As for the height differential, wait until Abby Hearnes pair bonds with Mateo.
runsforcelery wrote:roseandheather wrote:
On the one hand, the 'trauma bonding' is an Honorverse trope that can only show up so many times, I think.
On the other hand, there was a lot of trauma going around after Oyster Bay.
And while I admit that if we're going to see another treecat bonding I really want it to be Tom Theisman or Eloise Pritchart, I would love to see what happens if Sorrow Singer and Alfred Harrington turn up in the same room... perhaps, perhaps, perhaps?
Actually, "trauma bonding's" rather the exception than the rule. Samantha didn't bond with Harold Shu (or Hamish Alexander) traumatically. Survivor didn't bond traumatically with Karl Zivonik; Ariel didn't bond traumatically with Elizabeth; Murdock didn't bond traumatically with King Roger (although he did later with Justin Zyr); and, in fact, none of the monarch-treecat bonds has been traumatic (even the one between Princess Airenne and Seeker of Dreams had already bonded before the assassination attempt). Neither Farragut's bond with Miranda LaFollet nor Hipper's bond with Rachel were traumatic, etc., etc. For that matter, I'd argue that Honor's bond with Nimitz wasn't really "traumatic," in that it occurred only in the aftermath of the trauma. And the very first bonding of all --- Stephanie and Climbs Quickly --- had actually taken place long before the fight with the hexapuma. The bond was what brought CQ to fight the hexapuma. not the other way around.
Now, it's entirely fair to say that extreme emotion certainly helps to create bonds between humans and 'cats. And the 'cats are often drawn to humans who are dealing with grief or trauma because of the way in which those situations enhance the mind-glow. But the vast majority of bondings are definitely not "trauma based."
As for Alfred and Allison, the people who have observed that they had already bonded before she was kidnapped are perfectly correct. Without that, Alfred couldn't have tracked her. Now, did the trauma of her torture, his rescue of her, and their fight to survive strengthen their bond? Oh, my, yes! And while I hate to discourage rampant speculation, the strength of their bond is the real reason neither of them was ever adopted by a treecat. They've each already filled the "bonding slot" (for want of a better term) in the other's mind-glow. In every way that counts, the two of them are a bonded pair of treecats who just got shortchanged on the number of legs they were issued.
And, finally, for people who have observed that Alfred is 19" taller than Allison --- a point which has been, ah . . . alluded to in the books more than once --- I would simply point out that I am roughly 15.5" taller than Sharon, and Peter Mayhew (who's a foot taller than I am) is married to a really wonderful lady named Angie Luker who's about the same height Sharon is.
Just sayin' . . . .
