935/Checkup at Taro's lab

Checkup at Taro's lab
Date of Scene:	07 November 2014
Location:	Neo Arcadia-00001
Synopsis:	Ferham seeks a second opinion of sorts on the strange accent glitch she's been having.
Cast of Characters:	399, 516

---

Taro (399) has posed:
    The location of Taro's lab is no great secret - though few outside of the Church of SHODAN have reason to visit or be invited there, most are aware of which towers are dedicated in whole or part to the Church's work. One of the city's many elevated trains runs through the tower's central lobby, which would have been how Taro would have suggested to Ferham to get here. One of his friendly-looking yet faceless drones (imagine if you will a less-menacing sort Pantheon possibly suited to be around children) will have waited for her in said lobby, warbled a greeting to the reploid, and indicated for her to follow him to one of the many elevator banks.
    A quick lift later brings her to the lobby-like area of his lab, where the Bishop Engineer stands waiting to greet her. Around him are the signs of others at work, shadows in motion behind the glass partitions, the occasional faint sound of electronics or machinery.
    "Good evening, Miss Ferham," he greets with a polite bow. "Welcome back to Neo Arcadia."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     Taro's lab was quite a cozy place, in general, and not just if one was a Reploid. The open air nature of it as well as the construction reminded her that she was... well, sort of home. She recognized the materials used here and the construction reminded her even more of Giga City, or Gigantis, as it had been originally known. Her heeled boots clicked as she entered, having of course given Taro a bit of a warning for when she was going to stop over. Boots clicking as she stepped off the elevator, she blinked as she was addressed, looking up at the android priest.

     "Oh, hello, I'm sorry, you just surprised me for a moment by calling me 'Miss' there," she smiled with her eyes scrunching up thin like a cats, before offering him one of her gauntleted hands, as he bowed. One might suppose for a shake, or maybe to kiss. "I like this place, particularly your installation here," she replied.

Taro (399) has posed:
    Perhaps Neo Arcadia had taken some cues from Giga City in its earlier days. It's hard to say. So much of this version's history was lost in the wars that made the world outside the walls all but uninhabitable....
    Taro as a habit doesn't smile. For all that his face seems human, it can be rather unexpressive. Still, the corners of his lips curl upward a bit, and the corners of his eyes crinkle slightly. "Thank you. I believe that style is as important as function, and I prefer to work in a pleasant environment when I can. Would you prefer if I skipped the titles, then?" he asks pleasantly. Ferham's extended hand is taken in both of his own, one beneath and the other atop it, as if he would greet one of his parishoners. Perhaps he's misunderstood her gesture, but it's a greeting all the same.
    Then he drops hands. "You had said that you were interested in my help...?"

Ferham (516) has posed:
     True, outside this place the landscape was really wastelands, mostly, though Ferham had been in more remote and desolate places in her time. Still, even if Taro didn't smile he wasn't that bad to look at, with that haircut and face of his. She had wondered what the stripes across his face were for, though she wasn't about to ask that abruptly, it seemed.

     "Skipped titles? not at all, I rather like being called 'miss' and the like, most humans don't call me very much to begin with, if at all," Ferham shook her head lightly, not retracting her hand as soon as she could, any pleasantry was a good pleasantry, it seemed. "Yes, I'd like your help on something perhaps... you've heard of my... capture by the blindside group, yes?" she replied after a short pause, as if thinking about something.

     "I seemed to have picked up either a virus or a programming glitch since I was tampered by them and repaired by Dr. Wily, it seems to affect my vocalizations."

Taro (399) has posed:
    Taro gives a small nod at that, brow furrowing. "I had read the reports, yes. I trust that the ones who did that to you have been dealt with?"
    Doctor Wily, hm? The man seemed to be competent enough, organic or not. He makes no complaint about her choice of physicians. Though he does have to womder if he'll ever see his damaged arm again...
    He gestures in the direction of one of the nearby alcoves, where a table, chairs, and wall-mounted screens are waiting. "What sort of effect is it having on them?"

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "We were able to capture one of their computer specialists before the rest of their team fled, me and Miss Clokwerk fitted her with a similar device that they inserted into me via her cyberware jack, was more than happy to tell us everything she knew," Ferham smirked a little. The tables had turned there in that case, amusingly, apparently.

     As Ferham walked to one of the tables, she leaned against it before looking back to Taro. There was a pause, and then she spoke again. "Vell, you zee it is like dis," she began speaking, and Taro might have to blink and make sure he's not standing in front of some kind of 6-foot tall armored Russian lady, because that's exactly what she suddenly sounded like. "Zee effects of zee cheep seems to assign randomly allocated accentz to my vocal pattern," she sighed a little, as if this was humiliating in itself.

Taro (399) has posed:
    Perhaps not a full victory, by the sounds of it, but someone responsible for Ferham's ill treatment has been chastized. That seems to satisfy him, at least for now. Her current ailment takes priority anyway.
    Taro doesn't blink, but his eyebrows do arch slightly at the sudden change of accent. "I see...does this happen apparently at random, or have you noticed anything that triggers this change? How does it last, typically?"

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "Ve sent zat tech specialist of ders off to prison after we were done with our 'interview' so to speak, but this issue here," she gestured to herself, "Perseests," she nodded. "It zeems to be activated by the old routines zee behavior cheep zey installed in me, Dr. Vily installed another to help inhibit zee addictive effectz the old cheep had," she explained as best she could. "I assume it's dat... or maybe it is just random, and my programming has been damaged somehow by the blindside group, I am not entirely sure," she sighed.

Taro (399) has posed:
    "It could be an incompatibility between the two," Taro muses, bringing a gloved hand to his chin. "Or between both of them and your inbuilt speech programming..." He trails off for a moment, considering this puzzle. "You've already switched back to your normal pattern. Are these periods brief like this, or do they typically last longer?"

Ferham (516) has posed:
     Indeed, the oddness with her accent seemed to come and go. "I'm not sure. You... need to examine me then?" Ferham looked at Taro, then at herself, before pausing and then finally raising a hand to the collar at her throat and touching the gem there, her armor briefly glowing before vanishing entirely leaving her in just her black fullbody undersuit.

     "I have to admit it's been a while before I let anyone work on me, at least after that," she shivered momentarily, or maybe she was just adjusting to sitting on the edge of the table. "Sometimes it sticks around for a while, other times for short periods like that," she nodded. She seemed to find some safety or comfort with Taro, at least.

Taro (399) has posed:
    "It would make the diagnosis easier," Taro points out. "I will do my best to be minimally invasive. If you'd feel more comfortable lying down, you may." His tone is reassuring, at least, even if there's no smile paired with it.
    Access to ArmorSpace, a good thing to know. He gives the barest of nods as Ferham's armor vanishes, giving her a brief, appraising glance over her. "While it may be inappropriate to ask a lady's age, I'd like to know how long you've been operating. Aside from what they did to you, have you had any modifications, hardware or software, since your activation?"

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "Sure, it's a bit better than what happened before," Ferham responded before laying herself back down, brushing her shoulder-length black hair out of the way. "Age? oh, a year since unification, before that I had been rolled out for... 6.5 years, construction of Giga City took nearly a decade," of course, even that period of time would be paltry in the age before advanced robotics.

     "Modifications... can't say I've had any, besides when I was tampered with. Wily has done some basic repairs for me since I've been in service to the MRD," she meant the confederacy, of course, though that got boring to say all the time, perhaps.

Taro (399) has posed:
    Taro sweeps a hand in the direction of the nearest screen, which momentarily flashes the sigil of the Church of SHODAN before flickering over to a more standard if at the moment mostly empty medical chart. "Archivist, begin taking notes," he says absently and to apparently to whatever computer system is running in the background. "Patient is Ferham, Reploid, pre-Wars, from alternate iteration. Age approximately seven years, no known modifications prior to incident." Then, back to his patient, "I'm assuming that you're running one of the standard Reploid operating system, humanoid combat model variation? Have you ever been exposed to or been a victim of the Maverick virus?" While waiting on her answers, he moves one of the rolling chairs closer before taking a seat in it.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "No, the Sigma and Maverick viruses had been eradicated by the time I was rolled out, just some remnants of them still left in cyberspace," Ferham shook her head, taking this question seriously. It had been a thing in decades before her time, she knew, but she'd never been exposed... as far as she knew, anyway.

     "I don't mind you taking scans and data, but I just ask you be careful with who has access to it, especially those outside of the confederacy. I don't want to wake up strapped to a chair again," she sighed a little, shaking her head. "Sorry... it's just, someone hacked Clokwerk's comm frequency, it's how they knew about me and where to find me."

Taro (399) has posed:
    "Good. It is a terrible thing, mercifully long since eradicated here." It sounds like Taro takes it as seriously as she does. As he does with her concern for privacy. "I promise that the only ones who will be able to access your data are myself and those with Confederate medical access, as well as anyone of your choosing. I too prefer not to have just anyone have access to such sensitive information."
    As they talk, the medical chart on the screen behind him begins filling in. Maverick Virus: No.
    "Out of curiosity, have cyber-elves been created yet in your world?"

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "Yes, it's good not to let just anyone have access, or any technical savvy individuals, as was the problem in my case," Ferham cleared her throat. "I've made up with Clokwerk since, she helped me escape their control, however I'd rather not see it happen again," a pregnant pause. "No I don't believe so, as far as I can recall from reading historical records those were created shortly after my world unified, so I've had no contact... why?" she seemed curious as to why the mechapope was asking such a question, anyway.

Taro (399) has posed:
    "Of course," Taro's tone is understanding, though with darker undertones. "Being tampered with in such a way is to be violated." A hint of a sneer clouds his face for a moment. "Something which most organics do not seem to understand."
    The moment quickly passes - there is a puzzle to solve, and that needs his attention more than old memories. He waves his hand again, followed by a faint hum of electronics from the ceiling above the table. "Hold still, please. I'm going to run a physical scan first, before I have a look at your software architecture." Pause, then to answer her question to his question, "The cyber-elves came out of the project that eradicated the Maverick Virus here. I wondered if this was a unique solution, or if other worlds similiar to Neo Arcadia had found the same solution."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "Violated? raped? whatever you want to call it, you could say that," Ferham peered over at Taro for a moment. "I take it you've had it happen to you before?" she seemed to catch the edge of emotion Taro had about it, it didn't seem pleasant. She however keeps still for him, as long as it takes, letting the physical scan run over her body.

     "While we were somewhat isolated on Giga City, there may have been experiments with them prior to my rollout process, I'm really not sure," she shrugs. "My records could show inconsistencies... my apologies," she turned to look at him again. This priest definitely had more going on under the hood than she realized at first.

Taro (399) has posed:
    The scan does not take long. A hum as a line of light and almost-tickling warmth passes over her from toes to the top of her head. The results appear the be almost instantaneously processed, or at least a fairly if condensed image of her inner framework also makes an appearance on the screen.
    "Yes." Taro does not elaborate. Instead, he swivels his chair around to gaze at the screen. "Mm. My compliments to your designers," he says after a moment. "Doctor Wily seems to have done rather well in repairing you, too." More handwaving, and the image tilts and swivels and magnifies her vocalizer module. While it is most likely not a hardware issue at the root of it, best to verify that assumption before moving on.

Ferham (516) has posed:
     Regardless of her concerns over her own data security or Taro, Fer leaned back and seemed serene until the light had passed over her fully. "Heh... you think so? I'm glad you approve," Ferham smiled a little, sitting up now, and peering up at the screen he was looking at. "The Doctor I think was also interested in my design, though he didn't show the enthusiasm you do," she smiled up at the priestbot, enjoying his hospitality and manners again, it would seem.

     "If you were not some kind of clergyman I'd be inclined to ask you out on a date, be better than going out on with that Lute fellow anyway," Ferham made a noise like 'ugh' at the back of her throat.

Taro (399) has posed:
    Taro glances back at Ferham when he hears her sitting up, then returns his gaze back to the screen. "If this Doctor Wily is like the other Doctor Wily's I've met, he's interested in all kinds of robotic designs. I imagine I never will see my broken arm again." He doesn't sound particularly concerned about its loss - if anything, he's mildly amused. Then, more seriously and clinical. "There doesn't appear to be any physical damage to the chipset or to the vocalizer module. That doesn't exclude poor chip design, of course, but it does mean we can rule out damage that he didn't detect."
    That faint amusement creeps back into his voice. "Better the priest than the fool, hm?"

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "I realize his tech is older, and likely much more rudimentary, sure--but I was in a lot of pain at the time due to the behavioral chip's addictive effects, it wasn't pleasant," she shook her head, as if to say any help at that point was good help. "Maybe's just malfunctioning, hmm.. will have to ask him about a replacement, then, I suppose," she seemed somewhat satisfied with this explanation. The chip was just not up to scratch, being an older design and inferior to the rest of her.

     "Can you believe that Lute person is even married? I thought he hit on everyone in the confeds," she peered over at Taro.

Taro (399) has posed:
    "Doctor Wily, at least in some timelines, is one of the great-grandfathers of reploid technology along with Doctor Light. He may be behind us in technology, but I have deep respect for his genius. That said, you may want to exercise some caution if there's anything in your weapons that you do -not- want incorporated into one of his next creations." It's probably far too late to stop the man from reusing her physical design at this point, and so he does not suggest it.
    "It could also be a conflict or glitch in your software," he notes as he swivels his chair back to face her. His elbows rest on the armrest, his fingers steepled. "Though if it is, it will likely be harder to tease out and and correct. Reploid programming architecture is designed to be flexible and self-altering, which in the long run is good, but makes it more difficult to repair when something does go wrong. I would recommend that Doctor Wily check the compatibility of his design, and if the problem is not there, then we'll keep looking. In the meantime, if you could note when, how often, and for how long these accent-shifts last, that would help as well."
    He doesn't even try to disguise his contempt. "I had nothing to do with that marriage ceremony. I will not speak about Harp his wife, but Lute makes a mockery of such a union."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "That I'm not concerned about," Ferham replied to the statement about her weapons. "Besides, if there's anything I want it's a good working relationship, at least he doesn't try to hijack me," well, much. Ferham blinked, as she looked up, trying to think. "I think it's every two or so days, seems to be either in intervals or 24 hours or the like, sometimes it's been a few minutes to a few hours," she shrugged a little helplessly. Her brows widened when Taro finally mentioned Lute, however.

     "Harp? I haven't heard of this person, hell I didn't even know he was married, wouldn't think he was from hearing him or meeting him," she seemed surprised, laying back down on the exam table to relax a little. "Tried to kiss me the other night out of the blue, I threw him across the room," she recounted.

Taro (399) has posed:
    "I'd be curious to see if there is some pattern to it, especially if it's not an obvious one," Taro says by way of explanation. He also makes a personal note to himself to speak with Doctor Wily himself later, if he can reach the man. Mad geniuses do tend to keep odd hours.
    "Don't expect tossing across the room to deter him for long." He shakes his head. "He's as incorrigible as he is dense. Next time, try throwing him out a window, if one is handy. As for Harp," he gives a graceful shrug, "I believe she resigned and is working in a more civilian role, or strictly with Team Rocket. I've no doubt that she's aware of his extracirricular relationships, though."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "Hmm... I think there may be, might need to pay attention to the data more," Ferham nodded, then pulled herself back up. "Wasn't one, it was on the ground floor," Fer replied, as if a bit disappointed they /weren't/ higher up. "That's... strange, I wasn't aware that sort of thing was normal in most unions of that nature," Fer seemed a little weirded out by it, truth be told, which made the sudden kiss even moreso unwelcome. She might have even have not felt the advances entirely unwelcome at first, it wasn't like most men paid attention to her.

     "I'll be sure to keep that in mind though, thank you for the diagnostics either way, Mr... should I say Mister, or Father Taro?" she smiled a little, swinging her dainty spandex clad feet and legs over the side of the table to sit up, reaching over to tkae his hand again perhaps to shake.

Taro (399) has posed:
    "It isn't." Taro doesn't disguise the disapproval in his voice any more than he did his contempt. "Unions such as marriage mean nothing if there is no commitment between those who have taken their vows." He rises to his feet in one smooth motion, one hand on the armrest to keep the chair from sliding back. "But if I say more, I may be accused of preaching." Which is technically part of his role as a Bishop Engineer, but he does try to keep evangelizing within the confines of the temple rather than the lab.
    "In the Church, I would be addressed as 'Your Eminence', but outside of it, Mister or Father are fine. Most of the Confederacy has settled on Mister, but as you like." His hand is taken, and the corners of his lips twitch upward once more. "You are quite welcome. I imagine that this glitch has been very annoying for you."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "I agree, it just sort of seems odd for that not to be taken into account. Father it is then," Ferham smiled a little playfully, clearly enjoying her rapport with the Bishop, as it were. "I'd be interested in your church, if I was able to learn a little more about it. I'm curious as to what sort of opportunities might be here in Neo Arcadia, or if there's anything the city might be in need of," she nodded. "I don't ask just to try and be generous, I'm legitimately interested in the place."

     Standing up, she straightened her suit out and made sure everything was in order with a cursory check of her bod, though her armor hadn't gone back on yet.

Taro (399) has posed:
    "I would be happy to discuss them with you. Over tea, perhaps?" Taro helps her to her feet if she wants that assistance, then speaks out to the room, "Archivist, end note-taking, store log in medical sector, secure encryption." A chime answers, and the screen goes blank, to be replaced with SHODAN's sigil.
    Attention returns to Ferham. "Lute is in many ways an example unto others of what not to think, to say, or to do. I think the only reason he has lived this long is that some god or another finds him amusing."

Ferham (516) has posed:
     "I would agree with you there, and tea? I'd love that," Ferham nodded again, giving the other reploid a little bow. "As for your observation there? I'd agree with that, or maybe it's just a case of darwinism failing," Ferham winked at her little joke there, before her armor reformed over herself in a white glow.

     "Afraid I need to head off for now, thank you for your help again, Father Taro," her smile persisted, seemingly quite enjoying his company. Sad to see it go, though she had business to attend to. It didn't take her long to get to that lift and take it down again, giving the priest a little wave goodbye.