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Seventy stared back through the mirror, and the room erupted in giggles with a hint of desperation. The ink beneath her skin seemed to burn and mock her as it stared back at her, threatening to expose her secret identity. She chuckled darkly while she opened the lid and shivered at the cold touch of the liquid against her skin as it blended in. A last touch to her buns, and now the next thing on her list:
"Mari, you're going to be late.” She shrieked at the familiar voice of her friend Tikki before quickly finishing up her make-up, while Chloe disagreed that her mascara was enough to call it make-up; she didn´t need to know that, and that included a simple lip balm.
She went on to grab her stuff, quickly shuffling it in her bag before quite literally jumping down the ladder, nearly falling.
She truly was clumsy, but breaking her neck wasn't on her agenda for today.
“Marinette, here I got you some coffee ready for you to take. You're pretty early today." She could hear her mother's light chuckle from the kitchen and went there, and before she could answer, her mother went on, “Guess you couldn't sleep because of the excitement after all; would you like to share now or?”
Her mother held up a scarf next to the holy liquid in her right hand. “Later, and yes, sleep just wouldn't come to me yesterday, but I got through. Thanks, mama!”. With a quick hug, she warped around her slightly smaller mother in an attempt to show her some affection at this ungodly hour. Only a few quick hand movements were required before the scarf covered her neck and the traitor of a number lay. An enormous smile was blasted on her face as she took her first sip and went on her way to come just in time for the first lesson. She truly needed to work on that, but not now. "Also, happy birthday, my dear daughter, but do please come in time; your nonna is going to be here to celebrate later today after school.” She will try to do just that, and she answered her mother with a bright “Of course, mama,” wondering if she could make it happen, but that was out of her hands.
Another sipp touched her lips—a good blend, that was for sure. Her thoughts slowed down, and she felt her heart rate drop significantly. Kwami truly loved this brew. With quick steps, she made her way into the building, slipping into her seat in the classroom and watching as the others also came in one by one.
As soon as she could see the familiar blond ponytail proudly walk into the classroom, she could feel the questions that had formed on such short notice in her friend's head.
Another sip, and she could swear her cup had been heavier two minutes ago. As she stared down at her cup, wondering where it had disappeared, he could feel those sky orbs look at her scarf and form questions.
"So?" She had a nice voice; she gave her that, but she was a bit noisy so early in the morning. She raised her finger from her cup and tapped ever so slightly on her desk.
Tap, and her friend raised a brow at that.
Tap. She looked a bit disappointed at her silence but was not bothered by it.
Tap; now it turned to confusion, visible by her quirked eyebrows.
Tap. Slowly, the puzzle pieces seemed to piece themselves together, even though she tried to hide that with her rather natural poker face.
Tap, now she seemed to have gotten what she meant by tapping her fingers on her desk and looked mildly disappointed, as if to ask her if such a person that was bound to her was truly so weak by nature. She laughed a bit when she saw that particular face she made; it threw her way back to their shared childhood filled with side remarks from her and that expression whenever one jewel less was present on her jewelry.
Another tap, and just now her face turned a bit better in the direction of satisfaction. Kwami was her friend and a spoiled princess at heart. She was way worse in the past, and even now, after all that work, she only allows the best for herself and, by association, her people.
And yet another tap. By now, her friend looked rather smug, which was a revelation of how dangerous her soulmate truly was, not like a normal person who would be horrified at what that meant. Well, a normal person would be below a ten or an eleven, but a seventy was truly something else, but that was to be expected; at least she handled it better than Marinette did, but she wasn't sure if she liked that reaction better yet.
As the guardian who held quite literally the power of creation and destruction at her fingertips along with time and other universal concepts, she was anything other than normal; after all, she had just turned seventeen, quite a pair of numbers that matched when she thought of it.
"Here Maribug! Go ahead and open it. I want to see it; you didn't buy it for you to catch dusk," she said. The last part was a bit snarky in tone, but for trained ears like hers, it was clear that her voice was drenched in affection. That was Chloe in all her glory. She gave her a warm and honest smile in response.
The blond handed her a small, pocked-and-sized box. It was covered in red velvet in Chloe fashion. She waited a bit just to appreciate it for a short while. Meanwhile, the girl was waiting for her to open it, and she was visibly anxious, which was a rarity for her friends, who seemed to always be confident, but she knew better than that.
Slowly, she removed the top, revealing a single piece of jewelry. Just a few moments later, a ring was placed on her finger, engraved with a bug, specifically a ladybug that was decorated with some crimson and jet-black jewels. The bug was closely followed by a bee, adored in the same fashion, and a simple snake engraved on the inside, along with a dragon.
So that only she would know that they were here as she would feel them against the skin of her finger, like a hug from her two calm and rather silent close friends.
She knew exactly who those should resemble. Somewhere on the bottom of it sat a bunny with sky-blue eyes—perhaps those were sapphires?
She was only a girl on her birthday who got such a sentimental gift and it was so special that no one could blame her for acting the way she did. As she threw herself quickly into her spoiled friend's arms, hugging her before letting her go shortly, it seemed that she had lost a bit of control at that moment, if her friend's flushed face that seemed to be gasping for air was in any way a hint.
“He,” she stressed that part with her chin facing upwards towards the ceiling, with a certain certainty in her statement that made her wonder if she knew the future. “Shall not think or, worse, believe that we share you, DC, so easily! You are our friend before being his soulmate; he should know that at first glance." She looked deep into her eyes, two blues meeting each other: "Friends before soulmates, Maribug, and do not forget, I get a special say in that matter as your BEST friend."
She now loved that smug tone of hers; it made her feel appreciated.
She was eternally thankful for having her and them, of course. Her bee, snake, dragon, and bunny, even if that particular relationship was rather complicated.
But she wonders when she can go meet them, as her day is pretty packed today and she would rather meet them sooner than later. It felt like an eternity since she had last met them.
But she wonders how her supposed soulmate handles her score; she could imagine them having quite some issues finding her as she knew she didn't quite fit the image of her score, but she wonders how high hers truly was. At least hers could defend themselves if needed.
In Gotham somewhere in the timeline around the same year or one earlier
“In what way are you entitled to know, Todd?"
He neared down from the top of the staircase towards his brothers, who were fighting over who got to know first what his number was, even though not even he had looked as if it seemed to be a waste of time. Instead, he petted Alfred a bit more.
They had already been rather annoying yesterday evening when betting on how his soulmate would be. They hadn't cared that he would have no interest in some civilian weaker than him that he had to protect. "Imbeciles,” he called out to them once more in an attempt to get their attention. “ha? What is demon spawn?” Of course, Todd had to answer, which was truly ruining his morning just hearing his voice. “Who do you think you are to think you are entitled to know that?” snarky in a slight bit of mockery was visible in his tone.
“But baby birds were family, so just let us see; we want to see their score, just for a small second." Grayson pleaded with him also he visualized that by moving his fingers in a specific way.
He wondered if his father would force him—thump—had he been hit? Was there an intruder? In his state of confusion, he was tackled down, and behold, it was a shame as it was Drake who had done that. He should now sleep with both eyes open.
“There is no way.” He mumbled to the traitor from above, “Speak up.”
Even if it was uncomfortable, he had to say something. He got out a little less threatening than he would have liked. Why was Drake behaving like he was now? Because he could swear the man was shivering when he saw the number engraved on his neck.
“Dick, Jason, come, you gotta look at this!” He almost shrieked the last part for the high for his liking. Why are brothers so drawn towards drama if only “what is replacement? Another maniac?” "ts" He chose to ignore that comment but couldn´t suppress his response completely.
“Now come, Jay, it ain't going to be that bad,” he stressed. The second last word was that they should truly watch their meals a little more closely. They sprinted towards him as he tried to flee. Get away from their nonsense.
But somehow he couldn´t. What had Drake done to him?
“Holy cow, demon spawn, what is with your soulmate?” Grayson sounded like he had choked on something.
“You gotta make me a duke or give me some role when you guys take over the world." He joked, but it was not funny. That comment made him wonder if his soulmate was opposite to his belief near his score, but due to the way Drake had laid him on the floor, speaking wasn't exactly comfortable in this position.
“Damian, do you know the number?” Grayson asked that with a rather generous amount of empathy.
Why would that be necessary?
He took his silence as a no and took a deep breath. At least that was what he had heard.
“Damian, I need you to listen because that number of yours is rather high.”
He could hear Todd laughing.
“That ain't near the truth, Dick; you gotta stop beating around the bush, and I think replacement there needs some help. He looks like he might puke anytime soon."
"Okay, but listen closely.” Grayson continued with his empathy nonsense. Why would he need that?
“Your number is 91, and I don't understand how that can be a baby bird, but we might have to reconsider your soulmate after we get to know them based on that score. I am truly not sure whether I should be apologetic with you about that or just be happy that your soulmate is what you kind of wanted in some sense."
He couldn't hear the beat as the number kept reappearing in his mind because Wonder Woman, a demi-god in her own right, was an 88 and his soulmate was stronger than her.
He wasn't sure if to be proud that he truly was something else—someone so great to be paired with someone so strong like he is, or whatever the other feeling was. But he wondered how he could find them if Wonder Woman was the strongest person known to them and all others in a similar range had already found their soulmates.
But he wonders how high his score is. Is it far below hers or similar?