//File 2.1 - Missy, Domino//

It was a long journey that Missy and Helios had taken from Hongkong to Japan. Avoiding air travel, they had elected to sail to the port town of Makurazaki, to throw off any pursuers who might still be on Missy’s tail. Missy could not afford to take the chance: somehow someone had sent a spirit to make contact with her, tracing her whereabouts in Hongkong from her link with Shanto, her ex-lover, who worked in corporate headquarters of MCT in Tokyo. The journey was difficult, given that neither of them had any ability in shipcraft, and worse, as they neared Japan, both Missy and Helios was increasingly beset by dreams of a personal nature. On arrival, Helios declared that he had to return to Kumamoto to look for his former teacher, whereas Missy was further plagued by vivid dreams of Shanto together with another person, a beautiful, almost androgynous Eurasian elf.

The trip from Makurazaki to neo-Tokyo was much less inconvenient. The shinkansen, or bullet train, brought Missy to Tokyo’s central station within a day. Alighting from the train, Missy knew what she had to do: she could head to Mitsuhama Corporate Technologies, risking being recognised as a former employee, or she could look up where Shanto lived, assuming he still stayed at the same apartment. What Missy didn’t know was how the elf in her dreams was connected to this entire mystery.

'Johnny Hariwood' saunters confidently out of the office of a local booking agent, a serene smile across his face, and a credstick with enough nuyen to cruise for a couple of weeks in his pocket. The agent was still watching the demo trid of 'Ghost Tribe Bang!' that he had just scheduled to play a few local venues later in the month. Johnny sent a silent thank you to his friend Wheezer who cgi'd that little masterpiece as he wended his way back into the neon streets of Neo-Tokyo. He walks to the subway, takes a train, swtiches to another, then doubles back, and finally takes another to a stop a few districts away.

He makes his way to public a restroom kiosk, slots the credstick and steps inside. A few minutes later, a blonde elf with close cropped spiky hair and numerous facial piercings steps from the kiosk. She wears a loose fitting white dress shirt, unbuttoned more than halfway down, and untucked. Her jeans are stylish and fashionably distressed, and the bling on her black patent synth-leather loafers glints, reflecting the lights on the street around her. The shoes and the briefcase, now worn as a shoulder bag, are the only visible things that remain of Johnny, and she'll ditch those at the coffin hotel before she goes back out to enjoy the nightlife tonight.

As befitted her shifting identity and her slew of fake SINs she possessed for every conceivable purpose, Domino did not stay for more than a few days at a hotel, and certainly never at one of the larger establishments. No one asked questions nor conducted thorough ID checks at the various love hotels and coffin hotels, discretion and anonymity were key.

She made in past the the glittering towers of Shibuya's trendy streets, past the numerous rows of rain-slicked watering holes and street dealers, down the greyer thoroughfares of the washed-out sarariman makeshift stalls and eateries, and finally up an alley of at least five coffin hotels. Hers was the furthest. An automated door let her in from the registration details on her commlink, and opened into a narrow but well-lit corridor, with rows of booths on either side of each wall. The shower facilities were right at the back, but her unit was halfway down the left wall, and she always picked the highest booth if she could help it. Her commlink keycode popped the booth door open.

And that was when things became strange. The lights flickered and dimmed, and there was a smell, a tang of something stale. The main door had automatically swung shut after Domino had entered, but now she saw a figure through the glass door, an apparition that entered through the glass itself, towards her!

Missy got her self a coffin hotel to set up base, then then it off to Shanto's apartment. Dressed in a tight black suit and a synth-leather duster she is watching the apartment complex while eating at a street noodle shot.

As she eats she examines the areas astral environment. Is there anything of interest that stands out, then she has to deal with it before trying to get access to Shanto's apartment

Missy was familiar with Shanto's apartment. Even in the suburbs of neo-Tokyo, residential apartments were small affairs. Tall, narrow buildings with units stacked on top of each other like modular bricks, slate grey, featureless and windowless cubes. Missy was a block away, along the side street with shops and services, with a clear sight of the apartment. There was one main entrance into a lift lobby, and probably a service entrance in the rear for deliveries. Shanto lived on the 17th floor.

The astral showed nothing untoward. Before her were people going about their business, appearing to Missy as beings of light in a sea of dark grey outlined buildings and objects. She saw nothing that caught his attention. She was on the lookout for the presence of spirits, as she was already mentally prepared for it, but if there were any nearby, they did not concern themselves with the apartment he was astrally viewing. This was true even as she approached the apartment to enter it. She tried an old passcode at the entrance. The door unlocked. Shanto hadn't changed the code.

Missy takes the elevator up to the 17th floor. If Shanto is home she will confront him, if he is not, she would wait for him. Perferently from inside the apartment.

Domino casts a frantic glance about the lobby, looking for another way out. In her mind, she runs through all of her most recent cons, trying to think of who might have had the resources and been pissed off enough to send a shaman or an adept of some kind after her. Since she's been in Japan, all her marks have been strictly small time, so that didn't seem likely - unless one of them was connected to somebody with a lot more clout and deeper pockets. She had done some dirty work in Moscow and Astana for one of the 'Mafiya' families, maybe someone was still butthurt about that?

Then a chill ran up her spine. Several years back, she was a bit player in a job that went south, badly south, when she was back in Seattle. It was an extraction job, some kind of scientist or research tech. She was only involved in some of the preliminary document forging and intel schmoozing, but when the job went down she heard that all the runners but one got slagged. The one who made it out, Smelly Vic, went to ground and had pretty much disappeared as far as she knew. What if they found him and he talked and mentioned her name? Renraku - the target of the extraction worked for Renraku. And here she was, knee deep in the belly of the beast.

Missy

The old keycode for the door still worked as well. Clearly Shanto never thought to change the locks after their relationship ended. Missy entered the apartment, and a familiar sense enveloped her. She had spent time here before, one particular vacation she stayed for two whole weeks, snuggled up with Shanto and his cat for company. Neither Shanto nor the pet were in. The apartment looked lived in, things lay as they ordinarily would: the bed, although made, appeared slept in. The tiny kitchenette still contained necessities, as did the fridge. On closer inspection, it seemed that Shanto was not simply out at work. The few unwashed dishes in the sink, the uncleared trash bin, the small pile of dirty laundry, all indicated that he might not have been in for a couple of days.
Next, Missy looked through his personal effects. While she didn't have access to the cyber terminal on his desk, an ornate wooden box which looked out of place amongst the other paraphenalia, faintly radiating of magic. Her astral sense certainly showed this to be the most significant object in the room.Domino

It didn't hit Domino when the apparition was outside the door, but the foul stench immediately assaulted her nostrils the moment it stepped through. She was familiar enough with insect spirits. nasty things which she often left to others to tangle with. This one evidently emerged from an unfortunate saraiman, the tattered shreds of his wageslave suit and tie ripped but still hanging onto the obscene body. Instead of hands were scansorial forelegs, instead of a human face were the eyes and antennae of what looked like a gigantic louse of some sort. The soul of the poor human was absent, replaced by the singular behaviour of an insect mind.
The bug spirit was clearly here for Domino, and began to approach her in its strange gait. Oddly, it did not charge nor attack her. Yet.

What do you do?

Domino backs slowly away from the creature, hands raised to show she's not hostile. Meanwhile her mind races, considering possible escape routes, anything familiar about the sarariman (good lord, its not the booking agent, is it?).

"Bozhe moi! Ok, ok, ok, there insect spirit. Hi, how's your day going? Maybe there's something I can help you with?" She's going to try to buy some time to figure out her next move by (hopefully) stalling it a moment a maybe learning something about its motives.

Missy will start by examen the ornate wooden box.
When her curiosity is satisfied, she will clean up a bit. Then wait for him

DominoMissy
The wooden box had a simple latch, which Missy opened. Inside sat a purple crystal, which Missy recognised to be a meditation crystal. Such crystals often contain some magical essence within, radiating a calming or healing energy when used while sleeping, or deep in meditative focus. This one in particular projected a strong aura which Missy picked up even when it was inside the box. However, the crystal was stained on one side with a reddish colour. When Missy switched to her astral sight, she could see the glow of the crystal, marred by a streak right in the middle. She recognised the streak to be connected to life energy. The reddish stain was blood, and there was possibly an astral trail leading away from it.

In a perfect world, Missy would sit-in the gloom and Santho would arrive, and they could have a dramatic scene. Real-life is nothing like the flicks. She takes a shower and prepares for a ritualized astral walk. She has an astral trail to follow, and no lodge to call base. She is going to do the best she can, knowing that there are insect spirits involved in this affair.
Sitting in a circle of salt, skyclad (that's naked for the regulars) she sends her spirit out to follow the astral blood trail