[Zidane could not send everyone home. He could not go home himself.....well, he did not have a 'home' to begin with. He could not save Dagger either and he was having a lot of conflicted and guilty feelings over that, despite the fact that she wasn't the real Dagger.

What he could do, however, was get as many people as possible out of Mayfield and to that Highway. What would happen when they got there, he did not know but one thing was for sure....if they all stayed in Mayfield, they would die for certain!

Which was why Zidane is trying to get as many people out as possible. He may be knocking on your door or calling for you if you're on the front porch]

Hey! C'mon, we've gotta get outta here right now!

[And if you aren't moving for whatever reason.....you've given up or you're just not paying attention for whatever reason, well.....he's going to pick you up and drag you, anyway. Have fun with that.]

[After talking to Luke on the phones, Zidane had a lot of things to think about.
He had heard some months ago that it was possible that everyone’s memories were fake. Like many people, Zidane really did hope that it was not true. However, even he was not stupid to completely dismiss the possibility. And now he found that it was true.....well, not exactly. His memories of growing up on Gaia, being raised as a thief in Tantalus, searching for his birthplace, kidnapping Dagger on the airship, going on a journey to stop Kuja and save Gaia.....none of these memories were technically fake. They just didn’t belong to him – they belonged to the real Zidane.

....So that meant that he wasn’t real?

Wait a minute. That wasn't true. Zidane remembered going through a similar line of thought when he discovered his origins.....well no, when the real Zidane discovered his origins. Still, just because that was not his memories, did not mean that they were not relevant.

Eventually, the thief decides to pick up the phone and talk to everyone. After all, he is not the only one who’s had to deal with this little piece of news....]

So guys, a lot of things have happened in the past few days. And there’s a lot that we’ve found out. And I admit, it’s not exactly what we wanna hear. However, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and now there is something I want you guys to remember.

...No matter what we are or where we came from, that doesn't tell us who we are. What defines us is what we do with our lives and the friends we make. That’s all
.
We may not be who we thought we were, but that doesn't mean that we aren’t living people, too. We have the right to exist, just as much as anyone else, copies or not.

I know a lot of you guys probably don’t believe this right now, but let me tell you something....I....well no, the real Zidane, I wouldn’t call his origins exactly normal. But despite that, it didn’t define who he was as a person. His friends helped him realise that.

.......Why would you or I be any different?

[A deep breath] I’m not sure what’s gonna happen to us. But I do know one thing.....none of us deserve to live a life of torture and pain, whether it’s by Zemekis, this Johnson chick or anyone else. We’ll find a way to stop Miss Johnson! After that, well......I don’t know. But we’ve got time to worry about that later. [He’s still trying to work that one himself.]

Hey, guys. A lot of stuff has happened recently, with the town falling apart and all.....but there will be a way out. I know some of you are doubting that, but....well, I wanna tell you a little story.

[Zidane takes a deep breath. This is story is pretty personal to him, but he doesn't want to talk about his whole life over the phones to a bunch of strangers. So he decides to tell it a different way....like he had with Dagger before.]

( Cut for TL;DR and mention of abusive parent if that sort of thing bothers you )

[Aaaand he takes another deep breath] Phew! That was long. [Zidane cannot believe he just said all that. Oh, well - what do you know?]

Anyway, I wanna tell you that in a way, the man's situation is a little like ours in Mayfield. No matter what the drones tell us, no matter what Zemekis tells us, they can’t decide for what our homes are or where we belong! There will be a way out of here. Don’t you all give up on me yet!

[Feel free to troll/be a spoilsport and tell him that their situation is hopeless/say that the story is sentimental bullshit/work out who the 'man' is in the story. It's all good]

[Action - 1247 Williams. Open to housemates]

When Zidane ‘woke up’, something looked a little wrong in the house. First, his bedroom was actually tidy and his desk seemed to have pile of completed homework on top of it!

Hi, housemates! Zidane is undroned and you will now find him in his room, staring at the calendar, completely mystified.

August....13th? Isn’t it supposed to be August 5th? [Looks at his own writing underneath 13th]

Hang on, who the heck is Tracy Jones? And why does it say I have a date with her? [Man, he did not want to think how Dagger might react to that if she were not a drone]

Phone [After Action]

Um....hey, it’s Zidane here. It looks like I’ve been, uh....’gone’ for a bit. Sorry about that. I’m back to normal now.

So, did anything happen when I was gone that I should know about? Apart from my apparent date that Tracy chick. That wasn’t real, okay?

Hey, guys.

Tell me about your homes. What's the place you call 'home'? Where you belong? What's it like? I'm kinda curious.

[Yep. Someone's feeling a little introspective. And homesick but he'll try not to let that on.]

( Cut for FF 9 spoilers )

a) Phone

[A deep breath ] ...Hey, Rika and Ukraine? I’m not sure if you guys wanna talk to me right now and that’s okay. [No, the whole incident wasn’t his fault and he knew that but he understood if they wanted to avoid him] All I can say is that I’m really sorry for how I acted the other day. No matter what I apparently said and did back then....that wasn’t me.

If you guys want a better explanation, I’ll be happy to give it. You deserve it, anyway. Same with that other guy I hurt. [Since he doesn’t know Locke’s name]

b) Action – in front of 1247 Williams Road.

[Zidane is later seen building a large bonfire. The jack-in-the-box, which is is covered in blood, lies a few metres away from him although he plans to throw it in there. He wants to get rid of the wretched thing as soon as possible. It has done enough harm, already.]



[OOC: Residents in 1247 Williams or people passing by the house for Option B will notice that Zidane now has regained his monkey-tail. Feel free to stare at it. Or pull it if you’re a troll.]

( AU Swap under cut! FF IX spoilers )

Phone

[Good morning, Mayfield! Isn’t it a beautiful day? The sun is shining, the birds are singing and Zidane seems to have made an accidental phone call to the whole of Mayfield!

Or at least it sounds like Zidane. Something seems a little off...]

I’m so bored. Man, I can’t believe I’m trapped in this dump with a bunch of losers. I’ve gotta find a way to get back to Terra and report to Garland. That old geezer better not do something while I’m gone – can’t let him and Kuja reap all those Gaian souls and leave me out of the fun.

[A pause...] Hmm.....that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun here, though. Hee hee hee....


Action
[Later in the day, you can find Zidane in the street, looking like he is having difficulty trying to drag.....a small box? If you see him, he will call out to you]

Hey, can you give me a hand with this? I need to deliver it to 1247 Williams.

[No, the box isn’t really a jack-in-the-box that shoots out sharp knives right at you. What are you talking about?]

[OOC: If you want to do Action, just let me know if you want your character to get injured by knives. I’m not actually planning for him to kill anyone but I don’t want him hurting anyone without other people’s permissions!]

[Well, Zidane had a pretty awful start to the day. He had bumped into Dagger – which would, in most circumstances, been a very good thing.
Except that she had been droned.

Just like Keine had....

No no no this was not happening!

How long would this last for? Was she going to turn back?

Later, when Zidane returns to the house, he decides to give the rest of the town a call. So far, he had not found a way to reverse the droning on his own, but that does not mean that it was not possible – right? ]

[Voice, public]
Hey, if someone you know gets droned....is there any way to reverse it? Or do you have to wait until they just snap out of it randomly? [While Zidane is trying to keep his emotions in check, it's easy to tell that he doesn't sound his usual self - he sounds more serious and quiet than normal]

[It was one thing waking up in another part of Mayfield. And it was one thing waking up in a drone body and waiting a couple of months until you regained your Genome body. Zidane never expected to wake up, as a.....young girl, though.



Hopefully, this is a very bad dream. Zidane makes his way downstairs and grabs the nearest phone. Anybody who picks it up will hear the voice of some young 11 year-old girl. Or Platina’s voice, if you know her]

Um.....Dagger? It’s, uh, me, Zidane. [Wait. She’s really not going to believe this, is she? Sigh, this was going to be difficult and awkward]

.....Just come over to this house, for a sec, will ya? I’m at, uh....Dammit. What’s the address of this house?

[OOC: Replies will be made by aipomprincess]

[Anybody who comes to the park after school will find Zidane, standing in front of a group of kids in boy scout uniforms and wearing a troop leader uniform himself (not that he’s very tidy but it is not as if he wanted this job in the first place).

Yep, Zidane has been told that he is apparently a Boy Scout leader and would have slacked off if it were not for the threat of being droned. However, before he went, an impulsive thought came to his head – he wondered if he could do something with the kids that would not......exactly fit in with the town. Such as picking pockets?

Oh, well. He could give it a try. Zidane faces the line of boys and grins]

Alright, listen up, kids! Today, we’re gonna do something a little, er....different. Something that you guys probably haven’t done before.

[One drone kid’s hand goes straight up]

Yeah?

"Jeepers! Are we gonna learn how to help an old lady cross the street?"

Er....no.

[Another kid speaks up]

"Oh, golly! Maybe we’re gonna learn how to tidy our rooms so our moms will be proud of us!"

[Empty cheers occur among the drone kids, who then start bragging about who will have the tidiest room of all.]

Oh, man – are they serious?

[Feel free to stumble across him while walking in the park or something like that. Or assume that your character is part of the boy scout team themselves. Or another troop leader]