In the other corner of the ‘ring,’ so to speak, was the ‘techno-critter’ that Kitsune had casually mentioned in conversation to Miko.  This particular runner was one Musubi Sahashi, native-born Japanese, citizen of the Mitsuhama Computer Technologies megacorp, and Grade A Technomancer.  At least, that was how she’d been classified in the secret report issued internally within MCT when they were still in the infant stages of playing around with technomancy, trying to understand the hows and whys of it.  Unlike Elizabeth, who had lived in North America (and Santa Fe itself) for quite some time, Musubi had only been here for barely a year, having fled her home country when a chance at freedom presented itself.  After all, she might have been a loyal MCT citizen, and considered the world of her parents…<br/><br/>…but when they told you to lie back, open your legs, and let some boy hump you so that the men in white lab coats could see if having two Technos make babies made better ones, well, there had to be a line somewhere.<br/><br/>So she ran.  Ransacked a whole MCT department budget, turned some of their newest toys on their masters, and ran.  She’d come here, to North America, because it had seemed better than the other choice she had at the time, which was Europe.  That, and she figured there was enough of a Japanese population somewhere that she could blend in easily enough.  And for the most part, she was right – her initial city of arrival, Los Angeles, was a huge sprawl, with plenty of her own race to fool the bounty hunters that her parents and MCT had attracted with the bounty on her head.  A quite sizeable one, too, which might have been problematic…keyword might.  Thank the gods for the ‘Western greed’ she’d been preached about to all her life as a child.  It had kept the bounty hunters from joining forces and working together to catch her, and as of yet, most of her pursuers had been left behind in Los Angeles, unaware that she’d left.  There was one group of them who’d managed to follow her to Santa Fe…but it seemed that they were keeping the lead to themselves, and she had managed to beat them quite easily enough before.<br/><br/>But that was ancient history.  Now for more recent history.  A little over a year ago, Musubi had arrived in Santa Fe, having ditched her pursuers (until two months after her arrival here, when that pack of pesky people showed up) for the time being.  She was almost out of money, and needed a way to make some, fast.  Given that she was wanted, she couldn’t exactly go find legitimate employment.  Even if she managed to secure a position at another megacorp, how long would it be before they would discover her Technomancer powers, and resume what MCT had been doing?  No.  She had to stay below the radar, which mean shadowrunning.  It was a dangerous life…but she would rather be dead than have to go back.<br/><br/>She’d made a pretty good name for herself in the year she’d been operating in Santa Fe – she had taken on the handle GR, pronounced ‘jeer,’ with the letters standing, as she would explain, one of the most terrifying figures in Western iconography – the Grim Reaper.  She’d even translated it over to her Matrix avatar, making herself appear as a figure clad in a black, flowing cloak.<br/><br/>Musubi had gotten the call about this job two days ago, to be informed of the meet and greet.  Apparently her local fixer had gotten a call from a colleague – she had taken a job and the technical skills for it were beyond what she had available, so she was asked in on it for a fifty percent cut.  She had agreed after hearing what fifty percent was worth, and told her contact she’d be at the meeting to be introduced to the runner she’d be working with.  In contrast, Musubi had heard a lot about Miko – she was a mage, had been around for some time, started operating after Crash 2.0, and so on.  The sort of person that it was a privilege to work with.  Well, all she could hope was that Miko would learn that this was an equal-privilege scenario.<br/><br/>Parking her Indian Pathfinder on the street outside the building she’d been given the address to, she climbed off of the bike, making sure that the gun she was carrying (legal, of course, even if the licenses were fake) was there, along with the SMG (again, also legal) she retrieved out of the saddlebag of her bike.  She then swallowed, and entered the building, going up to the floor and finding the room.<br/><br/>Knocking tentatively, and then slowly opening the door (as was Japanese habit), she called out as she stepped inside.  “Um…hello?”  And Elisabeth would be able to see her partner was another largely ‘gifted’ female human…<br/><br/>…wait, did I say human?  I’m sorry.  She wasn’t human.  She had cat ears.  And a fluffy tail that looked to die for.