Consider this:
A whumpee with mirror-touch synesthesia.
To catch everyone up, here are some excerpts from Wikipedia: Mirror-touch synesthesia is a rare condition which causes individuals to experience a similar sensation in the same part of the body (such as touch) that another person feels. For example, if someone with this condition were to observe someone touching their cheek, they would feel the same sensation on their own cheek.
Since mirror touch synesthetes have heightened activation of mirror systems, it seemed likely that they would also experience higher empathy, and this has been confirmed.
You can read a little more about ways it can affect people’s lives here.
But think about it.
The whumpee being made to watch their friends get hurt because they can literally feel their pain.
The whumper making the whumpee uncomfortable by eating while they’re around, or maybe purposefully pricking themselves a little when there’s something sharp nearby.
The whumpee trying not to empathize with their captor when they get hurt in some other way, like scraping their knee.
The whumpee having thought that their synesthesia was pretty cool, but now just wishing they could turn it off.
Or, if the whumpee has it but doesn’t know what exactly it is, the whumper using that fact to play mind games (“you and I have an unbreakable bond” kinda stuff).
JUST IMAGINE THE WHUMP POTENTIAL.
