bakerstreet | By request: Sentinels and Guides Shipping Meme

By request: Sentinels and Guides Shipping Meme

Sentinels and Guides Shipping Meme
A Sentinel!AU Meme

There are special people in the world: Sentinels--whose five senses are incredibly enhanced, sometimes to the point of overwhelming and who can easily lose themselves in fugue states--and Guides, the empaths with the ability to ground a Sentinel and focus them. Meant to be the protectors of the Guides, for every Sentinel there exists a guide that is their perfect match. In some universes, when matches are made, a Sentinel and Guide form a soulbond to fill the feeling of emptiness.

How easy was it for you to find yours? How are Sentinels and Guides treated in your universe? Or maybe you're one of the normal, unremarkable people. Do you fear Sentinels and Guides? Despise them?

Rules
1) Post with your character/canon in the subject header.
2a) Choose whether your character is a Sentinel or a Guide
or
2b) If you don't know or don't care, just leave it blank!
3) Information about Sentinels and Guides can be found here and here. Information on 'The Sentinel' which this meme comes from can be found here.

4) All the tagging! Have fun 8D

Prompts
oo1. The Meeting:
How did you meet? Was it at an event organized specifically for finding your other half? By accident? Did you follow a mystical calling to them? Some other way?

oo2. The Bonding:
Do Sentinels and Guides in your universe soulbond? How does it go down? Is there a ceremony or do you just retreat to the bedroom?

oo3. Rejection:
Sometimes Sentinels or Guides propose a match but it's just not perfect. You don't feel the pull or maybe you think there is someone better or maybe you're already claimed. Maybe you were claimed and someone better came along?

oo4. Protection:
Sentinels are meant to protect Guides, any Guides, but it's even worse when they feel their Guide is in danger. They go feral; blind to anything but stopping and killing whoever threatened their Guide or the bond. Maybe someone attacked your Guide or you haven't bonded yet and you feel threatened or maybe you're the one doing the threatening. Whatever the reason, Sentinels in a feral state are dangerous and only their Guides can stop them.

oo5. Lost:
Sentinels often lose themselves in their senses. Either you're a Sentinel who has lost themselves or a Guide that has stumbled on one or a friend trying to draw them out. Unbonded Sentinels will find it hard to escape without a Guide. Or maybe you're bonded already which means you just need yours to come home.

006. Persecution:
Sometimes normal people or the government fear the power of Guides and Sentinels. Guides are empaths, feeling the emotions and sometimes passing thoughts of others and it can make people feel violated. Sentinels often have enhanced strength, which can make them dangerous. So they scorn them, hurt them or in the case of governments, regulate them.

oo7. Death:
Unbonded Sentinels and Guides eventually lose themselves to the empty cavern inside them. Torn apart from the inside by the feeling of something missing. Breaking the soulbond of a Sentinel and Guide is agonizing and horrifying, leading quickly to death for the remaining partner.

oo8. Old-School:
Guides used to be treated on the same level as slaves. Unable to work unless their Sentinel said. Not allowed out on their own. They used to wear collars and couldn't own land or inherit money. Maybe the old ways haven't completely fallen out of style.

oo9. Unbonded:
Nothing is worse than being an unbonded Guide or Sentinel. Always looking for your other half to fill that empty feeling but you probably have friends that aren't your match or who are trying to set you up with someone. Maybe you're skeptical about the whole love at first sight thing and haven't been looking.

o10. Wildcard: Some mish-mash of the above or anything else you can come up with!

Image from weheartit / original meme by

imadeamistake

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[ooc: Think he'd do well with a Sentinel Poe?]

[I think yes!]

Time and again, he'd been told he'd find the one and time and again, he'd laughed it off and swore that he didn't believe such nonsense. Oh, he'd heard stories and the like but that was for other people. He didn't need a Guide. As long as he could keep flying, he let the stars serve as his solace and focus.

That is, until he fell into the First Order's hands. He had no idea how long he'd been there, locked down and awaiting more torture, but it seemed someone else had something else in mind for him. Some might call it fate while some might consider it blind luck. The moment that the trooper took off his helmet, Poe felt something just... click into place. It was almost disorienting for a moment, but once he'd shaken that off, they were off and into the stars again.

Then, he lost him again and this time, Poe felt the loss.

Escaping Jakku hadn't been fun, but as always, Poe made an adventure of it as best he could while his spirit felt dull and his breath always felt a little short. He managed to survive in that odd fugue state for a while, but each moment, something felt wrong. The only solace he had was in the cockpit of his fighter, everything a blur as he sped along.

The fight was a short one and for that moment, he felt almost normal again. When he set the fighter down, there was a throb of loss as he climbed from cockpit only to hear a familiar beeping when he finally settled with his feet on the ground. The droid was a sight for sore eyes and he almost hugged it in a weary welcome but the moment that BB-8 told him who was there as well, any weariness was forgotten as Poe looked up and saw him.

Once again, everything clicked back into place.

Finn.

Edited 2016-05-31 03:13 (UTC)

Finn had always felt too much for a trooper, it wasn't the kind of thing that was encouraged, at all. He knew, vaguely, about Sentinels and Guides, and knew that Guides were a rare commodity in the First Order.

He also knew that they didn't last long, too many Sentinels for them to keep stable wore them out, broke them down more quickly than almost anything else. So he'd learned to keep his instincts and his emotions under wraps, packed down tight where no one would find them and where even he could barely touch them.

But then the massacre on Jakku had happened, and so had the prisoner, and the half-baked escape plan and the whole time it was like he was seeing in color for the first time, like this was how things were supposed to feel.

Of course, just as soon as he had that, he lost it again, but then there was Rey, who didn't need his hand or his help, and there was Han and Chewie and the insanity that Takodana became in short order and the retreat to D'qar and then there was BB-8 nearly knocking him over in its hurry to go meet someone else and oh oh

"Poe? Poe Dameron? You're alive!" Finn was already running towards the pilot before he was even fully aware that he was doing so.

He met the hug with outstretched arms and the sensation of connection left Poe reeling. Everything around them dimmed out and right then, then only thing that seemed to matter was Finn. Poe pulled away and words pretty much fell out of his mouth. There was gratitude for finishing his mission and then, something else grabbed his attention.

"Hey, that's my jacket-"

The moment Finn moved to try and take it off, he made certain to pull it back onto his shoulders. As much as he loved that jacket, he loved it even more on Finn. He'd made it this far, but now, since he'd seen and touched Finn again, everything just seemed right and while he'd always scoffed at the whole needing a Guide thing, he knew why Sentinels like him wanted one.

No, needed one.

Finn finally felt settled for the first time since crash-landing on the veritable hell-hole that was Jakku, and while he couldn't fully place why he knew that Poe had something to do with it, as if he'd finally caught ahold of something he'd been reaching for and hadn't even realized it.

"Poe, I need your help, Rey, they took her, she's the reason I'm even still alive. We have to... I have to get her back."

What followed was a flurry of briefings and debriefings and planning sessions and interviews and finally, finally a few minutes of silence wherein he could go find Poe again, not that it was difficult, the pilot had been on the periphery of his senses for most of the day and now, well, finding him in the mess wasn't a surprise and it was right about then that Finn realized just how hungry he actually was and just how long it had been since he'd actually eaten.

Poe'd had his own debriefings to deal with so once he'd been able to get Finn in to talk to General Organa, he left him there, knowing he'd be in good hands. Still, he felt a bit off when not close to the other man. It helped that he always seemed to be in the back of his head, but he'd rather have him there with him.

Once his own set of debriefs were done, he went to make sure that Black One was settled in its berth and with BB-8 at his side, he headed off to find a decent meal and good company. Half his squadron was in the mess, doing the exact same thing he had in mind and it only took a few minutes for them to launch into a lively conversation. He was right in the middle of poking back at Jess for teasing him about Finn and how captivated he seemed since discovering him again when Poe just... stopped, mid-sentence.

Sure enough, he looked up and over just as Finn appeared and half the table snorted in amusement at the way Poe shot him a smile.

Finn couldn't help but smile back, filling a plate with a little of everything, some of it he didn't even recognize, but it smelled good, and he'd been about to seat himself at the far end of the table, out of the way, when BB-8 bumped him in the back of the legs, practically herding him towards Poe and the group, and so he just dropped into the first open space with a greeting of: "Hope you know that droid's got good instincts. Shocked me twice because it thought I stole your jacket."

He didn't mention that it had also left looking about as dejected as a droid could look when he'd broken the news that Poe hadn't made it, and he'd never been more glad to be proved wrong.

Poe'd already been scolded about 'pretending' to die, followed by threats of tazing and telling Jessika where he'd hidden her lucky credit so it wouldn't have shocked him to hear about BB-8 grief. People thought that droids couldn't 'feel'? Well, they were wrong. BB-8 might not be the bravest ball of circuits but it was the most loyal Poe'd ever met and he was glad it was his.

Even now, when the bossy little ball was pretty much ushering Finn over to them, much to Poe's chagrin.

"Sorry about that. BB-8's crazy protective and honestly, it's a good thing. Nice to know someone's looking out for me, right?"

"Yeah." There was another small smile at that, "Droid was actually already doing alright for itself, had Rey to protect, and kind of as protection." Even just remembering Rey had his appetite dropping again, poking at the food on his plate.

"She's the one that we're trying to figure out how to go after." She'd have done the same for him, at least, he thought she would, and that was enough.

Poe could tell how distressed Finn was without having to see him poke at his food. The feeling of it sat there, heavy in the back of his own mind and he had to quell the urge to do anything he could to fix it for him even as a deeper part of him roiled with jealousy at the thought of Finn so taken with someone else.

Clearing his throat, he glanced back down at his own food for a long moment before he pushed the remains of his dinner away.

"We'll get her back for you. I promise."

His brow creased a little, catching the edge, an echo of that jealous flare and not quite sure what to make of it, all he knew for sure was that it wasn't his own and what was his was the instinct to soothe that. Which was why he smiled again a moment later, though it was tight at the edges, stretched thin and brittle, but it was a good effort at least, "Now just wait, we'll show up and she'll have already taken over the star destroyer. She's good with ships."

That said he stabbed a bite of something off his plate and stuffed it in his mouth, not really tasting it but knowing he needed to eat if he was going to be any use to anyone.

A smile creased Poe's face in automatic response though it looked faintly brittle around the edges. He knew that newly forged bonds between Sentinels and Guides took time to settle into place but if this vague unease was going to be a constant thing, he wasn't sure it was something he wanted. It had left him with a headache and feeling vaguely nauseated as if he'd spent the night before drinking with his fellow pilots.

He tried to dredge up a more genuine smile as he stood to leave, pausing to settle his hand on Finn's shoulder in silent apology.

"Probably so, but we've still got a lot of planning to do and Black One needs... maintenance. I should get to work on that."

With that, he turned and started to leave, snorting as BB-8 beeped a clearly disapproving noise from where it was perched near Finn's leg.

He did relax, a little at that hand on his shoulder, shifting minutely towards it on reflex. He nodded at the statement, "Yeah. And we'll all need to rest up if we can." He doubted he'd be able to, but he was going to try and get a few minutes' nap at least. One good thing about being a stormtrooper, he could sleep anywhere at any time.

His brow creased a little at the astromech's interjection, "You know I still don't speak that, right?" He had, at least, caught on that the droid could understand him even if he couldn't understand it.

By then, Poe was gone which left a now irritated BB-8 by Finn's leg, beeping up at him in what was obviously a lecture. Finn might not know Binary but there was no way to miss just how heated BB-8 was at the moment. Thankfully, Snap had caught most of the droid's tirade and with a soft chuckle, helpfully translated for Finn.

"It said that it's never seen Poe act like this and it thinks you need to figure out what's wrong with him and go help him."

Poe was already on his way to the hangar and his beloved X-Wing, knowing full well that if the droid wasn't at his side, it was likely off getting into trouble. If that was the case, he'd have to deal with it sooner or later.

If Poe's own droid hadn't seen him act like this before, Finn didn't know what he could do to help.

But at the same time he wanted to, because that sense of belonging, that feeling of connection he felt in Poe's presence hadn't faded even though the other man was no longer in the room. So he wolfed down the rest of his dinner, barely tasting any of it before giving BB-8 a nod, "Go on, lead the way."

He could probably find the hangar himself, given time, but he had a feeling that this wasn't the kind of thing to let sit for long.

By then, Poe was elbow deep into his fighter, stripped down to nothing more than his pants and a thin undershirt, skin dotted with patches of grease from his labor. Working on his X-Wing had always been soothing for him when his mind was at its most hectic and now was no different. In fact, he was so wrapped up in his work that he hadn't sensed Finn's approach.

As it showed Finn the way, BB-8 beeped and booped and while the droid knew he didn't understand Binary, it was polite. Not only that, but BB-8 was happy that Finn was around. If it was something that made Poe happy, it made BB-8 happy.

Finn could tell the difference between an upset lecture and a friendly tour guide at least, so while he had no idea just what sights BB-8 was telling him about, he knew that he was at least getting a truncated tour, and so he nodded where he thought it was appropriate, and made what he hoped were encouraging responses, at least until they got to the hangar and his mouth went dry.

He did manage, valiantly, to shake himself out of it, clearing his throat a moment later and calling: "Anything I can help with?" By way of greeting.

Just before Finn spoke up, Poe paused as he realized that he'd been followed and if it'd been anyone else, he would've been grumpy about it. Finn, though... it'd be hard for him to be angry at Finn. Sighing, he turned to face the newcomers as he reached up to idly scratch at an itchy spot on his cheek. That thrill of nerves and connection raced through him again and he was hard pressed to keep from crossing over to Finn and pulling him into a hug.

It was presumptuous, though.

He managed a half-smile as he motioned Finn over and while Black One's nav computer might be damn near gutted, every bit of Poe's attention was locked on Finn.

"I think I've got it all, but thanks. I wouldn't turn down some... company, though."

He was already nodding even before Poe had finished speaking, replying with: "Okay, yeah, company, I can do that. I mean, I probably can, not like there's much to it. Did you want to talk about something? Or should I just, um, stand? Here?"

He wasn't entirely used to people actually wanting him around, and he definitely wasn't good at trying to figure out how it was he was supposed to help Poe when he didn't know what was wrong.

BB-8 had suspiciously made itself scarce when neither of the men noticed, deftly leaving them to deal with each other. Later on, it was certain that Poe would get a lecture of his own from the droid, but for now, it was content to let them spend some time together.

Finn's unease made Poe's brow furrow and again, he felt slightly disconnected and off-kilter. He'd already run off from Finn earlier and he couldn't... no, he wouldn't do it again. He'd already decided that if it came down to it, he'd just talk to Finn.

Why did that seem so damn hard?

"Look, this... between us. You're a Guide, aren't you? I felt it from the moment I saw you and I don't know what to do with it. With you. I know I'm not the one you're supposed to be with or even want to be with and that's... alright. I've gone without a Guide for a long time and I can keep doing it if I need to. We'll get Rey back and then everything will be right for you."

Poe wasn't usually so scattered but his earlier rush of emotions had left him off center and on edge.

His initial response, too quick, defensive, was: "No, of course not." Though his brow creased a moment later, weight shifting from foot to foot, realizing belatedly that maybe being a Guide among the Resistance wasn't the veritable death sentence it was among the First Order, he amended to: "I ...don't know."

He huffed a laugh, dry and wry and almost as brittle as his earlier smile had been, scrubbing a hand up over his face and across his head, "Seems like the kind of thing someone should know, right?" He shrugged then, "And if you think I am, if you know, you've got a better idea than I do."

He would try to explain, soon, that Rey was a friend -his first and so far only friend- and she was in danger and that was all there was between them, but he didn't have the words for that yet.

"Oh."

Poe's voice was hollow as his stomach sank. He'd been so sure that he'd found the one but it seemed he was wrong. In a way, it was better, or so he kept trying to tell himself. Doing his best to try and smile, he tore his gaze away from Finn and turned back to the fighter, needing something to do with his hands.

"I mean, you might not be. Some people are just intuitive about things. It doesn't mean you're a Guide. They're... special. They're gifts. I guess that wasn't something the First Order was good with, huh?"

"There were four Guides on the Finalizer." He said, voice gone quiet, not quite distant but something close, "Ship that size should have had eight at a minimum. That's the regulations. Should have had four dedicated just to the troopers alone."

It was strange to him to even be able to say it, especially because it was obvious that the Resistance thought differently, Guides weren't just another -sorely limited- resource, "There's tests, I just never had them." He shrugged, "Until you came along I never gave them a reason to doubt me." Because even he knew, deep down, that it wasn't just intuition, but he also knew that Guides in the First Order didn't have short lives so much as long deaths.

Disgust rode like bile in the back of Poe's throat as he listened to Finn talk about the treatment of Guides under the First Order. It left his skin prickling with darker emotions that he really didn't have a name for and a surge of protectiveness washed over him as he quietly promised that he wouldn't let Finn fall back into their hands, even if he wasn't meant for Poe.

"That's disgusting. Guides are meant to be with just one Sentinel. The bond is... important. That's where the real power comes from. It's something more than a partnership. It's deeper than family. At least, that's what I've always been told. I've known what I was for as long as I can remember and I've always heard that a Sentinel knows when it finds its Guide."

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How about we mix things up and see where it goes?

I'm down for that!

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Sorry I disappeared for a while!

No worries, it happens!

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