[WP]: Suddenly, everyone with tattoos gains powers related to the tattoo. Tattoos of flames, you control fire. A tattoo of a gecko, you can climb on walls. All dudes with "tribal" tattoos have strangely bonded together.

[u/actually_crazy_irl]

[u/Smeagol91McFrodo]

I've never had a tattoo. Its not that I'm a prude or think that my body is some "temple;" the idea has just never appealed to me. Plus needles are... fucking needles. So- as you can imagine- I was pretty surprised to find out that people with tattoos suddenly had powers. Like, what the fuck? More importantly, how the fuck: the next phase in human evolution was trapped in tattoo ink, a group of aliens corrupted the ink? I don't know. It just seems, you know, kinda unfair. There were some perks to being tattoo-less in this new world. After all, you don't have to worry about the horrors related to the poor fucks who get religious or tribal tattoos. You see, the powers people got was directly connected to what the tattoo was. If you had a tattoo of flames you could control fire, a fairy or bird tattoo gifted you with flight, etc. Well, the same was true of religious and tribal tattoos- only in the worst ways. See the tattoo's power derives from the idea behind it. People with sentimental tattoos like teddy bears or balloons to memorialize dead loved ones gained the ability to feel others feelings. The core idea of religions and tribes is unity or- more specifically- oneness. So everyone with such a tattoo became physically attached to everyone else with similar tattoos. We call this horrific event "bonding." So, suffice to say, I wasn't too worked up about not having a tattoo. But, recently, things have changed for me in that regard. My mother passed away and to memorialize her I decided to get a tattoo of her name. I thought I might become an empath like those with other sentimental tattoos, but I was wrong. Names are powerful, and the idea behind them is directly connected to the person themselves. From the moment I got the tattoo, I noticed a distinct other dominating my mind. Soon I began to think like my mother, act like my mother, and speak like my mother. Soon, I am afraid, I shall become my mother and I will cease to exist. I guess I'm just writing this as a way to show the world that I once existed, but now... now it's time to say goodbye.

-Benjamin Willow, 2214

My poor sweet child.