Title: Conforming to Requirements
Fandom: The Sentinel
Pairing: Jim/Blair
Categories: AU, angst, h/c
Length: Epic
Warnings: bonding!fic, slave!fic

Author on LJ: fluterbev
Author's fic on LJ: fluterbev_fic

Review:
This is a tough one for me, because it's a modern slave AU set in a bonding universe. Bonding universe stories (based on fanon mythology about a physical/mystical link between a sentinel and guide) are very hit or miss for me, primarily because they are usually melodramatic and kinda cheesy. On top of that, modern slave AU's are a huge squick for me (denigration is, by far, my biggest turn-off), something I only read once I've gone through every other story in a fandom and am willing to cringe through some painful fic in the hopes of finding a hidden gem. 

Conforming to Requirements is that gem. While there is some modern slave squickiness (especially at the beginning), it's offset by the fact that Jim is not remotely interested in that aspect of the Sentinel/Guide relationship and the fact that the slavery aspect apparently doesn't actually happen in real word Sentinel/Guide parings (no matter what the government and society expect of either). Plus, this world has a lot of other layers to it, like the guide resistance movement and the fact that Sentinels are just as much prisoners as the guides (though their cages are lined with silk).

The plot: Jim is ordered by Simon to get a guide and, rather than bonding permanently with a guide brought up for that purpose, he chooses to rent Blair (a rouge who wasn't caught by the government until he was almost thirty) with the condition that they cannot bond. Guess what they promptly do. Fluterbev can't entirely avoid melodrama in this fic, but it's minor and is easily off-set by an intricate and interesting plot. Jim and Blair don't want to change the world (thank goodness -- I can suspend my disbelief, but *come on*), they just want to escape the one they live in, and the obstacles in their way are not minor. The end result is a heart-pounding adventure/thriller, with several interesting OCs and a couple of cameos by Sentinel favorites.

Conforming to Requirements