I think I'm still having a little trouble seeing Neal being this docile, though, despite the changed circumstances. And this is the point I run into with a LOT of slavefic, because ... people aren't like that. I mean, I would expect at the very least an extensive black market dealing in commodities that are hard for CCCR people to get for themselves ... like you have in actual prison -- except more so, because they actually have quite a bit more mobility and freedom than people locked in cells. Not anywhere near as much as free citizens, of course, but it's really a lot more like a halfway house plus tracking anklet than like being behind prison walls. And Neal would be exactly the sort of person who'd get hooked into that kind of system if he could. And I would expect communication between CCCR people would be a big thing, too, with message drops and burn phones and so forth, as well as CCCR'd people snatching every possible bit of advantage that they can get -- people in prison and people under oppressive regimes are SO creative and clever about finding hiding places for things and making their own items to make up for the things they can't get, I would expect it to be likewise in this 'verse too.
I TOTALLY agree about the ivory-tower abolitionist thing, and it makes lots of sense to me that this is something that's going to come up a lot, with Peter not having thought about the day-to-day realities of being a convict laborer, and Neal just letting Peter go ahead and bash his nose on the glass wall repeatedly. I'd also expect Neal to take advantage of Peter's inexperience in every way possible, possibly even trying to game Peter's understanding of the rules to get more free time and perks for himself.
... and, ha, I hope this doesn't come across as me trying to write your fic for you. *facepalm* I guess it's a pet peeve for me with a lot of slavefic that people under servitude are written in a way that implies they stop acting like people -- they stop wanting things, they stop trying to get things, they stop seeking to better themselves and trying to find a way out -- and people aren't like that. I mean, individual people, yes, but most TV protagonists aren't passive people by nature, and you need to work really hard to sell me on the idea that they would suddenly become passive if they had some of their choices taken away. We have (tragically) SO much evidence from real-world history, from many countries, all the way up to the present day, of the many many ways that people hang onto their dignity and their relationships and their self-ness in those circumstances, all the ingenious ways they find of communicating with each other and sneaking messages to the outside world. And canon!Neal held onto his selfness through four years of prison. I can see him folding under depression and hopelessness if he really doesn't believe there's a way out, though.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-06-23 09:28 pm (UTC)I TOTALLY agree about the ivory-tower abolitionist thing, and it makes lots of sense to me that this is something that's going to come up a lot, with Peter not having thought about the day-to-day realities of being a convict laborer, and Neal just letting Peter go ahead and bash his nose on the glass wall repeatedly. I'd also expect Neal to take advantage of Peter's inexperience in every way possible, possibly even trying to game Peter's understanding of the rules to get more free time and perks for himself.
... and, ha, I hope this doesn't come across as me trying to write your fic for you. *facepalm* I guess it's a pet peeve for me with a lot of slavefic that people under servitude are written in a way that implies they stop acting like people -- they stop wanting things, they stop trying to get things, they stop seeking to better themselves and trying to find a way out -- and people aren't like that. I mean, individual people, yes, but most TV protagonists aren't passive people by nature, and you need to work really hard to sell me on the idea that they would suddenly become passive if they had some of their choices taken away. We have (tragically) SO much evidence from real-world history, from many countries, all the way up to the present day, of the many many ways that people hang onto their dignity and their relationships and their self-ness in those circumstances, all the ingenious ways they find of communicating with each other and sneaking messages to the outside world. And canon!Neal held onto his selfness through four years of prison. I can see him folding under depression and hopelessness if he really doesn't believe there's a way out, though.