Prompt crossover: The Walking Dead + Sense8

Size: minimum of 40,000 words to infinity and beyond it if possible! :D (the longer the better!)

Pairing: No pairing, unless you really want to!

How to contact me: send me a private message if you decide to follow my suggestion so I can read and comment on your story! Thanks :)

The story takes place in the Walking Dead universe where Rick is the main character and is the one who brings the Sensate aspect to the group. The Sensate abilities in this story will work a bit differently than what you expect in the TV show Sense8. In Sense8 the Clusters are made at birth and no one can chose who is part of said Cluster. In this crossover I wish for the Cluster to be formed by the actions of the leading character. The reason for this is because, in the series Sense8, the Clusters are made of people from very different cultures and from all over the world, which doesn't make much sense in the Walking Dead Universe where people have difficulty traveling from city to city much less from country to country (impossible even), the people in the Cluster probably wouldn't even meet each other in person… So, what I wish is for Rick to be capable of creating his on Cluster; able to choose or refuse a new member. There are two types of Sensates: the first is the Prime Sensates that have the ability to form Clusters (the numbers inside a Cluster depend on how powerful the Prime is) and the members of said Cluster can be other Sensates or normal people who were made into Sensates by the Prime (Rick would belong to this class of Sensate); and the second type is the Second Generation Sensates or just 2G Sensates who have the ability of connecting with other Primes and 2G Sensates but not with normal people.

These are the following rules of the Prompt:

1. Sensates are incredibly rare to the point of very few people knowing about them. Very few Prime Senates are born per generation (no one knows how or why they exist, they are born randomly) and the 2G Sensates are Sensates that were once part of a Cluster or are the sons and daughters of the people of those Clusters (they are a little bit more common but still rare). The Sensate gene can be passed from father to son but it only lasts for 1 or 2 generations and after that it tends to disappear.

2. A Cluster is initiated by a Prime Sensate who them slowly grows his Cluster. It can go from 5 to 20 members depending on the Prime.

3. 2G Sensates can't form a Cluster; they can became part of an existing Cluster or in some rare cases they can bond with another isolated Sensate (these cases are not considered a Cluster because it's only two people and can not possibly grow bigger (they lack a Prime for that)).

4. The power of a Sensate is only awakened after something emotionally powerful happens to them, like the death of someone they love, when they survive an attack, a trauma, or anything that is emotionally strong enough to jump start their psychic abilities. Some Sensates might never awaken their abilities. The exceptions are the Sensates that were created by the Primes. After the moment they were made part of the Cluster, their power is already active.

5. The Prime Sensates have the ability to create new Sensates. Every Prime has the instinct to create a Cluster by choosing the people they feel a strong emotional connection with. These people can already be Sensates, and in this case the Prime only has to accept them as part of his group, but in the case of normal people, the Prime has to turn them into Sensates first. For this to happen, the Prime not only has to accept them in his group but also has to develop a strong trustworthy bond with them. For example, the Prime can love someone but that is not enough to form a connection if they don't have a profound understanding of each other's natures (you can love someone and that person still be a complete mystery to you). It's easier for soldiers or partners who have experience something traumatic together, and that are forced to reveal some part of themselves they didn't know about, to connect with each other. But even then, it's only if that part of their personalities is compatible and doesn't go against each other's beliefs.

6. The person who accepts this challenge can decide how the method of creating Sensates goes. Here is my suggestion: The Prime Sensate, after finally having an understanding of that person and showing them his acceptance and trust, he will start to feel more conscious of that person's presence and will be more sensitive to their emotions and pains. It's up to the Prime to decide if he wants to make that person a part of his Cluster, but first he has to make sure that the other members of the Cluster are ok with this initiation. If even one member of the Cluster doesn't like this new person then it can create problems later on, and force the Cluster to pass through a process of rejection in the future, which is a very painful and damaging thing to happen to a Cluster. So, once the Prime is sure everyone is ok with this then he can start the process. Every Prime has a strange mark or symbol in the palm of their hands, like a birth mark that it's usually black and very sensitive to human touch. When the Prime feels the need to make a person a part of his Cluster, he's nervous system starts to work in strange ways. Electricity starts to form in his body (so much that it's even visible to the naked eye), focusing especially in the mark in his hands. The Prime has to put one of his hands in that person's nape, with his hand firmly embracing the cervical spine. An electrical discharge begins to happen, locking the two together for some time. All the members of the Cluster feel the change but they are not as vulnerable as the Prime and the new Cluster member, who are incapable of moving and separating during this process (it can take 20 min or even an hour, depending on the person) and they usually lose conscience after it's done. The experience will feel like dying and being reborn again. The power of the new Sensate grows slowly over time.

7. The Sensates inside a cluster have 3 main abilities:

a) Psychic Link (Sensates within a Cluster are mentally and emotionally connected. It begins as a sensory input, where one Sensate hears, tastes, smells or feels something another Sensate is hearing, tasting, smelling or feeling at that moment. Gradually, their link strengthens to the point where they can feel each other's thoughts and emotions if they wish);

b) Visiting (Visiting happens when Sensates mentally communicate with each other. They don't just share thoughts, they can in fact create a physical projection of themselves, fooling the brain of the Sensate they are Visiting into thinking they are really there, like they were teleported to each other's locations. They can have physical contact like touching, hurting or kissing each other, but other people can't see them. It's not possible to Visit a Sensate when they are heavily drugged or unconscious, but Visiting is possible when the Sensate is asleep);

c) Sharing (Sharing is when a Sensate accesses the knowledge, language and skills of another Sensate. It allows a Sensate to physically control a fellow Sensate's body as they watch from outside.)

8. Visiting is done instinctively with the other members of one's Cluster, but can also be done with other Sensates outside of the Cluster. It's the only ability that Sensates, outside a Cluster or without a bond with another, can really use (obviously, they can only Visit other Sensates and not normal people that lack these abilities). This is only possible after firsthand, eye-to-eye contact has been made. Only the Prime Sensate has the power to keep strange Sensates out of the Cluster's psychic link, and that is only after the Prime has gained enough control over his abilities, otherwise, he and his Cluster are vulnerable to Sensate attacks and harassment.

9. Later on, the Cluster can perhaps develop new abilities beyond what the series Sense8 show us but that is up to the person who accepts this prompt.

10. The death of a member of the Cluster is something terrible and can sometimes lead to thoughts of suicide; only the strongest of Clusters can survive such event. The death of the Prime Sensate means the destruction of the Cluster's psychic link, which means that all the members became individual Sensates capable of visiting but deprived of the connections they had before.

11. Rejection is a process inside a Cluster that can lead to the exclusion of one or more members because of a serious conflict. It occurs if one or more members of the Cluster reject a Cluster brother. These are incredibly uncommon to happen because it's truly difficult to hate (truly immensely hate) someone you have such intimate connection with. People inside the Cluster are not always in agreement but they usually never feel such negative emotions for each other. Even if they at some point feel this, it can be resolve with some time, so rejection doesn't even have time to occur.

Next are the rules about the specifics of the story:

1. Rick Grimes is the Prime Sensate that will later form his own Cluster during the story of the Walking Dead.

2. The members of the Cluster will not be all the survivors of the Walking Dead series (members of Rick's group) and the inclusion of the ones that are part of the Cluster was not made quickly and at first sight. For example, Rick probably wouldn't have anything in common with Carol in the beginning, during season 1, 2, 3 and maybe even 4. It's only in season 5, when Carol helps saving the group from Terminus and shows a more brutal and resourceful mentality, that Rick and Carol will finally find more common ground to form a mental connection. The Cluster will be the core of Rick's group but that doesn't mean that the Cluster members will not care for the other people outside of the Cluster. For example, Lori is Rick's wife and he cares about her, but she will never be a member of the Cluster because their mentality is just too different. Note, I don't mean with this that the members of the Cluster have the same personality. Nothing like that; what I mean is that some aspect of their personality just clicks with Rick's way of thinking and feeling; like Daryl's protectiveness, Glenn's caring side, Carol's brutality, Michonne's fortitude,… Every member of the Cluster connects with Rick at some point during the story and an understanding is made between them. All the people who knows about Sensates wish to understand it; some will wish to be part of it and others will fear it, but one thing is for sure, it's not easy to become part of Rick's cluster.

3. One member of the survivors could already be a Sensate (and not know it) before even meeting Rick. My suggestion is that Daryl would already be a Sensate and when he and Rick meet (have eye-to-eye contact), they both start Visiting each other without control or even knowing what is happening. Another Sensate will have to be Carl, because he is Rick's son and that would automatically made him a 2G Sensate (the genes of a Prime Senate are not hereditary, but his son will still be 2G Sensate if he can awaken his abilities). He would only have his Sensate abilities activated when he has some emotional shock, either because of the apocalypse itself or, maybe, when Dale or Lori dies.

4. Rick will not know what is happening to him and the other members of the group will also not know what is going on. Somethings will obviously happen that will make the people of the group question the Sensates sanity and how could they possibly know certain things. Only later will the group find someone that will tell them what his happening. This person could be Jenner during the CDC adventure; or Hershel because he knows someone from his past who told him about Sensates; or an OC character they meet at the prison or even before that, etc.

5. The story has to focus on how things would change if Rick and his group had such power. Would some people survive? And how would this influence the group's dynamics and decisions. The Sensates have many advantages but they also have weaknesses that could be fatal like being distracted with what is happening to someone else at the wrong time (this is worse in the beginning, but gets better with experience); when you are Visiting someone your body his left vulnerable unless another person or Sensate his keeping an eye on your body; other intelligent Sensates outside the Cluster can use your abilities against you; etc.

6. Another thing that has to be present in the story is the explanation on how the others deal with the Cluster. The other members of the survivors group would probably feel some envy or wish to be part of it; enemy groups, the ones who know what the Cluster is, will wish to have the same capabilities or wish to destroy them because they are dangerous; etc.

These rules are not absolute, they can be changed if the writer needs it. All within reason, of course. All authors taking this prompt, please, don't forget to send me a PM warning that you're interested in writing this story!