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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

At that question, Anakin's gaze went distant, remembering again the way his men had turned on him. On them. "The Clone Wars," he said quietly. "The battle of Utapau. Our men started firing on us-..."

This time, at the very least, he managed to swallow down the outrage and grief at that memory.

"So yes, I think you could call it a great upheaval." And he didn't regret the way his voice sharpened.

Maz nodded, mulling that over, "This also seems to be a common thread among the stories, moving from, or moving to a time and place where things are in flux." She drummed her fingers against each other briefly, "I'm sure you've heard at least some of the, hn, dust up we had here, recently. A small piece of a much larger story."

Leia's brow arched just a little, leave it to Maz to describe what had happened here as 'a dust up', but given the pirate's line of work and her age, it didn't much surprise Leia at all.

"Yeah," Anakin said wryly, glancing over at Leia. "I heard a little. You think that has something to do with it? Because, you know, I'd really like to go back and...fix things."

If he can. Somehow.

"Oh yes," Maz replied, blinking behind her over-large lenses, "And without the uproar, one should hope. The Force wants to repair itself, it wants things to be in the right place and the right time." She made a thoughtful sound, as if sorting out how to explain, "When the threads, time and place are tangled, it wants to put them right, to correct the flow of things, you may not realize it, but you are moving upstream, and hard." She shook her head, "We simply need to put you somewhere with a high enough concentration of the Force to push you back into the correct flow."

She stretched, spreading both hands once more, "Now, places where the Force has pooled like water in a well, those are few and far between, especially now, but a thing, a relic, I might just have one of those."

Leia was listening to this all with rapt attention, it wasn't entirely new to her, she'd heard rumors of the same, and while she'd never accepted any of Luke's invitations to train with him or at his Academy, she'd still learned everything she could about her heritage in the Force.

"None of the old temples?" He raised his eyebrows. The largest had been on Coruscant, of course, but for several reasons he assumed it was completely out of consideration. He did not realize, though, just how thoroughly corrupted it had been by the Empire or the echoes in the Force of his own actions he might have found there.

But some of the others, surely they had survived?

It's less that he truly wanted to make that trek to find them if Maz had an alternative closer to home and more that he was searching for some kind of reassurance that something had been left.

"There are some," She agreed, "But none so easily reached." That and the historical echoes of what had happened in most of them could very much still be felt, and that wasn't the sort of headache she'd wish on anyone. She pulled a ring of keys out of a desk drawer before sliding from her perch, "Come along, then." A nod towards Leia, "And you, Highness, some stabilization may be needed, we'll see."

Truth be told, Maz had more than one actual relic that hopefully had enough of the Force imbued in it for this to work, but there was one in particular she was going after, she just had to remember where it was she'd stored it, given as how she tried to keep the actual Force-relics apart from each other just so no one got ideas.

Some stabilization? Great.

Not.

At least as he got up to follow Maz, he fell in step beside Leia instead of covering her every move in case of attack. Apparently, he'd decided during the conversation that Maz, pirate or not, was unlikely to be a threat after all.

"When you say Force relic, you mean a Jedi one, don't you?" He frowned at Maz's back. "I don't think a Sith holocron, for instance, would be very helpful."

Maz snorted softly, shaking her head, "As if those are the only two options, but yes, it's of the Light, don't worry yourself over that." She led the way through a door opposite the one they'd come into her office through and down the stairs beyond.

The archives and the castle's foundations had taken some damage, though nowhere near as heavily as everything above, and most of it in unused sections, though the reconstruction efforts were somewhat more widespread than the damage itself. Maz navigated around it all expertly and Leia just smiled faintly, shaking her head as she followed in the older woman's wake. Mostly she was just glad that Maz had some idea of what was going on, and some idea of a solution as well.

He set his jaw, mulish. Even Yoda would say they were the only two options and he was the oldes-

Unless what Leia said about Maz's age was true.

As he followed, he chewed on that idea for a few moments, "are you saying that applies to you, too? Not a Jedi, not a Sith...something else?"

Leia's brow arched a little at the question, but she didn't say anything, mostly just curious to see how Maz answered.

Maz, for her part, nodded, "Exactly that. I know the Force, though I don't use it, haven't tried to harness it for my own ends. Nothing against those who do, of course, it works for some." She rattled the keyring then, finding the one for the storeroom they just passed, giving the room a quick once-over before shaking her head and backing out again, locking it up behind her and moving on to the next.

Anakin made a face as it seemed Maz was just drawing things out. Impatience, thy name is Skywalker.

"It works for me," he muttered.

Then another face made at himself this time. "Most of the time."

Leia bit the inside of her cheek, just a little, mostly to keep herself from smiling, because it was obvious to her now just where she got her patience -or lack thereof- from. She'd just gotten better at hiding it was all.

The next room was mostly empty, aside from a few crates, but Maz made a triumphant sound all the same, waving them both in and closing the door behind them, "Here we are." She waved them both towards the clear space in the middle of the room before opening one of the crates, humming softly to herself as she sifted through the contents carefully.

Anakin crossed his arms in a posture that might be a little too familiar to Leia.

Some mannerisms apparently stick even after one remakes oneself over into a Sith lord.

"I don't sense anything," he said in a tone that suggested he was starting to think Maz was leading them on a wild goose chase.

"Not yet." Maz replied, shaking her head as she pulled a small metal case out of the crate, dusting it off, "Because it's sealed." She muttered quietly to herself as she worked out the combination, making another triumphant little sound once the box was open.

What she pulled out was a smoothly-carved soapstone bowl, possibly a drinking vessel of some kind, possibly the bowl from a mortar and pestle, but whatever it was it had seen daily use and had enough of the Force clinging to it, worked into the grain, that even Leia could feel it, straightening just a little where she stood.

Anakin's eyes widened slightly as Maz took the bowl out before he moved to crouch beside her so he could get a closer look at it.

"Where'd it come from?"

"Ichma's north sea, one of the volcanic islands off the Arjian peninsula." There was, or had been, a Temple there, smaller than most, more of an abbey than anything, but they'd been one of the few that had housed a Tree and as far as Maz was concerned, the galaxy was poorer for the loss of it.

She ran her fingers over the dish before handing it to him, "Here. Sit, concentrate. Pay attention to the flow, the currents of the Force, where they are, where they're disrupted like the ripples from a rock thrown in a pond."

He accepted the bowl but glanced back up at Leia as if possibly asking whether this was really something she wanted him to pursue before he settled out of his crouch and into a fully seated position on the floor with his legs crossed.

"And then you're going to want us to find the pebble, I suppose," he murmured before he focused his attention on the dish in his hands, feeling faintly ridiculous.

But really, it's not the most ridiculous thing he's ever done.

Maz snorted, taking a shuffling half-step back, closing the crate and sitting herself on it, "You are the pebble." She shook her head, "You have to follow the ripples back to the source so that you can correct your course, the flow of the Force wants this to happen, it won't be working against you, but it won't be easy, either."

Leia nodded, "Which is why stabilization may be necessary." From what she'd gathered it would be a little like being in two places at once, at least until the Force flipped itself right way around again and corrected what had happened. Provided that was even possible without the upheaval and turmoil.

He looked away from the bowl and back up to both of them in turn. "Assuming that the Force doesn't want me here you mean. I can accept getting tossed around during a time of upheaval but...that still doesn't explain why I ended up here."

Save for his connection to Leia, anyway.

Anakin wasn't really a fan of the idea that the Force had ultimate control over his life but he couldn't argue that a great many things in it seemed to be due to the its will instead of his own. So maybe it thought he was needed here. Or something.

Nevermind how much he needed to get back where he actually belonged.

Maz shrugged, spreading her hands, "From time of turmoil to time of turmoil, though perhaps you are meant to stay for a while."

Leia nodded, more a gentle incline of her head than anything, agreement all the same, "I suppose we'll find out if this doesn't work." As far as she figured, that was as good a sign as any that he was supposed to stay, at least for a while longer, though to what point and purpose she couldn't be sure.

[ooc: though I guess it mostly depends on how long you want to keep going with this little 'verse. I'm game. :)]

"Guess so," Anakin said dubiously before he let out a deep breath and focused on the bowl once again.

This sort of meditation has never come all that easy for him (feels too much like sitting and waiting for something to happen) and considering that he's well aware of the two women who were watching him do it...that didn't really help matters. Neither did the fact that he kept thinking about why he needed to get back instead of just letting the Force show him the way. Eventually, he let out an irritated huff and set the bowl aside a moment in order to tug off his left glove.

He didn't bother to look up at the ladies, just took up the bowl again but this time traced the bowl's surface and design with his bared fingertips with his eyes closed. Narrowing his attention down to that one thing did the trick, shutting out all of his other worries and thoughts and letting him move past them so he was then able to better sense the flow of the Force around them.

Then he only had to contend with not getting distracted by ~~his daughter's~~ Leia's or Maz's presence in the Force.

[ooc: and I'm game for continuing however long and however it falls out]

Oddly enough, Maz's presence was somewhat dim, deliberately dampened, which meant that despite not actively using the Force, she still knew a few things about it and how it worked.

Leia, on the other hand, had never learned that trick and was just as bright as ever. She was, however, calm at the moment, if somewhat curious, and was doing her best not to be a distraction, seeping calm as she'd done when he was first brought to her office.

Maz only received a cursory inspection, mostly to satisfy his own curiosity about her. Somehow he wasn't surprised she'd learned how to minimize her presence in the Force.

Leia was, of course, far more interesting not only due to how very strong she was but also in how strongly her echoes in the Force seemed to harmonize with his. Funny that he wasn't certain if she was even aware of it. He didn't open his eyes but he did start to say something on the subject before he thought better of it.

Then there was the current of the Force at large around them. Seeing it like this, he became aware of a vague tugging sensation, as if it was trying to pull him back where he belonged even though it was such a very long way away. Decades and light years and so much of it was shrouded in darkness he didn't entirely understand but gave him a chill nonetheless. (It disturbed him enough that he rather subconsciously reached for the only nearby source of stability to keep him focused. He didn't intend for that attachment to become a tow line to drag Leia back with him to his present...)

Maz had been right when she'd said it wouldn't be easy. It felt a little like struggling through a sandstorm he couldn't see the end of. Probably it didn't help that some part of him didn't want to go back and find what he'd left behind, was shying away from the very trauma that had left him basically catatonic when Leia's troops had found him.

Too late to turn back, he was both too stubborn to just give up and also so close that he really didn't have a choice anymore but to slide back into the space he'd left when he'd fallen out of time.

[ooc: didn't want to immediately assume she went back with him or how but yeah basically I figure it worked? And since technically Anakin was getting shot when he got dumped in the future's lap, maybe the clones who 'shot' him think he's dead and thus when he and Leia get there they're at least temporarily alone? I mean either that or they find themselves in the middle of a group of clonetroopers who want at least one of them dead and Anakin has to go straight into KILL EVERYTHING mode. You know. Whichever. :)]

For Leia it was less like a sandstorm and more like the time she'd taken a dive into the lake outside of Maz's place. Endlessly cold and fathomlessly deep, both to the point of being numbing, but even so there was the connection to Anakin, that pull, wanting -even needing- to keep him level throughout the transition.

She hadn't realized either that the link had become a tether until Maz's storeroom had warped into a recent battlefield. Her hand went automatically to where there was usually a blaster at her hip, except that there wasn't one there, she hadn't worn one out of respect for Maz, "Well. This is unexpected."

[ooc: No worries, works for me! And I figure there was at least some kind of time difference, but that doesn't mean that the sweep-up team won't find them :D]

Anakin's head snapped up when he realized they weren't in Maz's storeroom anymore and the sense of battlefield took its place.

His hypervigilance of their arrival on Takodana will likely have been nothing compared to what he'd display on Utapau.

Rather like Leia, his first reaction was to reach for a weapon no longer on his hip. Snarling a little, he stood and shoved the bowl that had taken the trip along with them into Leia's hands. "You're not supposed to be here."

Maybe she won't ask him how many of the bodies still on the ground nearby are his handiwork. But lightsabers leave wounds rather distinct from those left by blasters.

His lightsaber, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

i was half-expecting his lightsaber but i just now remembered it's already gone :)

yes, and she knows better than to risk sending that back in time/to another dimension

what's the worst that could happen? :)

double paradox, it's like a 4th wall break inside a 4th wall break only worse

Re: double paradox, it's like a 4th wall break inside a 4th wall break only worse

no subject

alternatively: this works and leia comes along for the ride

ohh I hadn't thought of that, I like it!

:D

no subject

no subject