Work Text:
Glitch City, Kurow Family Residence
207X, December 26th
Gaby had a lot on her mind, staring at the wall of her bedroom with a drained expression. This Christmas was one of the worst in recent memory.
Her sister died less than two weeks ago, and the last remaining link to Lenore was now most likely severed thanks to the argument in the bar a few days ago, still fresh in her mind due to Jill's screaming among other things.
What could she even do now? Her Dad and related family were still grieving as was her, and Jill in all likelihood didn't want to speak to them again. Was this the end?
Gaby sat there for minutes on end, leaning on the desk she always wrote things in free time.
In due course, she came to a realization. A note to Jill could be written as a last resort, just to try and reach out and apologize for everything that happened in that bar.
It seemed like the only option, because it would be better to at least try rather than just let things be and get much worse, including the regret that was washing over her.
If Gaby didn't try to make amends now, she'd hate herself.
Thankfully, she determined that it'd be possible to give the note to someone other than Jill, as through recent reading on danger/u, it seemed like Jill had some reliable co-workers.
However, the idea of seeing Jill again after everything near terrified Gaby, fearing this hate towards her would last forever.
But why?
She tried to not blame herself for lashing out at Jill, but it couldn't be helped. At the time, it seemed like Jill just stopped loving Lenore and did her own thing for the sake of "freedom", at the cost of Lenore's life.
Lashing out like that was the worst possible course of action. It was too harsh, too selfish. The realization of those actions made her hurt physically.
But they hadn't seen each other in ages, not to mention how Lenore wanted to secretly see Jill one final time before passing but never happened, only managing to send a letter earlier on in December. So much had changed.
All this did was add to Jill's own crystal clear grief, especially with how Dana had recently convinced her to eventually go back to Lenore and say sorry for the actions which caused the relationship's end, and also give a chance for Lenore to apologize for her actions too.
What happened in the bar only hurt both sides, and potentially burned the bridge even further from Jill and Lenore's argument, which Gaby bore full witness to at the time.
But above it all, Gaby felt like Lenore had come back in a way via Jill. She kept thinking back to when she first entered the bar, where Jill looked so happy to see her grown up, so eager to ask about Lenore, so why?
And why did Lenore's death hurt Jill so much when the breakup occurred such a long time ago? Did Jill still love her in truth?
Gaby's heartbeat fastened with each second. There were so many questions that needed answers from Jill, almost too many.
Thus she had to write this note and reach out no matter what, to avoid an everlasting regret that Jill also shared. It was worth bearing all this anxiety of the reunion.
Thankfully Gaby's father was busy right now, so this note could be 100% focused on for the time being.
The nearby desk drawer was opened, and a stray blank piece of paper was pulled out from under a few school books, quickly accompanied by a pen on the desk's surface she always used.
It took a minute to recollect herself and think of what to even write, but soon started.
"First of all, I want to say sorry for how I acted before in the bar."
"My sister's death still hurts and it wasn't right to let out all the stress I had onto you, let alone blame you especially when you were mourning too."
"And so, it feels weird to ask this of you after what I did, but I really want to talk to you again."
"I want to catch up, to chat for a while, to do what you were doing with me before I got angry, just talking."
"I want to understand this freedom you talked about with me, the fear of losing that freedom that drove you and my sister to fight."
"I'll go back to the bar on the *. I won't take much of your time."
"If you don't want to see me after all that happened, I'll understand."
"But please Jill, I really want to talk to you."
"-Gaby"
The intention was to write this short and sweet, to not waste Jill's time but to also get the point and intent of the note across.
With all the writing that Gaby ever did, it was always made sure to review the relevant work over and over to not miss any mistakes.
Apologies to start off the note seemed like the course of action, to show that she was at fault the most, not Jill. No more victim blaming.
Another important thing was the space for a date entry near the end. She didn't fully know Jill's shifts time wise, her previous arrival being an educated guess thanks to danger/u research about Jill plus the bar.
In consideration, hopefully that if she came across one of Jill's friends once arriving at the bar with this note, they'd be able to fill in a date for when Jill would be around to talk.
But she also hoped that whatever day was filled in wasn't the day right after delivering it, because Gaby genuinely needed to mentally prepare for something like this, to see Jill again and most likely consult her father for advice before or after if needed.
With confidence that this was written the best it could have been after review, Gaby reached for a nearby envelope from a small stack she used for a regular pen pal, and inserted the note before sealing it neatly.
With the note written and contained, she now had to think when to even visit Valhalla to send it.
Today was out of the question, it was too sudden. Doing it at a random time like this risked arriving at a closed bar, not to mention how she lived a whole district away.
Tomorrow? It might work if planned right. Gaby didn't want to go too close to the 31st and risk the bar being too busy to allow her to go there.
It was decided.
She'd set off tomorrow near night, quickly get to the Neon District, give the note to the nearest co-worker of Jill, tell them to write an appropriate date for it after explaining and then she'd go back home ASAP.
Simple? Gaby could only hope.
Otherwise the world around her would only get darker.