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duplicitymemes2023-07-10 08:51 am
duplicitymods) wrote in duplicitymemes2023-07-10 08:51 am
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TDM #31
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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. It's the hottest part of the summer. Prepare to sweat. |
 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: aphrodisiacs, dub-con, groping, public nudity, public sex) It's summertime! To beat the heat, LIEs has decided to throw a pool party directly following Orientation at one of the city's public pools! Attendance is mandatory for new arrivals and strongly encouraged for everyone else. New arrivals are provided with (skimpy) swimsuits to wear, but LIERs who have been in the city a while have the option of bringing their own gear. Of course, skinny dipping is allowed as well, and there are many spots on deck for people to tan themselves. Speaking of tanning, why not help out a fellow LIER by rubbing some lotion on them? Or, if you want to avoid a burn, get someone to put sunscreen on your back? The formulas of the complementary products that LIEs provide may or may not have a mild aphrodisiac added to them, but at least you won't burn and you may get that nice golden tan you've been chasing — all over! While one end of the pool is reserved for people to splash around in or float casually, there are numerous games and water activities for people to join in on as well: In a sexy twist on Marco Polo, though in Duplicity the call and response is "lucky" and "get me," the seeker must try and tag other players by tugging at their swimsuits. They'll be rewarded with 30 seconds of foreplay, groping and whatever else they can accomplish within the time frame. Dominant and Submissive pairs face off against one another in piggyback chicken fights or jousts using inflatable toys and suggestively shaped pool noodles. Are those dildos stuck to the bottom of the pool? You bet! Dive down and retrieve them before handing them to the next person behind you to toss in and dive for or just collect as many as you can. There is, of course, the option of using said dildo on yourself or someone else for others to watch and enjoy on the pool deck. No judgment here. For those who prefer a slightly more private option, there are curtained cabanas available and it's easy enough to duck inside with a partner for a quick tryst. |
 (cw: aphrodisiacs, dub-con, altered mental states, miscellaneous kink) Whether it's the obnoxious, telltale jingle that signals the arrival of ice cream trucks, or the vehicles happen to be spotted in their various parking spots all around Duplicity — including some smaller carts made to navigate the narrower streets of the Down, it's obvious that they're popular considering the warm summer weather. It seems the locals can't get enough of the cool, sweet treats on offer — and, even better, the trucks are offering free samples in addition to selling regular sizes. Popsicles and soft serve ice cream are on the menu, and each frozen bite has its own unique set of effects. The menu: Want sprinkles with that? Enjoy your added aphro! |
 (cw: dub-con/non-con, pet play, leash and collar, training/discipline, exhibitionism) A new public park has recently been built on a formerly empty lot in the Up. The bigger sign on the gate reads "Dog Park," and the smaller sign adjacent to it includes the posted rules that all people need to abide by in order to enter. If you're curious about what such a structure entails (after all, there are dogs in Duplicity), you're in luck: today, there's a meet-and-greet being hosted for pets and their owners, sponsored by a local "pet" shop, with banners advertising the event posted at each end of the park. This is a Dog Park, alright, but it's intended for a very specific kind of play involving the LIERs who want to wear the collars in question as well as the LIERs who are interested in holding their leashes. Even if you've never harbored an interest in it before, don't worry — random bystanders will be enthusiastically pressured to join in by event volunteers, so you might find yourself wearing a collar or holding a leash in very short order regardless. All pets must be collared and leashed properly in order to enter the Dog Park, and owners must remain in close proximity to their pets at all times. There are toys for tugging and fetching, a few pieces of special playground equipment, and more than enough space to run around. There will also be obedience challenges issued to various pairs at random, just to see how in sync both pet and owner are with one another. If you decide to participate and remain on your best behavior, you might even earn a nice treat in addition to a pat on the head. The pet shop will be handing out goodie bags consisting of take-home collars, as well as animal tail plugs and other sex toys and gear, to everyone who takes part in the event, willingly or not. |
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 a night owl, they are a Dominant. If your character prefers the daytime, 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 tag on 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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"I'm guessing what we last remember isn't going to line up," Michael said. "Or I wouldn't have gotten that welcome."
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"Yeah, when I first got here, I wouldn't have known any of that. But now I remember that and months after that. Max ends up being fine. Isobel turns into a sword-wielding badass. There's a lot I can tell you. About Max's evil twin. But..." He looked around at the party and shook his head.
"Probably not the best place to do it."
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Michael stiffened, then settled again, exaggerated slouch of his shoulders giving away the defensiveness as much as the stiff set of them would have. "Could warn a guy for spoilers," he said. It sounded like nonsense. "Guess you know about dear old uncle Jones then." He couldn't help but test, make sure this was really Alex and he wasn't full of shit, even if he already knew it was, on some level. He couldn't mistake Alex kissing him for anyone else.
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"And if you're worried about spoilers, I really suggest that we don't have this conversation in the middle of a pool party."
He shrugged a little. "You're getting it now. Are you complaining?" Because there was a time when he would. When he had, handing back the guitar as if it hadn't meant anything.
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He rubbed his hand over his own arm and shrugged. "I've got a shitty shared apartment we can hit up, but it's a ways from here. Or we can try one of the cabanas. I'm pretty sure everywhere here is bugged to hell though." He'd found a couple in his apartment - nothing like what he was used to, but obvious enough. He'd left them for now, no reason to tip them off. He wasn't doing anything secret in there anyway, unless you counted trying to find and fix the bathroom leaks.
"Not complaining. Just trying to figure it out." When did he ever manage to really complain about Alex kissing him and entirely mean it? Even the one time he'd turned Alex away, it'd been like cutting part of himself away and he'd hated it while he did it, even while he believed it was better. He loved Maria - still did. He just was never going to be out of Alex's orbit, and he'd stopped trying to want to be.
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Alex knew. Enclosed spaces were a chance for people to pair off and find a secluded spot for sex. Not that he wouldn't be interested in a reunion with Michael, but it sounded like they had a little time difference to settle.
"Or if you want, we can catch a cab back to where I live. I'm rooming with Kyle at a place on the beach." A ridiculously big place, but they'd made it home.
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He didn't say anything here though. "A lot weirder than me. Such a sweet talker," Michael said dryly, and shrugged. "Whichever you want. You're the expert here." Though maybe moaning neighbors would help drown them out for the bugs.
"Here's fine with me," Michael said. Because an awkward cab ride and then time in a place Alex apparently shared with Valenti - which Michael had no reason to be touchy about, but felt his hackles rise a little anyway - sounded extra complicated. And they had enough of that when Michael was already working through what that kiss meant.
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There was a small bed in the cabana. It was really more of a lounge chair that was a bit bigger than normal. Big enough to fit two if you got extra close. Or sat next to each other. Alex sat, leaving enough room for Michael beside him.
"All right. Where do you want me to start? Here or back home?"
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Michael looked around the small space once they were there, then sank down next to Alec. He tipped his head back, sighing. "Start with here, since it's where we are and what we have to deal with."
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"Everything around here is about sex," he said. "Though that's not hard to figure out. What is harder to remember is that you can't always trust what you eat or drink. And sometimes even that isn't enough to..."
He grimaced. "It can get messy. Very messy. Sometimes it's buying a friend hot chocolate only to suddenly find yourself sleeping with said friend and sometimes it's following someone to a haunted ship out in the ocean and dying, only to wake up three days later on the beach. Things happen here. They usually don't make sense."
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He snorted, casual about the sex in a way that Alex could easily read as uncomfortable. "Yeah. I found that out," he said. "A woman who knew the last version of me slapped ice cream out of my hand to stop me eating the rest of it. So what, cook all your own food? Or is it going to be in the ingredients too? Take up farming and livestock ranching for a pure source?"
He met Alex's eyes for a second before looking away. "So which one was you? Or both were you?"
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"And leaving Roswell is overrated. I went all around the world only to find what I was looking for right in my own backyard." Michael, of course. He'd definitely fallen for Forrest, but when the time came to make a choice, he'd chosen to stay. And the decision hadn't been about Michael, but it had led him right back all the same. For good this time.
"I don't stop eating, but... I try to be careful. If there's a party, I only indulge when I'm with someone I'm okay losing control with. Because yeah. Both of those were me. The ship was years ago. I wasn't caught under the spell, but the man I was with, it was almost like a siren was calling. I followed, tried to snap him out of it, and got killed. The hot chocolate was more recent. It wasn't terrible, just unexpected. And maybe a little awkward after."
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He doesn't know what to make of the declarations. Obviously things changed from what he knows, but how? Another cycle of together before tearing apart? Or did they figure something out that lasted? Or had Alex just remembered further forward, but not far enough to see whenever Michael screwed it up. He didn't have answers, and part of him didn't want to ask because whatever happens there isn't HERE either. "Alien melodrama and multiple abductions?"
"Indulge," Michael's mouth twists. "Eating isn't exactly indulging. And they provide all the food for us slobs, right?" Maybe they could set up a lab and test the food, figure out what they use and develop something that would nullify it ahead of time.
Not exactly his line of work, Liz could probably manage it better than him. But it'd be something to work on.
"If you came back, how do you know you were really dead and it wasn't all some screwed up stage play they make you go through?" Michael asked. "How did you come back?" He paused, and then asked, carefully neutral. "The hot chocolate guy - Valenti?"
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Alex sighed a little. He should have known the Kyle question was going to come up. He just hadn't expected to get it right off the bat.
"No, not Kyle. Like I said, just a friend. But Kyle, I am seeing him. It's not exclusive. For either of us. Mostly because there was someone else in my life I wasn't giving up." That neither of them were giving up, but that was another thing that was Kyle's to explain. Or not. And a part of Michael's life here. The one that he'd forgotten. Or had never lived.
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Being experimented on was something Michael's spent a hell of a lot of time thinking about. It's not shocking that it's right where his brain goes.
His lips twisted into the cynical little smile that wasn't much like Michael's real smile. "Hard to be exclusive in a place that wants you to screw everyone you meet." He didn't ask if the person had been him. Michael wasn't sure which was worse - if it was, or it wasn't. "He's kind of an obnoxiously overcompensatingly decent guy these days, so I get it." And good looking, and stable and not an alien who lived in a trailer and had trouble follow him everywhere he went. Yeah, Michael got it.
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"I got a job offer. For Deep Sky. Turns out Deep Sky is Kyle's uncle. Not that I knew that at first. I just knew that he gave me a puzzle to solve and I couldn't help myself. I was interested. And that puzzle eventually brought me back into your orbit. And we did what we always do when we're together. But there was a difference this time. We were ready - both of us - to not screw it up."
Not that there hadn't been a few stumbles. But the important thing was that the stumbles hadn't brought things to a jerking halt like they had in the past.
"And as for why I kissed you... You were gone, Michael. One day I just wake up and you're not there. I don't care if you remember the city or not. I don't even care if we were together or not. I lose someone I love, I lose you and then you show up again, you're getting kissed."
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His head tipped into the hand on his neck, the thumb on his face. Michael was and always had been tactile as hell. It was a secret Alex had figured out early. He touched Michael and as long as they weren't in the middle of a fight, he'd just settle for it.
Now wasn't any exception. "I know you do. It just seems like we're never in a place where that matters more than all the bullshit we come up against, or make for ourselves," Michael said. He opened eyes that had gone half closed. "You ever wish you'd gone with him instead?"
He leaned away finally, reluctant about it, but trying to keep from getting distracted.
"I wasn't objecting. Just trying to make sense of it." He ran a hand through his hair, then rubbed at a bare arm. "So you died, you got drugged into sleeping with a friend. The food's not safe. The city's watching us. Everything is about sex. What happens if you just don't play by their rules? How bad does it go?"
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"But after dealing a lot with my past and then with yours, I don't know. Maybe we were finally ready to put the baggage behind us. Or maybe we always would have gotten there eventually. As for whether I regret letting him leave, the answer is no. Because I did it for me and what I wanted. Not even who I wanted because that didn't come until later."
He'd known that Michael and Maria weren't together anymore because she was still one of his best friends, but that didn't mean that Michael hadn't found someone else. With Alex being gone more than he was home, he hadn't really kept up on Michael's personal life.
How bad. "At best you get arrested. At worst, they arrest you, drug you, and basically offer you up to anyone who pays. Actually, no, there may be worse than that, but only if there's a Dominant you have to answer to."
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"You probably would have a lot less chaos in your life if you ran off with a green haired guy instead of sticking around Roswell," Michael said. Or if he settled down with the hot doctor who used to be his best friend before a brief trip to homophobic asshole town. (Which Michael guessed had been hiding same-sex inclinations by being a homophobic bully. But he'd kind of figured that might be the case as soon as he'd heard Isobel spent time hanging out with Valenti in a queer bar.)
He grimaced at the answer. "You said Max was here, and I was here before. Or some version of me. No chance whatever drugs they use don't work on us then." He'd already known it because whatever they did to knock him out before he woke up the first time here had worked. But it'd have been nice to be wrong. "And you're supposed to get one of those or they what, assign you someone to give you a hall pass to get food or go to the bathroom and get off with you on the regular?"
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"The drugs work on everyone. Human, alien, supernatural. Even android seems to get caught in at least some of the mess that happens." He glanced at the curtains surrounding them. "And the fact that there are non-organics here should tell you exactly how true the reason we're supposedly here is." You couldn't get DNA from an android. At least not any DNA that would express itself as a trait in the individual.
"As far as what they'd do to you if you don't get a Dominant? They'll arrest you. I almost went down that path once. I only didn't because Maria had gone down that path and needed someone. I...wouldn't suggest it. If you want someone you know, I'd talk to Kyle. Otherwise, I do background checks on Dominants and I know someone who does contract negotiations."
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"How does that make sense?" Michael asked, exasperated. Androids weren't ALIVE. "Maybe there's some kind of future nanotech in it that programs it in," he muttered to himself. "Seems like the whole thing is bullshit designed to give them a 24/7, multi-cultural peep show."
"I'll just ... I don't know. Figure it out. They said something about time, who knows, maybe they'll just check me out before I even have to," Michael said. It had happened before, right?
God this was so damned creepy. "I-" Michael stopped whatever he'd been about to say, swallowing. He changed his mind. "Look, I'm sorry you got stuck here and for all the shit that's happened. If you had to be here though, I'm glad you've figured out ways to work with it and not be miserable though. With Valenti or whatever else." But Michael was getting less and less confident he'd manage the same. "Still trying to figure out how much of this is real, honestly."
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His smile turned into a dubious look and he shook his head. "Nothing about this place makes sense. Not their reasoning for the program, not why I can't seem to hack into their system, none of it."
His heart seized a little when Michael joked about not being here long and he looked away. What Michael said next didn't make anything better. He pressed his lips together and looked back at Michael. That was one of his theories. But. "I prefer to think of that theory more as the Matrix. We're all plugged in. We just need to figure out what the red pill is. Which means we're all real."
He took a breath. "Of course I'm miserable. Not all the time, but not knowing what this place is or how to get out? But look. If you're not sure what's real or not, ask me any question that you want." He reached out and grabbed one of Michael's hand. "Look into my head and see the truth. Or at least my truth. Anything I can do to get you there."
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"Yeah. And you love things that don't make sense," Michael said, giving him a wry little smile. It was something they had in common, even if they approached and reacted to it very differently. They both liked to understand what they were dealing with.
He darted his eyes to the side too when Alex looked away. He got it. He'd want Alex to get out of here too, but still hate it if it happened when Michael was still here. He'd probably felt that way when the last version of him, or clone, or unmemory-wiped version of him was here and then not. "Real wasn't any better in those movies. The real part was shitty food and really shitty sequels."
"I don't think you're LYING, Alex. I just don't know what the hell to think yet. About anything." And yeah maybe he could do the mind thing Isobel could too, if he tried hard enough, but he didn't really want to, either. "I still know you well enough to know when you're lying." He looked down to look at Alex's hand on his. "Get me there for what? Just so we're on the same page while we're abducted?"
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"That's the page I want. Anything else..." Them. Michael and Kyle. "...that can come with time and I'm not going to push because this place is weird enough without the rest of it."
Even if it made his heart hurt and all he wanted to do was kiss Michael again. Because Alex never felt relief that someone was back home because he didn't know that they did go home. He wasn't any kind of an optimist. He was a pessimist who worked hard to create something better and knew he wasn't likely to succeed as much as he wanted. And here, how much he could do was extremely restrained.
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He sighed, turned his hand over to curl his fingers with Alex's, squeezing once. "I'm working on getting there, but once I do, pretty sure all I'll want to do is get us out," he pointed out. Not that he's ever had that much luck finding a way off earth. This wasn't earth though, he didn't think. Maybe this one he could crack. "So what do you even do here, day to day, if you've been here that long? Just bang your head against a wall to try to get out in between whatever sex crap they insist on?"
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