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Duplicity Game Mods ([personal profile] duplicitymods) wrote in [community profile] duplicitymemes2021-01-10 07:56 pm
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TDM #16


« « « TEST DRIVE MEME » » »

« « « ALL ON DISPLAY


It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. Yet, solace is found in the lies we tell each other, comforted by the peace of knowing that we're not alone in our depravity, and once on this path, sin itself becomes the lesser of two evils masked in a cloud of normalcy.

This is how Duplicity has functioned since the beginning. The divide of power and social standing is overt in that Dominants influence the decisions made both publicly and privately while Submissives cater to the rules presented to them. It is the way of Duplicity to assign random designations at birth with no leeway in altering what has been given. Climate in the Up is far stricter than that of the Down; violating outlined personas for a Dominant or Submissive while in full view of others is punished by degree of infraction. In the Down, many tend to turn a blind eye to these sorts of offenses.

To counteract the discovery of the Deceit Gene – a natural "negative" response to all stimuli – the L.I.E.S. program was founded. The program had been designed to introduce new subjects to the current environment and test for the Deceit Gene through immersion in Duplicity's standing society. Sexual impulses and encounters increase the chances of detecting the gene within these individuals. Participants are typically released from L.I.E.S. after a year; however, results have remained unsatisfactory and testing still continues.

... and you’re here! Finally! Welcome to Duplicity.

After choosing a door and stepping through to the other side, the first thing that greets you are the enthusiastic faces of people in medical scrubs and pristine lab coats. Their enthusiasm translates to eagerness as they strip you of your clothes to perform a thorough examination—you will be healed, bathed, and given a paper gown to wear until your items can be processed and delivered to your residence later in the evening. You are also given a device that accesses the network as well as the time and location of orientation.

If you enter Duplicity into the Up, congratulations! You’re a Dominant, which means you are immediately picked up by a limo after processing and taken to your high rise. Here, it is two Dominants per floor with separate apartments. If you enter Duplicity into the Down, congratulations! You’re a Submissive, which means you are directed towards public transportation with the address of the motel you’ll be living in. Here, it is two Submissives per room with a shared common space for all rooms.

Enjoy your free time until orientation! Participation is mandatory by all new and old arrivals.

The weather is rather cold and icy.



» » » WALKING TOUR




The cold, icy winter weather has seen to it that there is an unfortunate interruption with the usual city tour for the newest arrivals to Duplicity. Some of the train tracks have a dangerous amount of ice coating them and sections of travel are now unavailable via train.

City officials still believe that the tours are important to integrate new LIERs to Duplicity so they have organised personal walking tours held by current LIERs. New arrivals will be paired with their own tour guide; they can take the suggested path or take their barely dressed charge on a more ad-hoc tour. It might be considerate to let them change into something warmer first!

Important landmarks and checkpoints like Fiddler’s Square, North Park, The Up and Down Courts, the People Zoo and of course S.L.U.T. need to be marked off on the tours but there have also been fun local stores which have set-ups for free samples and information booklets. What order and how people travel to them is up to them.



« « « GALLERIA OF SEX


(CW: exhibitionism, voyeurism, dub/non-con)

One of the stops along these new walking tours is a temporary educational art installation that has been set up to display and talk about the rich variety of kinks that are popular in Duplicity. Newcomers are invited to come inside the building, sit on the human furniture to watch and learn or volunteer to participate themselves.

Each section has local LIERs and graduated citizens there to help walk those new to the program through the displays, explaining the appeal and draw of each kink.

Live demonstrations or performance art are carried out by LIERs who have volunteered, been conscripted or are fulfilling a sentence that would normally land them in the People Zoo. They can and will ask anyone and everyone to step up and be part of the artwork themselves.

Some of the displays set up will feature:
  • Naked Submissives have been bound and posed with their bodies arched in visually pleasing positions. They are surrounded with candles burning around them and guests are invited to drip the hot wax across their bodies to add to the artwork that is their naked skin.
  • Zap your lover or the volunteers with an electrical wand and discover the way it can make the skin tingle and muscles tense in just the right place at just the right moment.
  • The image of cum dripping from a well used Submissive is considering something to appreciate visually so stations have been set up with glory holes and kneeling participants to have their faces and buttocks painted over the course of the day.
  • A variety of whips, canes and paddles have been set out next to padded benches for Submissives to bend themselves over. The marks they leave are something to be proud of.
  • No art display in Duplicity is complete without an ode to bondage, one room will be entirely devoted to participants being suspended from the ceiling, held in positions that will test their stamina and flexibility and leave the most gorgeous bruises.

We encourage players not to limit themselves in regards to what is on display. There are many more kinks than the ones listed, and Duplicity considers all kinds of sexual acts a form of art.

Photo taking is encouraged throughout the exhibition, especially when your own participation is concerned. If you missed the chance to do so, in the moment, you need not worry as the gift shop at the end of the gallery will have many different prints taken over the course of the exhibition available for purchase. Take home a keepsake of your first day in Duplicity.




« « « ICE TO SEE YOU


(CW: exhibitionism)

Winter does make it harder in Duplicity to enjoy all the pleasures of the flesh that could be on offer in the warmer months. Most who live in the city still need to wrap up with many layers when the weather turns so chilly. But that’s not saying that the city can’t find ways to help keep its residents in the mood.

It will first be noticeable to those trying their hand at streaming or posting video footage onto the network. Regardless of a character's state of dress while recording, they will appear completely naked to those watching and no amount of covering up with more articles of material will change that.

Others might see it as they set about on their first days getting used to the city’s layout, glancing into a shop window they will notice their own state of undress in their reflection. You might even see it in a particularly shiny bit of ice but no matter where you look, all reflective surfaces will show everyone in their birthday suits, naked as the day they were born.



« « « BLADES OF GLORY


(CW: exhibitionism, dubcon, drugging)

In a bid to encourage individuals to get out and keep active despite the chilly weather, the city has transformed one of the large tennis courts in the Up into a makeshift outdoor skating rink. In the recreation building attached to the courts-turned-rink the change rooms have been outfitted for people to change into more appropriate clothing. There is also at the front of the building an area to rent skates.

Many who get on the ice see no reason to keep apart, as many contracted couples can be seen holding hands or chasing each other as they skate. In the change rooms it isn’t uncommon to see a bit of hanky panky or people getting off at helping others in and out of their skates. There also seems to be a small hot chocolate stand set up inside the building where characters can buy a warm drink to sip on while taking a break from skating. The drink may leave those that consume it feeling especially warm and frisky, with perhaps a bit of extra energy they need to burn off - skating might not cut it.




« « « MOD & OOC NOTES


Please read carefully.

On each Test Drive Meme, there will be a section noting character roles; these will vary each TDM. On an IC level, characters will still have gone through the doors but assignments OOCly are still randomized. When applying, there is a section of the application that denotes whether the character chooses "left" or "right". When participating on the TDM, there will be a third option. Players may link either a top level or a thread (five or more comments from their character) from the TDM and title the link as "Door Pass". This means that the player is choosing to take the designation that they were randomly assigned on the TDM, rather than taking the designation of a door. If the player decides to select a door rather than use the pass, then they are trying their luck; they may get the same designation they had on the TDM or the opposite. Once the application is submitted, players can't change their choice.

To assign roles to characters for this TDM, use the following guide: If your character would rather have a dog for a pet they are Dominant. If they would rather have a cat for a pet they are Submissive. If your character is from a canon that has neither, pick the choice you believe they would prefer more.

To Note: Characters can only swap their designation for one of the following reasons: an event occurs that allows it or there are OOC reasons that make it a necessity. Any swap always requires mod approval and each character can only ever switch once. Characters that are being reapped will keep their previous designation but players can choose to use new tdms with different designations for fun!

Please remember to mark any necessary content, and have a good time!!




» » » MAIN NAVIGATION « « «
cryfrustration: (19)

[personal profile] cryfrustration 2021-02-04 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
What's very clear in that shrug is that the answer Vrenille's given, or maybe the distinction he's made, leaves something for Arthur that's unresolved and that, in the face of that, with it as a question, he opts not to persist, but simply to let it fall. What's not at all clear is why.

It could be that he's simply not a man with an especially sharp or agile mind, and that, when faced with a peg that doesn't quite fit into a ready hole, he opts to discard it rather than pursue a search for a hole that it does fit into. Or else it could be that he's learned from experience to keep his searches private, obscuring their signs so that no one will know they're taking place.

In any case, Vrenille lets it drop as well. "Well, I'm sure you'll find something like that when you're ready. There's plenty of options. Just 'cause it's crazy sex city doesn't mean you gotta work in a shop or be a bartender." Or an exotic dancer, he doesn't say.

He holds up a pair of jeans that he reckons are roughly Arthur's size, turning the tag to him so that he can confirm whether the size on the tag is right.

"Fair warning, I'm 'bout to take you over to the underwear section next. Don't get take exception to my picking out your skivvies, yeah? I promise I won't choose anything assless."
doul: (Default)

[personal profile] doul 2021-02-04 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Quiet, but not self-conscious, Doul follows Huaisang through the square to his shop. He looks over the window, assessing what he sees, and once inside seems almost pleasantly bemused. It's all quite strange, but he has no qualms about accepting charity. As he dresses, he is reminding of a voice hissing into his ear about his pride, Liveman, revolting, prick-filling pride.

With the poncho in place, he rolls his shoulders, testing out the range of movement. It's not his own, but it will do and he feels comfortable in it. The lack of clothing bothered him far less than being separated from his sword, but there's little to be done about that but to wait.

"I am not one for speaking freely. Please do not mistake my laconic ways for rudeness. Thank you."
nothinglikefather: made by peaked (Default)

[personal profile] nothinglikefather 2021-02-04 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
In that case my friend, you are missing out. But skittles and darts are far more fun. They require hand-to-eye coordination that becomes increasingly difficult the more time you spend in a pub.
drmcsexy: (Default)

[personal profile] drmcsexy 2021-02-04 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
From the very start. With the tattoo or not. Even that doesn't stick though. Known a few to find their designation changed.

That's the one absolute but that's life before too. Everything is changing.
borntokill: (4)

[personal profile] borntokill 2021-02-04 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Those praises have Wesley cracking his eyes open and staring up at Q with hazy gaze that speaks louder than a hundred words about how gone he is. He wants to be good for Q, each praise sending a new shudder crawling down his spine.

He makes himself welcoming whether Q goes in deep or shallow, paying him just as much attention. His free hand plays with the Quartermaster's balls, rubbing them gently under his palm and feels the gradually draw tighter and tighter as Q is dragged closer and closer to his release. Every spill of salty precum makes him groan deep within his throat, his tongue busily pressing to the slid at the tip of Q's dick to lap it away.
defrosted: (love saved my life when you found me)

Galleria of Sex

[personal profile] defrosted 2021-02-04 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[Snow is bound in ropes, held over the floor, ropes positioned so that they perfectly highlighted her breasts and cunt. she has her head turned to one side, ashamed of what the residents of Fabletown would think if they saw her like this. but she had no choice and Snow is well acquainted with endurance. and she is a beauty, skin white as snow. hair as black as a raven's wing. lips red as blood.

when the strange man approaches, she bites back a sarcastic response, sure that someone, somewhere is watching her every move. she's got to remain strong, despite this city's depravities.

wryly]
I suppose so. As much as any woman could be under the circumstances. I'd imagine you're far more comfortable than I am.
hacker: 2.1 (losing followers for the ferguson posts)

i realize this is incredibly late feel free to ignore

[personal profile] hacker 2021-02-05 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
have you considered a mask and a secret identity?
hacker: (Default)

i realize this is incredibly late feel free to ignore

[personal profile] hacker 2021-02-05 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
There's consequences for everything. Quota, contract. Pretty sure I'm due a citation if I walk in a way that looks too subby.

[ sarcasm stretches her face like elastic, arching eyebrows, narrowing a scowl. she shakes her head. ]

But yeah, I get it. One contract is one person kept out of prison, or worse.
hacker: (daisy46)

[personal profile] hacker 2021-02-05 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, well, he's not yours.

[ daisy's smile is sharp enough to draw blood, but she smooths her hand over the back of cassian's head, petting hair, reassuring. this is the part of being a dominant that comes easily to her. it's clear in her disposition, for all the dark edges; she's a natural at taking care of people.

but she straightens away from him then and she gestures loosely towards the exhibit exit, which doesn't seem far by walking, but cassian very obviously isn't going to be walking. he's going to be crawling.

she's gonna have to buy him a drink after this, but at least he won't be in prison.
]

Come on.
curlytop: (30)

[personal profile] curlytop 2021-02-05 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
George swallows, then nods his head in a series of tiny bobs that goes on a little too long.

"Okay," he says because...what else can he say? Especially when he suspects 'like him a lot' means more than Magnus would care to admit. It's not okay, but there's nothing to be done about it.
old_man: (pic#14347201)

[personal profile] old_man 2021-02-05 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
"In a way. Technically they fire particle beams." Offering a wayward smile, as one may well see them as the same thing, more or less, in a roundabout way. From someone who didn't know any better, they may well think it to be that.

"Always a good skill to have. It has some in handy over the years. Can lose your weapon, after all, but your hands?" Harder...
high_warlock: (031)

[personal profile] high_warlock 2021-02-05 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
"George."

He doesn't know what to say beyond that. Should he have lied, just to spare George's feelings? He won't trample on what he feels growing between him and Alec, just like he wouldn't disregard what's between him and George for the Shadowhunter. Or for anyone, for that matter.

He feels helpless, laying there beside someone he loves and unable to reassure them.

"What do you need from me? What can I do to make this okay?"
chambermusicandtenpins: (i'm just a normal teacher really)

[personal profile] chambermusicandtenpins 2021-02-05 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
Fair enough. But the LIES seem to be prevalent all the same, especially at any of these events we are required to attend, making it all the more treacherous.

[He perks up a little at that second part.] Monsters, you say?
sphecophobic: (13)

gansey | the raven cycle | submissive

[personal profile] sphecophobic 2021-02-05 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
« « « ALL ON DISPLAY

[Gansey actually manages to hold it together through most of his immediate arrival. The tour on foot in some sort of hospital gown, and then having to gather his things from quite possibly one of the most wretched housing complexes he's ever seen in his life. His guide vaguely explaining that he's apparently come out as a Submissive, but their own boredom with their task makes it so he doesn't quite grasp the degree to which this makes him persona non grata in this strange place.

They had neglected some of the finer points, to put it mildly.

Which is how Gansey ends up arguing with one of the street vendors in the market. He'd found his wallet in his room, but it's not the fact that he's holding credit cards that are effectively rather attractive-looking pieces of plastic that keep him from being able to buy a handful of mint leaves. It's the line down his throat. And none of his charm, his name, or that accented edge to his words of old Virginia money can change that.

The argument draws attention, drives off customers, which means the man is about twenty seconds from waving over one of the guards and having them deal with the agitated submissive. Maybe if you're feeling charitable you'll help the kid out?]



[ooc- warning that he's 17 and thus underage. he's from the end of book 1, but I'm pretty spoilers agnostic. [plurk.com profile] natalia_vdova if you wanna plot something specific.. I'd love to toss him at the sex galleria but I couldn't decide on an open prompt.]

[personal profile] hisownmaster 2021-02-05 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
[If there is anything in this world that Adam Parrish expects less in that moment than to hear Richard Campbell Gansey the Third's carefully enunciated words as he argues why his Black card should get him what he wants, it's realizing that he's bearing the same mark as Ronan and Noah.

For a moment he just stands there, gawking as some others are doing but for an entirely different reason.

It's only as he realizes that the guards are about two seconds from making this even worse that he moves forward to interrupt.

Dressed for his marketing job at the radio station, he has on dark slacks and a soft pale blue button down shirt that sets off his eyes. He even has on suspenders, though there's still sneakers on his feet to make it easy to dart from one job to the next. He comes up behind Gansey, resting a hand on his shoulder.]


Are you givin' my submissive trouble?

[His accent, the one that he worked so hard to hide, is out and soft and definitely not hiding his roots in a place where so many don't even know what the Appalachians are.

He lays money down for the mint.]


That should more than cover it and make up for the trouble.

[As if it was their trouble and not Gansey's.]
military_dog: (simmering)

Roy Mustang | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood | Submissive

[personal profile] military_dog 2021-02-05 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ Roy is careful where he places his feet, bare and freezing, as he flinches with each step across an enormous plane of ice.

He'd be smoldering with rage if he didn't feel so shell-shocked, so off of his game. Where the hell is he? How is it possible that, in one moment, he's collapsing after the fight with Lust, and the next in... in... in that room with its high-tech gadgets he damn well knows the military hasn't invented yet. Modern science isn't so advanced as to instantaneously heal the wound Lust inflicted on him and the cautery scar from the burn he used to keep himself alive. Maybe, at this moment, he was still bleeding out next to Havok as he hallucinated all of this.

And if the Amestrian Military didn't invent or produce that medical equipment, who did? Who are these people? Who the hell is responsible for his captivity with these sex-crazed people?

Every bit of... whatever this is... this pretend paper clothing -sans- underwear, the steel locking his wrists together (so much like alchemical stocks from home) it all screams prisoner. But Mustang can hardly blame these people for restraining him; not after his insistence to speak to a General or the Fuhrer, the Emperor -- any leader would have done, and to underscore his need to talk with whoever was in charge, he demonstrated his power by burning empty hospital beds, wet shower towels. For the final display of his stupidity, he ended with a flourish by detonating the nearby office room.

He didn't know where his keeper planned to take him; he only knew they weren't returning him to Amestris. He was needed there, and desperately. But after having lost himself in a display of rage and a piercing loss of everything and everyone he'd loved, he doubted they planned to return him any time soon. Not after all that. Certainly not after the wild-eyed declaration that he would burn them all if they didn't.

The black hole of a man (whose job it is to lead Roy home by tugging at the leash attached to the collar encircling Roy's neck (and isn't that perfect -- given Roy's status as a dog of the military?). Well, whatever home might mean to these people, he hopes that it's warmer than this.

He avoids making contact with anyone, especially the naked people on display or shackled to poles and/or contraptions he can't identify. He doesn't want to know. No. He wants to help but is useless cuffed like this.

So he keeps his gaze firmly rooted to the ground to respect their privacy, and struggles to reclaim an iota of dignity for himself. ]
Edited 2021-02-05 04:36 (UTC)
curlytop: (18)

[personal profile] curlytop 2021-02-05 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
For a moment, George has a vision of his existence at the Institute, watching everything and everyone move on and grow while he was stuck forever. He can't help the whisper of fear that this will be the same. Alec is Magnus' new Sub, the one thing George can never be again, and exactly what he wants to be. Alec will be a better Sub, of course, because he's...Alec Lightwood. Because he was here when Magnus needed him, when George couldn't be.

What does he need to make that okay?

"Time." His voice breaks around the word slightly, and he clears his throat. "I think I'll need time."
curlytop: (16)

[personal profile] curlytop 2021-02-05 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
George shrugs because that sounds like a ray gun to him.

"I mean, I can do melee weapons as well." He smiles, confident and modest at once. "I was all right with a bow, but I reckon that wouldn't be much use in space." Hard to say. Are aliens like demons? Can they be taken down with just the right weapon?
high_warlock: (033)

[personal profile] high_warlock 2021-02-05 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
Magnus nods slightly, reaching out to caress George's face, unwilling to be afraid of touching him, of loving him in the best ways he knows how.

"Take all the time," he says, leaning in to press a light kiss to George's lips.

"I'll be right here. I will always be here for you." George came back to him, against the odds. Magnus, odds are, won't be going anywhere for a while yet.
sphecophobic: (15)

[personal profile] sphecophobic 2021-02-05 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Really, it's Adam's hand on his shoulder that quiets him down-- more out of surprise than anything to be perfectly honest. Which is probably a good thing, because it means he doesn't balk when the other boy calls him his submissive or implies that he was the one making trouble.

He can pick up on the fact that it's a play, but it's still-- it's humiliating, honestly. But he takes his mint and steps away before he can get himself into trouble again. Gansey has never had the experience of coming up short for money at the grocery store, of the different way that people look at you and it cuts in a way that can't help feeling uncomfortable.

It takes him a moment to pull himself together, slipping one of the mint leaves between his lips and then looking over at his friend.]


Adam.. Thanks for that. What's wrong with this place?

[There's frustration in the set of his shoulders. But Adam's here and that's-- it's sort of a comfort, if he's honest. Just to have a familiar face, to not feel so lost in this place with it's strange rules and weird tattoos and the fact that for once in his life he doesn't mean anything. All he has is his charm and that's not enough.]

You know, I was hoping this was all some unfortunate delusion, but if you're here.. it's real, isn't it?
belligerents: (a f f e c t e d)

[personal profile] belligerents 2021-02-05 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
No one's told you how this place works. [She doesn't need to ask, the way he talks confirms it. Raven wasn't surprised he didn't remember. It happened a lot here. Sometimes people come back with memories, and sometimes they didn't.

Really though someone needs to make a welcome packet for this place.]


We know some things, but unfortunately how to get home isn't one of them. We don't know how people arrive or leave. They take you, and they can take people from your home world-- sometimes from different points in time. We're not sure how they did you.

I was 18 when they brought me here the first time. I think you were brought here around the same time as me-- that was more than two years ago here. But not long after you disappeared, I went back home for 6 years. I don't know how or why. And I haven't seen you since. I know none of it makes sense, and I've been trying to figure it out for years, but they don't really share their secrets. Or much of anything.

[Even if they are Dominants. She smiles when he does take the jacket though. Erik could be stubborn, but he was sensible.]

Come on. I can take you to the train, and we can head to apartments to get your clothes and stuff.
spottedprick: (Default)

[personal profile] spottedprick 2021-02-05 05:30 am (UTC)(link)

When Q climaxes, it's as quiet as his usual manner. No fireworks or crying out, just a soft, satisfied groan as he draws Wesley's face up so he's not going to accidentally choke the man by spurting down his throat, opting instead to flood his mouth. He doesn't hold Wesley's head down, either, fingers light in his hair so the assassin can choose to draw back or push forward as he likes.

Slumping down as he finishes, Q takes his time recovering, chest heaving as he catches his breath, warmly savouring the sensations rocking through his body and leaving him tingling all over. "Mm, that was lovely."

deadthing: (bring me back to life)

galleria wildcard

[personal profile] deadthing 2021-02-05 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Noah just wanted to see the wax exhibit again. For, uhh, reasons. Inspiration. But he has to pass through some other rooms to get there.

He's not paying a ton of attention at first because he's seen it all before (and he's been in Duplicity a long time) and then a familiar voice draws him up short. It's coming from around the corner, down a hall where there are glory holes set up. It's— No. Is that Gansey?

Noah zags around the corner so fast he picks up a smear of color across his sleeve from a body-painted model that he brushes past. He mumbles an apology but doesn't stop moving. There's a cluster of people over by the line of glory holes and he beelines toward them, neck craning, trying to find his friend.

That's Gansey, all right. And, as Noah rushes up to the little group, he hears the guide 'suggesting' for what sounds like the second or third time that he would look so pretty on his knees on the other side of the partition. Summoning every bit of daring he has on reserve, Noah butts in.]


—He can't! Uhmm. He's actually supposed to be at another exhibit. With me.

[Please don't ask which exhibit. Please don't ask which exhibit... He casts a nervous glance at Gansey, hoping too that he'll play along.]

[personal profile] hisownmaster 2021-02-05 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
[While Gansey is pulling himself together, Adam guides them away a bit, wanting to get out of eavesdropping distance. Certainly there's a lot of ways this place might listeni in, but he wants to make sure that they're making it as hard as possible.]

Don't thank me. I just... how long have you been here?

[He's in regular clothes and he looks like himself, except for that tattoo... and that he's here.]

Look, come on. My place isn't far from here. [He pauses realizing what he needs to address in that.] It's not just my place either. Ronan and Noah are here.

[He stops then, worrying about something he hadn't thought about.]

What's the last thing you remember before here?
sphecophobic: (02)

[personal profile] sphecophobic 2021-02-05 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
[It was easy to follow after Adam as he got his bearings, such as they were. Away from the gawking crowd and the vendor stalls and the guards. Gave them something a little bit like privacy, at least for the moment.]

A couple hours, I think.

[He has his khakis and his boat shoes and his turquoise polo, but they feel different when they're the only clothes he has. And it's not like losing his luggage in an airport, it's uncomfortable in a way he hasn't really had to confront before. And Adam's here, which is--

Complicated, honestly. But a familiar sort of complicated, at least, which is better than all the rest of this place. He doesn't ask when he says he has a place here, easily distracted by the names of Ronan and Noah. On the one hand there's something comforting about knowing they're here, too. On the other, he doesn't think he'd wish this place on anyone.]


How long have you been here?

[Not that they're strangers to time working strangely, but he gets the impression that Adam's been here for a while, just from the way he moves, how he talked back there. Like he knew the right words to say and he didn't know any of them. So Adam's question doesn't immediately worry him. But Gansey's answer on the other hand might--]

Noah's funeral. We moved his body, and managed to fix things for him. I woke up here just after that.