HEY!

[Umm, you know that thing where you feel uncomfortable if you start speaking out against authority? Yeah, guess who's not paying attention to that at all. If you look close, you can tell Zidane's still feeling the weirdness because his facial expression is a little off, but he's spent his life speaking his mind about everything (and, on a more subliminal side, overcoming oppression) so like hell he's not going to do it now.]

[Also he's just goddamn pissed if 90% of his expression is anything to go by. While he's been annoyed on the Satellite before, usually he just more or less goes with the flow, but this just hit the last straw for him. Because he's standing outside the theatrical deck and the Satellite not only stuck a bigass lock on the door, but took away all his picks so he can't just sneak his way inside.]

It's not enough to take away all our colors and anything that we can use to express ourselves, it's even worse that you're making the girls stay in the most boring part of this ship, but now we can't even open these doors?! Who in the HELL are you to say what we can and can't do, we are NOT your PUPPETS!

[And apparently he's... really serious about proving that wtf Zidane where did you get an axe?! It's not a huge axe, no, but it's still an axe, and his clothing isn't restrictive enough to stop him using it. He grabs it from where he left it propped up against the wall and immediately starts swinging it at the lock, over and over, striking the metal repeatedly in an attempt to get in.]

[He's not quite aware that the tip of his tail is starting to turn blond again...]

[It's Zidane again, standing in front of an open closet. However, unlike the last time Cambot caught him in front of his closet, there is no avalanche of THINGS spilling out to bury him.]

[Also, he looks... geniunely kind of pissed.]

All right, I've been in my room and about seven other rooms that no one's using right now, and apparently all our clothes are gone. Normally I wouldn't complain because it looks like this stuff comes from my world, but whoever made that armor is taking lessons from Rusty and I found this in my closet.

[He holds up a robe, long and hooded and mostly white but with red triangles decorating all the edges.]

I am not wearing my girlfriend's clothes!

[...Yeah, that's actually his girlfriend's robe. Have a not-thief now dealing with the annoyance of not being a thief at the moment as well as suffering a massive bout of homesickness.]

[Zidane has retreated down to the launch deck - one of the only places not affected by whatever curse this was - after spending too much time on the theatrical deck. He's currently perched in the pipework on the ceiling, probably not a surprise to anyone who knows him, but a very long trail of golden blond hair is falling almost all the way down to the floor from his perch. All in all it's over twice as long as he is tall.]

[And he just so happens to have a couple of knives.]

[...Which aren't working.]

Damnit! How did Dagger do this?

[He's used to having longer hair, but this is ridiculous. He's left the tie in to keep it all together, but his knife refuses to cut through a single strand, instead just sawing back and forth or slipping down the hair river all together. He's getting frustrated, to say the least.]

Anyone got a pair of magical scissors or something? Anything?

[It seems someone else has gotten in on the pranking, though this reach is a bit... wider than Team Cutie Mark Laughter Crusaders. Throughout the top eight levels of the satellite, there have been thin, nearly invisible plastic wires strung across walkways. They're not significant enough to trip anyone up, but for making trip lines... well, they're perfect.]

[Anyone who walks into one of these has about half a second to dodge before a pie hits them on the top of the head. Or the side of the head. Or the face. Whoever's set these up has rigged these to drop or throw pies however is possible with limited space and materials. And who did it? Well, if one looks around, there will be - somewhere nearby - a little scrap of paper with a dagger sketched on it. Of course, that could just be a coincidence. But who really thinks it is?]

[And when Zidane gets on the Cambot later, he's looking inordinately pleased with himself.]

Since it looks like nothing screwy's going on this week, I decided to get back to that play I was working on. Looks like it's going to be some sort of adventure story due to a lack of actual thespians around here, so would anyone want to be in something that requires you to wave a sword around without actually hitting anyone?

Still working out the ending, too - this playwright thing's harder than I thought it'd be. But I don't think much can get worse than those robots trying to write again.

[Its near midnight when Minako's Cambot comes on, revealing...a hospital room? And in the bed is Zidane, wrapped up in bandages.]

[And standing at his bedside, wearing a blue mask with green eyeholes, is... Minako. Wearing a nurse's outfit. With odd-shaped boobs and a shower cap over her hair, covered in whip cream. Oh boy.]

Ooooh, I think the patient is waaaaking~!

[Zidane, despite what anyone might expect, is a professional on the stage, camera, whatever, so aside from the bandages he looks completely normal - all the more contrast to Minako's extreme weirdness. At his cue, he groans just a little, then pauses for a second, then his eyes slowly slide open. He deliberately keeps them unfocused so he looks more spaced out than he is, and otherwise doesn't speak or move.]

Oh, good! He's awake!

[At this, Minako jiggles oh god over to the head of the bed, bending down as if to examine the patient.]

[Zidane deliberately keeps his face straight and mostly blank and boy IS IT HARD and his expression bleary; his voice is also muffled and slightly slurred. Okay he knew what he was getting into when he agreed to help with this but this is a lot harder than he expected it to be. BUT HE WILL NOT BREAK CHARACTER.] What's happening? Who are... you...

I'm your nurse! Nurse Eastman! And it is time...

[At this, she goes into her jiggly chest... and... procures...two Jellos. Of two different colors. Yup.]

For snack time~! Orange or lime?

I don't... remember... wanting to eat you...

[Suddenly, the sopa opera organ starts, and Minako lets out a gasp.] ...Oh...my stores! Mr. Lucent!!

[And he closes his eyes again.] I don't... know you...

Oh, but it's... all coming back to me now....moments of gold....flashes of... light...

[There's a sudden - unexpected, even - shift in Minako's attitude, judging by the suddenly genuine look of surprise on her face. She quickly stands up and abruptly walks out of the room. Actually, its almost as if she runs, to the point where the shower cap comes off.]

[Zidane breaks character for just a second, because that wasn't supposed to happen, was it? One eye, the one away from Cambot (but it can still be seen) opens for a second to look after her in utter confusion. What's going on?]

[And then the lights go out, and the music begins to play...]

( This is for everyone's benefit. Take our word for it. )

[Blink. Blink. Minako looks confused.]

...What just happened?

[Not long after the mads' announcements, there's a monkeyboy reaching out to get his Cambot to focus on him. It's not exactly working too well, but he keeps at it, adjusting it periodically as he talks - the 'bot kind of got knocked around during his little World Annihilation phase the week before.]

Now that we've got our real bodies back, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for whatever I did last week. It's kind of all pretty fuzzy, but I think I tried to punch a hole in this place? Uhm, anyone who wants to, you can hit me for that later. It's kind of a long, long story.

But I wanted to make it up to you, and prove that I'm not normally some kind of genocidal freak. [No, that's just the rest of his family. And now Zidane pushes Cambot back to show that he's made his way up to the media deck and... the newly-appeared karaoke machine. How does he know how it works? How does he know what it even is? WHO CARES, BECAUSE HE'S GOT A POINT TO MAKE.] Someone I haven't seen in far too long showed me how powerful music can be, so what better way to prove that I'm back to normal again but through song? Hit it!

[And a small button clicks, and a song begins to play... a song that might be horrifyingly familiar to certain people on the SOL, and he begins to sing along.]

( He isn't... Yes, yes he is. )

[When Cambot catches up to him, Zidane is still a pony, but ...different. He's plodding along the hall where he would have trotted or flown, his neck and head nearly parallel to the floor instead of being held up proudly. Worst of all, though, is the fact that he's lost all color from his body, from the tip of his tail to the end of his nose. Anyone who knows what Discord does can take that as a bad omen... and anyone who can guess what the opposite of Zidane's personality is can take that as a really bad omen.]

Get away. [He's snapping at the Cambot instead of performing for it, but as it starts to move off he gets second thoughts.] Hey, wait a second, come back here. You guys downstairs - you're trying to take over the world, right?

[His eyes are hard as flint as he speaks to the Cambot, not caring who hears.] Get me out of here and I'll help you. Bring me down to where there's more souls and we can disrupt the cycle completely. It will be chaos such as you've never seen in all your lives and the world never shall see again. The souls of Terra need a home to go to, and this world will do just as well as Gaia.

I'll start up here... When I'm done, I expect you'll be ready for me.

[And with that, he turns and walks off again, purposefully. Cambot hovers, not at all sure if it should follow him, letting out a series of chittering beeps that sounds rather apprehensive.]

((ooc: encounter him anywhere starting from deck 8 down and try to stop him, but be warned he can still fly and has all of his acrobatic tricks up his sleeves.))

[Somehow, somewhere, Zidane has acquired a dashing hat and gotten it to stay on his still-pony-shaped head. He's currently rooting around on the Theatrical Deck, surprise surprise, and has somehow acquired a stack of loose papers and a pen. Time to see if it really is as difficult to write with your mouth as he thinks it's going to be!]

Hey, I've got a couple of questions for you! See, I had a talk the other day with a guy who really needs more of a social life and maybe a date every once in awhile [hello Frank!], or at all, and during that conversation I started thinking about maybe trying my hand at that whole being a playwright thing. Lord Avon is immortal, of course, but there's always room for a newcomer, isn't that right?

So! Since we all come from these difference places and presumably our entertainment on our homes was probably different, what kind of plays would you guys be interested in seeing? Comedy? Tragedy? Farce? Satire? Or we've got melodrama or maaaybe a musical, but writing music isn't really my strong suit, and we're going to avoid any and all morality plays because those are without a doubt always boring as hell.

Suggestions? Comments? Concerns? Just say what's on your mind!

[And there's another pony running around now, except this one looks just a little different. Sure, most of him is pony-like enough, his body teal like his normal clothing and his mane and tail his normal blond, but Zidane's tail is still his normal tail, long and thin and prehensile, not a proper fluffy pony-tail. Unlike most people- er, ponies, he seems to not be having trouble staying on his feet, but that's probably because he's always had an extra appendage to help balance. His mark, when it's visible, is an odd symbol, and he's undoubtedly got a smirk on his face as well as wings on his back. He and his brother make gravity their bitch, after all.]

So I didn't expect to run into this kind of problem on my third day here, but at least it's a new one. Always be up for trying new things; that's the way we always did it at home! So all of you guys who aren't happy with it, just give it a shot! Maybe one day soon we'll be switched back just as fast as we were switched to begin with.

Oh yeah, and all you guys who've got horns now - you're unicorns, right? So you're all attracted to virgins all the time now aren't you? Guess we could say you're pretty horny.

[WIDER SMIRK AND EYEBROW WIGGLE. Apparently he's also gotten a hardy and compliant - or mischievous - Cambot, because it chimes in with music.]

[Cambot is, well... running away from something. Residents of the SOL might be forgiven in thinking that one shade survived Doof's -inator device, because there's quick footfalls coming from behind the speeding mechanical. Something's definitely chasing it. But any concern about it being a shade is put immediately to rest when whatever-it-is speaks and it can be heard by everyone.]

HEY! Get back here! You can't just run away from me!

[Cambot continues fleeing, but then the view bounces, shaking wobbily as ... well, who knows, but it's not moving as fast and it's kind of swaying from side to side. And then the tip of a tail, covered in blond fur, comes into view, only to be whisked away and replaced by a pair of hands in white gloves gripping the edges of the lens and an upside-down face staring straight into it and his ponytail whipping around.]

HEY! WHATEVER'S IN THERE! I WANNA ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS!

[...Yes. Zidane is literally riding the Cambot. And now he's knocking on the lens with a fist, dear god monkeyboy what are you doing.]

HEY! Park this thing and get out so we can talk!