For Thine Is; Zo

[animusmods]

Characters: any characters who are still within the Tower
Setting: the hidden floor
Format: any
Summary: Zo needs help. What will you do?
Warnings: psychological horror

Aria and the other retrieval units stand guard in the room and regard each person who enters with a little bit of caution. The reason quickly becomes clear: Zo lies unconscious on a bed that appears to have been stolen from a hospital recovery room. With the glamour down, he looks spectral: it's possible to look through his body and to the bed beneath. He's not quite a ghost, though, as he can be interacted with.

If Zo is attacked, the retrieval units will be quick to retaliate. They can't help Zo on their own, though--so maybe there's something you can do...

Comments

SPEAK TO ARIA

[animusmods]

If you would like to speak to Aria, you may do so here. She stands most closely to Zo's bedside and looks nearly beside herself with worry.

[fionnuisce]

Okay, so I'll ask the obvious question here: What the fuck happened?!

[Waver had gotten to the hidden floor from where he'd been more or less hiding out in the dorms rather quickly; had the glamour not been down it would have been much easier to tell he was thoroughly shaken.]

And that aside, what are we even able to do to help?

[animusnpcs]

He had a bad reaction to what Sephiroth was doing--an accidental discharge of power. [She seems quite insistent about that.]

He needs to be woken up.

[fionnuisce]

Wait, what did Sephiroth do this ti--no, forget it, that's not important and I don't want to waste time. I assume if waking him were simple, you wouldn't have called us. So what, exactly, is this going to take?

[He half-expected the same as what Riki had asked for to recharge the Tower. While that wasn't an appealing option, Waver wasn't going to be entirely against it.]

[zelfies]

"What are we supposed to do?" Link didn't bother to ask what had happened. The 'power' had been failing for quite a while now, and the past several days haven't been uneventful.

So, Link had approached Aria. Now wasn't the time for demanding answers. Too many lives were at risk.

[animusnpcs]

"You have to wake Zo up. He's sealed himself up, but you guys should be able to bypass it, since you're connected by him having brought you here."

[zelfies]

With a firm nod and no words, Link skittered toward Zo's bedside.

How he was going to go about trying to wake him up, he didn't have a clue. He'd think of things as he went along. But why would he seal himself...?

[slightlyoblivious]

[Even unglamoured as she is, Yukiko's wire frame looks rough. She's not injured, at least not physically, but she's a mess on the inside.

There's one thing she has to do first, before even thinking about Zo, and so she nervously approaches Aria, bowing deeply before speaking.]

...I'm sorry. I didn't - I knew it was Sephiroth behind getting all of us sick and drawing power from us, but I couldn't do much of anything to stop it. I feel like I should apologize for that before I even ask what I can do to help.

[animusnpcs]

It's not your fault--you didn't ask to go through that. [Aria sounds sympathetic.] You--any of you who have been brought to the Tower--need to help wake Zo up. He's sealed himself away.

[slightlyoblivious]

Still, I'm sorry. I wish I'd been able to do more to stop it. I'm guessing it's the reaction to what happened when we all died that made him seal himself up?

[She nods, though it's a nervous nod.]

...will healing magic help at all, or is it more words than anything else?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[To think all they really were here were these simple wireframes with liquid inside.

As Veronica stumbled into the secret room, it was clear that she was shaken by everything that had just happened to her still. Even with the glamour off, she looked rather messed up. As always, she shrugged it off as best she could and kept going.]

...I'm sorry about the whole Sephiroth thing. I wasn't able to kill him when I had the chance.

[Apologies first. To think she could have been manipulated so easily...]

[animusnpcs]

It's alright. We didn't stop him, either. [She looks as sympathetic as she can as a wireframe construct.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

What a pain.

[She sighs. Her gaze, odd since she does not have eyes, runs over her wireframe for a moment.]

What happens now?

[puppy_lancer]

...What just happened and how do we wake him up?

[Lancer had dashed over to the secret floor when he heard that they needed to wake up Zo. Seeing Zo's transparent form makes him worry.]

[Though, at least he can still recognize Zo. He doesn't look like Jason had when the Glamour failed.]

[animusnpcs]

He dealt with Sephiroth and then discharged a lot of power. After that, he passed out. We need you to try and interact with him.

[doctor_dismemberment]

[Richtofen seems out of place when he arrives on the hidden floor. He hasn't had much of a chance to explore the place, and he doesn't make it a habit of speaking with the retrieval units (save for the one that had, at one point, started tailing him).

But as soon as he sees Zo's spectral, unconscious form on a hospital bed, he snaps to attention, looking for all the world like a doctor walking into the operating room. He crosses the floor in quick strides and addresses Aria as if she were his nurse.]

You. Retrieval... thingy. [Well, almost.] What is the problem with him?

[He doesn't care for Zo, but if he has even a slight chance of saving him, he'll be able to lord it over everyone else's heads for the rest of their miserable lives. That is an opportunity he can't pass up.]

[animusnpcs]

[Aria's wariness upon seeing Richtofen is obvious--his reputation might precede him a little bit.]

...He passed out, and we can't wake him up.

[brbtalkingtogod]

Hey.

[Lucifel approaches Aria slowly, the usual calm expression on his face was replaced by a small frown. He's concerned, for more than one reason.]

I guess you heard this question a lot, but tell me what happened.

[animusnpcs]

Zo passed out after letting loose a large discharge of power. We haven't been able to wake him up on our own.

[imperialsun]

Hello.

[Naoya's spectral form isn't much to look at much like the others, but if it was still on, it would be filled with worry.]

Do you know what happened?

[animusnpcs]

Zo passed out after he discharged a large amount of power.

[notagiraffe]

[Taiki hovers by Zo, worried about how he won't wake up. He glances nervously at Aria] Is he sick?

[animusnpcs]

We're not totally sure. He passed out after he dealt with Sephiroth.

[crouching_sin]

[Naoya approaches carefully. He doesn't want to make anything worse, but he is curious.]

What happened?

[animusnpcs]

Zo dealt with Sephiroth and passed out after. We haven't been able to wake him up.