retrospec | (no subject)

[ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Permanent... So that's what she was saying after all. Horrific as it is, it does unfortunately make sense, since he was only an employee of Retrospec (at least as far as we know).

If there's something going on that's more important than this, I'm even more concerned than usual for the beginning of next month. I got Retrospec right as August ended, so I remember the aftermath, if nothing else.

Thank you so much for typing this out for me. It's really appreciated.

It's no trouble at all. If any others like this come up, then assuredly I will provide a transcript for those in need like yourself; we need to all be on the same page when it comes to things like this, after all.

... It has something to do with him being nothing more than middle management too, but I can't think of what it might be.
Are those in higher ranks given "extra lives"? How many do we have ourselves, if any? It isn't anything I'd like to test, of course, but it'd still be good to know how many "second chances" we may have.

And you can consider yourself fortunate in that case, actually, about August... though I ended up enjoying myself very much as a pirate. It might've been the first time we were in true danger as far as Retrospec was concerned, becoming nonexistent in the eyes of those without the app and split among four regions.

I was worried about asking, to tell you the truth, but I'm glad I did. All of the details are too valuable to look past. Thank you.

Now that you mention it, I have heard of Retrospec users being revived in the past. If that plays a part in this, my first thought is asking everyone about their experiences with it, but... The topic's too sensitive.

Instead of him being middle management, could it have something to do with him (most likely) only being on the staff and not actually being a member of Retrospec? As far as we know, none of the staff has ever received memories or anything like we do, so they may not experience the same effects.

A pirate... It doesn't sound like a pleasant experience, but I'm glad you got some kind of enjoyment out of it. It's better than hating every second of it.