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[ 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.

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[how Rude what a Callout.]

And cause a witch hunt in the process? No thank you.
If it continues, there'll be a slip up eventually. We should just keep our minds as open as our eyes.

[Not enough people use emoji sarcastically in his direction but he's not gonna Assume.]

i think they did, though from what i remember it's mostly heart attacks. August has been wilder... it could have been experimental since Zee is different from the people caught on TV.

[ Ren sees a pattern, which everyone probably has if they're on top of the news, but he doesn't blame anyone for shutting it out when dealing with dreams and the like. ]

one death stands out the most for me aside from Zee.

That's just terrible...

I wouldn't say I'm a fan of Retrospec, but Zee was only trying to help us.

[ wow.......... it wasn't sarcastic. he thought it was a nice comment.......... hidoi. ]

so we should gamble lives in hopes they make a mistake.

i don't want to take those chances.

Oh right, all the heart attacks...it does seem like there were a lot this month.

[Elliot's been...trying to keep up with the news, but he's a musician, not a detective. Especially with everything else going on. ]

Which death is that?

[don't be genuine...... that's gross,]

Rare is the soul that does.
But it isn't as if we have leads to go off of at the moment, unless you can profile the person from their victims?
... Well, I say that, but as someone with a detective's memories, I suppose I should try and sleuth around myself.

[haha,]

We gotta find out who the others who died were. See if there's a pattern. I'm not a detective, but someone the other me was really close to was really into that stuff, and I guess that's not the best help, but I can't let this keep on going.

It's no trouble at all.
Most points have been brought up in some way -- Zee-san's untimely death, the correlation between something one of us received and the recent string of deaths, etc -- but Joanne-san also mentions that it's a permanent death. There won't be anyone to replace Zee-san until this is solved, and in the meanwhile there is something else apparently going on that they're trying to avoid.
A repeat of last August, which was... hectic, to say the least.
Very dangerous, but rather fun in hindsight.

we won't ever have leads unless we snoop around like meddlesome kids.

we would definitely benefit from your expertise., but take your own advice and be careful if you're going to do some detective work.

[ HaHa. ]

He did seem truly earnest. Joanne, too. Poor girl.

It's unlikely there's only one person capable of murder among us. In fact, we now all but know it to be true. The issue now is they understand how easy it can be to kill.

[ If only he knew this is Elliot so they could just talk in person...... He actually didn't think much of the deaths at first until they escalated and bigger names showed up. ]

Erick Hartgrove, the crime ring boss they covered a week ago or so.

overdose. he also dropped some important information about his group and their trafficking routes.

[The layers here are incredible. He's going to sleuth and then cover it up if necessary. Blood is thicker and all that. Even if the actual meaning is more towards battle-forged comrades than actual family.]

You can't get anywhere without a little danger. ☆
But I'll keep that in mind. There'd be many who would be sorrowed at my passing, so I wouldn't like to disappoint them any by dying in a stupid, easily avoidable manner.
And I don't want to see them sad either. They look better with smiles on their faces.

[he's Anon No One knows who he is this is Great he can say Slightly sappier things and the only person who knows it probably sena. And that's fine. They've had their quiet conversations over lunch.]

[Beta#09011442.]

"He ran out of" something. Chances? Perhaps that's it.

It might be easier to start with figuring out what item she isn't. That said, any report of his death could also contain some clue.

He did?

That IS really odd. Why would he do that?

[ This is the beginning of the Divide. For now, he'll be living in bliss, trying to find clues about this mysterious serial killer. ]

slow down there, bad boy/girl/person. we wouldn't want to lose one of Retrospec's many stars.

do you have any tips for those new to this detective thing? other than to stay out.

Yeah, but to be capable isn't the same as actually doing it....

This is really unsettling.

it was kind of glazed over to talk about the members he outed, but yeah. apparently he did.

i wonder what came over him.

[ THIS DEATH IS DRIVING HIM INSANE ]

That's all the advice an amateur needs in a case like this.
But more seriously, don't stand out too much. Keeping your head down is the only way to survive when dealing with murders.
Secondly, no one is above suspicions. Your significant other? Your cousin twice removed? An acquaintance you have as a customer? All could very well be the culprit, even if you wouldn't like to think so, even if you believed they would never. Everyone has their breaking points, though I will say that most won't turn to violence as their answer.
What else... Ah. Not every clue is going to make the case; there are often red herrings, particularly when dealing with smarter foes, but there will always be a slip up of some kind, a lead.
Well, it's not a particularly good one, but the lack of names that appear now; Retrospec doesn't seem to have a reason for essentially rendering us anonymous, which makes it suspicious. Are they trying to keep the killer from picking out a new victim? Or is there something else afoot? It's something to keep in mind going forward, I feel.

[... And because if it really is what he thinks it is (and he's almost positive that it is) then this was a very smart move on the part of Retrospec, goddamn.]

There's a million and one tips I could offer, but those are the most important in my opinion.
But really: Do keep out of the way of professionals. The more feet on the ground the hard it is to track someone down, which is detrimental to their case... but if you feel there's something for you to offer, anything at all, however small, then they'll hear you out.

[a pause as he thinks]

Assuming he didn't just decide to do it himself....I have a couple ideas.

But I don't want to share them openly, sorry. Can I ask who this is?

Perhaps, though people have had some potentially dangerous abilities for some time. Zee had been making himself scarce recently. Maybe he upset someone?

Indeed. Chances to come back, most likely. But I wonder what determines that and if it applies to our population as well. Though of course my hope is that we don't have to worry about any more of our number dying at all, it could be valuable information for worst case scenarios.

That's a good point. I'm trying to go through some reports, but I haven't found a detailed one. If there's any information on the cause of his death, then that could be a clue as to the nature of the item.

do you think they're actually gonna do that

That's a good question. It's a shame that no one will appear to answer it.

There is the chance that the detail was fabricated, or it is just being guessed. But if she was saying the truth, then they probably found out through some sort of surveillance. Or perhaps they have some sort of way of tracing the usage of the items that are sent to us.

Honestly? No. But I don't know how many options there realistically are.

you mean for them, or for us?

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