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

"He never told me what his species was, or where they came from, not anything. He did tell me he was nine hundred year old a little before he moved into the Force. 'When nine hundred years you are, look so good you will not.' That was about the most he ever told me about himself."

"I know that it's almost as if he has always been there at the temple. I wouldn't have guessed that old." Not that Padmé would have made a guess at his age, at least not to his face. Perhaps those in the Order knew more, but Padmé had never pried further into the Jedi Master's life.

"I guess, functionally, he was." Longer than anyone else's life times. Generations of Jedi passing through while Yoda slowly aged and outlived them all. "I wonder if it made it easier or harder to stay detached, knowing that everyone else would live a fraction of your life."

"I honestly don't know. I imagine that no matter what, losing everything that you had stood for would have been a blow." All those Jedi... She assumes it would have been felt through the Force, such a loss. "I know that he was quite active with the younglings. I know of a few Jedi that he had still taken on as padawan, although they were all a number of years ago. Perhaps they were all his in one way or another."

He remembers Ben staggering on the Falcon, a billion voices screaming and silenced, the understanding now that Ben protected him from feeling it, because he would've.

He tries not to think about the death of the Jedi. He doesn't know much about it, but he can only imagine the pain and horror echoing through a network of sensitives who had grown up together, trained together, lived together.

"Ben called Yoda his first master. I wonder if he meant when he was little?"

"Most likely. I know Qui-Gon as Obi-Wan's master." Although she doesn't know the whole story behind it, of Obi-Wan's past or how the two of them had come together. "Qui-Gon would have been Anakin's as well, had he not fallen."

Although it is strange to think about now. Obi-Wan is the only one that she can see in that role. It may bring a hint of a smile to her lips, recalling how Anakin had complained as she had packed to leave for Naboo.

Luke doesn't know it either. He just knows Ben introduced Yoda as his first master when he sent him off to find him and his journals mention Master Jinn. "How old was Ben when he became Father's teacher?"

"Hmm. He was 25, I believe. Anakin, nine." Around that age, anyway, if not that exactly. He had seemed both older and younger than that, although perhaps it was just being next to Qui-Gon that had given that impression. Padmé had liked him, wishing more Jedi had been like Jinn.

Barely older than Luke is now. And he feels woefully unprepared to do things like look after children, teach people. He wonders if Ben, Obi-Wan, had felt any more ready. "Nine. When I was nine, I was begging Owen to teach me how to drive the speeder so I could go and play at the Darklighter farm."

And trying to take on Jabba's tax collectors with no concept of the danger.

"There's nothing wrong with that. I liked to spend my summers swimming at our lake retreat." Children having a childhood is something that should be aimed for. Her parents may have believed in duty and self-sacrifice, but it's not like they forced Sola or her to do it. They'd done so willingly, and had found moments to have fun as well. "I don't know if Anakin would ever have been found had we not stopped there. He was old already by Jedi standards. The force may well have guided us."

"I can't agree with that," Luke says softly. "I don't think loving people and being loved is wrong, or leads to the Dark Side. I won't take children from their loving families." He can only imagine the trauma it must cause. Which was probably why they took them so young. But that didn't make it any less wrong.

Agree with the Force guiding them to Anakin? Her brow furrows for a moment, knowing that without that series of events, she never would have met him, but ah. Her expression softens. She can't speak for that, not having that experience, although she knows of Anakin and his own mother, how she had searched for the woman, and that Padmé isn't certain she would have. Although she also doesn't know what happens, if anything, if no training is received. "I honestly don't know if it has always been like that, or if something happened in the past to change the Order."

Luke gives a helpless shrug. He doesn't know, there's not enough left that he can judge if this was a slow change or an always thing.

"I hope the order changed. That it wasn't always like that. I hope they just got isolated and drifted from their ways. Maybe they just had so little experience with the Dark Side that they built it up into something like a boogeyman. I mean," he hurries on, "It is bad. I know what it can do, what it leads to. But I think obsessing about falling to it and how bad it is and how irreversible is just... wrong. Some people might be irredeemable, but falling to the Dark Side isn't an automatic end of all hope, give up on them."

"There was a Sith on Tatooine, and on Naboo." Thinking back to how he had killed Qui-Gon, a skilled Jedi. Not that she would think too kindly upon the sith that came to Tatooine and to Naboo. It doesn't mean that she wishes him dead, as Padmé would have rather he been brought to justice and not able to hurt anyone else. "But I don't believe that the world is so black and white, although I do not believe that we would ever have been friends."

"Different Sith? Same Sith?" He shifts to face her a bit more, interested. "I think there's a difference between the Dark Side and being a Sith. Like... being a Force user and being a Jedi. Jedi is a code, an oath taken."

"The same." Darth Maul. He had created quite a bit of death and destruction, even if Padmé hadn't had much first hand knowledge of him. Her own expression alters as well, turning that information over. "Like... a different method and goal of using it?"

"A Sith follows a code. I don't know what that code is, but there's intent behind it. A Sith wants to use the Dark Side, chooses it, actively chooses to spread that darkness to others when possible. Someone who has fallen to the Dark side... I mean, I haven't really met anyone, just actual Sith, but if there's light side Force users who aren't Jedi, surely there's Dark side users who aren't Sith, are just people who made decisions and don't know how to turn back."

He hopes it's true. He has to believe it after what he's seen.

Padmé cannot help but wonder after the code and what they would stand for. She knows of the Jedi code, and wonders if it would be the opposite of it. She thinks a moment, mind turning to Ahsoka, who had been trained a Jedi, but who had left the Order after her ordeal and her faith had been shattered.

"Do you know anything of Anakin's padawan?" She doubts it, but on the off change that he did...

"His what?"

The word padawan means nothing to him. And he knows very little of his father's life, in real terms. "I mean, you can probably safely assume 'no'."

"Padawan. Apprentice. As Qui-Gon was to Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan was to Anakin, Anakin had his own. Ahsoka." There's a certain softness to her voice as she glances off, recalling the spunky young girl who had grown so much. "She was a Togruta, quite headstrong."

No doubt much like Anakin... That gentle sadness as she turns back. "There... was a series of events, and she ended up leaving the Order. Leaving the Jedi."

"I haven't heard that word before. Padawan." And he knew his father was a General. Was respected. But it never passed his mind that he had his own student, someone who called him Master Skywalker, probably. "What- I mean, can you tell me what happened? I don't know about any of this."

"When they first arrive, they're considered Younglings, or Initiates. Once they pass their Initiate Trials, they earn the rank of Padawan. Once at that rank, they were able to be chosen to be trained by a Jedi." Of course there were other ranks within the Order, like Knight or Master, and likely others that she didn't know about.

"She was falsely accused of committing a crime, framed and imprisoned for an explosion and a subsequent murder. She was expelled from the Order and imprisoned by Republic Military, but on trial for the crimes." Padmé had represented her after the Order had seemingly turned their back on her, although she knew Anakin had suffered and tried his best to help her. "In the end, when the truth came out, they offered to let her back into the Order, but she declined."

Luke is...

Horrified, frankly.

"I wouldn't go back either! If my family wouldn't believe in me, the people who raised me and I loved and when I needed them most, they abandoned me? That- Oh." That's how it happened. That was how people fell. "I think it's pretty strong of her that she didn't fall to her anger. I don't know that I would've been that strong."

"There is much in the galaxy that doesn't make sense these days." A cloud that covers and clouds. Ahsoka may have been high strung but she had been a good Jedi. She'd been good for Anakin too. Padmé had done all that she could when she had represented her, but she understood the feeling as well. "She is a very amazing individual."

"I'm sorry I've never got to meet her. She sounds it." He thinks maybe he would've liked her. And it would've been nice to not be alone.

TDM #17

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