bakerstreet | How to control someone: control the one they adore.

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How to control someone: control the one they adore.

Made Together

a dark shipping meme

tl;dr version — a meme that explores a shipping concept from a darker perspective. Characters, brainwashed by losing their memories and other scientific deviancies, are bonded with their "lifemate," who they're said to be created for. They must live together and grow co-dependently close, all while the machinations behind the scene are twirling like cogs in order to move them closer to the darkness.

Anyone can be manipulated. You just need to work at them through the right person.

You wake up, groggy and confused, in a white room that is expansive and furnished with all white furniture, yet pristine. The white is probably so bright that it hurts your eyes and you may have to blink for a moment. It doesn't help that your body is swathed in white, too; you're wearing what appears to be a modern day white cotton scrub top and and bottom. In fact, the only spot of black on you is on the palm of your hand: right in the center, there's a barcode. Under that, in neat, angular print, is a name. Your name.

It's a good thing it's there because otherwise, you wouldn't know it. Your memories are gone. You don't know how you got here, why you're here, or much of anything else. Soon, however, you'll know that you're not alone. The other person is not you're captor, that much is for sure. They're clothed like you are and look just as confused. They even have the exact same barcode as you, down to the last number. The only thing that differs is the name under it.

But the room is furnished for one alone. One bed, one couch, one bathroom. You two don't know much, yet you know you are two. The secret is soon made clear by a voice over a hidden loudspeaker. The voice claims to be a scientist and announces the purpose of you being here. This is the first day of your existence, they say, and you two were created together and for each other. Lifemates, the term is. You both are the perfect scientific experiment, and let man not tear asunder what science hath created.

And that's it.

Accept this or not, there seems to be little recourse. The room has no visible entrance or exit. The walls don't budge if you hit them. Nothing works. The only time anything changes is when food is brought in, but neither of you have ever seen that occasion. No matter how long you stay up, you always fall asleep when food or other necessities come in. Could that have something to do with the soft, soothing voices and pleasant feelings that sometimes come when you least except them?

You and your "lifemate" may be mutually scared, get along swimmingly from the start. It doesn't matter. Eventually, you'll become closer and closer. Lines will get crossed. Boundaries will get obliterated. Maybe it's because they're the only lifeline you have. Or maybe, maybe what the "scientist" said is right. You're created for each other, and this is your natural state. Whatever the case may be, as time goes on, you want to stay with them, even if you still want to leave this place. After all, how could you leave the side of the person you've spent your whole life with.

Yet there's something in your mind that tells you there's wrong here. Sometimes, at night, you'll get images of another life, and later, during the day, you'll feel hints of an existence you've never known. Luckily, you have your lifemate to get you through this.

HOW TO PLAY

Basically, your character has no memories and are power-nerfed...for some options.
Reply with your character and preferences. Also be sure to mention whether or not you'll play smut, since some options are smut-tinged.
Reply to others!

PROMPTS

First Meeting — You've just woken up and are getting the news.
Learning about Each Other — Though you don't have memories, you still have personalities to navigate.
Distaste — You don't like each other. How are you created for each other at all?
Guard — While one sleeps, the other looks on. Why does their sleeping form bring up so much fondness?
Unwittingly — You didn't want to give in, yet you find yourself being pulled in by your companion and growing protective of them.
Closeness — Soft words grow into soft touches, embraces, tiny kisses, and a gentle (relatively) haven.
Initiating — The first time you're going to be intimate, or the five millionth time, it will be on your own terms.
Need You Now — You've grown reliant on your "lifemate" to keep you calm or even take care of you, whether you want to admit it or not. You may even need them beside you to sleep or
Physicality — Your relationship has a full-on carnal aspect. What else is there to do?
Twisted by Science — Your emotions have been tampered with to make you love your lifemate more because you weren't responding.
Pure Love — Despite the situation, what you feel for your companion is real. You truly love them, even if you haven't told them.
Connection — In some cases, lifemates have been known to have a mental connection, where they can share some thoughts and all pain.
Aphrodisiac — The sexual bonding between the two of you isn't progressing in a way it should, so one or both of you is injected with a potent aphrodisiac. That should do the trick.
Implanted Memories — You remember happy times with your lifemate. Surely those memories are real.
Flashbacks — You remember another life, and it doesn't match up with what you know.
Nightmares — Waking up in the middle of the night, sweating in fear is never a wonderful experience. Luckily, you have someone close by to cheer you up...if you want to worry them with your dreams.
No One but You — You've decided to ignore the scientists and make the best of what you have, carving out a little life together.
Scientist — You're not actually a lifemate, you're a scientist! However, you've developed pesky feelings for one of your subjects.
Breeding Stock — You're not humans, you're animals, and the scientists want you to breed as such.
Protect — You'll fight off anyone to protect your lifemate, scientists included.
Power Surge — What are these powers that have suddenly appeared? You've never had these! Your lifemate should stay back, lest you hurt them.
Training Together — New equipment has been put into your living quarters and you've been told to learn to work together perfectly. Whether you're both fighters or one is a fighter and the other their handler or healer, you must fit as well in battle as you do in life.
The Veil Falls — The curtain is raised, and you see that you're not an experiment. You had a life that's been stolen from you. Your mate had one, too. What will you do with this new knowledge?
Wish to Forget — Instead of being angry or glad about your past existence, you're horrified by what it was like and only want to live in the now with your lifemate.
To Garner a Response — The scientists want to see how you'd respond if your lifemate was hurt.
A Task Given — In order to guarantee the safety of your lifemate, you have to do a certain task. Maybe hurting someone else isn't a big deal as long as you get what's yours back.
A Taste of Freedom — You and your lifemate are allowed out, but you have a job to do.
Separated — You've been disobedient and as such, you two will be punished by separation.
Escape — There's a tiny window of opportunity to get out. Take it. But no one gets left behind, even if you would have before.
Separate Ways — Now that you're out, there's no reason to stay together, right? You're not really lifemates, right?
Can't Be Without You — ...only not, because now you're dependent on each other, and you can't live a life alone or with another.
Hard Time Adjusting — It's different living in the free world when you're used to being in a completely controlled habitat.
Living a Peaceful Life — You've managed to get past all the challenges and are now living a normal life together. But did the scientists ultimately win? After all, you are still "lifemates"...and there's still the trauma to deal with...
ANYTHING ELSE or WILDCARD OPTION!!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( either or tbh )

[m/f preferred, can go with any of the prompts]

( No underage, no Alucards. Good with all scenarios. Give me a heads up if you want things to get smutty. )

[ preferences in journal nav. more interested in the darker side than the fluff side, so expect angst. ]

( ~~someone has seen Tau surprise.~~ well if you're willing to give it a shot, as i guess she counts as very, very cross canon. )

[ dude tau is my GD jam. I'm open to it! ]

( tau was the best-unexpected find on netflix for me, seriously. hmm as it is we can try tau or dark, dark setting with any of the prompts in this. )

[ I know right, that shit was so good. I've been looking for someone to AU it with so if you're interested I'm interested; I'm also good with popping off one of these prompts if you'd rather, I'm chill. ]

( ikr! I will be honest and admit I wasn't expecting it. oooohmy to quote El Dorado "both...both are fine!" but that's cause I am greedy, ya know. )

[ I can definitely respect that sentiment. How about you start one, I'll start the other? Whichever one you wanna do, I'll do the opposite. See what kicks off? ]

( *crawls back here after a million years* hmm, we could do that. or let's just embrace the tau one ~~no i just didn't see the movie of course not~~ in a PSL or something? )

[ I started a thing here if you'd like, let me know if you need something changed. ]

Edited 2018-08-15 22:31 (UTC)

[He would buy into all of this without a second thought. Maybe his fellow captive needs some artificial encouragement to accept his unrestrained affection? Or maybe the ugly truth is finally putting some cracks in the idyllic delusion?]

( if you don't mind her, well, she will basically be the opposite with not buying into this at all...but she's also a person that kind of needs social interaction a bit, so yeah, could be interesting. )

[ Ooh, perfect! <3 Maybe we should start right at the beginning? I can write the starter if you like, but you're perfectly welcome to do so instead. :3]

( we so can~ if there any prompts you wish to add be my guest as well ah-okay with most. if you can that will be lovely~ as it's the weekend i am in the middle of cleaning my room. )

[ooc: We can cross those bridges when we come to them. :3]

Waking up in a drugged haze was nothing unusual. Though he had no reason to realize it, both his body and his mind were quite familiar with the disorientation and warped physical sensations that came with it. It was just a matter of waiting it out, avoiding panic and attempts to move his body when it was only capable of twitching uselessly or flailing about.

White. It was all white. It was quiet here, pleasantly warm and softly lit. Still, there might be better places to relax than facedown on the hard floor. Sighing contentedly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

That's when he noticed that there was someone else in the room with him. On the floor next to him. Someone who was starting to shift restlessly. She seemed to be struggling to regain consciousness as if trying to wake from a nightmare. But there could be no nightmares, not in the dreamless haze. It was a bad reaction to the paralysis and confusion, then.

He reached out to pick her up off the floor and pull her sideways into his lap, encouraging her to rest her head against his chest while he cradled her in his arms. "It's okay," he murmured. "It will wear off soon. You're safe, here. Try to relax..."

( sounds good to me :3 )

The sensation of waking up without feeling in total control of your body was familiar somehow and in a sense that brought a pang of panic in some instinctive recess of her mind of what it could follow. Her consciousness and senses were trying to break their way through the haze and regaining full control of her body before anyone/anything else did it before her, it was a struggle and one that she wasn't sure she was actually accomplishing or not. It could be hard to tell if she was actually succeeding or not with her attempts at waking up or if her fight was being for nothing.

Whatever panic an instinctive part of her mind was going through spiked when she felt a disruption as if being moved and it probably physically showed with the increase of her breathing pattern or how fast her heart was beating, and she needs to fight but being yet unable to do so and then things changed.

In the haze and regaining of her senses, a voice broke through it was soft, and dare she hope gentle, whisper and not at all what her conscience had expected. There was still some apprehension, how could there not be, but something else compelled her to listen and do as told, to relax and try to wait it out for her senses and body to sync again. Surprisingly (or not) it worked, slowly she started to came out of the haze, finally feeling her fingers twitch at her command before and finally daring to open her eyes, before closing them again at the overwhelming flood of white.

When she opened them again, this time a bit more carefully, she became aware of her position and that someone was apparently holding her. With probably unnecessary care, she tilted her head a bit to gaze at who it was and there was a slow blink while she processed his features. "...What..." Probably not the most memorable first words, but she was still slightly confused.

Not the most memorable, perhaps, but quite appropriate to the situation. He smiled and gently smoothed some of her hair away from her face. Her eyes were a striking dark brown, brimming with a quiet intelligence despite her obvious lingering grogginess. He could gaze at them all day.

"Hello. Are you alright? You seemed a little agitated."

The slight brush of fingers against her face snapped her a bit and maybe if all her senses were at a hundred percent she might have felt a bit embarrassed at the fact she had been staring, but it was hard to avoid mostly because of his eyes. She doesn't recall ever seeing eyes like his, not even in the same exact hue and they were a bit distracting whether it was a good thing or not it remained to be seen. At the very least, it did give her the time to get rid of whatever remained of any stupor and confusion she might have initially been.

She licked her lips while she considered her answer. "...I am now, thank you." Since considering her position and everything, she figured he had helped her somehow. She also took the time to look around and feel a bit confused again. "Hmm, I'm just a bit at a loss as to where exactly are we?"

He glanced around briefly before looking back at her. "I don't know either." Then when he turned his hand over to brush his knuckles over her cheek he spotted the inky black barcode tattoo. He studied it for a moment, trying to make sense of it, and sounded out the word printed along the bottom.

"Seph... iroth?" Curious. He turned his hand around to show her, long fingers fanned apart. "I wonder what that means."

From what she could see, there was nothing in the space they were in that exactly gave a lot of information more than it was meant to be a room. The discovery of the tattoo was surprising new information, she also studied it and didn't try to stop herself from raising her hand and softly running one of her fingers against the word etched on his skin. While tracing the letters she seemed to come to a realization herself, stopping she moved to also check her hands as well, unsurprisingly finding the same smear on the back of her palm but a different and shorter set of letters.

"Mine is not the same, hmm...Rinoa..." Her eyes moved from her tattoo to his and back, before tracing his again. "Sephiroth and Rinoa..." It didn't immediately ring a bell for her, at the moment they were just words which they were branded with. "Do you think it's, well, us?"

Edited 2018-08-05 01:40 (UTC)