standalonehuman | Recolle IC Inbox

Tim is right, and he's got enough on his plate, Togusa is the one who might start the legwork with the packages. Let the kid stick to his specialty, that's why you're talking to him in the first place, right?

Tim's sudden silence, and the question that ends it, take Togusa aback for a moment. An odd question, but given where they are? Understandable. Maybe Tim had a different reason for asking him here? His own gaze follows Tim's to look towards the front.

"The short answer is a no, but that would give you the wrong idea. My beliefs don't quite line up with the Western Christian idea. It would be a mistake to call me a devout anything. But my roots from Japan have definitely kept a hold." He hesitates. He is unsure if he wants to elaborate.

Because there's a better opportunity here. "Why? Do you?" Because what if the answer is a no?

"Very traditional of you," Tim quips.

A smirk turns the ends of his lips up, but he doesn't give his attention back to Togusa yet. For a moment, he considers the answer. "So you're spiritual even though you might not practice any organized religion," and not a question necessarily, but something Togusa can confirm or deny--or neither.

"Some people might think Retrospec is a divine agent," he continues, ignoring Togusa's own question for now. "I mean, theoretically: you can't see them, can't get in touch with them, yet they keep sending us 'signs,' or what could be interpreted as signs by some.

"Some are being punished almost, embarrassed, ridiculed, and some are being rewarded. The package I got from Retrospec wasn't malicious, as far as I know, except maybe to Yuri." His blue eyes shift back over to Togusa. "I don't like the idea of someone else being in control of my life," he admits.

"About the best way I could put it, yes," Togusa nods in confirmation of Tim's assessment. A lot of his beliefs are very general, they get specific when it comes to respecting and honoring the dead.

But Togusa listens to Tim's suggestion. He can see the philosophical parallels, but it's a curious thing to be bringing up inside of a church. Is Retrospec playing at being God?

"Demanding tribute in the form of information, and rewarding or punishing behavior that's in line with certain guidelines. The parallel is there. Somehow I don't think they're interested in starting a religion, though. But what does religion become in the digital age?"

They might have pulled it off by proxy. Togusa shakes his head. "I don't like it, either. But they don't have control over our lives. They're interfering, but we still maintain control."

"A few people would say there's a fine line between religion and a cult," he offers, glancing at Togusa. There's a shrug, small. "In the digital age, it's digital cults. Haven't you ever seen Suicide Club?"

A frown turns the edges of TIm's lips down. "Can you say that for sure, though? Can you stand at town hall in front of everyone in the city and assure them this company doesn't have control over their lives?

"After getting packages at addresses? After forcing app download to any device?"

"I hated that movie," Togusa snorts. Doesn't present the most positive viewpoint of his generation.

"No, they don't," he continues to insist. "Your life is a lot more than just what's contained on those devices and what's a part of the public record. The stuff you own."

"At first, it looks like Retrospec can change anything, but they can't change us. And even the ways in which they're changing our environment is limited. It's as if everything still has to work the same. The changes are just cosmetic, to us. Can't say the same thing from the horses' point of view. But they aren't altering us."

The displeasure gets a hint of a schadenfreude smile to come to the corners of Tim's lips. A police officer would.

"Yet." Tim holds Togusa's gaze, steady and argumentatively unrelenting. "What are you going to do when people start coming to you and reporting changes to themselves"--he's thinking about the tubing in Retrospec, touching it with his hand, longing in his soul for home, the weird sensation the stairs weren't wide enough, fancy enough--"or others, Officer Togusa?"

All right, he wants to take this back to a professional standpoint, Togusa can slide right back into that. "Work with the affected people to help them, with whatever they need, whatever could have changed. And continue to look into Retrospec, carefully. No rushing into this, no jumping to wild conclusions. Some of the theories going around are getting people worked up with very little evidence. Once we find that evidence against them, specifically on how they are changing reality? Then we make our move against them. And put things right. Anything that got changed can be changed back."

Togusa's gaze isn't wavering, he's even more sure of his words as he says them. "I'm not content to wait for anyone else to notice that something is wrong, but I'm also not going to go raging up against a corporate entity that seems to be able to alter reality at will without a good idea of what they're doing. And we keep an eye on each other in the meantime. Don't lose sight of the fact that we're doing this to help out the people that Retrospec are toying with."

"'Taking down the bad guy' is a part of it," air quotes. "But my priorities are different."

"I don't know," he says, the lilt of his voice not unlike someone playing devil's advocate, "Retrospec doesn't exactly have a pristine track record with being able to 'change' things back. Despite, you know, all of this sounding like a load of bull." Tim folds a finger over his chin and a thumb under it, thoughtful.

"Are you the only one working on this case? You might think it's about helping the people Retrospec is toying with, but what about the rest of your crew?

"Are you sure they're feeling the same way? Your drinking pal isn't gonna get an ego and decide to bust the building a new one, is he? Or, you know, Officer 'Ants in My Pants' Izunia." He shrugs. Just saying. "Also:

"What if the changes aren't really even changes? What if they've always been there, and we just couldn't see them?"

Togusa lets out a quick giggle despite himself, before he can shove it back down, at Izunia's lovely nickname. Right. Church. Come on, Tim, don't make him laugh here.

"Okay, first off, wow, not 'my crew.' There'd be a line out the door to punch me for that one. But the reason you're talking to me is that I was the first one willing to reach outside of the Department for help. They're all good men and they know what they're here to do. Protect and Serve isn't just a saying."

"Gabranth and Wolf have lasted so long because they know it's not about the adrenaline rush, they don't go chasing after danger, but don't let injustice stand, anyway. Lou's the best guy to get to know the people he's serving, never loses sight of the fact that we're here for the people. And yeah, Izunia's a hothead, so's Sakakura. But what actually makes them so angry is when people are getting hurt. And to a man, they all know how to take orders, to investigate things by the book. None of them would still be working there if they were going to go rogue. It keeps us and you safer by doing so."

So now that Togusa's had his moment of idealism, he'll consider Tim's last question. "What if we've been the strange ones all along? I am willing to consider that. We might not necessarily be right. But it goes back to the question of proof, one way or another. Is Retrospec changing reality to fit what they want, and we're the only ones noticing? Or are they revealing to us the way the world actually is?"

Wow. Tim makes a mental note that Togusa is a huge SUCKER for his 'crew.' Like, blackmail levels of love for the police team. Even Gabranth, the man Tim had seen over the network being rather harsh to other people... like poor Prompto.

"Uh-huh," he hums, letting Togusa talk without impediment. He's not sure whether to take Togusa's word that everyone on the force are knights in shining armor. Just from growing up, he knows better. People aren't always what they seem.

"We can get proof. Just give it time. Retrospec is going to mess up sooner or later, I'm sure.

"What are you planning to do about all of the pranking they've been doing lately? Sure, one or two is harmless fun. Ha, ha, funny, but some of those pranks aren't small. Like--addresses of users, need I remind you again.

"Weird, though: you guys couldn't even make an arrest, could you? When you go into the Retrospec building, there's no one there to even handcuff. And a mysteriously vanishing elevator."

The people he works with are quite blatantly Togusa's weak spot. And some might say he's their weak spot. But individual success is a reflection of strong teamwork, after all. Something a former superior said to him once.

"We can't stop the deliveries until we can find where they're coming from. That's one of our top priorities, before Retrospec just starts handing out weapons to everybody without a care for the local laws."

"But you're right, we need a name and just cause and some more proof before we can get a warrant. We can't solve this guns-blazing. But all the more reason that I have the confidence that we'll do this the right way." He gestures towards Tim. "But also all the reason that I'm willing to admit that we need outside help."

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I just keep going "Tim, no" every time I open this