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duplicitymemes2019-09-12 04:47 pm
duplicitymods) wrote in duplicitymemes2019-09-12 04:47 pm
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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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There are certain tells about his roots that he can never really hide though, like the slightly bemused look he gives Ash about that shootout remark. He gets that it's a reference to...something. He just doesn't know what. But anyway, they've got bigger fish to fry, and the best way to do that is to settle into banter.]
You can do your own homework. [He gives a little snort. They're still working out each others' boundaries and limits. Vrenille's buying the drinks, yeah, but he's not going to take assignments from Ash (and like here, when it comes to drawing a line, he'll just do it with good-natured refusal). He will answer questions though, and he doesn't need "homework" to answer this one.]
You'll have the most luck with places that're owned by "LIERs"--other people who've been grabbed outta their worlds n' dragged here. They've been thrown into this shit just like you 'n there's a lotta them that hate the system too.
Place called PECS--Peaches'n Cream...something, Salon, I think--it's in the Up [and he gives a address, not by number but by cross-street]. I know they do. It's a cafe-bar kinda thing. This place [a gesture to indicate their current location] 'll try 'n work with you too if you talk to the right people--Wynonna Earp, try the night shift.
There's a salvage yard in the Down called the G-Spot. Pretty sure they'd do it. And the Vesuvian--it's a bath house, got a Submissives only area. [Which maybe isn't the sort of place Ash really needs to know, but the reference can't hurt.]
A lotta places, if you got some kinda note from a Dom--any Dom, contracted or not--that's all it'll take. If they've got the will there's usually a way.
Those aren't the places I reckon you most need to know though. That'd be Haven Hospital, in the Down. Set up not too long after the first of us were brought here. It runs a free clinic for Subs, and the doctors there got nothing to do with these LIES goons. It's all independent. Good food in the cafeteria too. Better 'n you'll get in the public housing they give you.
There's a community center in the Down too, and a charity center--St. Vincent's. [Not that Vrenille necessarily thinks Ash is the type of guy who's willing to take charity. So he adds,] Stop-gaps, y'know. While y'get your house in order.
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As with the directions, he memorizes it. He hasn't expressed it, but Vrenille was a lucky find. Ash is still sure he's being helpful because he's hoping to bed him, but he's not pushing it. Instead, he's a well of information. Lucky him.
It's also revealing more about Vrenille. Someone who doesn't care about the Submissive's plight wouldn't have noticed such things. He's either for more Sub freedom or against it. Based on their interactions, it's the former. ]
Sex therapist and tour guide. Busy guy.
[ He doesn't like hospitals very much, but it's noted. The charity... Vrenille is right: Ash doesn't plan to use them. ]
I can make it before I get settled in. [ And figure out what to do from there. ] It sounds like they've allowed some leniency.
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At the moment, as it happens, he's not even thinking about getting Ash into bed. The guy's obviously very easy on the eyes, and Vrenille certainly wouldn't turn him down, but no part of what's happening between them counts for him as flirting or working that angle. He's not trying to cruise the guy.
Will they fuck at some point? Given that this city is...how it is, he almost takes that for granted. In Duplicity the lines between acquaintance, friend, and fuck buddy tend to get very blurred. It's not the sort of thing one can afford to get hung up on, but he thinks that's pretty far off for Ash right now. Best case scenario, he'll be able to come up on it gradually.
The waiter brings their drinks, and Vrenille takes a long sip of his before he starts down that whole leniency rabbit hole with a half shake of his head.]
What leniency there is, it's more from backlash 'n anything like progress. [And he gives Ash a careful look as he considers how to tell the story. It's not an easy one and a lot of people wouldn't have the patience for its ins and outs, but Ash is sharp, so Vrenille thinks he will.]
All right, look. When they first of us were brought here 'round about a year ago, things weren't so like they are now. I mean there was a lotta resistance against LIES at the beginning, a lotta Submissives breaking the rules. Lotta Dominants too--we reckoned that technically, if we endorsed it in a contract, our Subs could do whatever they wanted.
LIES tried a few things to bring people in line. Then, sometime 'bout nine or ten months ago, they started to crack down. There was this thing--the "Complacency Protocol" they called it. All the lines you Submissives got [a brief gesture towards Ash's neck,] they started changing color based on how well you behaved. The ones that weren't up to snuff got rounded up, locked up, didn't matter what their Doms said. And for us, if a Sub misbehaved there was blow-back. People lost their jobs, couldn't spend money.
But I guess they felt even that wasn't bringing us to heel well enough.
One night, real late when most everyone was asleep, they sent SWAT teams round 'n broke into our homes, grabbed people outta their beds. I still dunno how they did it. [He shakes his head.] There's people here with more 'n just magic--they've got powers, "enhanced," some of 'em call it. But suddenly none of it worked, no one's magic, not anything. They put black bags over our heads, shoved us into transports.
When we got out, we were in some sorta camp. Fort Harmony they called it. And they made us follow their roles there. Subs couldn't eat without kneeling 'side a Dom, Doms couldn't eat without a Sub at their feet. [There was more to it, a lot more, but he skims ahead.]
A few weeks in, a new group of guards started to turn up. Dressed different, different attitudes, 'n even the guards from Duplicity didn't seem too happy with 'em. They were't just strict, y'know. I mean, it was more than that. [His brow furrows, troubled by the memories.] There were drugs, devices that they used. And...executions. Dominants 'n Submissives from this other city where they'd come from--this place called Veracity. They were ones they said had disobeyed, transgressed their roles, and they just shot 'em, pair by pair, kneeling there face to face.
[It's a scene that's obviously stayed with him, that still weighs on him, and he takes another long pull on his drink before he continues.] Anyway, when we finally got back to Duplicity, it was sorta like the pendulum had swung. I guess Veracity's what no one here wanted to become, not LIES, not the natives. So they sorta stopped pushing so much after that, except here 'n there. Comparatively, they leave us alone. [Thus the lenience, in a sense, is like an uneasy peace.]
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He sits in silence, listening. The words paint a moving picture. Someone worse came into play and made the officials reflect on their own actions. As if they were really better, forcing people to come to a city that pushed them into roles that could either degrade or force others to be degraded. The world is full of grays, but some are darker than others. ]
I couldn't find a lot out about the government. How often seats change, that kind of thing. [ Admittedly, he'd just arrived. ] When politicians change, so do ideas.
[ Ash takes another large drink of beer. It's a familiar feel sliding down his throat, but he wouldn't have been too angry at something harder. Maybe when he finds his room. ]
Slut Center, Zoos... You ever been to one?
[ He's asking about punishment. Ash expects he'll end up in one or the other. Maybe both. ]
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He gives a noncommittal half-shrug at the remark about government and politicians. He doesn't come from a world with representational democracy, so his perspective's shaped differently, but--] Haven't seen much of that here, but I know that shit went down in Veracity after the whole Fort Harmony mess. They tried to infiltrate here in the city, but they were found out, shut down. And now there's some kinda passage that's opened--just lately--a way to go from here to there, but it's...I dunno, the city's "fallen," I guess. It's like a shell.
[He's only too glad to change the subject, even to something as joyless as local punishments. And he doesn't, for now, mention Insincerity. That, he reckons, is just as well left for another time.]
Not the SLUT Centers. [He shakes his head.] Made it a point never to land in one, and you can stay outta 'em too if you make your quota on your own each month.
Personally, I like to keep as much control as I can over who I fuck 'n how. The SLUT Center takes that away from you--pumps you so full of drugs you'll be asking to do shit you don't wanna do with people you don't wanna do it with.
But sex three times a month ain't a problem for me. I mean, I like sex. If y'don't like sex... [Does he really need to say it? How much harder this place will be. And does he really need to say that he's a little concerned for anyone who recoils so sharply from a casual touch as he's seen Ash do? He's not going to press him to talk to him about it, but...he should.]
The People Zoo I been to a couple times, not locked up though. [Well, not locked up for a crime, at least. He's pretty sure that waking up in one of the cells when the city went to literal Hell doesn't count.]
I've had people tell me that some awful shit can go down there. But Dominants can buy your time once you're in, and that's the quickest way out if you've got someone you trust. [Something tells him that Ash would be the type of person to just try and tough it out though.]
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Three a month. That's a number has already been told. The contract he can bend, and he's so confident that he's sincerely not even worried there. As far as he knows, it doesn't have to penetrative. Maybe he can do three handjobs a month. Still not great, but it wasn't as bad as the alternative.
Sipping his beer, his mind seems to go into deep thought. What can he do? What is the minimum? The SLUT Center -- someone likely found themselves amused at such a juvenile name -- and jail. Jail was the cover for a whorehouse, of course. He needs to avoid them. Find out who's in charge and what he can do about it. ]
Yeah. Three a month.
[ In some ways, it sounds horrible because Ash wants agency over his own sex. In another, tired and jaded place, he's had much more. Ash tries to draw from that place, from experience and knowing he can survive it. ]
Easy enough for you to meet at work. [ Should he choose, though with two Submissives, he's likely well over the number.
Another sip, another lie. ]
Pretty small number.
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I won't pretend that I'm not lucky in that regard. Not 'cause of work. Just my best friend being here means it's never been a problem. We'd fuck anyway.
But small numbers are relative. It's a pretty big number for anyone who's used to an average of zero. [And he's not going to judge anyone for that. People have their reasons, but--]
It's one of the reasons we need each other, all of us who've been brought here. You can make the quota with natives, sure, if that's the way you wanna go. But there's something to be said for finding a way to not hate it. You'll find enough things to hate here without adding to the list. [Another quick swig of his drink.] 'Specially if you don't even want someone touching your arm.
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[ Admittedly, Ash doesn't desire sex. It's ruined his life, shaped his childhood. But that isn't something he's about to tell a stranger. Vrenille is able to 'admit' to his past because it was his choice. Admittedly, Ash knows that doesn't mean he didn't have to endure a bad client in order to eat that night. ]
I've had plenty of sex. You don't have to hate sex to not want a quota looming over your head. You like sex, but that doesn't mean you like being told who and when to have it with.
[ They get to choose the who, supposedly. It's still not something Ash is happy with.
He smirks. Another mask. ]
Worried about me?
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Yeah, I am a little. [Worried about him. Which isn't to say that he doesn't think Ash is strong or tough enough to manage. He has no doubt about that. What worries him is how much he'll end up having to suffer along the way. He supposes that either way it'll make Ash bristle or scoff to hear him say it though.]
But you're right, I wouldn't wanna be told who to fuck or when. And you don't gotta be told that either if you're smart about it. Being marked as a Submissive doesn't change that.
[He means that, honestly. And he's looking at Ash with earnest, direct eyes. There's caring in them, but maybe Ash won't believe that it's real. What he's picking up in all this is that whether it's a matter of there having been too much sex or not enough in Ash's past, it's a place of conflict for him, and that's going to make this city difficult. A lot more difficult than any question of crime or corruption or street gangs (all of which are here in spades).]
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[ It can be dressed up all he wants, but the result is the same: the decision for sex is out of their hands. It's annoying, and it's a pain in the ass.
Another large drink. He's almost out of beer. ]
You're saying to pick the three I want to fuck so they don't let other people fuck me. I know how to handle it. Don't waste your time worrying about me. I'm not some blushing virgin.
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[The likelihood is that sooner or later, even people in committed relationships end up thrown into situations where they fuck someone else here, but that doesn't mean that the concept of having one exclusive partner doesn't matter at all.
He watches Ash drink for a moment, then glances over to their waiter, making a sign in the air with his forefinger, a little vertical swirl. He's not quite done with his own drink yet, but he will be soon enough, and either way: another round.
When he looks back at Ash, he lets that "blushing virgin" comment settle for a moment. He doesn't really need to consider him to know, but he gives him a considered look anyway.] No, I don't think you are. I think y'know quite a bit. Including how to handle yourself. And how to suffer through it.
[What he means by that last remark he doesn't say, but his tone says that he'll worry if he wants to, thanks, and Ash isn't gonna stop him.]
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Don't act like you know somebody you just met. If you think somebody's got to have some kind of trauma to not want your hands all over them, your opinion of yourself is too high.
[ He knows, when rational, that his responses tell more than he wants. Under normal circumstances, he can hold himself back much better, even if people mention what's happened. Today isn't normal. Nothing about this city of their ridiculous demands are normal.
Somehow, on the first day, this guy has gotten too close. The walls have to come back up. ]
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No, I don't know you. But that doesn't mean I'm blind. [There's a pause of silence as the waiter comes, sets down two more beers, and retreats.]
Ash, if you don't think you've got the vibe of someone who's been in some shit, you got another think coming. I'm not trying to get at some kinda big dramatic trauma. Whether that's there or not, that's your business. I just mean life, man.
And I'm not trying to talk you into the sack either. You don't want us to fuck, okay cool. Let's not go somewhere 'n bump uglies. [He shrugs.] Ever. [Probably not quite ever, if the city has its way with them, but sex isn't the price of admission with him; that's his point.
All that said, if he was looking for some kind of confirmation that there is some kind of profound trauma in Ash's past--and probably a sexual trauma at that--then he scarcely needs look any further.]
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[ Not quite true, but not an entire lie, either. Ash is on the unique side because most people in his position die too young to live with the trauma as an adult. The fact he became a teenager took every ounce of fight he had in him, and the fact he died before leaving the teen years behind was fitting. Fate eventually caught up to him. Still, trauma, sexual and the many others, were rapid in the streets. His men were almost all runaways, and few had run away from happy homes.
Opening this beer, he doesn't take another drink, not immediately. ]
The rich live in their fancy buildings that tower above the kids the world throws out. Most of the guys in gangs aren't living in the backroom of bars and in boarded-up houses because they got tired of their penthouses. You got to be on guard, or you'll end up dead in the street. You'll probably find the same thing here.
[ Finally, he drinks. ]
Runaway Submissives, maybe a few Dominants.
[ His sexual past, distant and recent, is only part of it. Losing Griff, losing Skip, losing Shorter, even losing a girl he hadn't put a name to when speaking about her hurts just as much. Maybe more, now. It's why he was so quick to sacrifice himself. He'd have slept with Dino a thousand times over if it meant he could have his people back. ]
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I do know New York a little. Not much, but it turns out Loki was behind some big attack on the place. Not your version of it, I'll wager, 'cause you didn't have much of a reaction when I said his name. Not like folks who lived through what he did--whole alien army he brought down.
[Whether or not Ash believes him, Vrenille can speak about this with some degree of confidence now after the dream that he and Loki shared. He understands it better--the whole scale of the chaos, the destruction, and the city itself--what it looks like, just how massive and populous it is.
Of course all that's still nothing like living there, nothing like knowing what life is like, and so he's listening to Ash seriously in everything he says, listening for what's cocooned within his words.]
From what I saw--which, I'll grant, dreamscapes, not always the most reliable--it's bigger 'n the city where I grew up, and yeah, a helluvalot more vertical. That makes a difference, I'm not gonna deny. Maybe that makes all the difference.
I reckon I still know a little something 'bout what it's like to live on the streets though, seein' as I grew up on 'em since I was seven, in a city that'd been under siege for more 'n two hundred years--whole enemy army encamped on the plains ready to kill us if our walls fell.
So each one of us grew up surrounded by our own personal world of shit. Now, [he gives Ash a very level stare,] why should any of that make me "not bat an eye" at what I see in you?
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[ His myth does exist in Ash's world, but mythology hadn't been among his lessons. Ash is very intelligent, but in less important topics, he likely knows much less than the average person.
If Vrenille is good at reading body language, the way Ash crosses one leg over the other at least says he's not ready to bolt. ]
Maybe you do. I didn't think you were selling yourself for food because you got bored of what was in the kitchen. So, you've seen it. A bunch of runaways finding safety in numbers. Making their way. I've seen shit. People getting shot dead in the streets. I've done it myself.
[ Vrenille shouldn't forget that. Ash isn't an innocent victim. He's a cold murderer. ]
You make it here. I'm not any different. Is this one of your therapy sessions?
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Anyway, orphans or runaways, maybe it really is all the same in the end. Maybe you and I just had two different ways of getting through the same thing. Well. Nearly the same thing. [Only it's also not. He already knows that it diverges as much as it overlaps.]
Personally, I was never much in for gangs. Probably why I never went in for working with pimps or at brothels either. But you lived in a kinda war, right? People kill in wars, 'n other people die in 'em. [Which is his way of saying that guilt and innocence are a matter of degrees, and he's not writing Ash off on that, however much he tries to get him to. He'd be a hypocrite if he did, given the way he knows that Hakkyuu's lived, taking money to kill.
He finishes his first drink, setting it aside. There's a pause in the mild look he's still leveling at Ash, and a measure of sarcasm in his answer that's equal to the one in Ash's question.]
Why, d'you need a therapy session? [Because he sure wasn't assuming. But if Ash wants to ask...]
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Some kids, they don't want to sell sex.
[ He takes another drink of his beer, but it's a slow sip. He's not looking to get drunk, and this is likely his last for the day. ]
Even if they want to, there are other people there, people who wouldn't make it safe. New York is a city of extremes; there's no in-between if you're living on the street. You're in a gang or protected by a gang, and some of them charge for that.
[ He rolls the cool bottle around in his hands. ]
All of my sexual functions are in perfect working order.
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"Some kids" like you? [Didn't want to. Not necessarily didn't have to do it anyway. But he says it in this way that turns the question almost into a remark, something that isn't prying, that's almost rhetorical, like it's a thing that Ash really dosn't have to answer unless he chooses.
Anyway it's just a guess. Maybe he's wrong. Maybe Ash didn't want to and just flat out refused--murdered, robbed, went the route of violence instead, became one of the ones who charged people for protection from his own gang or worse. It's possible.
After a moment, he leans forward and picks up his second bottle of ale, letting the gesture shift the energy so that he can tease, dryly.]
Good to know. [It's not leering or lascivious, the way he says it. More like playfully disinterested.]
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[ He's able to say it easily enough, casually enough, without hesitation or weight. Ash is a very good actor but even beyond that, he hadn't meant the sentence any differently than how it was spoken. Sometimes, sex work wasn't something people chose to do. Maybe they were a type that already had a satuated market and didn't sell well enough to survive. Perhaps they were too embarrassed, prideful, or scared to sell themselves to a stranger. For some, it's not easy to offer sex and then add a price.
Another slow, languid drink. ]
Some steal or do odd jobs. New York is the land of opportunity.
[ Sarcasm. Obvious. ]
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The thing about sharp people though: you've got to take them as they come, not be all judgmental or go trying to change them. That's true with everyone, sure, but it's more "flammable" with guy who are sharp.
Vrenille starts on his second drink with a thoughtful sip.] Maybe that's the difference 'tween the places we come from.
Hard to think much 'bout opportunity in a walled stronghold where most nobody comes or goes. [In Ebonhawke, people were far less worried about how they could get ahead than about making sure there were still humans in Ascalon in a few generations time.]
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[ Of course, it's difficult to make a decision about a location without more information, but if Ash were to already form an expression, it would be that the lack of new blood means little change.
Not that new blood couldn't be exactly like the old. ]
New York is a corrupted tar pit, but it's big and bright, and people think it's exciting. Tourists. They come for the landmarks, the food. It wears makeup for the outsiders and a lot of people get lost in the glamour. It's not L.A. -- which is another city -- but it's good enough at acting that a lot of people go there to start over.
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As far as Ebonhawke goes, he's not rushing to defend it as some hub of novelty and innovation either. To him, stagnant isn't the right word though. Stagnant is stillness and quiet. It's not the daily engine of living through war, the omnipresent risk that the charr would fire a lucky shot with a trebuchet and hurl a missile over the wall so that you woke up to screams and rubble and the death of a family you'd known since before you could walk. It's not the iron-stomached determination that it took people collectively just to go on living, generation after generation, as a force of will.
People from Ebonhawke have steel in their veins, the saying goes--at least the ones born before the truce. Two and a half centuries is a long time to endure a siege. And survive.
He doesn't expect Ash to know these things, though. And he's not going to get into some who had it worse one-upsmanship, "my city could beat up your city" style.
Ironically, it's the place where he feels Ash's youth and freshness: this certainty he seems to have, a sense that his answers to how the world is (how his own world is) give him surety, enough even to apply to worlds he's never been. It's not naivety though. Something else--a pillar of security upon stepping from what had been a pretty big pond into something even larger that dwarfs it by comparison. That's not something Vrenille is going to try and knock out from under him though. People need what they need.
He takes a long pull on his drink.] C'mon man, we gotta lot more city to see.
[If Ash wants to ask him about Ebonhawke sometime, Vrenille will tell him, but he'll leave it be until the questions come.]