LOADING...

[recollecters]

[ At 9PM on the 1st, all phones or Retrospec-enabled devices will show flickering screens, until a static-filled image appears. It seems to be a security camera shot, in black and white from a high angle, of a simple computer room. Inside is Joanne Wiseman who many of the users may recognize - she looks young, blonde curls loose around her shoulders, and she also looks tired still. A young man who looks only slightly older than her comes in. He's dark-haired with a sweater and glasses, but a white labcoat that matches hers as well. Maurice comes over to stand nearby, watching the screen Joanne is looking at. Neither of them seem to realize they're being recorded. Joanne looks up, and speaks first. ] Did R and D know anything? [ Maurice shakes his head, says: ] No. They can't track them down either - it's almost as if... [ Joanne: ] They have to be somewhere. [ Maurice: ] Jim's trying to figure it out. You know we don't have anyone better at...ah, "creative" solutions? [ Joanne: ] No, I know, just...what if their souls are just, just - [ Maurice: ] I don't think they're gone. I mean - well, they're gone, but I don't think they're gone? You remember August, the one before last. They're, uh, pretty tough? [ Joanne: ] We're usually able to at least try to help them when we can, though! [ Maurice: ] Jo - look, we're doing everything we can. We'll find them. [ Joanne: ] Before they do? [ Maurice: ] Right. I mean...we have to, don't we? [ They both look worried. Before they do was said with a certain inflection - and hey, Retrospec. It looks like the employees have lost track of you for the month. How do you feel about that one? ] As of this post, character usernames are back to being their own names - or rather, characters will be prompted to put in their name as a boot screen loads. Now's your chance to change your preferred name, Retrospecters - but it appears whatever you put in will be locked in as your choice. Hope you didn't put in something ridiculous! 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. As a friendly reminder, you may also claim one of this month's freebie by submitting a thread from this mod post. This thread must be 10 comments from you and submitted before AC closes.

Comments

[thesettingsun]

[Posting as Shuji Tsushima, because it worked for him before.]

Placing bets now, everyone who hoped Retrospec would stop screwing with our lives is going to find out that it doesn't actually help that much.

[scythegun]

I'm curious about that too, honestly. I want to believe things will be better, but I doubt my luck is that good!

[promisedyou]

[ also posting as Mio Sonozaki, because of course she is: ]

Well, that sure is a post, isn't it? Also, can we just all forget about all of October? Because I'm ready to forget about it.

[spirithacker]

whats an october

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa Great. So that's what that phasing out was.
Hitori Togusa Retrospec has lost us before. Zee mentioned that a few months back, in the dreamshares, Retrospec literally couldn't find us while we were asleep.
Hitori Togusa I don't know what that means for what's ahead, but this is reversable.

[thesettingsun]

That's reassuring? I think. A little bit.

[spirithacker]

[Using the name he goes by for video game tournaments, Dark Knight Blue. Because you don't give your real name out on the internet!

...he hasn't realized that his real face is still going to show up. Oops.]

im guessing theyre not gonna read the comments this time

[windeity]

[From eggs over easy]

when have they ever? i'm not even sure they know this is reaching us in the first place.

Derek Matthews

[blondferret]

Wait second... who is missing? And who is THEY?

Also, it doesn't seem like they realized they were being recorded. The lack of professional awareness is just... sad.

And lastly, for those who I interacted with as a ghost... sorry. I'll try to make it up to you in some way...

[drydrown]

[Same name as always, because, well. It's his name? So whatever.]

It sounds like they've misplaced us again, probably.

[thisloveisjustice]

[Tatsuo is boring and lazy? So he's just going to show up as Tatsuo Kihara]

I just want to apologize to anyone I talked to last month who I was either really rude or aggressive with. Or if I infected you. Especially if I infected you. I'm sorry.

That being said, barring a repeat of last month, and in light of this rather concerning video, we will be having Weapons Practice this month. As we currently only have one healer available, we'll be meeting from 6pm to 9pm on Sundays instead of all the way to midnight. Location is the Utsuki Dojo in Tisse.

Please see my post here for more information about Weapons Practice.

[me_matey]

[ response from May "Satsuki "Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson" Hojo" Sfondi ]

dude u aint gotta apologize shit was weird and ur friends kno u aint like that

[scythegun]

[Finally he can change his name from his real one... He's free... All of his posts will have the name Jaeger, because who needs a last name.]

It's a little too early to say whether this is an improvement on last month or not, but let's see how things go. This is better than being threatened with certain doom again though, so I'd say things are looking up!

Speaking of last month, has everyone gone back to normal or are we still dealing with monsters out there?

[thesettingsun]

Nice display name.

[He's happy for you, Jaeger.]

I'm no more monstrous than I normally am, which is nice.

[strawberrypunch]

[His posts are under the name Tatsuma.]

Is everyone ok?

Even if we don't know each other others can check here for you too

[thesettingsun]

Okay is a complicated concept, but I'm not hurt or in danger.

[frostythehitman]

[ His name appears as James Barnes. ]

word of advice
the red button means record
the camera looking icon means take a selfie
look before you tap next time

anyway someone give me the tl;dr on this
i can't listen to this and they weren't considerate enough to add subtitles

also idk who fixed the whole monster problem last month or how but thanks
i have legs again and i'm not at risk of getting eaten by every other person in here anymore

[spirithacker]

they dont know where we are
thats all i got out of it

[fiddlestick]

[Posting his name as Elliot Craig 🎻 because he knows what he's about. ]

And here comes the monthly nerve-wracking entry. Are they saying they lost us...?

Oh, and if I ran into you last month while I was infected...I'm really sorry. For everything.

[thesettingsun]

You can't be sorry, I'm sorry.

H²

[zerotohiro]

[To no one's surprise, all posts will be from H² and he may sorely regret this forever. Yes, H-squared.]

Am I the only one who kind of misses what I could do last month...? I almost wish I had more time with it.
Everything that happened was even more abnormal than usual wasn't it?
So what happens next?

[fiddlestick]

Well...being able to swim really well was nice, and I was really productive with my music.

Though I don't miss wanting to infect everyone around me. That was bad.

dave medium dick energy strider

[parodeity]

oh thank god i hated the number names
like jesus christ was i expected to memorize everyones actual names plus numbers
thats just flat out unfair

anyway
whats up with everyone else
this is kind of weird
id say even for us but nah
its about par for course for that

if things arent back to normal by next month im boycotting my birthday

ps im sorry to everyone i like
bit and shit last month
except john im not sorry i bit him he deserved it
but like yeah ill apologize to most of you all later

[ yes. yes, he did name himself dave medium dick energy strider. it's how you know it's really dave. ]

[thesettingsun]

+1 apology to the people we targeted together. +5 apologies for being a bad influence.

☆☆☆hina☆☆☆

[boppin]

[ ☆☆☆hina☆☆☆ probably needs to calm down. ]

this is TRÈS BIEN! my mama's place was not nearly so exciting, no???

however i can no longer turn into a magical girl. why?? i miss my wand and the sparkling hibi-ray...

[frostythehitman]

sometimes retrospec takes away the things it gives to you for a little while
did you do anything nasty they might know about

rayne fairweather☼

[coronae]

excuse me! i'm looking for a volunteer to go and turn in this item slip with me. i've never done it before. well, i actually have two slips? so yeah please and thank you!

also i'm very confused, so there's that.

i'm glad i get a cute little symbol now!! i don't have to sign off on my comments any longer!!!

also i'm sorry to anyone i was weird at last month when monster things. :(

Re: rayne fairweather☼

[flametheif40]

Two of them!? What do they say?!

I got one a while ago and that's how I got my magic fire knife!

[flametheif40]

[Al didn't quite like seeing his full name here. So he just put "Al". As his username.]

Everyone is alive right?

and not infected with anything more than a cold?

I seriously don't know how I feel about this one, who is "they". Us, or whoever was hacking them a while ago?

Who were those two anyway? Gosh, all the freaking questions...

[floret]

[ plain old Jamie Doh responds! ]

Ok well I don't know most of the answers but that was Joanne and Maurice! They're Retrospec employees. They've helped us out before, but it seems like they usually have a pretty hard time.

Elda Marker

[matchbreaker]

I'm forty-two now, does that mean I've an open field to make Douglas Adams jokes? Is that a thing young people still know about? I don't really know!

Regardless, does anyone want to come with me for some community service for sorts at the cemetery?

. . . I wonder what the point of recording this is. And which souls.

Re: Elda Marker

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa Happy Birthday, then!
Hitori Togusa Is the 'community service' related to what we did last month? Either way, my answer is yes, but I feel a responsibility, too.

eggs over easy

[windeity]

first of all, i'm not responsible for medium dick energy.
second of all, wow, let's never do that again? like ever.
everybody okay? check in, let me know what's up, even if we have never spoken.
third of all...should we even try to make normal plans or is the city going to wreck its shit again? because i was going to suggest a group-wide movie night just to chill out after everything but now i have more trust issues than i ever wanted in this life.

[thesettingsun]

I don't think anyone is responsible for Dave. I'm not sure if Dave is responsible for Dave.

A movie night sounds good as long as it isn't horror.

Mysterious Heroine Q

[nachetanya]

[ ... Yes, that is now what she put her username as. And this is totally better than apologizing for monster stuff last month that I'm still going to be threading I'm sorry for sucking ]

Who am I! ♥

[ Ignore the probably profile picture, you know you don't wanna cheat ]

[hauhra]

Since when have we had any heroines in this city?

[godcards]

[ Posting as just Malik, because there are no other Maliks on here: ]

Too late Retrospec, I already don't have a soul! I can't even say 'nice try'... As we all know by now, they're hardly trying, regardless of what they say and want you to believe.

[hauhra]

Hey, now. I believe that's my line.

BIG DECK ENERGY

[jurai]

[Crow posts under the name BIG DECK ENERGY in all caps. Because he thinks he's funny. That is...until he sees dave medium dick energy strider and looks at the screen like he wore the same costume to the ball as another girl.]

Uh

Well that's awkward. [Is he talking about the username or the eerily cryptic message? Vote now on your phones.]

But man. SO-ME-ONE sounds like they're in trouble~

[godcards]

The only awkward thing here is your poor attempt at humor with that username.

[ Says the guy with the uncreative username "Malik" so ya kno. Grain of salt. ]

[incandescentfaith]

[Posted as Rei Hino]

These are supposed to be who's in charge of keeping us safe? Seriously?

[windeity]

[Posted as eggs over easy]

i wish i could say that they usually aren't this bad, but the general impression has not been that great so far.

kyouko HIJIRI

[echoing_sutras]

so idk what any of that was about so imma post something only slightly related to it

hey gang this is kyouko HIJIRI and after a brief month of terror i kinda want to get some PME up in this and post something with a slightly better outlook. sounds like the boys and girls at Retrospec could use it to. here's this month's cover

Rancid - "Roots Radicals"

as usual if u like what u here, be sure to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE. hit the bell. etc. and hey im thinkin we could all use some even more PME after last month so whose down for throwin a late fall concert?

cuz i am

Re: kyouko HIJIRI

[flametheif40]

A concert?

With that music?

I'M IN!

Hell, I can do some pyro stuff as you come in! Cause why not!

[sunnyspot]

[Back to Kouhei Sugihara. Plain and simple!]

Again? I can't even read lips for this one...

Sorry to ask, but is anyone willing to give me a rundown of anything important? So far I've got "souls" and literally nothing else. Retrospec doesn't come with closed captioning, in case anyone's wondering.

[thesettingsun]

They should really fix that, but it looks like it's either an accidental broadcast or pretending to be one.

Basically: they can't find us anywhere and they're worried, and they need to find us before an unspecified "they" do.

[admiringly]

[ posted under o (^‿^❀)♡ ]

does that mean we're lost?
or are they lost?
are we both lost?
how do we find each other?
i'm worried

[thesettingsun]

I don't think there's a LinkedIn for souls.

[maidofmistakes]

[This one's posted with Lina Ellis after some deliberation.]

Whatever's going on, it can't be anything good. Um, are you guys feeling okay? It's been a whole lot lately. I've kind of been busy with stuff... Are we still getting new people even if Retrospec's lost us?

[argone]

I'm okay. how about you sis?