(no subject)

[recollecters]

[ For the past few days, Retrospec users may have noticed that Zee has been unresponsive. On the 29th, a message from Delta#68422 appears - for once a network connection in video form. The girl on the screen is recognizable to some as Joanne Wiseman: a blonde teenager with blue eyes and curls tied back, in a Retrospec technician's white labcoat. Far from her usual bubbly appearance, she looks upset and stressed out, her eyes red-rimmed. ] Hi... [ She scrubs at her eyes for a second, then tries to smile. ] Um. So! The thing is - the thing is, I can't tell you exactly, but one of you - someone got something back, and it's... [ Joanne pauses. There are voices in the background, and she glances off-screen to her right, lips thinning before she turns back. ] We can't take it back, you know, we reroute items - Maurice does, I mean - but it's not like we're giving things on purpose. I mean, those we are. He takes them back now if you don't want them but it's not like you can take back things you can do, and - and. Someone did something, but I can't say who, or how, 'cause of restrictions. But I can tell you something happened, and - with all those deaths recently. [ She takes another breath, deep and slow. ] And. Our liaison, Zee, he - he wasn't on the same level, you know? Mid-level management. Like - so he didn't have the... [ another pause as she scrubs at her eyes again. ] So - the news, the normal news, it probably said already but you might not have known if it was real but he's. He's dead, and it's the permanent kind, and we can't fix it. I'm so sorry, he already - he'd already, we'd already done it before, and he ran out of - he ran out. My Aunt doesn't want to send anyone else in until - the, the issue. With one of you. Until something's done, but even then... [ A helpless little shrug. ] I never got to clear up the mess last month, the message. I'm sorry, we've been a little - it's been hectic. I'm not sure this won't get messed up before I send, but I think I can route it around - well, anyway. Jim said it would work, he helped me with it, and...that's. That's it for now? We're trying to - this is bad, but we're trying to avoid something else right now, so. I can't - we can't - focus on this. I'm sorry. I'll try to contact you next month as soon as I can - we're trying to avoid a repeat of August. I mean, last August. God. Stay safe, and - [ And with that, the message ends in static. ] As of this post, Zee is no longer in play until further notice due to player plot and game plot reasons! He may make a reappearance in the later months and player action can change this outcome if characters come up with a solution. Anyone who goes to look for information about this death will find out that Zee has been killed and his body was found staged in front of the Wiffle-Waffle waffle house. What a bad break. We are now entering the final phase of the summer event; please be on the look-out for September's plotting post with details for the next month! 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. Characters IDs will be comprised of the following: The date your character first appeared on Retrospec (so in Zee's case, that was 02/01/18) and the last four digits of your character's IC inbox as found in the HTML (in Zee's case, 8329.), not aliases or chosen nicknames or usernames, and seemed to have filled themselves in; nothing characters do can change or obscure their names currently.

Comments

[odasaku]

I knew one person, but I never talked to him about it. He wrote about his death a long time ago on the app, though.

[standalonehuman]

Alpha#02010681 The murder is still being investigated. Even people not on the network know someone was killed, they can see the facts of the case.
Alpha#02010681 It is, unfortunately, just like any other time people have been killed.
Alpha#02010681 I know it feels extra powerless, because even if her words aren't evidence, Joanne let it slip that it was someone on the network.
Alpha#02010681 That doesn't mean we have the right to go after them.

[maidofmistakes]

Yeah. She wasn't gonna say who, but she did imply it was because of something they got back. Like an item or a memory, or maybe a power.

[twostringsonebow]

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to such conclusions.
Are we so important? Zee-san was, of course, but I don't think that can be said for most of us.
Not to say that we shouldn't remain vigilant... Just that we shouldn't cast such a spotlight on ourselves if we don't wish to be caught in an unfavorable circumstance.

[odasaku]

It seemed like she couldn’t do anything.

She can’t even tell us.

[openhanded]

Alpha#02014597 Sorey here, we've spoken before.
Alpha#02014597 We have powers that the rest of the city doesn't. What can they do against magic, or a monster? I'm not sure what happened or what the suspect's capabilities are, but if they've got an edge then we should keep that in mind. A normal jail might not be able to hold them.
Alpha#02014597 I'm not saying anything. I just want to make sure people are safe. School starts next Tuesday, and I have a lot of kids on the app.

[odasaku]

He wasn’t as important as the others. Why try with him and not with the administrators?

[frostythehitman]

and why not

[openhanded]

He's part of the reason we're able to leave the city. He led us outside so we could help those other towns, so we could find a way to stop something awful from happening... And he knew more about the city than anyone else I've talked to.

[twostringsonebow]

Who can say?
Let's see... In my time here, I believe he's been the one who's interacted with us on the closest level possible considering the company he worked for, so motive may lie there.
But I truly cannot imagine why. It isn't as if he was an offensive person, when I spoke to him.
He was... actually very nice.

[standalonehuman]

Alpha#02010681 Sorey. I'm sorry.

[It feels like Sorey is owed far more apologies than others on the application.]

Alpha#02010681 Your worry is more about detainment? If it turns out the person responsible needs extra force to be detained, then, all right, I can completely agree we should step in.
Alpha#02010681 But after the Department has done their jobs. We shouldn't be the ones to try to determine guilt.

private;

[adoringpast]

you know i won't always be there to protect you
but it's as you say
we should be more open on one another and rely on each other more

[ and then puts this on private to get prying eyes out of the way ]

so if there's anything i can do to help, just let me know

[standalonehuman]

Alpha#02010681 Because we don't, we don't get to go against the system of law in this city. Especially when it can still tell that something has happened!

[frostythehitman]

so you think retrospec isn't going to do anything about this themselves either

private;

[twostringsonebow]

[Mm. Just how secure is any system, really.]

Thank you for your concern, Micchan, but there's no reason for worry.
I promise.

[Well, he hopes that's a firm promise. As far as the string of deaths... He's fine. As far as Zee's incident is concerned, mm, up in the air until six, when he can have tea with his brother. If it's the same, then he truly is fine. If not... Future Goro can deal with that.]

[megatechbody]

Beta#0501426 I'm decently sure you would have had to have been psychic to have seen this coming.

[frostythehitman]

so you'd rather wait and put more people at risk of getting killed by this guy

[dulynoted]

Did he? What was his name?

[openhanded]

Alpha#02014597 It's okay. I understand how you feel, I really do.

[The Shepherd's always operated kind of outside the law, though, so that's why they're bumping elbows now.]

Alpha#02014597 I don't believe in answering death with more death. It perpetuates the cycle.
Alpha#02014597 Still, I hope we can set up a fair trial. It's important that we try-- Zee's memory deserves nothing but the truth. I don't think any of us can say we're unbiased after this.

Beta#0901738

[sunnyspot]

I don't think there's anything they CAN do. Even if they know who's committing these crimes, if they don't have any evidence, the most they can do is submit an anonymous police report. Since someone's doing this with an ability or an object they received from Retrospec, there's really no way to explain it to people without access the app.

But there's also no telling if they'll continue. It could be anyone.

[promisedyou]

If it's an item, they're honestly stupid for allowing that item into the wrong hands to begin with.

[maidofmistakes]

Yeah, I don't know... I mean, even if it was their mistake, or if it was inevitable like they say, that still means one of us is posing a danger to everyone right now.

[promisedyou]

True. I'm not going to say that the other party that did get the ability or item or whatever is completely blameless. It's basically not good.

[maidofmistakes]

I'll keep an eye out. I mean, whoever it is can read all of this, obviously, but there's gotta be something we can do to stop it.

Beta#0901738

[sunnyspot]

I feel bad that Joanne was the one chosen to give this message. She's clearly putting on a strong face even though she's upset, and sent this through video rather than text. Anyone would be shaken up in the face of a tragedy like this, but I'm curious why a video message was used instead. There isn't a code in it or anything, is there?

I normally wouldn't ask, but since this is important, would anyone mind giving me an overview of some of the details that haven't been mentioned in text yet? I'm deaf, so I mainly only have the messages in this post to go off of. Joanne is so shaken up that lip reading isn't getting me very far, and I don't want to make too many assumptions with words when the topic is this serious. Sorry for the trouble.

-Kouhei