Soulmates

Spirit Animal

Elphaba, in the privacy of her bedroom, removed her robe to look at her chest. She wasn't looking for any signs of physical maturation because she didn't care a whit about that. Instead, she was looking at the little mark right over her heart. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the little mark was some sort of animal, but no matter how hard she tried to figure out what kind of animal it was, she could never truly tell. It seemed like, the harder she tried to figure it out, the blurrier the image would become. It was literally impossible to guess what the animal was.

But even though Elphaba knew by now that she would not be able to decipher this little mark, that did not stop her from trying. Instead, even still today, she would stare at the little mark for hours and try to guess what it was. Was it a dog? Were those legs she saw? Or wait... was it some kind of fish? Because the legs were starting to look like fins. Or maybe it was a bird! The fins on the fish looked like... Oh, wait, no, maybe it was an insect of some kind? And she could go on like this for hours.

But to her, what was even more exciting than the marking itself was what it symbolized. It was no ordinary birthmark or tattoo. Instead, it was supposed to be her Spirit Animal. The thing her soul would manifest into physically the day she met her Soulmate. That was why she could not decipher the tattoo alone. She needed to find her Soulmate to help her figure out what it truly was and help bring it to life. Until then, it was only a dormant part of her soul, still up for and open to change. But once she found her Soulmate, then the mark would settle down into something clear, and Elphaba would finally get to see just what her Spirit Animal was.

Oh, how Elphaba longed to find somebody with a matching Spirit Animal so she could have a friend to talk to! One of the older boys on her block had, recently, found his Soulmate, and his tattoo had since revealed itself to be a mighty eagle. Now, that eagle followed his Soulmate everywhere, acting as her guide and guard through life. In her return, her own Spirit Animal, a falcon, would follow him around all the time. Elphaba wanted nothing more than to find a love that powerful and strong that it caused her very soul to split in half just so that her Soulmate would always carry around a little piece of her! But she had yet to make any progress in that area.

Now, of course, one could not simply go checking other people's chests for markings. Instead, the way one figured out who their Soulmate was, was through physical touch. The first time someone ever came into contact with their Soulmate, both of their chests would glow, and that would be the undeniable signal. The Spirit Animals would take a bit longer to emerge, but the glowing light from the markings would be the first sign. Everything else leading up to the physical manifestation of the Spirit Animals into the world would follow suit.

Elphaba just needed to come into contact with that special someone first. But it wasn't looking too good for her. Not many people were too thrilled about the idea of touching someone like her anyways. For one, she had green skin. For another, she was quite temperamental. But even so, just seeing that Spirit Animal, though she had no idea what it was, gave Elphaba hope. And little did she know that her Soulmate was out there right now, hiding under her bedsheets and eagerly looking at her own Spirit Animal marking, thoughts wandering the same path as Elphaba's.

About three years later, finding a Soulmate had become the last thing on Elphaba's mind. First, she had to deal with the natural stressors and pressures that came with being a college student. Then, she had to contend with the fact that, even here in this place chock-full of open minds, she was still being bullied for her green skin. And lastly, but most importantly, she had to deal with her snobby, snotty monster of a roommate.

"Ugh, this is my roommate?" the girl, Galinda, huffed in disgust, squinting rudely up at the lanky green girl standing beside her.

"I know, I don't want to be paired with a girl who has a poodle on her head either," Elphaba shot back, taking a dig at Galinda's puffy gold curls. Galinda gave an outraged, indignant cry of disgust before stomping off with her pointy little nose high in the air. The two proceeded to spend a large chunk of their first semester together by staying as far away from each other as possible.