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Duplicity Game Mods ([personal profile] duplicitymods) wrote in [community profile] duplicitymemes2019-09-12 04:47 pm
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TDM #8


« « « TEST DRIVE MEME » » »


« « « AND IT GOES ON AND ON


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.



» » » TAKE A RIDE




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.



« « « A POCKET OF PENNIES




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.



« « « NEW FLESH LIKE A GLOVE


( 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.



« « « PERFECTION OF THE DIGITAL




(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?



« « « MOD & OOC NOTES



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!!




» » » MAIN NAVIGATION « « «

pidgeypidge: (well I'm tattered and torn)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-19 06:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's been a while, but yea." Or at least she's assuming as much. She never did manage to figure out if time worked the same way here as it did at home. And now it seemed like she'd have another opportunity.

Lucky her.

"Not like that. I just- This place is a lot to deal with." Except it was like that. Or partially like that. And then she'd feel guilty for even looking because if there was anyone who didn't deserve to end up stuck in this place, it was Hunk. "I was here for six months and you never showed up. Everyone else did at one point. Even Lotor was here for a little while, but I never spoke to him." Probably because he'd looked like he was ready to murder anyone that came near him and she'd been trying to keep her head down and stay out of trouble.

"I know. I figured they'd done something to the food, and I also figured it wasn't something I hadn't already dealt with." She sounds more resigned than anything, like whatever was coming was just another inconvenience. And in a way, it was, because if anything could be said for the people in charge, it was that they were pretty consistent. "Normal sounds good."

She had noticed the mark, and she'd been doing her best to look anywhere but at it. But she knew what it meant for him and it was just another reason for her to hate this place. "I mean... it's not my favorite. But it could be worse."
leg_with_heart: (I Got This)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-19 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"I've been here for about two months now, and I haven't seen anyone else. How did you all vanish before I got here?" A part of him is glad that they're probably all safe back home, but boy, does he miss them. And of all the people to be brought back here, he wouldn't have wanted it to be Pidge.

He gives her a smile. It's not doing much good standing around and wishing neither of them were there, but he's resigned to making the most of it.

"We can at least try for as normal as possible."

He'd noticed that she had no mark, and he's at least very relieved by that fact. He may already have a contract in the works, but now he'll have more ways to see Pidge with fewer restrictions. "Oatmeal raisin being passed off as chocolate chip would be significantly worse."
pidgeypidge: (but you say)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-19 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yea, I have no idea how this place works. Someone I knew before suggested that it might be some kind of elaborate simulation or something and I still can't decide if he's right or not." It would probably explain a few things, but it wasn't a terribly comforting thought.

That earns him a laugh, at least. "I'll accept normal-ish. It's probably the best we're going to get here."

Really though, she'd survived the place once. If nothing else, she had a better idea of how things worked than most people who found themselves stuck here. And now she didn't have to worry about being being at the mercy of some potentially jerky rando dom. "That would be worse." Which was why she generally stuck to peanut butter; it was significantly harder to sneak random stuff in that way.

"You haven't uh... seen a guy with fox ears running around anywhere, have you? About my height?"
leg_with_heart: (A Monkey Wrench)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-19 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Grateful to get a laugh out of her, he feels slightly more at ease with her sudden appearance.

To be completely fair, chocolate chip cookies tend to have a smoother appearance than oatmeal raisin, so you'd have to really not be paying attention to mistake the two.

A part of him wonders just how she'd gotten along when she was here last, but he figures that's a conversation for a less out-in-the-open location. Alas, yet another conversation for later.

"A guy with fox ears?" He thinks a bit on it, but comes up empty. "Not that I know of. Was he a friend of yours?"
pidgeypidge: (show me the way)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-20 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
It felt nice to laugh in spite of this new situation, particularly because she was sure there wouldn't be an awful lot of it in the future. Fortunately, she knew enough to be able to tell the difference between chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin.

They were probably just putting off the inevitable at this point. Eventually, they'd need to have a conversation and she had a feeling that it wasn't going to be particularly pleasant.

Her disappointment was pretty clear. Pidge knew it was probably a long shot, but she'd kind of been hoping that Ren would've somehow ended up here again. "He's my- ... Well, I guess he was my dom. Before."

Among other things. But that was also a conversation for another time. And if he wasn't here, did it matter? Maybe he was just another in a long line of people she'd lost. "I guess it doesn't matter now. He's not here, and I don't have the mark, so..."
leg_with_heart: (Satisfactory?)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-20 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
Hunk frowns, taking the hint that this fox guy was pretty important to her. He can't say he doesn't know what that's like. "Just because I haven't seen him doesn't mean he isn't here. He might be hard to miss, but this is a pretty big place."

Hopefully that's enough to give her a touch of hope, which was pretty hard to come by in a place like this.

"Well on the bright side, you don't have the mark. If you had one before and you don't have one now, maybe you're supposed to have a clean slate; start over new."
pidgeypidge: (well I'm tattered and torn)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-20 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Maybe." He was right, though. She knew better than anyone that this city was huge. There was still the possibility that he was here and he just hadn't found her yet. But there was also the possibility that he'd gone home. At this point, she couldn't decide which of those options she preferred.

It was nice that he was trying to see the silver lining surrounding this dark cloud, but she'd seen enough of this place to know that it was sometimes pointless to do so.

She nodded at that. "Even if I don't have the mark, I'm still back here. And now you're stuck here too." If it sounded like she was complaining, it was probably because she was.
leg_with_heart: (Explain)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-21 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
If he'd gotten to go home and was pulled back, he'd be complaining too. He also fully identifies with that familiar aching contrast between missing someone you care about and having them show up in terrible places you just so happen to be.

Hunk had made enough friends here to brighten that silver lining, or at the very least, put on a smile to help them feel a little less dismal.

"Well, neither of us has to wonder how the other one is doing, but now we just have to get through it."
pidgeypidge: (because I fall asleep when they speak)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-21 08:09 pm (UTC)(link)
There was a lot to complain about, in her completely unbiased opinion. But really, what good was complaining going to do? It wasn't like she had the power to go home. She'd been stuck here before, first with the others and then alone, after they'd all disappeared. And now she was stuck again.

That she'd had friends here before was beside the point since she didn't know if any of them were still around.

"That's the part that worries me. But you seem to be managing fine."

Which was, honestly, a relief.
leg_with_heart: (*Sigh*)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-22 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
Hunk gives a shrug, reaching up to rub at the nape of his neck. "I've been doing okay, I guess."

He'd managed to fill his quota for as long as he's been here, but without a contract, everything else is a lot more difficult than it should be.
pidgeypidge: (when your time is done)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-22 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
That wasn't terribly convincing, but she couldn't blame him for not being okay. This place had a way of getting to people. She'd just hoped he'd never have to find out.

"You guess?" Two months, he'd said. Pidge couldn't even imagine what he'd had to deal with in those two months. For that matter, she couldn't even be sure how long she'd been gone.
leg_with_heart: (Done With Your Shit)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-22 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. I mean, having restricted access to everything is awful, not being able to work much or buy anything kinda sucks, and even filling that stupid quota is a pain because I have to be escorted to the Up every time.

"But hey, at least there are a few places where I don't have to pay for food."

The stress has maybe started to get to him. And of course the lodging he was given in the Down doesn't have a full kitchen, so there's the icing on the cake.
pidgeypidge: (well you're such a hypocrite)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-23 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh good. At least that hasn't changed." It made sense, in a way, if they were trying to push people into finding contracts. But they could've probably found a less underhanded way of going about it. The bias was still as blatant as ever, apparently.

"You really have to be escorted?" It seemed a little extreme, but who knows what had happened to warrant such an increase in security. "I guess things are different now. It used to be pretty easy to sneak into the Up." Not that she'd have to bother sneaking around, now that she was one of the lucky ones.

"I'm pretty sure it's all intentional, too. They want us to find contracts, so subjecting some of us to miserable conditions to make that happen quicker probably makes sense to them. I can't say that I miss that part of it." Or most parts of it.
leg_with_heart: (Do I Look Badass?)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-23 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, 'escorted.'" He forms air quotes as he says it this time. "I just kinda stake out the elevators and wait to hitch a ride with someone who's on the way up."

It doesn't hurt that the guards have been slightly more lenient with him as of late though, considering he brings them treats on the way back when he can. He supposes it will only be a matter of time before they let him go alone just for the chance to get some snacks out of him.

"I wouldn't put it past this place to incentivize us like that. I mean, as an incentive, it's doing its job."
pidgeypidge: (to fight dirty)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-23 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh." How many times had she done the same? "That's smart. It was always easier to get away with doing stuff like that if you're keeping your head down." Or maybe she was just that easy to overlook.

"But yea, the guards were generally more likely to look the other way for the well-behaved ones." Or the ones who knew how to fake it in public. Whatever it was, she probably got away with a lot more than was technically allowed.

"I'd be more surprised to find out they're not, to be honest." Stripping a person of pretty much all of their rights and then using them as leverage to convince them to do something was a pretty shitty business model, but it was effective.
leg_with_heart: (I Got This)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-23 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
Hunk brightens a bit. Being well-behaved was his standard MO. "Honestly, I've been buttering them up since I got here. Gotta lead with your strengths, right?"

He didn't like to think about the fact that there was someone in charge of making all of this happen, but it was extremely difficult to do when he'd just witnessed a battle between Nissen and the Creator what seemed like just a few short days ago.

pidgeypidge: (that longs to belong)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-23 06:35 am (UTC)(link)
Despite all that, it was kind of hard to stay down for long in the wake of his smile. And it was nice to hear that they weren't giving him a hard time because of the mark. "Pfft, that's a good idea. Kinda wish I'd thought of it before." Not that it mattered now. "Do I wanna ask how you're buttering them up?"

Did she? Pidge honestly wasn't sure, given the nature of this place. But just the way he'd said it made her think it probably wasn't a bad thing. "So what now?"
leg_with_heart: (Hey good idea!)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-24 07:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Her instinct that it's innocent is spot on. He smirks.

"Turns out the guards also like cookies." He has made it a hobby of meeting up with a Dominant he's befriended to grab a bite, and he knows the head cook at the Haven in the Down, so it's not hard to grab an extra bite for them.

He thinks on her question a bit. "Could always check out your fancy new digs?" He'll tag along, because the longer he gets to be in the Up, the better, and Pidge never did have much of an issue letting him know if she had a problem with him inviting himself to her destination.
Edited 2019-10-24 19:29 (UTC)
pidgeypidge: (this big cold place)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-24 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"Everyone likes cookies. If they don't, they're probably lying." Or maybe she's just biased. Either way, the fact that he's on friendly terms with the guards is a relief. Friendly guards are less likely to turn around and be jerky later, right?

"Oh yea, I should probably do that at some point." She's already been there, briefly, to make sure this all wasn't some kind of cruel joke and that she was actually able to get in. But that was literally just in and out, and then she'd come here to wander around. "You're coming, right?"
leg_with_heart: (What Can I Say?)

[personal profile] leg_with_heart 2019-10-28 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I probably would hav been extra suspicious if they didn't." Hunk was always fairly successful at bringing people joy on at least some occasions. He didn't normally seek to gain anything from it, but in this case, it seems to really be working in his favor.

Hunk shrugs at Pidge's invitation. "Sure, I'll tag along." Of course, he'd already planned on it.
pidgeypidge: (I know of your secret rings)

[personal profile] pidgeypidge 2019-10-28 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
"As you should be." A person's junk food preferences are definitely a good baseline for judging their character, after all. Or something. It makes about as much sense as anything else around here, and it's less grating to think about, to boot!

"Great." The invitation is partially that she doesn't want him to have to go back to whichever part of the Down he's stuck in and partially that she just doesn't want to have to go see her new place alone. The last time she was even in that part of the Up, it was with Ren. It's going to be weird, but maybe it'll be less weird if she's not alone. "Nowhere else to be?"

Who knows?