ThinksMarkedly wrote:We don't know enough to be able to answer. RFC would have to provide it.
True. I'm just putting the questions in the batter's box.
TM wrote:I suspect that the two-legs' mind glows change when they bond because of the bonding.
I'll agree with that if it's served with a bit of caviar (caveat, an inside joke I share with my niece). The bond
can not, does not, change a whore into a housewife, a pauper into a billionaire, or a Pavel Young into a Dudley Doright of the Manties. The core values has to already be there beforehand. The Cats have to have something to work with. I'd say it is more like the person is a "fixer upper." A notion many woman have coined for their perspective mates as well. Don't blame me, I have a gaggle of sisters.
TM wrote:Using your analogy of human relationships, you could compare to humans who are in a healthy and happy relationship: the person is generally happy and in a good mood, most of the time. That would remove the need for a global consciousness, since it would be clear to any other treecats that the two-legs had been adopted.
True, but would that prevent another Cat from sampling the mindglow of a bonded two-leg? As a single man can certainly still sample the beautiful mind of a married woman.
TM wrote:The analogy of course breaks down when you consider that, for us, that change makes the person more attractive rather than less, as with few exceptions we prefer to be around people who are also upbeat (not to mention that there being at least one other human who found that person attractive provides confirmation). That doesn't have to be the case for treecats, as they seem to be attracted to powerful mindglows of people who are also somewhat troubled. Take the case of Queen (then Crown Princess) Adrienne, who'd just been fighting her father the King. As soon as one treecat provides the comfort needed and thus changes the mindglow, other treecats would not feel the urge to adopt. Kind of like a molecule: an ion is attractive to all other ions of opposite charge, but once that ion bonds with the necessary opposite charge(s), they stop being attractive.
I don't know how the analogy breaks down. Some aspects don't fit perfectly, but the gist of the matter is certainly there. Marriage, or even dating, does oftentimes change a person for the better. And, I've often heard from women (sisters included) they hate when they spend the time and energy on a fixer-upper who now begins to appeal to other women because of them. It has happened to me with women. You fix them up and now they're appealing to every guy on the block. Human nature is human nature. My point is that I can't see any reason a bonded two-leg's mindglow still isn't being sampled by another unbonded Cat. And, of course, why that Cat wouldn't know that mindglow is perfect for them as well, "had they met under different circumstances."
TM wrote:Another aspect is that not all treecats are attracted to adoption and even those that are won't feel the urge to adopt all humans equally. It's a good possibility that Harahap had been in contact with multiple unbonded treecats until Clean Killer came around. Same thing with Crown Princess Adrienne: she had been "in range" of multiple treecats during her visit to Sphinx, until Seeker of Dreams / Diachect came around. Though we have yet to see an unbonded treecat pass by a human, then both proceed to adoption with someone else. I'm just assuming it has happened.
None of that surprises me. It should even be intuited. Soul Mates are like lightning, it rarely strikes in the same place twice. It also could be the Cat himself has to mature or lower or raise, or come to terms with his own expectations. Sometimes you don't know what you want until she comes sauntering into your life.
This conversation makes me realize that there may be a notion of a widowed Cat. Should a widowed Cat be more tuned to bonding, or less so? Would a "widowed" two-leg (both kinds of widow, bonded and marriage wise) appeal more or less? "Once bitten, twice shy."
Anyway, ThinksMarkedly, good conversation!