duplicitymemes | TDM #10

« « « TEST DRIVE MEME » » »

« « « LIFE WILL GO 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 weather is a brisk negative seven during the warmest parts of the day.

» » » BLINDLY WE'LL FOLLOW

It's time for the monthly Duplicity train tour. 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.

« « « ASK ME ABOUT X

Along with the usual Dom and Sub seminars and demonstrations, the powers that be have decided to try something a little more friendly. After attending the mandatory classes, all characters are invited to a (mandatory) social mixer! There are beverages and light snacks, and mingling is highly encouraged.

Also, all participants have had their clothes removed and replaced with long shirts ( they are allowed to keep their undergarments, but nothing else is allowed ). Said shirts have the phrase “Ask me about _____!” plastered loudly and proudly on the front. It could be a character’s deepest, darkest secret, their most negative trait, or something embarrassing they had happen to them. Each participant is given a clipboard, pen and a piece of paper and are tasked with “asking” three others about what’s written on their chests. Once they’ve completed the task and handed in the assignment they’ll receive their clothes back. Of course, the long shirts can be removed, but that means you’ll be stuck in the nude or in your undergarments until you cooperate.

« « « ON A FLIP CHART

Not into your long shirts? Want to complain or refuse to participate? There’s another option! Unruly Dominants and Submissives will find themselves locked in a private room with a bed, stuffed together into a get-along-shirt. There’s no escaping the garment either, until certain conditions have been met. Written on a flip chart in the corner of the room are the tasks that need to be accomplished to “get along.” Are the two supposed to share a kiss? Sing a romantic duet together? Say the alphabet backwards in sync? The whole point of the exercise is to find that synergy a Dom and Sub pair are supposed to have. Maybe this isn’t the best way to find it, though…

When the conditions are met the shirt is removable or rippable. Otherwise no matter how hard the characters struggle they’ll find themselves unable to get the pesky thing off.

« « « THE LONG WAY AROUND

Many local businesses have adapted to the timing of newcomers, and take advantage of the incoming crowds to do a little marketing. Stationed throughout Duplicity in LIEr-adjacent places such as the train station, the Up Apartments, the Down Motel, and the orientation center are representatives for local businesses and companies handing out free samples and hoping to attract business later.

This month, there’s a particular presence by Harbroken Industries, a cosmetic and beauty company. They’re pushing free samples of their new pheromone perfume sprays, delicately scented and guaranteed to work. Sample bottles are freely available, but some overeager volunteers are taking the department store approach and spritzing unwitting passersby.

The citrus scent is energizing and bright, inducing a talkative state where users cannot get enough conversation, and lose any internal filter for their words. The strawberry-vanilla scent is sweet and comforting, like a warm hug, which users will get a lot of with their new obsession with physical affection. Cedar-sandalwood makes those who use it tough as nails, angry and ready to pick a fight over the smallest slights. The cinnamon-pear scent makes its users feel adventurous and curious, and maybe a little TOO bold about trying new things. And predictably, the patchouli spray inspires “free love,” with an aphrodisiac effect that gets worse over time, unless taken care of quickly.

The scents will wane and the effects will fade after six hours, or after the urges they cause are fulfilled. These volunteers are so eager to make a sale that it’s entirely possible to be hit with more than one spray at a time, so maybe take the long way around these areas if you’re looking to avoid them.

« « « 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: Count the letters in your character's full name ( first, last, middle or whatever combo that they have ). If it totals twelve letters and below they are a Dominant. If it's thirteen and higher they are Submissive.

Please remember to mark any necessary content, and have fun!!

» » » MAIN NAVIGATION « « «

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ she raises a brow at the woman's suggestion; wanda notes the lack of a line on her neck, something she's made note of between the various others she's come to meet, the divide of privilege and the lack of it. but if there's any other sign she's meant to find to separate the two more distinctively, she doesn't find it. because there's something of kindness when she's urged to sit beside her, a disregard for whatever rules they're meant to be following.

wanda's hesitant for a moment, lips curling against her teeth in brief thought. ] Are you sure?

[ but the debate is brief, instincts of her own far too inclined towards ignoring the suggestions of authority, and so she steps forward, moving to take the seat beside her as she offers back her own grateful smile. ]

You could get yourself into trouble, you know. For helping me. That's what they say, anyway.

[ Mariette nods encouragingly when that moment of hesitation came. It’s not that she really insists on having someone sitting beside her — shes’s still not feeling the greatest, but she simply can’t just let the divisive rules manifest themselves right in front of her. Her smile warms up when she’s given a smile back. It’s nice. ]

Yeah. I know. [ Easy, breezy. ] Like what are they gonna do? Publicly shame me or something? [ There’s a been there, done that sort of attitude to her that might come on a little strong at first, but she can’t imagine it would be worse than where she’s from. So, with a shrug, she turns to face her neighbour a little more, leaning a shoulder against the window next to her, smile turning playful. ]

And you could get into trouble for sitting, you know?

I think that's the idea. [ she answers quietly, almost guiltily. because as far as she knows, that's exactly what they want here, to shame, as she's gathered from the rules spelled out carefully during orientation, and the display of proper role designation that's been purposely presented here for them in public transportation.

embarrassment is hardly her own worst fear, though; she's lost far too much, been called plenty of dirty and piercing things, to care about how anyone sees her. she'd like to believe pride and survival fall together, but sometimes one has to be sacrificed to maintain the other.

but if there's any worry at all in what's to come, it eases with the expressions of the girl beside her, forced to smile a little wider at the call out. ]

I probably will. [ with a hum, she leans back in her seat, stretching her arms and legs in front of her. ] But I'm prone to getting into all sorts of trouble. This wouldn't be any different.

You do? [ Now that earns her a soft laugh from Mariette. ] Me too. I got used to it after a while. Things got worse and worse, then they just... stayed the same. [ When you hit rock bottom, where else was there to go anyway?

Maybe there's something in her that feels a connection with this current line of thinking. It certainly puts things into perspective for her. ]

'Least we'll both take credit for it. Besides, a public shaming isn't the worst thing ever. [ She shifts her gaze to the passengers of the train, to the couples and groups demonstrating what it really is like to be a part of the society here. ] I have a feeling it happens all the time here, it probably isn't even a strange sight anymore.

[ her smile softens into something more sympathetic, because there's immense understanding in that, in the gradual decline, the struggle in wondering if things ever seemingly get better. she'd fought to improve the state of her country, only to be the indirect cause of its destruction. she'd lost her brother too, and the world only saw her as a threat, as a monster, capable of nothing but damage.

some days she wonders if they're right.

but she diverts her eyes to follow the woman's gaze, peering over the other riders with a tired sigh. ] I've seen people shamed, put into some of the worst conditions, made to lose everything, but this — this is truly a play on humanity. It's like they don't even treat them like that's what they are.

[ It was a lifelong struggle to prove yourself better than those around would have assumed. Mariette faced it constantly in her world, barely staying afloat among the societal structures that threatened to drown her. Her companion seemed to know what that was like, or at least, has seen the manifestations of it.

Mariette tilts her head, eyes back on her neighbour’s face, those words pulling something deep inside her, turmoil darkening her grey eyes. ]

Maybe here, they’re really considered not to be. That’s what it looks like, anyway. [ It's a sight that's too familiar but not at all comforting. She tries for a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. ] But if you find someone, then you'll be treated well, right? [ It's wrong, of course, but here, it might be easier to go along with the system than to fight it. ]

[ she looks to her with understanding in her eyes, pained to see the reflection of it. because she's often seen those that have been forgotten, those that don't matter in the eyes of the privileged; she'd been one herself, curled in her brother's arms at only ten, trapped beneath a bed for two days as the world passed them by, merely waiting for the bomb only a few feet away to blow before their eyes.

and it seems the sentiment is shared, but perhaps there's hope in seeing it in someone without a submissive line reflected across their neck. ]

I suppose you're right. [ maybe, anyway. depending on who the someone is. ] But when people are put into power, there's always those that want to take advantage of that. This contract — it might just make it easier for someone to be taken advantage of.

[ The smile Mariette turns to her companion tries for optimistic, but she knows it’s obvious that it masks pain underneath. She’s good at hiding it, but this place puts her on edge. She finds herself looking at that glaring bold line again. ]

Hey, you seem like you’ve been through some stuff. [ Her voice is gentle but solid as she makes a statement that might as well be wrong, but she’s pretty sure she recognizes trauma when she sees it, especially with that fear she voices. They just met each other, but Mariette wonders how much they have in common.] If you recognize it, don'tlet anyone take advantage of you. Keep your head up and if the contract’s not right then get out of there. Alright?

TDM #10

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