recollecters | NPC INBOX 2.0;

NPC INBOX 2.0;

Zee Carlisle

A wise duck once said: "Let's get dangerous."

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

Zee Carlisle, #55891
~~Retrospec Hiring Manager~~

Newly housed in a remote location attached to the Recollé Public Library, one only has to pass through the invisible door scanners to access Zee's current office. Upon entering, users will see an upgraded suite, three unmarked (and closed) doors along the wall behind Zee's desk, and windows overlooking the city.

-Threads with Zee may be used for AC/bonus points should players choose to do so.
-Threads with Zee may be used to gain mission assignments or discuss plot points, game events, etc.
-Threads with Zee may be cut short if they are irrelevant solely to save on mod-time as well.
-Unless stated otherwise, assume that he is always reachable for Retrospec users.

Old inbox can be found here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You'd think we would have figured it out when a giant monster ate the sea. But even that wasn't enough." Togusa slumps a little. "And your sample size got pretty lucky with the sociopath count. Only had what? Two? Three? So far?"

He finally lets go of his side and runs that hand over his face. "So far, I've been banking on the idea that because people can be restored to themselves when Retrospec lets them go. That's got to be some kind of proof that we exist separate from the remembered souls. If that's what you're trying to make sure can happen? Then maybe looking into how Retrospec does that is a possible avenue."

"Otherwise, I just want to help how I can. If the only way that the other Togusa's world gets restored is by losing me?" He hesitates. "Well, that's the question I keep coming up to, and I answer it differently every time."

"Well now that depends on what we're qualifying as sociopathic. Some of them got better." It's not quite an amused tone, but he can make some light of it.

"In a way is it really losing you though if the two become one? I'd use the Venn Diagram example again but it's not quite as cut and dry as that. But there is a space where the Togusa that was and the Togusa that is start to become one in the same. The world he came from can be restored, but you don't have to lose your place here, too. If I can, I'd like to find a way to safely manipulate the soul essence you've all regrown to add or remove whatever it is that makes you a hybrid of the people you want and need to be."

It's complicated and he knows that. It's why he falls quiet again. "But the souls are one in the same. I'm sorry to tell you that."

Togusa falls quiet again, looking down. Aslan seems to notice his discomfort and noses him again, earning an absent muzzle pat. His brow slowly tenses up, and relaxes a few times, clearly spending effort in thinking something over.

"It would have been easier before what Vanderweele did."

He knows that's cryptic as hell, so he reaches in to his inner jacket pocket, pulls out the wallet with his detective's badge on it. But he fishes in the back of it. There's an extra piece of paper tucked inside. Just a high-quality photo paper, printed.

"I don't even know if someone other than me can see this."

It is a photo, printed from his cyberbrain output, of Hikari, from when she was here, and Togusa believed he had a daughter. All dressed up for the festival. He offers it over for Zee to see.

"If Togusa doesn't exist in that world, then neither does she." Sad, soft.

He reaches forward and takes the picture from Togusa's hand, glancing at it and taking in what he's seeing. So that's why, huh? Togusa's not the only one who has people he needs to establish their existence. He knows plenty of app users who are worried about people who've gone offline, people that never existed at all.

Still. He holds the photos between two fingers before he sighs to himself.

"...I believe there's a way to recreate people's souls based on the energy your souls exude. It's something I've been doing some research on, but obviously I've been keeping that on lockdown for a reason. I'm sure you understand?"

There is a quick burst of hope, something in his chest, before Togusa very slowly nods in understanding. He was right. From a philosophical standpoint. Now they just need to turn it into a scientific one. He reaches out for the photo back.

"I understand." Tempering his own excitement. "You're not sure if it would work, and a false hope like that could be devastating to a lot of people."

But to Togusa?

"How can I help?" There's more determination than ever in his voice. "Even if it fails, I want to try."

"Exactly." He allows Togusa to take the photo back but he's pleased that the answer seems to be easily spelled out for him. "That, and I'm not even sure everyone would trust me to do something like that to them given its experimentation and potentially capable of rewriting things, even if they're things that may be better to have overwritten in the first place."

He thinks though because, well, what a question. "...I'll need group leaders, I suppose. People who can keep everyone else on track while we're dismantling old labs and Vanderweele's bunkers."

Togusa pauses, and for a few seconds, he can only wrinkle his brow in thought. His mouth opens, then he re-thinks his first instinct. His look turns more confused. “Looking to me for a leader? I can keep people on track well enough.” But lead? Surely, he wants Mariko.

Or- whoever her Other is.

But Zee can still see who he has in front of him, not Retrospec’s wish for just the Other. Togusa sighs. “Year ago, I would have said you’ve got the wrong man. Even my Other is apparently the wrong man. But I’m who you’ve got.”

“You’re expecting- or banking on- Vanderweele having resources in the outer layers?”

"May as well. You've got more experience with what's going on than a good chunk of the users." He shrugs a little. "I'll take my chances, and I think they're good ones. But it's what I'm banking on, yeah. If I'm right, we'll have to do some diving to find those resources as far as Retrospec can reach. That's not just here."

It's the other four regions, too, but he expects Togusa to understand that.

There's a small smile at Zee's admission there. "It's down to, what, me and Ardyn's nephew that have been around since the very beginning?" It's almost impressive.

"As far as we can reach. I know it was chance that sent me to Pesgare the first time, but I'm kind of fond of the place now." Another small smile.

"You can count on me. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. But it's better to know where we both stand."

"I believe so. So many of you have been kicked out...I'm guessing because you'd learned too much and proved to be something of a threat." It's all he can guess at any rate.

"I appreciate the honesty, sir. I hope the feeling is mutual. We'll do our best to make sure everything goes according to plan."

Togusa's eyebrows pinch together and he looks at Zee suspiciously. "We'd heard all along that people slipping out of alignment wasn't intentional. At least not on Retrospec's part. You think Vanderweele has been targeting specific people to remove from the platform?"

While Togusa literally clicks his back teeth together to try to keep his paranoia from shooting from 0 to 100 in an instant.

"We thought it wasn't until recently." So yeah, he has that feeling. "What we know about Vanderweele though is that he's pretty particular when it comes to who, exactly, is a part of the project. It's always been that way according to history."

...then again... "There's also no saying it wasn't both. For a long while, he was still under lock and key. He could be capitalizing on the instability of some of the souls."

Togusa nods, and he visibly relaxes. Okay, this is in line with what he was thinking. "Both makes some sense."

Because if he's targeting people, especially people who might be a danger to his plans, but Togusa is still here, then that means one of two things. Either he somehow doesn't think Togusa is a threat. Reasonable. Or, Togusa fits into whatever category Vanderweele is looking for.

Gross.

Togusa sharply frowns.

"We know what Vanderweele's looking for in people, or is it just one of those," he waves his hand back and forth, "it only makes sense to him things?"

"If we knew, don't you think we'd know how to protect the people who matter?" It's a dry tone, and Aslan whines a little from his place on the couch. "I've been trying to study old notes and files to get an idea. No luck so far though."

Togusa's best reaction is confusion. "The few things we've gotten off of notes before were speaking of family lines, the sorts of things that couldn't be manipulated. It felt like anyone in particular would be 'in or out' regardless of what actions they, or Retrospec, took?"

There's a shrug. "Vanderweele believed in blood lineage, yeah, but you can see how that'd get complicated. So...eventually looking into traits to create perfect hybrids came to play."

“Hybrids?” Togusa repeats. “Is this going all the way back to his experimentation on creatures, what Emil was calling chimeras?” But those are monsters. What could they have to do with the people on the app?

“It was back, the first time people got swept up into unreality. One of the groups found what we thought was a lab of Vanderweele’s. He was working with a memory researcher, Halliday. And then betrayed the guy, used him as a test subject.”

"...well that explains a lot." Guess who forgot to fill Zee in on that detail? Oh, just, you know, everyone. "Did anyone bring back any of the research or take notes or anything?"

Togusa makes a 'gimme' gesture, and he reaches into the inside pocket of his coat. He pulls out the dummy barrier, a small metal collar that slides around the back of his neck.

"You have a computer set up yet?" He extends the cord from the side of the barrier. "I can give you Emil's report as it happened. He mentioned an employment contract or resume that they weren't able to bring back with them. When I had Shuji look into Halliday, we found some of his research on memory, related to specific locations in the brain."

There's a gesture to the computer on his desk. "Just that one. You should be safe to hook up to it though." Also he maybe just wants to see this in real time. "Anything you could provide would be helpful. Getting headquarters to explain a lot about what happened in August has always been kind of a pain in the ass."

Togusa clears off a chair, and draws himself up next to the computer. He plugs the end of the cord from the dummy barrier into the computer's USB slot, and takes a deep breath. His own eyes gently close, as the computer's screen starts to move. A new folder, and it starts to fill up with photo and video files.

But apparently Togusa is still awake, because he starts talking. "Let's take us all the way back to the start of the summer, then. Each of us got a message from Jim, accompanied by a bingo card with odd tasks to do throughout the city." He pauses, and the computer screen opens up a few photos. Ardyn, Grell, Prompto, and Dante, standing beside a giant sand castle. The inside of Togusa's own apartment, with most of the objects in sight dotted with craft googly eyes, a laughing Koutarou on the couch.

"It's similar to what Retrospec has asked us to do a few other times, to keep doing activities in different areas of the city, like us being there is reinforcing the city's reality. But anybody who got a bingo got a QR code," Togusa pops one up to show Zee.

"Doing those actions seemed to generate something on Retrospec's end, that allowed them to tap into some unreality of their own. And Retrospec could apply that unreality to us. Granting some of us powers or defenses temporarily. Late July, an attack on the city happened, what we now know is an unreality storm. I don't know if this was directed by Vanderweele or not." Pictures of monsters, in particular the Stormbird. "The same groups of monsters have kept on showing up in areas outside the city."

"It's entirely possible it was Vanderweele getting wind of whatever the company was trying to do and staging it to ensure that trust was lost. And resources were split." Tht sounds about right, but he's watching the computer himself and looking at the files as they transfer.

"You guys were out there for a whole month, right? Jo told me that much but the details were pretty hush-hush."

"The people who were out there? Yeah. I stayed in the city. Half the people on the app, and most of Retrospec's staff got swept out into unreality areas. I was in the group that cleared out Retrospec's own headquarters, and then had to go into an unreality twist after Joanne. It was an underwater area."

"The plus side for you is that we had enough police and support staff that we all got split up." Togusa focuses on a few files. Togusa had gotten the police back together after the event for a debrief. "That grouping should tell you all the details that you need for what each individual group went through."

"The overview? Each group found some sort of story about what had happened in Recolle, tapestries, or photos, something like that. One group found themselves in a memory of Spinnatto's own mansion." A tight frown. "But most of them also found a guardian of some kind that they had to help, and that helped get them back home on their end."

"On our end, we collected more pieces of unreality, things that Retrospec used to help power their tech. These pillars popped up all around the city that we helped activate to get a city-wide reset."

This is a lot to unpack, and while Togusa explains Zee's trying to process what's on the monitor in front of him. There's a lot that could be said here, but in the end...

"Mind if I read this over on my own time? I have a lot of notes I'll have to make. That's possible, right?"

Togusa briefly looks sheepish, but he nods. "Sorry, I know I've had a lot of time to go over this." He lets his eyes close again as he finishes the file transfer, and then unplugs. The files remain on Zee's computer.

"If there seem like there are any gaps, the only things that don't digitize are the other Togusa's memories. I can record every conversation I've ever had about them with other people. But the experiences themselves from his point of view?" He shakes his head as he pulls the dummy barrier off.

Maybe it's one reason why he keeps going over and over details of things.

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