[Sentinel and Guide] Commensalism

[In short: A bickering rival-couple who can’t stop getting in each other’s way.]

·

Statistics show that 83% of male black widow spiders die before completing their mission to find a mate. Their entire lives amount to reproduction and death.

Nolan was unlucky enough to become a Sentinel, and even more unlucky to have a black widow spider as his spirit form.

But he refuses to believe those are the only things his life has in store for him.

A reporter asks, “Hello, Sentinel Nolan. What do you think of your identity and your job?”

Nolan punches away his Guide, Abyss, who only helped calm his frenzy after letting him suffer for two hours. He then stares expressionlessly at the camera and answers:

“Becoming a Sentinel is the worst luck I’ve had in eight lifetimes. And getting stuck with this Guide is like having Saturn in opposition.”

·

Abyss, an elite Guide at the F City Abnormalities Management Bureau, is young, talented, and powerful. He also has a harmless, well-known hobby: training dogs (Sentinels).

A reporter asks, “The black mamba is one of the most venomous snakes known to science. Its venom usually kills by causing respiratory or heart failure. Does your Guide trait make the mortality rate among the Sentinels under your care especially high?”

Abyss replies with a perfectly proper smile, “Of course not. I’m very gentle.”

He steps aside, revealing Sentinel Nolan behind him, who looks like a handful: intimidating, unruly, and a total troublemaker.

“The fact that even a Sentinel like him has survived under my care until now is proof enough, isn’t it?”

·

Guide/Sentinel pairing: Abyss x Nolan

Sadistic dog-obsessed, refined scoundrel Guide x fierce, resilient, stubborn stray-dog Sentinel

Spirit forms: black mamba Guide x black widow spider Sentinel

[Reader advisory: A Guide/Sentinel setting with mostly original worldbuilding.]

Theme: Don’t treat feelings like a game.