It's Too Early for Christmas Music [Rukia, Rose]

Sure, Rukia could have told her superiors about the tip she'd received. And sure, she probably should have done more than simply request a patrol in Spain so she could follow up on it personally. But there were some things that she simply wanted to do alone, and when she heard that someone from the old days had showed up, she felt like it was her responsibility to be the first to check on them.

She'd be the first to admit that her and Rose had never been the closest of friends by any stretch, but decades of service together, and especially through an affair like Aizen, forged bonds that were in many ways stronger than mere friendship. Besides, at her age, even just an acquaintance would have been enough to get her down here, and this was more than an acquaintance. That was the only reason she found herself walking into a bar here in Almeria, and she knew the moment she heard the music that she'd found the right place.

"Two beers, please."

Normally, Rukia didn't tend to drink much, but she felt like it was at least a little bit deserved in this circumstance. Call it a way to celebrate, as much as they could really. Taking the drinks from the counter, she moved to the table nearest the musician and set them down, before giving him an almost tired wave. She wasn't exactly going to rush him through his set, that'd just be rude.

Rose was not the type to be flustered in the middle of a performance, though the sight of a face that was all too eerily familiar entering this very bar on this very day at this very time. Though he had suppressed it deep within himself, he could not deny that there was an undeniable curiosity in his soul when it came to those comrades he had left behind all those years ago. But he had been a younger back man then, one who had not lived with the isolation he had imposed upon himself for all those years. He had always known, perhaps even hoped, that they would find him if he simply made his own way around the world once more.

This particular person was especially surprising to see. She had brought him a drink all the same, though, and so he offered the most minuscule of nods in recognition as she claimed the vacant table.

Still, his melody would continue until its completion. It was a melancholic tune if ever there was one, the electric guitar seeming to almost weep in the arms of the masterful musician. For Rose's music was the manner by which he bore a small part of his spirit to the world, and it was certainly that which the crowds came to see when he was passing through a town. Eventually, the piece came to an end and Rose dropped into a polite bow before finally slinking from the stage. He offered a nod to the bartender, signifying that he was taking a break, and soon enough there were other sources of music bringing ambience to the establishment.

Somewhat dramatically collapsing into the chair opposite Rukia, he rolled those lilac eyes before focusing in on her with a similarly tired smile upon his lips.

"Rukia, what an unexpected pleasure. It's.." There was a pause, perhaps for effect or maybe he was still finding his words. "..It's good to see you well."

Well, at least it was good to see him show that little bit of embellishment. It did a lot to convey how he was doing, though she couldn't say she didn't understand the pause in his voice, the tired expression he wore. If anything, she understood it a little bit too well.

"You too, Rose. It's been a long time. I'd ask where you went off to, but I guess that'd be pretty rude to jump right to that, huh?"

Of course, some things never really changed about people. Just because Rukia acknowledged it was rude to jump right to asking didn't mean that she wouldn't ask. Really, she already had, and she knew that. But hey, tiptoeing around the issue with small talk wasn't really why she'd come down here, and the last few centuries had gotten rid of most of her willingness to deal with issues like propriety.

"It would be rather crass, after all this time, but I suppose some things never change. That's why I end up here, performing melancholic songs in back-alley bars, and you're here to..."

Rose's voice trailed off again, though there was a notable lack of intention to his pause this time. Why was Rukia here? Out of everyone that he had once known, was she really the closest person left? God, what a depressing thought. No, surely not, right?

"Regardless, I took some time to reflect on all that we'd been doing. The Gotei was becoming suffocating, after a century spent in exile, plotting for a revenge I barely played any part in, Soul Society never really felt like home again. What were we doing then but propagating that broken cycle?"

That tired smile grew distant as he gazed over Rukia's head, a wistful glaze covering his eyes. There wasn't anywhere he had ever called home in the past five hundred years, he had become so displaced by events out of his control that he felt lost when suddenly things were back in his control again. But that was a little too despondent to share, even for him, so perhaps it was best to save it for a rainier day.

"Here to look in on a comrade from simpler times. I think that's a good enough reason to slip away from work, don't you?"

There was something of a defensive edge to Rukia's voice, as if she felt slighted that she had to defend her presence here. Well, maybe not defend it, but she had to admit that she'd hoped things would be a little less tense. Not that she was surprised, of course. It was only natural.

"I don't know what anyone was doing back then. Holding together the Gotei even though it hardly did any of us any good. Sometimes I'm amazed it's held out all these years."

Taking a long sip of her drink, Rukia noted that the tone of the conversation had already gotten rather somber. Oh well, she hadn't exactly expected this to be a completely cheerful meeting. And she wasn't still so young and optimistic that she thought she had to give it her all to make it go swimmingly.

"Yeah, I could toast to that."

Rose raised his beer and sipped at it tentatively, reluctantly consuming the beverage that was a little off from his taste - though how was Rukia to know, it was not like they had gone out drinking all that often back in the day. But oh how he missed those days, that was a part of him that he had not yet buried alongside the other skeletons in his closet.

"And yet there you still are. A part of the 'Gotei United' now, because we were so divided before."

He chuckled a little at that, it wasn't necessarily a malicious comment but it could certainly have been taken that way had he darker intentions. Instead, he leaned forwards a little, placing the drink down so that they might converse a little more intimately whilst that same hand swept through his blonde curls.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little curious what has actually changed over there, but I do worry that's a door I won't be able to close if I open it once more. I just want to live my simple life, and do right by people."

"It's a stupid name. Gotei United, Gotei Reformed. As if changing the name will cover up the fact that they sold out for a few years and suddenly make it a new organization. I think all it does is make the people who came before look bad."

Was Rukia bitter about the state of things? A little bit, yeah. Not that she ever talked about those sorts of things, if only because she typically didn't have a conversational partner that she thought would understand. Of course, the alcohol helped too, but with or without it she'd have been about that annoyed.

"I wouldn't ask you to come back. I wouldn't ask anyone to come back, honestly. There's a few people still around. You could never get Iba to leave, and Momo's still doing her best. Sui Feng finally had enough and left last year."

It was slightly disappointing to remember a friend departing, but she couldn't exactly blame her. Rukia would have too, in her position.

"Even if I'm in the Gotei, I think I'm in the same position you are. I just want to help. Seems like it's a lot harder to do these days, huh?"

"Old Iba was never one to quit out, I suppose. Not after what he went through with his old Captain. Some of us have Gotei in the bloodstream, but maybe I've never been so patriotic."

It was a little disheartening that so few names were mentioned, how many more had fallen into death or obscurity over the years since he had left? Still, it was rather disheartening to wonder about all those faces that he would never see again. How many words went unspoken in the end?

Like Izuru.

"For all the bad wrap we get, the Earth still got mighty fucked up on our watch, you know? We fought for it when it mattered, but could we have done more to prevent it? I think about that from time to time, keeps me moving forward rather than just staying in a hotel and catching up on the latest releases."

A bony hand ran through his mop of hair, ruffling the wavy blonde strands into a slightly different formation as he continued to work on that drink. His angular face was a portrait of some unspoken regret, and yet still he wore a smile. That was Rose to a tee, an aura of sadness behind a mask of revelry and showmanship.

"Being a hero is always so taxing."

"I think about it too. But I don't know what else we could have done. It's easy to look back at what we didn't do, at what went wrong when we were there. But how could anybody have know that was going to happen? Do people think the Gotei was some invincible war machine that could stop anything if they just tried?"

Of course they did. Rukia knew that was true, and the irritated bite to her voice made that much crystal clear. Rose had been exactly correct with his final observation. It was what people expected of heroes, but the truth was that most of them never even thought of themselves that way. Rukia hadn't ever cared much about the action figures, or the movies, or any of it. She just did it for her friends, for people who deserved to be protected.

"I don't think there's anything else we could have done. Maybe that sounds defeatist, but I think it's honest, and I think it's what everyone we left behind deserve. Acting like we could have been more prepared, like it was all our fault for not being ready, seems unfair to them. Don't you think?"

"We were idolised as heroes, that didn't mean that all of us were up to the task. But I've moped long enough to be less bitter about it, time lost lamented how we failed. Now I just accept that it was unfortunate how things went down, and throwing around blame won't change that."

There was a biting truth to his words that stung him even as he spoke them, but even still there was an endearing little undertone of hope that clung to him despite that. Perhaps that was where his charm had hidden away after all these years, a semblance of the better man he was beneath the surface.

"Still, here we are. Doing our own little things. We should probably do this more, and I promise my company will improve over time, but even once is nice. The Old Guard, still standing."