duplicitymemes | TDM #25

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TDM #25

« « « 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 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.

» » » 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.

« « « SUMMER SPECIAL

(cw: aphro/drugs)

LIEs has once again partnered with a local coffee chain, Peek-A-Brew, to promote their summer menu and help play matchmaker among those in the program. Along with the usual goodie bag, each character will be handed a small slip of paper after Orientation with a date and time, location, and three fun facts about a mystery partner they're to meet for a coffee date. These "facts" may or may not actually be true — they're simply meant to spark conversation. For the duration of the 1-2 hours the pairs are expected to spend getting to know one another, they will receive unlimited free iced coffee, tea, and lemonade and a discount on any other menu items. Seasonal specials include fruity parfaits and popsicles in a variety of refreshing flavors.

Naturally, all goods are spiked to make the consumers more agreeable, more truthful, and perhaps a bit more handsy than normal. Though the meetings are not mandatory, contact with the paper brings on an inexplicable sense of curiosity about meeting their partner and discovering who they really are.

« « « BEAT THE HEAT

(cw: aphro, temporary body changes)

With summer heat building, the natives are looking for a reprieve from the sweltering weather. All manner of frozen treats are being sold and consumed and it's not uncommon to see Submissives fanning their Dominants as they walk down the street or ride the train.

Sprinkler systems are running day and night in North Park and other city-owned patches of green and plenty of people are taking the opportunity to run and jump through the spray with little care for soaked clothing — or perhaps they aren't wearing clothing at all. Others have taken up squirting one another, as well as whoever is passing by, with water guns or hurling water balloons at anyone who looks like they need to cool down. Especially on the streets near the park, it's a wet and wild battle royale and all are welcome to join in.

Getting hit with some of those colorful water balloons and squirt guns temporarily causes those who get splashed to taste like sweet, mouth-watering summer fruits. It's not just their skin either — the effect extends to their sweat, saliva, and even sexual fluids and can last for several hours. Those around them will find it hard to resist having a taste.

« « « HANG ON TO YOUR HATS

(cw: violence, public nudity/exposure)

If you're out on the streets of the Down, it's not just your wallet you have to worry about losing. It seems that one of the local gangs, the Bulldogs, has set a new test for their junior members and those hoping to join: steal an article of clothing right off the body of someone in a public place. From snatching the hat off their head to slicing the shirt off their back, it's anything goes!

These junior initiates quickly get competitive, one-upping each other on who can complete the task in the most ballsy or outrageous manner. Some compete over who can collect the most clothing, either certain articles or overall, or who can score a full set first.

As word spreads and more people are going around suddenly missing part of their outfits, the Sparrows, a rival gang, decide to get in on the action purely for bragging rights. Rather than taking the clothing by force, they pride themselves on using stealth and trickery, leaving more than a few people naked and confused.

« « « 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 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 is more of an optimist, they are a Submissive. If your character is more of a pessimist, they are a Dominant.

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 « « «

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The last thing anyone should ever seek, let alone desire, is for a vampire to want them. For a vampire's obsession — their love, even, lasts for an eternity and is incredibly difficult to shatter once one, in their mind, belongs to them. So if Peter had jumped at the opportunity — had Vlad outright said yes, he might have laughed and found amusement in the submissive's eagerness; that very same eagerness he remembers with being here now.

"It's best you don't," he replies in regards to his motivations, though it's said mostly in a playful albeit smooth manner. "But you are right in that much time has passed for me." Five hundred or so years, yet he still looks the exact same in terms of appearance.

A brief purse of his lips, he continues then. "Even so, I remember everything of my time here. I remember... a young man tangled up in a hallway and needing help from whoever would give it to him." Their first meeting all those months ago here. "I remember the way you looked with a collar around your neck, being fed the very thing you would moan for on your hands and knees." Smile there on his lips, a cant of his head to the other side is given, those piercing blue eyes never straying from his face.

"Do you remember as well?"

For an orphan especially, but even for those outcasts, 'forever' can sound like a really good deal up front. The sense of not having to worry about something like that ever again can be truly comforting. Peter doesn't have exactly that orphan experience of being unwanted, because his aunt and uncle stepped in pretty much immediately. But he sometimes has a bit more trouble as an outcast.

His eyebrows go up. Yeah, he's not forgetting that hallway thing anytime soon. Or the rest. And he's suddenly glad that his tea is hot because his hands are a little sweaty and he can blame it on the mug.

"I would have to experience serious brain damage to forget." That was supposed to be snarky, but may not have come across quite the way he'd hoped.

Ah, Peter remains just as... charming as ever, it seems. Again, the thought that there are some things, regardless of time, that don't quite seem to entirely change. Be it months or centuries. As such, Peter's words amuse him, as they often have when he had last been here.

"I will say that I'm pleased to hear that then." A shame it would be for the young man to have forgotten their... time together.

Shifting some, shoulders square and his posture becomes a little more serious there. The card with Peter's facts about him there beneath his fingers which continues to be tapped on. "Continue your time with your contract," he starts then, looking to his tapping fingers as he speaks. "When it comes to expire, if you wish to renew it, that is your choice and I will respect that."

Here, he lifts his gaze then, smile so faint on his lips. "However, if you wish to seek something else— something more familiar, I would not say no to entering another contract with you. But only if you wanted. You're the submissive between us. You should have free choice in choosing who you wish to enter a contract with. Regardless of whatever a dominant may want."

What Peter has left out of this conversation is that some of the things he hasn't forgotten have been... put to use in recent history. Is he likely to reveal any of this? No. Might random images or videos from Insincerity pop up somewhere? Knowing this place, probably.

"So, that's a 'yes' to my question, then?" Sometimes some of that insecurity is still there, though this is more inflection than actual question. "Interesting." Yes, sometimes these things still surprise him. "Yeah, of course I would have some say in who I contract with." Assuming the city doesn't pull some bullshit. "Pretty sure that's how I ended up in the contract with you to begin with."

"My, such vigor. I dare say I had forgotten how enthusiastic you could be at times." A slight tease. Nothing more, nothing less.

Amusement both in his tone and on his face, the tapping of fingers to the card ceases then and he throws a glance to one of the servers nearby, another dismissal given to the silent inquiry of if he should require anything to drink for himself; he'll simply deal with that later.

"I've no issue with entering another contract with you. We did seem to have a sort of understanding between each other after all. Although, if you'd like to continue that again, I'm sure we can simply discuss that a little more thorough to make sure we're still on the same page about things."

"Enthusiasm can cover a lot of things." In his case, usually insecurity.

He watches Vlad's fingers tapping on the card and he's on the verge of asking about it when Vlad speaks again. Peter's teeth end up catching his lip for a moment and he's unsure how to respond to that.

"Um -" perfectly articulate beginning, no? "Well - yeah. I mean, sure, we can do that." Though it's unclear if he means the contract or the discussion.

"Wonderful."

It's all he says on the matter — all that perhaps needs to be said. After all, there is time to be had until Peter's contract comes to an end, whenever that may be, and thus, there isn't much point in discussing things ab out contracts and the like now. Who's to say the other won't change his mind or decide to remain with his current dominant? He has that right, after all.

"You'll let me know then," he says more as something Peter will do and not as a suggestion. "Whatever you end up deciding to do."

Peter's never known Vlad to be particularly loquacious, so this isn't surprising. But, he nods. "Yeah. Still got about six weeks before it expires, but I'll let you know."

He finishes his tea. And holds up the card. "You know this list screams 'vampire', right? I mean, I know you didn't write it. But they didn't even try to make this a guessing game."

There's a touch of amusement there on his lips when Peter goes and lifts the card — tells him how ridiculously obvious it is that he's an ageless vampire, never mind The Vampire to many, depending on who you talk to.

"Considering where we are, I suppose they feel there's little need to hide what I am. There's all kinds here. Not to mention those who have particular tastes." Those who enjoy to be fed on or charmed by a vampire, he means. After all, they do reside within a place that encourages sin and depravity in many many forms.

"I mean, the first two could just be quirky, but when it gets to 'nickname: The Impaler', unless that is someone's really bad porn name, matched up with the first two items, very vampire." His own list was just - average, but not untrue.

"But, you're not wrong about people with varied tastes here. This place is weird."

"I suppose there is little wiggle room out of that." With a title such as The Impaler to be taken as anything but sexually when in a place such as this. Clever, really. He has to hand it to them. It might almost seem disappointing if they hadn't, really.

Noting that Peter seems more focused on their conversation than the tea he had selected for himself, he nods to the cup there. A silent gesture for him to indulge himself a little. Might as well with it being free and all.

"Have you found yourself coming across many with varied tastes, Peter?" Colour him curious with what the other has been up to in the — at least here — short time he has been away.

Curiously, he tilts his head at the vampire across the table. "Are you wanting to make sure that I get one that's been spiked?" This is Duplicity, after all, spiking the drinks and food is pretty standard fare.

He grins cheekily at Vlad. "Why would it have to be everyone else with the varied tastes?" That first beverage might have had something.

"I like to think I don't need the assistance of a spiked drink to get you into any sort of particular mood, Peter." To indulge in carnal desires of the flesh and feel things that made his limbs tremble and his lips part in pleasure. He remembers it all and, from the sounds of it, so does Peter, despite their absence from one another.

A shrug, he settles back in his seat some, leg still crossed over the other. "Though if you do wish to partake in something with a little more flavor to it, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Regardless of your not being under my care currently."

Want to see a spider blush? That's how you make a spider blush. Peter presses his lips together because - well shit. "Um, th- that's not really what I meant." Less mood and more lowered nerves. Vlad isn't wrong though. Dammit.

"Are we still talking about drinks?" He thinks no, but then there was second-guessing...

"Yes, drinks." He reassures, amusement there on his lips as he does. "They do tend to mix them with various aphrodisiacs and all." Easy for him to mostly avoid it all when blood is the only sort of drink that he thirsts for.

Fleeting glance cast around the room, he looks back to Peter then. "I would not let anyone take advantage of you were you under the influence of anything, Peter. Even with not being under my care."

The discussion was about 'tastes', that can be a really broad topic. "Yes, I'm aware. They also put stuff in the water or in drone birds that transmit weird sound waves or just in the damned air. I'm kinda surprised there isn't just a general pall of aphro in the city all the time." Though, there could be. How would any of them know?

"No. I know that. Not unless I asked you to." What the hell is it about Vlad that makes him talk about these things? "Though, there were a couple of parties in Insincerity recently that did exactly that." Why is he talking about this?

"Were there now?" Well, consider his interest piqued, Mr. Parker. Especially with what the sort of relationship they had with one another while under contract — even a little before then, what with how they met and all.

Tilt of his head, amusement gently flickers with those piercing blue eyes of his and he looks rather expectantly at the submissive. "And what sort of antics did you find yourself getting up to within this Insincerity?"

Peter really wishes that his brain and mouth would coordinate better instead of teaming up against him. He nods to a member of the staff for a refill on his tea. At this point, he needs the distraction more than he cares about any potential substances lacing it.

"I was involuntarily entered into a really strange gymnastics competition on account of being incredibly flexible. And a friend sort of dragged me through the stupid maze and the less said about that the better. She did buy me lunch though." He's not really stalling as much as it might seem.

"As for the parties, well, the one party was kind of a free-for-all, I guess? People getting passed around or folks being matched up based on colored tokens." He smiles a thanks to the staff who drops off his new cup. He also takes a brief second to cast a glance at Lily and make sure she's good. She's turned a bit so she's facing Vlad.

"The second one was more - anonymous. Everyone wearing masks so no one knew who anyone else was." Oh, are his tales lacking detail? Is that on purpose? One may never know.

Once again, he gives a dismissal for being tended to with a wave of his hand, gaze never straying from the young man's face as he indulges him with his tales of this Insincerity. Of course, as expected of Peter, he purposefully dances around and leaves out certain things and the man finds himself just barely smiling. Ah, how some things hardly change, it seems.

"And were you passed around? Did others indulge in how good a boy you can be for them when given a chance to?" He certainly remembers how good a boy Peter was for him, after all. A shame to think he had forgotten it all with his departure from here.

Some of it is nerves, but some of it is playing into expectations. He tips his head and sips his tea. "Are you looking for details?" He asks with a hint of a smirk.

He gives Lily an absent scratch to her head.

"They drugged everything, so yes." The part missing is that he might have taken them on his own so that he wouldn't shy away from everything. He's adding a bit of sugar to his tea and stirring it when he says, almost as though in passing, "The anonymous party was fun." None of these things sound like he's lying.

He never did take Peter as one to lie. Shy, perhaps, but he had decided to try and help the other out of his shell a little when they had been contracted — to let him experience things he perhaps hadn't and indulge in as much of it as he desired.

"You enjoyed being indulged in, did you?" A quirk of a brow, he smiles, gaze dropping to the table. "You do look quite nice when you are." Faint touch of a grin there on his lips as he looks up to the other across from him. "The sounds you make... quite exquisite."

Yup - there's his cheeks tinging pink again. One day, he really hopes that stops happening.

"That is the idea, right?" Yeah, this was a lot easier when he was blissed out on aphro. Way easier. The compliment is what makes his face flush. "Um - thanks," he says. He turns to face Vlad more directly. "You haven't asked me to make any of them for you yet though." His tea is clearly doing something.

So it would seem and Vlad can only regard Peter with an amused sort of curiosity there within his expression.

"Were you hoping that I would?" A simple enough question that he feels is warranted considering Peter had been the one to bring up such a thing. Fingers drumming against the table in a methodical sort of manner, his gaze remains on the submissive there across from him.

"Have you missed the way it feels to be filled with me, Peter?"

Peter's jeans are considerably less comfortable than they were a moment ago. His eyes focus on those long fingers tapping the table, the memory of them in his mouth suddenly very vivid. What's more is he can't seem to get himself to look away.

His tongue traces his lips as he blinks to look up at Vlad. "Yes," he says quietly as images flash in his head: wispy curtains, a collar, cuffs, flashes of skin and clothing, like a fast moving flipbook of a slideshow.

Ah, well. How wonderful to know that some part of him has been missed by the boy, even if it may have taken the gentle influence of a drink or two to help in admitting that.

Amusement worn on his lips, he settles back in his chair some, fingers ceasing their tapping to the table. "I'm flattered," he gives for a reply. "Though I'm sure you've found others to fill the ache within you that was once me, hm?"

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