( needless to say, over the past couple of weeks zack has been through some Stuff. with a capital 's'. because it's that Serious.

again, capital 's'. is the point coming across?

the snow is beginning to melt, but there's still enough that it's still deep enough in parts that he and his puppy self have to hop to get around. it's just like when anyone first saw him – hop, pause, hop hop pause, sit on haunches and maybe scratches an ear …

but see, this is where the machine chooses to have even more fun with him. he's picked himself back up and is in mid-hop when POOF. there is no longer a black puppy with bright blue eyes shuffling his way through the snow. there is now a familiar-looking boy with spiky black hair face first in the snow with his butt stuck up in the air.

because that's what happens when you suddenly find yourself turned back into your original form in the middle of a hop in the snow.

zack sputters, face and hair full of snow, and though shaking his head dislodges most of it, he still looks like he's been dusted with powdered sugar. )

What –

WHAT THE CRAP!?

( ooc; experiment's over~ hope everybody had fun! )

( you know what you guys need in addition to your snow? since you've all been going through some pretty hard times, what with those angels and shadows running around a while back and all.

you need.

puppy therapy.

now, those of you that have found yourselves in the fortuitous circumstance of meeting one zack fair before now, you've probably come to realize a few things about him. he's helpful to a fault, cheery, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and all that. a restless ball of energy. what you wouldn't know is that a certain mentor of his happens to refer to him as a puppy, quite literally, and it's something the boy himself wouldn't know if he hadn't just paid a visit to aforementioned mentor's home village. and subsequently, his mother.

are you … zack, the puppy?

jeez, angeal …

when it all comes down to it, when this is all over, that little piece of conversation is going to be the only thing he can attribute his current state to. right now? uh. he's … well.

he's come back to the plane after the snow has already fallen in completion, and once he gets over the initial oh man, snow! it really snows here? never would've thought of that business, it takes him a second to realize that this snow is a lot closer to his face than it should be. like. it's really close. close enough to nip at.

…

wait. what's going on – !?

yep. just now catching up to the fact that he's not in the shape he's supposed to be in.

anyone that happens across him will find a moderately-sized black pup, nothing but legs and too-big paws, a lot like this, actually, save for the fact that his eyes are still bright, brilliant blue and one of his ears is flopped over while the other sticks straight up. he sits in the snow for a moment, looking all around him as though trying to figure out what in the world is going on, and that might be exactly what he's doing – except you'll never know. because for all that his original thought processes and cognitive awareness are both intact, his ability to express himself has been reduced to what you can make of yips and yaps and the biting of ankles.

maybe especially that last part, if he finds himself particularly agitated.

i knew this place was weird, but … but come on! i can't do anything like this!

after a while, he gets up, shakes some of the snow off. and if you catch him bunny-hopping through the deeper parts of snow as he tries to get his bearings, well … you'd better not comment on it. unless you want in on some of that ankle-biting action. )

( ooc; this is an official canon-bump with the added bonus of an experiment tacked on, because i'm the best sort of person. :D zack's experiment will last around two weeks, so have fun with the pup! )

( everyone else has been dealing with their own doppelgangers; his friends, those that he hasn't quite managed to make an impression on beyond stupid hero type, everyone that he's so far come into contact with since he'd first starting coming to the plane in the first place. he isn't any different, and even though this chance encounter effectively takes place before he runs into anyone else and their personal demon, at least, once it's over, it will allow him to help if they end up choosing the same route he has. ( which is, of course, the one that makes things way more difficult than they need to be. )

zack's shadow has already started in on him – hadn't wasted any time at all, which, considering just how often the soldier himself goes rushing into things? it isn't all that surprising. zack has his sword drawn, both hands curled tightly around the hilt and holding it steady as the thing spouts line after line of things that he doesn't want to hear at him, the words digging beneath the surface of his skin and burying themselves into his very being.

you've been trying so hard, you've got all these ambitions, and they're not letting you show 'em what you've got. it's all about sephiroth, the silver general, the war hero. how are you ever gonna live up to that?

if only that were where it stopped. no matter what he tells himself – that it isn't true, that it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of him, because he's going to prove himself and all of his ambitions no matter how long it takes – it's only the beginning, and even as he grits his teeth against the sting of the words he's already beginning to doubt what he's believed about himself all along.

can't stop long enough to give it any thought, huh? just gonna swing that sword and hope it makes a difference? tch … you're not gonna convince anybody of anything if you don't start using your head more.

he's bloodied, already, bruised when he finally lowers his sword to take a breath, still gritting his teeth against the truths slowly eating away at him, picking off little pieces here and there and stripping him down to the bone. his shadow looks at him, head tilted to the side, those yellow eyes glowing far more brightly than they have any right to be. finally listening?

zack raises his head, a trickle of blood sliding from the corner of his mouth down his chin, every bone and every muscle aching as he raises his sword again, shakes his head.

let it never be said that he can't quite figure out how to do things the easy way the first time around – but it will catch up with him eventually. everything always does. )

[ so, about those eggs that have been popping up all over the plane. is it any surprise at all this this one right here just had to touch one? ( it shouldn't be. it really shouldn't be. and if it is, clearly you haven't interacted with him enough yet to get the big picture. )

so, yep. this is one ( 1 ) zack fair currently out at the beach, figuring sand is safe enough for what he has in mind. ( sand is always safe. you can't convince him otherwise. unless it gets up your nose and you end up sneezing up a storm, in which case it's not exactly unsafe so much as uncomfortable. )

his nadder is following him closely, peering up at him every so often as if expecting anything to happen at any moment, and once zack finally stops, he looks down at his dragon and smiles about as big as he's ever done in his entire life. ] Okay. You ready to try this out?

[ this little stunt is going to end up going into a manual entitled How Not To Use Materia at some point in the future, but for now, no one has to know. so!

he's still grinning when a small fireball launches itself toward the dragon, and – surprise! – it immediately tries to catch it, snapping at the air as it comes closer and ultimately fizzles out. ta-da, a new way to play catch with pets that would probably melt a tennis ball if you threw it at them.

he's pretty pleased with himself, all told – at least until his dragon decides it wants to spit a fireball back at him, and while he's more than used to dodging, he might just end up with some singed eyebrows if he's not careful. um. okay. wasn't expecting that. but! it's just a little fire.

anybody wanna come play with these goobers? ]

[ he's already taken care of one of these things. this one's gonna be a piece of cake!

( because it totally doesn't matter that he only has five minutes before the place goes up in flames. he's got this in the bag and he's going to show director lazard that not only is his dream of becoming a hero not unattainable, it's just within his reach. )

he takes a swing at the thing – man, you're ugly! – and it goes down just as the one before it had. with a heavy thud and a settling of even heavier limbs, and zack thinks he's pretty well-deserved in the way he strides up to the body, swinging his sword back into place over his shoulder. ] Gotcha, didn't I, you –

[ smack!

a heavy hand comes up, catches him right across his front and sends him flying backward. oh, crap, not good. so not good –

and where he expects to get up close and personal with one of the pillars that circle the outermost space of the room he'd been in, the impact doesn't come. he ends up sprawled on his back, arms and legs akimbo, and ow okay sword digging into my back ow ow ow. he sits up, shakes his head and winces when a sharp little stab of pain forms right behind his eyes, looks around to see just what on gaia had happened. ] … Huh? Wait, this isn't – [ this isn't fort tamblin.

this isn't wutai at all.

unless wutai had always had a floor made up of stars and he just hadn't noticed. maybe he'd been too busy taking out their soldiers, or something, because that has to make a bit of sense, doesn't it? ( no, it doesn't. it doesn't have to make any amount of sense, zack fair. ) ] Where … hellooo? Angeal? [ he pulls himself up to his knees, wincing again as that pain behind his eyes creeps up on him a second time. ]

Director? [ nope. nothin'. ] Jeez, that thing must've hit me harder than I thought. [ he finally manages to get to his feet, rolling his shoulders and reaching behind him to ensure that his sword is securely in place, stretching himself out with a couple of squats just to be sure – because you never know, he's pretty much convinced that there's always going to be time for squats – and he takes a few steps forward, still peering down at the floor like he's never seen stars before.

which. he has, naturally. it's just that they're usually in the sky and not on the ground and how is that supposed to make sense. ( here's the thing, zack … stop trying to make sense of things already. you'll save yourself a lot of headaches along the way if you just go with it. ) ] Hey, uh … Anybody here?

… At all? [ no? :| ]

[ooc: delayed intro is delayed! RL kind of blindsided me, but I should be good to go, now. Thanks for being patient with me :|b]


[It's probably a hallucination; that's the only explanation Zack can come up with as he looks around at his new surroundings. It's not the lab, or the transparent green of a mako pod, or even the forest outside of town. Instead he sees... space.]

...What the hell?

[Nice and coherent, there. But since when did this happen? He can sort of remember a dream, but dreams have never been reality. And what about-]

Cloud? Cloud, where are you? Cloud! [...Nothing.] Is this some kind of joke? Hey! This isn't funny...!

[Aaaand he's walking. Through space.

...So weird.]