A cluster of tall buildings at the centre of Karakura town were called home by hundreds. But they were also the habitual haunt of one somewhat unusual shinigami. Indeed he spent so much time there that he left several items on the roof of the building on a permanent basis. These included a table, a chair, a tripod with camera, a filing cabinet and a massive parasol come umbrella to shelter from the elements. The shinigami in question was there now, leaning back in his chair, feet propped up on the table and holding a file in both hands, turning the pages slowly. Even though it was a calm day at this height the wind was still noticeable and every now and again his clothes would flap and sway in the breeze. He seemed to be the standard model shinigami, with a few additions. The arguably out dated black robes with the white cloth belt and underlay. His zanpakuto was resting on the table in front of him, the grip pointing towards him. Though little could be told about the weapon within its sheath an onlooker could tell it was straight edged, with a hand and a half grip which was slightly curved at the wielders end and with a larger than normal guard. Not only that but rather than the quasi ornamental grip covering it was instead bound in simple brown leather, a slight but significant departure from the norm. Further departure from the norm included the wearing of an additional, crude leather belt over his more traditional one. Hanging from this belt were a few small pouches and two larger ones, one cylindrical and one rectangular. He also had one pouch tied to his back much like a pack but it was far too small for that, instead it was roughly the size of a very large book. With his feet propped up on the desk you could also see the man was wearing sturdy but old fashioned boots, rather than sandals as well as a pair of black leather gloves. In short he presented a hotchpotch of traditional shinigami garb with a significant peppering of western style equipment from two hundred years ago.

The man seemed to be muttering to himself constantly, tuting to himself repeatedly and uttering phrases such as. “No, that won’t work.” As well as “Gah, it simply is not feasible.” It was at this point that the roar occurred, the same roar that had grabbed Kaiyene’s attention. The man rose with no real sense of urgency and glanced around, a hollow was rarely that difficult to spot, especially an unremarkable one. Stopping only to cease his weapon and attach it firmly to his person he set about bounding across the roof tops towards the beast. He welcomed the distraction, things were getting more than a little frustrating up on that roof, his little home away from home. What was curious though was the fact that the hollow seemed preoccupied as he drew closer. Doubtless some poor person it was trying to consume, his mind told him. Drawing closer to the hollow it seemed to turn its attention towards him, only reasonable. But on his approach he saw what seemed to be a figure on the other side. He only caught a glimpse before it was obscured once again and continuing to work on the assumption that it was just a victim he ignored it and went about dispatching his opponent.

As Kaiyene looked around she would see the figure do seemingly nothing, allowing the hollow to attack and bring one of its fists down with seemingly colossal force onto the man’s head. Unfortunately for the hollow the man managed to step aside at the last moment, avoiding the blow. Not only that but he cease the arm before the beast could draw it back once again and with a single tug forced the creature to fall flat on the ground face first. He then paced around to the side of the creature, displaying no great haste, giving it a firm blow on the head as he did so to keep it on the ground and disorientated. After a moment he was positioned by the neck and deliverd another firm blow. There was a sickening crunch with a slightly moist aftersound and then, after a few moments of inactivity the hollow simply faded away. Kaiyene was deprived of her captive but, may have been about to aquire something more valuable. The man was about to depart when he suddenly stoped, seemingly noticing the woman properly for the first time. It was the arms that grabbed his attention, blades and all. Stopping dead in his tracks he turned to face the woman slowly, adding the word “Curious.”

Now she would be able to get a good look at his face. It was a thin faced, immaculately kept without the tiniest hint of blemish to it. That was unless you counted his near black hair, which was obviously washed but seemed never to have seen a comb in its life let alone a professional hairdresser. It was cut for function only, a sufficiently short fringe so as not to obscure vision nor did any hair cover the ears. Only the back seemed longer and fell slightly short of the shoulders. A pair of thick dark eyebrows and a forehead obviously ploughed by far too much frowning were the only elements of stern character in what could otherwise have been described as a placid looking face. He looked at her with casual interest for a moment before his eyes narrowed slightly and he reached up with his right hand. His left now firmly tucked behind his back. Slowly he drew a cross in the air and then a circle around that cross, his eyes latched on to hers as he noticed certain involuntary reflexes, tracing the movement. “Ah.” Then after a moment or two. “You can see me can’t you? Hear me too presumably.” Stepping away he held one finger up adding. “One moment please.” With his right hand he fished around in the cylindrical pouch and drew out an old fashioned spyglass and tucked it into his armpit before giving a gentle tug and unfolding the device. It would have been simpler to use his other hand but he seemed to be going to somewhat impractical lengths to keep it behind his back. Putting the device up to his eye he looked around before saying quietly to himself. “No....no more. Not that I can see anyway.” Turning to the woman he collapsed the spy glass again by pressing it against the side of his head and returned it to the pouch before straightening and saying. “Guten Tag, Blessuo and hello.” He paused for a smile and stepped forward, extending a gloved hand. “The name is Keiji. Takahashi Keiji and you are very interesting.” He gave a slightly contemplative hum and seemed to bend down slightly, peering at various parts of her body, particularly the extremities. “Humm, a lovely design, not just aesthetically. There seems to be a far higher degree of articulation than anything of the like I have ever seen and I very much doubt this is a glove so I’m going with prosthetic. Articulation implies control so this is no ball and pit job. How’s it done? Some sort of reiatsu based control I’m guessing but hum, maybe not, looks a bit physical for that plus I have never seen anything like this before...”

It was clear the man could happily retreat into his little world of thought for seemingly ever but he abruptly shook himself out of it and made hasty apologies. “Sorry, sorry. I’m being so rude.” Once again using his right hand only he fished around in another one of his pouches and drew out a small paper bag and proffered it to the woman, shaking it slightly. “Chocolate. I believe they are called minstrels though I fail to see what’s so musical about them.” With a deft flick of the wrist he propelled a single chocolate up into the air. He tilted his head back, opened his mouth and let it plop into his mouth, where upon he started chewing. He looked at her in silence for a while until he eventually swallowed. “All right then, how to put this briefly. Ah, I have it. Who, what, why, and how? I think that about sums it up.”

((I had some time on my hands so I decided to take you up on your invitation and post here, don’t expect me to be able to respond to all three threads all the time but I will try, and as far as possible alternate between them. Forgive any blunders I make here, they will happen but I’m sure you can correct them.))