Duplicity Game Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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duplicitymemes2019-09-12 04:47 pm
duplicitymods) wrote in duplicitymemes2019-09-12 04:47 pm
Entry tags:
TDM #8
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It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. Yet, solace is found in the lies we tell each other, comforted by the peace of knowing that we're not alone in our depravity, and once on this path, sin itself becomes the lesser of two evils masked in a cloud of normalcy. This is how Duplicity has functioned since the beginning. The divide of power and social standing is overt in that Dominants influence the decisions made both publicly and privately while Submissives cater to the rules presented to them. It is the way of Duplicity to assign random designations at birth with no leeway in altering what has been given. Climate in the Up is far stricter than that of the Down; violating outlined personas for a Dominant or Submissive while in full view of others is punished by degree of infraction. In the Down, many tend to turn a blind eye to these sorts of offenses. To counteract the discovery of the Deceit Gene – a natural "negative" response to all stimuli – the L.I.E.S. program was founded. The program had been designed to introduce new subjects to the current environment and test for the Deceit Gene through immersion in Duplicity's standing society. Sexual impulses and encounters increase the chances of detecting the gene within these individuals. Participants are typically released from L.I.E.S. after a year; however, results have remained unsatisfactory and testing still continues. ... and you’re here! Finally! Welcome to Duplicity. After choosing a door and stepping through to the other side, the first thing that greets you are the enthusiastic faces of people in medical scrubs and pristine lab coats. Their enthusiasm translates to eagerness as they strip you of your clothes to perform a thorough examination—you will be healed, bathed, and given a paper gown to wear until your items can be processed and delivered to your residence later in the evening. You are also given a device that accesses the network as well as the time and location of orientation. If you enter Duplicity into the Up, congratulations! You’re a Dominant, which means you are immediately picked up by a limo after processing and taken to your highrise. Here, it is two Dominants per floor with separate apartments. If you enter Duplicity into the Down, congratulations! You’re a Submissive, which means you are directed towards public transportation with the address of the motel you’ll be living in. Here, it is two Submissives per room with a shared common space for all rooms. Enjoy your free time until orientation! Participation is mandatory by all new and old arrivals. The hellish summer heat is finally starting to subside, and the cool breeze suggests autumn is approaching. |
 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. |
 The weather’s getting cooler, and people have begun transitioning from summer clothing to the sweaters and jackets of early fall. With jackets come pockets, and with pockets come a bizarre uptick in robberies. Then again, perhaps the correlation is flawed. In the Down, getting robbed is a constant threat. Gangs of street toughs look for lone or inattentive people who look like they’ve got valuables on hand. Uncontracted Submissives are particularly easy to rob, since authorities have little time to bother with a lowly Submissive without a Dominant to advocate for them. One particularly nasty gang of young adult men, the Bulldogs, hangs out near the train, looking to ambush unwary Submissives fresh out of Orientation. They are prone to violent muggings and will simply beat up their target and leave them in a gutter when they’re finished robbing them. In the Up, the streets are nominally safer, but there have been reports of a group of college-aged Submissive women taking advantage of their designation to attack travelers. They, too, stand near the train and the orientation center, looking to seduce passersby into an alley where a group of them can beat and mug their victims, usually Dominants looking to capitalize on their pretty appearances. But you’re truthfully at risk anywhere in the city. The new arrivals are easy targets, and any brazen thief might get the idea to make some quick cash. The authorities are spread too thin to help, but perhaps LIErs can look out for one another? Or they might just get in on the thievery. Everyone’s out for themselves, after all. |
( CW: potential dubcon, drugs, BDSM/sexual torture, prostitution, public use ) Surrounding a large building near the orientation center in the Up, banners and fliers announcing the beginning of the inaugural Duplicity High Tech Sexpo, a trade show for businesses and manufacturers of adult novelties. Since this is the expo’s first year, admission is free and many excited volunteers are handing out vouchers all over the city. These vouchers can be exchanged for goods and services within the expo, but have no monetary value outside of it. Even if you refuse them, you’ll likely find two or three of them tucked into your bag or pocket. Inside the expo hall, there are dozens of booths pitching a variety of entertainments. Many offer interactive demonstrations, showing off their tech for the crowds of interested onlookers. Competition is fierce, and booths try to attract attention and customers through any means necessary. There are private rooms all around the expo for potential customers to try out the products. Booths will also happily accept volunteers for demos, or try to recruit them by bribing them with cash or free samples. There’s a nasty rumor going around that some are recruiting volunteers via more illicit means, like drugging and dressing them up, but surely that’s an exaggeration… Some of the smaller booths sell more traditional toys and accessories: leashes and collars, specialty lubes and massage oils, fetish gear, strap-ons, dildos and vibrators in myriad shapes and sizes, and other basic items. Others advertise apps for the devices, the most notable of which is HUGGR (which LIErs may recognize as a poorly rebuilt sex-themed version of a certain other app.) The closer you get to the big-ticket sponsor booths, the more elaborate and fantastic the products become. One of the most eye-catching demos is for the Climax VR Headset. You and a partner both wear a VR headset, which displays a collaborative virtual scenario. Both partners can alter the setting and surroundings however they like, and any sexual activity conducted in VR transmits real sensations to their bodies. You can come together without ever physically touching. Symphony Hydraulics have a large, loud booth where crowds gather to watch perhaps the most outrageous demo: a variety of fucking machines. Volunteers get stripped, strapped in, and turned on, brought to screaming orgasms in front of the whole crowd. There is a fifteen minute break between demos on each machine, as some poor intern hurriedly washes and sanitizes them between uses. In the interim, they offer smaller, portable versions for sale or rent at the expo. (Some may note that a few of the Symphony Hydraulics staff members look a bit familiar.) Does all this high-tech equipment have you overwhelmed? Wish you could go back to a simpler time? Sir Robert’f Bedroome Provifionf (sic) is helmed by historical reenactor Robert Plum, who has also created his own line of medieval torture device-themed sex toys. Need a chastity belt to keep your Submissive all to yourself? A rack with an attached spreader-bar? An iron maiden with soft vibrating silicone ticklers inside? All the stocks and whips and chains you could ever need? Sir Robert has you covered. Of course, everything on display is harmlessly altered for sexual novelty purposes, but one might also ask to see Sir Robert’s “special” merchandise in the back. Perhaps the most unassuming booth at the expo belongs to Grandma Hattie’s Snacks and Sweets. Grandma Hattie, a kindly old Submissive, has partnered with a tech company to produce what appear to be completely normal vending machines, stocked full of her tasty homemade bread, snack cakes, and other baked goods. Vouchers are good for a free sample of any treat from a vending machine. They taste amazing and have no apparent odd effects-- until 10 minutes after consumption, when you suddenly gain an insatiable craving for a random kink. Your craving will dominate your thoughts for three hours, or until it is appeased. |
 (CW: potential dubcon, objectification) By far the largest and shiniest booth comes from expo sponsors Sexy Metal Incorporated, who have set up a display of their incredible high-tech sexbots. These life-sized dolls are made of extremely realistic material that feels like warm human skin, and come with state-of-the-art mechanics that give them lifelike movement. Engineers show off how the bots can be plugged into a computer and programmed to act any way the buyer likes. They come in a wide variety of customizable appearances and eerily, some of the bots on display look exactly like people you may know. Booth staff encourage customers to buy these dolls, or to rent them and give them a try onstage in front of the fascinated crowds. If that’s not kinky enough, one of the engineers has purchased a VR headset from another booth, and programmed it to interface with the bot’s controls. Care to slip inside the silicone skin of another person? |
Please read carefully. On each Test Drive Meme, there will be a section noting character roles; these will vary each TDM. On an IC level, characters will still have gone through the doors but assignments OOCly are still randomized. When applying, there is a section of the application that denotes whether the character chooses "left" or "right". When participating on the TDM, there will be a third option. Players may link either a top level or a thread (five or more comments from their character) from the TDM and title the link as "Door Pass". This means that the player is choosing to take the designation that they were randomly assigned on the TDM, rather than taking the designation of a door. If the player decides to select a door rather than use the pass, then they are trying their luck; they may get the same designation they had on the TDM or the opposite. Once the application is submitted, players can't change their choice. To assign roles to characters for this TDM, use the following guide: In celebration of our one year, pick whichever role you want for your character! » A Pocket Full of Pennies: Feel free to come up with any free-roving gangs or petty criminals you like for your characters to tangle with. » New Flesh Like A Glove: Characters can spend money on items at the expo, or may exchange vouchers for what they want. Each voucher has a value of about $5 within the expo and they may be acquired by finding them, having them handed to characters/stuffed in their pockets or bags by expo volunteers, or paid them in exchange for “volunteering” at booths. Characters may indeed try before they buy, either out in the open or using one of the provided private rooms with a partner. The expo has a staff of unpaid student interns tasked with cleaning and sanitizing products if they are used but not purchased. Grandma Hattie’s snacks can inspire characters to have any kink you may desire. » Perfection of the Digital: Sexbots can resemble any player characters, including brand new arrivals/test drive characters. They can also resemble characters that yours knows from home. The engineers have no explanation for this, and the one who identifies himself as the designer will shrug and say he gets inspiration from many places. The sexbots are hot-ticket expensive merchandise, so security is tight around the booth. Characters who attempt to steal or destroy a sexbot (for instance, one who looks like themselves) will be quickly set upon by guards, who are meant to eject them from the expo. However, many of the guards will take bribes from other booths to provide them model “volunteers,” drugged into complacency. If characters want to acquire a sexbot permanently, they will have to buy it or exchange a hefty 50 vouchers for it. Please remember to mark any necessary content, and have fun!! |
no subject
Bass didn't really care one way or the other.
"Sebastain," he returned to Alex, flashing him a smile. "Bass. And, believe me, it's my pleasure..."
He gave the last kid a sharper smile. "If I were you, kid, I'd run. He's had a bad day, and I'm not someone you ever want to tangle with."
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Alex glanced around, checking to make sure there wasn't anyone else decending, before turning to his compatriot.
"I'd buy you a drink, Sebastian-Bass, if I weren't almost literally naked." It was said ruefully. If he hadn't been absolutely sure of his own reality, he might have been convinced he was hallucinating this whole thing, but in a world where aliens were real, he was willing to believe anything while still holding onto that single grain of salt.
"No money, either, but I suppose clothes are more important." Though around here, he was wondering if that was really the order of priority.
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His smile flashes as he meets Alex's gaze again. "Not necessary, especially as I manage a club and tend to drink for free." But the weather's turned cooler the last couple of weeks, and a paper gown isn't great to be wandering in except in the extreme heat of a couple of months ago.
So, he shrugs off his suit jacket and offers it up. "Not exactly full clothing, but you're welcome to it until you get to your room. Your things will be there, at least. And, then, maybe I can offer you that drink."
no subject
So for the moment, the gesture was appreciated for its lack of overt sexual offer and he returned the smile as he took the jacket and put it on.
"Thanks. I won't be gone long. I think this on top of everything else warrants a drink."
And if he could get to know one of the locals who wasn't trying to rough him up, so much the better.
no subject
“The club is the Crimson, just around the corner and down about 3 blocks, on the left. Show this at the door, and they’ll let you in as my guest.”
He’d offer to walk Alex on to his room, but after that display, he doubted anyone would bother him the little bit farther he had to go, and he did need to open the club and clean the blood off his hands.
no subject
And now he was here, where sex was one of the rules of the land and because he'd chosen wrong somehow, he was no longer in control of his own life. Well, that was never going to happen, no matter what the rules of this place were. He was just going to have to find a workaround, a back door he could hack.
But first he was going to have to meet the locals on his own terms. He got dressed in his own clothes, jeans and a t-shirt and actual shoes, and grabbed the jacket so he could bring it back and get that drink.
The entrance to the club was as easy as he'd been told and he looked around for Sebastian-Bass and nodded when he saw him and walked over, looking a lot more put together than he'd been the last time they'd seen each other.
"Thanks for this," he said, offering the jacket back.
no subject
"My pleasure," he returned with another smile. He gestured at the bar, waving the bartender over. "What can I get for you? We can probably make most anything you want, though we specialize in things from a galaxy far, far away."
Why, yes, that phrasing is very deliberate and specific. That's what happens when your boss's partner is Han Fucking Solo. And, maybe, both the offer and the phrasing are a curiosity to see where and when Alex might be from.
Sure, he could ask, but this seems more fun than an interrogation--a search for common frame of reference, perhaps.
no subject
"And I suppose an answer to the question of whether I really have gone insane because I'll believe some pretty far out there things, but this?" He gestured around them, though he wasn't talking about the bar. More the city or even the situation they were in.
"This seems pretty bizarre even by my standards."
Aliens were one thing, forcing BDSM practices onto an entire population? Absolutely another.
no subject
He names one of the more popular drinks to the bartender, something whiskey based that nevertheless does all sorts of interesting fizzing and things. But Bass is very fond of it, so he thinks Alex might like it.
"As for answers..." That was a little trickier. "It is bizarre, but you haven't gone insane. This place...honestly, I've been here about six months now, and I haven't learned much beyond what they'll tell you at orientation, except that shit goes down that can get pretty dark, pretty fast sometimes. To, ah, apparently, trigger our darker sides and see how we respond."
He grimaces slightly, clearly not fond of that part of this place at all.
no subject
"Great," he muttered to himself. More dark things, as if the last few months hadn't been enough to keep the nightmares from reappearing with a vengeance.
He thought about asking whether there was any way out, but thought it was better to keep those kinds of thoughts to himself for now. The first step was to assess the situation and figure out whether there might be any people he could trust and only then could he start taking action.
"How dark are we talking?" he asked. "Actually, no. What kind of dark are we talking? Sex? Violence? The one is mandatory and the other I've run across already."
no subject
He recognized intlligence gathering when he saw it, but he was happy to oblige with what he knew.
"It is a whole culture based on the partnerships between Dominants and Submissives, and they like pushing people's boundaries. So...sex and violence. Be careful of eating or drinking things at any events or festivals, unless you're with someone you want to have fun with - they're usually dosed with aphrodisiacs of some kind or another." Which could be fun, but it was better to choose to have fun, generally.
"Recently, the city descended into the literal nine circles of Hell, so...that was fun. There was a slave auction once, people forced into contracts rather than freely entering and negotiating them, which is the normal rule. Those are the two worst things since I've been here. We came through them, but not without losses and psychic scars." He shrugged as the bartender slid over Alex's beer and two of the drinks Bass had suggested. Bass picked up the second, taking a long sip.
"The best survival tactic is being adaptable."
no subject
He took the drink Sebastian-Bass had ordered for him and took a long but slow sip. He'd been right. This was good. He was still glad he'd ordered the beer, though, because it sounded as if he was going to need it.
"Karma must be catching up to me," he said, tone suggesting that was all he had to say about that. He wasn't going to offer weaknesses to the first handsome stranger he came across, even if that handsome stranger had come to his rescue.''
"What about jobs?" Not that he was planning on staying here long term, but it was a question he needed to know. Sure, he had access to free housing and food, but if he was going to work on any kind of escape plan, he needed more than the basics.
no subject
"Maybe...ten, twenty percent of the time. The rest, it's...not great, but I've been through far, far worse. It's a life. Better than some, worse than others." He shrugged, offered Alex a curious look for the karma comment, but didn't press for details. It wasn't his place.
He arched an eyebrow inquiringly, though, at the question about jobs. "There are jobs to be had, though you'll need a dominant to vouch for you to get anything decent. What can you do?"
no subject
"And I was in combat, so there's that. My leg stopped holding me back a few months ago."
"But when I was a kid, and you have to promise not to laugh," he said, pointing his drink in Bass's direction, "I used to work for the UFO museum. So I've got a range of things I could use for a job. But I suppose getting someone I don't know to vouch for me might be difficult."
no subject
He doesn’t laugh, but he does grin, temporarily distracted from job talk. “The one with all the flying saucers and creepy operating room that’s unclear if it’s for probing humans or alien dissection?”
no subject
"That's the place," he agreed.
He didn't mention that he was more interested in using his skills against the current government or whatever passed for it here. He didn't know anyone here and so he wasn't prepared to trust anyone. Not yet, maybe not ever.
no subject
"We visited once, driving from Chicago to San Diego."
But he moved on.
"But having some kind of customer service is probably a good thing to get you in the door somewhere, until something more appropriate opens up and you've got someone to vouch for you."
no subject
Instead, he forced a chuckle and shook his head. "I never thought I'd use 'alien museum expert' on my resume again. I suppose that means I'm going to have to make friends so I can get someone to vouch for me."
Not that he exactly liked the idea of putting his fate in someone else's hands, but it'd been there for the last ten years of his life. What was a little longer?
no subject
He did know a forced chuckle when he heard it though--he was very familiar with giving them, himself. He wasn't sure what to make of it, though, and, honestly, couldn't muster enough emotional connection to push into empathy and try and figure it out.
"Making friends is apparently the thing to do around here, or so they tell me."
He's not very good at it, to be honest, but he can get away with it as a Dominant. It's harder for Submissives.
no subject
If he was thinking in terms of Dominants and Submissives or in terms of the advantages being friendly with a club manager might net him, maybe the words would have been calculated. Maybe he'd have been trying to use Bass towards his own ends - and maybe all of their ends - of getting the hell out of this place. He wasn't above being underhanded when he needed to.
But at the same time, while a part of his mind was already starting to work on those things, mostly he was just tired from the emotional onslaught he'd been put through the last who knew how many hours.
So the next question was as honest and sincere as his suggestion that Bass wasn't as bad at making friends as he claimed to be. At least not with Alex.
"Got any suggestions on who to ask?"
no subject
"For help vouching for you for a job?" He arched an eyebrow. "Well, if I get to know you a little better, I could probably help with that."
It took him a moment to realize how that sounded, in the context of this place, and he winced a bit. "That came out sounding way more creepy than I intended it to. I'm not talking any quid pro quo or whatever. Just...I vouch for you and something goes amiss, I'm the one held responsible, so. I know some facts about you, and that you're good in a fight, but..."
Honestly, Bass doesn't even care if something blows back on him, per se, but the paranoia and not rushing to just trust someone is too ingrained for him to just leap to making offers.
"Might be we could use some help here, but I'd have to talk to my boss. She's very particular in who she hires, and I certainly don't know you well enough, yet, to go to her and make a case for you." Like, could Alex be trusted to keep his mouth shut about the shadier dealings that went on here? Bass had no idea, and that he wasn't going to risk. Maybe he didn't care what happened to him from .Duplicity's authorities, but he'd promised Qi'ra she could trust him, and he wasn't risking that for a pretty face and a great ass.
no subject
He nodded. "Don't worry. I'm not looking to push my way into anything. I can make do with what I've got for the moment." And sure, it wasn't much, but he'd made do with as little for at least some of the past ten years.
He finished his drink and reached for the beer. "So are you busy or do you want to get to know me a little?" A beat and a smile. "No quid pro quo intended."
He'd be happy to sit and talk about anything except for the fact that aliens were real.