World Tree MUSH

The lay of the land was simple: a nightmarish cityscape, a product of corporation-controlled dystopia. Gray and blue spires of large office buildings loom in the distance of a decaying concrete jungle, fitted with neon lights advertising services from medicine to cybernetics. Large apartment complexes nestle beneath overhead highways and against the massive concrete walls partitioning the area from decidedly better built and less hellish sectors. Food carts with sizzling entrees of mystery meat and crowds of people teem beneath neon signs advertising corporate logos, hot new brands of electronics and the sex-trade. It is a Kowloon walled city-styled horror that has become commonplace, chic in some ways for the foolish adventurer or businessman that might visit to slake their hungers or make shady dealings in the night. Expect gangs, not police.

Right now Mirage Mouse is perched on a glowing lit up sign, making it rather unclear how she both got up that high or what she is doing--she seems to be watching the crowd come and go with some level of morbid fascination. Though as her gaze darts around--the myriad of neon lights reflecting off her red visor--it starts to become a little clearer.

A wallet changes hands from a man in a crisp black suit...

Then to a young dark-haired man in street-clothes...

Who places it in the large shopping container of bag lady.

Who is just beneath Mouse, the billfold levitating up with a quickness that suggests a mechanical pulley of some sort--into her open hand. And she's already counting it.

On this world, unlike he idyllic forest Ash was meditating in was when the Warframe was brought out. His job here was simple. An object of importance was being transported. Ash knew the wallet it was supposed to be in, and had a reader to verify the memory being held in this rather small object. So he went with invisibility as he also watched this chain of transactions in place. Because his warframe could only keep true invisibility for a handfull of seconds he had used it while going from hiding place to hiding place.

And then the wallet got snatched by a mouse and Ash facepalmed. Was she the final courier? A pickpocket that didn't know what she'd gotten into? He took a deep breath and glanced about, throwing down a smokebomb before jumping, corcscrew spiralling straight ahead like a bullet before gliding with a small barely noticable noise as he made contact. Mirage would feel the added weight on her perch and Ash's voice speaking. "I don't care about the money, but I need the other contents of that wallet."

Then Ash's cloak would choose that moment to dissipate revealing the gilded armor over artificially grown infested flesh that was most definately not the same person she spoke with in the woods. "Nothing personal, kindof on the clock here."

Now, to be fair, the sight of a tennou in their full body armor can be a little... impressive. It definitely makes her think 'very expensive full-body riot gear' or 'humanoid robot'. When Ash makes his presence (and weight, cut down on those rations, damnit!) known, Mouse blinks and looks over her shoulder, looking up at him from her crouch.

"Who the hell'er you--" Mirage started, in a mixture of surprise and irritation--but then she decided to try and peer into what she was seeing just a bit--using her mind. The voice had been familiar, but so had the mind, as it turned out.

"Ah..." she raised a hand to her temple, possibly feeling some feedback from the hardware Ash was sporting--shaking her head a little.

"And what will you give me in return?" her tone was questioning, as if she was debating whatever it was--but in truth she didn't actually care, she already flipped the wallet up towards him with her hand. She already had the paper money and the credit chit.

Ash caught the wallet as soon as it was airbourn, and somewhere withi nthe transferrence chair in his orbitrer Ash smiled. "Well I'm willing to share what I'm getting for this thing." There was a pause as he looked about while tucking the wallet away... somehow. "I mean I've got resources on ship or could fab you up some replacement things if you actually live here, but most of the work I've been taking has been for information rather than money."

He gestured to a nearby building then pointed up, "Mind if we go somewhere to talk? I'm pretty sure people are starting to notice and you made my job a hell of a lot simpler so I've actually got a few minutes to kill." He didn't even ahve to threaten to stab anyone. He got a job done and didn't have to make a mess. That... was a rare thing for him when pure intimidation wasn't needed.

"I don't live here," Mirage Mouse shakes her head. "I'm a thief--this is to me what a herd of gazelle is to a hungry lion," she rose from her crouch, peering around before she approached the warframe.

"Well then, lets go," she offered the large polymer-clad cyborg her arm and would let him drag her along or physically pick her up and take them there--whichever the case. She wasn't going to use her TK to push herself there, it would probably draw more attention, to be honest. For right now, she was still being... subtle.

"So is that you in there or are you controlling it?"

Ash easily lifted Mirage onto the warframe's back and after tossing down another smokebomb jumped from one wall to the next, clinging to surfaces as he continued looking for the best route up. "I'ts kinda complicated?" He offered as they traveled, "Strictly speaking this isn't my body, but it was grown specifically for me to use, and when I woke out of Cryo i forgot i actually had another body so for awhile I kinda thought this was it." 

Eventually they landed on a rooftop and Ash set the mousie thief down. "Also if you tried taking anythingfrom me i'd like it back." He held a hand out, palm up. "Maroo was kida like that when I worked with her. Bit on the grabby side."

"Oh, so there is meat under this," Mirage rapped her knuckles against the shoulder armor of the Warframe as she was carried--hopping off the back of the warframe once they were over the side of the rooftop.

"Who says you have anything I want?" though as Ash might come to realize, he's hearing both her voice in his head as well as her voice. Almost as if she wants to make sure he can hear her over the noise outside.

"You don't even have pockets in that getup, and what would I want with your weapons?" she grins, placing a hand over her chest, as if to say who, moi?

"Nothing grabby about me~"

While Ash wasn't exactly wanting to offend Mirage, he did pull the purloined wallet out to check that yes it was still there and then ran the reader he had been given over it. When it beeped he nodded and put both away. "Yea, I'm kinda not sure on the how but to use an explaination from anothrer world that might work better than winging it?" Ash took a breath to clear his head. He wansn't sure why his head felt weird. "Think of it like a remote controlled sleeve geared specifically for ombat and to channel specific energies to more useful ends." He streatched, raising both arms overhead and getting on the tips of his toes. "They were originally to be used for theraputic aids and avatars so we could go around without melting people's faces."

He stopped in front of Mirage and tilted his head this way and that, sizing up the diminuative squeak thief. "Also are you trying to poke inside my head or just broadcasting, or how are you doing that? It feels weird. ALso if you see anything in there mind letting me know? I kinda don't remember a lot before i got woke up from cryo."

Mirage doesn't stop to ask what he's doing or seem overly interested in him scanning the card or whatever it was in the wallet itself.

"A... sleeve, hmm? That's a little crude of a term, in some places--but sure," Mirage stepped back, tilting her head this way and that.

"Without melting their faces?" this time, Mirage's jaws nor lips moved, but the 'frame would be able to hear her voice as plain as day.

"Does it bother you? I can stop doing it if you want," her mouth again didn't move, leaning against the concrete edge of the side of the rooftop.

"Who says I want to look in there? There could be something that could hurt me," she stopped smiling at him in amusement, as she had been doing just now, looking at him more seriously.

A shrug from Ash, "Doens't bother me in perticular, just trying to give you a heads up if you decide to poke things wit ha stick and... wlel you seem nice enough company I don't want to see you hurt." He took a breath, inhaling deeply as the visor lights of the warframe dimmed mimicing a set of closed eyes. Then an exhale as they brightened again. "Whih was why I was a touch concerned when I saw you grab the thing I wassent after. I get put on a job? You get put on a job? Fine, but Y'know... work's work I don't want you to feel like if it coms to it ..." He sounded awquard, and if Mirage could pick up on emotion she'd sense plenty of confusion, uncertanty, and a whole mash of other things. "use whichever way is more comfortable for you to talk."He offeed Mirage a hand. "There's a real nice noodle place I spotted while waiting for the handoff to happen. This thign can't eat, but I make a habit of picking up things for later. Hungry?"

Mirage had watched the visor lights dim and brighten again, curiously--she had probably wondered at first if that body of Ash's /had/ eyes, to tell the truth she hadn't been sure.

"It wasn't much of a coincidence--the man just looked loaded, was all--they don't even know what happened," Mirage shook her head, before turning away from him and looked out over the side of the rooftop, nodding a little.

"It's about time for me to retire anyway--so sure, dinner is on me--well, on our charitable friend~" she grinned, her mouth still emitting zero sound, but as she hiked herself up to stand on the edge of the rooftop, she didn't seem afraid, at all.

"Take us away, danger boy~"