There is a light that never goes out [OPEN]

Flip flop flip flop, the sound of the plastic sandals clashing the ground and smacking against the ball of his heel of the once great wrestling heel. Irvine was restless.. He wanted sleep, but sleep he shall not be received. It took him ages to figure out what to do to deal with the time on his hands. Tonight was a good night for him, a trip to the bar to watch some Japanese baseball with the regulars. The clock striked twelve and he found himself roaming again.

Another day it become.

"Frustration is bad for you, even when you’re trying to sleep," he groaned, he hated it when his life experience decided to pip in when he least wanted it. It was family problem. Aya had to postpone the visit, citing work demanding more attention. The flash of anger coursed through his body, but that's fine, he thought. Even with all that bitter resentment and frustration? Irvine still cracks a smile, and besides. There's always another time.

It just stings you know?

Along with the opaque blue slippers fit for beach wear, he sports clothes suited only for casual day to day life, or rather his definition of casual day to day life. The hawaiian shirt with a thick wooly cardigan wrapped over him and a black shorts that left his knees and thigh exposed.

What do people think of him? He's famous! He didn’t care; it was midnight and the only thing sentient enough to process the strange middle aged foreigner skittle his stuff across the street were the alley cats that stopped to stare at him.

“Hi, kitty,” he spoke with a rusty mother tongue, followed by a forceful yawn and head scratching. His head suddenly tilted forward in a sudden realization that the cat may only understand Japanese! He missed being able to speak English to someone, he tried to find English speaking friends, but he found himself speaking in Japanese even more! So he greeted once more, in Gaelic, but the cat failed to stir. He left the cat alone and moved on.

Ding! The sliding door parts ways and granting the retired famous customer access, he said his greeting to the shop assistant. Unfazed, the assistant politely bows in response. He likes him, breadwinner to a family with two and goes out of his way to make sure those children get a better future. He wished he could help him.

“How the kids,” Irvine casually asked in Japanese, letting his chest drop as he opens the fridge door for the milk and water.

They are fine, he said with a suble nod. The natural beaming smile of his was enough to confirm it. “You know, if your kids are into wrestling, I can get you tickets to the next event for free – no strings attached,” He chriped as to continue the fleeting moment under the eletric light. A good family is a secret recipe for successful life.

Take it damn you, Irvine thought. He never did though, the soft apologetic audible followed by a constant dipping of his head - stubborn as a mule, he is. But he always respected people who are stubborn. They set out to do something and they stuck by it, come hell or on high water. He couldn’t. Being stubborn is one of the worst things a wrestler can do. You have to ask for something, if you don’t it will never come, lots of potential draw-a-dime wrestlers slipped and fell into the pit of mediocrity because they believed that their skills will help them get noticed. The higher ups are busy, you just need to knock on their door and let them know that you’re here and willing to make them money.

“Well," he paused, flashing the ol' Bradford smile, "the offer is there if you want it. It’d do a world of good for your family,” he couldn't resist, he too smiled in reply. Irvine must've been his first customer in a long while. “Like a couple of lollipops, please, you know the sort I like,” his right hand strayed towards the direction of the mountain full of lollipops as he hummed. He dug into the pocket of his cardigan to pull out a wallet and parted a few notes to cover what he came for. The milk and the lollipop went into the plastic bag and grasped the soft water bottle and parted a polite nod to his midnight friend.

Hobbling forward towards homeward bound, the slippers were providing him unease. He stopped and began to rat-a-tat-tat the front of the slipper for some sense of freedom of comfort. With a sigh he began to recall the expressive feature of his stubborn shop assistant. Maybe he should turn back and talk to him?

Then again, he could get him into trouble for slacking off, he knew how the Japanese workers take their employment seriously.

No matter what time it is or the weather, human nature always seeks out something, most of the time it is to talk to. Just like water, just enough litre a day to keep the body functioning. He paused for a moment before looking over to the street, he saw a rarity.

stars...

He lightly wooped, and beamed. Finally speaking in English, "ain't you a beaut, it been a while, I hope our light hasn't frightened you?" Japan at night was a serene place, not a body in sight and not a cheer in hearing - just plain solitude.

In all consideration, life is mighty fine, just a little lonely...

What a shitshow of a mission!

Nothing going on in this town could be as interesting as what was going on back in the Soul Society. The Seireitei was still recovering from the aftermath of the upheaval in the noble court and Jun was still stuck on Earth away from the action. He couldn't exactly fight in this gigai and he couldn't keep his eyes peeled if he was blackout drunk. The stories he'd heard about this place made it seem like some kind of spiritual circus and yet, he was going to have nothing to report on if things didn't pick up in intensity anytime soon.

So here he was wandering the streets well past last call with little more than a buzz. At this rate, all he could hope for was to get attacked by a Hollow or something though in a place like this he'd struggle to attract one with his suppressed reiatsu. He supposed this chump was a good enough diversion though. This guy was pretty big and he looked like he was a long way from home in Japan. Two things they had in common. He wouldn't be a very good member of his division if he didn't try to pry some information out of him. He just hoped he wouldn't give him too much of a scare coming out from the alley behind him. That wouldn't be much fun.

"Hey! You know where you can have a good time around here?"

Of course, the type of information he was looking for wasn't going to end up on his captain's desk.

He was used to people jumping out of nowhere, let alone appearing from the pitch blackness. Was this fellow a drunkard, he couldn't tell. He can tell that he wasn't from Karakura that's for sure. He cracked a warm smile before taking a swig from the water bottle and took a careful look at the new arrival.

"Not from here?" He spoke after gulping a single sip of water. The man was seemingly European, young, handsome, built. Half of the makings of a successful wrestler, granted he was in a wrestling business, he may well had women swooning over him. Wrestling sure had changed since he departed eleven years ago. With more people, both wrestlers and fans taking up technological witchcraft, talking to people over the spider's web, the waters had gotten rather muddied. "I'm afraid not, other than this store everything else is closed. If entertainment is what you're after, you could take a train to the city, nightlife there could be satisfactory enough for you."

He let out a soft, beaming smile under the lamplight and spoke, "Have a good evening, or morning and take care getting home, Sir." Foreigners tend to get lost after a night out, he hoped he doesn't cause enough ruckus to wake the neighbours up. Some people around here are good people, hard working and wanting to do right by their family. He gave the European fellow a nod and began to turn.

The gears in the younger man's head were turning. Conventional wisdom told him to get out of here. It was a lost cause. If this guy was interested in a little friendly conversation, he wouldn't be showing his back. A man like him could do a lot of damage if he was backed into a corner. Yet, Jun felt no hesitance to continue his approach. Why should he have? What were the consequences? The bored shinigami was doubtful that this could blow his cover. It was unlikely that there was any overlap between their social circles. Not to mention that if it came down to it, Jun was confident about which one of them had accrued more combat experience.

"Not during the daytime though. During the daytime, plenty of places are open. What would you suggest?"

He wasn't going to touch the question of where he came from.

In all fairness, Karakura was a bit less quaint than intel suggested when it came to its mundane side. The average tourist might have had a field day here. If he was on vacation then even a piss poor bar would be enough for Jun. However, work was work and had to stay vigilant even if there was nothing to report. Even so, surely there must have been something in this town worth his attention.