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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!! |
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"Until the demon fully emerges, they are impossible to detect for certain. You may have clues by sudden changes in behavior, but most of the demons who choose to possess the living are more cunning than that and can also spread their corruption to those closest to the ones they inhabit, either through mind control or through their dreams." He pauses, a gloved hand lifting to wipe across his mouth as though the topic itself has left a bad taste.
"Dalish elves supposedly know of a way to remove a demon from a person without killing them. From what I understand, they say the victim remains vulnerable thereafter, so I am not sure how often they take the option. There is a risky way to make the demon reveal itself. It involves making the host genuinely fear for their lives." He has done it many times, never taking pleasure in it but recognizing the necessity.
He falls silent and watches with interest as a fly circles and lands directly on his hand. "I don't know that word, 'pheromone.' What does it mean?" His gaze remains focused on the fly. It's just so odd seeing an insect obeying the command of another. "How many of them can you control at once?"
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Rhys lets the fly continue to sit there, feeling some measure of reassurance. It can do nothing, provide no protection and do no work, but it's still good to know he has this much control. It's a little better than nothing.
"They're chemicals that signal specific things to the insects, like a nonverbal communication that has more influence than mere conversation. I'm telling them what to do, in a language they're used to speaking. As far as how many, it depends on the strength of the magician and the type of bug. A swarm of wasps is easier to control, because they're used to working together, rather than a group of spiders."
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"Chemicals." It's a mind blowing concept, insects communicating with chemicals. Of course, it makes sense. How else would they? It's not as though the majority of them vocalize or have facial expressions. At the mention of wasps, he lets out a soft chuckle.
"I know a woman from home who would love to have this conversation with you. She throws jars of bees, wasps, and hornets in battle, not that she can control them. She just has good aim and can run fast." He'd much rather focus on that than the spiders, except for one point of curiosity he can't let lie. "How big do your spiders get?"
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Then he lifts his gaze back to Cullen. Is it wrong that he already finds the man's presence somewhat reassuring? "You're not a magician at all? Or at least not a blood mage?"
Bugs are an easier topic, at least. "Some spiders can be the size of dogs, but most varieties are quite a bit smaller. But this woman you know, she... outruns hornets?" It's impressive, to be sure. Rhys lets the fly go, and it heads to the window.
"Not an endeavor I would be eager to try. How does she catch them to put them in the jar in the first place?" Without magic, that sounds just as risky.
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His brow furrows as he tries to suss out what else to say on that topic without going too deeply into the politics of a world the man is not from and might not care to hear. "I'll be the first to say it wasn't a perfect system and led to the abuses you'd expect when people are kept confined by others. But it also ensured that we weren't losing large swaths of the population to abominations. We still haven't figured out a better way, but we're at least working on it now."
He won't let himself off the hook for his share of the blame for what happened in Kirkwall. "It's one reason I left. I wasn't convinced I was doing the right thing anymore, and I had an opportunity to try to make that right."
He decides not to mention the sizes of some spiders in Thedas at risk of sounding as though he's trying to engage in one-upmanship. His association with the ambassador must have rubbed off on him through the years. "Well, I don't think she could if she was right on top of them. With a well-aimed, far throw and several distractions for the insects, she usually manages to come away and not get stung."
He shakes his head again, this time looking more amused. "I learned early on that the less I know about Sera's methods, the happier I am." Time and experience have only slightly tempered her madcap tendencies.
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"It is a shame that your mages need anyone to keep people safe from them. With their powers they should be helping to advance things, not making it more dangerous." Magicians go to the front in Umayma, of course, but they're hardly the cause of the war.
"I can see why you'd rather put some distance between yourself and wasps on a battlefield, particularly when used as an agent of chaos." But Rhys isn't ready to let the topic of spiders drop yet, his curiosity kindled. "Why did you ask about the size of spiders? They're not the largest insect we have."
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He's enjoying the conversation as well. Despite still being aware of his surroundings and watching people enter or exit, he's more relaxed overall, and it shows.
"Yes. There's a reason I almost never went on missions with Sera."
He wrinkles his nose involuntarily. Maybe Rhys won't feel the same way about the spiders given his skills. To Cullen, they're things of nightmares. "In caves and parts of the Deep Roads they can easily be taller than a man and large enough for four or five to sit on comfortably. Not that I'd advise it. And I've heard of some so large they seem to fill nearly the entire cavern, with legs as big around as young pines. I've seen one set of fangs that makes that very easy for me to believe."
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"It sounds a difficult situation, to be sure. Are there risk factors, that make someone particularly likely to turn towards blood magic, or demons?" If it's just people, well. Rhys agrees with not treating everyone like criminals. At the same time it's hard for him to believe in any better human nature, after the time he's spent in Nasheen.
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"Mostly personality, willpower. Not everyone is capable of resisting their temptations and insidious whispers. Demons will sense that and haunt a weak mage's dreams, or try to arrange frightening situations so that they'll turn to them in desperation." A cornered, hopeless mage is often one step away from an abomination.
"Do you specialize in any sort of insects? Are some easier to control than others for you?" He's curious how their powers might differentiate, feeling that surely not everyone casts the same or has the same focus.
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"Literal demons aren't so different from the figurative ones, then." Easiest to resist by submitting to God's will, to understand that they don't have the right to control their own lives. "But the consequences sounds immediately more dire." And the consequences to others. Rhys' strengths and weaknesses only really have consequences to himself.
"For me, I'm better at fine detail." Rhys is going to try to avoid admitting that he's far from the best magician. "It isn't necessarily the type of insect, although some are easier than others for just about any magician. Roaches and locusts tend to be easiest. I'm going to have to figure out what that means here. None of these bugs are specialized." It's such a weird feeling, to interact with them.
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He nods agreement with his observation about demons. "Not so different at all. If people could embody their worst impulses and express them through superior physical force or mind control, I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference."
He can't say why it doesn't surprise him that he's good at detail work. It's perhaps an overall impression of a thoughtful mind, someone who pays attention. Suddenly, something else strange hits him as he's speaking of the types and how different they are to work with in this place.
"Doesn't it strike you as odd that you and I are from completely different worlds, and yet both of us instantly know what spiders, roaches, locusts and the like are? For that matter, that we're both human? Just for clarity, spiders: eight legs, several eyes, often hairy, fat bodies. Locusts: flying, large back legs, swarm and devastate crops. Roaches: nasty little buggers that scurry away at the first sight of light and get into the pantry?" He can't decide if it would be weirder that they're the same across worlds, or if it turns out they're completely different, yet they're using the same words.
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"I think..." Rhys hesitates, trying to figure out what he really does think. "Umayma isn't the only inhabited world that I'm aware of. We're rather deliberately isolationist, but it's possible that on other worlds humans have lost the connection with their origins, that we were all once the same people. But there are other issues, because I'm certain you aren't speaking Nasheenian or Chenjan. So we're getting translated, and I don't know how much is being lost." That worries him a lot. Rhys is too analytical to be comfortable with his words running through someone else's filter.
"But those descriptions sound roughly accurate, even if I would add that roaches are useful for communication but a pain to keep contained, and locusts don't devastate crops on Umayma."
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"That's...I can't believe I didn't think of that, myself." Of course. Why would Rhys be speaking Trade? He decides instead to focus on the other idea, that at some point in time, perhaps all humans were one people. "Humans were supposedly latecomers to Thedas, although not as late as the Qunari. I've always wondered where we came from."
It hearkens back to the idea of domesticated insects, and he finds himself with far more questions. Unfortunately, the train pulls to his stop. He blinks when he realizes it's the end of the line. "I would like to speak to you again. If what I've been told about the device they've given us is true, I should be able to find you with it once someone shows me how."
He stands to get out of his seat, careful not to thwack him with his sword. "Maker watch over you until next we meet. Thank you once again for indulging my curiosity and many questions."
((OOC: Going out of town for a few days, so wrapping up here. Really hope to be able to see you in the game. I enjoyed threading with you a lot!))
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"I'd also be interested in continuing this discussion. I enjoyed having it."
It's the parting remark, the desire that the Maker watch over him, that fills Rhys with a sense of some warmth. It's wrong to expect anything at all from God, but for a stranger to care that He is kind to Rhys is something that Rhys hasn't gotten in a long time.
"Peace be unto you," he responds, watching Cullen leave for a moment before he puts his mind to figuring out where he is supposed to go.
((OOC: sounds good! I really enjoyed our thread and would definitely be interested in continuing CR. ))