Let the search commence (Arawn)

Around the southern gate, the sky was clouded and the sun was going to rise soon, even though it could not be seen at the time because of the clouds.
Lavi was standing up against a building closely watching everyone that made their way out from seretei, the person he was awaiting was sure to show up at any moment now, but he was pretty sure the person would not recognize him even if he looked at him, maybe he would, but you should be pretty good with faces, Lavi now had black hair and it was not set up by the headband anymore either, but one thing that would hide him more was the change for the eye patch, he had changed the eye it was over, personally it did not change much except for the fact that his eye looked much different under the part that was always hidden, it was a green much more cat like eye, he had kept it hidden so far for other reasons he would not speak of, and yet now he was risking that because he did this, but it was only going to be a week max that it would be like this, no way it could happen in such a short time, absolutely no way.
Though his dream and the rumors from the day before still worried him, he was not sure what to make of it all, but with a little insight from Arawn he just might be able to make more sense of it all

After the trip to the 11th squad Arawn made one final detour back to his room. Once there he discarded his shinigami robes for what passed as common clothes in Rukongai. Next he prepared a small pouch with various chemicals. Acids, salves, bandages, vitamins, oil, cooling gel, and many other semi-useful items. One part first-aid kit, two parts chemistry set. He couldn't go about using kido. So using chemicals would be just as effective. With the packing done he turned to his zanpukto, digging through his closet he found his old sheath. It was battered and scratched giving it a nearly ancient appearance. It wasn't that old, just in poor condition. He took another shirt and tore it into strips and covered the shiny gold tsuba, and then wrapping it around the handle. When he was done his once beautiful weapon looked like an old weapon he had picked up on the side of the road. The last thing he did was remove his high-tech glasses from his nose and replace them with regular pair of spectacles.
He packed a regular backpack with clothes, a blanket, rope, dried foods, and a small water pouch. There was no telling where the were going. Satisfied he threw the wrapped the pouch to his right hip, and the sword on his left. He slug the backpack over his shoulder and put on his gray cloak. He took one last look at his room and locked the door. Outside he pulled the hood of the cloak over his face and shupo'd away.

A short time later

He arrived at the designated area. He walked about slowly trying to find Lavi. He kept his hood up, but it was too hard to see. Reluctantly he pulled the hood back and gazed about the crowd. He was at the right spot where was the other person? He silently cursed himself for being poor at detecting other people's reiatsu. It wold be most helpful at this point.

Lavi could easily sense the presence of Arawn, Lavi had always had a natural affinity to sense others in his near presence, his biggest problem was pinpointing them out from a crowd, but in this case it was pretty easy because he already was pretty focused on finding Arawn.
Lavi pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against and walked towards Arawn, as soon as he passed him, he said in a normal tone "Follow me into the alley" it would not be a surprise if Arawn could not recognize him, but it would most likely be very clear who he was when he contacted Arawn in the crowd.

Lavi made his way to an alley where they could stand in peace with no one eavesdropping or watch them, at least not by chance, they had to target him or be very lucky to hear what they were about to talk about.
As soon as Arawn got there too, Lavi turned around to look at Arawn, Lavi's eye patch was on the opposite eye from which it would normally be, and his eye there was green and was much like a cats eye "I assume everything went well with the captain" he moved aside a strain of black hair that went down in front of his eye.

It was to surprising to see Lavi's strange eye. He had hardly recognized the man otherwise. But he was glad to finally found him. Arawn followed him to the alley.
"Well, there was a slight misunderstanding, but we did clear it up." he felt it best not to mention knocking out several members of the squad and giving the captain a shoulder throw. "For the most part I did get the captain's consent to join you. She was worried about you." As he spoke he focused on the strange eye. He wondered if it was real or part of the man's disguise. If it was real it would be too awkward to ask. Still there were more pressing matters. "I brought some supplies." He patted his back through the gray cloak." Not sure where we're going, but it's good to be prepared."

Lavi was not even sure himself where they were going, they could end up in many places, it was just to find that item, and he knew Kaiyo would be worried they were friends after all, and Lavi had a bad habit of ending up in the 4th divisions barracks when he was out doing stuff, but what does not kill you only makes you stronger.
"Yea she does not really know what I am doing out here, so it is natural she is worried, but thats just what it is" Lavi looked over his shoulder, he begun feeling a slight paranoia, he had it before, but it was getting worse because he was spending time in rukongai, among other things, he then looked back at Arawn
"I took some time to ask around after our meeting yesterday, so far I found some rather confusing things, the necklace was apparently the possession of some noble family a long time ago, but was stolen, however that about it, its current location still eludes me" He was not sure if it was a help saying that, as it would most likely make him looks suspicious in the eyes of Arawn, but every bit of information could help them find it, maybe Arawn had heard something, it was very unlikely, but worth a shot.
"good with supplies though, I am not sure where we will end up, but you should be ready, we might have to do some" Lavi made a pause, he hoped Arawn would not have a problem with it "less fine things, good information is hard to come by in the rukongai, and mostly the informants only trust people that aren't part of seretei and do them a favor or two"

He didn't like how that sounded. Doing favors for people worked well when you trusted the person. But basing trust on such favors rendered could mean they would be doing some questionable things. But it made sense is such a place.
"Well if that doesn't work I do have money. Some people's loyalty can be bought." Unfortunately, buying loyalty rarely worked out. Just opened the door for betrayal.
"Maybe we should try to make a name for ourselves first. We can use the same information network to our advantage." They could prove themselves to be criminals, "Get into bar a fight or two. A mugging perhaps."

Lavi nod slightly, he knew how well things went out here, but also that money was not always the answer "I am afraid that money won't quite cut it, looking at us, they would most likely become suspicious, usually I would pay that no mind, but this time I have something to hide" Lavi took his hand to his chin, making a name for themselves would work great, make a little commotion in a tavern were the thugs spent time would quickly spread their names across the higher people "Ofcourse that would work great, if they start to take notice of us they might see us as potential new addition to their gangs, and then we could use their information network" A bit wicked smile crept up on Lavi's face, but quickly disappeared again "alright making ourselves noticed is what we are going to do then, but we need new names here, chances are that they got your name in the network as mine is there for sure, it is very unlikely that they got yours, but better safe than sorry" Lavi had already thought up a new name to himself, but they should probably both know each others code names "Ill go by the name Xan"

(OOC: sorry for the very late reply, just so much going on in my head these days)

OOC: No worries, I'm a patient fellow.

"Xan, eh?" He hadn't thought about using a fake name. He liked Lavi's choice. Names with X always had a certain allure to them. But both couldn't have names with X in them. The more he thought about it, the harder it became. Thinking was something he was good at, but over thinking was always a problem. This was one of those cases. He wanted a cool sounding name, and yet they all eluded him. As his mind drifted his eyes started to wander looking for inspiration. There wasn't much to see in the dark alley they held their conference. It was a relatively empty area. Perfect for secrecy, but not much else. If he really needed inspiration this would be last place to look for it. Arawn bowed his head to think, and his eyes landed on the gray cloak he wore. It was a dull and drab gray color, almost like smoke. He had found what he was looking for. A grin came to his face as the idea took form.
"Call me Ash." He spoke giving a full smile as said the name. Simple and yet effective. Tough and yet practical. He nodded his head in approval. He wondered if he'd need to think of a last name, but figured thugs rarely formally introduced themselves. "Well them Mr Xan, shall we get going?"

Lavi smiled, the thought of doing some senseless beating without consequences was a pretty nice thought to him, of course they would meet trouble for it, but that was the whole point to begin with.
"lets raise some hell" Lavi walked out from the alley, this area was too heavily monitored by seretei, so there would be no real opportunities to be made here in getting attention, he did not want to attract the other shinigami, as that would make it very hard to explain.
"We are heading out the the slum districts, there is quite a walk from here, but we are not in a big rush either, if we want to gain trust we cannot be in too much of a hurry, that would raise suspicion"
Lavi walked determined "though currently what I got planned is we go to a tavern raise some hell to make them notice us, wait for them to come to us, we are not targeting any specific gang, but it would be nice to be noticed by one of the bigger, since they got better contacts, and after that..." Lavi paused up and looked over to Arawn "after that we just make it up as we go along" Lavi usually did that, he only planned the most basic ahead of time.

"A hell of a plan." he snickered. It was the best plan actually. Any way he thought of it, there were way too many variables to come with better one. Still he was pretty confident they could handle anything thrown their way. "Perhaps I can us shunpo and get us there quicker?" he offered. "No, that won't work." While he had just barely learned the skill, he had yet to use it to carry others. Not only that but he tired quickly when using the technique. Plus if anyone saw him, their cover would be blown. And so they walked in relative silence. While he did have questions, he was afraid they might be overheard by the others in the street. It was best that they kept talking to a minimum now that they were on their way. There was no telling how far the bandit's network stretched. One wrong move, one misspoken word, and all their efforts would go down the drain. Arawn could only watch as Seretei got smaller and smaller in the distance. The sun was still high in the sky, they must be making good time.

Lavi nod to Arawn "exactly that wont work, I considered that myself, there is a little chance that we will be noticed by using it, but we are not in a hurry, so it is a unnecessary risk to take" Lavi looked ahead once more and kept walking at a relatively quick speed, he felt exited about it all, it was so nice to be free of sereteis restrictions, of course his new companion could end up enforcing them a little bit, but as long as he did not get too much in the way it would be no trouble.
"I can tell by your face though... you got many questions, ill answer all I can once we are at my safe house, but that will first be after we made a name for ourselves" It would take them at least half an hour to enter the outer districts they were heading for.
As they were around there, the sun was still high in the air, but somehow everything seemed so much darker and much gloomier here, but then again everything here was not being tended to much, but it was not even the worse parts yet.
"from here on out we are Xan and ash, no one else" Lavi said in a low voice, it was here the network began to work around every little alley, even a little orphan would most likely be one of the people to get information

"Well Xan," he pushed his glasses up on his nose as he spoke. "This place looks interesting enough." He looked at the area as he walked. It was then he noticed motion in the corner of his eye. No to draw attention he pretended to stretch while looking backwards slightly turning his head. Sure enough there were two figures not too far behind him. His fake stretch ended he whispered to Xan. "I think we have company." He kept his eyes forward and spoke aloud as if he hadn't see the rather suspicious people behind them.
"It's been a slow day, we should take a break soon." It would seem they had already gotten someone's attention. But no the good type. The question was should they take care of them in private, or make it a more public spectacle.

Lavi did not look back, they should of course not reveal that they knew they were being followed "we are new faces in town, they are examining us, learning who we are and then reporting back most likely, so beating them up would not give good points, cause that would damage their network, let them follow us for a while, I am sure they are going to love this, and if they are not here to look at us, then we can make quick work of them" Lavi turned away from his whispering voice "yea you are right I could sure use a break too, how about that tavern over there?" Lavi pointed at a place he had only just discovered, surely they could make a name for them self there as well, it was all about being bold enough.

The tavern Lavi pointed to looked simple enough, from outside Arawn could hear people talking and shouting. He shrugged. It was as good a place as any. Before entering Arawn reached into the backpack once more. He retrieved two bandannas. He took the first he tied it across his head and hair. The second he wrapped over his face. "Alright." he said his voice slightly muffled by the cloth. "Let's go in." At this he opened the door and stepped in. The place was of decent size. One couldn't tell from the street. Scanning the room quickly there were well over twenty people already in the bar and still quite afew empty seats. Must be a popular place, Arawn thought to himself. A few people sitting at the counter stopped drinking long enough to look at the two newcomers. The rest were sly enough look with the corner of their eyes. They were too deep in their own affairs to worry about them. There was a very rowdy group six in the corner drinking, laughing, and hearty pushing. A bar fight waiting to happen. There were another five sitting at the bar proper sipping their drinks wallowing in whatever bothered them. At one table men were shouting and groaning. It looked like some were huddled over a table playing a game of some sort. They were taking turns throwing something on the table. Arawn remembered watching some kids playing dice games in the alley of Rukongai, this was probably something similar. The rest of the bar customers were spread throughout the room. Arawn chose a table in the middle of the bar but against the wall. Well away from the back corner, but well within view of the whole establishment.
"This is good enough place as any." he spoke as he moved to the chair and sat down. He adjusted his pack slightly to avoid it biting into his back. "I wonder if they got any food here." Not long after they entered the two men walked into the door. He watched them sit at a table not too far from the one he had selected. He shifted his chair so that he leaned against the wooden wall. Arawn raised his hand and waved at the bar keep. The man nodded and shouted someone. A younger man popped into view and approached the table.
"What can I get ya?" he stammered his eyes studying the strangers. His eyes locked on Lavi and then cast downwards. He had to admit the eye patch drew more attention than he wanted to his face if not for the eye itself.

From what Lavi had seen in the tavern, there was a little chance of starting a bar brawl to boost their ego a little, it just had to be enough to get their skills proven, they should easily be above the average combatant of rukongai, and none of the big shots would be out here, though the waiter buy was quickly getting on his nerves, and it was easy to know why, it was the same reason they where being shadowed so quickly, his eye and the eye patch, it was what he had hoped for, something that would make them stand out in the crowd and get them some easy attention, and from here they just had to play the part, and then they would be in one of the gangs in no time.
Lavi looked up at the waiter "anything thats edible will do, and I just want water to it" Lavi looked back at the table "and kid... keep your thoughts to yourself" Lavi said it all in a cold and uncaring voice, it was very different from his normal way of speaking, but none would really notice much, as none there actually knew Lavi that well.
Lavi looked at the people in the tavern from the corner of his eye, dice games, drunks, some unimportant people, and the ones then those two that had followed them here.
By following them here, it confirmed his suspicion, few thiefs would stalk their targets into a tavern to wait for them to leave, they had to be the local gangs scouts that kept tabs on the new faces.
Lavi waited for Arawn to have made his order, before he talked to him in a low voice "So any ideas, mine involves dice and cheating" Lavi had been thinking of playing the dice and then either cheat so it was noticed and then start a fight on it, or accuse someone else of cheating, either way it was going to create some trouble.

"Well cheating could work, but how do we cheat?" Normally when you needed to know the game you're playing. Arawn had been prepared to travel not to cheat at gambling. From the look of the players it was possible they too would be cheating as well. A grin played across his face. He was glad that his face was hidden otherwise people would see him smiling like an idiot.
"Maybe we don't have to cheat at all." he began. "Perhaps all we have to do is get cheated and retaliate." he winked. He explained. It was a simple plan; they play fair and square and lose. Then accuse the winner of cheating and take matters into their own hands. A robbery and cheating in one swoop. "What do you think? It could work." The waiter arrived with their plates of food and two glasses of water. The young turned and walked a way. He held up his hand to Lavi. Under his cloak he pulled a vial filled with a green liquid. Arawn pulled the stopper out and let a drop into the glasses. The green drop quickly spread through the glass making the water green. Then it faded and the water was clear once again.
"Tested for poison." he said quickly. "Unfortunately can't do the same for the food." If someone was watching him, chances were they'd try something. Arawn didn't like to take chances. He pulled some fruit jerky from another pouch and slipped it under his mask, and then he took a sip of the now clear liquid.

Lavi gave off a short smile "cheating is no problem, I picked up a trick or two around" Lavi looked over to the gamblers "alright I think we will go with your plan for now, and I got just the way to make it work" Lavi ate a little of the food "you are too cautious too quickly, save your tricks for later, few things will happen on these parts, barely anyone would attempt poison just yet, its one of the rarer tools to acquire out here. That aside, once I start a fight with those block heads, you need to be ready to block off those loud guys, thats drinking, they look ready for a fight, but should be no problem to keep back with a sword in hand" Lavi quickly downed all the water in one go "Right I think ill go try earn this meal in then" Lavi said in a rather high voice so it could be heard by anyone who decided to listen.
He moved towards the gamblers before Arawn had a real chance to say anything else.
Lavi had his hands in his pockets and was making something ready to use in this little dice game, Lavi just sat down like he was part of the group, they did not seem to mind him, from a distance nothing much seemed to really happen, the dice was thrown and money switched sides a few times until Lavi could be seen looking angry at the dice "wait a minute!" Lavi hit his fist into the table to make the dice show something else, but they ended up showing the same every time "You bloody cheaters, you are trying to rip me off" The accusations when back and fourth for a little while, until in the end one person send a fist flying towards Lavi and so the fight was on, a free for all bar brawl, Lavi was so far having an easy time dodging what was coming at him, and what did hit him, he could simply ignore, but it would be a bit troublesome if the drinkers joined in

He watched as Lavi took his seat among the gamblers. He sniffed the food before him and spooned in a mouthful. He nearly gagged. Maybe it wasn't poisoned, but it did taste awful. He took a glass of water in hand and repositioned himself and the plate of food at a table between the drinking group and Lavi's table. He paid little attention to the table behind him, he kept his focus on the gambling. Arawn waited for Lavi to make his move. In an instant it began. The fight started to unfold, but Arawn didn't make move from his chair. He now kept his eye on the drinkers, they hadn't noticed the fight yet. Arawn poured the remainder of his water on the floor as one of the men stood up with slurred speech.
"Hey lookie that!" the tipsy man spoke. He and his buddies stopped talking and turned to the battle going on. One man laughed and pushed himself out of his chair. No sooner had he stepped from their table that he slipped in the spilled water and fell face first to the floor. Arawn tried his best to suppress a giggle. The drunk men couldn't help but laugh. The man tried to stand, but the slippery floor was too much for the drunk. Another fellow tried to help him up and they tumbled to the ground together. The rest of their friends laughed harder. They had temporarily forgotten about the fight.

The fight went on for a short while before Lavi decided to end it all quickly "Enough!" Lavi kicked the first one right between the legs, it was playing dirty, but all fares in love and war after all.
He then quickly send his foot backwards to kick the person behind him in the stomach, he seemed to have caught most of the groups attention by now, and they all began targeting him, instead of each other "anybody else up for a beating?" few of them began backing away from him, but his eye was not enough to make them all back off.
The first punched out at him, and he quickly grabbed the fist, and as the second attacked, he turned leaned down and kicked backwards to send the guy flying a bit, and after that he swung around throwing the guy he was holding into the others "come on now, I barely even broke a sweat, is this really the best the rukongai got to offer?" he knew far too well that there was greater challenges around the rukongai, but they had to make themselves noticed after all, and a rumor of one looking for challenges would most likely spread like wildfire.
It seemed that no one wanted to fight him now, he looked over at the table where the money was "Well no one seems to want to fight me, then ill take the money you tried cheating from me" Lavi smilled and looked over at Arawn, seemed he had things under control for a while longer, Lavi took a bag and filled the money into it, and then went past the people, pushing aside anyone that stood in the way "Ash we are leaving this hole" Lavi said in a high voice to Arawn, he then threw some coins at the counter, before heading for the door where he waited for Arawn, as soon as Arawn was at the door, he looked inside again "and you all better remember, nobody messes with Xan and Ash!" He turned and left the place, after they got a bit away from there, he looked at Arawn "Xan and Ash... allot catchier than I first thought it would be" Lavi made a small laugh "That went pretty well"

The drunk men were still in a tangled mess as Arawn stood and walked out behind Lavi. If he didn't know any better he'd say that the man was enjoying himself. Arawn thought about joining the tussle, but instead kept his eyes on the people watching them. They hadn't moved a muscle, their eyes followed the two as they exited. Things had gone well, but still there was much work to do. They had made their criminal debut, now to build upon it.
"Yes it did go well." he said at length. "No casualties at least. We're lucky they didn't pull a weapon on you. Hate to see unneeded bloodshed." Hopefully it had left a good impression with their chaperones. "I feel we could use a more public place next time. The more that see the better. Those bunch of drunks probably won't remember much of what happened." He adjusted his mask. They had to find a home base of sorts. Lavi had mentioned a place, perhaps it best they go there next and plan their next move. But of course it wouldn't hurt to cause more mischief. Arawn smiled beneath his mask, perhaps he too was enjoying playing the bad guy. "Well Xan, guess we made a good start."

Lavi gave off a smile and took a look back at the Tavern "Well we should have either scared off those two that were stalking us, or they have went to inform some people about us, either way we made our mark on the network, and if we make a little more trouble, then I bet someone will come look for us" Lavi looked ahead again, he loved being like this, breaking the rules and just do whatever he wanted to, it was his way of doing stuff, not being bound by lots of rules.
Now they should probably make it to the hideout, he did not feel like being followed more today "I think it is about time we made it back to my hideout and get to talk about stuff, I am sure you got questions" Lavi made a small point in towards an alley for Arawn to turn in at, as he did not want to gather more attention than needed now.
Unless Arawn had other places to go, Lavi would lead them back to his hideout, that was hidden away deep in the alleys that almost no one ever wandered off to.

"I do have plenty of questions." That was an understatement. The mission as a whole was kinda vague overall. He wanted to know why Kaiyo had given Lavi such a task. "Let's not hang out here too long. Those guys you beat don't might come out and try for a rematch." The men spying on them hadn't exited the building either, it wasn't wise for them to stand there talking in the middle of the street. He was thankful that Lavi led them into an alley. "Why don't we head out of here to that place you mentioned earlier." Some real privacy would be nice. Arawn was starting to hate wearing the mask, but didn't want to walk around without it. Red headed men were rare in Soul Society, he'd stand out more than Lavi did with his eye patch. He scratched his nose under the bandana.

Lavi set up the speed a little, not much, but just so they would get out of there before anyone could get track of them, he preferred to keep his hideout secret, just showing it to Arawn had been a tough decision for him, as it might show as a problem should they ever become enemies, not that he expected that, but you could never be too prepared for any situation "We are heading there now, it is not far from here" Lavi repeatedly watched over his shoulder as they went ahead, his paranoia was getting back on him, he was not really afraid of the thugs and thieves of the streets, but more of the man that had started it all, he had not shown himself for a long time, not even when he was told he would show up.
After some time they stood in front of a wooden wall in an alley pretty far from the main roads, Lavi took a short while to look around before sliding one of the boards aside to reveal a small entrance to a room, the room in itself was not much to talk about, it had a small fire place in the middle and some bed rolls there.
After Arawn had entered, so did Lavi "Here this is my little hideout in the rukongai" he said and sat down near the fire place.

Following behind the Lavi, Arawn reflected on the day. He was now a criminal and trying to infiltrate a gang. That little bar fight would the least of his illegal acts before this mission was done. Still he would try his best to avoid killing people. Such questionable behavior could ruin the reputation of the 13 Gotei. He was about to ask why they stopped in the alley when Lavi revealed the hidden entrance. Clever. Still it's odd that such a place hadn't been found. He figured all of the area would be search and scoured by those living there.
With some effort he managed to squeeze through the small gap and into his humble abode. It was indeed quite humble. For too long had he gotten used to the well luxuries of Sereitei. Still it was better than camping out in the wilds. He'd done that once or twice when alive. Hardly something he wanted to do again. With a groan he sat down and removed the mask and cloak. It felt good to take them off. He slipped his pack off his shoulders and removed his sword from his hip. Arawn drew his zanpukto and examined the sliver blade, it was calming in this unfamiliar place.
"Quite a hideout you have for yourself." Arawn spoke. "How long did it take to all this? Was it before you became a shingami?"

Lavi made a nod to Arawn "This is from long before I became a shinigami, and as a matter of fact I did not build this place, you could say I stole it" Lavi looked up, through the hole in the ceiling, at the hole there was a highpoint in the roof to make sure the smoke could got out if they started a fire.
"The only things I made here is the fireplace and the small gaps in the ceiling, this used to be a small smuggling warehouse" Lavi focused back to Arawn "I did many odd jobs to get by when I was here in the rukongai, one of them was being a bodyguard and an errand boy for some of the smugglers around, but one time, when I was making jobs, one of the smugglers refused to pay up" Lavi lowered his sight to the fireplace as he was thinking back on that day "Now usually I would rough them up to get my payment and a little bonus for the trouble, but this one had strong guards.
In the fight I ended up losing my cool and I killed all the guards" Lavi made a small sigh "and then when I turned to him, he fell on the ground, crawling away from me, begging and pleading for his life.
I felt joy and happiness seeing the fear and despair in his eyes, before I drove me sword through his leg" Lavi just kept starring at the fireplace as if he was in a trance telling all this
"He was screaming out, but to no avail, there was no one around to hear him or his screams for help, I wanted to see him suffer, see him losing all hope, and then my sword went right through his chest, yet I did not land it in the hearth, I wanted to enjoy seeing him suffer for just a couple of more seconds before ending his miserable life" Lavi shook his head and took a hand in front of his eyes