A Sake-Smoke Proposition (Social, Arcadus Caesar and Leonie)

[Arcadus]

Smoke and lights, smell of sake and cheap plastic. The heavy atmosphere of a pachinko parlor wafted across the building. It might feel to some like stepping onto a new planet, the lights flashing and machines making blares, hums, rings, and all forms of music pressed through cheap speakers. It was late, late into the night enough to be considered early morning. Most of the regulars had gone home, or atleast headed to their train stations to be ready to head back to work. 

Arcadus sat at his seat, enjoying the atmosphere. Here from a night of drinking, and wanted to burn some cash before returning to Los Noches. He enjoyed pachinko, it was a fun way to kill time when anyone he'd been partying with had gone home. The red-light was fun and he certainly enjoyed the hour rates at a number of hotels, but some nights he just wanted to drink and laugh like humans did. It was weird how he enjoyed it.

People paid him attention for his charisma and definitely his spending, to which he fed like flame on matchsticks, but there was an element beyond the transactional nature of that exchange that he enjoyed, and he was disgusted by the thought that he might actually enjoy human company. That might be why he was pitching money into a gambling machine alone in neon lit halls. To have proxy to, but removed from, humans. What that meant about him, he was going to suppress, though Oren and Giovanni would certainly have something to say about it. 

It was a good night, but he had an issue. Commissions hadn't dried up but they had slowed. He had plans for a new set of armor, given Cami had burned away his last one. He'd been eying a listing in Kitai's shop and he was sure he could get it tailored and kitted out, and Maximillian to fix its trim and measurements to his standards. But with ryo being drained helping with the wall, and making some decisions in how exactly to handle moving to a new floor. 

He needed something more substantial, a big commission to put him back in the black and out of the red. His named clients had no new work, and his more murky clients were silent, and it wasn't like he was going to go debase himself to solicitation. It wasn't like he needed ryo for anything, but hell, it sure made things move faster. Maybe that's why he liked it so much. The huge man took a swig of sake and tapped  his ash into the bin. 

Something smelled here, and it wasn't the drinks or cigs. Someone was here, someone with reiryoku worth a damn. Arcadus stood up from his seat, his head lifting up the drop in ceiling. His black button-up ruffled as he turned and scanned the scene for- the machine he'd been playing at screamed with the sound of another loss, as if crying out for more yen. Damn worthless thing giving away his position and as he kept an eye out for whoever he just sensed. 

[Caesar]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play This. Promise. Its The Mood}

2400 Hours
Silbern
Vandenreich Privates Barracks

To those that were awake at these hours they would hear a sudden inhale and silence, even at all the hours of the night some people tended to come and go to and from the barracks. Chowhall never closed due to different rotations for watch. And those that were in the middle of swapping rotation suddenly grew silent. The private's mouth clamped shut with a ranking officer glaring down at them. Not in anger, however but with a hushed tone "Shhh. Don't wake up everybody. If you understand. Nod your head" the private. Private Cody Mckissick. Had recently finished basic and had been officially placed in this Kaiser's Corp. In fact, Caesar's eyes rolled slightly back as he remembered the recent graduating recruits. Caesar did his best to remember every man in this Corp. He made sure to at least know them by Rank, Last name, and then First name. Hopefully remembering all three with a face by the time they had their next conversation. However "Whose initiating conversations with this General" he chuckled to himself before focusing his attention to Private Mckissick's and his bunkmates. "I need a volunteer for a detail. Top secret so whoever gets put in on this can't tell anyone else" his eyes shifted from each Jack and Jane that met his as they walked by and finally onwards to Mckissick's whose eyes bulged as if about to receive the very instructions from God.

After a few tense seconds Caesar gave a "Aww shucks" and gently moved his from the privates mouth. "Sorry bout that, forgot that I neededta move my hand so you can speak. Alright spit it." As he also let go of the Private, who had in return fell on his butt. He could not have been anything over 5 and some change, weight to match. And Caesar had forgotten his strength and height in comparison. As he scrambled to his feet the group of privates carefully eyed each other, mumbling to themselves. Mumbling so low that they didn't even speak words, let alone sentences "Dallmann said she was bmroemdorsomething" One mumbled discreetly towards the imaginary friend probably standing behind Caesars' back as he stared at everywhere but the Generals' eyes. "PrivateDallmann mightbeufporthetasksir" Another had somehow mumbled into his mouth a quick sentance before "Leonie might." Mckissick finally spat out what everyone wanted to say. "Private Dallmann, Sir. I think she was saying she wanted to do s-s-omething that could-d help you s-sir Lord My Lord Caesar." his eyes lowering and lowering as he finished his sentence. "Huh. Private Leonie Dallmann huh. She graduated with y'all recently correct?" their nods reaffirmed it before he nodded his head. "Alright. Dismissed. Hail Kaiser" And as softly as they could they returned the Hail as well as a Hail Lord Caesar before departing.

Whether Leonie was awake or not, Caesar was never a light walker. While he did not necessarily try to wake up the occupants in their cots Caesar walked in a way that the clanks and taps almost caused the cots and in return the privates in them to vibrate slightly as if intermittent earthquakes were a common thing around that time. When Caesar stood in front of a Private Leonie Dallmann's Cot, the private sleeping above her's almost threw herself off her bed when realizing who it was. A scream of AAAAaaaaa_aaa? Caesar had placed his hand palm facing the rising private "I don't need people shoutin at this late of the evening Private Isgett" The blonde haired, mouse like private stood rigidly at attention. Her mouth glued shut in a perfect line nodded silently. "Also Good Kaiser, that throw was impressive. Go get yourself checked up with Doc to make sure you didn't break nothing." "Yes Lord Caesar" she sheepishly squeeked before excusing herself. Caesar spent this time returning the salutes from the now awake barrack. Those that were sleeping had stood at attention, those that were already in the process of leaving had all stood still. Silently staring in expectation, some in awe, others in boredom, and a mix in between. "As you all were. I just need one body and I got it."

He leaned down, almost dropping down to one knee and stared at Private Dallmann, his lips pressed inwards thinking. His squinting eyes staring at first her forehead then her eyes then her nose and finally stopping at her eyes. "Private Dallmann. Change into an off-duty uniform. You and I are going to do a reconnaissance mission down to Karakura town. Discretion will need to be high without being extremely discreet. I'll explain more on the way." As they approached the gate and their transport. Caesar took the oppertunity to brief the Private on the mission. "Alright Dallmann. For this operation we are going to be dropping into neutral territory. I sent out a recon team some time before in order to gather intel on an outside specialist. Were taking this time and departing a lot further from base to have maximum discretion. This outside specialist is an unorthodox source." As they walked towards nowhere, Caesar handed Leonie a picture of an Arrancar with the name "Arcadus" scribbled on the back and an address of potential locations. "I am going to be handing you an emblem. This emblem will be an extension of My Will and thus an Extension of Der Kaiser's will. I need you to ensure this sealed letter gets to that man. Heard he's dangerous. So don't worry I'll be watching and if he moves funny. Well, he'll probably twitch funny too." Caesar chuckled to himself, he was wearing for essentially a German tourist's first night in Japan. He could in a moment bring out Rip Rah and Rip rah indeed, however for the time being his reiatsu was masked perfectly. To everyone but Leonie, Caesar was nothing but Carl Ott. He even placed rounded glasses to give a cheesier look. When they had arrived, Caesar allowed himself the time to enter, position himself and play mindlessly. "Let me put myself in a good position to have you covered if shit goes sideways. Fight and win if you have to."

[Leonie Dallmann]

Rubbing her eyes as one of her comrades woke her up in a scream, Leonie found herself rousing rather quickly from a somewhat deep sleep that she'd been in. The girl had always made a habit out of heading to bed early, so she could be early to rise as well. Left her in one of the best states that she could've been in when routine training called in the morning. Though, it was certainly curious that something - or, someone - had woken up one of her comrades so suddenly.

Though, this was someone that she'd recognized almost immediately, provided she'd gotten a sight of him; General Caesar. Standing to attention almost immediately, throwing herself from her bed in order to meet a salute, Leonie made sure to keep up appearances despite her rather sluggish demeanor for the time. It was rather late at night, after all, so hopefully such was to be expected. Though, as the situation became less tense, and Caesar finished his salutes, she was addressed almost immediately thereafter.

Nodding her head, with an affirmative "yes, Sir!" She immediately started to get to work on that. Reaching into a pocket on her uniform and pulling out a caffeine patch, before slapping it onto her arm, she made haste in changing into something a bit more casual, as per request. A simple white sweater, light blue skirt, and a pair of leggings underneath, complimented nicely with a pair of boots and her signature blue scarf. Within a few moments, she was fully ready to begin this little mission! And with interest, as well.

Keeping her words to a minimum, she gladly nodded along as Caesar explained everything to her; she was to remain discreet, calm, and focused. This man that she'd been given a picture of - this "Arcadus" - was the purpose of her reconnaissance this evening. Hearing Caesar's laugh, Leonie laughed along as well. Truth be told, spontaneous twitching was no laughing matter; such could've been incredibly worrisome. But, she wasn't going to explain that to someone that could blink her out of existence.

"Understood, Sir!" She spoke, nodding her head. In truth, it all seemed simple enough. Not something that she hadn't done before, though having a 'dangerous' target was certainly making this a lot more intriguing. Just what was in this envelope? She didn't dare open it and risk tampering with whatever was inside. Such could've proven to seal her fate.

Regardless, it was time for her to begin this little mission of hers. Setting off, Leonie followed one of the addresses in order to get where she needed to be rather easily. Upon arriving, Leonie took the opportunity to look around for the individual in question; this blond-haired man she'd been tasked with finding. If he was here, she'd make her way over to him. If not? She'd do what she could to continue to search the other locations.

Eventually however, she'd find herself in a gambling ring. It wasn't exactly an atmosphere that she enjoyed being in, but it was one she was to tolerate regardless. General Caesar was counting on her, after all. She couldn't even begin to think of letting him down; not even just because she valued her own life, but this man was unquestionably intriguing to her. She'd have all sorts of questions to ask him later on.

"Excuse me," she spoke, rather nonchalant, "might you be Arcadus?" She hadn't the desire to pull out the photo General Caesar had given her; not right now, at least. Her memory was pretty good, so she'd known that this was the right man. Regardless, she'd lean against a wall, waiting for a response from the Arrancar.

[Arcadus]

Dusting the cheap plaster off of his shirt, Arcadus kept an eye out for what he recognized as a quincy presence moving up the road. Concern was something that flickered before being snuffed like a tea candle as one finished the last sandwich before going to resume your game of polo. Turning back to the array of vices he'd arranged on the ledges and various flat surfaces on his, and the accompanying machines, Arcadus towed the majority of them, limiting himself to a single ash tray and half empty bottle of sake. 

He didn't have the same super heightened senses of some of his contemporaries, but his were far enough above humans to hear the door open and the attempt to close it without noise. Breathing deeply, he continued his playing of the gambling machine. In the royal flush chances that he was somehow passed over, he'd breathe and go back to Los Noches and sleep. But he'd accurately guessed his chances as he heard Leonnie call his name. 

That he was, and if it was smart to answer so, it didn't seem wise, but whatever, this night was starting to die off, maybe this would shock it back to life. "I am." Swiveling on his chair, Arcadus nearly tipped over, saved by hooking his foot onto the machine behind him. "And either you know what my name means, or someone has given you my name. In either case, I'm curious as to why you are looking for me. I'm not exactly disturbing anyone, so there must be something you want from me in particular." 

"So, what can this humble resident of our three worlds do for you Leonnie?" Arcadus touched a finger to a pair of cigarettes, setting them both alight. Taking one for himself, he extended one out to his quincy inquirer. Turning in a small jolt of remembrance, Arcadus swiveled around again on his chair, regardless of if Leonnie out to take the cigarette, he would pour out a glass of sake for the girl, setting it on the machine closest to her, the cigarette lain across like a garnish. 

"With hospitalities out of the way, I assume you're either here because you need something, and let me guess. You want to fight me for some unknown reason, you're a shinigami spy or informant, you want me to make you something, you're interested in a corsage, you need a model for some fashion line you need a seven foot adonis to model, you have bricks you need moved, you're in the gun running business and need a supplier, or some other thing I have no clue about, which honestly would be nice to hear." 

Arcadus twisted on his chair slightly, slowly turning clockwise away from Leonnie. He was certainly exaggerating his intoxicated state, though going drinking for several hours was making that much much easier. If he was going to have even the slightest chance of making a chink in this creature's armor, he needed them to relax. Which while his behavior might be off putting to someone here to relax and gamble, to someone on edge, goofing off might let them not take this so seriously.  

[Caesar]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play Me Or Dont!}

Prior to their entering Caesar had ensured to give Leonie a minimalistic earpiece with a microphone that was consistently hot-miking on Leonis end but required manual inputs from Caesar in order to speak into her ear. Caesar had placed his transmitter towards the end of his sleeve while that hand was permanently inside his coat pocket. Caesar grinned and admired the bliss of the blinking lights, the cheering the coughing, people speaking a language he did not understand but understood. Their cultures differed greatly and his understanding of minute social cues could be going over his head and Caesar adored it all. Taking quick sneak gazes at the people surrounding them, the ones that were closest to Leonie first before the sneaking glances at Arcadus' way at moments when his glance couldn't catch his. Or at least attempt to do so. His glances quickened towards the entrances and the exits, the restrooms bar before settling on his pachinko machine. Listening directly to what he had to say and offering words when the time was right. His hands smoothly pressed over the transmit button. "Private. Don't Take it. Quick, quiet and to the point. While hospitalities were appreciated on both ends if one were to offer something to smoke Caesar believed that it should have been a fine cigar. However given the circumstances he nodded silently at the gesture. He just didn't want someone as young as Leonie taking something and getting Hollow poisoning.

Repeat after me, Private. Verbatim. Unless you have something better than translate it so. 'Enclosed in this envelope are instructions to a weapon inspired by a run in I had with a couple of Quincies and during our fight they brought out what I thought were lightsabers." He gave them a minute to take in the information and the fact that they had fabricated the entire thing up while telling the truth. The entire thing was a plan for Caesar to get a creative genius to fabricate a lightsaber that Caesar had somehow googled and printed fictitious blueprints from fan blogs that were a lot more creative or in Caesars mind were actually Disney whistleblowers telling the world that you could indeed create a lightsaber and if Arcadus succeeds they are able to utilize that and spread this among our members as both a means to increase morale and create an officers sword. Caesar chuckled intensely, his hand gripping onto the table. The sounds of rattling hopefully drowning out among the dull chatter of the surrounding few that were in there. "Cease repeating verbatim from her on Private. If Arcadus isn't done talking try to listen to broth traffic I got something for you." His voice dead serious in focus, if she glanced or shifted her peripheral vision towards where Caesar was sitting she would see that his focus was on the machine in front of him.

"You think we can get some of these commissioned to? Tah get it sent back home. We just gotta figure out how were gonna get it home. Maybe we can set up a shippin address and get all that shit sent there. What do you think private? Caesars eyes had occasionally glanced in their direction in a way to portray a tourist gawking at the asians speak a different language. "Wait don't say anything about us talking but like talk to him about making these Pachinko machines and shipping it to a warehouse to get picked up. We'll cover the cost to make them and if we like what we get we can comission more." utilizing his ability to focus on a target he maintained a dead stare at his pachinko machine while maintaining an eagle like watch on Leonie and Arcadus. "I heard sushi is good round here. I can write an excuse for your Lieutenant considering the time. Man sushi sounds nice.

[Leonie Dallmann]

Listening carefully to the words that were spoken by Caesar, Leonie decided the best thing she could've done here was to follow orders to a tee. She wasn't going to go and opt into something else when a General was the person giving her these commands! Such could've very easily meant walking herself into an early grave. While she wasn't above giving a bit of backlash to her higher-ups, something like this would've been extraordinarily dangerous to do.

"I'm all right," she spoke, holding up a sleeve-covered hand, "I don't smoke or drink. The gesture is largely appreciated, though." She gave Arcadus a soft smile; one that didn't seem to have any malice laced behind it. Her words definitely were genuine; both smoking and drinking were sins she wouldn't dare touch. To compromise her mental arsenal like that would've been heretical to all she stood for!

Chuckling back toward Arcadus' words, Leonie nodded her head. Seems a lot of folks tended to approach him. At least, this hadn't been something he wasn't used to in that case. "Something like that," she started, "enclosed in this envelope are instructions to a weapon inspired by a run-in I had with a couple of Quincies. During our fight, they brought out what I thought were lightsabers." While she'd known the exact tool that Caesar had been referring to, she wasn't to comment on such a matter.

Though, listening in on the earpiece she'd been given, Leonie thought to herself about the idea of gambling in Silbern. While she reviled the idea, Caesar was one of His Majesty's chosen. She'd be damned if she didn't live up to fulfilling whatever sort of life standards the man had wanted! She viewed him just as much of a hero of the Vandenreich as His Majesty himself, as well as the number of late Sternritter that came before.

"On that note," she spoke, addressing Arcadus, "how much effort do you think goes into making these machines?" Placing a hand to her chin, she feigned being lost in thought for a moment, giving the Espada an opportunity to respond. "If you're interested, I think I might have another job for you as well; I've been looking to... 'spice up' my place here in Karakura a bit. I've guests over rather frequently, and I know some of them are into this sort of thing. Would that be something you're willing to assist with?"

As Caesar continued to speak over the earpiece, Leonie couldn't help but smile. To Arcadus, it was likely that this would come off as interest in the job at hand, but in reality? The girl was ready to find herself deep in a futomaki roll. Sushi sounded absolutely divine right about now; to say she was excited for such a lunch would've been a horrendous understatement.

[Arcadus]

Arcadus sat back on the machine, enjoying that he had someone who'd actually talk to him and didn't seem to be fawning over him. Leaning back a bit as he enjoyed the atmosphere, Arcadus considered his options. Surely, they were expecting something out of this beyond a transaction. Sensing out Leonnie's mind, they were weirdly quiet in their emotions and stream of consciousness, almost like they were listening to someone. 

Arcadus smiled back at Leonnie. She was telling the truth at least about the drink and smoke, so that was nice. It was nicer of her to so politely refuse. Arcadus raised his eyebrows at the envelope, his brow traveling further, seeing what exaclty they wanted him to build. He'd heard of a lightsaber through cultural osmosis, it was a thing that existed as an idea, but he'd never really seen the movie it was from. That a quincy was asking him to make something clearly fictional, well it was a challenge he liked the idea of. 

Looking over the "schematics" heed been given, he wondered. What the fuck was happening? These were drawing were, well, pretty clearly incomplete if not actually fictitious. Surely, there was more. And as the Arrancar shuffled through the blueprints and images he'd been given. Well, if he's working from effectively nothing but artwork, then he's free to make it work as he desires, only thing needed is appearance on the end user's end. 

As Leonnie mentioned gambling, Arcadus looked up from the opened envelop. "Well, going over one of these exactly, theres a lot of electrical work and machining for parts, the exterior would have to be injection molded and produced that way, or potentially 3d printed and fiber dipped for opaque materials. As for everything else, its a programmed system for gambling meant to rig the odds in the favor of the owner, and you need of course all the steel balls."

Arcadus held his chin "I'd say its a lot of different work to put it all together and while its not hugely difficult, its about the scale. How big would you say is your oper- sorry, "your place". I'd say about a half dozen I could just make by hand, any more and I'd need to start making the parts in bulk and with that I'd probably need to make about twenty to make back my money on overhead. If its something inbetween that we can work something out."

Twisting again in his chair, Arcadus figured what the hell he was going to ask for in terms of payment for the lightsaber. Making something out of nothing, creating effectively a miracle of science and spiritual magicks. "Well, in terms of this, its certainly doable. I figure I'd need to brush up on my rieshi plasma designs, but besides that it should work. Now, in terms of payment, what are we looking at in terms of budget for our special toy here?"

[Caesar]

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