Right I thought to myself. This seems like a nice prompt, lets give it a go. Just a short little 1000 word thing, just for fun,
I'M 4000 WORDS IN NOW!
Stupid angst ridden avocados...
***
Karen had lessons about SoulMarks at high school, like everyone does, most of the students used that time to catch up on homework, sleep, or socialising. Because who didn’t know about SoulMarks? They were the subject of every romcom film, every trashy romance novel. There were hilarious mistaken identity stories. There were the tragic stories where someone died then their soul mate found the Mark and everyone cried. There were impossible fantasy stories where SoulMarks brought your love back from the dead, or made time travel possible.
Karen loved all of them, and she even loved the lessons at school. She traced the beautiful dark letters on the tops of her feet. Tried to imagine what it would be like to meet your soul mate, would you know? All at once? Her Mom said it had been like that when she’d first seen Karen’s Dad. Time slowed down and music played. Karen’s Dad didn’t talk about things like that.
Karen remembered the teacher. Mrs Brown. And everything she told them in those lessons.
”Around 85% of the population have SoulMarks. 15% of the population never develop them, I didn’t,” she said with a half-smile. “But I still managed to fall in love and get married anyway. Of the people who do develop SoulMarks around 5% have more than one name. This is not, despite what some of the more fundamentally religious of our community may tell you, in anyway biologically abnormal. Nor does it automatically make anyone a ‘slut’ or a ‘freak’. If I ever catch anyone using those terms in this school? They will have so much detention that their grandchildren will have to finish it for them.”
Karen had two names. One on the top of each foot, Franklin on the right and Matthew on the left. She dated a Matthew and a Franklin at different times in high school. ‘Frankie’, as he was more commonly known, didn’t have a SoulMark at all. He was sweet and lovely, until he found out Karen had two SoulMarks, then he broke up with her. He whispered cruel things behind her back and looked at her sideways with a group of his friends when she walked down the corridor.
Matthew was actually the first person she ever fell head over heels in love with. It broke her heart when he confessed he had a SoulMark on the sole of his left foot that said ‘Sarah’. He cried when Karen broke up with him, saying that SoulMarks didn’t really mean anything. Lots of people fell in love and got together with people who were different to their SoulMark. Your soul mate could live in another state, another country even. People sometimes ended up with the wrong people, accidently thinking that this was the one because they had each-others names on them but it wasn’t the right ‘Simon’ or ‘Rachel’.
And all of that was true, but Karen wanted the story. She wanted to find at least one of the people she was ‘meant to be’ with.
”SoulMarks are often described in popular media as ‘meant to be’. Which may very well be true. But all relationships, pre-destined or not require work. If you never remember anything else from these lessons remember this. Don’t take a person for granted.
Foggy’s Dad had a SoulMark on his forearm, it was always peeking out from under his rolled-up shirt sleeves. The same dark, fancy writing as every other SoulMark in the world. It said ‘Rosalind’ which was the name of Foggy’s birth mother, the woman who had walked out on Foggy and his Dad when Foggy was six months old. Foggy grew up hating the mark on his Fathers arm.
His Mom, his actual Mom, the woman who raised him and loved him, didn’t have a SoulMark at all. Foggy had two. Matthew and Mary, written right over his heart sharing the same over-sized ‘M’.
One day when Foggy was fifteen, and angry, and stupid, and a boy called Matt had stomped all over his heart, and Rosalind had broken yet another promise, he yelled at his Dad. About how much he hated Rosalind and SoulMarks and how he wished he could scrub his off and just live his own fucking life. His Dad just hugged him tightly and waited until the angry tears subsided.
“Without our SoulMarks maybe me and Rosalind would never have given it a try. She was so out of my league, kiddo. If I hadn’t seen my name on her hand when she was taking her glove off, maybe I would never have plucked up the courage to talk to her.”
“Wouldn’t you have been better off?” asked Foggy scrubbing at his wet face still angry and hurt. “She broke your heart.”
“Wouldn’t have you then,” said his Dad with a kind smile. “Wouldn’t have met your Mom.” He smiled at his wife stood in the doorway. “And she’s the love for my life. But even taking two of my very favourite people out of the equation, I wouldn’t have given up those three years with Rosalind anyway. We didn’t last forever, too different in the end. But she was an amazing woman, being with her made me who I am now. And let’s face facts, kiddo. I’m pretty great.”
That made Foggy chuckle, the dark cloud lifted for a second but then it came crashing back and Foggy could feel fresh tears coming. “Why aren’t I good enough? Rosalind never even turns up when she says she’s going to anymore, and Matt…” Foggy couldn’t finish the sentence.
His Mom came up behind him, stroking his hair out of his face. “You are my beautiful boy; you are so much more than ‘good enough’. You, your Dad, your sister, and me, we are the best family in the world. I found you, and I was smart enough to keep you. One day you’ll find the people you are supposed to be with, SoulMarks or no. And you, my darling, will be so smart and work so hard that you will get to keep them.”
The three of them stood in the lounge hugging for a few moments. “I’m in trouble for cursing aren’t I?” said Foggy eventually.
“Yep,” said his Mom not breaking the hug.
“Grounded for a week,” agreed his Dad, smiling into Foggy’s hair.
“Some people are born with their SoulMarks. Some people develop them during childhood. There have been cases of people as old as twenty developing a Mark. But generally if you don’t have one by the time your twelve you’re not going to get one. Oddly, and no-one knows why, the older you are the more it hurts when your Mark comes in.”
Matt has never seen his SoulMarks.
He was ten when his Mark burned its way onto the skin of his left side over his ribs. The two names ran together with no spaces, diagonally following the line of his rib. MaryFranklin. It hurt, Matt figured his senses made it worse. It burned without being hot. He fell to the floor, which meant he couldn’t avoid or block the hit from the heavy wooden Nunchuck that Stick had aimed at him so it hit his back hard. But his side hurt worse.
“What’s the matter?” asked Stick roughly. “Get up and block.”
Matt pulled himself up. Stick swung his weapon again. Matt focused past the pain, managing to catch the Nunchucks and wrenching them out of the old man’s grip. He threw them away and shouted out in pain, dropping back down to his knees, clutching his side.
Stick knelt next to him, pulling his hand away and laying his own hand over Matt’s side. “What is it?” he asked sounding confused.
“It burns,” said Matt though gritted teeth. “But it’s getting better.”
“It’s not hot,” said Stick. “Seems like you’re getting a SoulMark.” Stick sounded almost disgusted.
Matt felt his heart jump, he wasn’t expecting one. His Dad never had one. He didn’t know how to react to it. “What does it say?” he asked Stick without thinking.
Stick snorted. “I got about as much idea as you,” he said standing up.
Matt lifted his shirt and ran his hand over the still sore, but not actually feeling like burning anymore, area of skin. It didn’t feel any different to any other patch of skin.
“Get up,” said Stick. “We’ll start again.”
Matt asked one of the Nun’s later to look at his side. “Oh Matt!” she said excitedly. “You have a SoulMark. You know my Mother said they were God’s handwriting.”
“Erm… but, what does it say, Sister?” asked Matt. Hating the fact he had to ask.
“Of course,” she said, Matt tried not to visibly bristle at the pity in her voice. She paused a moment to long before she told him what it said. “It says Mary Franklin. So unusual to get the girls first and last name. She must be very special.”
Matt was only just learning how to read heartbeats but he could tell even then that she didn’t really believe what she was saying. Because Matt had heard people call SoulMarks God’s handwriting before, but he’d also heard the same people say having more than one name was a mark of the Devil.
Fill:Part 1/? Matt/Foggy/Karen: soulmate AU
I'M 4000 WORDS IN NOW!
Stupid angst ridden avocados...
***
Karen had lessons about SoulMarks at high school, like everyone does, most of the students used that time to catch up on homework, sleep, or socialising. Because who didn’t know about SoulMarks? They were the subject of every romcom film, every trashy romance novel. There were hilarious mistaken identity stories. There were the tragic stories where someone died then their soul mate found the Mark and everyone cried. There were impossible fantasy stories where SoulMarks brought your love back from the dead, or made time travel possible.
Karen loved all of them, and she even loved the lessons at school. She traced the beautiful dark letters on the tops of her feet. Tried to imagine what it would be like to meet your soul mate, would you know? All at once? Her Mom said it had been like that when she’d first seen Karen’s Dad. Time slowed down and music played. Karen’s Dad didn’t talk about things like that.
Karen remembered the teacher. Mrs Brown. And everything she told them in those lessons.
”Around 85% of the population have SoulMarks. 15% of the population never develop them, I didn’t,” she said with a half-smile. “But I still managed to fall in love and get married anyway. Of the people who do develop SoulMarks around 5% have more than one name. This is not, despite what some of the more fundamentally religious of our community may tell you, in anyway biologically abnormal. Nor does it automatically make anyone a ‘slut’ or a ‘freak’. If I ever catch anyone using those terms in this school? They will have so much detention that their grandchildren will have to finish it for them.”
Karen had two names. One on the top of each foot, Franklin on the right and Matthew on the left. She dated a Matthew and a Franklin at different times in high school. ‘Frankie’, as he was more commonly known, didn’t have a SoulMark at all. He was sweet and lovely, until he found out Karen had two SoulMarks, then he broke up with her. He whispered cruel things behind her back and looked at her sideways with a group of his friends when she walked down the corridor.
Matthew was actually the first person she ever fell head over heels in love with. It broke her heart when he confessed he had a SoulMark on the sole of his left foot that said ‘Sarah’. He cried when Karen broke up with him, saying that SoulMarks didn’t really mean anything. Lots of people fell in love and got together with people who were different to their SoulMark. Your soul mate could live in another state, another country even. People sometimes ended up with the wrong people, accidently thinking that this was the one because they had each-others names on them but it wasn’t the right ‘Simon’ or ‘Rachel’.
And all of that was true, but Karen wanted the story. She wanted to find at least one of the people she was ‘meant to be’ with.
”SoulMarks are often described in popular media as ‘meant to be’. Which may very well be true. But all relationships, pre-destined or not require work. If you never remember anything else from these lessons remember this. Don’t take a person for granted.
Foggy’s Dad had a SoulMark on his forearm, it was always peeking out from under his rolled-up shirt sleeves. The same dark, fancy writing as every other SoulMark in the world. It said ‘Rosalind’ which was the name of Foggy’s birth mother, the woman who had walked out on Foggy and his Dad when Foggy was six months old. Foggy grew up hating the mark on his Fathers arm.
His Mom, his actual Mom, the woman who raised him and loved him, didn’t have a SoulMark at all. Foggy had two. Matthew and Mary, written right over his heart sharing the same over-sized ‘M’.
One day when Foggy was fifteen, and angry, and stupid, and a boy called Matt had stomped all over his heart, and Rosalind had broken yet another promise, he yelled at his Dad. About how much he hated Rosalind and SoulMarks and how he wished he could scrub his off and just live his own fucking life. His Dad just hugged him tightly and waited until the angry tears subsided.
“Without our SoulMarks maybe me and Rosalind would never have given it a try. She was so out of my league, kiddo. If I hadn’t seen my name on her hand when she was taking her glove off, maybe I would never have plucked up the courage to talk to her.”
“Wouldn’t you have been better off?” asked Foggy scrubbing at his wet face still angry and hurt. “She broke your heart.”
“Wouldn’t have you then,” said his Dad with a kind smile. “Wouldn’t have met your Mom.” He smiled at his wife stood in the doorway. “And she’s the love for my life. But even taking two of my very favourite people out of the equation, I wouldn’t have given up those three years with Rosalind anyway. We didn’t last forever, too different in the end. But she was an amazing woman, being with her made me who I am now. And let’s face facts, kiddo. I’m pretty great.”
That made Foggy chuckle, the dark cloud lifted for a second but then it came crashing back and Foggy could feel fresh tears coming. “Why aren’t I good enough? Rosalind never even turns up when she says she’s going to anymore, and Matt…” Foggy couldn’t finish the sentence.
His Mom came up behind him, stroking his hair out of his face. “You are my beautiful boy; you are so much more than ‘good enough’. You, your Dad, your sister, and me, we are the best family in the world. I found you, and I was smart enough to keep you. One day you’ll find the people you are supposed to be with, SoulMarks or no. And you, my darling, will be so smart and work so hard that you will get to keep them.”
The three of them stood in the lounge hugging for a few moments. “I’m in trouble for cursing aren’t I?” said Foggy eventually.
“Yep,” said his Mom not breaking the hug.
“Grounded for a week,” agreed his Dad, smiling into Foggy’s hair.
“Some people are born with their SoulMarks. Some people develop them during childhood. There have been cases of people as old as twenty developing a Mark. But generally if you don’t have one by the time your twelve you’re not going to get one. Oddly, and no-one knows why, the older you are the more it hurts when your Mark comes in.”
Matt has never seen his SoulMarks.
He was ten when his Mark burned its way onto the skin of his left side over his ribs. The two names ran together with no spaces, diagonally following the line of his rib. MaryFranklin. It hurt, Matt figured his senses made it worse. It burned without being hot. He fell to the floor, which meant he couldn’t avoid or block the hit from the heavy wooden Nunchuck that Stick had aimed at him so it hit his back hard. But his side hurt worse.
“What’s the matter?” asked Stick roughly. “Get up and block.”
Matt pulled himself up. Stick swung his weapon again. Matt focused past the pain, managing to catch the Nunchucks and wrenching them out of the old man’s grip. He threw them away and shouted out in pain, dropping back down to his knees, clutching his side.
Stick knelt next to him, pulling his hand away and laying his own hand over Matt’s side. “What is it?” he asked sounding confused.
“It burns,” said Matt though gritted teeth. “But it’s getting better.”
“It’s not hot,” said Stick. “Seems like you’re getting a SoulMark.” Stick sounded almost disgusted.
Matt felt his heart jump, he wasn’t expecting one. His Dad never had one. He didn’t know how to react to it. “What does it say?” he asked Stick without thinking.
Stick snorted. “I got about as much idea as you,” he said standing up.
Matt lifted his shirt and ran his hand over the still sore, but not actually feeling like burning anymore, area of skin. It didn’t feel any different to any other patch of skin.
“Get up,” said Stick. “We’ll start again.”
Matt asked one of the Nun’s later to look at his side. “Oh Matt!” she said excitedly. “You have a SoulMark. You know my Mother said they were God’s handwriting.”
“Erm… but, what does it say, Sister?” asked Matt. Hating the fact he had to ask.
“Of course,” she said, Matt tried not to visibly bristle at the pity in her voice. She paused a moment to long before she told him what it said. “It says Mary Franklin. So unusual to get the girls first and last name. She must be very special.”
Matt was only just learning how to read heartbeats but he could tell even then that she didn’t really believe what she was saying. Because Matt had heard people call SoulMarks God’s handwriting before, but he’d also heard the same people say having more than one name was a mark of the Devil.