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When Virgil got his soulmarks, he wasn’t exactly surprised. His moms and dad were a poly couple, so getting multiple soulmarks wasn’t really as terrifying as it normally would be. He just wasn’t exactly sure how many soulmates he had. A handmark on each wrist and shoulder as well as what seemed like two fingers on his pulse added up to five marks. And then there was the weird one.
He couldn’t help but stare for the first moments of having his soulmarks. On the back of his calves was a thick line of black the width of his hand. Like what the fuck body part was that supposed to be? He could only assume it was an arm, but why would someone’s arm be all the way down at his calves? No matter how much research he did, he couldn’t find anyone else with even slightly similar soulmarks, so he had nothing to go off.
Janus, admittedly, loathed the amount of soulmarks he had. Just one partner at the most—or better yet, none at all—that’s all he was asking for. And now here he was with four? Why did the gods hate him so? He was a solitary naga, he didn’t want to have to share with a whole group!
He sat by the river, lightly scrubbing at the blackened scales near the end of his tail. It was strange to see; he had never thought about how a soulmark would appear on his tail. What was strange about it was that it seemed to be two thick lines, separated by a very slim margin between them.
It was definitely his weirdest mark, nowhere near as normal as his black hand, forearm, and the thumb-sized blotch under his eye. It ruined his yellow and green patterning, though, which was why Janus hated it the most and was currently trying to get rid of it.
It wasn’t until after Virgil had graduated from college and moved out that he met his first soulmate. He had moved near a forest and started a small flower garden at the back of his house, and had decided to take a hike through the forest with his camera to see what kinds of plants and animals were in the area.
Janus had smelled a human coming near his cave, and decided to take advantage of this moment. Most humans took walks through this area with others, so to find one alone was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.
He slithered across the forest floor silently, his long tail trailing behind him. He came across a short human with dark purple hair, using one of those thin boxes that all humans seem to have to look at plants. Janus came as close as he could, waiting for the human to look down at his thin box, before pouncing.
He quickly wrapped his tail around the human’s legs, travelling around and pinning his arms to his sides, then began to constrict around him. The human let out a strangled cry, and Janus could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Janus simply waited patiently, watching as his prey gasped desperately for air and tears beginning to brim his eyes.
That’s when he began to notice the tingling sensation, coming from the section of his tail wrapped around the human’s lower legs. He furrowed his brow, unsure of what it was. He remembered back when he was a small child with his mother; she had described something like this when she met his—
Oh fuck.
He loosened his grip around the human, pulling his tail away quickly. The human dropped to his hands and knees, gasping and coughing. Janus stared down at his tail, the black having disappeared from his scales. He looked back over to the human.
“You can’t be serious.” The human jumped at his voice, weakly trying to put some distance between them as he continued to pant. Janus ignored the panic in his eyes, instead closing the distance and backing his soulmate into a tree.
Janus took one of the human’s legs as gently as possible. The human proceeded to try and kick away, but he was nowhere near strong enough to break free, despite how loose Janus’s grip was. He turned the human’s leg in a way that would show the back of his calf, studying his face for any sort of reaction.
After a moment of confusion, his eyes widened, staring down at his own leg. “What the hell?”
“I suppose this means we’re soulmates?” Janus asked quietly. The human eyed him cautiously, tugging his leg away from him.
“I guess so...” He whispered out. He gulped, beginning to bite at his thumb. Janus decided to give him some space, moving back a bit and curling his tail up around himself.
“Holy fuck.” The human breathed. His eyes scanned over Janus again before continuing in a somewhat stronger voice. “My soulmate’s a naga and just tried to kill me.”
“Kill you? I wouldn’t do that! I was simply...welcoming you to the forest.”
“Yeah, sure. Very welcoming.” Janus hummed to himself. It wasn’t every day that his prey was brave enough to sass him like that. But then again his prey never really got the chance to sass him before they died.
“Look, I believe we got off on the wrong foot here. Why don’t we start over?”
“You tried to kill me!”
“Yes, well...”
“Do you eat people? Is that why you went after me?”
“We can discuss that later—”
“When you try to eat me?” Janus huffed.
“Look, I’m not one for this whole soulmate business either, but we may as well try to make this work.” His soulmate glared up at him for a moment, before rolling his eyes. “Fine. I’m not gonna just forget about this though.”
“Well of course, that would be ridiculous.” He extended a hand out to the human. “My name is Janus. And yours?” The human hesitated for a long moment, before taking the hand and pulling himself up.
“Virgil.”