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duplicitymemes2024-05-10 05:35 pm
duplicitymods) wrote in duplicitymemes2024-05-10 05:35 pm
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TDM #36
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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. Submissives are provided with a plain black pleather collar to wear and Dominants are given bracelets made of the same black pleather. The simple design is an immediate visual indicator that they have not yet signed a contract and they will be informed that more elaborate or personalized styles are a privilege reserved for those who do. Enjoy your free time until Orientation! Participation is mandatory for all new and past arrivals. Spring rains are in full force. It's wet out there. |
 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: clothing destruction/public nudity, altered mental states, suggestibility) While the pleasant spring weather has finally taken hold of Duplicity, this also means there's rain in the forecast. A rather large storm is on track to hit the city, and, in preparation for the deluge of water that will be hitting city streets, LIEs has decided to provide all new Submissives with their very own umbrella to use at Orientation. There's just one catch, however — to use these umbrellas, Submissives must share them with a Dominant. The timing is quite fortunate, too, for as soon as Orientation wraps up, the rain begins. Those who have been in the city long enough will remember that these storms have a way of lingering longer than initially predicted. The rain is also a bit on the acidic side, with the unfortunate side effect of dissolving any fabric it comes into direct contact with. Better use that umbrella unless you want to walk the streets wet and in the nude. Fortunately, the umbrellas are just big enough for two people to fit underneath together — so long as they're willing to cuddle in close. Pairs who deign to share their umbrella will find that, the longer they huddle together beneath it, the more amicable to one another they'll become. More than that, however, each designation will be affected in a distinct way. Dominants will begin experiencing a stronger instinct to be more spontaneous, making spur-of-the-moment suggestions or shirking off the remainder of their responsibilities for the day. For Submissives, however, this means greater suggestibility, especially those who are often quieter, more reserved, or even more repressed in nature. Deciding to do something spontaneous, especially something you'd never choose normally, seems a little less daunting when someone else has come up with the idea. Maybe today is a good day to let the rain wash away the rest of your plans so you can spend as much time as possible with your umbrella partner before the clouds retreat. |
 (cw: altered mental states, suggestibility, increased libido) Thanks to the rain, the Down is uncomfortably wet, and much of the shoddy and crumbling infrastructure is especially prone to leaks and even flooding. The city-provided Submissive housing isn't immune to these issues, and LIEs, being ever so "helpful," are handing out free buckets, duct tape, and an assortment of varyingly useful tools to patch up the leaks and clear out water. It's up to newcomers and other LIERs who might be living in the Down to deal with the problem themselves. Chatter begins to swirl in the Up — it's that time of year again, where those who are looking for an easy contract should take advantage of the desperation of those dealing with less-than-ideal living conditions in the Down. Whether these good samaritans wish to go into the Down to help out is up to them, of course, but the rumors aren't unfounded. Prolonged exposure to the runoff water in the Down, courtesy of all that flooding, leaves Submissives feeling particularly desperate and keen to please, unable to help throwing themselves at the first Dominant they see. Willing to do anything is an understatement, and those under the influence are incredibly susceptible, perhaps even easily manipulated into going along with whatever a Dominant may suggest, even if it's something they would normally object to. It also doesn't help that Submissives are needy in other ways too, as if a switch has been flipped for their libido. Some may even find themselves physically wet and ready to get it on. |
 (cw: potential transactional sex) With the provided Submissive housing being rather miserable and soggy, despite attempts to patch leaks and keep things dry, LIEs has taken pity on the newcomers and provided them a drier alternative. On the edge of the woods in the Up, there are a series of tents that have been set up for uncontracted Submissives to use if they wish, but the conditions there aren't much better by comparison. Amenities are, understandably, meager, with each tent only containing one sleeping bag and pillow apiece. There are a few old pots and utensils available if individuals want to attempt to cook over a campfire, but beyond that they're on their own. Submissives in search of a nicer place to sleep for an evening or two have the option to perform acts of service for a Dominant, who, in return, will be permitted to purchase them a stay at a nearby hotel at a discount. Dominants are encouraged to offer their services for Submissives who wish to comply. If Dominants are feeling extra generous, they can invite these soggy Subs to stay with them instead for a short duration — although the expectation from LIEs is that a contract will be signed by the end of this temporary sleepover, of course. |
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: All new arrivals on this TDM are 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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[ She can't see his quiver from this angle, can't remember if it looked full or not. Hopefully he has more than the solitary arrow rattling around in her own quiver. ]
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—and besides, this is different. there's no lingering question about whether it's okay for kate — or kids like her — to be running around with weapons and powers. it's not something that'd be his first choice, strictly speaking — there'd been a reason why one of his conditions for the younger thunderbolts even being thunderbolts was "go to fucking school" — but it's going to happen. has happened and will happen, and the worst thing any of them can do is abandon them. leave them to it without any help at all, because they will need it.
(not all of the time, and that was the problem—.) )
You know I've already done this, right? ( he questions, eyeing her before deciding to sit down on the ground, legs dangling over the side of the building. ) When I said I wasn't happy about— ( he waves a hand. ) Someone I'd never met, never even heard of, being given my bow, I told her she could keep it if she beat me with it. I picked up some $200 piece of junk for me to use to prove a point.
( a breath of a pause, and he doesn't say who won. he doesn't think he needs to, and he doesn't say that he'd taken it afterwards just to mess with her, just to see what she did, that he hadn't planned on keeping it. if steve had thought she was good, he'd wanted to see it.
he looks down. starts counting pedestrians, then— )
If he's me and you're you, I figure you've done enough to prove yourself already. There's a couple of SIN guards down there, by the way.
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[ There is what she says and then what she doesn't, because it does mean something. It shouldn't, she only met this version of Clint today, she has no reason to value his opinion. He's right, she already got the approval she needs; the other Clint calling her the world's greatest archer, verbatim.
But it means something. It eases a knot that's been twisting itself up inside of Kate since he started implying that she wasn't Kate enough. "He's me and you're you" is a welcome change of tune.
Kate looks very pleased when Clint hands her his quiver; she didn't even have to do the whole "our arrows" bit. She takes one out and examines it closely, then drops it back in and flicks between the rest, eyes peeled for any potential trick arrows. A quick peer over the ledge at the guards he indicated, then back to the quiver. ]
Got any Pyms in here?
[ She is thinking of the shrinking ones but she isn't truly picky. In fact, she would admittedly feel a certain amount of schadenfreude to see this place brought down by Godzilla-sized sex cops. ]
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he weighs her question up instead of commenting on that.
he doesn't have any shrinking arrows — the only pym particles he's ever used have done the opposite, mostly for his stint as goliath, and he turns his head to one side in a vain, vague attempt to look at his quiver. ) No, ( he answers. not based off the weights of the arrows he does have. ) Think there's a sonic, a putty, and a net in there.
( and it's punctuated by a pause, questioning, before— ) —Goliath?
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Ooh, a net could be fun. [ She starts pulling arrows up for a closer look. ]
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( is godzilla trademarked? he has no idea, actually. )
—You're taking your sweet time, Kate. By the time you've settled on an arrow, these guards'll have died of old age. ( a beat, and deliberately— ) Besides, you know what they say: it ain't the tool, it's the person.
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[ Finally, Kate selects and nocks her arrow, then starts lining up her shot. ] Yeah? What do they say when you're a person who's a tool? [ She does a decent job of masking how proud she is of that one, the smirk mostly hidden behind her fist where she's pulling the bowstring. She has to wait until both guards are in place, halfway through the revolving door into the lobby of one of the taller, shinier, and no doubt more exclusive buildings. Her shot is timed so the arrow flies into the minuscule gap where the door swings up to the wall, detonating a payload of thick putty into the narrow wedge of space left for both guards to occupy. As she hoped, the putty spills into every available crevice including the spaces around and under the glass doors, grinding the revolving mechanism to a halt and leaving the guards stuck inside their little glass triangle, knee deep in purple goo. ]
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shifts his weight as she comes out with a smart-ass retort and he's kind of proud of her for that one too. that was good, and he entirely misses her smirk as his gaze rests on guards. it's a good shot, of course it is, that wasn't really ever in doubt, and it's kind of funny, too. even from here, it's easy to see that very particular mix of confusion and anger that's just so cathartic (to witness).
slowly, he looks back to kate and answers her jab. ) And I dunno that either, Kate, but I've met a few people who'd say you call them 'Barton'. ( clint or barney, does it really matter? being an ass is apparently genetic.
deliberately, he doesn't say anything about the shot. does she want him to? could just be considered condescending, it's not like he comments on kate's shots all that much. )
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Sure, this looks bad. But it isn't hopeless. ]
What's the best shot you ever took? [ The question pops into her mind one second and spills from her mouth the next. Back in her world, Clint had a very sentimental answer but something tells her not to expect the same here. Not that she minds— she really wants the actual, technical answer. ]
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but he doesn't have an answer ready to go for that question, not a sentimental one and not a technical one.
he pulls a face, mouth dipping momentarily. you're asking the guy that doesn't miss what his best shot is? is what part of him is tempted to throw at her. it's what anyone else would get — bucky, steve, sam. but it's kate, and he thinks of how he'd told her that the only wasted shots are the ones you don't take.
so— ) I dunno if Mr. Wife-and-Three-Kids has the same sort of history as me, but I started off as a criminal. ( he hadn't meant to, it'd just kind of happened, but—. ) Saw Iron Man one day, and it annoyed me — some guy in a flashy suit, and I figured if he could do that with what he had going on, I could do it too. So I tried joining the Avengers.
( he doesn't look at her, just continues watching the unfolding scene below. their pair of stuck guards have friends now, and bystanders. it's interesting, he thinks, that none of the natives (he assumes they're natives, anyway) seem to hold much ill-will towards the guards. that'll be a problem. )
Shockingly, they didn't take some carnie kid seriously, so I had to get practical. ( a beat, wryly— ) Jarvis helped. That's why I always get him the good tea.
( he lifts his shoulders. it's not quite a shrug, not really. )
I don't miss, Kate. The only shots that are bad ones are the ones you don't take.
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Hey, wait, that's really good. You need to put that on some merch. [ She wags her index finger, pointing from his head to his toes. ] Clearly you've figured out your brand. I can't say that for the other you.
Anyway, you're overthinking it. The answer can be any shot you were proud of, or that stayed with you or whatever. It doesn't mean you missed the other ones. [ Dramatic. The ego. (Pot, kettle.)
With that out of the way, she barrels into a change of subject with all the subtlety of, well, a Hawkeye. ] Circling back to what you were saying: criminal? Carnie?
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( the problem with the question, really, is that clint doesn't catalogue his shots like that. there isn't a veritable list of THINGS CLINT BARTON IS PROUD OF, the ones — the actual, literal shots — that have stuck with him are the ones he regrets. like killing bruce. like putting moonstone (karla) in a coma. both had seemed like the right thing to do in the moment, the best option in the face of more, worse options, but hindsight being hindsight, he's certain that there are options that would've been better.
ones that he wouldn't hate himself a little bit for making. )
But like I said — Jarvis. Tied him up and shot three arrows at him as a demonstration. ( not wow worthy, not as far as hawkeye(s) are concerned, but it did the job. then, a flicker of consideration, and— ) Did a one-armed shot once.
( that was cool. that took effort.he wasn't convinced he was going to pull it off, either.
he lets her 'circling back' thing sit as he scoots back away from the edge and turns towards her. well, it's nice to know that other him had a very different life from start through to now—. )
Carnie. ( he repeats, studying her. speaking of having a brand— ) Hawkeye's the name I came up with for my shows.
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Her eyebrows stitch together in concentration as she extends her arm holding the bow and tries to envision the logistics of firing with one arm. She lifts a leg to test if resting the bow against her thigh is the trick. ]
I feel like I just found your Rosetta Stone. Really puts your people skills into perspective.
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—and if, if he'd been going to comment on that, it's cut off by her comment about his people skills.
(excuse.) ) Hey! What's wrong with my people skills? I've been voted the most popular Avenger before. ( fifth or sixth, actually, but—. details. ) People love me.
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She gets the same response any time she tells people that Hawkeye is her favorite Avenger. That "Oh how funny, surely you're not serious" laugh. So Clint claiming that Hawkeye could get the popular vote? That's an obvious gag. That's low-hanging fruit. Voted sixth, sure. Out of six.
But then it occurs to her that Clint might not be joking. He has figured out the branding and that is no small part of it. He is also, to put it diplomatically, more photogenic than her world's Clint. That matters in a popularity contest. ]
Wait, were you being serious?
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he's sacrificed a lot to be an avenger. to have his own team. sacrificed a lot for the thunderbolts. he'd equated leading a team with being in a marriage — that is, hadn't called it being in a marriage at all, hadn't called it a partnership, had instead spoken about leading that too, and he's sure that if he'd had more give in him then, if he'd sacrificed what he'd wanted with being a leader, with proving himself to steve and everyone else who'd questioned him—
(himself.)
he'd still have a marriage, probably.
and because he doesn't have that, he decides it all has to be worth it.
so he eyes her and stands, dusts — a little bit — some of the dirt from his hands and his pants. presses his lips into a line and concedes, totally unabashed— )
—Well, fifth maybe. ( then, for clarity, like he knows what she'd been thinking, like he knows she'd say it— ) Don't think it included reservists. Not bad going for a guy the public despised when he first became an Avenger. ( he answers in lieu of a 'yes'.
and then the rest of the differences, perhaps, are that clint doesn't think of it as branding, it's just part and parcel of who he is. he'd started off with a fringed suede jacket and fringed suede pants, and from there it'd been the purple and the blue. it'd all been a choice, and it kind of bothers him these days that most of them have dropped the flashier outfits. it bothers him that his now feels like it could belong to the military or some acronym, purple aside. it annoys him that his attempts to bring back the classic costume for the new thunderbolts was met with a "no, marketing—".
in spite of that, though, in spite of it all— ) Definitely got 'most handsome'. Never got told how much crossover the two votes got.
( a little slyly, then, as a thought registers in his features. ) —Sorry, girlie, it sounds like your Hawkeye has some catching up to do, but we all win some and we all lose some.
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She drops a hand to rest on her hip and tilts her head to one side while she studies Clint. ]
It's hard to believe you're supposed to be versions of the same person.
[ The unspoken punchline: that he is anything but low key and forgettable and she can tell after only a few hours in his company. ]
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—but then there's the question of if she's talking about clint barton or hawkeye. the two are different, even for him. clint barton lives in a not-that-great apartment building in bed-stuy. clint barton liked it because no-one recognised him as hawkeye or if they did, they didn't care because they had enough going on in their lives already. )
—Maybe that's what getting old does to you. ( horrifying, although the old-him he's met before hadn't exactly been low key. old-him had been better than him, despite the — everything. )
You're not that different. ( his gaze shifts sideways and rests on lucky. ) Nor's he.
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She follows his gaze over to Lucky, the very picture of bliss in ignorance. Suddenly, she regrets judging people who make small talk about wishing they had it as easy as domesticated pets. Having no concept of man-made hierarchies would really hit right about now. ]
So, you said space isn't your thing. What about other dimensions? First rodeo or been there, done that?
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Been there, done that a few times. Time travel, too. ( a beat. ) I figure you'd've mentioned if you'd done— ( he gestures broadly at their surroundings. ) This a few times.
—Still prefer sticking to Earth, by the way, not that choice really plays into it.
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And so, swerve. ]
Were you also the lab rat for time travel? I heard you, the other you, volunteered to test the time machine for the Time Heist. [ A beat, during which she gives him a Yeah, I know look. ] I think Ant-Man coined the term, not— it wasn't me.
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that's not to say that his thoughts about it are deliberately insensitive — it'd be a little different, say, if it was a topic he had a lot of feelings about (no slim pickings there, but—.)
not carefully, not delicately, then, his gaze fixes on her. narrows a little— ) Which Ant-Man? Hank? Lang? O'Grady? Please tell me it wasn't O'Grady because he's totally the worst Ant-Man and we all know it. ( it's deliberate, pointed, a little dickish and he knows it. ) How long have you guys been doing this?
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The answer for The Avengers is a decade and some change. Her answer is barely a fraction of that. She doesn't want to admit either. ]
Lang. [ She says blankly, not meeting his eyes despite how badly she wants to glare. ] And we don't "all know it" because nobody cares about ranking Ant-Men.
[ Except that maybe they do. Maybe where he's from, Ant-Man is like Captain America and people actually care who wears the helm. Maybe she just dug herself in even deeper. At the end of the day, it still ends in Y. ]
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You didn't answer the question, Kate. Your Avengers, they're a new team?
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