Lingering Worries

[standalonehuman]

Hitori Togusa 10/2 near Recolle Police Station

I've got a question, and I don't mean for it to scare people, because what I'm really looking for is proof that I'm wrong. If these other people, the ones Retrospec is giving us the memories of? Retrospec is also slowly giving us their bodies. A piece at a time, it seems. What if they were sick? Is it slowly going to happen to us, too? How can we help each other out if it does start happening? So that I'm not wasting everybody's time with this, though. I've been asking about Dr. James Halliday, a memory researcher a bunch of us came across the name of in August. Despite the fact that Retrospec seems to have been interested in his work, I don't think they're using it. It specialized in deep-brain stimulation, but I personally had a check done to see if there were any changes to my brain from being on the app for eight months now, and there's nothing. Just so we can rule that one out.

Comments

[standalonehuman]

I couldn't point to any other factor but luck, if you're talking about the difference between our experiences once we were inside.

Because we aren't sure what it actually means to have security clearance.

[lostapprentice]

wonderful. another annoying mystery that likely won't be solved for months, if that.

either way, i have little sympathy for them given what they've done to us without proper explanation.

[What Ren hates the most about all of it is how infuriatingly vague Retrospec has been. He would even be willing to accept the dangers that came with knowing if they just bothered to offer the option.]

[standalonehuman]

I get that, and I know you're not alone, so forgive me if I can still muster up some sympathy for them. Even as I keep getting impossibly frustrated by their methods. I just can't lose sight of the fact that it's still a bunch of people. Probably scared people. Which is comforting and frightening at once.

[lostapprentice]

just know i'm going to think you're an idiot for it.

[But it's not like Togusa is the first person Ren thinks of that way, and he certainly won't be the last.]

either way i suppose it doesn't matter. the danger we face is the same regardless of who's causing it.

[standalonehuman]

Fair. I'm willing to accept that.

You're very right, though. I wish there was some way to get ahead of the game. If Retrospec would tell us what they know. What some of us can hope to expect, or fear for.

[lostapprentice]

and so we're back to the problem of retrospec in particular and the issue of not even giving us the option of an explanation.

[standalonehuman]

So what do we do from here? How do we combat this feeling of not having any control over our situations? Most people are trying to focus on their regular lives, just a day at a time. But, how else do we get some normality back? I think that's really the big question.

[lostapprentice]

if there's one thing that's obvious, it's that there's no such thing as normal anymore. the only way i see anything returning to "normal" is when we actually get that control back.

but my coping methods tend to involve violence, so perhaps i'm not the person to be asking.

[standalonehuman]

Interesting. But I haven't come across your name officially anywhere, so those 'coping methods' are going to have to involve a boxing ring or those meetings down at Tatsuo Kihara's dojo every Sunday, I am so hoping.

[lostapprentice]

[ha ha ha ha ha]

you won't be seeing it if i have anything to say about it.

[For a few reasons. For instance, that his ID doesn't exactly say Ben Solo on it. Guess who's legally been declared dead several states over!]

but yes, i've been attending the dojo, as i've finally remembered how to wield a sword. or the science fiction equivalent, anyway.

[standalonehuman]

I'll have to trust you in their hands. Most people who joke about violent tendencies are people I run across later.

I'm hoping you're as young as you seem, and you won't fall into that trap.

[lostapprentice]

[Bah, his attempt to casually redirect the conversation didn't work...]

i can't be that much younger than you, if at all. and i'm not directing it at anyone who isn't interested, when it's actually something living. [He breaks stuff, mostly. Usually his own stuff.]

though i have to wonder how many times you've actually had that happen.

[standalonehuman]

Your age gives you less of an excuse for getting things out aggressively, then.

Keep it to the training dummies or the paper targets.

[lostapprentice]

forgive me for making a self-depreciating joke, officer.

[This is what he gets for being honest with some cop, he guesses.]