Shared Pain Powers - Lore Help Wanted!

So, I have two characters in a sci-fi fantasy story who have a unique power. They feel the other's pain. They are not twins or related in any way. But if Don stubs his toe, he feels nothing. But Sara feels pain in her toe. Now an issue I ran into was trying to figure a few things out.

1. What level of pain is transferred? Like does this apply to stubbed toes? Or just impalement?
2. Is it just pain from outside forces? So stomach aches and period pains don't transfer? But that leaves me wondering about broken bones and poisons. I would like your thoughts.

On another note, don't worry. I have plans to make these characters lives miserable and I am so happy about it. But feel free to brainstorm on that as well.

 

You make me think of empaths - people who feel the psychic pain of others.

It's interesting you call it a power - I would call it a curse. At any rate, if what they feel is the result of physical pain of the other, limiting it to the peripheral nerve endings might be easier to explain.

Wondering - are these two characters friend or foe?

 

I think keeping it here would be best. Because it's also isn't just about the characters. This plays a major plot in the story.

 

You could say it's like empaths. But more connected.

And yeah, it is technically a power, but you're right. It's more of a curse. And yes, it's the nerve endings. Because one won't actually manifest the injury of the other. They will just feel it.

They are very much NOT friends. Mortal enemies if you will. Because one of them just doesn't care and does what she wants. So, the other is her punching bag, basically.

 

Exactly. And there are a few other small changes that really make things fun. Because it IS going to get out of hand. Very. The kicker is, on their own, they don't feel pain. Like, they stub their toe and feel nothing. Now, thing big. Very big. It's going to get messy.

 

One can quickly recover from a stubbed toe, but if you have a serious injury and do not feel the pain of it, it does not mean you do not suffer the damage caused by the injury. In the absence of the pain signal, you'll end up damaging yourself a lot. It's not uncommon for people with a condition called congenital insensitivity to pain to lead a much shortened life.

Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis

 

Yes. I have researched into what I think is this medical issue and put a fix into the story to combat this issue. I will take a look at this article as well.

 

There's an Alexandre Dumas novel from 1844 called The Corsican Brothers that might be worth a read. If I understand correctly, it's about a pair of twins with this exact condition. I don't know if it's any good. I only saw the Cheech and Chong parody film back in the 80s. I thought it was pretty funny at the time. Who knows if it would stand up, though. I was pretty young.

 

Yes! I have heard of this story. Funny enough AFTER starting this one. And I have NOT seen Cheech and Chong. But now I feel I must. Who cares if it stands up, I'm all for crazy films.

 

Cheech and Chong's The Corsican Brothers. It's the only one of theirs I know of that wasn't about smokin' the ganj.

 

the horror TV series Midnight Club has an episode like this.
Context the series is about a group of terminally ill young adults trying to tell each other scary stories after midnight (trying to prove to themselves that "nothings scarier than dying"). each episode focuses on one of them and the story they tell... which kind of weaves in what the storyteller is going through.

Spoiler: Two Danas

in i think it was the 2nd episode, one of the characters tells this story called "The Two Danas." Dana wants to be the good daughter, but also wants to be wild and free. so she makes a deal with the devil, who creates another Dana with the expectation that Dana 2 will have fun, and any experience that Dana has, Dana 1 will feel it. essentially living through Dana 2. Dana 2 gets out of hand. starts taking drugs, sleeping around, getting drunk... and Dana 1 is feeling it all. at one point, Dana 1 was watching TV with her parents, and Dana 2 is somewhere else having sex and orgasming and Dana 1 is feeling it. its ruins Dana 1's life. but with Dana 2 loose in the world and not responding to Dana 1's attempts to get her tome come back and to stop being so reckless. She starts hurting herself so that Dana 2 can feel it and then Dana 2 starts hurting HERSELF so that Dana 1 will leave her alone. So it becomes a sort of warfare. One Dana will burn her hand, and the other will yowl in pain. one Dana actually stabbed herself in the leg to try to cripple the other Dana. one even tried slitting her wrists. when they both finally made up their minds to end it, they both grabbed a gun and found each other with the plan to kill the other

 

Bingo. It’s exactly like this. And it’s so fun to write.