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Running in the Shadows (Count of Chaos & Revelations)

She said she had a dayjob, and that money wouldn’t be a concern. As such, that was all that Alex was going to ask her about in regards to her monetary situation. “Alright, that sounds good enough to me. I’ve just been grifted once before and it makes you a little nervous, right?” He said with a small laugh as he tried to diffuse the situation. “I trust you then. Sorry for giving you the business.” The man spoke with a smile, seeking to make himself more relaxed. If he had picked up on any sort of work she did then he either had a truly fantastic poker face… Or was clueless as a blind man. “Okay, well. I’m gonna go out and get a few errands done here in a bit, I just wanted to make breakfast and figured since I have you around I oughta make some extra now. I’ll be back later this evening after I get them done so you have the house to yourself. No wild parties while I’m gone, okay?” The latter part was spoken as he moved past her, his tone clearly in jest as he moved back in to his room to properly get ready for the day. That mostly meant changing into some proper clothes for the day, a shirt sleeved shirt and matching pair of pants in darker, earthen tones. While he did have a small gig working at a friends auto repair shop, he’d be spending a good amount of the day training and keeping his adept senses sharp. He had a few areas he could do so in private, so being found out wasn’t a large concern for him, and while he was no fantastic physical adept he could do more than just hold his own. As he came out of his room dressed and with a pair of running shoes on, he gave one last look to Kino – definitely not checking out her ass before he left, moreso just appreciating her natural backside.

“You have my number, right?” he asked as he moved for the door. “Give me a call in case there’s an emergency or anything, I almost always have my phone on me.”
 
"I see...we've all pretty much there before. I've definitely knew girls and even guys who tried to pull that whole sex as payment shtick. It gets old quickly," Kino rolled her eyes, and sighed, sipping her Soykaf again, close to finishing her current cup. "Right, I understand about wanting to be about the up and up, I won't be late on payments to be sure." Kino nodded along as she finished up the rest of her soy and krill breakfast. Setting the play down in the sink, and running some water over it, and leaving it there. "Alex, if I was going to have any wild parties, I'd be sure to invite you." She teased him right back. As he moved past her she really made no attempt to get dressed yet. Instead she went back towards the pot of Soykaf, and poured herself another mug full. Waiting for her roommate to return to sort of see him off. It wasn't that she felt nervous about getting her stuff set up or him possibly finding out what her day job was, it was just she liked to work on those sort of thing with no interruptions.

"Yeah, I have your Commlink number, I think." She smiled as she started walking back towards the guest room she was originally supposed to be sleeping, instead it would become something of an "office" to her. She could easily tell he was checking out her ass again. "Don't worry I'll reach out if anything comes up." She smirked, before moving further down the hall and into that guest room. She opened one of her suitcases, pulling out a red thong, some blue jeans that essentially had were torn in some places, a matching red bra as well, and a neon purple t-shirt. As much as she would have liked to dress towards comfort. It was probably going to require a bit of work to get this room into working order. She immediately moved to setting up all the clothes in the closet, and elsewhere, tossing those relevant bags into the closet after she was done. She grabbed her Commlink that she had left back on the counter top, pulling out a couple of small speakers when she returned to her room. She flicked through the music on her Commlink, settling on "Helena Beat" By Foster the People. Apparently it had been one of those earlier 2000s bands.

Kino murmured the lyrics of the song under her breath, as she started pulled computer towers out of the boxes she had brought in, setting them up as well as the 3d screen displays. She also placed some cameras about the room. When she finally had everything in the guest room set up to her liking, she took a stretch and a yawn. All in all the work had seemed to take her a little over an hour. As she booted up her computer, the 3D screen came to life. And she mulled through some messages she had retrieved when she was offline for the last day or so. Well she couldn't keep them waiting much longer. At least that was what she had planned to until her commlink buzzed with a special message. "Really a new job already? I didn't think she'd have something lined up already." Kino dialed the number up, ready to hear what she had to say.
 
Alex didn't want to harp on the subject of rent for long, but as she mentioned he had it, he gave a nod and soon left the apartment. There was little time wasted – he had something of a private area to do his adept training and keeping himself in shape that was away from prying eyes and potential cameras except the odd drone. While the city had little free or empty space, he had been able to trace down a set of alleyways and tight channels between buildings where he could run, practice some parkour, and simply put, enjoy the time out as much as one could. It was still relatively early, and as his breath left his parted lips in a visible mist he took off sprinting the moment he was able to. Clad in a more casual nature, as he hopped a fence and hit the ground running he was able to enjoy a modicum of peace and quiet. As an adept, his movements were swifter than most, and kicking off a wall was as natural to him as skipping. It wasn't really much in the way of combat training, but he had firing ranges and other areas to practice gunplay and other forms of combat therein

He'd do this for about an hour or so abouts, taking a lap through his private slice of the city before he felt some exertion kicking in… And when it got a bit too close to others. While a select few people knew about his magical training, he tried to keep it a secret from most – if only to avoid messy questions or even messier actions taken against him. By the time he was heading back home he had worked up a minor sweat, but was able to walk with a casual pace and not attract too much attention once he was walking on a main street.

Once Kino began to call, the voice on the other line picked up after a few rings. "Hey, Kino. We have a job lined up – there's a john who wants us to get a full crew for him. Pay isn't anything amazing, but they said the job should be pretty simple. We're still missing some real muscle though, if you know anyone that can fit that description, well… Make sure they know the risks just in case. Anyway, we're to be briefed tomorrow at 12 PM unless anything changes. They've been keeping things kind of tight lipped but we can trust them."
 
"Hrmm they at least could tell us the type of job, Rabbit..." Kino groaned, fingers typing over the AR keyboard display, a holographic projection her computer emitted for her. Kino was viewing some specs, looking into future cyber decks. Not exactly happy with her current one. Granted when it came between having a good 'deck or having enough food to eat, and enough nuyen for rent you had to cut some corners. Of course it wasn't really anything too serious, Kino was really just bored in the moment. "I might have an idea though for our muscle...he's kind of coy, but I can tell from looks alone, he's quite skilled..."

"Kino this better not just be some random fuck of yours...you brought in a guy like that once and he was a total scrub. Nearly blew that whole datasteal." Rabbit growled, her voice quite deeper, even than Kinos'.

"Well we did fuck and he is my roommate..."

"Kino-"

"-Trust me! It won't be like last time. I have good feeling about him, there's something special about him..." Kino mused, she couldn't quite put a finger on it, but she was betting that it was magic. Her sister had the ability, and while Kino had been bitter about in her youth, it turned out that the elf found herself quite adept at twisting computers and their systems to her will. It was a talent that came natural to her. That and Kino generally had a good read on people, even if they didn't have a perfect read on her, Kino tended to obfuscate how clever she was, unless the opposite was really needed. "Regardless he's obviously in really good shape..."

"Kino you've mostly talked about how hot you think he is, tell you what. Meet me tonight at The Skeleton and bring him, I'll determine if he's the kind of guy we're looking for."

"The Skeleton...kind of being cheap aren't you? Why not Matchstick's?" Kino sassed.

"Matchstick's is for Runners that show themselves to be professionals...if he's one and your capable of behaving like one for a couple of missions. Maybe you'll get a client that wants to meet you and those kind of places."

Kino bit her tongue, still eager to sass Rabbit back. Regardless there was a limit that Rabbit would tolerate, and Kino understood that it was because of her last few jobs that Rabbit had gotten a bit of egg on her face. "Alright, alright. I think we'll be able to make it around 9 tonight..." Kino sighed.

"Good, hopefully you're right this time." And with that Rabbit clicked off, ending the call. Kino letting out a huff when the call ended, and started experimenting with her deck, intending for a Dive, as she waited for Alexander to return.
 
Kino wouldn't need to wait long for his return. As she worked on her deck through the morning and early afternoon, there was the click of the door lock as the human made his way back into their shared apartment. Humming out quietly to himself as he started to immediately relax, his first stop was the kitchen for some water, drinking down a full glass in a matter of seconds. He had been gone for a bit and by now the man assumed that Kino was busy with something or other, so he didn't announce his presence in any way. Instead he elected to simply head for the shower, discarding his somewhat sweaty clothing as he sought to wash up and take things easy for a little bit. Still, he'd pass by Kino's room during his way to the showers, though he tried not to be nosy and sought to mind his own business as he passed by, knowing the woman must have valued some privacy.

Once he was in the bathroom it was a simple matter of discarding his clothing and getting in to the shower to wash up. Hopefully he'd have a bit of time to soak in it, but he knew at the end of the day, hot water was a precious commodity all the same.
 
"Hey there handsome..." A voice came from behind him, Kino had definitely heard him enter the apartment, and decided that while she had gotten ready once before there was no reason she couldn't join Alexander. Her bodacious bare breasts pressed into Alexander's back as she wrapped her arms around him. She liked feeling her naked skin against his. Her arms had wrapped around his waist. "Mmm, did your workout go well?" She asked. One hand running up over Alexander's chest, while the other teasingly snuck close to his groin. "I have a particular job lined up, but I might need extra hands on it." Kino paused for a bit, kissing over his back, hands gently teasing his chest, hand gently running over his balls. "We've been dancing around it for a while. I know we've just become roommates, but I want to know..."

"...Are you a Shadowrunner?" Kino said. There was honestly no way around it. Kino perhaps had been far too coy herself, and her handsome roommate seemed unwilling himself to give her any substantial information. Which in itself was something Kino believed he might have hiding something. Of course sometimes being too paranoid itself could be an issue. Still she understood someone trying to keep that information close. And in asking that question Kino had basically exposed herself as well. Now he probably knew what she meant about picking up "odd jobs" here and there meant.
 
It seemed Kino had a way to surprise him every time she approached him. First it was by her body pressing back into his, the man stumbling for a moment as she applied herself in just the right way that would get any man a little exited. But it was her real question that caused him some pause. Guess he probably wasn't capable of hiding it that well was he? He turned to look to Kino, taking a step away from her as he faced her fully. "Ah. That's a pretty complicated question but I guess the honest way to answer is yes I am." He said, thinking for a moment. "Though I haven't been on any jobs lately. I've kind of been coasting on what 'real' work I can do and being a penny pincher most of the time." He said with a small shrug. "… I take it you're a runner as well then right?" He asked, not quite a pointed question but one born from equal curiosity. "And I also take it you're probably looking for others for work?" His eyes looked Kino over, but eventually settled upon her eyes once more, waiting to her her eventual answers to his guessing game.
 
Kino of course couldn't help but let out a small chortle when Alexander had seemed to stumble forward a bit, almost as if he was trying to escape her. When he turned around to face, stepping back slightly, she seemed to have that smug, cat-like smile on her face. "I knew it, you don't make enough bank to hold this kind of apartment solely by doing odd jobs here and there." She said, seeming to be quite proud that she had been correct in her assumptions. "Oh most definitely! While I can certainly make decent cred doing computer work, it's not always the most compelling use of my skills, let alone providing with a decent amount of cash. My other side work can though, but I suppose that's my other cover job too." Kino said, chuckling.

"Indeed, my Fixer has a job lined up for me, and apparently some others. I'd prefer to work with someone I can at least marginally trust, and you seem like a very strong, capable man..." Kino stepped forward, running her hand down his biceps as if to emphasize. "She said it would be simple, but didn't quite tell us the type of job. First assumption is that it's either a form of smash and grab or datasteal. I'd tend towards the former, simply because so many people want stuff to look like normal robberies. So what do you say, handsome, want to get back into the work?" She moved her arms to run up over his chest, closing the distance even more, a soft giggle on her lips.
 
There was something that told him Kino was a bit different when they first met, but hearing she was a runner was both a bit alarming but also relaxing in its own way. He didn't really keep in touch with other runners unless he was actively on the job as it were, and if she had a fixer then that likely meant she had a full crew… Or nearly full crew if she was soliciting him. "Ah, trying to butter me up then huh?" His tone was slightly teasing, but the look in his eyes was a more serious one."Alright, I'm definitely willing to hear out what you've got and what you'd need me fore." He spoke, crossing his arms after she had ran her fingers against him. "Though I guess we'll need to talk to her for the specifics. That's fine with me. How soon can we meet with her?" As he asked, he remained a bit calm, this wasn't how he had expected the day to go, but it seemed to be a good way to go with it all the same.

It seemed probable she was a dedicated runner, so maybe that was how she intended to pay her rent. But of course if he was getting pay from the jobs as well, rent may not be as important at the end of the day.
 
"Oh I suppose...can you blame a girl?" Kino smirked. Although that smile did drop a little when he crossed his arms. Well...he was certainly being no fun about this. Still perhaps he was beginning to feel like this femme fatale behavior from her was all an act, and perhaps to some degree he was right. "Well...uh I mean I haven't had a consistent crew for a while, which was why I was hoping we could partner up. You and I, I mean." Kino really was just starting out in earnest as a Shadowrunner and as such that usually meant no consistent team. Well that, word traveled fast in the shadows, hence why reputation was such an important thing. Having some who seemed rather stable like him would help, still he managed to be more cagey about his abilities than her.

"She wants to meet later today, or well this evening, mostly to size you up I assume," Kino said. "So...it will be a little while yet till we meet her, like around nine or so, want to have some fun in the mean time?" Kino asked, placing her hands on Alexander's folded arms. He definitely seemed a bit defensive, or at least his body language gave off that sort of energy to her at least. Give how he had been earlier, she did not expect him to be so...well nervous wasn't the word. He seemed wary, that was the word, that came to her mind. Sure she hadn't be exactly forthcoming when she first arrived, but then again, you didn't go around telling everyone you were a Shadowrunner, unless you wanted to be picked up by some Corpo Cop, or wanted that plastered all over your known online profiles. That kind of awareness was hard to run and hide from, as bombastic as Kino was, she wanted to avoid her facing being plastered over every screen and billboard in the wrong kind of way.
 
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