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duplicitymemes2022-05-10 09:49 pm
duplicitymods) wrote in duplicitymemes2022-05-10 09:49 pm
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TDM #24
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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 LIEs 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 LIEs 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 for all new and past arrivals. Skies are clear and the weather is warm. |
 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. |
 (cw: sensory deprivation, coercion, dub-con/non-con) One of the workshops at this month's Orientation pairs Dominants with Submissives for an exercise in blind chemistry. Literally — they'll all be blindfolded before meeting their partner and the blindfolds must stay on! They will be encouraged to explore with their other senses, such as touch and taste. Kissing is the bare minimum of what's expected, though no one will stop them should they want to take things further… Each pair will get around 10-15 minutes together (unless they really hit things off) before switching to a new partner. Some participants may also be tapped for a secondary exercise in which Submissives remain blindfolded, while Dominants are not. Dominants may do as they wish with them and may choose whether to keep their partner or swap blindfolded Subs back and forth with other Dominants. |
 (cw: aphrodisiacs, drugs, altered mental states, public nudity) With the arrival of good weather and sunny skies ahead in the forecast, LIEs has decided to sponsor a post-Orientation BBQ in North Park. Picnic blankets and picnic tables are set up for use around the park and there is a main food station handing out catered food, as well as a few small charcoal grills available for those who wish to grill themselves. Sausages, burgers, and kebabs (vegetarian options available) are either ready to go or laid out to be cooked, along with stuff to make sandwiches (did someone say PB&J?). All the usual sides and condiments are available as well. In addition to flavor, many of those condiments contribute a little something extra to one's meal. Does the jelly in that PB&J make you feel a little more jealous than usual? Does that mustard get you all hot and bothered? It just might. Perhaps most nefarious of all is that a few batches of the condiments have truth serum mixed in with them, making people open up about their true wants and desires. See someone you wouldn't mind kissing? Feel like baring it all? Maybe you should tell them — or simply go for it. Inhibitions are lowered and tongues loosened so stuff that hotdog down your throat and get ready for some fun. There are a few different games being played in the park that LIERs can join in on, such as three-legged and wheelbarrow races with Dominant and Submissive pairs, capture the flag, and something that resembles a raunchier version of Twister. If games aren't your thing there is also a hot yoga class that is taking place, open to anyone who wishes to join. Some people are fully nude as they pose and stretch while others wear workout gear that seem more scandalous than those who are naked. Of course aside from your traditional yoga poses the instructor encourages Dominants and Submissives to practice what are clearly Kama Sutra positions with one another. Hope you're flexible! |
 (cw: transformation, body modification, drugs) There's a lot of buzz surrounding a store from one of Duplicity's sister cities, Insincerity, setting up a temporary pop-up location in Fiddler's Square. The store in question is the Supermarket and they deal in temporary upgrades, enhancements, and all things extraordinary. You can sample what it's like to be super at the Supermarket! Staffed by enigmatic Insincerity natives, the mini market is open to Dominants and Submissives alike. In order to entice buyers to visit their home location, the wares on offer make up a limited selection of their full stock — a carefully curated selection of the Supermarket's best-selling products and seasonal specials. The staff won't elaborate too much, but there are rumors that something big is happening soon in Insincerity. This month they've come to you; next month you may be coming to them. Products fall into three broad categories: power-ups, transformation/body modification, and sexual enhancers. The most common form they come in is a colorful glowing syringe, but potions, pills, and topical creams are available on request. The menu is as follows: Something Super: Transform: Enhance: Effects can be mixed and matched with the application of multiple products — though the Supermarket employees caution that buyers do so at their own risk — and may last up to one full day. |
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 the assignments are OOCly 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 prefers jelly, they are a Dominant. If your character prefers peanut butter, 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!! |
Company Picnic
He turns for a moment when Steve mentions the events, smirks at the sight of the hot yoga, and then gives his attention back to the other man again.]
You say that like there's no chance of it being diverting. [Aloïs reaches for a bit of bread and rips off a chunk with his teeth like the barbarian he is. But food is food, and when it's free, you throw as much of that shit down as quickly as possible.] Shy, or just truly uninterested?
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He kind of curls his lip, but his eyes haven't really strayed from the hot yoga, just humming for a second before his attention is swayed to the guy sitting next to him.]
Orientation was bad enough. [It really wasn't, but he's a little sour over being a sub.]
I'm not uninterested. People don't really go out of the house naked unless they expect to be arrested or something back where I'm from. [Which leaves him more than distracted for the moment.]
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From all of the people standing around and not engaging, I'd wager you're far from alone there. Most of my world is like that, too. [But in Ragneux, there's more than enough opportunities and taverns to make one's own fun in with the right people. He's been chided enough by Amelia for running wild that he's pretty sure he's found them all.]
If you ask me, going into this with the right attitude seems like the way to get the most out of it. [Which isn't him saying Steve's got a bad one. They haven't talked nearly enough for that. It's just Aloïs' personal philosophy of "what do when dropped into psycho porn torn".]
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You're not engaging, [He also points out with a raise of his brows.]
I mean I'm not really sure if I'm looking to get the most out of it. I'd rather go back home. Hawkins has a tendency to be raided often, and I don't know how convinced I am of anything they say here. Plus the Down kinda sucks.
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I spent most of the afternoon on 'capture the flag'. Good fun, really. Got threatened by a mage with multiple copies of herself to play around with. [That part was damnable cheating on her part and he's still a little salty about it, but eh. The easy conversation with someone new is helping water his competitive streak down again.]
What's there to be convinced or not about? [He's not being combative, but he is confused. It's a perspective he hasn't heard yet.] I mean I get questioning all of the obvious magic everywhere, but the purpose of all of this seems straightforward? They want all of us to get into it with each other for some reason.
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Wait. A mage? Like a real one? Not some kids in a cloak in their basement? [Because he's familiar with that term, but only in the context of The Party that he's been Mama-bearing for some time now.
Dimensions being real, that he's fine with. Kidnapping he's not fine with, but being stuck in other dimensions makes total sense. But magic being real is something his brain is wrapping around. Man, if Dustin were here...
No, Dustin is a child, and it is good that he is not here. That none of them are. Steve just has to get himself out of this one for a change.]
Exaaaaactly. [He points.] All that sex has to be for some sort of energy or something. Dimensions take up like a lot of energy, and it's usually like a whole thing. With fucked up monsters and shit going down that want to turn your insides outside. And they're just trying to go on here like this is aaaall normal. [Fingers wiggle around for emphatic gesturing.]
Bullshit. I've been and seen enough dimensions, thank you. [Albeit a sex themed one is a first. He's glad a bunch of eleven year olds never stumbled on it.]
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Aye. Upfront about it and everything. [The audacity of it all. And cheating with it in what was supposed to a contest of wits and kinesthetic skill. Gr.] Probably not uncommon in this place, given the wide variety of people that've already been pulled in. [Aloïs gestures around them with his free hand, indicating any number of monstrous or unusual-looking humanoids everywhere.
And Aloïs feels assaulted by all of this dimension talk (Steve sounded surprised about mages, but wtf is this, now?) but at least Steve's going about it in an animated and entertaining way. Aloïs' impression's just ticking a touch more towards this man being a little eccentric.]
What d'you mean by a 'dimension'? [Dark blond brows pull together into a confused knot.] And how would the energy from sex fuel something like... whatever that is? [Pls help, Steve. He usually goes out of his way to avoid everything that sounds anything like what you're talking about.]
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Whoa. I know a group of-- people I know that would be super interested in meeting a mage. [Granted that's pretty much what Eleven did to some degree, right? Like that was her point in their little friend group.
But he doesn't know what a dimension is. So he takes another sausage to indicate what he's about to explain.] Okay, so you're from like another place, right? Clearly not from the same place I am. Well all of these different places like exist next to one another. [And here's another sausage placed next to the first one.]
Back home we had one that was dark and depressing and like a reverse of our home dimension. Monsters and stuff came out of it until-- a magic user I know stopped it, but the magic she used is a lot. It had all these repercussions, because for like anything to exist it has to be made from something. Stuff can't just be created and destroyed. It has to take energy to do it. [Science, man. He totally passed high school, okay.]
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Aye? They can count themselves lucky it's not a common thing in your world, [or so it sounds] in my book. Magic is unpredictable, and most of the time the people wielding it fling it around like they're playing darts. 'S the way heads get blown off.
[But the sausage demonstration pulls Aloïs' interest, distracting him from his automatic prejudice
and from continuing his "Magic, fuck no" rant. He leans in towards Steve, watching attentively.What he's hearing is so outside his frame of knowledge that it takes a moment of wrangling with the concept before he can answer. Worlds next to other worlds, but without the people in them being aware of it? Dunno, man. Sounds fake. And yet, it's what's happening to them right now, isn't it? Aloïs frowns thoughtfully.]
So you think the places we're from were just-- next to [Steve's words, not his. He's not sure how to put it otherwise.] this one the whole time? [How did someone academic and investigative and unlike him from Ragneux never find this out before?]
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It's saved them of course, but like that shit's crazy, too. Steve agrees.]
I mean it might not be right next to it. I don't have like a dimension map in my back pocket. But I know there's like doors from one to another-- or portals? Do you have those in your world? Instead of one going from one part of your world to another-- [He point at one sausage.] You can go to a new one. [Points to second one.]
I don't know what makes it far away or not, because that's way above my skill set, I just smash things usually-- [Because he's the tough guy of the group, clearly.] But I do know that sometimes it takes more energy to create the doors to go from one to another, and that can also cause more chaos.
[He's been. Though. It.]
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And then the other man pulls him back in by describing himself as a 'smasher'. Okay that he gets, and it earns an appreciative smirk. Sounds to him like they may have something in common in being somewhat overwhelmed by the power and everything else the mere idea of alternate dimensions suggests. It helps.]
Sounds like something that ought to have the doors closed on it and locked from anyone ever interfering with it, to me. I've no idea if there's anything like that in Ragneux, but I wouldn't be surprised if some wanker's tried to look around for anything like it. [Alternate worlds suggest power and mystery. Aloïs is aware of more than a few dunderheads who wouldn't be able to resist.] You said the one you're most familiar with is full of monsters? Hell, why willingly open the door to that or anything like it?
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Steve points at him again, excitedly like the guy totally gets it.] Yes, exactly. That's what I'm saying, man. Let's not tempt anything else from coming through to our side. [Wiggle of the sausage again.] That wants to eat us!
[And he takes a bite for emphasis.]
It's the government though. I don't know if they started it, but they're definitely involved. And like... all of them.
[Back to sounding like a crazy conspiracy theorist. But he can't help it. Steve's lived through this.]
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Power corrupts, and the people with it always want more. [He's finding it surprisingly easy to slip into believing what he's hearing now, despite his initial overwhelmed reaction to everything Steve had laid out on the table in front of him. Part of it's the earnest way the other man's expressed all of it. Like he doesn't have any reason to lie about something so crazy, because he'd rather something like it wasn't happening, too.]
You won't hear any complaints from me there. At least this 'dimension' [He tests out the word. It feels strange in his mouth.] doesn't seem to have any darkness or monsters like that. Just rowdy fucking.
[Rowdy fucking he can handle. Can literally wrap his hands around.]
If sex is somehow involved in all of it, then getting on might be the thing that's holding this place together. [And wouldn't that be a concept? The fate of the world literally resting on butts and boobs. It's a bizarre thought, and one Aloïs is going to frown at as he reaches for a sausage himself.]
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And he really is genuine about this, coming from someone who has lived through it. He was just a normal high school kid before all these crazy things happened to him. He just wanted a normal girl friend and go to prom and do normal things. But instead he had to take up his role, and while he would do anything for those kids, he definitely would rather his safe, cushy life of not knowing.
But it's too late for that.
Steve slaps his hand down on the picnic table as if the weight of the realization that fucking might actually literally keep him alive here. Because he said it himself, like the sex energy has to go somewhere, and maybe it's keeping this place up. And that's why they're obsessed with it here.]
Shit. We have to literally fuck for our lives. [Of all the crazy things that have come out of Steve's mouth, that's not something he was expecting himself.]
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even if they're improperly equipped for danger.]There are worse things. [Aloïs smiles slightly, slyly, his rogue senses picking up a hint of a window of opportunity.]
So, going to reconsider sitting on the sidelines then?
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Steve considers for half a second, not completely sure of it all, but at the same time it just fits together in his theory nice enough. And he really doesn't have anything else to go on.]
I am not saying I agree with it. Or like it. But I mean I also don't want creatures that can literally open their face up to eat you.
[The horrors are real.]
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He's not that manipulative or interested in trying to get something that's not given for fun, or its own sake. Plus, he's starting to like Steve. That makes things a little more complicated.
Aloïs tilts his head slightly, cheek coming to rest against the back of his knuckles, as he considers the other man. Someone like this could get themselves in a bad way easily if he keeps on this track, in the rogue's estimation.]
I don't either, [Aloïs reasons.] but I'd be careful with that, friend. 'Tis a line of thinking, even if true, that enough people would try to twist around on you in a bad way.
[Heroes and people of conscience are predictable in some ways, and can be easy to manipulate.]
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Not that he doesn't believe him. Aloïs seems as genuine about this as Steve is. It's just not something he's really run into. Good and bad have had clear definitions, and the bad weren't really conscious enough to manipulate.]
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Just that if someone gives you a bad feeling, don't let 'em try to tell you that you owe them anything because it'll save the dimension. [Which may be the craziest thing that's come out of his mouth since he's arrived. An impressive feat, given that this is psycho porn town. Aloïs is getting the feeling the talk strays to this kind of place frequently around Steve, though.]
People are assholes, and you seem decent.
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I'll talk less about the whole theory about the dimension and energy and all that. [Because honestly while it's a solid theory, he also doesn't really understand the logistics of it either.]
Unless maybe I find a hot scientist. [He grins a bit more playful.]
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Yeah, Aloïs doesn't want to put much of his focus there if he can help it. He'd rather concentrate on the comment about hot scientists that's getting a short, appreciative laugh from him. He has a vague enough gist of what a scientist might be that he can follow along.]
Aye? And what's the type you'll be keeping an eye out for? Redhead? [He eggs Steve on, entertained.] Bright eyes? A sharp and cutting tongue?
[Level with him, man.]