Welcome to Gaia! ::

Texas stared at Shira a few more moments before he slowly turned and walked into the room. Was Shira planning to trap him or something? He trusted her but she was acting really weird. He sighed and walked into the room, turning around and looking at Shira calmly. "Okay," he told her. "Let's talk."

Texas was still and quiet at first as Shira began to speak, but as she went on it was obviously he was growing steadily more and more upset. He clenched his fists and started walking back and forth across the room. "SO you think it's me, huh?" Texas asked, the anger in his voice obvious. "Well THANKS for the vote of confidence!" He raised his voice slightly as he glared at her. Texas was obviously angry, but something like this normally wouldn't cause this kind of reaction from him. Sure, he might be worried or upset but getting flat-out angry and defensive seemed like it was a bit much. "Me, a Sleeper cell? That's ridiculous. I was kicked out of the Order! I have the scars to prove it! And you think because I'm with Mirai that I'm looking for the "strongest Meister" so I can kill her later? Give me a break!"

Texas didn't seem too swayed by Shira's words. He was still obviously angry. But when Shira asked him her one question, that seemed to change as if she had flipped a switch. His face suddenly became blank as if he had forgotten all about his anger. Or any other emotion. "No," he replied simply. "That's not me."

Texas's expression turned back to normal all of a sudden. He seemed slightly confused but he quickly focused. It had been a subconscious defense mechanism; it wasn't just mental programming that jumped to life all of a sudden. It had ways to protect itself from being found out before it was time. Even by the person it was preparing to control. The anger. It hadn't been Texas's. It was an automatic defense that had been brainwashed into him to prevent someone from prying too deep into what they shouldn't know. The blank response that Texas had given Shira when she asked her question had been another, more obvious one. Shira's question was blurry to Texas; he couldn't quite remember what she asked but for some reason he wasn't really concerned with what it had been. "Kill Mirai? I'd never hurt her Shira! And I'm not lying to you!" And as far as Texas knew, he wasn't.

"I don't NEED any help Shira!" Texas replied, the strange anger coming out again. "I'm fine! I know who I am and I know what happened to me!" Then it was gone. "I know you're trying to help but I'm not going to go crazy and hurt anyone. But if there is someone here who's a sleeper agent then we need to fight them. It means The Machinist Order-" his expression went blank again for several moments before he came back as if nothing had happened. "And they're dangerous Shira, even to you. You have no idea what they can do to people..."

Texas nodded slowly. "Yeah...I will," he told her before turning around and walking out to where Mirai was. "We're done," he told her simply as he glanced back at Shira and took a deep breath. Thoughts and doubts were racing through his head. But for some reason his thoughts seemed to dull or turn away whenever he tried to consider the possibility that he was brainwashed. His soul hadn't changed the slightest in the entire time he had been in the room with Shira. Whatever they did to him, it wasn't a condition of the soul.