duplicitymemes | TDM #17

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TDM #17

« « « 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 clear plastic top and pants along with clear plastic boots 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 wet and rainy. Very, very rainy.

» » » ALL ABOARD

It's time for the monthly Duplicity train tour. Seats are in pairs and randomly assigned to Dominants and Submissives alike. Traveling from Fiddler's Square, the train journeys through various parts of the Up, showcasing society and examples of lifestyle. Along the way, frequent stops are made; a variety of passengers can be seen exiting and entering the doors. A Dominant with a kneeling Submissive takes a seat near the front of the train at one stop. A small group of Submissives board and sit closer to the LIERS at another, all seemingly content in their roles. As the tour continues through the Up, the train passes close to the Market and White Wall Bridge and zips by North Park before heading into the Down and bypassing Red Wall Bridge and South Park.

The train makes a "final" stop at Riddler's Square, where inhabitants of the Down are instructed to return to their temporary housing. Those who live in the Up are permitted to stay on the train and revisit the same locations while returning.

« « « RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

(cw: aphro, dub-con, violence, marking)

Ice and chilly weather have begun to give way to rain instead, with overcast skies and dark clouds a seemingly constant sight. While the overabundance of rain is an annoyance and comes with the usual series of problems, such as leaky ceilings, mold growth, and gutters or storm drains overflowing, this time the rain carries with it another problem altogether. A weather advisory warning is broadcast to every device, as well as on news networks and radio. The rain, at least for a few days, is not ordinary rain. Whether you're in the Up or the Down, when the water hits clothing it eats away at it. The more water it absorbs, the more the material disintegrates until the wearer is left naked.

When the rain comes in contact with skin (or is ingested) the effects seem to differ depending on where you are in Duplicity. In the Up, it's relatively harmless and merely has an aphrodisiac effect, leaving individuals feeling hot and bothered, more sociable and touchy feely.

Those in the Down, however, are not so lucky. As the rain seeps through the soil from the Up, it ends up laced with toxins, causing a range of less pleasant side effects for anyone unfortunate enough to come into contact with it. Aside from the aphrodisiac, those who get caught in the rain may develop an uncomfortable, itchy rash, leaving them looking rather spotty for a few days. Those who can't resist scratching at themselves will find a newfound pleasure to the relief it brings and start to crave the feeling or sight of similar marks. In worst case scenarios, individuals will become addicted to marking themselves and others, perhaps even to the point of breaking skin.

Effects may last for several hours after exposure and will stack with repeated exposures. In all cases, getting off will bring temporary relief but will not alleviate the symptoms entirely.

Plastic coverings seem to be unaffected by the rain and, as word spreads, the Natives in Duplicity form a mad rush buying up umbrellas. Unless a character is lucky, they may find themselves unable to purchase - or even borrow - one. Theft of umbrellas becomes widespread in the Down, often escalating to violence, and even the Up isn't safe from thugs trying to steal and resell this suddenly hot commodity.

There's another side to all of this, however. Due to the shortage of umbrellas, it isn't uncommon to see Dom/Sub pairs sharing umbrellas together. If anything, it's encouraged as a means to strengthen their bond. Enterprising Subs and Doms alike may even sell their "services" to escort individuals who would otherwise end up soaked.

« « « SUPPLEMENTAL INCOME

(cw: substance abuse, altered states, coercion, fluids, physical body changes)

A new "holistic" pharma company named SQuIRT is opening up in Duplicity and is paying a pretty penny for people to trial run their new line of supplements. These supplements are supposed to increase a person's vitality and energy levels, but the side effects are what the company is really looking out for.

Some of the side effects aren't so bad and could include:

Prolonged erections
Lactation in both men and women
Size enlargement of breasts or genitals
Copious amounts of ejaculate or sexual fluids
Sudden interest in previously unexplored kinks

While others might find their own reaction to be a little more severe:

Shrinkage of breasts, genitals, or entire being
Inability to cum
Uncontrollable hair growth or hair loss
Temporary loss of one or more senses
Spontaneous weeping

Subjects must take the supplements for at least a week, otherwise they'll receive no compensation for their troubles. All new arrivals will find themselves automatically enrolled in these trials, whether they want to be or not, and expected to report to the clinic. Of course they don't have to take the supplements, but the payout is certainly enticing, especially for those unfortunate enough to be branded Submissives.

« « « STICKY FINGERS

(cw: violence)

Crime runs rampant in the Down as always but now, with the nastier side effects of the rain creating an ongoing problem, some unsavory types are sneaking their way into the Up where the effects aren't so hazardous.

The result is an uptick in crime in places that are usually considered safe. Be careful how you carry yourself - and your valuables. Those who look like easy pickings may find their pockets empty. Cameras in public areas are being vandalized as well, while homes and businesses are seeing a rise in graffiti. Most of the graffiti is merely obscene, but some is outright seditious. Good luck explaining the latter to the authorities if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

One of the smaller gangs that has a presence in the Down is taking particular advantage of the rain's disruption to expand their territory into the Up. Known as the Bulldogs, their members are young men and they have a reputation for violent muggings and assaults - mainly targeting Submissives. They loiter in groups near the train and the elevator between the Up and the Down to ambush the alone and unwary. At night, they also prey on those walking home from bars or clubs who may not fully have their wits about them.

In addition to beating up their victims for money, some of the Bulldogs are engaging in an informal competition over who can steal the most umbrellas - with bonus points awarded for whatever else they feel like. LIERs are worth double points by default, so watch out!

« « « 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:

Players can choose whether to assign their character as a Dominant or Submissive on this TDM for the Door Pass for March Applications only. For May's Application round, threads started here may be used as samples however they will not be eligible for a Door Pass in May. Characters will need to use a thread from May's TDM, using those Door Pass rules, for an application after the March round.

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!

THERE WILL BE NO APPLICATION ROUND IN APRIL

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

» » » MAIN NAVIGATION « « «

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bantha milk... She has tried it, although Padmé could never say that it was something that she would seek out. Green though. It does give her an idea for something later for him, information that she stores away. "I'm not familiar with Empire Day."

But nods, as she may not know that, but she can understand the calculation. She listens though, nodding in understanding. Tatooine had a certain grace to it, even if it wasn't a planet that she liked. Perhaps without the Hutt presence, and a few more of the shadier aspects, it may even have been nicer. Never an easy planet to live on, as it wasn't forgiving, yet she had met Anakin there, and his mother, saw their generosity and spirit.

"Your first big battle. What was that?"

"... no, I guess you wouldn't be." The day Empire declared itself. After she had died.

He closes his eyes. The battle of Yavin is never that far from his memories, even when he might like it to be. "The Empire had a super weapon. They called it the Death Star, it was the size of a small moon and Mon Mothma called it a planet killer, but Ackbar said it was a planet buster. It could hit with enough force to detonate a planet's core."

Ben had spared him Alderaan's death. He would forever be grateful for that.

"They were flying a mission to try and destroy it. It was coming up on the forest moon of Yavin IV, where the rebel base was. It was destroy the Death Star or lose the whole Rebellion. Someone had managed to get hold of plans and they found a weakness, there was an exhaust port, under a main port, which wasn't correctly shielded and a small one man fighter could theoretically fly the trench to it, through the anti starfighter measures, and fire proton torpedoes into it and set off a chain reaction in the reactor."

He's quiet a moment longer. "Biggs convinced his squadron leader that they needed to include me in the squad. Said if anyone could make that shot, it would be me. I held the high score for shooting womp rats from the T-16 and the exhaust port was about the same size."

She's been in battles, witnessed their aftermath, know that even if you win, you don't truly win. It is one of the many reasons why she had rallied against the Military Creation Act, and why she had tried so far to vie for peace during the war. But she is silent and still, not pressing if he prefers to defer, but there to listen if he will talk.

Had Padmé been asked what she wanted, she would have said a peaceful future. It doesn't mean that there wouldn't be conflicts, but if people would only stop and listen to each other, much could have been avoided. Her eyes do widen as Luke speaks of this weapon, unable to even comprehend why anyone would make such a thing... The destruction such a thing could cause...

"I can't even..." She would use force, of course, but she would always try diplomacy first, so this item that could simply destroy. It also means that everything that they had been working towards, to bring an end to the war, only brought something far worse. "And you made the shot."

"Eventually," he says quietly. "I wasn't meant to but- We went in with twenty two X-Wings, that's what I fly, and eight y-wing bombers. The bombers were meant to make the run, but the station deployed fighters and we lost all the y-wings. My squadron leader took a run at it, but his torpedoes glanced and they were taken out. He ordered us to make a last run, and there was only the three of us left, me, Biggs and Wedge."

He can still play the run in his mind with frightening clarity. "Biggs was killed. Wedge was hit, but he managed to pull out and free, so I finished the run. And if I'd trusted the targeting system, I would have missed, I think. But I didn't, and Han and Chewie came back to help and I got out alive and the Death Star was destroyed with all hands on board except Darth Vader."

She listens, and it's not the first time that she's heard such stories. The same can be said all across the galaxy, tales of loss and death, of families shattered and planets ruined. It doesn't make any one any better or any less than the other. They all hit home, deep wounds that will mar the future for all those that they've touched.

It's that moment of silence, digesting that. Of what she may have imagined for any children she may have had, it would never have been any of this. A home on Naboo, surrounded by family. Yet she knows well enough how life can throw you for a loop, recalling Anakin, and their story. A Jedi, who she wasn't meant to love, had been the one that Padmé had fallen for. Letting a soft breath out, knowing that it wouldn't diminish the hurt, yet she does still say it. "I'm sorry for you loss."

She's known them time and time again, and it never gets easier.

He was nineteen and brave with ignorance and adrenaline and grief. "I think by that point I'd stopped feeling anything much. After Beru and Owen and Ben and then Biggs, it was all just a sort of blur. I don't know how Leia was still functioning so well at that point."

He lost people. She lost everything. Maybe, it was just too great a loss for her to have really come to terms with at that point, still sort of abstract in its immensity. "Yavin's moon was the first time I saw real greenery. Trees and bushes and mud and rain. It rained when we got back, before we evacuated. It was amazing. Everyone thought I was just on a battle high until Han said I was from Tatooine."

"It's sometimes hard to see the light in the darkness, the hope, but it is there." Sometimes that is all that you do have to hold onto, to believe in. When everything feels like it's crumbling down on you, you have to cling to that.

"I grew up on Naboo, surrounded by it, but I still feel that way every time the skies open up." It is magical and mythical, fresh and crisp and exhilarating. There's so many little things that do that, and she can only imagine what it was like for him.

"It's there," Luke agrees. Because he believed a Sith Lord could be redeemed when everyone told him it was impossible. And he'd been right. (It was right or dead, nothing between.)

"It was amazing. Some of the planets we based out of, we had unlimited water to wash and it was just, unlike anything I imagined. I thought I could imagine, but I hadn't, you know?" He closes his eyes to picture it again. "Snow, I'm less of a fan of. Freezing cold sort of sucks."

She offers a smaller smile. He is like her in that way. Padmé would always see the light in the world, find a hope in the darkness. She always strives towards a better future, although now it is arguable just how better it will be, not that she would stop trying.

"I'm not sure if you've ever been to, or heard of, Ilum?" Not that it is a planet that people would typically go on a trip to. "It's covered in ice as well. I fear I wasn't a fan of it."

Luke looks like Anakin, but in many ways, he's his mother's son. Her mercy and compassion, a gentler person than his father ever was.

He shakes his head. "No, I've never heard of Ilum. The ice world we were on was Hoth. It's a natural habitat for Wampas." His hand drifts to his jaw, rubbing the old scars. "Where's Ilum?"

"Hmm. I don't think I'm familiar with Wampas." Or Hoth, to the best of her knowledge. If the planet was cold though, it would likely be an animal that had some survival skill. "It's out in the Unknown Regions of space, in the 7G sector. I was actually there with Master Yoda, what feels like ages ago. He had me divert to there, sensing that something was wrong."

"Big, vicious predators. 'Bout three meters tall, stealth hunters, like to stick their food up in their ice caves alive until they're ready to eat it. And they're smart, they're classified as semi-sentient." He'd pushed for that classification himself.

"I've never been out that way, the Imperial presence is way too heavy and we've never had reason to go out there and risk it." He pulls off his gloves thoughtfully, setting them down and aside. "Master Yoda sent you there? Why?"

"In other words, something I would want to avoid." Although he paints an interesting picture. Food up in their ice caves? It almost sounds like upside down, hanging. She'd rather not find out firsthand.

"It's not exactly on the traveled path." Although Padmé knew that it had some importance to the Jedi. She'd be the wrong person to ask. "Diverted us. He sensed trouble. The Jedi there were in trouble."

"There were Jedi there?" He supposes Jedi got around to a lot of places. But why near the unknown territories. "Huh. And it was an ice planet. How did Yoda cope in the cold?"

"Amongst other things." Which is why there had been an issue, the disturbance that Yoda had felt. "He had a cloak... It's not like I've ever heard him complain either way. He was like he always was. Doing what needed to be done."

"Huh." He's starting to think that Yoda's species (or just Yoda himself) are impervious to external conditions. "Of course. Yoda's very big on doing the things he thinks need doing."

"For better or for worse." She may have butted heads with him a little. That unmoving approach had gotten under her skin at the time, remembering how Anakin had been suffering after losing his hand. "To me, he seemed what a Jedi should be, and yet Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were the first I ever truly interacted with."

Ben had thought of Yoda as everything that a Jedi should be. And yet Luke is everything Yoda wasn't. Emotional, attached, invested, involved... Trying to redeem the irredeemable.

"I think I might have seen Qui-Gon. A tall man with long, long hair?" He'd seen him with Ben once, just at a distance. He isn't sure he was meant to see them at all.

"Very tall, yes. Leonine features, a wise and yet kind air to him." Although her smile turns a little wry. He had been trying as well, although she had kept to her handmaiden rouse, even when they had spoken about what the 'queen' would and wouldn't approve of. "He fell on Naboo. He died in the battle for the planet against the Trade Federation. The Jedi have memorialized him there, and we honor him as a hero every year."

"I didn't see him that closely. It was at a distance and his back was to me." And there was almost certainly no memorial anymore. Not on the Emperor's home world, not to fallen Jedi. "He vanished when Ben realised I was there. Master... Jinn?" He thought Ben had said his master, Jinn.

“Yes. His name was Qui-Gon Jinn.” It is still a little strange for her to think about how they could still communicate, but they are Jedi.

Luke is the last Jedi.

The other Jedi who came before him have opinions on that. And everything else.

"Ben also mentioned him once or twice in his journals. He left them to me," he offers by way of explanation.

"... did his journals hold a lot of information?" Curious, more than anything else, about what Obi-Wan would write about. If it is something that he had been doing, she doesn't know of it, although Anakin might.

"The ones he left for me he wrote while he lived on Tatooine. Having to learn to not step in, to let wrongs pass..." Luke blushes slightly. "About this stupid little boy who tried to take on Jabba's water tax collectors that he had to rescue and return to his aunt and uncle. I never knew it was Ben who had saved me."

"I can only imagine... Dear diary. It is rather obvious that Luke is the product of his parents. My hair continues to gray at an alarming rate." A teasing smile, although she is proud that he had stood up for something that he believed in. Not that Padmé went looking for trouble, but it had found her at times, and Anakin did have a bit more of a reckless side to him.

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