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Maurice was going to do this, but Maurice sucks so I sent him home before he could. Anyway, some of you may have noticed our new poll feature! We just don't have the time and resources to cater to all your "where is x item, what the fuck" complaints, so we had to streamline. The polls were the result of that! Coded them myself. I mean, Maurice did some of it, but I did most of it.

So basically we're democratically crowd-sourcing what we're going to bother to fix for you! You can send thank you notes to the building, HR doesn't mind. So far it seems like you all care about the color blue most, so we fixed it!

A little, anyway. I suggest a bracing walk through the woods if you particularly missed the color and don't feel like gazing deeply into a hobo's eyes.

You've all been reading up on QR codes, right? You might also want to learn to start a fire. Just a tip.

Jim Halloway
Research & Development
Retr

spec Incorporated

As per the World Regains tracker, fruits and flowers that were once blue are once again blue. This includes the echo flowers in the Recollé woods! NPCs seem to be incapable of seeing this color still, however, and will not note any differences. The color does not seem capable of being transferred to anything else, either, and any attempts to do so will simply fade the color of the thing you were trying to use to do that. Furthermore, one thread of at least 10 comments from you from this post may be supplied for one untriggered memory by linking the thread and in explanation putting "June Freebie". This may only be claimed through the rest of June, and may not be claimed after the month ends.

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. Usernames are the character's full real AU names, 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

Did she? I don't recall seeing one from her — that might've been before I had this app.

What was she like?

hm well she didnt sign it
but i think she must have been in charge of the first few
which were just like
hey welcome to retrospec youve been chosen special blah blah blah

but she did send an actual note to souji about the pageant
which was pre you
and i know akira found a post it from her in one of the many break in attempts
on like
one of the files he found

Chosen special? I presume she didn't elaborate on what it is that makes us so special, or the selection criteria.

What was the pageant about?

ill just c/p for you anything with capslock here is a direct quote and not from me
but also
i will put it in quotes so

"Welcome to Retrospec™, the last social media network you will ever need. You are one of the few selected to test this exciting new platform based on our cutting-edge algorithms. Less than two hundred invitations have gone out, and membership is not currently open to the public. However, we hope you will come to see how useful Retrospec™ is, given time. We have for your use a variety of features such as text, voice, video, and image posts. We encourage you to explore our many options."

the pageant was like
mr miss and crossdressing
but the note telling him to organize it was blah blah blah dont remember the exact words
but there was a "chance to remember"
and the winners all did remember one thing each
so

...

You're suggesting that the "hallucinomemories" they're offering us are BRIBES? Now that's a theory I've not heard before...

not always no
that was what
month 2?
and the note was like "yo you can not do this but if one of you doesnt win thats it" or something to that effect
only more polite and formal
and back then i think people just wanted to know whatever they could
so it worked as a bribe because
information you know?

i dont think anyone knew at that exact point in time how the hallucinomemories would just fly in

Still, it's an interesting way of approaching the problem. Jim's persistent — even hyperbolic — "friendly" behavior essentially always succeeds at getting a rise out of people when he posts, to the point that it almost seems to obfuscate an ulterior motive. And it's natural to be suspicious of ulterior motives, which by extension renders people suspicious of Jim.

It's playing the devil's advocate, to be sure, but I don't know that I've ever seen anyone consider the behaviors Jim exhibits through the lens of the belief that what he's doing legitimately IS benign.

tbh i dont know if hes like
suspicious
so much as kind of an internet troll
i say this as a fellow internet troll
i mean
people keep flipping out when he says stuff so why would he stop
maybe the secret is jim is a cat

im not sure if retrospec can really be called like
not benign?
if we consider what we do know
like maybe they are responsible for taking things away
but doesnt that seem a little strange
if they have to use time and resources to fix things
maybe they arent actually doing the taking shit away you know
all we know for sure is that theyre connected to things
and they do supply us with like
items
and whatnot
but i dont think theyve actively harmed anyone
beyond the part where memories can be harmful
but even that i dont know if they specifically cause them all the time
a few yeah but like

its a giant mess of question marks you know

No, I think you make a good point. Generally when we feel that Retrospec has "harmed" us in some way, it's because they've disrupted our status quo.

What that doesn't consider is whether or not we should be complacent with the status quo in the first place, I suppose. Certainly I'm fond of it, but...well, who doesn't like being normal?

im not sure what to think since
speaking as probably the guy who is still "winning" to my knowledge
im not sure the status quo was ever the status quo these days

Winning? How do you mean?

im over halfway to a hundred memories
which is to say
over fifty
so thats fun

FIFTY memories?

What, have you been keeping a running tally?

i mean
kind of?
i just counted them up after i hit a certain point and i kind of vaguely update my mental tally every so often
regardless my point is
ive come to suspect that something went wrong
though im not sure what

You mean the picture your memories paint indicates a problem of some variety? Or that the return of so many memories to you is "wrong" in and of itself?

well
i mean that i think things USUALLY went really wrong
but also
im not so sure the shit im remembering wasnt the original status quo
which i know is implicit if you happen to buy into the past lives theory
which not everyone does
but im not sure how many people remember enough to go "shit" about it on a higher level?

...

If that's the case, then do you see what you are now as a second chance, of sorts? A new lease on life, perhaps. A gift of an entirely different variety.

A blissful ignorance, maybe.

thats a really nice way of wording things
and i think i would like to
or perhaps have done
or maybe will do?

mostly i see whats happening now as a balancing act
and the scales keep tipping towards the person i used to be
but i think
itll maybe be easier for some of us than for others to keep the scales where you want them
although really my sister is better at philosophy than i am
for all that she isnt on the network any longer

...It seems strange to be confessing something like this to all but a perfect stranger, but —

I've never thought of myself as special, or really anything but generally ordinary. A little smarter than most, maybe; a bit more driven. But generally just...me, nothing more.

I don't know what it is I'm seeing when I have these visions, myself. But whoever it is, I don't know that it's someone I want to be. And I don't know what it means, if it turns out that I once was.

if it helps i see to inspire it in people
possibly because i get hit with shit like powers and physical changes before them
though im not alone in that any longer

i think thats a thing that has happened to people
not wanting to be who they see in the mirror of the past
i dont think i was an inherently bad person
but there are things that were
perhaps a little broken
for various reasons
and unfortunately reexperiencing the memories and life of that kid
ive picked up a fair amount of bullshit

both he and i would agree this life is better
however
both he and i are also dead sure somethings up and it cant last

paranoia is apparently a crossuniversal trait

but i think maybe if we put in the effort
its possible to become someone not entirely one thing or the other
and keep the shit that matters most to you
if you try
im not sure because im still in the process of trying to figure out how to hold on or let go but like
i dunno
its better than the alternative isnt it

How does one go about keeping the shit that matters most to you? From your perspective, that is.

Is it something tangible? Writing it down?

it depends on what matters most to you
for me thats my family
and its a little harder in some cases than others
since three of them dont know anything about any of this
including the one i used to tell everything to

but with the other two
and even with the three who dont remember

i think for me it means just continuing to love them
regardless of what else overlays itself
and to try not to forget all the things ive done in this life
with them

Identifying what's important first, and then holding fast to that. Like a tether to the self that you want to be.

...And you never wonder if perhaps what you're tethering yourself to is all simply a lie?

i wonder it all the time
thats the hard part
in some cases its easier
or would be easier
because my sister the one who doesnt remember this shit anymore
i loved her
even in that other life
more than pretty much anyone
if anything i love her more now
with two lifetimes of experiences always expanding and always having that centerpoint

its harder with other people
especially people who have their own lives to remember
where they may have seen me differently
or where if they remember certain things
they will come to see me differently

but lie or no
i dont think my feelings about other people are fake
i think maybe the situation was some sort of convoluted lie
although i havent said as much to anyone else really
but what happened after that lie was told
all has to be real doesnt it

I suppose it does, really.

You know, the way you talk about your sister —

...

I think in an irrational sense, I'm afraid that my mother is one of the lies.

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