retrospec | he hasn't posted in like 3 months, he's got a lot to say

hey so
this is james barnes
i'm not dead anymore
so if anyone was still freaking out about that, well
don't, i guess

[ this is not a thing he thought he had to state but, well, apparently word does not travel through the grapevine as well as he thought, so. he might as well state it to the whole app at large. ]

anyway, first off,
if anyone needs help shoveling sidewalks or cleaning driveways or whatever after that snowstorm, let me know
or if you need anything else done even if it isn't snow-related
i'll do whatever you need for some cash and/or some clothes

second off,
does anyone know where i can get a fake id
i just need to replace the id stuff i lost when i died
message me privately if you don't want to talk openly on here

third off,
i got some new stuff about the founders i think
[ insert a link to a video here. ]
this is from that cavendish house last month
there was an empty book in there and i wrote down everything i knew about them and then this reenactment thing started happening
not sure how much of this is new vs old but apparently this is how it went down forever ago at the start of all this
i'm not sure how this fits into everything else we have so far

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh my god, if you're not a reporter, can you stop talking like one? I feel like I'm getting grilled in court. Just get to the point.

[Oh my god.]

There is a procedure to follow, thank you, but fine. I'd like to know if you remember what happened in your cell, as well as if you remember writing this note.

[And he'll unfold it. Just a print out copy of the picture he'd found surfing the dark web.]

The last person I spoke with who had been previously dead had... lost many of his memories, though he recalled them in the end. I was curious to know if it was the same.

[ He looks over the picture. Shit. He didn't think he'd see it all in front of him again. He vaguely remembered what he wrote, but not word for word. It's so weird to be confronted with these words that he remembers writing but has no connection to at all. He sighs. ]

No, I remember all of it.

[Hm. So Pharos, and thus Ryoji, really was an outlier. Okay.]

Were you aware at the time that you would return from the dead?

No. I mean, I wasn't thinking about it at the time. But I know it's happened to some other people before. So when I did come back, I was less shocked about that and more shocked about the whole...having died bit in the first place.

[Goro notes the answers dutifully, taking a sip of his coffee.]

I asked because I thought it was a very clever plan in getting out of confinement, actually, but if you weren't thinking of it at the time, and were more focused on the fact you'd died at all afterwards... Why did you write that note? What's surprising about dying when you've committed suicide?

[It's

very weird to know, essentially, what might've caused it all, and having the gall to sit in front of the man it happened to. But he's keeping a composed face, curious.]

[ He was trying to tap dance around the topic, but sure, just toss the s-word around, THAT'S FINE. ]

Because I didn't want to. I don't know why I did it! I wasn't planning on it! I was trying to actually serve my sentence, all 15 years of it, and then next thing I know I was writing that!

[ He taps aggressively on the picture. ]

[And just like that, it's further confirmed.

Goro calmly lowers his eyes to the notepad, writing down the answer mechanically, with his heart thudding hard in his ears. What does he do? This is. Very valuable evidence, from someone that's essentially an issue. Ah, it's not right to keep things under wraps, but...]

Interesting. [He doesn't feel very "here" but he sure is acting like he is.] I... don't think I've ever heard of compulsions like that before. There's usually signs beforehand, but given that you'd intended to live your sentence out that doesn't apply here. It's almost like...

[A beat, and then he sets the notepad down as if realizing something, looking up at James again.]

Like you were a character in a story, your direction written by a mysterious hand, or a puppet dancing to Drosselmeyer's tune... More directly stated, you were in a state of disassociation for the last however long of your life. Am I correct in that assessment?

[ James hadn't thought to put it in those words exactly, but once he hears them, it's like this guy's found the perfect way to describe the experience. ]

Yeah...yeah, that's exactly what it was like.

... I've always been told I have a way with words.

[As a way to brush it off. He clears his throat, suppressing the urge to leave this very second by drinking more of his coffee.]

You also weren't at fault for Zee's death. Nor any that came previous to it; it's been a working theory in my mind for some time now, that there's someone else at the reins, but generally speaking it's impossible to pin them down. Even counting those named shortly after by the Watchers, which... was nice, even if I disliked how they presented their findings personally.

Your answers have been very helpful, Mr. Barnes, in learning the true circumstances surrounding this mystery, and I'm thankful for them. My final one... may take a little thought, but... do you recall anything particularly strange between then and your death in November? Whether it be happenings outside of what Retrospec itself offers or people you met.

[A pretty standard questions in interrogations, he thinks. Shouldn't raise anything.]

[ He frowns. Even after dying it seems he will have to spend the rest of his life clarifying this. ]

I know I wasn't at fault for Zee's death. That's not what I turned myself in for. I went in for attempting to kill him--then they charged me with his actual murder on top of that.

As for anything strange...you have to be kidding me, right? [ He grins a little, skeptical. ] I got turned into a fish-shadow-ghost and survived a full-prison monster battle royale in October.

Pardon me. I'll be certain to have them correct when the time comes.

[But he's got a wry smile at the second part, writing down the last of his notes and folding it closed, doing the same with the sheet he'd brought and tucking them away in his jacket pocket. As for the phone... it's easy enough to settling his hand in his lap and turn off the recording.

Notably, he seems brighter and more his age of nineteen now.]

Now, about the Cavendish house. What "all" did you write in that book you mentioned? I'm a gossip at heart.

What do you mean, when the time comes? What are you planning on doing?

[ James barely trusts this guy, and him suddenly talking about "correcting" something when it wasn't a factor earlier has him concerned. ]

When I find out who the true culprit is and bring them to justice, naturally. My other self was quite good at it, and I'd hope some of his sense followed me here. At the very least, his sense of justice has. I'm sorry if it sounded as if I was planning on something more drastic.

Oh.

[ He put it really dramatically, but James can't really judge, can he. After all, he's planning to do the same thing to the killer. ]

Wait, so what did you want to hear about the Cavendish house?

he hasn't posted in like 3 months, he's got a lot to say

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