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duplicitymemes2019-11-12 05:14 pm
duplicitymods) wrote in duplicitymemes2019-11-12 05:14 pm
Entry tags:
TDM #9
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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 cool weather has begun to fade into a wintry mix of soft snow and chilly wind. LAST TIME ON... Duplicity's annual Tumenalia preparations are under way and all citizens will know about the charms. |
 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 annual Tumenalia festival is coming at the end of the month, and the citizens of Duplicity are well into their preparations. The decorations on the light posts and building exteriors are becoming more commonplace, streamers and lights and silken banners hanging from light posts and doorways and some have taken to wearing strange masks. These festive touches almost distract from the boarded up windows. A variety of seasonal booths are also popping up throughout the city streets in both the Up and Down. Many of these are giving away the same red, blue, and green charms that have already been in circulation for the past two weeks. But there’s also a new product being handed out: small sealed glass vials full of colored powder in intricate striped patterns. The powder vials seem purely decorative at first, with no special properties. But once the vial has found an owner, without warning, the glass begins to glow and the powder within begins to disappear, as though falling slowly through an hourglass. Characters holding the vials will experience the effects of the charms at a greatly increased pace and intensity. Red, blue, and green powder will have the same effects as the charms do-- but unlike the charms, the powder vials allow for colors to mix and combinations of effects to be experienced at the same time. A character could feel the strength and aggression of red mixed with the exhibitionism of the green, or even aspects of all three effects at once. The powder will continue to affect the character until the last of it vanishes from the vial, a process that takes about three hours. It seems to be the fashion among locals to wear the empty vial on a necklace as a badge of honor, and empty vials are apparently valuable in some way, though nobody seems willing to answer how just yet. |
 As excited as the locals seem for the upcoming Tumenalia festivities, there is also a sense of unease and foreboding in the air. Tumenalia is known as a time when anything can happen, and though there have been multiple promises from the mayor that this year won’t come with the usual violence and property damage, most of the locals don’t seem reassured by this. Many are in the process of physically securing their homes and businesses, and many others seek some sort of premonition in the form of fortunes. While not as prominent as the booths handing out charms, there are plenty of pop-up fortunetelling booths starting to appear on the streets. These impromptu oracles provide a variety of divinations, including but not limited to tarot readings, tea leaves, and even reading roses. Ask about love, life, death, health, wealth, or whether or not to upgrade your insurance policies before Tumenalia. Whatever you ask, though, you’ll find something curious - it may not be literal, and it may not be in the manner expected, but all fortunes somehow come true within the day. |
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: Sweet or Savory. If your character favors Sweet Foods then they are a Dominant. If they favor Savory Foods then they are a Submissive. Please remember to mark any necessary content, and have fun!! |
no subject
Ambrose.
First there was Sabrina, and now here you are. How many more of you Spellmans should I be expecting to see crawl out of the woodwork?
[ She closes the distance between them somewhat, gaze traveling over his clothes up to his neck -- she notes that stripe on it -- and then his face, which she observes carefully. ]
It's Blackwood, darling.
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Blackwood, [he agrees.] Of course. You'll have to forgive me, I've soured on that name a bit since last we met.
[he remembers her walk, this one that she's approaching him with now. her hip-height sway, the little smile. such confidence, which is sometimes a mask, and sometimes her downfall, and reliably too, her way out. he sees her look at his stripe and decides not to be squeamish about it, taking a step forward to meet her where her elegant heels are taking her.]
I believe you've counted us all, at this point. I'm afraid you're the lone Blackwood in this world, though. [he tilts his head, studying her face -- her distinct lack of stripe, too. what are the visible signs that a girl has turned on her murderous, traitorous viper of a father?] I know of no other.
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[ The things that Father Blackwood -- her father -- could do here chill Prudence to even consider idly, and even less does she care to think about her baby brother or sister being stuck here, left to be taken care of by simply whomever. ]
But I fear what my father might do without me there.
[ She wrinkles her nose, shaking her head and touching his arm briefly, before deciding against it. Finally she looks up to meet Ambrose's eyes. ]
All is forgiven.
[ Prudence's tone isn't regretful or apologetic, simply factual, but-- a bit softer from before. She hopes the sentiment goes both ways, naturally. ]
no subject
Are you referring to eating my roast chicken, chucking the bones in my face, then showing up at my beheading to see me roll?
[and there is a little bite to it, perhaps. but the embers in his eyes are low, if they're burning at all, and there's an odd smile on his face as he studies her through it. he thinks he understands. she's skeptical of her father now. that means something. a great deal.
but exactly what remains to be determined, and he isn't afraid to poke the snake. gently.]
no subject
You mean the bones that you escaped with? Really, Ambrose, if you're choosing to hold a grudge, at least make it over something sensible.
[ Her eyes return to his, searching them for understanding. ]
I thought that's what family did for one another. You stand by yours, and I... [ A pause. ] I aimed to do the same.
[ This might be the Prudence version of an apology-- or an explanation, at any rate. She still does aim to do the same, but her priorities have finally become clear now; it isn't just the lies her father told about the Dark Lord to enforce his wicked agendas upon their coven, not just about protecting her baby brother and sister, or standing beside Zelda Spellman(-Blackwood) -- who has herself stood beside Prudence far more than Father Blackwood himself ever did -- but that her father crossed an unforgivable line when he poisoned the coven, made her poison her very own sisters.
Prudence may not yet entirely know what she aims to do about it, but she knows how she feels. ]
no subject
but honestly: it's not in his nature.
to poke a bit, to check, to divine information indirectly, though. that is easily ambrose spellman. and it does not always mean he does so with finesse or subtlety. and here he is now, smiling a bit, leaning over to lean a fist on the nearby table of goods, appearing casual about it.]
'Aim's an interesting choice of words, [he says.] It usually indicates a single direction. Your old geezer, I found out, wouldn't ever hesitate to pull you in two. Like Solomon's baby. But you made your choice, Prudence. [the smile on his face dims. sympathy easing in. that was more of an apology than he'd needed, certainly more than he'd expected.] Under the sort of circumstances that family should never force one another to.
no subject
But she does like Ambrose, she would hate that softness in his tone if it were coming from anyone else, but she's heard it from him before, which makes it acceptable. He isn't someone she'd prefer to side against unless she felt she had to, but to do so back then would have kneecapped her potential significantly. ]
I made my choice for my brother and sister, not for him. [ Her own tone is clipped and prideful. ] I know what kind of man he is.
[ A monster that she's tried to kill twice now, but she can tell Ambrose all about that later. She looks at him, touching the stripe on his neck. ]
How have you been managing?
no subject
Well enough. It feels much more sudden than it actually was. One night I went to bed, laid my head down on the pillow. When I reopened my eyes, I'd lost a full day and also gained something like a year.
[it was disorienting. magical. ambrose minds less than mortals would, for obvious reasons. he rather wishes auntie zelda were here to tell him to buck up and stop thinking about luke because she has a terribly conceived wedding for him to attend.] Surprisingly disappointed in our deity of choice, if that isn't sacriligeous to say.
[he's saying it anyway, even if it is.]
And if you don't mind me saying so, I think you made your choice for more than one sister. And I commend you for it. There's much to be said for my cousin, but she didn't have to teach everybody how to love.
no subject
Zelda, sometimes. And Ambrose a couple of times.
Her eyebrows pinch slightly at what he's describing -- lost a full day and also gained something like a year -- but she simply nods, having already accepted that she'll be hearing a lot of things that make little to no sense to her yet. And why not? There are a lot of ways in which this new city is strange and vaguely alarming, but Prudence has also barely been anywhere besides Greendale, besides the walls of the Academy; of course anything beyond that may seem strange. ]
Given the circumstances, I think I can find it in my heart to forgive such candid blasphemy.
[ She says it in a tone that suggests she agrees with him, even, despite it being a rather complicated crisis of faith she has yet to resolve for herself.
Prudence resists the impulse to claw Ambrose's eyes out for daring to bring Sabrina into this-- bringing love into this. Ugh. What else did she expect from a Spellman? ]
Don't be vulgar now, Ambrose. Sabrina had nothing to do with it.
no subject
If you think that's blasphemy, you haven't heard the half of it yet.
[unfortunately, this is true. ambrose would be blanking in his brain too, if he thought more about it. what does it say for the fidelity of a satanist if he steals away the dark lord's own bride? he'll worry about it later. he has a few hundred years him him before he has to worry about his afterlife, and by then probably sabrina will reassure him that there's somebody else running hell these days.
he smiles at her remark on his vulgarity, and seems to let it lie, except that he cocks his head at her and selects this choice time to ask:]
I'll wager you've got time, but you must have your eye on any subs yet, haven't you?
no subject
[ And Prudence believes that, she does. She's no stranger to questioning certain "truths" of their Church, certain "expectations" of the Dark Lord's, especially after seeing just how fast and loose her father is willing to interpret the Dark Lord's doctrines, or outright turn on Him the moment things don't shake out as he'd like them to, but it's complicated.
Faith is always complicated. And blasphemy isn't always wrong. ]
Why do you ask?
[ She might have one in mind, yes. But Prudence isn't one to make herself look foolish by asking after him, not until she has more information. Cooly, she turns it around: ]
Are you offering?
no subject
turns out to be not so smooth at all, which he only realizes the next instant when he feels a very peculiar, stray flutter in his gut that he can't clearly attribute to any human emotion. it'd be nice to think that it's not because of a human emotion. a warlock emotion, perhaps. kind longing for kind, despite that the witch in question is being low-key rude to him right now. as ever.]
I ask out of curiosity and a friendly interest in your wellbeing.
[methuselah's beard. where the fuck are all these human responses coming from. he's been rubbing elbows with them for too long? humans. politely impersonal, even at their most honest. something about the setting, when he'd had little difficulty shedding a tear for her troubles over the wheezing bodies of her recovering sisters and the other church of night members.]
You deserve a long stretch of ease, after all you went through. It's not blasphemy to say. [he reaches absent-mindedly to pick up a jar of. something. tiny bird hearts, it looks like. dried and preserved.] And I understand the SLUT Centers lack the taste and flair of Lupercalia.
[that has to be a little intentional. there's the briefest flicker of a smile at her, so quick it might have been imaginary -- but it isn't. his features are schooled back to good-natured interest the next moment.]
no subject
She'd rather be alone. Better to be alone than humiliated, or maybe pitied. Whatever it is Ambrose is doing at her right now. Making fun of her?
Empathy comes easy to witches, generally; sympathy and compassion, much like love, far less so. It doesn't matter if that inability is not innate but rather societal, a false dichotomy between between "mortal" and "witch" emotions perhaps not unlike the one between "masculine" and "feminine" witchcraft, but being a witch is something Prudence has always taken great pride in excelling at. She would need to know something could be worth it to consider changing that stance.
But if she wanted Ambrose enough, surely she could just use her witchcraft to make him break his contract; she's always had a talent for that. She could do it -- perhaps should do it -- but she isn't. She doesn't want him that way.
And there's no explaining that one. ]
No.
[ No prospective contracts yet; no subs worth considering. She grabs the jar from him, deciding she needs those bird hearts more than he does. ]
But I'm in no hurry.
no subject
but there are many shops in this place. and now also: only one prudence blackwood.]
I didn't think patience was your favored virtue.
[the remark comes from a nearer source than where he was standing only a few moments ago, but it's doubtless no real surprise to prudence. she's had plenty of whispers in her ears before, and she knwos well enough the sound of a salutation coming from a handspan from the curve of her ear.]
But I'm sure it'll do wonders to enhance whatever strategy you've got next, up your sleeve. [his nose drifts so terribly near. if he were mortal, he'd be putting a cheek on her kiss. he isn't. he's a warlock; he smells the heat off her white hair. he touches her wrist, not the jar at all, friendly; only a single finger on the round bone.
the rat scuttles up his free arm, and then he steps away with a smile.]