Scene #1977: Taro Talks

Owner	Pose
Kagenashi	It's been a while since Kagenashi's set herself up in the Dominus Ipsum offices, but here she is tonight, dressed in her more modern outfit of a black suit and skirt arranged to let her five luxurious black tails drape behind her. The office is mellow and quiet, lit warmly and softly to reinforce the sensation of mental peace it intends to convey. There's already tea brewing, as well, and a few small biscuits. Not much is currently going on in the office. Kagenashi herself is sitting at the desk and tapping at a couple of things on the computer, one leg crossed over the other and the hand not on the mouse resting in her lap. The door is closed, but unlocked as always: anyone coming through the Dark Holds would easily see the sign outside to mark the office as open for the night, with an invitation to simply knock and enter.
Taro	Taro, truth be told, rarely comes into The Citadel, save to work a shift in Medical or one of the repair bays. He's been abstractly aware that Dominus Ipsum has an office, but he's had little reason to visit. Usually because by the time someone might need his secific services, they're already in Medical or the repair bay. So it might be something of a surprise when the android opens the door and steps through it. Dressed in his now-typical uniform of cassock and collar, he pauses on just the other side of the entrace as the door glides shut behind him, glancing about in an assessing sort of way. "Calming decor, I see..." he remarks, before shifting his gaze from the room to its director. "Good evening, Kagenashi." He does not smile, but his tone is pleasant enough. "I would ask if I'm intruding, but that would rather run counter to the purpose of the office, hm?"
Kagenashi	Silver eyes flit over to the door just a moment before Taro opens it, just in time to see him enter. Kagenashi offers a slim, polite smile, and she turns in her chair to face her guest once she's greeted. Her own voice is as serene and steady as ever; fitting for the room, and, of course, her current role. "Good evening, Taro. Indeed, you do not have to worry about intrustion. This office is for anyone to come to whenever they have need of it, no matter who or when." One hand lifts to gesture to the nearby couches. "Please, have a seat. I assume that, if you are here, /you/ have need of this place. How may I assist you today?"
Taro	There's a moment of hesitation, but then Taro does move over to the nearest couch to take the offered seat. "For once I do," he admits as he sits down, closer to the edge of the cushion, leaning forward rather than back. "While I prefer to keep this a very private matter, I believe someone should know of it, in case something should happen to me, either physically or to my neuralnet." He looks back at Kagenashi, or at least in her direction, not meeting her eyes. "Given the purpose of this group and your being its director, you seem to be the best candidate." A long pause. Possibly to collect his thoughts, possibly to work past the fiction he's been maintaining. When the words do come, they're spoken as somber fact. "SHODAN vanished several months ago."
Kagenashi	Kagenashi leans back a little in her seat once Taro's settled, hands folded in her lap and keen silver eyes fixed on her guest. She remains serene as ever, smiling faintly and sitting patiently as Taro speaks. Even when he drops that worrying statement, her expression hardly shifts at all; a master of controlling herself, no doubt a helpful task for the position she's taken. "I see," she remarks softly, thoughtfully. Her gaze flits aside to the wall for a moment as she considers her own words. "Of course, anything you say here is as confidential as you wish it to be. I do not talk about the conditions of people I speak to or anything they say to me, unless it is very clearly necessary for the sake of their own well-being. In this case, however, it seems you have been conducting yourself well despite this notable loss." The nogitsune glances back to Taro, her head tilting slightly to one side. "Do you know where she may have gone? Have you begun to search for her, or...?"
Taro	A small shake of the head. "I have been searching the multiversal network, but thus far I've found no sign of where she has gone, or an explanation as to what may have occurred. All I can say with certainty is that she no longer dwells within her Holy of Holies..." Taro seems to catch himself there, and then rephrases is less religious terms. "Or should I say that she no longer occupies her central nodes on Citadel Station, where she has always been at least partially in all the years that I have been enslaved to her. I have no answer as to why, only private conjectures."
Kagenashi	Kagenashi simply nods in silent understanding, not yet offering her own words until she figures out what would be best to say. "A troubling situation indeed. I will not ask you to voice those private conjectures if you wish not to; I trust that you have considered the situation for some time already, knowing what I do of you." Her eyes narrow slightly as she considers Taro for a moment longer. "So, she is missing. Perhaps indefinitely, if she simply vanished without a trace, and I assume that you would approach the Field Marshal or someone of similar rank if you intended to gain official assistance with finding her. As I understand it, you were in quite a significant position beneath her. Where, then, does this leave you, Taro?"
Taro	"The CyberGoddess has vanished, but her Church remains." Taro raises his left hand from where it's been resting on the arm of the sofa, palm up and fingers slightly cupped. "The laity and the lowest ranks of her clergy as yet remain unaware. Even before, it had become rare for her to speak so directly to those outside her innermost advisors. She simply chose to delegate. I've left it to my more theologial peers to work out the implications this has for us as a religion." A wry note creeps into his voice as he lowers his hand again. "We are hardly the first to have a deity walk among us for a time and then to disappear." Then, his brow furrows as he begins to answer Kagenashi's last question. Where does this leave him? "As her Bishop Engineer, my faith remains unchanged. However, her disappearance left me with more personal, practical concerns....I imagine that you are aware of my enslavement programming."
Kagenashi	"Gods may wander as they please, or as fate chooses for them," Kagenashi remarks calmly. "That you can maintain her teachings in her absence - if you so choose, of course - is what is important. It may be as if she never left." Her head cocks to the side slightly, black ears perking through her hair in a gesture of vulpine curiosity. "Enslavement programming? No, I believe I was not aware of that exactly. I can gather enough, however; I imagine it left you intentured to her in a way that is far more binding than any organic creature could endure. Is that still active in her absence?"
Taro	Taro arches a brow at her admission that she was unaware...but then it is not exactly important in the grand sceme of things. It has not caused the Confederacy any trouble in the recent past, and so it has not been an issue. "Then I should explain...the details are in my medical chart and my personnel profile, which I assume is still being kept somewhere even after losing my commission, but you should know the basics, for context of this conversation, and in case in some point in the future I become, shall we say, difficult." He doesn't look away from her, exactly, but his gaze grows distant. "I was not designed to be sentient, Kagenashi. Autonomous, yes, but intended to be a simulation, entirely subservient to my original creator. There are numerous safeguards in programming that were intended to prevent me from ever achieving sentience." He gives the tiniest hint of a smile, a tiny lopsided curl of his lips. "Yet, he either built me too well, or not well enough, and I developed errors caused by a dilemma that could not be resolved without a higher order of thinking." And then it is gone as his frown reasserts itself. "Yet the safeguards remain, and I live carefully within them to avoid triggering them. It would mean a reversion to what I had been before, an erasure of the person you call Taro Daisho. My enslavement programming is one of those safeguards. I must serve someone. If I have no Master, then the safeguards will trigger, and I will be lost to the demon I had been."
Kagenashi	Kagenashi sits and listens again, carefully taking in the information Taro gives her. She has never had to take him on as an actual patient, and so she simply hasn't thought to investigate his records; certainly, after this, she'll be doing exactly that just to make sure she's aware. "A troublesome situation indeed." Even then, her tone is stable and serene. "I almost wonder how possible it would be to reprogram those safeguards, but...well, I suppose that is something to consider at another time. The immediate issue, from the sound of things, is that you require someone to serve. Have you found some such person yet, or have you not begun that search? I am not too certain what qualities someone would have to demonstrate for that role."
Taro	Taro's mildly dour mask slips, and his face darkens as she speaks the word 'reprogram', brow furrowing more deeply and eyes narrowing in a scowl. "Do not consider it." The expression lingers as the conversation treads back into somewhat safer territory. "I have already found someone willing to accept the burden of being my Master, and she now holds my chains. While the choice had to be made in haste, thus far it seems we are rather compatible."
Kagenashi	"As you wish," Kagenashi replies with an apologetic bow of her head. "My apologies; I do not mean to offend, of course. It is only natural to me to consider all possible options." Then a brief nod, and Kagenashi even allows the slightest smile to curve her lips. "Already? Excellent. Would you wish to reveal who that individual is, or would you prefer to keep it silent for the moment? The fact that you have such a master so quickly is wonderful news on its own."
Taro	The android closes his eyes, giving a small shake of his head. "You were not aware of the results of prior attempts to remove the chains. But please, do not suggest it again." The apology and his acceptance of it seems to have settled him. "I had come here to tell you who I now serve." Though the conversation understandably meandered from that point, as so many conversations do. "Though again I ask it be held in strict confidence until I say otherwise. My current Master is Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, Head of the Protestant Knights and Director of the Hellsing Organization." Beat. "The one in our ranks, not the one who had served in the Union."
Kagenashi	Another silent nod of assent to that request. Then a smirk flits over Kagenashi's expression for only the briefest moment. "Yes, I assume you would be smart enough not to become the servant of someone in the Union. I have not heard from our Integra in some time, but I imagine her position keeps her busy. You will certainly be in good hands with her, and, as you wish, I will not speak of it to anyone until you are willing to do so yourself." A pause hangs in the air before Kagenashi speaks again. "Though, I would also request that you come to me again if you feel that the situation needs to change. If, for instance, Sir Integra is no longer able to be your Master in an adequate capacity, for one reason or another. I would like to aid you if the situation comes to that in the future."
Taro	Taro gives a deep nod of assent to her request. "I will. The offer is appreciated, and had the circumstances been different, I likely would have come to you before choosing another master. Unfortunately, as I said, the choice had to be made in haste." He opens his eyes again, looking towards her. "Still, it seems to be developing into a mutually beneficial relationship."
Kagenashi	"We cannot always choose our circumstances. I am only pleased that you were able to find someone so suitable in such a short span of time. You are, after all, a valuable member of the Confederacy, and it would be unfortunate to lose you over something like this." Kagenashi's smile softens again, silver eyes stil gleaming and keen. "I am also quite pleased to hear that /both/ of you are benefitting from this. Such arrangements are always ideal. Perhaps your goddess may still be smiling on you, if you are blessed with such swift and ample good fortune." The nogitsune gives a short sigh, then nods slightly. "Well. Thank you, Taro, for approaching me to talk about this. I do hope the situation continues as well as it already has. Hopefully, if all goes well, you will not have to go through this swift decision again."
Taro	"Mm. Perhaps she is at that." Her words no doubt intended to bring him comfort, yet it seems he finds them...almost amusing? There's a hint of something in his voice, at least. "That is my hope as well. Out of all the Masters I have served over the years, this SHODAN was the longest. I would hate to be passed through another set of hands so soon." Taro rises from the sofa in one smooth motion, then bows to her. "Thank you for listening, Kagenashi. As I'm sure you know, it can be very difficult to find an ear who only listens. I appreciate that." A pause. "Do you need anything before I go?"
Kagenashi	"I am an ear to listen and a pillar to support, for whoever may need it. I simply live to fulfill the roles I have taken on, Taro." Kagenashi stands as well, tails falling to drape behind her, hands folded in front. The bow is returned, and when she straightens, she still has that placid smile. "I need nothing myself, but I still thank you for the offer. Please, take care of whatever you need, and remember that I will be present to assist however I may. Let us just hope that you will not have need of my help, hm?"
Taro	The smile continues to go unmet, his faint frown having fully returned, but he remains as polite as ever. "Yes, let us hope," he says with a nod. And with that, Taro takes his leave. "Good evening, Kagenashi."