#the babiest baby in the whole entire universe

[eulchu]

#noeul: he (boss) is only daddy when he's standing still, but when he moves he is a baby chicken

|| duality ||

[romijuli]

Okay I’m waiting for lunch to happen so I’m gonna make a little OC roundup for characters that made appearances or have been mentioned in actual fics so here we goooooo—

Worth nothing that I DO discuss separate appearances of recurring OCs. :3

TROUBLEROUSER:

NETTIE: believe it or not, Nettie actually comes from here, designed to be a kind of replacement for the role of Carnelian’s daughter, since Mia is very much Erik’s bio sister. She’s purely a posthumous character, having died protecting the Zwaardsrustian royal babies; that said, she may become relevant in a future Mia-centric chapter of TAL? :3

GOSWIN AND TERRA: not explicitly referred to as such, but the soldiers Erik and company eavesdrop on are, in fact, these two, separate from their in-universe Issues. Felt like finishing up the monster squad! Actually it’s really neat seeing how Goswin’s grown just from that, hehe.

ARTURO: okay he doesn’t entirely count, since he’s just the Beastie Boys’ leader given a name, but hey. He’s actually named after an OC I have NOT given enough love to. Sorry other Arturo. Side note while I am here: I did not name the babiest Soldier of Smile but he is my favorite.

SPINEL: directly responsible for both this post and the fact that chapter 15 had to cover the castle. Originally created solely to guide Erik to the Bastion, and then I made her Ruby’s daughter and it just spiraled. She (and the person Erik sees in Marina’s sweet bubble showcase) is also kind of an indication that, rather than the Bastion having one Hero a la canon, it has Captain Serena and a whole bunch of other people stepping up to save whoever they can.

SPROUT: i think I realized I didn’t have Carnelian mention Angri La, since it felt kinda shoehorned regardless tbh, so I added Sprout and she took over. Originally intended to be Mia-ish, she REALLY took on a life of her own. :3

WITCHY BUSINESS:

NETTIE (again): here fulfilling a role closer to what I generally intend for her! Not here much, tbh, though this is actually where the maid thing came from.

GOSWIN (again): THE BIRTH OF A LAD. I say this regularly but I CANNOT believe he has gone from nervous prince lad to whatever the hell he is now (and BACK to prince once goswinary hits) via a fucking gay crisis.

IDENTITY ANTHOLOGY:

AMARYLLIS: see above with Arturo; she’s an expansion of an NPC in Arboria who says she gave Veronica her staff. I had a lot of fun making her! Maybe she’ll reappear someday...

BERYL: I had this Vision of Gemma falling in love with a soldier girl. And thus Beryl was born. I love her.

[cobwebsaint]

may i ask... for you to tell us more about domestic nightmares 🥺 ramble as much as you want

ANON I WOULD HAPPILY KILL AND/OR DIE FOR YOU 

okay idk how far off the chain i am bound to go here cuz these are my stupid baby gremlin children and i also have links and stuff to provide and also y’know. ion feel like getting hate so all the idiocy goes under the cut.

ALRIGHT so it all began when I got this awful idea for the beloved spit fic (aka BIG MOUTH, read here) back when The Gang and I were on.... That Bullshit. I love putting depth into stories and characters and developing them as people and the universes they reside in and all that (read: i have the too much gene something fierce) and I wound up working on that fic for a hooooot minute so I wound up falling in love with that dynamic and building on all these stupid little quirks and starting to create a whole world out of one dumb little fic I got roped into writing.

It actually started as two separate things. For Big Mouth I was just like I need me a long hair Corey and that’s it. Then I was watching that one TERRIBLE fuckin’ 1996 Stone Sour bootleg and I was like OH SMALL???? And they wound up smushed together. Now I Am Here. 

SO DN is the terrible little infant baby children of 1996 brought into this, the year of our lord 2020. I’ve put out a little bit of Official Canon Lore in my quarantine notfic (aka oh my god, they were quarantined, read here) but that’s just scratching the surface. 

Corey and Paul have been friends fooooor fucking ever. They became attached at the hip in middle school and have been wreaking havoc ever since. Paul’s a bartender and certified Baby and he’s basically the angel to Corey’s demon. The yin to his yang. The “don’t feed after midnight” to his fucking terrible gremlin. Corey’s a genderfucked himbo workaholic. He works nights at the porn shop and also does Fridays and Saturdays dancing at the local gay club and he’s also got an onlyfans and shit. He’s terrible and my life has not known peace since he made himself known. 

Those two have lived together on and off since they were like 16ish cuz Corey got bounced around a lot but now they’ve got an apartment together behind the movie theater and it’s a disaster. 

Also Chris is the manager at PetSmart and got Corey a job there once upon a time. Corey kept it for a couple years and promptly quit at 18 to pursue thottery. Also Joey works at Hot Topic.

Now Jim works at the little family owned guitar shop in town (Craig owns the place) and he’s just a simple creecher y’know. He’s just tryna live his life and play guitar and work on his shitty little beater pickup and hang out with his friends and daydream about asses and bikes and getting ripshit with Sid when he gets home from work and Vibe. He’s got a townhouse on the shitty side of town with Sid and Mick which is a fucking chaos pit of its own. 

Mick probably does some trade job and he’s definitely the family cryptid here. Nobody’s entirely sure what he does when he doesn’t Make It Known but he’s quiet and contributes and he’s a bro. He’s also a vulture and is the reason there are bones and pelts and shit Everywhere and a whole fucking maceration area on their goddamn patio which the neighbors love to complain about but nobody ever does anything about it so whatever. Also neither Jim nor Sid would have any fucking idea what a succulent is, were it not for him. 

Sid’s...... Sid. He is the babiest baby clocking in at barely 20. He works at the fuckin’ grocery store stocking shelves and when he is not causing every possible problem within his capabilities he’s hotboxing his room and chillin with his transformers and making sick alien beats like the horrible little cave creecher he is. 

Shawn’s the sketchy, ambiguously old weirdo that everyone knows but probably shouldn’t. Corey knows him cuz he’s a bouncer at one of the clubs he works and the three stooges know him cuz of Mick. He lives in some fuckoff location in the middle of the woods off all the major roads and they all tend to hang out there. Jim works on cars and whatever “projects” he’s got going along with Mick (who keeps most of his vulture shit at Shawn’s) and Sid just sits there and vibes and steals all of Shawn’s beer in the process. Everybody else starts hanging around when Jim and Corey get together cuz they’re BOYFRIENDS.

But yeah, it’s basically just a bunch of little dumbasses living their lives and having fun and being one big terrible family together. I love them all dearly. 

I’ve got at least a billion current WIPs in this universe. Some are little one off PWP type things like big mouth, but I’m also putting my time into building up the proper timeline for yall which I’ll prob wind up firing off in bits and pieces as they come, y’know. Lil nugs to keep the dopamine moving. I really hope y’all fall in love with these dumbasses like I have. Lotsa content to come, I hope! :D

Also FTR I love talkin’ shit bout worldbuilding and stuff and I have SO MANY IDEAS TO SHARE so if you or anybody else ever wants to come pick my brain, DMs and asks always brighten up my day! I’m friendly, I promise sdfbgskjdf 

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk this made me very happy and god this is all just baseline stuff. I have lots of Feelings okay djfbvksd

[2ndstringloser]

Kam watches every SKAM season:

Norway: Eva Season

1. the og opening speech is forever iconic, love to hear it

2. isak is the babiest of all babies in s1. i never noticed how in the cabin episode he constantly looks just so jealous and annoyed by elias, it’s adorable he was such a baby gay and i relate too hard

3. have i ever mentioned just how much i literally adore eva to the ends of the earth because i do, i love her so much. she’s so pretty and sweet and i just love her

4. as well a jonas, this isn’t the season that makes him a god tier character imo but he’s still quite enjoyable to watch. he’s my favorite character to see through the eyes of all the mains cus they all see him so differently and it’s really cool.

5. this season to me is so amazing because it starts off a groundbreaking show in such a familiar territory for its target audience. you’re a teenager, and your relationship went to shit. what do you do now? how do you become your own person after losing your other half?

6. and they answer those questions so amazingly!!!!! you move on, you find a support system, you keep your ex in your life if that’s what makes you happy!!! i love evas season and everything about it, it kicked off an era that i fear may be coming to an end all too soon. i’m forever thankful for this season because without it we wouldn’t have gotten the entire universe that has changed so many of our lives!!

7. notice how eva and nooras seats in their spanish class parallel cris and joana’s? i’m not saying nooreva rights but... i’m saying nooreva rights

8. soundtrack!soundtrack!soundtrack! i stand my ground that the OG has the best soundtrack. it’s cool to come back to s1 now that i have a lot more evolved music taste because in the OG the soundtrack music is usually what the character is listening to themselves and Eva listens to a lot of the same music as me

9. my favorite moment of the whole season is when isak tells eva that “he has feelings for her” because you can see the fear in his eyes when he thinks she figured out his real reasoning, then you can see the split second where he decides to take the out she gave him and act like it’s her she likes instead

10. i don’t really have any criticism of this season. it’s dramatic, funny, heartwarming, and just a very well rounded piece of televison.

Overall: Phenomenal!! Watching this season it’s so easy to understand how SKAM became such the phenomenon that it did. It’s just so entertaining. Especially since it forces you to really think about your teenage years and work through the challenges that you’re facing along with Eva and Jonas. Rating: 8/10

[rosyerim]

pocket sized!nct dream

basically nct dream but,,,they can fit in your hand,,, also mark isn’t here but I couldn't find a dream gif w/o mark 

haechan;

usually sitting ontop of your right shoulder, judging every task you do

“why does your handwriting resemble chicken scratch?”

“your hair is greasy, you should wash it”

“that ramen isn't cooked properly, the water is too hot!”

“haechan I will throw you in the pot”

he shuts up realll quick

but then he's back to whining & will only shut up if you give him half a cookie since he can't finish it whole

he loves a good ole KUWTK marathon but you have to remind him he is not actually Kim kardashian and you’re not his assistant

once he was looking for his your headphones & started snapping his fingers at you to get them lol you weren't happy

he doesn't even have to try but haechan can make you laugh at literally anything he’s just naturally funny 

so whenever you’re in a bad mood, the boys send him out to you to sooth you & it usually works lmao

is like your own personal stylist, he makes sure to check out your outfit before you go out anywhere

when he doesn't like it he just gives you a certain look up and down

“you don’t like it? whats wrong w it?”

“that top with those heels? whats right with it?

renjun;

steals your pencils that are basically stubs so he can do some drawing of his own :’((

makes you stay up late with him to watch conspiracy theories about the universe but then falls asleep on your phone screen 20 mins in

loves when you buy little stones for yourself, for like protection & well being, etc and renjun will spends hours wiping them down & researching everything he can on the stones

uses your phone just so he can learn how to do ballet from the comfort of your house but is still too shy to show you a dance routine for now

hates hates scary stuff but insists on watching the documentary about serial killers & afterwards he usually ends up sleeping on the pillow your head is on because he swears he's being watched lol

prefers sleeping in your hoodie pockets but has had one too many near death experiences with you not realising & catching him as he falls out so now you carefully pick up any article of clothing you own

likes the piano tiles app because he can basically play it using his lil feets 

he also beats your high score so you're lowkey salty but so long as he’s happy 

comes to you first about all his problems & likes to have a lil venting session with you & him cuddled in the armchair, sharing a cup of hot chocolate because he doesn't like bitter things

sometimes when you’re feeling kinda down he sits down on your shoulder & sings to you softly in chinese because he doesn't want you to,,,feel alone,,,my heart,,,,take it(●´□`)♡

jeno;

the quietest boy out of the six and the sweetest little boy ever :’((

brings you flowers he picked out of your neighbours garden covered in dirt because he saw how stressed out you were abt studying & reminds you to drink your water <33

likes to sit on your lap watching morning cartoons, giggling away behind his tiny bowl of cereal 

is best friends with the next door neighbours cat yet is deathly allergic to them??

he nearly scared you one morning when you were woken up by jeno’s teeny screams from around your house but turns out he was just riding on the cats back

you ended up having to take care of him for two days since he got super sick

you tried to scold him but he was still on the high from being up so high so he's just like 

“okay I'm sorry I won't do it again (｡◝‿◜｡)”

goes on random junk food hunts around your kitchen, can be found eating half a dorito chip in your cupboard at 3am mood

has a newfound love for asmr’s & if you ever lose your phone, worry not because jeno has it & is watching; long nails tapping different objects for two hours, no talking, only sounds 

also looooves dancing so he likes free styling with jisung by the radio & gets all shy & blushy when you compliment him 

jaemin;

lives in your shirt pocket because its 1) close to your heart & 2) very warm in there & 3) doesn’t have to leave your side!!

loves you v much & expresses it by leaving little pecks on your fingertips :’)))

likes to sleep on your fluffy plushies because its super comfy to him

his favourite is obvi ryan

fave spot is standing on your counter doing the best he can to help you bake sweet treats

imagine him standing holding up a whisk attempting to mix the wet ingredients with the dry ones but ending up falling :(( 

bub gets sad because he's afraid he messed it up but gets happy again when you set him on decorating the cakes :)) he’s super concentrate & even goes as far as to write your name best he can with icing

if its long then he just writes ur nickname 

likes to spend some of his free time reading books

the first time you were really confused on why your english book standing on its spine, had pages opening randomly 

turns out it was just jaemin being an intellectual

 you end up helping him flick the pages tho after he gets a paper cut :(

he really milks it tho like

“oh no y/n my hand is in pieces, I think im dying ε-(≖д≖﹆)”

but once you give him a hello kitty bandaid & hugs he's okay

chenle;

likes to sit in the palm of your hand & talk to you about how your day went & about how his day went & the birds he saw in the sky today & how he likes ice cream & basically it’s him babbling away to you

but you don't mind it, he's so endearing :’)

goofiest little man, tells you random jokes he heard on the radio & gets all smiley when you laugh at them, even if they're not funny

makes you play dominos with him but by the time he's gotten three standing up, you've got the whole thing set up

doesn't stop him from pushing the first one down and shrieking in delight when they all fall in sync aw cute baby

he also watches some KUWTK w/ haechan as he loves the drama & he picks up the lingo 

“hey lele have you seen my phone?im so annoyed I can't find it”

“omg there are literally people dying y/n ੧| ‾́ー ‾́ |੭”

you end up banning them from watch it 

even tho he’s small he eats a loooott

he will eat an entire bowl of ramen if you let him & you try to stop him but all he has to do it be like

“please let me eat it all y/n i wont get sick i love u uwuଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧”

“oh of course you can you cutie here you go (n˘v˘•)¬”

he ends up with a tummy ache, again so you’re looking after him, again

not that you mind, he's the babiest of babies (˵¯͒⌄¯͒˵)

jisung;

can be found sleeping on top of the fluffiest make up brush you own

sleeps everywhere, likes sleeping under your carpet??

when you try waking him up he just falls back asleep in your hand :,))

if he's not sleeping, he's free styling by your radio and you can't help but record it

swears he doesn't like your slime yet you've had to help him out of multiple sticky sticky situations because he got too excited playing with your strawberry scented slime

watched one episode of gordon ramsay & swears he's the masterchef 

“aii that’s not how you fry the rice! you need to wait until it sizzles dude do you even know what you’re doing?!”

you set him down in the timeout corner

but he’s just chilling like

“if I get food poisoning its your fault (｡･･｡)”

picks up the local whiteboy lingo after he listens to his “lit asf playlist”

will randomly say aye & start nae naeing to you like, tapping your pen on the desk when you're studying 

won't admit it but loves when you cup him in your hands & sway him from side to side & he trusts you enough not to drop him

also has a weird habit of surfboard in the sink with a barbie surfboard & tells you to blow on the water so he can “surf”

you do it tho because his little giggles fill your heart

bonus; imagine all of them in little onesies of their fave animals & little cute hoods ♡✧。 (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡

[matshoemels]

14. things you said after you kissed me for steno

Rating: Teen and Up.

Steno + 14. things you said after you kissed me.

Sets right after the previous Steno prompt.

Also, #sorrykevin.

Before he got on a plane in a hasty decision, the only aim Marc had in his mind about his trip was to see his boyfriend. He just wanted to spend some quality time with him, and hopefully, get rid of the anger he inwardly carried with him since the game in a rather too pleasant way. You know, the usual stuff they busy themselves during a mid-week escapade like that. Considering they have only 36 hours, Marc didn’t have anything else in his mind.

He should admit though, the unusually warm weather in Cologne is a great bonus for him. Barcelona has been oddly cold during the whole spring, so the extra sunshine he’s benefiting in the backyard of Bernd’s house is more than a satisfactory addition to his trip. Of course, his boyfriend’s sole presence on his chest is doing the whole trick for him. Bernd in his arms, their limbs are tangled, heartbeats are synchronized, and his lover’s entire body is collapsed on top of him. Marc wouldn’t care about the sun this much if he were in Barcelona all alone, but with Bernd, it’s simply a blessing.

Marc hugs Bernd tighter instinctively, trying to make the most of the minutes he gets to spend side by side with him. He lifts his head a little up from the makeshift bed they did under the shadow of the oak tree Bernd has in his garden, and plants the most innocent kiss on his head.

(Considering what they were doing just fifteen minutes ago and how they’re still fully naked outside in broad daylight, it may have not be the most innocent kiss ¸ but still.)

Bernd stirs a little after that, as if he’s trying to make sure that all of his body is in direct contact with Marc’s. Marc can feel his boyfriend’s fingertips running up and down on his arms, legs, ribs, spine, or to be fair, on any part of his body where he can reach.

Marc wants to open his mouth and tell Bernd that if he continues to do things like that, there’s no way on earth that he can leave him and go back to Barcelona to play some more lousy, meaningless games. But everything around them feels so serene and comfortable that he doesn’t have the heart to ruin their moment.

“Shit. Shit shit shit shiiiit… SHIIIIIT!” Bernd exclaims in that very moment, and stands up as if he’s been electrocuted.

“What’s going on?” Marc asks with a puzzled expression on his face. He straightens himself up to find the t-shirt he had discarded thirty seconds after they reached to Bernd’s house.

“Today is the announcement day, how did we forget?”

It takes fifteen seconds for Marc to understand what his boyfriend meant by “announcement day”, and once he fully grasps the urgency of the matter, and panics way more than Bernd did minutes ago.

“Shit, did you get a call? Did I get a call?” he jumps from his seat to search for their phones. “What if they did and we didn’t hear our phones?”

Bernd joins him to look for their phones, and after five minutes of searching and swearing and yelling at nothing in particular, they find what they’ve been looking dumped somewhere in the living room.

“No calls,” Marc states with a clear disappointment. “You?”

His counterpart sighs in return, shakes his head to indicate that he definitely shares Marc’s disappointment. “No calls. And apparently all the others got their calls. See,” he lifts his phone up to show their WhatsApp group chat to Marc.

Marc sinks into the sofa, and just wishes to turn into ashes like half of the universe’s population did in that movie him and Bernd watched a few weeks ago.

“Maybe they wanted us to find out on TV this time,” Bernd says while sitting next to him on the sofa, he definitely doesn’t believe what he just said, but anyway.

“Everyone got calls. Why would they do that now?”

Bernd pulls Marc in close and holds him tight on his chest, and this time, it’s him who gives the other a head kiss. “Because they’re assholes?”

Marc doesn’t respond to that, instead he just focuses on Bernd’s hand in between his.

“I wonder who got selected instead of us, and like, I’m trying to come up with three goalkeepers from Germany who is better than you and me,” Marc finally says. “and… I know it’s arrogant of me to say that but, like right now, there’s no one else?”

“Well, maybe Manu is magically healed by a fairy who grants Löw’s wishes?”

“Okay but how about the remaining two?” Marc asks. “I was so sure that we’d definitely get selected.”

“Loris and Kevin? Or maybe Kevin and Ulreich? Maybe Loris and Ulreich? I don’t know.”

Marc snorts at all three possible scenarios and gets up to turn the TV on.

“What are you doing, babe?” Bernd asks.

“Well I wanna see who got our spots.”

Andi’s giving an interview about how hard it was to decide on a squad of 27 and how they were up all night having arguments. “Traitor,” Marc mumbles to the TV and then looks up to poke Bernd’s dimples.

“Wanna bet on who’ll be selected?”

“Hmm,” Bernd says while using the opportunity to sneak a kiss from him. “Winner gets to top during our obligatory grief-sex?”

“I like how that kinky mind of yours is working, Leno.” He grins at his boyfriend, though his mood is still visibly down.

“Okay. My bet is that it’s Manu, Ulreich, and Kevin.”

“Mine is Manu, Ulreich, and Loris,” says Marc.

Bernd rolls his eyes at Marc’s bet, because his boyfriend is a huge goofball who definitely doesn’t understand the shenanigans inside their national team.

“Loris will never make it, Marc, because of… you know, his thing. There’s no way they’ll select him no matter what he does.”

Marc’s about to open his mouth to lecture Bernd about not being this pessimist all the damn time and believing that some people might change their opinions, but his intentions are abandoned when he hears the intro music indicating that the announcement is about to begin.

“Well, guess we’ll just wait and see. As if we’re still in the U21s,” Bernd says with a grim voice. “Man, this is humiliating.”

The announcement video is started with the title, and the first person on the screen is Loris Karius, who is literally a baby compared to them. “Guess it’s you who gets to top tonight, babe,” Bernd says while he’s turning to his left to look at Marc. “It’s good that I already got eno-”

“Shh, Bernd, look, look at this,” Marc interrupts him. He’s pointing to the screen frantically at the same time and hitting Bernd on his arm at the same time.

“Are you out of your mind? What’s wron…. Oh shit.”

It’s Bernd himself on the screen, making some pretentious tricks with a football like how they wanted him to do when they were shooting those incredibly stupid publicity stuff.

For a while he’s unable to react about this, unable to say anything. If you ask him later about how he felt when he first found out that he is nominated, he definitely won’t be able to give a proper answer.

The slideshow is continuing while he’s completely frozen, and he barely realises that Neuer is also nominated. And after Neuer, it’s the man sitting next to him is on the screen, effortlessly being cute while kicking the ball around.

“Oh thank god,” Marc lets out the breath he’s been holding since they saw Bernd is been nominated. He closes his eyes for a moment to calm his nerves, and when he opens them, Bernd is sitting on his lap with the biggest grin on his face. “We’re going to Russia,” he whispers.

He leans in for a kiss, and Marc gladly accepts and meets Bernd in halfway. It doesn’t take long for what started as a calm and innocent kiss to become a heated make-out session, open mouthed and with teeth and tongues everywhere, making them both breathless and gasping for air.

Even when they finally draw apart to get the air they both annoyingly need, Bernd continues to pepper tiny little kisses on every inch of Marc’s face. Then, he stops altogether and cups Marc’s face with his adorably tiny hands as if he’s going to kiss him once more. Instead, Bernd just leans so close to his ear that he can feel his breath in his ear canal.

“Мы едем в Россию, любим,” he whispers.

Marc startles after that, looking at Bernd with wide eyes as if he just told him the secrets of the universe or something equally important like that. Of course he knows that Bernd speaks Russian to an extent, but that bastard never used the language in his vicinity before. He caught him completely off-guard like that, and wow, Marc would’ve never guessed he’d feel this hot-and-bothered by a single sentence in a language he definitely doesn’t know.

“You’re so hot when you’re speaking Russian, Leno,” he says in between kisses. “Don’t ever speak in German ever again, it’s so hot.”

Bernd giggles at his desperation as if it’s the funniest thing ever, and Marc’s so damn sure that there’s nothing more beautiful in the whole universe than the sound of Bernd’s happiness.

He’s about to suggest that they should continue their celebration in the bedroom, but they both received a message at the same time.

Group Chat created by Andi Köpke

Andi Köpke added Manu Neuer, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Bernd Leno, and Loris Karius

Andi Köpke: u guys liked my surprise??? Hahahaha

I bet you all thought “ahhh man I didn’t get selected life is terrible”

Guess what boys waking up with blue hair was also terrible.

….

….

Btw sorry Karius you’re just a collateral damage in this.

“I hate him,” Marc only says. “I mean we’d be long dead without him and I actually do love him, but also I hate him.”

End notes: 

- Apparently Bernd Leno knows Russian, it’s something I recently found out so I wanted to include this in a fic as well.

- “Мы едем в Россию, любим” (My yedem v Rossiyu, lyubim) means “We’re going to Russia, love”.

- Sorry Kevin, but I bend the truth a little to fit my babiest blond goalie into the squad. #sorrykevin, but also #sorrynotthatsorrykevin.

[ghostly-squid]

EXTREMELY valid take, wasn't part of the whole issue that they were sending the babiest of baby recruits to go fight Extremely Experienced Earthbenders defending the city? Once they realize how... completely and pathetically unprepared these kids are, and while seeing the flash of what COULD be your mark/the mark matching the guy next to you in the middle of a life-or-death firefight is something you HAVE to ignore if you want to survive the war (the Fire Nation is [Usually] too Honorable to stoop so low as to use paints to fake Marks, but in the end... nobody will thank them if they save/kidnap a propaganda-fueled soldier, after slaughtering all of their friends and countrymen who weren't lucky enough to be marked as well.)

But with the 41st... I mean, it matters a LITTLE who their commanding officer is. It was either someone too stupid (or trusting) to figure out or find out about the set-up, or someone Loyal enough to do The Honorable Thing for their country (or sneaky enough to weasel their way out at the last minute). If these troops are hopped up on speeches of Glory and Honor or know that confidence, not rocks, is the #1 killer of fresh recruits, and will be as cautious as they can be. (If their CO even bothered sending out Scouts or trying to set watch rotations worth a damn to give them half a second's warning before the ground's kicked out from under all of them-) But since we're going the Hopeful route, we'll assume Ozai took the chance to cull off one of his Weak Officers, who is clever enough to figure out Something is up, but too foolish (Loyal) to cut their losses and abandon their charges to their fate. So when the attack comes (and they can already tell these benders are powerful and EXPERIENCED, shit-) they don't hesitate to offer to surrender, conditional only on the safety of their troops. Their life is forfeit.

(Bumi is 100 years old. EVERYONE is a kid to him, and Free Adoption Real-Estate. Also, he's the King, who's going to stop him?)

.... This could be more hopeful on a wider scale, I'm still making myself sad, let's try again:

No matter how new, the 41st would have spent enough time together sharing training space, bunks, and tents to have noticed what so many of them have in common.

(No matter how Hopeful the universe, the Fire Nation has always been happy to rid itself of "deadweight". Soldiers with Earth Kingdom Marks get sent to the front lines. Soldiers with Earth Kingdom (Dirty) Marks are the most likely to disappear after battles. Who's to say which came first? What is Coincidence or Causation?)

(The Earth Kingdom buries their dead 6 feet deep, where no fire or light can reach them. Who the Earth Kingdom considers "theirs" is not something the Fire Nation agrees with them on, but they're not going to put in the time and effort to dig up the body of a random (Dirty) footsoldier, just to give them proper Fire Nation burial rights. They write a letter to their family, who should have known what they were doing when they sent their Dirty child to war in the first place, and move on, maybe pausing to make note of the statistic. Everyone knows what happens to soldiers with Dirty Marks.)

(USUALLY not an entire battalion at once, or squad or WHATEVER THE HECK THE 41ST WAS I DO NOT REMEMBER, but still. It's a bit extreme, but then again, sacrifices must be made to win the war. Even if... this particular sacrifice did not lead to the conquering of Omashu that year. Or the year after that. Or the- *ahem* the point is, even if it WAS abnormal, the upper ranks are already ready to subdue any and all speculation regarding What Happened To The 41st. [If some are more Obvious about it than others...? Well. They don't know WHAT the 41st did to deserve such complete and utter erasure, but they would Very Much like it if their own soldiers did their best to keep the same sort of fate from happening to them.] But in the end... their individual fates would have been the same.)

(They disappear.)

(Funny thing: alienate someone their whole life for something out of their control, something they should cherish and be cherished for, as everyone around them does and is, and your Standard Propaganda tends not to fit Quite Right.)

(Burns distort Marks, and hide them for a time. Certainly hide them enough to be able to ignore what might-have-been fire-lilies or lightning or sunshine on an enemy corpse. Earthbenders do not have that luxury, not unless they wish to go overboard on every attack, which most don't have the speed or skill or strength to find sustainable. Even among the dead, Earthbenders can see who the Spirits Marked as theirs [to protect, to cherish, to PARENT] even among those not wearing their uniforms.)

(Another Funny Thing: It is much easier to aim to subdue without harm with Earthbending than it is with Firebending.)

(Look, none of the families whose Dirt-Marked child Disappears ever sees them again. This is a Truth.)

(But sometimes. Sometimes. They receive a note. A letter. A package, bits of obsidian with mountainous designs, collections of crystals shaped with fireflies or lightningbugs [two different creatures, both native to the Fire Nation])

(Just because they don't see their children, doesn't mean some don't hear from them.)

(Being Marked does not mean that both, or even either, of one's parents are unfit. All it means is that there is someone else in the world who has the potential to love your child as much, and will protect them as fiercely, as you do. It is a Blessing to be Marked, to be so loved that it bleeds onto your skin before you have even met. Marks make families stronger, pull in aunts and uncles and grandparents tighter and tighter to a more cohesive whole. Marks make families larger, bring in friends, acquaintances, sometimes strangers who you would have never spoken to before, but now trust to hold and cherish a living piece of your heart without a second thought. What happens, when someone learns there is another person out there whose heart beats with the same love for the child in their arms that they feel in their own chest, and call that stranger, [call that child] call that Blessing, Dirty? Sullied, treacherous, less than useless? I wonder...)

(What does it mean, when an enemy nation loves your child more than your own ever did? What does it say, when the best hope your child may have of finding Acceptance can only be found by sending them to the battlefield in short-sleeves and your great-grandmother's last piece of coveted Earth Kingdom jade?)

(Word gets out that sometimes, not often but SOMETIMES, soldiers find Firebenders dressed in Earth Kingdom greens fighting on the front lines.)

(They die first, they sneer, because those Dirty bastards shackle them, Honorable Fire Nation soldiers taken prisoners and sent to become flesh shields and canon fodder)

(This is a lie. Not that they die first, these young men and women with golden eyes and green uniforms, but the reason they're so RARE to find is largely because... so few parents would let their children, adopted or otherwise, onto a battlefield where their former countrymen will do everything they can to burn them, and the evidence of their sympathies, to a crisp. Not that it's possible to stop every one, but still. Most try.)

Shoot, it got dark again... BUT! Upside is that things on the Home Front in the Fire Nation aren't NEARLY as stable as the Royal Family assumes! The Little Prince's Mark, and his family's responses, are very much Noted by people Ozai would never think to bother with. The White Lotus is for old people who want their grandkids to Calm Down Maybe, I want the group for parents whose kids are being thrown away and/or made to throw away their honor for their nation's "Honor", and are Extremely Pissed About It Actually. (Grandpa can have fun playing pai sho, Mom's gonna go throw a boiling teapot at a corrupt Admiral and start a Riot)

(Do I want a Fire Nation Rebellion? Yes. Yes I do.)

Okay Okay Okay.... so anyone up for Parental soulmarks Zuko and Hakoda AU of Salvage??? Imagine ZUKO knowing who his Marked Parent is but not HAKODA who only has like idk the blue spirit mask or the dao swords or smth. Maybe soulmarks can't be injured off of someone? So Loserdad couldn't burn it off of him (though not for lack of TRYING)

Zuko, born with his face half done up in vividly beautiful Water Tribe wolf warrior paint: *canon typical scarring occurs MUCH earlier* *hey, at least Ursa caught him when Ozai tried to instintively yeet a newborn out the window*

--- Years later, but not nearly long enough ---

Hakodad, fishing a shivering Fire Nation gremlin out of the water and seeing wolf warrior paint starting to bleed back in wherever his scar has healed: Shit, whose child is this?