Duplicity Game Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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duplicitymemes2022-01-10 07:43 pm
duplicitymods) wrote in duplicitymemes2022-01-10 07:43 pm
Entry tags:
TDM #22
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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. |
 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. |
 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. |
 (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. |
 (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. |
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!! |
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The funny thing is, Quentin's math on birth year is off; Eric was born back in 1968, but dealt with some Narnia time bullshit after hanging out with some elves.
Or is that Fillory time?
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(Put a dollar in the "telling people about Fillory when I wasn't asked" jar.)
"Until recently I was technically a king there but there was two queens and another king so I wasn't really, like, running it per se. Um, anyway," he said, shaking his head. "We're still working on this quest, kind of, that takes place there. Or partially there. We were actually basically at the finish line when I woke up here, so, you know, that sucks."
It was so strange to hear the way Eric spoke. The actual difference of his voice was one thing -- Quentin knew your own voice didn't sound the same to you as to everyone else, so he didn't necessarily take it as weird -- but the manner of speaking was a whole other thing. Quentin couldn't imagine a world where anyone with his face didn't speak in awkward stutters and hums.
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Maybe even if they aren't the same person, maybe there's like a template. People with his face all get over their heads with funky magic shit, or something.
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He's almost certain he won't need to define that for Quentin. If for no other reason, than that he's betting Q's played D&D.
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Unfortunately, yes, he nodded. "Fair enough, yeah. I'm, um...well, my friends and I are dealing with some...like, fairies? But they're not, um, like any of the folklore or stories you hear. I'm actually not sure I've ever met an elf so I don't know if they count as fae or not. I would think so. I've met...a god who was also a goat, though."
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"A god who's a goat. Huh, that's weird alright. I'm glad I've never had to deal with any gods."
He pokes the foodlike substance with a fork. It wobbles. He tries to take a bite, anyway.
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He rubbed the back of his neck. He'd eaten a few bites of the food substance already, and, well...his main thought was that if he lost a couple of pounds between now and finding arrangements to buy his own food, that wouldn't be the end of the world. He wasn't starving.
"It, uh, well, things got...bad. I kind of had to kill one? So the old gods took magic away from humans, and now we're trying to get it back."
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Eric shakes his head. "I was about to start attending Juilliard again, after dropping out at 18. I'd just broken up with Beth and Kory. Kind of the gentlest breakup possible, though."
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Potentially he was projecting a little, with how desperately not okay he was about his most recent breakup, but, you know. Apparently we're not talking about that.
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Eric has always been good at abandoning situations though. It's kind of weird to think about Kory and Beth raising a kid who's his genetically, but really, he's just not meant to be a dad, really.
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Probably at some point he should actually deal with that, but for right now he pushed it down. "Um, makes sense," he said with a nod, acutely aware that it had been an awkwardly long time since Eric had spoken. "I've never, uh, gotten anyone pregnant as far as I know. At least not in this life."
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Look, he's feeling that judgment, but Eric isn't going to try to defend himself. At least not aloud. He's not going to be totally absent from his daughter's life (the elf healers were sure it was a daughter), he's just not planning to be her father. Kory, he's going to be a great father, a perfect father, everything a girl deserves.
But none of that needs to be said right now. It's all really a moot point, here, isn't it?
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"I, um." He shook his head, feeling like he shouldn't be sharing this, but feeling compelled to anyway. "I did have a kid in, like, another timeline, I guess? I, um, don't have all the memories of that, so, I guess like." He shook his head again, rocking slightly in his seat. "Uh, I don't mean to like...you know. Whatever. I guess it's just really weird seeing my face say he's not ready to be a parent," he finally said, arriving at the point after quite some effort. "When I kind of, you know. Want that back so much."
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He's not going to poke the other timeline thing yet. They don't need to break down all their traumas on the first day.
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He took a deep breath and glanced around the room. "So, um, anything I should know except the basic stuff? Anything you like, wish someone had told you when you got here?"
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"Also, uh. It's weird and awkward, but everyone knows that and if they're judging you, they probably have something worth judging back."
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"Yeah, I heard about, uh, someone got a random gift from the city that was like, an aphrodisiac but also hot pepper lube?"
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"You need a contract to spend money, which is a real bitch. At least, at native-owned businesses, where they check for such things."
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Hm. Quentin took a second to really let those implications sink in.
"So it's less, you can have freedom of movement without a contract if a dom likes you, and more, you can be, like, exploited for your labor without a contract but that's about it."
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By now, the cold dinner goop is congealed into a harder lumpy mass. Eric attempts another couple bites anyway.
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Even as he's saying there's no shame, there is something of a sheepish tone in his voice.
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