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

[ 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.

why do you think that

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

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

Haven't they, though? Been hands off, I mean. There's basically never been direct interaction other than Carlisle.

well
okay
in talking to us, maybe
but i mean more in terms of doing stuff to us
they do stuff to us or make us do things all the time but they couldn't do it in this one case?

They fire and forget. I'm pressed to think of anything too targeted they do to us unless they actually pick and choose the memories and abilities and those seem very unlikely. Just now, some crying girl more or less said they don't pick out the stuff we get either.

Like I said, this is just my sense.

But in talking to us they're distant, to the point it's basically pathological. Seems to me that in the eyes of a lot of their people our souls might be worth more than Carlisle's.

As insane as that sounds.

even if one of those souls killed their own employee?
that's kinda hard to believe

We'll see! I hope I'm wrong, honestly? But that's what it looks like to me.

yeah
it better be wrong
they deserve better than to just
be murdered and then ignored

Yeah, they do.

I suppose the lynchpin is entirely what matters the most in this equation. Well, and if we can be reached.

doesn't exactly look good if the murder of one of their employees doesn't matter more than their jobs
i wouldn't be lining up to work at a place like that

I can't imagine who would, given the choice. Probably why it seems to be a bit of a family business.

so you think they're getting forced to work for retrospec because they're family?
damn
that sucks

Given all the matching names, I think it's shockingly likely.

But yeah, it really is a shame.