The Vendor (Open)

Hania yawned slightly as he sat back against the corner wall near the Karakura High School. It was almost time for the students' lunch break, which meant a good deal of them would come out to eat, a perfect time to hawk his wares amongst the teenage children. They were, after all, a market's best target...if he managed to sell one of his totems to some popular students, it might start a trend and make him a small fortune!

Laid out in front of him was the large collection of his hand-made Native American trinkets: dreamcatchers, totem guardians, feather-keychains, necklaces and an assortment of other goods. Each was priced fairly, putting in enough to support his rent for each month. he refused to get an actual job: that would draw far too much attention to his apparrent lack of aging due to what he truly was.

The second time he yawned, he was joined by Hototo, his guardian spirit, also known as his "Doll" (although he would never call her such a disrespectful name). The spirit wolf stretched her legs and extended her arms up above her head, her tongue spreading far out of her mouth. For some reason, she had picked her humanoid form today, in a small child-like manner. She had on what the Japanese called kimonos, with two short pigtails that rested right under her furry wolf ears.

"I'm booooooored, Hanny....why can't we do something more fun?" Hototo whined, her feet kicking idely back and forth in pure boredom. For a warrior spirit, he could see why she was so bored...hell, he was too. He missed the days of the wars he waged against the White Devil.

"I know, I know, but we need the money...and there are no tribes here to fight with. Besides, we are in a different time now...we cannot just go fight someone like we did in the old days," Hania said, reaching up to scratch between her ears. "The sooner we sell these, the sooner we can go home and you can watch your TV shows."

There was something odd about this city. How could such a place be such a hot spot of activity. Arawn witnessed a young adolescent making strange lights from her hands. He could only guess that it was a supernatural power manifesting. Before he could ask a question the young girl had run away. Giving chase in his gigai was very difficult, but while he didn't lose sight of her he had no chance of catching up. The lady had run into the large building he had passed earlier. It looked like a school. No sooner had Arawn snuck in that he found out it WAS a school. A teach noticed him and promptly threw him out with a promise to call the police if he tried to get back in. There was no way to explain it to the human. Actually the more he thought about it, there wasn't any way to explain it. A older man was chasing a high school girl. He was thankful the teacher hadn't called the police it would have been quite awkward. Arawn began to pace the sidewalk outside the school. There had to be a way to sneak in without being caught. While he toyed with the idea of slipping out of gigai to find the young lady he noted a man sitting on the sidewalk.

"An odd place to set up shop." he muttered drawing closer to the shoppe. Mostly jewelry and trinkets. His eyes were drawn away from the trinkets to the figure beside him. Something wasn't right. While the man looked perfectly fine, the other didn't look completely human.

Hania looked up from his book he had taken out to pass the time at the man looking over his wares. He didn't seem to interested in the handmade marvels of the native American culture...typical adults. If it's not Japanese, they usually did not go for it. This was why he targeted students, instead: they were far more open minded about his items, and many loved to buy the totems for good luck charms during exams.

"Well, sir, most of my consumers come from the school over there, so this is actually the perfect place to set up shop. It's on the way home for many of them, you know, and not too far from the school so that they can visit during lunch. Might you be interested in one? I saw you were interested in one of the student girls....they usually love these."

He picks up a pretty little dreamcatcher with two feathers and a few beads. He twirled it about idely, but his attention was not in trying to sell the item. The man's eyes were looking past the native american and over to his side. Did that mean he...saw Hototo? He couldn't be certain, so spoke a bit louder to try and get the man's attention.

"I'm certain that if you gave her this, she'd be more than happy to speak to you. What do you think?"

The man was going through his seller's pitch. Arawn tried to pay attention, but couldn't keep his eyes off the proverbial elephant in the room. And now the man was looking at him strangely. It was apparent he wasn't supposed to see it at all. He had to play this right. If he just came out and asked him, it might frighten him away like the girl moments ago. An idea hit him, Arawn pulled out his phone.

"Actually I was looking for something small to attach to my phone. Perhaps you have a keychain? Something simple, a feather, a fang, nothing too big it might break with the way I treat phone." he tried to laugh casually. The real reason for pulling out his phone was to access it's radar. At that time he had it scanning for hollow signatures. Another ambush like before was unwanted. He pressed the buttons and shifted the scanner to pick up other signals. In an instant the readout changed. Several signals appeared on his radar. There was no hiding his surprise. Of all the signals he saw on the radar two large ones sat right in the center. There was no denying it; this person and the thing beside him weren't normal people at all. Somehow had to put him at east. Perhaps open up to some questions.

"Truth be told I just came to town on business. I'm not too good with the area." Arawn scratched his head trying to look absentminded "Have you lived here long?" He gestured vaguely "I mean you've set up shop here, I figure you have some knowledge of the places to go and what not."

"Ah, so you need a keychain? May I see the phone? I can size up a few of my custom-made items here for you, if you would like."

Hania pulled out a long box and opened it, revealing its contents. There were a great many types of keychains, some with mini-dreamcatchers, others with small painted wooden totems, some with small feathers and others with wooden carved wolf fangs. The latter was usually made using Hototo's teeth as a guide.

Pick which one you would prefer, my friend, and we can get one that is the right size and length for your phone. Although...I have not seen that model before. It does not seem to have a manufacturer label on it like the others I have seen..."

His eyes were keen, like the hunter he was trained from childhood to be. Hototo also was growing rather fidgety, not a good sign. She usually went into her wolf form when she grew uncomfortable for any reason, and if this man could see her, he did not want him to see Hototo to change her form: he might get freaked out and run away, costing him a sale. Even worse, Hania couldn't talk to Hototo now, or else he would look like a crazy person, and rumors were bound to spread.

When his customer began talking again, however, Hototo seemed to relax, playing with one of the totems in backstock. It was carved much like a wolf pup standing atop a boulder, and was her own totem he had custom made for her. Taking a slight sigh of relief, the bount focused back on the man in front of him.

"Business, hm? What business are you in, sir? And to answer your question, I am not a native here, as you can see from my skin. I've lived here for a few years, not many, but I do know some interesting places to set up shop. I know where most people like to gather. Comes from being a street merchant: the bigger the crowd, the more money to be made. That's a street vendor's motto, you know."

"Well the phone is a new model." he tried to explain "I travel overseas abit." Claiming to be from far away was a nice way to hide the phone's alien appearance. He would have to think up a fictional place if the man asked a followup question. "I work in chemical research." Arawn stated. Not a complete lie, but not the whole truth. "I tend to be sent all over the world to talk with other pharmaceutical companies. I don't mind the traveling to much." He wanted to get a better reading, he needed to scan them. There had to be a way to do it without getting them suspicious. A purchase my buy more of the man's trust. He kept and eye on the creature with the corner of his eye. He didn't dare move any closer. It was now obvious the creature was aware of him. It was possible the man did as well, but he didn't show it.

He began to look over the merchandise again. He selected a wooden fang on a small cord. "This will do nicely, maybe one of those small dream catchers for a friend of mine." He dug into his pocket to for money. "Truth be told, photography is a hobby of mine. When I travel I take pictures of strange places and the interesting people I've met. Would you mind if I took your photo?"

"Sounds quite rough. I don't envy you, the scientific world is far too advanced for my tastes. I prefer to hand make my wares rather than have a machine do them. Same goes for my medicines. See, I am what many call a Native American. We rely upon nature to care for us. I've been using my family herbal remedies for years. Not only does it work on sickness, but also can help make me look younger than I am."

He took one of the keychains and held it up to the man, along with a red dreamcatcher. Quietly, he began to speak in Apache, a language more than likely unknown to a businessman, since there were not Apache tribes that did open business with the world. He made it sound like a prayer as he shook the dreamcatcher slightly. What he was truly saying was: (this is all in Apache, not Japanese/English)

"Hototo...I do not trust this man. Do not reply to me. Instead, infuse a small dreamlet into this dreamcatcher to probe this man's mind a bit. I think he sees you. Once you have put the dreamlet in, walk towards the alleyway behind you to the left. Once there, return to my rings to avoid detection."

He finished his motions as Hototo looked at the dreamcatcher quietly. Her dreamlets were unseen, an invisible enchantment upon the item to let the man experience a pleasant dream. This was how they often sold so many of the dreamcatchers: they were guaranteed to bestow 1 pleasant dream each. The one she used, however, would allow them to prod the man's mind for information in the form of a dream. It was a wonderful tool for information gathering...

Hototo soon stood up, dusting off her little dress, and bounced away happily towards the alleyway, while hania did not seem to notice whatsoever. The less he reacted to her, the less the man would possibly link the two of them. Luckily for him, his doll was not seeable by normal eyes, unlike other dolls. She had to will herself to be physical, which would let her fight physical beings, or remain spirit, which could let her still fight spirit opponents like Hollow and Shinigami.

"Here you are sir. This dreamcatcher will bestow upon you or your friend one dream of perfection. Guaranteed. My dreamcatchers never fail, you know. Oh, and a picture? Certainly, I would not mind."

He had faith that Hototo was gone, so he held up a few of his wares and smiled broadly at the man, ready for his picture to be taken....

"Herbal remedies?" Arawn had to admit he was curious. From what little he knew of Native Americans he knew them to be a very spiritual and earthy bound people. But despite that knowledge he knew for certain that human was beyond that. As the man handed the trinkets over the creature got up and moved away. He quickly lost track of it in his peripheral vision. The man hadn't moved there was a chance the creature had nothing to do with him. But the radar said otherwise. He had lost one target, but the other was still available. The man had agreed to a phone. Arawn pressed the buttons on his phone. The camera was both a video/image capture device as well as a scanner. It would only take seconds, but he could get some information from the scan. It was a shame that he couldn't get more, or try to further.

He raised his phone and aimed at the man. He moved back slightly trying to get his full frame into the picture. In truth he had already started to scan. "Let me try to get your shop in the picture too." He was stalling, more time to get more data. "Actually I'm abit curious about those herbs you spoke of. In my line of work, medical and chemical advancement can be made from made. If it's something that's worked by word of mouth there might be some validity to it. I'm more than willing to compensate you for your time." The scan was nearly complete. He pressed the button to take an actual picture with the phone. The scan and the energy reading had finished. "How much for the charms?"

The man was not a good liar, but Hania smiled anyways, acting the part. He could hear Hototo speaking into his mind via a small dreamlet.

This guy is rather shady...he talks too much...want me to probe his mind now?

No, not yet...we'll get information out of him soon enough. Besides, seems he is getting some on us, as well. I don't think that's some new model of phone...no idea what it is, but it doesn't take that long to take a picture...

The man continued to talk about random things, including a feigned interest in his family's herbal remedies. That, in itself, had been a lie to cover up his Bount abilities of eternal youth, yet seemed to be something the man wanted to speak of. For what, he had no idea, but the face the man had was more intent upon his phone than what he was speaking of...

"I must say, for a new phone, it sure takes a long time to take a picture. Might want to get your money back on that thing." He smiled and watched the man take the dreamcatcher and the keychain. The dreamcatcher would take effect in an hour or so, giving the man a nice daydream in which Hototo could work her pleasurable magic on his mind..."As for the price, the dreamcatcher is 1,000 yen, and the keychain is 500 yen."

As he took the man's money, he looked into the man's eyes, deep and alert. They eyes of a hunter, of a man who had learned how to sniff out a bad deal. he had had plenty of practice during the American invasion with their crappy treaties for peace...He kept a hold of that hand for what seemed like eternity, but only lasted for a few seconds. He smiled once more as he sat back against the wall.

"Pleasure doing business with you, sir. If you ever feel the need to catch a pretty high school girl, might I advise getting a trinket from me before chasing her? Girls do like gifts..." He winked at the man, a light chuckle forming from his lips.

Too focused on his subject Arawn doesn't notice the approaching danger. The punch connects and sends him tumbling to the ground. It is at that time Arawn is thankful his gigai is made sturdy. Well actually he's thankful that they reduce the power somewhat. He's certain the woman would have punched him into next week if she could. He looked to see if his phone was damaged before standing and dusting himself off. The phone was fine. He turned his attention to his assailant
"What's wrong with you!?" He shouted "What are you hitting for? I got you a present." This was bad, he didn't want to scare off the man, but how could he explain the situation with him sitting there? He had to try to play it off, get her to calm down. "I know I'm late for lunch but that's no reason to be violent. I was just talking with my friend here on some good places to eat." He turned to wink at the salesman, and then turned to wink at Junko. It was the best he could do on such short notice. He held out the dream catcher trinket to the woman. "See it's a really nice charm, he told me it guarantees good dreams."

Hania could not do anything more than blink in surprise at the sudden appearance of the pharmacist's female friend. She seemed rather pretty, but at the same time overly violent. Punching a man for being late to lunch? That was a bit extreme, wasn't it?

He liked her already.

Looking at the man blabbering out excuses to the woman, Hania had to stifle a few chuckles in order to keep a semi-straight face, offering a smile to the woman as he was introduced by the man. His eye twitched slightly as the man called his dreamcatcher a "nice little charm". It was so much more than a simple charm...but he coulnd't really blame the man. After all, he was mass producing them, so they might seem like charms...

Looking between the two, he could not tell if they were lovers or siblings or simply friends. He did know that they must be close for that sort of interaction, which meant giving the woman the dreamcatcher could still give him the information needed to identify the man and where he really came from...

"So, this is the friend you bought it for, hm? Just to warn you, it's only good for one pleasant dream. If you want more, you'll have to come back and buy a new one. You can always keep the old ones for their original purpose: preventing bad dreams from getting to you."

Junko looked at arawn, he shook off her punch like a pro, she would have punched through a brick with that force too. She looked at arawn in awe, he was pretending he liked her, in a romantic sense, her mind worked, she looked to the man, and wondered for a moment.

Junko cooled down, and looking back to Arawn, closing her eyes for a second and exhaling, releasing her tension. Arawn was an idiot, but he seemed distrurbed, perhaps under duress. Junko looked accepted the charm, cautious, she pocketed. Junko looked to the man again, trying to ignore the wolf child. "Thank you.", she turned to arawn, "Thanks, umm, where are we going to eat then?", Junko decided that she would play along with Arawn's Lovey Dovey scheme, and have decide payback later.

((Edited))

((Junko, Hototo is not there. She is in Hania's rings, so please edit your post. ))

Hania smiled at the two of them on the outside, and on the inside he was frowning something fierce. These two were horrible actors...he certainly hoped that he was doing better than they were at hiding intentions.

"Well, there's the local noodle shop. Sells pretty good ramen, from what I hear. There is also a McDonald's down the street with cheeseburgers and the like, and even further is a nice sushi bar."

He had to keep a smiling face, although each of those foods were not his taste. He did his own cooking for when he wanted to taste something, but his real food was not something one would find in a grocery mart...at least not in the normal sense.

The situation didn't look good. Getting Junko to play along without fulling explaining things would be difficult. The best option would be to retreat for now.
"Well now that I think about it, I do have more more stop to make before we can go eat." Arawn said while rubbing his chin. "I'm sorry I almost forgot about it completely." He reached into other pocket and pulled out a pen and a scrap of a receipt from a purchase he had made earlier in the day. On the paper he wrote out his phone's voice mail number. It wasn't his phone's true number, but used as a relay in the human world to the spiritual one. "Here, I really would like to talk to you about your herbal remedies. Give me a call if you ever have the time and I'll try meet up with you." He handed the vendor the scrap of paper. "I should be in town for a few more weeks."

He hooked Junko by the arm and tried to pull her down the street and around the corner. Outside of earshot he would need to tell here everything, but there was no telling where the creature had gone. He looked on the radar as he moved, the other signal was gone. He gave a sigh. They had traveled 3 blocks from the school when he let go of the woman's arm. His radar still showed the man's location.
"What are you doing here?" he asked the white haired woman.

Junko was tugged at first, but then caught up, and took his hand, still trying to go along with the lovers ploy, at least until they left school grounds. When they did, junko forced her hand out of his, she shook her hand. Arawn had a hard head, literally, and it hurt her hand. When they got to the where he wanted to go, she turned to face him, a few strands of hair got in her face, but she didn't bother to push it away.

"I was assigned to be your guard for your stay in the world of the living."

Junko said this, sullenly, not looking at arawn but at her feet, she was ashamed to say it, saying on how she failed to protect him last time....

The two of them were truly an interesting bunch, but he knew better than to stay in one place for too long. Leaning back and taking a cigarette out of his chest pocket, he brings it to his lips, lights it, and takes a long drag. Inside his mind, he would speak to Hototo.

Hototo, make your dreamlet probe the woman for information regarding her friend. Do it in the nicest way possible: possibly something regarding her punching his lights out. She does seem to love to punch the man.

Ok, but what about her, herself? Should I find out what connection she has with the man? Or do you just want him for now?

Just him for now...we'll handle his friend at a later time.

Looking in the direction the two left, the bount gathers up his items and packs them away quickly, departing from the location before they came back. He'd head to his second location near the school: he knew a lot of vendor spots to keep things interesting, and to get different customers.

If they follow us, you might have to use your ability on them...just a quick one to get them off our track. You'll have to suppress your spirituality, because I think the man saw you...

Hototo giggled and agreed, ready to materialize at a moment's notice...

"Guard me?" That was an odd order. Injured herself how much help would she be in protecting him? "I have my radar this time. I won't be caught unaware by hollows this time around." There had to be another reason she had been selected to accompany him. Unfortunately he couldn't think of anything. "Well if you're supposed to be guarding me, I don't think you should be hitting me." If she hadn't shown herself to that vendor he might have asked her to escape her gigai and tail the man. If he was spiritually aware then it was possible that he could see them as shinigami. If they could tail him from the distance using the radar he might be able to send someone else to track him down later. It could be possible to get a new gigai and try approaching him then. The more the thought about it there were other ways of getting information about him. The problem was if he would stay in tow. To Arawn that man didn't look like someone that stayed in one place too long.

He looked at his radar, the man was on the move. The range on the radar was huge. But the larger the area the lower the accuracy. If they planned to follow him they couldn't allow him to move too far away. "Let's see where he goes for now. I'm thinking he comes here often, he seemed comfortable enough there."

Junko looked at arawn, and thought, she could turn this to her advantage. She listened to each statement, and take it all in. She crossed her arms, looking at him like he was an idiot, to start she said, "You are a fool, there are other things in the dark that go bump in the night other than hollow, if your radar was so good, then I wouldn't have clobbered you one handed.", Junko would have gone one to elaborate that he couldn't sense reiatsu and she could, but he clearly had more to say.

Junko looked at him in disbelief, "Thats kinda odd, do you think just cause he is a native american trader who sells trinkets that he is threat? I didn't sense anything that strange about him other than abit of reiatsu."

As soon as he rounded a corner, Hania dashed as fast as possible to his next spot. he was certain they had not pursued him, keeping his ears to the wind to listen for any hint of achase beginning. The pack he carried bounced about on his back, his legs running like a seasoned warrior of the woods. The world might have changed to one of automobiles and easier modes of transportation, but he was born and raised when one had to use their own two legs in order to hunt for food for the night.

He looks over his shoulder a few times before slowing down, now on the complete other end of the school. He closed his eyes and began to surpress his spiritual energy, reciting the old chant he was taught by that White Devil he hated so much...even hate could not deny that the man from his past had taught him many survival techniques, as well as a lengthy history of who and what he was.

Sitting down, he removes his blanket and begins to take out his wares. He whispers to his rings the three words to release Hototo: "Dreams are Reality", letting the wolf sit next to him in comfort once again. She was in her adult human form this time, with a full chest, curvy hips, and gorgeous face, complete with her wolf ears and tail.

"Nnnng! I hate being cooped up in those things! I miss my totem pole, it was a lot bigger and much more roomy..."

Hania made a quick chopping motion at the neck, signaling for her to be quiet. He whispers softly, "Hototo, if you sense those two coming anywhere near us, I want you to use a continual dream on the one with the phone until he leaves. Make him think we aren't here. I don't want him nearby, not until the dreamcather activates and we can get some information from his friend..."

Hototo mumbled and sat bouncily on air, crossing her slender leg over the other and crossing her arms under her ample bust. "Fine, make me do all the work...why not just kill him? You need to feed, anyways, don't you? I know you hate feeding from innocents, but if they find out who and what you are, things will get far too complicated..."

Hania sighed and took out another cigarette. He could smoke as many as he wanted without worrying about the consequences. After all, he smoked the peace pipe long before there were these items called 'cigarettes'. Being immortal certainly helped with things...but also caused problems, like the one he was in right now.

Laying out his wares, he waited for the bell to ring to sell whatever he had left, then get the hell away from this location.

((If you two would like, we could skip ahead to when the dreamcatcher activates?))

OOC: I'm game to skip ahead, but might want to explain it out to Junko heh

The signal moved then stopped, and then it faded. Arawn checked the machine. Everything seemed to be working well, the signal had vanished. It was obvious that the man was just as suspicious as the strange creature that was with him. Could he have used a technique like shunpo? Had he moved a great distance in that small interval? No, he hadn't heard of humans that could do such things. But that didn't mean it wasn't possible. He looked at Junko. "He might have lost him." He changed the scale of the radar. Maxing it's range to as far as it would allow. There were several other spots, but the sensor couldn't find the first one. The phone then beeped as a signal came into range. It wasn't the man, but one very similar. The new signal was very faint, but since it was close the radar barely sensed it. Was it that creature? If the man was gone the two of them might have a chance in capturing it before it escaped. "The big one might have gotten away, but we might have a nice consolation prize." He had wanted to question the human, capture wasn't an option. How could he explain dragging a human back to Soul Society. But the creature would be fair game.

((Im Game, but i have no idea whats gonna happen, i say that i take a nap in some nice chair...))

Junko felt the signal fade, she had locked onto it on her head, but she didn't care about it in the slightest, She said to arawn, "Look I am going to sleep, i have no idea what your interest is with this guy, His type are a dime a dozen in this town." Then walked to a cafe, and found a nice chair, wrought iron, not exsactly a Matress, but it was much better than a pool of your own blood. Junko sat, the cheap black paint rubbed off on her clothes, but it wasn't really a concern to her. Junko crossed her legs and looked to arawn, "You can go chase this human, but your on your own, and if you get into trouble, come and wake me".

Junko hated arawn, but she didn't want him dead, she kept her phone on a high vibrate, to wake her up if anything challenging were to arrive. With that, she took one last look around and closed her eyes, her soldier ways let her fall asleep quickly, but lightly...

((Your in control of my dreams, your move Oni))

((Alrighty. ))

Hototo's ears perked up slightly as she felt the dreamcatcher begin to take effect. It was slightly before the hour deadline, but the woman had fallen asleep, making it much easier to penetrate the person's mind. She looked over to Hania, who was busy selling a few of his wares to wandering middle schoolers. Pouting a bit, she decided to sit behind him and focus on her job. Closing her eyes but keeping her wolf ears alert, she began crafting the dreamlet....

-In Junko's Mind-

Hototo had a lot of work to do in order to craft a dreamlet for someone she was spying on. In the dream world, she could be whatever she wanted to be, but she had to be believable. A sudden giant cockroach, for instance, would be an immediate turn off for any dream, making it useless. Isntead, she had to try to find some sort of medium where the woman friend would feel comfortable.

Focusing her mind, she found where Junko was in the dreamscape, forming the area around the woman into a beautiful field of flowers that matched her clothes, which had become a long flowing red dress. The flowers were thornless roses, carnations, pink and red tulip, and an assortment of purple wild flowers.

The field was surrounded by cherry blossom trees, their small petals carried by the occasional breeze. The sun was high in the sky with a few clouds to keep it from being too sunny, offering the perfect amount of shade.

This was a test setting, since Hototo was uncertain what made this woman's mind tick. She would have to edit the dream bit by bit to suit the woman's needs for a pleasant dream. After all, she had very little time to work with and needed to get some information out of Junko...

Shrugging Arawn left Junko to her nap. "Some bodyguard." he muttered leaving the shop. The faint signal was still on his radar. It was still near the school, so there was a chance it wasn't going to move. There was no way knowing now long the creature would stay there. He had to be sneaky about this. It might be able to sense him and run. But he then realized he had a perfect solution. He popped a soul candy into his mouth.
"Take a walk around the block and snake your way from the right path and stay and the cross section. I'll be coming from the opposite side, if it runs you intercept it." He adjusted his sword across his back as jumped to the top of the nearby roof. He let his reiryoku flow outward and then focused. "Bakudo #19: Energy fade." No sooner had he spoke the word that his reiryoku stopped. The spell had effectively seals his energy. He made quickly made his way across the rooftops toward the school.

Tartarax was wandering in the town these humans called karakuro, he was never really interested in killing humans the only thing on his list were shinigami so when he sensed one he couldnt help himself to search out this one and kill it. Tartarax found himself at the school of humans to his amazement there was more than one high reiatsu emminating from this place he waited on top of the school to wait for the shinigami coming his way.