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daredevilkink2015-08-14 07:00 pm
ddk_mod) wrote in daredevilkink2015-08-14 07:00 pm
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Prompt Post #6
HEAD OVER TO PROMPT POST #7.
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Re: A bit, not even a mini-microfill just a bit of something
(Anonymous) 2015-08-26 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)(Also, random question, you a fan of supernatural? Only I honed in on the name 'Dean'...^^;)
Also very lawyerish of Foggy to work around Matt s question dodging :3 I look forward to when he trusts Foggy with his whole name! you, er, wouldn t happen to have any other...bits..floating around, would you?^^;
Re: A bit, not even a mini-microfill just a bit of something
(Anonymous) 2015-08-30 11:25 am (UTC)(link)I'm so glad you liked it!!!! I'm glad you liked Foggy's thoughts too! I hoped I kept him in character while still keeping in prompt too :P
Lol, I'm actually not :P I've seen it but that was a random name (tbh I wanted a name I didn't think suited Matt just because I'm cruel and wanted slaves in this AU to own nothing, not even their own names).
Hehe, I'm glad you liked that bit too :P I didn't want Foggy to jump right away to deciding to enrol Matt with him but I wanted the idea there so he gets to the conclusion faster :P
I have actually thought about that conversation too lol. Ahhh, this stupid prompt. Basically I had this idea that a lot of slaves are born to it, some are enslaved to pay debts but it's also legal for the guardian of a minor to sell them in slavery too (btw, how do you feel about Stick cause I know some people like him but I think he's an asshole and pretty ruthless and that might be relevant...). So I was kinda thinking Matt's sold when he's 11/12 or so but Foggy doesn't know that.
Anyway, after they sort of start to become friends they get to drinking together and Matt mentions his father and Foggy's like thinking that's a bit weird because slaves don't usually know their fathers. So he asks and Matt's like 'yeah not always blind and not always a slave either'. So Foggy knows Matt's actually probably his real name but doesn't want to pry but they they start talking about opening a law firm together and Matt's like 'Franklin Nelson, Attorney at Law' and Foggy's 'no no no, you'll be free real soon after that so it'll be both of us'. And there's a bit of a pause before Matt's like 'Nelson and Murdock' and Foggy's pretty stoked Matt shared that and Matt's just like 'yeah... Murdock, that was my Dad's name. And I was Matthew Michael' and then Foggy's like 'and you're going to legally be that again soon buddy it's going to be awesome'.
Haha, I'm sorry it's late so you get a long run-on sentence rather than a nice actual pretty-much-a-scene like you've been writing :P
Speaking of the time I will have to reply to the other comments later, sorry :/ and as for bits... ah idk, I'm really bad at stuff so we'll see.
Re: A bit, not even a mini-microfill just a bit of something
(Anonymous) 2015-08-31 12:52 am (UTC)(link)As for the slavery system thing, I had been thinking that yeah, debt is probably the most common way to end up enslaved, with being sold as a minor a close second (or being born as a slave, if both parents are slaves, or, in the case of a mixed couple, the free part doesn't recognize the child as an offspring of their own). I could have imagined that in the case of orphans being raised as wards of the state, they will end up sold when they turn 18 to pay back the money they cost to be raised. (If prospective parents want to adopt one of them, they would have to pay for that as well.) (Matt's money should have been enough to cover his stay at the orphanage, but it was used up for Stick.)
That would mean, since you can never know whether an orphan will end up as a free person eventually if they are adopted, or as a slave in case they never are, that they will have to be prepared both for a life as a citizen (High school education) as well as for a life as a slave (lessons in behavior, caring for people, attittude, etc.) That way, Matt would have had the necessary education standard to attend university, as well as have an inkling of what he is expected to do as a house slave. He also would only technically have been 'properly' enslaved during undergrad (though the life in St.Agnes probably wasn't that different from a work/life balance and individual freedom point of view), from the point of turning 18. He was always pretty sure he would end up as a slave eventually, though, because who is going to adopt the shy blind kid that not even his teacher wanted...
Which brings me to Stick. XD Well, generally, I'm fine with both asshole!Stick as well as somewhere-a-decent-person!Stick, but in this case I could easily see the former working very well - mostly, because Matt probably actually thought Stick would adopt him and save him from slavery before, well...
But aw, that idea for the business sign bar scene is so cute! :D I adore Foggy constantly reminding a hestitant Matt about his intentions, and Matt slowly trusting and maybe starting to believe it despite himself. Maybe at first he was only hoping Foggy would maybe keep him around the law firm as a secretary or something, but that would *still* have been better than anything he ever dreamed of, and then, when he realizes that Foggy actually wants to make him an actual *lawyer*...I wonder how those early, initial conversations would go. (and wondering a hundred other things as well. I may have posted even more ideas in the replies above.^^°)
So, yes. All of the yes. And no worries, you're not bad at stuff at all, all your ideas and scene bits are great! :3
Another bit of a something
(Anonymous) 2015-09-12 11:11 am (UTC)(link)Briefly mentioned/implied dub/non-con.
--
He’s not expecting it.
He should have known it was coming. He should have been paying attention, Stick would be so disappointed.
His owner likes it that way though, never telling him what’s happening until it is. He tells his slave as much as he would his laptop or books, but unlike his inanimate possessions, he gets a sense of satisfaction in having that power over Dean, like he doesn’t already own him.
Dean can sometimes hear him making plans even when he’s in the bedroom but that’s only is he uses his phone. Most of his communication is dove over text messages and oddly enough he doesn’t have accessibility settings turned on.
But he’s used to it by now, not knowing what they’re doing outside of classes. It keeps him slightly on edge, which frustrates him because he knows that’s entirely what Mark wants out of it.
Though Dean’s not stupid enough not to know Mark is a decent owner. He treats Dean like any of the other things he owns, he gives him orders, locks his collar to the wall when he leaves him alone, lends him to his friends if they need a helping hand and occasionally fucks him or uses him for a quick blowjob.
But he’s never cruel, Dean’s only beaten if he disobeys or makes a mistake, and when he’s sick Mark takes him to the doctor and lets him recover and he even buys food Dean likes for their room.
He could have gotten a lot worse. Which is why it’s an unpleasant surprise when Mark makes the announcement.
“Dean, I can’t take you with me back home and I don’t really want the trouble so I’ve called a trader, he’s coming today to pick you up.”
He doesn’t let his shock register.
“Of course, sir.”
Mark waits a moment but Dean refuses to give him the satisfaction. There’s a rustle of clothes- a shrug and Mark’s parting words to him are simply, “I’m sure you’ll fetch a good price.”
Dean doesn’t respond.
He could have gotten a lot worse than Mark.
He might be about to.
--
“Slave 6538724, this one’s completely blind so can’t ask too much but he just got a bachelor's degree so I’d push that more than anything.”
The slave, who no longer has a name in the eyes of anyone that matters, stands silently, leaning lightly on his cane (they let him keep it if only to avoid saddling a new owner with an extra cost) as the two slave traders discuss how best to make a profit from him.
“Says here he’s not too great with orders sometimes.”
The one in charge blows a long stream of air out his nose as he thinks. “Well, he’s got training and education, the good sort too cause he’s an orphanage-slave. Look, push the degree and spin him as a handy house-slave for a student or maybe a young couple with kids. On the cheap end of well trained and smart.”
He slaps his newest purchase on the back in a jarringly friendly manner. “Don’t worry mate, we’ll get you out of here soon.”
Soon is relative of course as the first day passes without much happening. He’s lead out twice but one of the prospective buyers baulks at the thought of a blind slave and the other opts for a female instead.
He’s put in a dorm with the rest of the unsold of that day, surprised to find he manages at least an hour of actual sleep.
The next morning the trader comes through on his promise.
The woman is one of the first few customers of the day. She’s looking for a house-slave she explains. Her son’s about to go to Law School and she thinks it would be a lovely gift if she got him some help for when he moves out. It’s his first time away from home, you see.
“Got just the thing,” the man tells her cheerfully and number 6538724 is bought out.
“Oh, I’m not sure,” the woman sighs as soon as she sees his cane. “I want one who can do chores while he’s studying, you know.”
“His previous owner only sold him because he was moving home,” the trader assures her. “He’s blind, not helpless, he can cook and clean as well and any other, and you’ve got three months guarantee on that.”
Then the bartering starts. The woman, Mrs. Nelson, as she introduces herself, is not a regular slave buyer, but she’s no fool either. He can tell the blind thing doesn’t bother her as much as she’s letting on, but she hides it well from the trader and the price goes lower than it might have otherwise.
Eventually they settle and just like that, he belongs to someone else.
“You want to take him now or delivery?”
“I’ll take him now,” the woman tells him. “Is American Express okay?”
--
He remembers the day they locked the heavy metal collar around his neck. The day Matthew Michael Murdock ceased to be and slave number 6538724 had been registered.
He became Rory shortly after. The small daughter of his first family had named him. She had been nice, her father less so. They’d sold him after four months, when the wife got too jealous.
Then Dean. For four years. He was almost used to that name, no matter how much he despised it simply because it wasn’t his.
He remembers his training. It’s your owner's decision on what to call you. A slave owns nothing. Not their clothes, their body, their name.
His new owner is Franklin Philip Nelson.
His name is Mr. Nelson’s decision. But Mr. Nelson had asked him to choose and...
A slave owns nothing.
Matt has his name back. That was something.
Re: Another bit of a something
(Anonymous) 2015-09-12 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...5, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-13 06:04 am (UTC)(link)I loved the last line, and Matt's character. The one thing I'm also thinking, like, what if there had been another owner between Mark and Foggy? Like, I'm totally agreeing with you that Matt should have coasted through *most* of his slavery somewhat okay - he's smart, disciplined, pretty and a hard worker - but what if there'd been a hiccup? Like, one of Matt's defining features is that he does have a temper, and a strong sense of justice. So, what if...(warning. completely disjointed scenes incoming, help)
xxx
Dean doesn’t respond.
He could have gotten a lot worse than Mark.
He does.
xxx
His next owner doesn't call him Dean.
Lester calls him Bitch.
It doesn't really matter. He can take punishment, he can take being used, gently or roughly, it's something he has survived, and will survive again.
The problem is that the *other* slave owned by Lester is only just eighteen, only just been collared, and he can't take anything very well at all.
He listens. He listens for two weeks while locked in his cage or chained to the wall, listens to what is going on nightly just in the other room, when it isn't his turn to be on the bed.
He asks, of course. Take me instead of him, please, he can't take it. Please.
Lester *laughs*.
Three nights later, Lester makes the mistake of not bothering to check whether his chains are locked quite as securely as usual, before he hauls the other boy out of his cage again.
Three *hours* later, Lester is in the hospital, and he is back on the market, with a reduced price tag, a record, and a handler who is lying about his 'disciplinary issues' through his teeth to one Mrs. Anna Nelson.
xxx
(and that scene could take place just after Foggy goes to fetch Matt after the horrifically awkward Ipad conversation...)
Xxx
“Um. How about a shower first?” Foggy tries, attempting very hard not to let the words ‘You stink like you died in a car last month’ leave his mouth at the same time. He knows it’s probably not the slave’s fault which condition he’s in.
“If you would like me to,” Matt says, ducking his head and again using that bland, servile tone that kind of creeps Foggy out a little bit. “Will you be joining me, or…?”
“No. No! No, you can do that on your own, right?” Foggy panics a little, and kind of throws himself into the bathroom door in an attempt to open it. “Here. Here is the bathroom. The shower is in the right corner when you get in. Left is cold, warm is right, have fun.”
Matt slowly makes his way toward his voice, hand trailing along the corridor wall. “Okay,” he says. “Do you want me to put my clothes back on afterwards?”
Foggy decides that Matt is going to be the death of him, and he blames his mother.
“Oh. Um. Yeah, I suppose they could do with a wash, right?” He gives a miserable laugh. “Just leave them on the floor, I’ll get them and get you a pair of sweatpants to wear when you get out.”
When he enters the room later to exchange the clothes, when Matt is in the shower and not even seems to react to his presence invading, he very purposefully does not look at the naked slave in the cubicle.
Foggy is so glad Matt can’t hear the rate of his heartbeat or anything.
xxx
“Er. Right. Let’s go to my room, then,” Foggy says (unsuccessfully) trying to not stare at Matt’s bare chest after he’s emerged from the bathroom, hair damp and skin flushed (he is ogling his slave here, and if that wasn’t enough to make him majorly uncomfortable, his mother is in the next room-) “It’s upstairs, and the, uh, stair case is like two steps in front of you, and maybe…thirty? degrees to the right-“
“Most people just grab me by the arm if they want me anywhere,” Matt interrupts him, softly, but then immediately stiffens, as if realizing what he just did. “I’m sorry. Sir. Please punish me as you see fit,” he says, but the words sound grating and stiff, as if someone had made him repeat them so often until they were a hated, but natural response.
“I, uh. I’m not going to punish you just for speaking,” Foggy manages, adding in his head, or ever, if I can help it. “And please. Call me ‘Foggy’, everything else is just…weird.”
Again, Matt gives him what would probably be a curious look if he could see, but then just nods. “Understood.” Then he holds out his left arm, slightly, as if it were an offering to appease an angry god. “If you still want me in your room…”
“Um.” Foggy eloquently says again, and now he can feel himself blushing. “Can’t imagine it being that comfortable to be yanked around by your arm,” he forces out. “Do you want to hold on to mine?” He has seen someone leading a blind person like that in a movie, once, and begs that the almighty university of Hollywood won’t let him down on this. He gently extends his own elbow to bump into Matt’s bare forearm, so he knows where it is and can grab on if he wants to.
The startled look on the other man’s face doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the sudden touch.
“...yes. Thank you, sir,” Matt says, lifting his hand a little, brushing fingers across Foggy’s forearm until his grip, feather-light and tentative, as if he doesn’t know whether he’s even allowed that much contact, settles in the crook of his elbow. And then there’s a slight intake of breath when he seems to realize what he just said. “Oh. I’m sorry for using the wrong address again, please punish me as-“
“No. No, that’s fine, there’s gonna be no punishing whatsoever, really, I just wanna get upstairs before my mother comes to check on us,” Foggy pleads, trying to slowly get moving toward the stairs, breathing a relieved sigh when Matt on his arm seems to follow along easily enough. “And really, I want you to call me Foggy, but if it takes you a while to remember and get there, that’s okay, too.“
At this, Matt actually seems to give him a little frown. “I can obey orders,” he says, and there seems to be a hint of offended pride in his voice, as if Foggy had called him stupid. It’s a brief flash of personality behind the meek and servile demeanour, and Foggy can’t help but be intrigued despite himself.
“Never said you couldn’t, buddy. Just that you don’t need to, right now,” he tries, going for a soothing tone. “Stairs start here, by the way.”
Again, that little surprised expression (that thankfully seems to wipe the small downturn of his lips away – god, Foggy doesn’t know whether that’s a blind thing, but this slave – Matt, Foggy reminds himself, he is called Matt, he has a name he wants to be called by – Matt’s face seems to be showing any single little emotion he feels so openly, Foggy doesn’t know what to do with it) and then Matt nods, and starts to climb the first step.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. I have no idea what I’m doing. Am I doing this guiding thing right?”
“Well, I haven’t walked into any walls yet,” Matt replies, and then almost freezes next to Foggy. “I’m sorry-“
“It’s alright,” Foggy cuts him off, his tone weary but his heart actually pounding a bit faster than usual. “I, um. Actually thought that was kinda funny.”
“Oh,” Matt replies, but then also doesn’t seem to know what else to say, so they awkwardly shuffle up to Foggy’s room in silence.
“Here,” Foggy says as he opens the door to his little kingdom, kind of wishing that the first time he brought a hot, half-naked person in here it wouldn’t be someone who legally belonged to him, “Bed is three steps in front of you, if you sit down on it, I’ll get you some more clothes.”
Matt nods, releasing his arm and walking forward surprisingly steady, even without guidance or cane. Foggy briefly wonders whether that is because he is just a very fearless person, or whether he still thinks that Foggy would punish him if he didn’t obey instantly.
Then all thoughts fly from Foggy’s head the instant he sees Matt from behind.
“Holy – what happened to your back?!”
Matt stops in his movement, coming to a standstill in front of Foggy’s bed. His right hand closes into a fist for a moment, but then he seems to consciously relax himself again.
“A punishment,” he says, head turned over his shoulder. “I received it just before I was sold. It should heal soon.”
“Yeah. Yeah, no, doesn’t look like it,” Foggy says, tonelessly, still staring at the absolute mess of thin, scabby wounds, some of them obviously slightly oozing again after the water of the shower must have aggravated them, and the older scars beneath. He isn’t quite sure how Matt is moving as gracefully as he does instead of being stiff as board with pain. The thin, bloody stripes (Whip? Cane? Foggy has absolutely no reference which instrument could have inflicted this damage and hopes he never has to develop one) extend all the way down Matt’s back and disappear beneath the waist band of his oversized sweat pants. Foggy realizes he has no idea how far the damage goes.
“Your mother did get me out of the bargain bin,” Matt points out.
And then, because the entire situation is so surreal it couldn’t become weirder if either of them turned into a melting clock, Foggy can’t help but blurt out “Oh god, that is so her,” and then he suddenly can’t help but give a (slightly hysterical) giggle, because everything else would probably mean crying. Matt has half-turned into his direction again, and he seems a trifle alarmed at Foggy’s reaction – even if the edges of his own mouth are, interestingly, twitching again – but then he appears to clamp down on that, sharply, and ducks his head.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply – they’ll stop bleeding soon. If you don’t want me staining your clothes-“
“What – no! This isn’t what this is about, Jesus.” Foggy runs a hand over his face. “Okay. Lie down on the bed. On your front.”
Matt nods, as if he had expected that order. “Of course. Do you want me to take my clothes off myself or-“
Foggy starts at the question for a second, until it dawns on him what Matt has likely to be thinking. He shakes his head wildly (for all the good that does when talking to a blind person, Nelson, great going). “Wha – no!” he blurts. “I mean.” He clears his throat. “That isn’t…I want to clean up your wounds, Matt, not, not have sex with you.”
(Sex, a voice at the back of his head scoffs. That would be rape, and you know it.)
No, he is not denying that Matt is extremely attractive, and that the sight of him barely clothed in his bed room does things to him. But then, there is also the sight of his collar, and the sight of his tense, wary body language, and the sight of his wounds, and that takes Foggy more quickly out of any aroused mindset than a bucket of cold water.
Matt tilts his head again at his flustered denial, seems to study him for a minute as if listening to something, but then again simply turns back to the bed, climbs atop it with more graceful movements than he should be able to perform, and lies down flat on his front. He still doesn’t look relaxed, exactly, but less like he is expecting Foggy to hit him any moment now, so Foggy will take what little victories he can get.
“I’ll be right back,” he says, basically fleeing his room to look for disinfection spray, salves and bandages in the bath room, and hoping he doesn’t run into his mother on the way there, because he has a lot of feelings to sort out right now.
(whoops, apparently max character length reached...^^°)
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...5, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-13 06:05 am (UTC)(link)(and, more scenes from later on, also ones referring to Matt's previous experiences -)
Xxx
“Hello? Mr. Fogwell?”
Matt knows he’s legally allowed to do any of this. He has two wallets now, one of them that he’d dearly like to forget he has to carry, and that one holds the permit cards. He’s using the privilege granted to him by three of them, currently – right to be out at night, right to use public transport, and right to talk to free people – and he is also doing his damndest to make sure no one realizes he needs these permits to do those things legally. So his collar is well hidden, and the permit cards themselves are in a separate holder that he doesn’t have to get out with his regular wallet that holds his student ID and cash (using permit number four).
“Yeah? Someone still there?” Fogwell’s voice is old, and rougher than Matt remembers it, but it’s still unmistakeably his. Matt hopes no one else can hear his heart beat as fast as it does, because then his pretense would shatter.
“Actually, it’s me. Matt Murdock? I don’t know if you remember me,” Matt says, stepping into (what he thinks is, judging from the warmth) the light of the old lamp above the gym door.
“Matt…?” Fogwell croaks, and steps closer. He sounds like he has a beard now, and drinks a little bit more than he should. There is a stoop to his shoulders, and a bad knee creaking to Matt’s ears, but he still moves quickly enough for an old man, shuffling toward Matt. “Holy hell, boy, that really you?”
“Still the same,” Matt lies, but covers it easily with a smile. He knows he isn’t Matt Murdock, isn’t anything but what Foggy chooses to name him, but this…this is a fragment from his old life, before he was sold for the first time, and Matt treasures every single aspect of it.
“I thought…I didn’t see you since your old man won that fight,” Fogwell says. “Damn solid fighter, he was.”
“Yeah,” Matt agrees easily, “He was.”
“So what brings you back to this old place, boy?” Fogwell tilts his head at him. “Surprised you found it again without your peepers. But I guess you couldn’t mistake the stink, right?”
Matt shakes his head with a snort. “Not very polite, Mr. Fogwell, making fun of the blind.”
“Oh, spare me. You Murdock boys always could take anything the world threw at ya,” Fogwell waves him off. “So what are ya doing that brought you here?”
“Actually, I’m going to law school at Columbia. The campus is fairly close.”
“Are ya?” Fogwell asks, moving his face closer and taking his glasses off in a way that Matt wonders whether he’s squinting at him. “Well good on ya, kid. Woulda made your old man proud.”
“Hopefully, yeah,” Matt replies, privately trying to avoid thinking about what his father likely would have done if he’d seen Matt only four months ago, collared, caged and grovelling on the floor before his last owner. (His last owner, who he had then thrashed six ways to Sunday four days later; neither of those instances would have been likely to impress his father much).
“Anyway, I was wondering if I could maybe use the gym for some basic training after hours. I’m sorry I wouldn’t be able to pay you much on a college budget, but I also wouldn’t need to keep the lights on,” Matt tries with a joke, and is rewarded with a hacking laugh.
xxx
or, (even shorter) maybe Foggy and Matt on their first shopping trip, shortly after he gets him)
“I…Foggy, thank you,” Matt says, later, when they’re sitting on a bench in front of the mall, bags by their feet, and both working on a sort of wrap from a fast food place. “I realize you didn’t have to do any of those things.”
Foggy snorts. “What, feed you and clothe you? Those are some pretty basic things that everybody has the right to, I think.”
“Slaves don’t. At least, not like this,” Matt says quietly. “My last owner…” he starts, then makes a grimace, but in the end goes ahead with it anyway. “My last owner wouldn’t even have let me sit on the bench like this with him. I’d have been kneeling at his feet. Being hand-fed.”
Matt has turned his head slightly away from him, so Foggy can’t see his face, but he can see Matt’s hands. They’re clutching the wrap hard enough to almost smush it.
xxx
so, uh, yeees. Look at the avalanche you kicked off in my head.^^° (I'm still wondering what kind of attitude Foggy's parents/family would have toward Matt, too - like, do they disapprove of Foggy's 'lax' handling/'coddling' of Matt? Do they come round and come to like Matt, or do they continue to treat him like a normal slave when Foggy takes him home during the holidays? Does Foggy vehemently protest when they do, and Matt just kinda takes it in long-suffering stride?) I spend too much time on this AU entirely...but I enjoy reading your ideas so much, dammit! XD
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...5, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-17 04:23 pm (UTC)(link)I would so love emphasis on the fact that Matt *knows* how much Foggy is attracted to him and Foggy isn't exactly the master of subtly. I'd love Matt being wary and scared of something happening, waiting for the other shoe to drop, actually getting MORE nervous the more time passes and Foggy does nothing to him??
So Matt maybe decides to take it into his own hands? Like maybe offer himself up to Foggy, make himself desirable, maybe even mess up on purpose to get punished?? Idk, I leave it all in your capable hands, anon. But I'd LOVE milking the fear from
Matt and the awkwardness of Foggy about the sexual attraction and I'd DEFINATELY love to see Matt offering himself up. Just a thought?? :))
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...5, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-18 12:46 am (UTC)(link)Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...5, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-19 11:50 am (UTC)(link)And for Matt trying to get himself punished on purpose, maybe he breaks something special of Foggy's?? Maybe Foggy thinks it was an accident (Matt thought the scenario wouldnt matter) and tries to actually comfort Matt which makes him more guilty and nervous and caves in and admits he did it ON PURPOSE but Foggy still doesn't make his life a living hell. (I honestly think it would be amazing to see Matt break and confess breaking Foggy's special thing on purpose cause he thinks it will bring the wrath of heaven down on him but also cause for some reason he hates deceiving Foggy???).
BASICALLY I WANT self!sabatoging Matt and patient kind Foggy and angst and guilt and fear and awkwardness and comfort :))) Sorry if that wasn't helpful but I REALLY would love the 'Matt damages/breaks/ruins something special to Foggy to get punished and instead recieves forgiveness' scenario :))
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...5, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-19 10:02 am (UTC)(link)Okay, confession time, I wasn't sure how bad you were keen to go with owners so I was vague about previous experience but I am so here for Lester and his sort.
I actually kind of tried to hint that Matt's first owner was like that too. In my head, he's been trained at the orphanage in what to expect if he is sold but knowing is a lot different from doing. And even with all this training, he's still free, so when he's first enslaved he's not straight away really good at orders or being a slave. But that's okay because some people love breaking slaves in. And I figure that's who buys him first. My headcanon was a small family with a young girl. They hired him for childcare and general chores but at night the father uses him and even during the day he gains great pleasure out of physically 'correcting' him. And Matt tries to keep his spirit and fight but there's no way he can win, if he escapes he’s got nowhere to go, and in the end it breaks him and by the time he reaches Mark he's still himself because they'll never take that, but he's resigned to his role as property and something to be used for other's desires.
Also, I can't stop thinking about Lester's other slave too. Because I feel like at this point Matt's accepted his lot, and he's probably accepted his going to be labelled too troubled and put down in short order.
But anyway, I have an idea that cruelty to slaves is technically illegal. But it's super hard to prove because physical punishment for things like disobedience is legal and they have no right to consent so they can't legally be raped or anything like that. But maybe in Lester's case they accept it is a case of unnecessary cruelty and slap him with a fine and maybe he can't own slaves for a year or something whatever. Except there's zero thought given to Matt or the other kid and Matt knows he can survive but both of them are simply sold back to the market and Matt still thinks about this kid who was probably sold to pay a debt, might even have actual family, and has been through some serious trauma but no one cares at all and he's just going to be passed off to someone else who will treat him like nothing until he believes it.
Then he meets Foggy who cares very much and suddenly is offering him an opportunity to actually be able to do something about this shit and I don't know where I'm going with this but you gave me feels about an OC how dare you.
MAYBE Matt runs into him again after he's free. His new owner needs to sue someone for his rights or something and he becomes one of the first cases the newly named Nelson and Murdock fight for.
AWKWARD FOGGY HELP. OMG this whole scene was too much, like Foggy being all friendly and treating Matt like a person and Matt being thoroughly confused and thrown by it. I loved Matt’s automatic trained responses too.
Foggy taking care of Matt too oh my heart. And Matt expecting him to want to have sex with him even when he’s cut up and probably in pain because that’s just what happens. And especially after a punishment, even ‘good’ owners would probably not worry about letting them recover (after all, it’s considered their own fault) and Foggy being so upset Matt would think that.
Matt’s offended little ‘I can obey orders’ was so HIM, too and a sign that under all the training and no matter how hard they’ve tried there’s still a person there and FOggy is so going to let him be that person again.
And Foggy is so good with his ‘okay this is new so it’s cool if we don’t get it right away’ ugh he’s too good. And Matt must be so confused because yes there are people out there who hate the slavery system and think slaves deserve to be treated like people but pretty much none of them actually own slaves so this is a very unusual situation and he was very not trained or prepared for this at all.
And Foggy would be like ‘just be yourself it’s cool’ but it’s been so damn long Matt’s not even sure how to do that. Yeah he’s managed to keep who he is and he’s damn proud of that but so many years of training have taught him to keep it so damn far inside that taking it out is not a straightforward process. And he found a big part of himself when he let the devil out to deal with Lester but like, beating up Foggy doesn’t seem like a great idea so it’s back to the start for this part of him lol.
And I’m so here for Foggy being super relaxed about it and letting Matt figure it out and some things he fall back into naturally but maybe sometimes he tries saying stuff and is like ‘no no that felt weird let’s not say that again’. And sometimes he even actually has to do chores just because he NEEDS some familiarity and Foggy’s there like ‘dude that’s cool so long as you know you don’t have too I’m fine, do what you need to though if it’s going to make you feel better’. And Foggy sits up at night googling wtf actually owning a slave entails and trying really hard to ignore most of the results and ends up sticking with articles about newly freed slaves because it’s the closest he can get to what he needs to help Matt.
Damn I’m trying to reply to this comment in some sort of order but I think I’ve gone off on a tangent where even am I lol.
Let’s go to the next fill part because Matt going to the gym again yay! And I love this is clearly MATT back pretty completely (thanks to Foggy). Him thinking about his father hit me in the feels though. Because his Dad always wanted him to make something of himself with his mind but the system turned him into something considered less than human and he’s probably had more than one night of desperately hoping the dead can’t look back to earth as see what happened to his little Matty.
The scene in the mall too yes I love it. And Foggy’s complete confusion at Matt’s thanks because of course everyone deserves such basic things but Matt’s had times he wasn’t even allowed clothes and not only is Foggy horrified by that he just straight up treats Matt like he has a right to everything free people do like there’s no doubt or question about it or anything and he probably hates that Matt is so grateful because it means there were people who didn’t treat him even decently and that just hurts to think about. And with every damn comment Foggy is more certain in his decision to go to law school and fight for this stupid fucking system to be ground to dust.
Ohhh I think you could go either way tbh but I’m a fan of nice!Nelsons so I think maybe they’re kind of amused that Foggy is so fond of his slave and they still try and treat him like a slave but not as harshly as some people would. More like, he’s there to do chores and stuff but Foggy’s like ‘nuh uh my slave, my rules, he’s not doing anything’ (even though Matt would so offer just to make things easier but Foggy’s like ‘Matt I said no also at this point it’s not even about you it is a battle of will between me and my family come on dude I need to win this’) and no one ever forgets what Matt is but it gets to the point they’re okay with him sitting on the couch with Foggy and eating at the table (though talking to him either doesn’t happen or takes a bit longer).
Also you make me blush, I’m so glad you like reading my ramblings even if they take forever to get out. This thread is honestly so much fun and I love this AU so much and we’ve barely written a full thing yet lol.
Okay also, this makes me annoyed with myself but I’m going to post this then come back to the other long reply I owe you later, possibly tonight but I am bad at this so have this ramble then maybe tomorrow another reply to your other fill bits lol. (spoiler: I love every part of it :P).
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...6, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-24 03:05 am (UTC)(link)Oh yeah, as for the level of cruelty and darkness tolerance I have in my AUs, it's mostly less a case of *how* bad it is, and more a question of 'how long is dwelled on it' and 'how well does the character deal with it'. As in, I may have written yet *another* scene below with...some very non-subtle...non-con implications, but I find I deal much better with that kind of content in a fic if a character does not have to go through massive amounts of angst and/or PTSD for it (as might be more realistic). In this fic, it might also even 'help' Matt that this treatment of slaves is pretty much an accepted fact of life he'd even come to expect. (His pain tolerance helps, too...) So, just like you wrote, it conditioned him into a pretty shitty outlook on life, but never truly broke him, he's still himself and Foggy's gonna help him get every last piece of his personality back and shining :3
That said, as for more past...(this scene takes place straight after Foggy went to fetch bandages):
xxx
Xxx
“Okay.” Foggy has been standing in front of the door to his own room for what feels like ten minutes now, clutching the first aid kit and several creams and ointments, and trying to work up the courage to go in there again. What finally pushes him is the thought that Matt is still in there, still waiting, still in pain, and that as his owner is his responsibility now and fuck.
Foggy goes in.
Matt is still lying on the bed, curiously not startled in the least from Foggy’s sudden entrance, and doesn’t seem to have moved at all. He has his cheek pillowed on his hands, head turned sideways so the metal collar isn’t digging into the skin of his neck. Foggy makes an absent-minded note to replace that thing at some point, but now there are more pressing concerns.
“I’m going to disinfect your wounds first,” he warns Matt as he sits down next to him. “That might sting.”
“I’ll be fine,” Matt replies, and, worryingly, he actually seems to be. He startles when Foggy’s hand gently settles on an uninjured patch of skin on his hip to steady him, but when the part that’s actually hurting him, i.e., the disinfection happens, he almost seems to relax into the pain.
Foggy tries not to think about what it implies when someone is startled by gentle touches, not painful ones.
There is silence in the room while Foggy wipes off the disinfectant around the wounds and then dresses them as best as he can. As he works, the pattern keeps repeating, Matt’s muscles flinching and tensing under Foggy’s hands every time he touches him, and then relaxing into his ministrations, almost like soothing a spooked animal. Matt has taken off his glasses after he’s been ordered to lie down on the bed, and, even if for him it has to make little difference on whether his eyes are open or not, Foggy wonders whether him closing them might be the first, minute sign of trust.
“Okay,” Foggy says, breaking the silence after he’s done all he thinks he can. “Are there….” He forces himself to take another breath. “Are there more wounds beneath your pants?”
Matt has opened his eyes again after Foggy spoke, but still does not seem as ill-at-ease as he previously was. “Yes,” he says, cautiously. “Do you want to dress them, too?”
“Only….” Foggy swallows. “Only if you want me to. This is your body. You should decide what happens to it.”
Matt gives his left ear an incredulous stare.
“You own me,” he points out.
“And I don’t want anything happening to you that you don’t want happening to you,” Foggy replies calmly, because this is an easy turnabout by now. “So. Do you want me to have a look at the rest of you, or do you want the first aid kit and I’ll leave the room so you can try to sort yourself out…?”
Again, it takes a moment while Matt apparently computes the question. This time, though, it seems less like he has trouble believing what Foggy says and more like he’s fighting an internal battle, brow furrowed and shoulders tense. But then there is a noticeable slump to his body’s tension, as if he’s giving up a fight he has no chance of winning.
“Stay. Please,” he says, voice small. “I’ll…you can use me, if you want to, I don’t mind-“
“Yeah, not happening,” Foggy says, curtly. “But if you want me to take a look at those wounds, take off your pants and I’ll see what I can do.”
Xxx
Matt fully naked, as it turns out, looks more than twice as attractive than Matt half-naked (Foggy thinks the math is somehow not checking out here) but, again, any attraction he could have felt during the moment is dampened into non-existence by the damage that is obvious to see. On instinct, Foggy had even turned around while Matt was taking off the sweat pants, waiting until he could hear him lying down on the bed again. (He had felt stupid, of course, it wasn’t like Matt could actually see the gesture, but it had still felt right – slaves were hardly ever allowed to keep any modesty, and Foggy would have felt dirty if he had treated Matt like this from the start).
Now, though, the back of Matt’s lower body is on full display and it’s just as bad as the upper half. Worse, even.
Foggy sees blood trickling from a place it really shouldn’t be coming from.
“Fuck,” he whispers under his breath, and maybe Matt’s hearing is sharper than other people’s, because he flinches as if Foggy had yelled it.
“It’s – it’s okay, I’ll heal –“
No, no, nothing about this is okay, the voice in Foggy’s head keeps yelling, and of course he knows what slaves are used for, everyone is aware of what’s going on in a lot of slave owners’ houses, it’s legal, but – but suddenly coming face to face with it is something different entirely.
“No,” Foggy chokes out, suddenly having difficulty to get air. “No, this isn’t okay, Matt.”
At his words, Matt goes rigid again, even the last fragments of relaxation gone. When he speaks, his voice is clipped and controlled.
“I am sorry this slave isn’t up to your standards, sir,” he says. “I will do my best to appeal to the desired aesthetic more in the future.”
Foggy stares. He now knows that a) whatever undergrad degree his last owner made Matt get apparently either had something to do with English or with interpreting everything anyone ever said in the worst way possible and b) for next Christmas, he is getting his mother something horrible.
For the moment, though, he forces himself to remain calm. “No, Matt, this – this isn’t what I meant. I meant it’s not okay anyone did that to you. Did anything that you didn’t want them to.”
Matt blinks at this. It occurs to Foggy that he isn’t actually doing much to escape a stereotype of a typical slave owner here – it’s Matt’s first night with him, and he has him lying naked and collared next to him on the bed while he himself is fully clothed, and inspecting him like damaged goods – but dammit, he’s trying here! It’s not his fault the universe seems to hate him.
“That is…a kind notion,” Matt says, and he sounds just as polite and distant as when he first spoke to him in the living room. “But it’s fine. Pity is not required.”
And oh, thinks Foggy, oh.
“It’s not pity, Matt,” he says quietly. “It’s anger. I’m angry. Because even if doing this to you is legal, it certainly isn’t justice.”
Beneath his hands, he swears he can feel Matt’s heart beat skip a beat.
“You…think so?” Matt manages, for the first time his voice actually sounding unsteady.
“Mh-hmm. I’m actually planning to become a lawyer for stuff like this. Maybe even specialize in slavery law.” He pauses when he sees Matt’s expression. “What, didn’t mom tell you she wants you to be my study aid?”
“…no. She didn’t,” Matt says, but he still sounds a bit bowled over. “That’s…actually…” he seems to want to say something more, but then blinks again, and whatever he meant to say is apparently swallowed back down. “Alright. I can do that.”
“Great,” Foggy says, and is actually surprised at how the enthusiasm in his voice somehow doesn’t seem to be entirely faked. “So. Are you okay with me taking care of the rest of your cuts?”
“Yes.” Matt nods, then swallows and adds quietly, “Please.”
“Okay,” Foggy says, and there is a repeat performance of him sterilizing and patching up cut skin, only he imagines that this time, it might take Matt not quite as long to relax into his touches. Foggy thinks he still tenses when he gets close to any sensitive areas, but he carefully avoids those and then, later, when Matt is awkwardly shuffling back into the oversized sweatpants and shirt Foggy has extracted from the chaos in his drawers, he takes his hand to press two of the salves into it. “And here, uh. This is a disinfectant, and this one is supposed to numb and, er, heal. If you want to. Apply. Some of it yourself, in the bathroom.” He stumbles through his offer. “If you want to, we can also go to the hospital tomorrow?“
Matt, now fully clothed and wearing his sunglasses again, tilts his head. “I…would rather not go to any hospitals, if you don’t mind.”
“Alright,” Foggy nods, because this is what he’s trying to do, right? Give Matt some autonomy over himself back. “Just tell me if it doesn’t heal or gets worse, right? Because, you know, I’m so not qualified to deal with any of this.”
Again, Matt seems to weigh his answer before he speaks (Foggy wonders whether, perhaps, impulsiveness seems what has him gotten those stripes on his back), but when he does reply, it almost looks like he’s smiling.
“It’s probably not my place to say,” he says, “but I think you’re a lot more qualified than anyone I ever met.”
xxx
Soooo, yeah. I'm just not sure how to end that scene.^^° Anything you'd add? They'll probably still have to go back to sleep, I'm just not sure whether Foggy would break out the futon and sleep on there because the bed is more comfortable for Matt, or whether he'd think that for Matt an owner's bed has worse associations, or whether he half-heartedly wonders whether the owner's manual is right when it says 'for a pet, sleeping in their owner's bed is considered a privilege and often used as a reward', so maybe Matt is conditioned to WANT to sleep there and it's just all kinds of fucked up. But yes. These are the important questions. XD
and oh god! Matt meeting up later after he's freed not just with people who knew he was a slave and helped him to hide it but ALSO with those who either abused/humiliated him or others who never saw him as anything but a normal slave, outwardly broken and cowed? I'm so here for that. That other slave Lester had, he'd likely be completely *boggled* when he sees Matt as a free man, like, 180° turnabout much? Or if he runs into others, maybe even Lester himself, who might not even know Matt has been freed in the mean time, and then try to order him about when they see him? And Matt gets to go all Rohrschach and "No." on them :D Any ideas for scenes?
And oooh yes, you put everything that's going on inside Matt so beautifully! It's like if he were a Sim character, and all his usual options of 'obey', 'bear it', and/or 'violence time!' are all NOT WORKING with Foggy, so he's totally floundering on how he's supposed to act!
And so yes to Foggy doing research. Like, the two cursive lines in that other bit about the nuzzling were supposed to be a bit out of the owner's manual, which is SO not helpful and borderline creepy at times. Foggy keeps it still, feeling grateful that 'well, at least Matt can't read print and won't find it, right...?'
and unf, yeah about Matt always oscillating between needing some routines that resemble being kept as a slave when he feels overbalanced, and then feeling a bit embarrassed because he shouldn't *need* that, right? And Foggy trying to tell him, it's fine, lots of people need work to feel useful, you're not a *freak*, Matt, nor anything less' and Matt just not knowing how to deal with all of the kindness.
And yeah, I think the gym is a pretty special place for Matt, because it's the first thing he'd do completely on his own - like, he goes to classes, and out with Foggy, and to the library and sometimes for a stroll on campus, just because he enjoys having the liberty to do so so much - but this is the first thing where he goes away from where Foggy is and does something no one has prompted him to do, just for himself.
And yes to Matt's gradual ascent in the Nelson household - first to the table (after the mother asks 'aren't they supposed to kneel on the floor?' a bit surprised and Foggy being like, 'No, Mom, and seriously, I'm this close to taking Matt to eat out at some place, you're *embarrassing* him!' hissing under his breath, hoping that Matt outside won't hear (oh Foggy...) but yeah, no, unlike Claire (who met him as a 'free man' and maybe eventually Karen they likely wouldn't ever forget what he is. Especially if he is visibly wearing his collar in the Nelson household bc they don't want to have to explain their weird arrangement to the parents.
And no worries, your replies are totally worth the wait, they're always a joy to read!^^ Makes throwing ideas around in here so much more fun!
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...6, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-25 12:05 am (UTC)(link)This line turns me into a puddle.
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...6, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-08 05:01 am (UTC)(link)But really, this story is so, so super angsty! I think the most telling moment, for me, was that moment when Foggy asked Matt what he wanted for his treatment, and Matt tensed up. It was as if Matt thought maybe he really could decide for himself, like he WANTED to take that chance... and then he gives in, because he can't quite believe that his body's his own again or the other shoe won't eventually drop. I don't know, it sort of summed up the whole premise and the characters in one little line.
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...6, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-15 12:36 am (UTC)(link)Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...6, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-16 02:03 am (UTC)(link)Don't know if you've got it all figured out by now, but you know what I would love to see with this? Father Lantom, Matt's confessor, showing up in some capacity down the road in this story. I dunno, I just love the religiosity of the show, and am curious how it would play out in this universe.
But whatever you come up with, I'm really excited for it!
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...6, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-16 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)Neither Matt is happy about his status, but I think #7!Matt accepts it better than this one. XD Also, #7!fic is very obviously Matt/Foggy, while this one here is probably keep skirting *just* this side of veeeeeeery close friendship/not-acted-upon-attraction, because #6!Foggy finds it too iffy to have sex with someone who technically belongs to him. #7!Foggy thinks so too, but, since he didn't think his Matt would ever be freed, knew simply waiting was not an option, so...
But hah, glad you like both fics. Have you been commenting on the one in #7, too?^^
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...6, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-10-19 12:40 am (UTC)(link)It's interesting the comparisons you draw between them; the first time I glanced at them, I was like "hm, the Avengers story is almost like a sequel to this one." But you're right, there are some pretty strong, subtle differences. Like, I'm pretty sure this Matt would burn the world down if it got him out of slavery, but he'd never show that to anyone. The other version is more at peace with what's happened, but he's also more than willing to tell Tony and the rest EXACTLY what he thinks.
I'm curious about what's going on in Matt's head in this story--we mostly see his POV in the future and past, not so much when he's meeting Foggy, and what little we see (or glean from Foggy, who's incredibly perceptive), he's starting to fight or slip up on his programming... but Foggy can't be fixing him THAT fast, so it makes me suspicious that Matt's inches away from his breaking point right now.
Re: Another bit of a something, Mini-fill...5, now?
(Anonymous) 2015-09-28 01:47 am (UTC)(link)