duplicitymemes | TDM #22

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TDM #22

« « « 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 highrise. 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.

Winter is here and snow flurries are common in the Up while the slush collects in the Down.

» » » ALL ABOARD

After stepping through the door and participating in orientation, LIERS are assembled together in the Up for a tour of Duplicity in its entirety. 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.

« « « WINTER WONDERLAND

As a particularly heavy snowstorm blows across the city, Duplicity finds itself blanketed in white. The morning after the storm, many citizens seem to be in a particularly mischievous mood and snowballs are a common sight flying through the air. A projectile meant for someone else may hit you square in the face if you're not careful — and then it's on. Joining these impromptu snow battles is encouraged, no matter a person's designation, and even Submissives teaming up to pelt unsuspecting Dominants with snowballs is generally taken in the spirit of good fun. Not everyone is throwing snow, of course — some are rolling much larger balls and shaping them into lewd snow figures.

Those feeling chilled after playing in the snow may experience the urge to warm up with someone else, skin to skin. Whether they're a stranger or a familiar face, holding hands, kissing, or getting down and dirty with the nearest willing partner is invigorating. It might even be the only way to really feel warm again.

« « « DUBIOUS DELIVERIES

(cw: aphro, humiliation kink)

Want to make some quick cash? After exiting the train in the Down, there seems to be a questionable character hanging about the station. Dressed in a trenchcoat and looking more like a flasher than the businessman he claims to be, this shady recruiter offers easy money in exchange for a simple delivery. Just take a package and drop it off at the address on the label. Really, that's it! Stop asking questions.

Should characters decide to open the package themselves instead, they'll discover one of the following: glitter — so much glitter, lube (appears normal, but actually contains hot pepper and will cause more than a mild tingling sensation if used anywhere sensitive), a package of flavored condoms mysteriously labeled "every flavor" (none of them taste good), candy or perfume containing an aphrodisiac that, in addition to the usual libido-boosting effect, will also cause an intense craving for humiliation.

It seems to be one of those services that allows one to send anonymous prank gifts, and they're hiding behind LIERs as couriers. There's no return address or company information on or inside the package, except for a card marked Encoded Sin Corp — which does not seem to be a real company if the name is searched.

Whether characters end up delivering the package — maybe even to a fellow LIER — or get into some trouble along the way, someone is getting a nasty surprise.

« « « SURPRISES FOR SALE

(cw: aphro, dubcon, excessive fluids, exhibitionism, public use)

A small winter market has been set up along one of the major streets in the Up with stalls selling a variety of goods ranging from knitted hats and scarves, soaps, scented lotions, candles, jewelry, artwork and assorted crafts to hand-dyed bondage rope and kinky leather accessories. Food and drink stands are plentiful as well. Strings of lights crisscross the street between the roofs of the shops, providing a cheerful glow, and there are tables set up in the street itself for people to sit and chat while having a snack — if they can stand the cold.

Some of the most popular treats being sold are hot chocolate, eggnog, marshmallow snowmen, and sugar cookies decorated like snowflakes. Of course, their popularity may have something to do with the effects they produce when consumed.

• The hot chocolate simply gets one all hot and bothered.
• The eggnog may cause heavy production of sexual fluids, a desire to be filled or covered with someone else's cream, or all of the above.
• The marshmallow snowmen will make those who eat them want to invite others to use them as they please, desiring nothing more than to be molded into the perfect fucktoy.
• The sugar cookies seem to induce all sorts of different cravings — after all, no two snowflakes are alike!

These effects tend to last at least an hour and may, in some cases, last up to a full day.

One of the jewelry shops sells an unusual selection of compass pendants and bracelets. The compass arrows spin round and round lazily while the pieces are on display. Once worn, however, that changes. The arrow will settle on a direction, but instead of pointing north it will lead directly to another person. Perhaps you should speak to them? You may even begin to feel magnetically drawn to them yourself… In the event that two people have compasses that point them at each other, the attraction will be even stronger — nearly impossible to deny.

There is another shop which sells intricately designed pocket watches and small clocks. When these timepieces are stared at for an extended length of time or picked up and handled, characters will feel a brief but strong connection to their past and experience a vivid flashback to some moment that was, in whatever way, meaningful for them. After reliving the memory, they will feel compelled to speak about it to whoever is nearby.

« « « 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 likes it hot, they are a Dominant. If your character prefers the cold, they are a Submissive.

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!

Test Drive threads can be used as activity proofs for characters currently in-game.

Please remember to mark any necessary content, and have fun!!

» » » MAIN NAVIGATION « « «

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It's done mostly in silence. Carver prefers it that way. If there was a time he was ever comfortable around other people - people he never served with, that he never bled next to - then he can't remember it. The only exception might have been his grandmother, back before the world ended, and then after there was Matthew -

No. Don't go there.

He walks away with a coat and boots. It's enough to work with. ]

Housing.

[ And to see if the powers that be returned his clothes - and his weapons. He doubts it, but if they did -

If they did, he wants his knife back. And the pendant. ]

[ It takes him a little bit to get his bearings -his time in the down is usually either at the gym's or Logan's couch. A second or two of thinking about the layout though and he heads off - it isn't even far, and he does it without a word until they're near where they need to be. ]

I assume they gave you a room number.

[ Carver rattles it off. He’s been assigned a roommate too - hatefully - but he plans on dodging whoever that unfortunate asshole was for as long as he can.

For all that people seem to complain about the Down, it’s better than any place Carver’s lived in at least seven years. It’s got electricity, running water, walls. The rest just is what it is. ]

[ He helps the guy find his room and then gestures. ]

I'd leave but I promised you food so I'll wait outside, instead.

[ Carver shoots him a narrow look, distrusting anything resembling old-world courtesy - everyone has an angle, everyone is a threat - but doesn’t challenge it. He just ducks inside to go see what he’s dealing with.

To his surprise - and quiet, aching relief - his original clothes are waiting for him, alongside his blade, mask, and the pendant he wears in place of dog tags. It doesn’t matter except for when it does - a symbol in world that’s been burned to ash and will continue burning until the bitter end.

He tugs the pendant on - a sword in a metal circle - and sheaths the knife at his belt for an easy draw, though after a moment he tucks his coat over it. People around here don’t wear their weapons quite so openly and he’s not a complete moron. Blending in will matter.

This place has food. Walls. His people could live here. No more hard winters gambling on whether their food stores will hold out. No more dead clamoring against their blades. No more forgotten graves.

It’s a nice dream, anyway.

The mask he leaves. No point in it right now.

When he returns, he’s dressed in his new coat and boots, and his old uniform - such as it is - of battered blacks, worn and carefully mended. A hood if he needs it - and the fabric bunched deliberately to hide the line on his neck.

He gives Scott an assessing look. ]

So. Food.

[ Carver knows what it means to starve. He won’t turn the offer of food down here, even if he doesn’t trust Scott at all. ]

Edited 2022-02-08 15:56 (UTC)

[ Manners and maybe avoiding a scenario where this guy gets more paranoid and Scott has to shoot him and then everyone down here is homeless. No need to play that game while he can just wait outside.

When Carver reappears, Scott's leaning against the wall doing nothing. He turns his head toward Carver, then pushes off the wall and starts to walk, still silently.

He's going to that place he found with Ephemera. It's easy and relatively close. Good enough. ]

Are you going to order or would you prefer I do it?

I can order my own goddamn food.

[ There’s the question of whether anyone will sell it to his broke ass, but the moment you fold - the moment you make yourself small - is the moment you’ve lost. And he’ll fight to the bitter end. ]

Don't growl at me, I met a woman here who didn't understand cups with lids.

[ He's kind of delighted to have any signs of life here, though. ]

[ Carver shoots him a sharp look, testing to see if he’s being mocked - and if so, exactly how hard he’ll need to retaliate. ]

Conveniences of modern life. What, I look like I’ve never been in a bar or wherever the hell we’re going?

[ The sarcasm is thick. He hasn’t been in civilization for over a decade but then, who has? The world ended. ]

[ Scott leans back and gives the guy an exaggerated look over, from head to toe and then says simply: ]

Yes.

[That is exactly what you look like. Meanwhile, he's headed inside to get his triple bacon cheeseburger and pay for whatever Mr Personality orders. ]

[ Fuuuuuuck you. Carver puffs himself up, ready to lay into Scott - maybe start a fight in the middle of the street - when the fucker just turns around and walks through the doorway. And it's really not the same to hit somebody when they're walking away from you. Really takes the satisfaction out of it.

Carver works his jaw. Too long in the woods, he thinks. He could manage this shit with his people - being human, being civil - but not with strangers, not with people who never bled with him, who didn't survive the fires and come out on the other side unscathed. If this is a test - everything is a test - then he's off to a poor start. Maybe already failed.

He cannot fail his people.

Fuck.

He exhales through his teeth and follows Scott in. Civil, be civil, be goddamn civil.

He orders two cheeseburgers with all the trimmings they've got and tries not to stare at all of it. They have pickles. And actual cheese. What the fuck. ]

[ Scott pays for the food and heads to a booth so they can sit down to eat. Does so in silence for a bit or two. ]

So how long has it been since you've been in a bar?

[ Carver takes a spot that affords him the best view of the room and everyone in it, and then he pulls his plate close and eats with methodic intensity. Not too quickly - no point in making himself sick - but absolutely wolfing it down before someone tries to take it from him.

Times have been good lately. They've had plenty of food for a while now, ever since they took their latest camp and slaughtered the original inhabitants - or most of them, anyway. Only the cleanup remains, the stragglers who they'll run down in the dark and then hang from the wall as a warning to the rest. They've got enough food to get them through the winter, easy, but it hasn't always been that way.

You eat when there's food in front of you. One day there won't be. Survival was the first lesson, back before the world ended. He learned it well.

His eyes flick to Scott, sharp and wary. ]

One that was actually open? Don't know. Nobody keeps track anymore.

[ Not even Pope, not when the years keep blending into each other. ]

Something like ten, twelve years.

[ He had them make his cheeseburgers well done. He'll eat anything that's in front of him, but there's something about red meat when he doesn't know where it's from. Better to cook the shit out of it and let those memories go. ]

[ He processes that in silence and between bites of his burger, takes time to chew and swallow before he asks: ]

What year was it?

Don't know.

[ They stopped keeping track after Matthew died. Craver frowns, doing some quick math in his head. All the while, he devours his food with methodical intensity. The cheese is the cheap kind, bar fare to the end, but it's the best thing he's tasted in a literal decade and it's good.

He missed this. Cheeseburgers. Goddamn. He shouldn't. ]

Probably 2022, something like that.

Definitely not the same timeline I'm from then.

Or probably the one most of the people around here are from.

[ Trauma signs would be more overt, he thinks, if they came from around the ... fall of civilization? ]

[ Something in him goes very still at that. Timelines, details, people. Carver's never been good at getting out in front of people and seeing eye to eye with them. Strangers grate on him like a blade; he's unfit for civilized company, he thinks, and has been for a long time. Probably even before the world ended. Something got twisted up inside of him, something that settled into his marrow and never left. It made him sharp and quick, made him a good soldier - always, eternally, the soldier - but then his tours ended and then there was the question: what now?

What do we do with you now?

Pope gave him the answer. New orders, though they fell to the same war. And there was clarity in that, something aligned with peace. He had a place, and he had his people.

Now he's alone, and walking through a city that never fell to the fires or the dead. He wonders, briefly, if his brothers and sisters will come here. If they could cut a place out of these walls for their own. He's not good in civilization but they could adapt and he could watch their backs. But if he's going to do that, then he needs information and not just to glare at people and retreat back into himself like a child.

He finishes one cheeseburger and starts in on the second. ]

What year is it for you?

[ Start with a baseline. Work from there. ]

2011.

[ Sure, let's work with that even if Scott's not entirely sure about a few things in giving that answer. Like the fact that comics shoved 60 years of canon into 20 years of timeline. Whatever.

Mostly he just really is trying to figure out what this guy's deal is and work his way through a very good cheeseburger without having to make any craters. ]

[ 2011. After the Fall, then. Carver eyes Scott and doesn’t say anything for a moment, thinking as he eats. He and the others have had plenty of food for a while - they fought for that shit, it’s more than enough to get them through the winter - but they’ve been rationing since before the world ended and he knows very well that you eat when you have the chance.

Anything could happen. Anything at all. His people need him strong. ]

The dead don’t come back where you’re from?

[ It’s asked bluntly, no hint of joking. ]

[Why are all of this guy's questions this hard? Dammit. Scott chews and eyes him then swallows. ]

Often enough that it's not entirely shocking, but it's not normal either.

[ What. Carver’s expression goes right. ]

And things aren’t completely fucked?

Normally I'd answer that things are in fact completely fucked, but given the comparison I'm working with here, no. Civilization's a shitshow but it hasn't collapsed entirely.

[ Of all the things anyone could say to him now - in a city apparently built around forcing people to screw under extremely dubious circumstances- that throws Carver more than it has any right to. He never had much use for society as it was, but his people had lives and creature comforts and those things are just gone now. Their numbers dwindle year by year, each one harder than the last, and the thought of place that had its shit together well enough not to fall in the face of the dead is -

Hateful, he thinks. Fucking hateful. His jaw works with a sudden fury.

Matthew would’ve made it, in a world like that. His brothers and sisters wouldn’t be lying in abandoned graves. ]

That’s fun for you.

[ His voice has a frosty edge. He tugs his plate closer, ready to defend it even as his appetite dies in its tracks. ]

How? Military get its shit together or what?

[ Good news: Scott's a goddamn tactical genius. ]

I think it's mostly that when people die they overwhelmingly stay dead, actually.

[ Carver’s mouth tightens into a stony line. He absorbs the information. Doesn’t fight against it or accuse Scott of lying - he might be, but Carver doesn’t have enough context to tell one way or another. And he needs to know more, period. ]

But not always? Explain that.

TDM #22

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