Sentinels and Guides;

[inborn]

 

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 

Comments

[jumpthegun]

For half a moment, John almost pushes Gladio's hand away, a flare of self-consciousness rising. Rehab and weeks with the cane haven't been kind to his figure. Not to mention, he's 35, not 23. But the Guide lets that go. Gladio is going to see him at some point, and John's aware that he's not hideous, just not nearly so defined as his new partner. Something to work toward to ensure he can keep up with these young bucks, then.

"Not nearly as impressive as you are," John says, trying to at least do some expectation management while Gladio works his shirt open. "Don't get your hopes too high." John doesn't bother to help him, just runs the heel of his palm up and down the length he can feel. Let's see how the Sentinel does with buttons while he's being distracted.

As the buttons come off, Gladio will be treated to the sight of skin much paler than the rest of the Army doctor. John's tan lines stop at his neck and wrists, very distinct, still, from his battle fatigues. There's some pale hair running down his chest, but nothing to write home about. There are also various small scars, nicks and lines earned in combat through the years. Most prominent, though, is a still-new scar on his left shoulder, very near his heart. The skin is twisted, puckered up and white. Dealing with the bullet had been a complete mess, and there hadn't been much time to do more than stabilize him. It's all a blur to John. He just remembers looking down after a sharp pain in his back. And then being delirious after with infection and fever and hallucinating strange and sometimes horrifying things that made him try to lash out at people.

"Guess this is us comparing war wounds, hmm?"

[iwillshieldhim]

From Gladio, at first, there is silence. No, John isn't as impressive as Gladio, but few men are and he knows that. There's a certain decided pride he takes in his body, meant for wielding a broadsword one handed and being able to stop a charging dualhorn in its tracks. It isn't what he expects out of other people.

There's a quiet rumble of appreciation at John's hand against his covered length, but Gladio's eyes are on the skin he's uncovered. His fingers move slowly, from scar to scar, until they find the one that nearly ended John's life. His thumb brushed over it, his face nearly expressionless before leaning in and pressing his lips just above it.

"Glad my Guide's a fighter," is all Gladio said, that approval, and appreciation, in his voice, as his lips brush skin with every word.

[jumpthegun]

A knot of uncertainty he hadn't even really realized was forming in the silence releases and Gladio will feel that approval and more than a bit of warmth reflected back at him through their Bond. The moment is far more tender than anything John had been expecting, and he closes his eyes, and lets his head rest back again, baring his neck fully in submission as a sort of... gratitude? He's not even sure. It just feels like the right thing to do.

His other hand slides down from Gladio's chest and starts to undo the button and fly on the other man's trousers. If Gladio wants to see all of him, John's intent on seeing all of the other man, as well.

"Glad my Sentinel doesn't mind that." My Sentinel. The words are still strange on his lips. "Half-worried you lot get over-protective when it's not needed." That's still probably true, but for now there's gentle teasing. He opens his eyes a bit again, staring up at Gladio as he dips his hand into the Sentinel's underwear to grasp him fully with one hand.

[iwillshieldhim]

John's small measure of submission earns him a mouthing across the neck, starting over the Adam's apple and ending at the Bond mark, though no bite followed. "Still might," he rumbles against skin at the mention of getting too over-protective.

When John's hand found him, Gladio gives a low groan through his teeth, pulsing against John's palm. He balances himself on knees and a hand to slide his hand down John's body until he arches a brow, then undoes button, fly, so that he can mirror his Guide and take him in hand.

"Might need to do something about us both," quoting John from earlier, his chuckle a vibration in his chest before he rolls his hips forward.

[jumpthegun]

John shudders just for the mouthing and draws in a deep breath. His neck has always been a sensitive place... something of an inevitability with a Guide, but never quite to this degree. "I'll have to train you out of that, then," the doctor shoots back as he moves to finally press his lips to the other man's. It's only brief, something chaste to start when they've been rather less chaste about everything else.

And they're getting less chaste by the moment when Gladio takes John in hand. "Mm... yeah, well, I did say helping each other along, didn't I? There's a lad." Clearly this is just where he wanted you, Gladio!

John matches the thrust of Gladio's hips, arching up into the touch. As with much of the rest of him, John is just average, unassuming, but well-proportioned. He tries not to mentally compare their lengths, but, well... that's what blokes do, isn't it? Still, he's never been particularly embarrassed by his cock. It gets the job done to satisfy his partners, or it has up to this point. They'll find out at a later date, perhaps, if it's good for Gladio.

Given their relative positions, John does have the advantage of two hands over Gladio's one, so while he starts up a steady stroking rhythm for the other man, his free hand goes wandering further afield across Gladio's chest and stomach, searching for any sensitive spots.

[iwillshieldhim]

With his hands in such sensitive places, it's impossible to miss the jump of cock in John's hand at the suggestion of 'train you'. Good, bad, it's hard to tell, but Gladio's hand tightens around him and it definitely puts it in the category of 'good'.

It won't take long for John to find two places that seem to make Gladio's rhythm stutter - up along at the tops of his ribs, under his arms, and the smooth flat plane just above his hip. John wouldn't know that most of the time Gladio doesn't even bother with a shirt, so there's a certain degree of weathering taken place, but there's still places that definitely find themselves quite sensitive.

Gladio takes his time, though his nose and mouth remain somewhere between John's neck, the bond mark, and the scar at his shoulder as he works John. John wants to keep it to this far, he can do that, as long as he's getting to finally touch his Guide to his heart's content.

[jumpthegun]

John's resolved to be on top next time so that he can be the one more easily kissing and scenting along Gladio's neck and chest. The Sentinel's scent is fairly overwhelming, but there are other ways for a Guide to leave his mark, and there is some of his own scent to mark his Sentinel with. He'll know it's there, even if others might not take note of it.

It's hard to keep his full focus as Gladio works him, and the Bond slowly begins to cement itself between them with the intimacy. So, this is how their Bond is going to be. John's aware that a sexual relationship is going to bring its own challenges atop the current new Bond relationship. At least they're very compatible on both fronts from what John can tell. The rest of it, some of the first hints of their knocking against one another out with the rest of the group, is where they'll need to focus later.

His own hand follows the rhythm of Gladio's strokes, and John arches fully up into the other man's grip. He tries to stop himself making any overly embarrassing and needy noises, though that gets a little harder each time Gladio noses toward his neck. John swears quietly at a particularly nice pass and his own hands falter for a moment.

"Haven't... bloody hell, you're the first in months. I'm getting close. Ease off a bit. Rather have this last awhile." Mainly because he'd like to make his partner come first. It's something of a point of pride that he tries to satisfy the person he's with before himself. Whether Gladio shares that mentality or not remains to be seen.

The doctor resumes his own rhythm, whether Gladio obliges the request or not, thumbing over the head of the Sentinel's length at the top of each stoke now to add a little more stimulation. The hand that's been wandering finds its focus on tracing Gladio's ribs where they're most sensitive.

[iwillshieldhim]

The last thing Gladio is going to mind at this point is John's scent on him. With his scent on John, this Guide is his and he'll be damn proud to show it off in either way. He knows he's scented Noct on Prompto before plenty of times and the other way around a few, which if he hadn't been around Noct since the time they were young might have driven him into absolute insanity a few times. It still sometimes had come nearly to blows even though he knew the Guide was claimed.

Here... they're going to have an issue. Gladio's as dedicated and determined as a lover as John is, so the 'who comes first' ought to be an interesting sexual 'debate'. As it is, Gladio does back off on John's request. Really, he's not entirely blind to reality. John's got some years on him, won't recover as quickly. He's still young (too young, according to John) and can.

He pulls his hand away, a smirk coming to his lips as he looks down on his Guide. "Maybe I'm not against the idea of having you wrung out and pliant under me, you know."

[jumpthegun]

John scoffs and gives the inside of one of Gladio's thighs a pinch. "Don't be cheeky." The 'or else' is heavily implied in the look and tone the Guide returns. "It'll take more than coming off quick to have me wrung out and pliant." Not... a lot more. But certainly, he'd like to imagine he'd be a little more work than that. Drawing it out should bring more satisfaction for Gladio, anyway. John's certain of that.

"Get your hand up here by my head and lower your hips down. I've got a different idea." He keeps stroking Gladio even as he speaks, watching him through a hooded gaze. If Gladio obliges the command request, he'll be rewarded with another burst of approval across the Bond from his Guide as John shifts to align them and use both hands to wrap around both their lengths at the same time. It's getting more intimate than a mutual hand-job, but it's still tame enough for John to feel comfortable with it as a first encounter.

Sorry about the speed today!

[iwillshieldhim]

That pinch earned John a sharp growl, glaring briefly before giving a nip in return. He wouldn't take nicely to that any more than John was taking to his bites. Still, his smaller Guide has already proven to be able to urge him around, and even if he doesn't realize it, the command-reward system is already starting to set in his mind as he does as he's told, his eyelids fluttering as John's approval surges through him.

It's a damn fine choice as John's hands wrap around him, leaving Gladio to look down with hungry eyes to John, rolling his hips in the time that John set. With John's hands busy, though, he had every ability to be able to speak, dipping his head down to rumble. "Do you have any idea how good you smell? Better than any Guide I've ever scented... you smell like a fighter. Like gunsmoke. I can taste it on your skin, every time." His mouth finds John's shoulder and sucks gently.

No worries!

[jumpthegun]

John sucks in a sharp breath at the nip, but manages to brush it off for the most part as his Sentinel moves to obey. It's nice. This is nice, and he can absolutely work with it. Maybe it's a little harder to command the other man and they'll need to set out a few more general boundaries when they're not in the throes of passion, as it were. But this is moving along very well.

"Mm... not s'bad yourself." John can't help a light chuckle that devolves into a quiet moan as Gladio latches onto him and their lengths slide against one another through his hands. In a moment of madness, he confesses something he was going to hold back on a bit more not to sound like a broken loon. "I couldn't walk before you came into my clinic room. Been using the cane since they discharged me. But you turned up, and god... I dunno. It's like I can fight again." He turns his head away, embarrassed.

"Never mind me. Mm... getting too sentimental." And he hardly knows the man. But the scent of Gladio, what he'd done to set John's blood burning and his body wanting had changed something.

Re: No worries!

[iwillshieldhim]

There will definitely need to be some talking, but until the biological is appropriately placated, it's almost impossible to think straight enough to bother. Gladio's nose finds its way up to John's hair, a very animalistic nuzzle, then he stops at John's confession. Just a pause, thinking on it even through the hormones rampaging through his veins.

He vaguely remembers the cane, but he could only remember it as their first few seconds of meeting before nothing more. It hadn't really registered that much with him when it had just been Doctor Watson, and he hadn't seen signs of it since so it hadn't even occurred to him about it. He pulled his head back enough to meet John's eyes, a brow lifting as he pulses against the other. "Doesn't seem to me like you're a man who needs a cane," he finally says, his tone pointed. He hasn't even noticed so much as a limp, only John's strength once he'd been put into the strange situation.

[jumpthegun]

John returns the look. "I don't."

It's almost freeing to say that. He doesn't. Not with Gladio around. Whatever else can be said for the Sentinel that does and will hold true. It certainly feels like it. What the hell is he even going to tell Ella? She doesn't even know he's a Guide. Another thing to figure out later. Add it to the list.

The doctor speeds up the slide of his own hands, starting to buck slightly beneath the Sentinel as he draws closer to the edge again. "Feels like you've got one here if I ever do, though." He throws a grin up at Gladio as he squeezes just a little. Humor is John's preferred deflection method, racy humor, though it might be in this case. It'll have to do for now.

"Come for me?" It's more an actual request this time. Admittedly, it would be satisfying to have the younger man come on his command. Especially when it means the other man goes first.

[iwillshieldhim]

That joke? That joke is terrible. Gladio groans and it has nothing to do with the hands on his cock, though the breath afterward is more of a laugh than a moan too. Still, he doesn't mind it, either. He's used to the teasing and the puns and the fun of being around his three friends, and it just ties John in tighter already than he is.

Coming on command, not without it being forced by some of John's power, isn't going to quite happen but he does put his mind back on the actual focus of the moment, his head dipped so he can be by John's ear as he pants, moving his body to meet each movement from John. "Even if I don't get to do it again... I want my mouth on your Mark when you come. I wanna taste your scent and remember all of it." It is a bit much for him, normally, but the Sentinel in him is pushing exactly what he wants right now and it shows so clearly in those words.

[jumpthegun]

"God, yes!" It's a struggle not to come off then and there like some teenage kid. Gladio's words are pure fire to the veins that pour through John and head straight for his groin. His scent grows stronger, and Gladio will feel a pull through the Bond, a silent demand for him to sink his teeth into the mark now, right this very second. Now. John isn't even fully conscious of it, the Guide instinct working on its own level now that he's losing control.

He stretches his neck out obligingly for his Sentinel to facilitate the desired bite. John will think about how wanton a few words and a bite could turn him once they're settled, and suffer the embarrassment then. Not that Gladio seems to mind terribly much, but it's the principle of the thing and John's ego, not the Sentinel's.

His hands continue to work them together, moving in time with Gladio, pulling himself to the brink, but trying to hold off for that bite.

[iwillshieldhim]

That cry of desire is nearly enough to send Gladio over the edge, but it's all he needs. John's scent is so strong in his nose it's like a physical pull, drawing him straight to that beautiful bond mark. He gave a whole body shudder, showing just how close he was, before he did as they both desired. His teeth found the mark like it was a target and bites hard - not so hard as to break the skin but if anywhere else it would be a bruise. His tongue laps over it immediately, the taste of it fill his mouth like a perfume, and that's the last his body will take.

He all but burns as he releases, over John's hands, his stomach and chest, his jaw flexing slightly with each pump of his body, his fingers tight in the sheets on either side of John's head.

[jumpthegun]

John's coming even before Gladio, as soon as his teeth set into the Bond mark, and while that's a bit of a blow to the competitive spirit, John can't be fussed to care all that much in the moment. His own release spills and just makes more of a mess across his own belly than the Sentinel above him. The Guide cries out, nothing coherent, but louder than might be appropriate if he were worried about alerting Gladio's fellows as to what sort of Bonding they're getting up to.

Regardless, the doctor keeps pumping them between his hands, breathing harsh and heavy until the touch gets to be too much as they soften. He lets his hands fall away and just rests for a moment, before reaching his hand up to touch his chest. "Bloody hell, you do make a mess." It's really not a criticism, but he does feel a little bad about them mucking up the sheets. Only a little. It's a fancy hotel, after all, and John seems to have caught most of it, for better or worse.

[iwillshieldhim]

Of all the things.. Gladio can't help his breathless laugh against John's skin, pulling his head back to look with glassy eyes to his Guide. "Big guy, big mess," he offers before shifting back slowly to sit up on the bed. There's no hiding his long look over his Guide with crimson around his Mark, covered in their shared release. That's a damn good look in his opinion.

He leans over until he can snag the tissues nearby, then goes about slowly cleaning it all off. At least the worst of it. A shower will take care of the rest. The rest of them know all about the Bonding, even if Ignis himself has no stake in it, so if John had been heard... everyone is going to just pretend they hadn't.

[jumpthegun]

Yeah, all right, it's a terrible porn cliche, but John's feeling more than a little ridiculous at the moment, not to mention warm and safe. He stretches himself out beneath Gladio, raising his arms above his head and putting on his best well-sexed pout and mock-indignant voice as the Sentinel cleans him up. "Could stand to be a little smaller. Give the rest of us a fighting chance, yeah? Hmm..." There's a pause as if he's considering something. "S'pose it's just more of a challenge." His expression breaks into a grin. "Always up for one of those."

When the other man is mostly finished, John stretches again, this time properly, before saying, "Lie down next to me." There's more of his pheromones and command as a Guide behind that than he really intends. "We should probably... talk." What a dreaded word. Talking and then showering, though, because even still coming down from his high, John's mind is picturing pushing Gladio up against the shower wall and having a bit of his way with the other man.

[iwillshieldhim]

"Hmm... I'd rather be a challenge for you." The smirk on his lips shows that he's definitely relaxed after all of that, but the tone of his next words shows he's even more than that. "Yeah, yeah..." Gladio's content enough he doesn't even really realize the additional push, stretching himself out along side of John comfortably.

Talk. Gladio huffs quietly, his eyes closing, but with a hand tucked behind his head, he does tilt his head in John's direction. "...where do you want to start?" Because there's a lot of it. There's a thousand and one things that both of them have swimming through their head, some overlapping, some important, some not.

[jumpthegun]

"We could compare star signs," John says wryly, wiping his sticky hand on his shirt--that's going to need washing, anyway, at this point--and then using it to prop his head up as he faces the Sentinel. "See if we're compatible." He licks his lips. "But if we're past that point... how about who are you? Where did you grow up? When did you find out you were a Sentinel? How'd you get involved in all of this? What d'you like? What don't you like? We sort of skipped the 'getting to know you' stage of things."

He shrugs his shoulder. "I haven't been with many blokes. And you're the first Sentinel." Obviously. "So, if I, uh... if there's anything you don't particularly like, you're gonna need to tell me."

[iwillshieldhim]

Gladio ends up just snorting loudly at the end of the first bit, cracking open his eyes and looking over at John with a dry expression before he laughed. "I'm an Aries, just so you know," playing along with it, but he is comfortable enough laying as he is. His lips briefly thin, thinking over all those questions, before rolling a shoulder.

"You were fine to me. You've got a cock, know how to use it." He does, however, wink. "Need me to teach you?" Definitely a tease, and he ends up turning onto his side, one cut hip thrust up. "I'll let you know, long as you do the same for me."

But the rest... he scratched his jaw, thinking. "Grew up in New York, pretty much right along side the Caelums. My father is Noct's father's personal body guard, so you can say I grew up in the business. Everyone pretty much guessed I was a Sentinel from the time I was six." He smirks, gesturing down himself. "Let's just say I was big for my age and always have been. I was eleven when I hit my first real Rage. It... ended badly." There's a faint nervous gesture as Gladio shifts himself to run a hand back through his hair.

[jumpthegun]

Two Aries. That's clearly going to be a problem. Clearly. But John leaves off that teasing for now. He also waves away Gladio's teaching comment with a roll of his eyes and prodding the man's large bicep with one of his sticky fingers.

The rest of the information is more interesting, particularly the part at the end. "Most Rages do without a Guide around. Want to tell me what happened?"

It's an honest question. For as intimate as they've been and as strong a connection to Gladio that John feels, there are still some things he might hold back on with the man... like the therapy session. Those should be coming to an end soon, anyway. He just needs to prove to Ella that he doesn't have the limp or the tremor anymore, and that should have it sorted. Maybe. Probably not. But he's going to tell her he won't be coming back, at least.

[iwillshieldhim]

There is already plenty that John doesn't, and won't, know. There are secrets of the state that he has locked away in his mind that he would not tell even under torture, but if John is allowed to come into that knowledge... he might speak on them. It's going to be a lot of give and take on the secrets between them.

"...not particularly. It wasn't good." Gladio's eyes close with a slow sigh leaving his lips. "What about you? When did you realize you were a Guide?" There is something somehow less in his voice, just on the memory of whatever had happened.

[jumpthegun]

"All right." John shifts a little closer, nuzzling against Gladio's neck briefly as a comfort. The action comes instinctual. His Sentinel is unhappy and hurting, and that means offering support, guidance, a steady presence to latch onto. He just breathes in Gladio's scent for a few seconds before pulling back, but John places his free hand on the other man's waist. Sticky or not, he hopes it'll be some kind of comfort. They're both going to need a shower and a wash for their clothes after this, anyway.

"I was nine. My sister, Harry, she came out gay young. Younger than it was probably safe to given where we were living. It's not, like... bad or anything, but Chelmsford isn't..." He shrugs. It's not rural, but it's not a progressive bastion, either. "She's just a year ahead of me, but two grades with the way our birthdays lined up. There was a kid in her class, a boy named Robbie Grant. He figured out he was a Sentinel the same day I figured out I was a Guide. Harry was coming over to meet me so we could walk home, and he cornered her. Heard them scuffling and went to go check. He was trying to get her to kiss him, and there was just... I dunno. I could smell him. I wanted him to get off of her, I wanted to make him get off of her. He stopped and I noticed him sniffing around, looking confused. Really not sure how I just figured it out the first time, but I ended up zoning him out completely. Grabbed Harry, and we both took a swing at the bastard before hopping it.

"She thought it was great, kept hoping she'd turn out to be a Sentinel, too, but I made her promise no to tell anyone. Robbie stayed away from her after that, anyway, at least until they dragged him off to some special school for Sentinels." There's another small shrug. "I couldn't really be fussed to find out where it actually was, but that is what they usually do around here. If you're a Sentinel or a Guide, you get snapped up. Didn't really want that to happen to me." Harry still needed him, for all the good it had done her in the end when he went off to Afghanistan, anyway.