I just had to give this version of soulmates a try. I'm not a huge fan of this type of soulmark, but still, it presents interesting ideas on its own and I couldn't stop thinking of what the words would be and then I had to write it. I'm not a huge fan of William/Sissi or anything, I just realized their soulmarks could match and I simply couldn't resist. Odd's I wanted to leave more in the air, but I didn't think it would be fair to write all the others and then leave out Odd's. I decided to leave that one as open-ended as I could as far as what she looked like and what her real background was while still making the soulmarks work. I tried, okay?
AELITA was ten years old when she received her soulmark. She wasn't the only one to get it so late, but she was slightly concerned that her soulmark, which she found wrapped around her ankle one morning, read OH MY GOD YOU MUST BE MY SOULMATE. She wanted to know what she could possibly say that would elicit such a certain response from anyone.
"I don't know Aelita," her father had responded to her absentminded questioning, studying the ankle she thrust out upon her excited announcement of receiving her soulmark. "Perhaps it will simply be the situation you are in."
"I suppose you're right," Aelita sighed. She knew the only reason her parents had been able to discover they were soulmarked was because of the situation. "At least I didn't get a hello," Aelita said, perking up again.
"That's the spirit," her father responded before returning to his breakfast.
YUMI was born without her soulmark, which her parents told her she received only about a year later. Her mother had noticed it while changing her one day, written on her lower inner thigh. It had actually caused a bit of a ruckus between her parents, as Pretty good for a beginner didn't exactly sound like a winning statement, and her parents were half concerned she'd end up with a teacher of some sort. They had actually warned all of her teachers not to say anything like that to her, as though they could change the fate behind her soulmark.
It clearly wasn't a teacher, as far as Yumi was concerned. She'd watched the movies, the TV shows, and she knew she'd be getting that statement from egomaniac boys when she started to take an interest in sports. She did in fact hear similar statements several times, but none of those who'd said it had it exactly right. She tried not to be too concerned about her soulmark, but it pissed her off. What kind of an asshole would say that anyway?
The only real comfort was she could have gotten one like what poor Hiroki was born with. Oh Hiroki Yumi's little brother right which was on his belly, just above his belly button.
WILLIAM received his soulmark not too long after he was born. It worried his parents, and frankly, it worried him too. There were very few times where If you don't shut up I'll beat you six ways from Sunday could be considered a good thing. He hoped that the statement would be in jest, but he really didn't know. Still, William was an optimist, and he would hold out hope for it to be a good thing.
ELIZABETH, better known as Sissi, had Are you Elizabeth Delmas on her spine. This had to be the least helpful soulmark besides hello. People asked her this damn question all the time, half of them old men and women. HOW WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHEN THEY WERE HERS? She started giving more and more outlandish answers in the hopes that at least then, they would know she was their soulmark. She hoped so, at least.
ULRICH had been born with Well nice to meet you too along the back of his right leg. He wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do with this. After all, it was a pretty common thing to say. It wasn't really all that different from some of the things he himself had said. He sincerely hoped that whatever he said to his soulmark was a little bit more revealing than that. He knew his parents had had very generic sounding marks as well, and he feared it might be genetic, or at least, a matter of who raised you. Half the people he knew had some sort of a generic introduction phrase as a soulmark. It wasn't encouraging.
The most unique one he had ever seen was on the elbow of his housekeeper, who had What about you do you think that going to war is more important than taking care of the home front written in German wrapped around her elbow like a strange bracelet. She told him that it was from the end of the wartime in Germany when she had met the man who was to be her husband. That was years ago, and she didn't really like to talk about it, so he didn't really ask.
ODD didn't get his soulmark until he was five. He was actually the fourth one to get his. Louise and Pauline had gotten theirs even later than he had, and they weren't happy about it. Of course his sisters all made fun of his soulmark, which had appeared on the bottom of his left foot.
"What in the world would you say to someone to get that to be their response?" they would tease. Frankly, Odd had no idea under what circumstances he could induce someone to say Wow mom was right tone is important and he wasn't sure what, exactly, he was supposed to do with that.
JEREMY had been born with his soulmark, which, much to his misfortune, he couldn't actually see, as it was at the back of his neck. His parents told him that it said Wh-who are you and that wasn't helpful. His parents insisted that he would know when it happened.
"I'm sure you'll know when you meet them," his mother assured him, "there are worse soulmarks to have." Though Jeremy agreed with her, he still really wished he could have a better soulmark. Jeremy was nearly convinced his soulmark just had some sort of a stutter. It was a good thing Jeremy could be patient when he had to be, as he had a feeling he'd be waiting a while.
When Jeremy turned on the supercomputer and he heard the words he'd been hoping to hear his whole life, he couldn't contain his excitement and shouted "OH MY GOD YOU MUST BE MY SOULMATE!" much to the girl's surprise. She too recognized the words, but on no conscious level she could understand. Her memory was only hidden at that point and not yet taken, but the thought that these words were important- that the one who said them was important -still resonated in her mind. There were no soulmarks on Lyoko (because what sort of purpose would that serve?), so it wasn't until Aelita was materialized and examining her new body that she found the words on her ankle. She excitedly showed the words to Jeremy, who blushed and stammered but looked happy. He stopped talking altogether after she kissed him.
Ulrich and Yumi didn't realize they were each other's soulmark for a good year and a half after meeting. Sure they heard the words, but it was just a coincidence, right? It was a little rude to look at someone's soulmark (well, only if you were caught doing it) so Yumi tried not to look at the one on Ulrich's back leg when she could see it. It was just a mild attraction, she tried to convince herself, but she felt like she was wrong and so she just didn't look.
It wasn't until Ulrich overheard a materialized Aelita asking about Yumi's mark that anything happened. Namely Ulrich tripped into Yumi, knocking her over and landing on top of her, a specialty of theirs.
"Ulrich, what gives?" Yumi asked once she'd shoved him off her. He just stared at her for a moment.
"Pretty good for a beginner? That's your soulmark?" He demanded, too shocked to be shy about it.
"Yeah, so what?" Yumi asked, uncomfortable. Ulrich yanked up his pants to reveal his mark and he showed it to Yumi, and Yumi caught sight of it before she could try to play it off. It took only a moment for her to realize what this meant, and pretty soon they were both blushing so hard they looked like they'd been sunburnt.
Aelita, oblivious to the ways of the world, hopped up and down excitedly. "Oh, you two are soulmates! This is wonderful!" she paused. "Why won't you two look at each other?"
It took about a month before Ulrich and Yumi managed to get back to their normal relationship. They didn't begin to date right away, what with all that was going on. They stopped showing interest in others though, and began to reign in their jealousy. All in all, they were better friends and it only helped when they actually did begin to date.
William was new to the school, he'd gotten the talk from the Principal, who'd also mentioned, for some reason, that if he had questions he could ask his daughter, Elizabeth. William didn't really need to find her, but after seeing her interact with Yumi's group, he decided to talk to her. He caught her when she was talking to her 'friends' Herve and Nicholas.
"Are you Elizabeth Delmas?" he asked. She whipped around to face him mid-rant.
"If you don't shut up I'll beat you six ways from Sunday!" she turned back around without seeing the look on his face. For a long time, William avoided her, as she didn't seem like the type of person he would even like. He watched from afar as she changed. After he'd rejoined with the Lyoko warriors, he went up to her one day.
"Do you know what your first words to me were?" he asked.
"No," she said, puzzled. Still, there was something in her eyes that told him she suspected why he would ask.
"They were 'If you don't shut up I'll beat you six ways from Sunday'" he repeated with fondness.
"And?" she asked hopefully. William rolled up his shirt, revealing the soulmark on the side of his chest under his left arm. Sissi lunged forward and pulled him into a hug as she began to cry. They started dating not too long after.
Odd was about to graduate, and was considering what he was going to do with the rest of his life when he was knocked over by some underclassman.
"A Queen should really take better care of herself," he said sarcastically upon realizing the girl he'd bumped into was the most popular girl in the lower years. Her expression went through several rapid changes before she spoke.
"Wow, mom was right, tone is important," she said. Odd felt his blood run cold. He swore, and she gave him a big smile. "Say hello to your soulmark!"
She was the one who really pushed keeping in contact, though she did so rarely. It wasn't until he was successfully directing and she successfully acting (many, many years later) that the two finally got together. This time, it felt right.
I can't think of any reason any god anywhere would actually care about punctuation. Also it frustrated me to no end.