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Shelby was about six when she first found the marks.
On her arm was the distinct doodles of a toddler messily drawing on their own skin with paint. She immediately ran up to her mom, waving her hand in the air.
"Mama! I got my soulmate!"
Her mom looked up from where she was kneading bread dough. She quirked an eyebrow.
"Are you sure you didn't do that yourself?"
Shelby huffed and stomped her little foot. "We don't even have any purple paint right now! It's my soulmate!"
Her mom rolled her eyes fondly. "Okay dear. Let's write them a message back." She wiped her hands off on her apron and found a spare pen, helping Shelby to write out a simple 'hi :)' on her wrist. Shelby grinned and giggled the entire time.
As they both got older the messages changed, from child-like scribbles and grubby toddler prints to actual words. She would write down fanfic ideas when she didn't have paper on hand, and the person on the other side would jot down alchemical notes. They told each other their names one day early on, so she knew whoever her soulmate was his name was Avid. She wondered what he looked like constantly, begged him over and over to describe the color of his eyes, the texture of his hair, tried to create an image in her mind. It still paled in comparison to seeing him for the first time.
What they don't talk about often is that when your soulmate dies the last message written stays on you. The day before Avid died Shelby had been silly and draw a heart on his wrist, giggling the entire time as a matching one appeared on their own.
She stared down at it now as she stood at his grave.