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[recollecters]

Greetings, Users. Our system may be experiencing some residual glitches from a recent network malfunction. Our technical team is working on getting these issues under control. Please direct any concerns in the meantime to the HR department at humanresources@retrospec.com. Our staff has furthermore noticed a significant increase in tags and trends for #aprilfools and #pranks. Keep on your toes and be certain to tag your best tricks for Retrospec™! Please feel free to use this post as a network mingle. Every toplevel can be considered a new post, and threadjacking is permitted. No NPC response will be given. Any emails sent to the HR department will be returned with a failure to send notification, and will furthermore automatically be posted to the Retrospec network. Oops? Characters who have been in game for one month will find they can now change their profile pictures. Glitches will be in effect until the 15th and may include: -Usernames changing to a cat, dog, or bird pun. -The Retrospec application being changed into a neon color + animal theme of some variety. -Notifications going off at random and being unable to be turned off. -Various "special effects" crossing the screens when people comment. -Users having to beat a level of pac-man to access the application, and then being made to beat a new level every hour to keep using the application. -Thomas the Tank Engine memes being sent to users every hour for some reason. -Profile pictures being replaced by pictures of rabbits and easter eggs. -New creepy pasta stories appearing upon log-in, to be forwarded to someone before the app can continue to be used -Parental lock and auto-correct on cursing (i.e. fuck -> duck) -A parade of pixel Chocobos or dancing fruit scrolling across the screen after each comment posted

Comments

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa Looks like they're not listening again.
Hitori Togusa I'm stuck back on the question of whether this is malicious, or whether Retrospec is just truly awful at what they're trying to do.

Hitori Togusa Can I ask an odd question?

[glacian]

Gentiana Illyria Of course they aren't. They never seem to listen.
Gentiana Illyria I'm leaning on malicious.

Gentiana Illyria You may ask. Aren't questions meant to be a tad odd?

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa True.
Hitori Togusa Have you been...seeing anything, that you thought was a memory, but doesn't seem to fit with anything else you know?
Hitori Togusa Other people have described the phenomenon, but I haven't been.

[glacian]

Gentiana Illyria ...A memory?
Gentiana Illyria I can't say that...I've experienced anything like that.
Gentiana Illyria Have you, Hitori?

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa No. Koutarou did. And what he saw was greatly troubling him.
Hitori Togusa And it seems a lot of people have, but I haven't seen anything.
Hitori Togusa If you do see something? No matter how strange it is, I promise I'll listen and I'll believe you, all right?

[glacian]

Gentiana Illyria Koutarou? A friend of yours?
Gentiana Illyria Maybe this is a shared phenomenon or maybe the power of suggestion...
Gentiana Illyria You volunteer yourself to listen to my ramblings if such a time comes?

[There's a slight pause.]

Gentiana Illyria ...You have my admiration and my sincerest gratitude.

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa The world's horses turned into birds and now my apples bob up and down every time I turn on the TV.
Hitori Togusa Whatever is going on, we can only solve it by listening to each other. So, yes, no matter how strange you think it is, I'll be there.

Hitori Togusa Koutarou... I don't know if you ever ran into him? He went to RU at the same time as us, but he was an art major. We were roommates, but we never had any of the same classes.
Hitori Togusa Another transplant from Japan, so we got along famously. He's one of the few people who can get me to take a break when I need it.

[glacian]

Gentiana Illyria Seems that our reality has become quite an oddity as of late.
Gentiana Illyria We'll need to rely on each other to determine what's real and what's not.
Gentiana Illyria This is exciting yet terrifying...

Gentiana Illyria I believe I remember him. I've only spoken with Koutarou very briefly.

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa A shame, I think you two would get along well.

Hitori Togusa This is all the strangest philosophical question. About reality, that is. I can't deny the reality of the birds, or the smiling fruits. They're here and in front of me.
Hitori Togusa But I also can't deny the reality of what was there before. Even if reality, itself, is trying to deny their existence?

[glacian]

Gentiana Illyria Mayhaps. Only due time can tell.

Gentiana Illyria Denying their existence is not the proof you need to confirm your reality.
Gentiana Illyria To confirm what you perceive as real, all you need to do is prove that you exist.
Gentiana Illyria If you can prove the existence of Hitori Togusa, then reality will become real.

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa Can I really know Hitori Togusa without knowing how he fits into the world around him, though?
Hitori Togusa Identity can't really be claimed from within a vacuum. There are the things that Hitori knows about himself, but there are the things that other people know about Hitori.
Hitori Togusa Sometimes you cannot realize new things without an outside perspective. Growth comes from interacting with things outside of the self.
Hitori Togusa You've read Salinger? Catcher in the Rye?

[glacian]

Gentiana Illyria Only time will tell.
Gentiana Illyria You'll sooner go mad if you force the answer.
Gentiana Illyria There's certain aspects about you that only "you" would know. Aspects that would stay constant throughout your evolution as a person.
Gentiana Illyria You best to know them and learn them.
Gentiana Illyria A peculiar question for an accomplished literature major. I would be a fool not to know of Salinger's prized work.

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa True. There are probably better literary examples of what I'm talking about, but this is the one on my mind, since I just recently found my old high school copy of the book.
Hitori Togusa Holden's entire problem is precisely what you're saying, throwing himself into new experiences to try to force that self-knowledge, to 'find himself.'
Hitori Togusa It leads him to that line towards the end where he considers giving up entirely. "Just because I didn't know anyone, and they didn't know me, I thought what I'd do was I'd pretend to be one of those deaf-mutes." Stop putting any effort into the world around you and passively watch.

Hitori Togusa I think you verify that the inner aspects you see in yourself are really true by interacting with other people, seeing their perspectives on your character, too.
Hitori Togusa Because when Holden tried it, his own image of himself collapsed when it didn't match up to how he was behaving.

[glacian]

Gentiana Illyria There's some success to be had through brute force.
Gentiana Illyria But in tense matters such as this---
Gentiana Illyria Force alone is not enough.
Gentiana Illyria Sometimes a more 'critical' eye is necessary rather than unbridled strength. I do believe you may have to do the same if you want to avoid losing yourself within your battle to find yourself.
Gentiana Illyria In a sense, you're actually living through a similar matter that plagued Holden but will you succumb to his same depression?

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa This is going to be true for a lot of people.
Hitori Togusa But what if I haven't had that dissonance yet? The memories that have plagued others, good terminology there, but I haven't seen it?
Hitori Togusa If it does start happening, I just need to remember to keep speaking to others, then. Again, Holden's problem. He wasn't listening to the people around him when they challenged his view of himself.
Hitori Togusa There is self-knowledge to be gained through struggle, though.