(no subject)

[recollecters]

Happy New Years, users. I'll cut to the chase; the barrier we instilled a few months ago is decaying quickly and we're sorting through the new data as fast as we can. This barrier was originally designed to contain a rogue error. There are several of you who have taken care of this issue and from here we will handle the rest...thank you. The influx of data will help us decode our next steps. As mentioned, we've spent December tracing several magical sources that are coming up in our readings. We're doing the best we can to trace Clarence--Mr. Vanderweele, and corral the effects he's altering in the city. I believe we're ready to tear down the firewall and begin exploring further. If our information is correct, we're really breaking the boundaries of the layers we've discovered lately! It's exciting, don't you think? The only information I can offer is that we will need you to be strong no matter what happens. We believe things have changed outside of security measures we've set in place, though we will need more data to understand the best way to stabilize the city from his control. We understand if you cannot and do not wish to help, but please know we're doing everything we can. Please take care. Joanne Wiseman Technician 2nd class Retrspec Incorporated Characters' display names are the same as whatever has been previously chosen and are permanently locked in! 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

[drydrown]

You know, I'm guessing that we're supposed to assume whatever changes this Vanderweele fellow is enacting are, in the long run, worse than anything you've managed to pull on us thus far. Do we have any information on what it is that he's doing and why, or are we just going in blind here?

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa New boss, same as the old boss, really. He wants to do just what Retrospec is doing, but if he had his say, he would have been more selective about who was on the app.
Hitori Togusa That much, I'll trust. Anything else Retrospec says about him, I'll take with a lot of salt.

[drydrown]

That does sound like the best way to go about it.

Do we know what sort of selectivity he was interested in?

[standalonehuman]

Check under the "How Retrospec Works" subsection. It's some of Vanderweele's own notes.

Vanderweele seemed to be concerned with resources able to be gathered from the worlds that these souls are coming from (but how do you even get to those worlds?), even the laughable idea of barter and trade? It's so confusing.

But the idea of purity of family lines. That fits precisely into Vanderweele's whole world view.

[drydrown]

...It's awkwardly-worded, certainly, and I'm sure that a fair amount of that won't and shouldn't go over well. But at its core, it doesn't seem a terrible idea to expect benefit of some sort from this if such a thing is being facilitated.

[standalonehuman]

At its core? Yeah. And it makes me wonder if Retrospec-without-Vanderweele's motives are oh so noble. I'm not saying his ideas are good, I'm saying Retrospec comes off as just as terrible.

But information from Zee told us that he was the one responsible for some of the disruptions we faced a few months ago. That alone would make me tell him to go to hell if it came down to a choice between him and Retrospec.

[blondferret]

Well, maybe he is trying to complete what he didn't finish last time... what ever that was. I mean, he was killing children.

[drydrown]

Oh my god. Of course he was. Why wouldn't he have been.

[blondferret]

I guess his way to make sure he's an established villain of some sort. And killing children makes it extra nasty.

On the topic of killing, apparently Draco's world has a killing curse. One of the "Unforgivable Curses." It wouldn't have bothered me as much if it hadn't been fore the fact the teacher is nuts and the students were 14.

[What a segue Derek...]

[drydrown]

Charming. And here we were in my world doing it the old-fashioned way. ...Or just using our magic to set people on fire, I suppose.

[blondferret]

Well, the universe needs classics to reference don't they. Did your world burn criminals at the stake? I mean, for me a bit unnerving with witches and the trials in salem, but still a classic trope.

[thisloveisjustice]

Togusa pretty much covered the why of it. As for the what, I'm pretty sure he was behind the kidnapping of the mayor and other city officials last February. However, I don't know if we've been able to definitively link him to any other instances of 'interference' with the Retrospec Project in the past couple of years.

[drydrown]

Either way, it sounds as though we're simply trying to discern the lesser of two evils at this point.

[thisloveisjustice]

Pretty much? Vanderwheele is a Grade A asshole, but
we're still going through hell with the whole Retrospec Project. At the very least, Retrospec doesn't seem to want to cull any of us to use for energy, but that still doesn't make their method or approach okay. Serious lack of consent forms here.

[drydrown]

Don't even get me started on the number of legal precedents they're violating; I'll be here all day.

Not that I'm terribly surprised - those that find they can get away with such things have an obnoxious tendency to immediately prove why they shouldn't be able to in the first place.

[thisloveisjustice]

Have you been counting?

[there is a part of him that really wants to ask]

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely?

[scythegun]

Honestly I'm wondering the same thing. It seems interesting that we're suddenly being pointed toward someone else and expected to turn on them just because Retrospec said so.

That's not to say that he's innocent - I have no idea. It's just curious to see it being brought up and talking like we all have any idea what she's saying. You'd think they could be a bit clearer about this sort of thing...

[drydrown]

"You'd think they could be a bit clearer."

I'm sorry, have you been here long?

[scythegun]

I'm going to keep saying it in the hopes that someday they'll finally realize that their usual methods aren't working and decide to actually talk to us! Surely someday it'll work.

[drydrown]

It's been well over a year, and that's just the length of time I've been here.

[scythegun]

Indeed. It seems there's little hope of them changing now... But who knows! It's a new year, maybe they'll surprise us!

[hauntedsavior]

He's a Nazi, my dude. We need more than that?

[drydrown]

Possibly, given that that's news in so many words.

[hauntedsavior]

You got a better word for someone who thinks that there are people who are more worthy of living than others and is totally fine killing everyone else?

[drydrown]

I'm actually a fairly bad person to field this question, given my past life's actions. Several of us are, from the sound of it.