World Tree MUSH

    There are a number of generic worlds out there ripe for the picking. They can have just about anything that a person could need, including gold, silver, jewels, other precious metals, magicite, things that work like magicite, and... airship parts.
    The last entry on the list is the thing that is the most interesting to the crew of the Strahl. Given as they've been cut off from Ivalice, their means of repairing the ship are slim, and it's been kept flying through a wing, a prayer, and a lot of moogle ingenuity.
    Today's target is a manufactory of some kind, a warehouse, located in the slightly grimy industrial sector of a well-to-do city. It's a big uninteresting block of a building, with different parts of the building established for different tasks. Computers don't seem to be a huge industry, here, but there are things that are -- like airship parts, and this would appear to be the facility of a major shipwright. Some of them bear the sleek and predatory lines of military airships; others look like civilian models.
    Inside the heart of the laboratory, there is an empty storeroom where a handful of guards are unconscious, their wrists and ankles bound by nylon ties.
    About two city blocks away (it's a very large building), there are two figures slinking along the hall, almost loping, towards the bays where many of the inner workings are put together. Of course there are also all manner of precious metals, here, and maybe even the odd precious mineral -- airships need a lot to keep them aloft.
    Figure the first is a man in a crisp white silk shirt, a gold-embroidered vest, and black leggings; clutched in his hand is an antiquated-looking but still deadly rifle. His companion is a bit more outlandish, being a woman taller by him than two or so inches (and he's quite tall, at six feet), dark of skin, white of hair, and sporting tall hare's-ears at the crown of her head. She carries a greatbow and a quiver, and an industrious rogue might have noticed the occasional grey-fletched shaft buried in the occasional wall. Viera aren't known in these parts. Neither is their ungodly accuracy with a bow.
    "Fran!" The hume of the pair calls a little louder than might be necessary. "Tell me your nose says the parts are close."
    "Close we draw," she answers, also a bit louder than ordinary. "More guards."
    The two immediately detour around a corner, backs to the walls as they check their weapons. "Damn," he mutters. "I was hoping not to turn this into an armed standoff."
    "What?"
    He pitches his voice up only slightly. It's almost as though they're both a little hard of hearing. "/Too messy/."

Ghost stared down at the two guards, nudging them with her finger. "Man, they are out. Like. Wow. What happened? Whatever hit these guys, hit them hard."

"I don't like this, ghost. Someone else is here, and the client didn't mention hiring anyone else." A voice said over her coms.

"Maybe it's all a big prank, Jacker?"

"Ghost, be serious!"

"Fine, fine! I'm going," she said with a giggle as she started running through the halls. Her frame was... oddly quiet(thanks to specially designed padded soles of her feet). However, anyone who took a look at her could tell she wasn't from around here. For one, her hair was blue. Also, it was nano tubes. Also, her body was completely metal, though her face was incredibly life-like, with lips, eyes, and everything moving about in a way that made it seem as if she was actually real.

"Weeeeee!" she squealed with a giddy glee as she ran down the hall.

"Ghost will you be quiet?!"

"Oh, come on, Jacker. They've already knocked out the guards. This is a cake walk! I could do this in my sleep!"

"Yes, but whoever 'they' are is probably a danger! And they might still be there! And there might be other guards, too!"

"Ughhhhh. You worry too much. But fiiiiiine. I'll be, hee hee, stealthy."

"GHOST!"

"Shhh, comms are going silent."

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT!"

She ran down the halls, ignoring the annoyance of Jacker as she raced along the halls. "You have a map of the place, right? Am I going the right way?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. Heading towards the secure section. That's where the most valuable parts and, more importantly, the blueprints are held."

"Gotcha, how far?"

"Well... keep going. Turn right here. Right again. Up the stairs..."

His annoyance gone, Ghost raced through the building, occasionally noting the unconscious guards. Man, whoever this was was thourough! Unfortunately, they'd hear her coming.

"Okay, you're almost there. Be careful!" Jacker said into her ear.

"Yeah, yeah. Super mega stealthy. No one will even know I'm here." That, unfortunately, they could hear. Well. Fran probably could. Balthier might still be too deaf. And then she ran right past the two, not even noticing them... Only to run straight into the 'guards' that Fran had detected. Two of them.

If the two had expected to see much today, it... well. They didn't expect ghost. Who would? I mean, she was... Ghost.

And those seconds cost them. She ran at the first one and, while her body LOOKED like a tiny little girl... it was made of advanced alien materials and designed for combat. She snagged his arm and slammed him into his partner. Both slammed into the wall and then dropped, groaning.

She hummed, and tapped her intercom. "Houstan, reporting in. Two guards. Disabled them. Wait, no." There was an electronic zap from her hands and a shriek from the two guards. "Okay, NOW they're disabled. Weren't tied up or anything."

"Oh, now you rmeember the code word..."

"Well, if you'd rather I go back--"

"Just focus. They weren't tied up? Any sign of the other invaders?"

"Nah, I didn't see anyone. If they were here, I'd have had to run... right... by them... Oh. Houstan, I'll call you back." She whipped around, aiming a... Gun out towards her back as she went down to a kneeling position, minimizing her targetting area. She was... loud. But she was experienced.

    "It was naught to do with my nose," Fran explains to her partner, melting back into the shadows against the corridor they're in. She keeps an arrow strung loosely to her bow, ears both pointed forward, listening; her red-brown eyes narrow, little more than a twitch. "More guards this way lie. We close on our quarry."
    Neither sky pirate is too deaf to hear what's going on around them, but the details are a little fuzzy. If anything, Balthier probably has better hearing right now than Fran. Her ears are much more sensitive, which means they'd taken much more of a /beating/.
    Balthier is about to step back into the hall, but instead contorts almost in mid-stide, jerking himself back against the wall to give Ghost time to blitz past the pair of sky pirates. The two exchange a look and then stare after the whatever-she-is. The hume only shrugs, although he subtly tightens his grip over his weapon, leaning forward to look back the other way down the hall, checking to make sure the guards they'd disabled were, in fact, disabled.
    "Messy business," he mutters sourly. "There wasn't supposed to be anyone else here. Nono has the ship ready?"
    "Always." Fran watches down the hall.
    "We may need to make a hasty exit."
    "Agreed." The viera checks the arrow at her bowstring.
    Ghost finally notices them and turns, gun drawn. She'll find herself the subject of both that longneck rifle and the viera's bow, an arrow drawn to her cheekbone. Neither moves, although both sky pirates' regard is almost sleepy-eyed.
    "So kind of you to drop in, but I'm afraid you're in our way. I recommend you put that away before someone gets hurt." Balthier tilts his head, flourescent lights gleaming off the twist of silver in his left ear. "Although I suppose you're certainly not part of the security detail, hmmm...?"

Ghost blinked and then glanced to the unconscious guards, then back to them. She opened her mouth to speak and... Then stopped. Finally, she spoke up. And it was probably not the thing they'd expect. "Oh my gosh. Are you a BUNNY person? That's so cute!" she said with a laugh and then, likely to their surprise, she pulled her gun back. 

Then she cringed. She reached up and put a finger to her ear. "Yeah, yeah, calm down. I know. Yeah. Oh, come on. IF they were going to do THAT they'd have shot when my back was turned. Well, duh. Ummm... An adorable bunny girl, like, seriously, I wanna pet her ears sooooo much. And some kind of..." She paused and looked Balthier up and down. "You know like, the dashing rogue guy in those movies? The one with the snappy come backs who swings in on a curtain and then stabs someone? Like that. But with a rifle. I don't know. Pretty archaic. The girl has a bow." 

Her eyes widened. "What? NO! That'd be rude. Ugh. I won't fail. Stop being such a worry wart. Yeah ,yeah." she sighed and rolled her eyes, giving a shrug and a 'what can you do?' smile. "Don't mind him. He's just... Oh. Right. You didn't hear his side of the conversation. That's... probably for the best. He's kind of up tight. Well, you are. Talking to other thieves now, gotta go, exs and ohs and all that."

She took her hand off her ear and crossed her arms. "So. That must make YOU the two special little guardian angels I've had for this mission, huh? And don't worry about those two, they'll wake up in a few hours. Probably taste nickel for a while, but eh. Sooooo... what are you two here for? Cause if we're here for the same thing we're gonna have an itsy bitsy tiny lil problem in that I'll have to kick your butts. Buuuuut if we're not here for the same thing, we can totally work together! OH MY GOSH! I finally got it! Jacker, jacker!" she said, finger back to the ear. 

"You remember that movie we saw a few weeks back, what was it? The search for the... Whatever it was. Remember that noble guy in the china shop? He looks JUST like that guy! Oh my gosh. Man, that was driving me crazy! Huh? Oh. She's like... a bunny girl. I don't know. Ummm... I'd rather not say. White hair. Lots of hair. Like, as long as my fake hair. Hum. I'd say... probably. In some kind of... black... leather... amazonian outfit? Goes with the bow. It's a pretty sweet looking bow." Did... did she have ADHD?

"Okay, bye bye. So! What's yah stealing? And it's only fair you tell me. After all, you've got gun and... bow painted at my face." That... wasn't how it was supposed to work?

    The viera warrior says nothing when her ears are enthused over in a most unflattering way, and there comes from her direction a creak as the bowstring is pulled even more taut. Her aim never wavers; her eyes are terribly, terribly cold.
    Perfect silence stretches for about three seconds.
    "Stop." Balthier's voice is soft; dangerous. "Breathe. Think. Speak. In that order. I recommend that you have a care."
    Fortunately, she's already got the point, composing her thoughts in a much more orderly fashion.
    "My partner is not a 'bunny person,' she is--"
    "--a viera," Fran finishes, coldly, drawing out the word with her exotic inflections. "However little 'tis any of your business." She frowns, red-brown eyes hooding, studying Ghost. Silence. Then, "You will not." Touch her ears, that is.
    Both sky pirates exchange a look at that, although its significance is not immediately clear. Balthier slings his rifle back over his shoulder, but the viera keeps her bow drawn and ready. He fiddles with one of those immaculate white cuffs, straightening it even as he keeps a hooded hazel eye on the whatever-Ghost-is.
    "Blades are a damned sight messier than a rifle," he comments, dismissively. "It's terribly inconvenient to leave a trail of blood and mayhem thus. Also, quite amateurish. Any sky pirate worth their magicite scarce has need of leaving a calling-card as that."
    His eyes flick over Ghost again, dismissive, although he lifts an unamused brow at her one-sided conversation.
    Is he going to tell her what the sky pirates are after?
    He folds his arms, stance alert but otherwise relaxed. The hume cants his head slightly to one side as though he were considering the answer, lifting a brow. He's about to say something when she's off on another tangent, leaving him staring a bit. After a few seconds the sky pirate pinches the bridge of his nose, whistling an exasperated sigh through his teeth.
    "/Shut up/." The command is a whipcrack. "Gods be good, you make my head hurt. Can you focus on one thought at a time for a moment? Yes? Good. Now follow along closely," he adds, frowning. "First of all, I have absolutely no reason to tell you what it is I'm after, as you may or may not represent competition that I would frankly rather not deal with. Secondly, you talk /far too much/. Thirdly... I suppose there is a chance neither of us are after the same artefact. I've my eye on a number of airship parts."
    Somewhere between one breath and the next, the gun has shrugged back down from his shoulder, to point back at Ghost again. "Your turn. And do try to take a deep breath before you speak."

Ghost snorted, then covered her mouth and giggled. "I don't breath. Android and... Oh. Right. You probably don't know what that is," she said, tapping her chin. "Well... I guess that's kind of unfair, huh? I mean... Well, it comes down this, basically. I'm, ummm... Like a... err... Well a..." She finally just stopped and sighed. 'You keep pointing that gun and bow at me and I'm doubtful it'd really hurt me' might incentivize them to attempt that theory and, well. Even if it didn't hurt her, it didn't make it any less annoying.

"There's a lot of words I could use but I don't think you'd understand them. Different worlds and all that? But you're in luck! We're not after the same thing. I mean, we don't even have a plane. Though the whole blimp things people fly around in are kind of cool. Reallllly inefficient. I mean, you could just zap or shoot one and then, bam! Gone! No. What we're after is blueprints. I am Ghost, of Ghost and Geeks."

 And then she cringed, canting her head to the side. Finally, she rolled her eyes. "FINE! Ghost, of GEEKS and Ghost. There, are you happy? Kind of like.... corporate sabotage." It was around this point she clasped her hands behind herself and started rocking back and forth, as if standing still was some impossible... feat for her. "And yeah, I know what you mean. Not to mention you might kill someone if you stabbed them. I try to avoid that stuff. I mean, I may be a criminal but I'm hardly a murderer. Ugh. You have to have standards."

"Also, Jacker, add 'Viera' to the list. I'm totally making one when we do tabletop night. I'll be the archer this time. IT-- Wait. Did you say SKY pirate?" she asked, leaning in and staring up at him.

"Oh my gosh that's SO COOL!" Could she NOT yell in the facility?! "I've never met a sky pirate! Well, I mean JAcker is kind of a pirate, but that's a completely different kind. Lamer. Though, you don't have the whole... Eye patch. Or peg leg. Or parrot." She hmphed. "What kind of pirate are--"

And then she jerked, her entire body going still as she closed her eyes and gave a whimper. "O-okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'll focus, right. Mission. Got it. I'm sorry, Jacker, please stop yelling..." she mumbled softly, her eyes lowered and down cast. "S-sorry. I'll um. I-if we're both here for different things, no reason to fight and risk getting captured so... it was great to meet you..."

It was probably best they couldn't hear her coms. Or they'd hear Boogen and Jacker fighting now. Ghost turned and started walking down the hall. "Houston, how far from the main lab? Uh huh. Okay. IT's not far now. Come on, you two."

    Neither sky pirate looks terribly impressed. In fact, they look somewhat suspicious as they regard the android, gaze flicking back to each other once or twice. Their expressions change, subtle; as though they were communicating in subtle gesture and expression alone.
    "Yes, different worlds, we're quite well aware of that." Balthier lets go of steadying his rifle just long enough to flick a hand, the gesture both dismissive and annoyed. "I think that much should be obvious, I would hope."
    He sighs a long-suffering sigh, letting his head loll to the other side, eyes hooding as he waits for her to stop spazzing about aircraft and blimps and... what is she even on about--ah, here we go, relevant information.
    Fran's bowstring creaks. It's the only sign of her displeasure that she gives. The subtle sound brings Balthier to glance back toward her, then back to Ghost.
    "I suggest you get to your point quickly. Viera are patient, but even she has her limits." He shrugs. "I can't say I'm too keen on patience right now, either; any moment now those guards will be sending reinforcements."
    Several seconds of silence pass, and the hume blinks owlishly when she backs up to the terminology. Sky pirate? Slowly, he shakes his head and sighs.
    "You listen as poorly as Vaan," he mutters under his breath. "Yes, I said 'sky pirate.' If you spent less time talking and more time listening, mayhap you'd have noticed the first time around. What else am I? We're hardly common thieves," he adds, with some disdain.
    They're uncommon thieves, consummate professionals, with an /airship/. There's a /difference/!
    "Stop /talking/." Balthier sounds actively annoyed by this point. "Or do you really want to bring the rest of the guards down on our heads?"
    For her part, Fran is silent, both her eyes and the arrow on her bowstring trained on Ghost, not so much as trembling despite the monstrous pull that greatbow has to have.
    He sighs, exasperated. "Right. Blueprints. Take them. We've no use for those; our quarry is something different."
    Fran abruptly unstrings the arrow and turns, striding down the hall, but not without raking a displeased look over Ghost as she goes. Balthier shrugs, shouldering his rifle, jogging after the viera. "Exit stage right. Cheers."
    With that, the two sky pirates head back down the corridor -- opposite the direction that Ghost had been headed, where there are still guards. And more importantly... airship parts.