What you doin', though? [Loopy]

Now this looked like the kind of place where Kaede could enjoy working. The day started like any other: she had been making her rounds and dropping division application forms in to the various squad chambers when she first set her eyes on the grounds. Her first impressions of the 11th division where unsurprisingly strong. The whole place seemed devastated. Signs of battle were everywhere and it was clear why. The Squad’s whole grounds were one large sparring area and from the looks of things people were fighting and training every hour of every day.

She was largely ignored as she walked through the division. Though fights seemed to spontaneously break out around her Kaede was able to calmly walk through the rabble without sustaining any injury. In fact, she was quite partial to this entire racket. There was a nice ambiance to the sound and sight of constant battle that she had not experienced in the academy or any other division. Now, Kaede wasn’t an exceptionally violent person: her words cut much deeper than her blade did. Upon seeing this division so active, however, and so volatile and ever-alert was inspiring.

So she just wandered around, soaking it all in. She was obviously not a part of the division, still wearing her academy uniform (perhaps one of the reasons why she was being ignored) and probably the only one not engaged in any kind of battle. Nobody seemed to question why she was there and nobody seemed to care. She wasn’t even a distraction to their day. Though she hated to admit that such wanton violence had captured her fancy, she was almost completely sure that she had found the division of her dreams.

And then she spotted something odd: a strange silhouette in the sky. Kaede looked up at the odd figure sitting atop the building, darkened with the sun to his back. Now, in a division full of rowdy trouble-makers it was jarring to witness a figure that appeared so meditative. Unlike the laziness of that good-for-nothing captain that the woman had seen only days before, this docile figure elicited not anger but confusion. Something was off about it, and she wasn’t quite sure what. Was it her place to question what the figure was doing? Was disturbing it wise? This division was weird. She loved it.

Was she hallucinating? Was it the heat? Was she dehydrated? A smile graced her face, as well as furrowed brows. This statuesque figure sitting on the roof of this building spouting parables and philosophical babble at her was nothing short of insane. She had no idea who he was or why he was even talking to her and all through his speech he was both listening and also not listening. Kaede was hearing the words (something about scorpions and rivers) but not really processing the depth of whatever this lunatic was trying to get at. His constant ‘god’ talk was pretty annoying, too.

She listened as best as she could, though. Hands folding across her chest and tongue finding its way in to her cheek like it always did when she found herself simultaneously amused and completely baffled. Still, after all this strange talk leaving her more than just a little confused, Kaede found herself drawn to actually humour the man. It’s not every day some makeshift prophet gives you an impromptu lecture on the deeper nature of the very fabric of being, after all. Kaede wasn’t much for philosophy but she was certainly one who enjoyed the weirder folks in life.

”Actually,” Her voice carried, a naturally boisterous and confident tone that had a way of crossing great distance with little difficulty. It didn’t project the same way his words did, but it was clear as day all the same.”My name’s Kaede. Who the fuck are you?” Her foul mouth notwithstanding, she spoke with obvious interest, even more so than she led on. She took a step or two forward, not that it did much good to close the gap between the two of them. If they were going to have an out and out conversation then he was gonna have come down at some point.

”Tell me, do you normally chat up girls like this?”

When the preacher landed the first thing she noticed about him was definitely the ears. They weren’t exactly normal, but Kaede held her tongue. She wasn’t the kind of person to insult someone on their looks, just their manner. The preacher then identified himself as the squad’s lieutenant of all things! Kaede couldn’t help crack a broad smile at this.

”You don’t seem like the type to be falling in with this lot.” A huffed half-laugh escape her as the brief sounds of shouting and breaking furniture floated in from one of the buildings, punctuating her statement with comic precision. ”I don’t want to ruin your good times but you might be confusing ‘wise’ with ‘long-winded’. I’m a very literal-minded gal, you know? I don’t really gel with metaphor.” She pursed her lips, sucking on air whilst she once more looked this strange, strange man up and down. For once there was a person of authority who didn’t seem to be condescending towards her. He still seemed like a pretentious know-it-all, but a sincere one at that.

”Look, man, it’s not really the fighting that’s getting me all giddy. It’s the energy.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The smell of battle was one thing but there was a surge of life in the division that she hadn’t felt elsewhere in the Soul Society. ”I mean, have you seen those other divisions? Captain neglecting their duties to go play hooky in the park? Boring old bureaucrats sucking the life out of the whole place? I like this place because people are actually doing stuff and enjoying it.”

The woman’s eyes opened and she gave an quite but unashamed ‘whoop’ as though she had taken a particularly good hit on her pipe (speaking of which it had been almost two hours since her last smoke, and she was absolutely gasping). One hand delved deep in to her pocket whilst the other came to rest on the scabbard of her zanpakuto. There was certainly something infectious about the air here, no doubt about it.

”I get that this isn’t exactly a disciplined place. These guys seem like they’d be hell to organise but I guess that’s what you’re here for, eh? I can’t say you seem like much of a fighter with your talk of foxes and shit. How’d a person like you end up in a place like this, eh?” Kaede snapped her neck to the left with a satisfying pop and removed her pipe from the inside of her robes in a single, jerked motion. A few seconds later and she had managed to load the instrument with tobacco and light it in record time. She made sure not to blow smoke in this guy’s face, though. She was starting to like him.

Boy this dude sure loved to talk. When she asked him how he wound up here for a guy who seemed so pious she wasn’t expecting a whole life story. But on and on he went, with Kaede’s patience waning with every word. It was a rare instance when she was actively trying to stay polite, but she had little time for people who just didn’t know when to stop talking. He was, however, talking about how his parents got murdered, so interrupting him would just make her a dick and she didn’t much want to deal with that fallout.

And then there was a more interesting turn of events. Suddenly the preachy lieutenant was practically goading Kaede to run him through. Had she ever given the impression that she wanted to kill him? Maybe he was just pulling her leg with all of this nonsense. If he really was the lieutenant of this squad then how could she expect to put a scratch on the guy considering she’s barely out of the academy? Maybe he was a condescending dick afterall.

”Well, I can’t say you didn’t answer my question, but you should really look in to learning how to… get to the core of what you’re trying to fuckin’ say.” She blew smoke from her mouth and nose with every word, holding the pipe delicately between her thumb and fingers. Her fingers twitched and the ash spilled from her pipe and she put it back in her pocket. A raised eyebrow was detected at the fukataichou. ”And you can’t honestly think I’m stupid enough to try and kill you. I’m still wearing an academy uniform, for crying out loud. “

”Buuuuuuut…” Kaede rolled her shoulders, popped another knot in her neck and started cracking her knuckles one by one. ”It’s been a while since I had a good workout so I think I could spend a few minutes dusting knuckles with you if you’re up for it? Maybe let your fists have their turn doing the talking? If I’m lucky they might even be as slow as your mouth.” She put up her fists and shifted to the balls of her feet, cracking a smile as she did so. Despite what he might claim, he was totally egging her on for a fight. There was some aspect of this squad in him that not even fancy words could cover up. She wasn’t about to charge in and throw punches without warning, though. A fair fight is the least she could offer.

”Put up your dukes, Preacher, let’s see what you got!”