked out of this story.)
These are some quality A+ thoughts, and probably more critical thought than anyone’s given the FF7 house drama in quite a while.
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