(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

[frostythehitman]

[ There's a moment where James's blood runs cold because--he knows Zee was a potential target to his fucked-up amnesiac-assassin brain for the last two months, and he thinks maybe he did it. But no, he's pretty sure he didn't. He remembers everything now, including the past two months, and none of it involved killing Zee. He's pretty sure this is just a sick coincidence.

When he replies, his ID is Alpha#03011183. ]

shit
i'm sorry
rest in peace i guess
zee was the best employee retrospec had

it sounds like joanne knows who did it though
i wonder if they're planning to do anything about them themselves

[standalonehuman]

Alpha#02010681 They've said before they aren't supposed to interfere with our lives.
Alpha#02010681 And since it turns out they don't have any Retrospec ties in the legal system? It would fall to the rest of the city.

[frostythehitman]

so
what
we can't do anything then?
this murderer is just supposed to run free?

[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.

[frostythehitman]

and why not

[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!

[odasaku]

It seemed like she couldn’t do anything.

She can’t even tell us.

[frostythehitman]

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

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.

[frostythehitman]

i don't buy that
you've seen how much power they have over like
literally everything
the least they can do is use it to catch a killer
especially one who killed one of their employees

[sunnyspot]

It would be nice if they could. It's true that they're capable of a lot, but at the same time, who can say if they'd risk stepping in? On the other hand, if they're the root of the problem, maybe they'll break their usual rules to fix it.

I couldn't understand everything Joanne was saying, but it sounded like she was trying to apologize to us for something more than his death.

[frostythehitman]

yeah she's saying they didn't get to fix everything else going wrong last month
but even if they're scrambling to figure THAT out, at least they know who did this
they could do something to fix at least one thing here

[sunnyspot]

So that's it. No wonder. Thanks for explaining.

None of really know how many employees Retrospec has, as far as I know, but it seems like they could have at least a few people looking into this while the rest focus on fixing the issues from last month.

But at the same time, who knows what the killer will think of this message. There's a chance it could make things worse, if they're that much of a psychopath. Maybe an employee or two could track them down and try to talk to them.

[dulynoted]

That is surprising, isn't it? After everything that's happened to the city, this doesn't seem nearly as difficult to correct in comparison.

Of course, if they're right and it is a Retrospec user, making sure they're not showing their hand on the network would be the smarter move if they do have a solution.

[frostythehitman]

so you think they aren't doing anything to catch the killer
or else they wouldn't have said anything in the first place?

[dulynoted]

Quite the opposite. I think if they're wise they know better than to broadcast their intentions. The killer is aware of them just as they are aware of the apparent killer.

[frostythehitman]

so they ARE doing something to catch the killer but they don't want to reveal what so the killer doesn't get wise to it?
yeah okay but then why say anything to us at all

Beta#1101171543

[floret]

It sounds like maybe for whatever reason there isn't much they can do themselves, but
She's hoping we'll be the ones to take care of it, maybe?

I mean
If she really couldn't say anything, and didn't want to give us information, then she could have just announced that Zee had passed away, and they couldn't bring him back, and they wouldn't be able to replace him for a while.
But she DID tell us things...
So maybe it's like
She can't just tell us, but she wants to give us whatever hints she can?

[frostythehitman]

so you think we ARE supposed to find the killer ourselves then
got any ideas on who it might be?

[floret]

I do.
Though I'm not sure how qualified for that any of us are...

Ummmm
Well
It's someone on Retrospec... who has received at least one item
And apparently uses he/him pronouns.

[frostythehitman]

wow that really narrows it down

[matchbreaker]

[ Alpha#05011622 ]

I wonder if that's the extent of either their company policy or their mission statement. Oh, or layers, actually. That's possible too?

But no, I doubt they will based on this response.

[frostythehitman]

why do you think that

[matchbreaker]

Because it was one of us is the long and short of it.

[frostythehitman]

it was one of us so they're not gonna do anything about it?
how does that make any sense
they're never this hands off with us even when one of us HASN'T killed one of their employees