Point of Order

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa shared a photo. 5/11 near Recolle Police Station

So. A few things. First. Dave! I want my membership card! Talking robot spider tank with a grenade launcher. Apologies to Koutarou for stealing some of his modeling clay to make my toy up there. I still remembered nothing about myself, though, so the betting pool is still open. Anyone who wants in on the 'What Is Togusa Repressing' pool, let me know. I think the odds on 'samurai' just got a lot longer, though. The second thing is a little more important. A few of us made it into the subway, which is supposed to be shut down, the lines were damaged. The trains sure aren't running, but either it's shut down intentionally, or someone has taken advantage of it. Throughout the line connecting Enprise to Tisse, there are these QR codes all along the floor. They're those things you can scan with your phone to see a picture or other information. Scanning them didn't get any data, though. The other area I went through, I don't even know how to explain what I saw. Try going to the middle of town. Next time, I ought to bring a camera with me. I know that as soon as I post this up, Retrospec will probably try to lock it all down even tighter than they already have. But seeing as how I was assuming that's how they were getting things through the city without us noticing? If we can make them stop using it, I'll call that a victory.

Comments

[standalonehuman]

[Pardon Togusa while he clicks through your profile there, Ben.]

Mr. Solo, is it? Officer Hitori Togusa, Recolle Police, nice to meet you.

It's as nonsensical as anything that happened this week. One second we were standing in the subway, the next it was like we're making our way outside. Then it was like we walked too far and we were backwards started.

[OOC: The thread in question is not all the way finished yet, even though we got the results of our exploration from the mods, so I have to have Togusa be a little bit vague.]

[lostapprentice]

[If Ren wasn't so determined to keep his current real self separated from the stupid name on his profile that's technically a man who's been declared dead, he would call Togusa out on his snooping. But for now, Ben Solo it is. At least his face isn't on this awful application.

Doesn't mean he won't be rude, unfortunately.]

right.

so you jumped around in space or teleported? or could it have been like sleepwalking?

[ooc: no problem!]

[standalonehuman]

Hunh. That's a thought. From our perspective, it took just a second, but maybe it could have been caused by either. More time could have passed than we thought down there.

[lostapprentice]

so you didn't bother to check your watch or phone.

[Great! Good job, Officer. Don't mind him, he's bitter.]

did you manage to take a picture of those qr codes, at least?

[standalonehuman]

We were a little too spooked to check. I know somebody will go through it again more scientifically, but at least now we know there is something down there.

Right here. If anybody else can make better sense of these than we can, feel free.

[lostapprentice]

if i find anyone who knows more about these, i'll hand it to them. but i won't be surprised if they just start working at some point.

were those the only thing that made you think someone was still using the subway?

[standalonehuman]

I hit on the idea because we can't find how Retrospec is getting things through the city. How did they bring in the birds? How did they bring in anything that they are getting to us?

But I think we stumbled onto something more than I was expecting. I just don't know where it fits in to the larger scheme of things.

[lostapprentice]

i'm less concerned about where the chocobos came from than about how everything and everyone claims they've always existed. we're not dealing with logic here.

but it does seem like it's being used for something. those codes can't have been down there for no reason. [A part of him questions if there is actually a reason to any of this, but. He can hope that there's some greater purpose behind all of it.]

[standalonehuman]

Yeah, you want to really scare yourself, go swing through the art museum, or pick up a book on art history. I'm keeping around a copy of Hokusai prints, myself. Works from centuries ago, you'll see samurai or knights riding chocobos like they've been there the whole time.

But here's what bothers me. The fruits, it turned out Retrospec sent a few of those to one of the users before they showed up everywhere. So, somehow those already existed.

Did the chocobos already exist? Did someone already know about them? Or did Retrospec just make them up wholesale? If it's like the fruits, and they somehow already existed, that puts a strange limiter on Retrospec's abilities.

[lostapprentice]

i'll pass. i don't think my sanity can take it at this point.

[god why. not the knights.]

who's to say they're not making all of this up? where could those fruits have come from if not made by them? if these things are from past lives of ours, how the hell are they getting a hold of them?

[standalonehuman]

Crap, that's something I hadn't thought of. They're bringing these things into this world, one at a time. Somehow, if we remember them, they can become real. It's back to that question of whether they are managing to alter the human unconscious. Because that's about the best way I can imagine that they can make such sweeping changes and alter everyone's memories all at once.

[lostapprentice]

whether they're capable of physically changing things or simply changing our perception of it, they control the reality we know.

it makes me wonder if they might simply be placing "clues" for their own amusement as they watch us try to understand.

[HE'S GOT HIS EYE ON YOU RETROSPEC]

[standalonehuman]

But it's strange that the control is almost in our hands. We have to remember it, first. And if these memories are accurate, then Retrospec is just going along and facilitating something that is actually larger than them.

If they're just messing with us, then yes, it's all arbitrary. But I still feel like those tanks are real, even if they defy logic. So I'm leaning more towards the first idea.

[lostapprentice]

then you believe it, as well? that we've all really had some kind of past lives?

if that's the case i have to wonder what they're getting out of it, by making all of us remember.

[standalonehuman]

I was more critical of this theory before. But then I met someone who got a companion back from Retrospec. More than just a pet, she was a friend who could talk. And the two of them remembered each other, their regained memories were almost like shared between them.

I'm still not entirely sure about it. But I can't ignore a piece of evidence that helps prove a theory just because I don't like the theory.

[lostapprentice]

a companion? like a talking animal?

[Now he's heard everything. And he sincerely hopes it's not, like... an actual human that these Retrospec assholes are shipping off to people.]

[standalonehuman]

Yup.

Really polite. Gets mad when you mispronounce his name, though.

[lostapprentice]

[It has its own personality??? This is even weirder than before.]

i can only pray i don't get one of those.

have you been sent anything yet?

[standalonehuman]

Not yet.

That was one of the other points of this post, I'm behind the curve on what everyone else is experiencing. Some people were starting to think I was the odd man out.

Thus why the jokes about the betting pool.

[lostapprentice]

i suppose that's one way to get something out of this nonsense. and a memory of a tank doesn't sound awful.

how long have you been aware? [Ren guesses that's the right way to put it.]

[standalonehuman]

Since the start of February. I was among the first group of users, because there wasn't anyone already using the site when I was added.

First group of us was 101. With the additions and subtractions, I think we're sitting upwards of 160 now. 160 is about what I can verify.

[lostapprentice]

[A hundred and sixty... it's a relatively small number compared to the population of the city, but it's still somewhat comforting.]

i see. i was only added this month. [—wait a minute.]

what do you mean subtractions? have people been removed?

[standalonehuman]

Yes. I've only been able to find a few examples, it's hard to tell when people drop off, because they stop communicating. A fellow officer moved out of the city, and he was removed from the platform when he did.

There was also a kid I was keeping up with. He's perfectly all right, still in the city. But he's no longer on the platform, and he's like everyone else now. Doesn't remember that there was ever anything wrong with chocobos.

[lostapprentice]

so we can spontaneously just forget, as well?

that's even more disturbing than the rest of this. [And he doesn't know if he'd prefer to forget or not.]

[standalonehuman]

Apparently. We haven't figured out if there's some pattern to the people that Retrospec turns loose.

It's not the most advisable course of action, but that's why I keep sharing everything I find on the network. Just in case I wake up back to 'normal.' Whatever normal is anymore. At least then somebody else can follow up on what I was doing.