[ He gives a little shrug in response to the idea of her passing out. It will take more than this bottle to do the same to him. If she can get some sleep out of it, he's more than fine with her company dropping off. So to speak. ]

I think that the empathy bond means that even people who aren't being directly affected are still getting secondary drunkenness off everyone else's misery.

[ There really should be safeguards against that, he thinks — surely the people who designed the empathy bond wouldn't be that short-sighted.

He sips. ]

I'm trying to keep it to myself, but it's harder to suppress the bond the more tired you are. Apparently.