keeping busy [backdated to before the gathering started]

[pauldrons]

Characters: Zack Fair and anyone who encounters him.
Setting: All dormitory floors; take your pick.
Format: bracketspam is preferred, but I'll match you
Summary: Trying to inform people, and keep them from panicking. ...This can only end well, clearly.
Warnings:None I can think of; will edit this if something changes.


[It's fairly clear when the power goes out that something is off. It gets clearer that something is wrong when people start disappearing, one by one, and they're not the people who were brought to this tower. It gets crystal clear that something is terribly wrong when it's impossible to find any food at all in the places where it's supposed to be. That's when Zack's training really kicks in, and he starts to do something. What might that something be?

Writing signs so others can have an idea of what to do and then putting them in easy to see places.

Like above an emergency light near the staircases on every dorm level he can get to. He doesn't block the stairs as he tapes them up, and those who get close enough will be able to read his blocky handwriting. Yes, folks, he hand wrote these babies. ...at least they're legible?]

You probably noticed by now that things aren't so good in the tower. Until we can figure out what happened, there's a few things everyone should do:

Drink lots of water and stay calm. People have survived longer than a month without food, so long as they have water and didn't panic.

Try to avoid fighting any monsters; there's no one in the infirmary to help out if someone gets hurt and blood loss or broken bones won't help anyone in this mess.

Don't go anywhere alone if you can help it. There's a reason the saying goes "safety in numbers". Travelling with a buddy's also a good way to make sure nobody gets lost alone. It's easier to find your way back with a partner.

[There's probably more he could have written on those things, but the idea is to be concise and keep people calm, not freak them out more than they probably already are. Those who find the signs are welcome to tear them down, but come on. Why would you do that? Don't you want people to have an idea of what to do?

Also, those on the Third level of dorms can find him kneeling near a terminal alcove, pawing at the machinery to try and get it to work...or trying to find something near the bottom of it. Those close enough will hear him muttering to himself, as well.]

Come on...where's that access panel...

[Yeah. He's trying to pry it open. Someone stop him before he breaks his hand or worse.]

Comments

[pauldrons]

[Escort. Right. Of course it would come to that. But Zack was the one to offer and he'd be the one to see this through, and so he took a deep breath to steel his nerves before nodding, heading for the stairs. What had he been doing?]

Riding in the chopper en route to Nibelheim. Nothing exciting.

[Though, from what Tifa had mentioned, Nibelheim itself would be the exciting part. If only he had more information.]

[denigrator]

[Hojo followed him.]

Is that so? [Hojo didn't appear to find this news particularly significant, but inwardly, he was interested, taking note. He remembered the incident at Nibelheim quite well.] I see.

I myself was working in my laboratory. [Although this was a lie.]

It's odd, even if we do recognize each other, it is quite possible that we may not be from the same exact universes, but similar ones. We may well have experienced different events. [He was rather skeptical about that claim of their captors' himself, but it was a possible theory. And one that might allow him more freedom, here.]

[pauldrons]

[Zack shakes his head at that as they walk. Sure, the Tifa that's here isn't the Tifa he knows, but it's just too far out there to be true. Different timelines he can get, but different universes? It can't be right.]

I doubt that. It's about as far-fetched as our worlds being gone when people from them keep showing up out of the blue like this. Makes me wonder if they're trying to control us by fear or something.

[Though what a person would have to lose if their world, their friends, their family, their home was gone was beyond him. If anything, it might be far too freeing.]

[denigrator]

[Hojo sighs. Most people are such poor conversationalists. They can't grasp the most basic concepts!]

Just because you cannot wrap your mind around it does not mean it is far-fetched. I doubt you have any knowledge of quantum mechanics. As a matter of fact, it's quite a well-known scientific theory, that of multiple universes.

According to the theory, every event is a branch point, and all the possibilities at these points do come to pass. One's occurrence does not negate the others' existence. It is just that the different outcomes each create different worlds. Different events followed from this change.

For instance, you were assigned to go to Nibelheim, and you went. But in another world, you were not selected for the mission. Someone else went instead. Or another event took place that prevented your going.

[He puts his head to one side, ever so slightly.]

Is there something frightening about the multiple universe theory? I don't find it so. The statement that our worlds have been destroyed--yes, that I don't believe. That I can see being used as a tool of control. Yet that, too, is not entirely out of the question. A great mind sees all possibilities, can almost see into each of those alternate worlds as they branch off into infinity...

There are forces that can destroy worlds, universes. No, their claim is not impossible, but I have not seen any proof for it. The data is insufficient.

[pauldrons]

[Hey, it's not like Zack's ever had to go over this stuff before. Pardon him for never having given actual thought to it yet. But, to his credit, Zack actually listens and tries to make sense of that. He's not simple-minded in the slightest, and while most of it does go over his head, some bits stick. Mostly. All that really sticks is that there are copies of worlds out there and Hojo might be from one. Or he might be. It's hard to tell and the SOLDIER has to shake his head to regain his wits.]

...And the data that we come from different versions of the same world isn't? I mean, sure, I've met a couple of people who are exact copies of each other who don't act anything alike, but...is that really enough proof?

[denigrator]

[Hojo purses his lips, impatient. He has little to no patience with laymen and considers these lessons beneath him. He's not an educator, he's a researcher. His negative estimation of others is often completely unfair, but that's Hojo for you. Underestimating people is one of his consistent errors, but he hasn't yet learned from his mistakes.]

There is more extant research which I have seen, before arriving here, supporting the multiple universe theory than there is verifiable data supporting their vague claim of all the universes being destroyed.

So, based on all the data available to me, including the known presence of different versions of the same individuals, that is the more likely theory. Neither have been proven. It takes a great deal to prove a theory, and I consider none proven before its time. You said it was far-fetched, I say it is quite possible. That is all.

[pauldrons]

[To be completely fair, things have started to go over Zack's head right now. Simple-minded he is not, but all this information is a little too much for him to digest at once. Hence why he shakes his head and stares at Hojo like he's sprouted a second head.]

So why didn't you just say it like that in the first place?

[....Zack you really should keep your mouth shut sometimes. Really.]

[denigrator]

I did. Why did you not listen in the first place?

[Hojo is no more polite than he ever was.]

Fortunately, I am the scientist studying the Tower, and not you. Clearly, you don't have the necessary abilities.

But for now, with my work interrupted, I will make myself useful to the populace. [He says this as if he isn't a man who would destroy his own world without a second thought.]

[pauldrons]

[Normally Zack would bite back with something along the lines of "I did listen! You just didn't make any sense!", but today is not a normal day. So instead he squashes the instincts to reach out and give Hojo a shake and heaves a sigh instead. Don't strangle the scientist, Fair. Don't even thing about it.

Oh. And here's the infirmary. Thank Shiva.]

Yeah...you do that. I'll just kill monsters or something. At least I'm good at that, right?

[Rhetorical question. Please don't answer that.]