Work Text:
Glitch City, University District 765-51
96 SW Tsutchie ST, Kurow Family Residence
207X, December 25th
There was too much to think about. A haze of thoughts and noise.
It was the worst Christmas in her life with the now fractured family.
Despite having let out so much energy during her argument with Jill and afterwards in Valhalla's alleyway, a lot of raw emotion stayed within Gaby still.
All she could do with this drained state was look at the wall of their bedroom, a well worn group photo of her, Jill and Lenore residing nearby. The same photo Jill herself owned.
But now her sister is dead, thanks to a nanomachine rejection induced heart attack.
Six feet under less than two weeks ago due to an issue she kept silent about to the grave for an unknown purpose.
All the while their ex-girlfriend went on her own way, to live the rest of her life on her own terms in that bar with new people as if that past life was thrown aside.
And now the bridge had been severed on Gaby's side too with the scarring argument that occurred so recently. Jill's screaming at her amidst that argument couldn't be forgotten, not at all for the time being. One of the last attachments to her dead sister besides her still connected family was now surely gone with that.
What could she even do now? Or anyone on this side in general?
Her Dad and distant extended family were still grieving as was her, and Jill in all likelihood didn't want to be near them anymore with how badly this argument had gone, a clear repeat of her and Lenore's original argument before never seeing each other again.
Was Gaby supposed to just bear with these results and move on, forever?
What would Lenore have wanted?
After a few minutes of absent thinking that felt like so much longer, she came to a realization.
At the very least, she could try to collect her thoughts, be rational and eventually apologise to Jill in some shape or form. A letter perhaps?
It was ultimately better to do this rather than nothing, bringing even more regret and self loathing, even if an act like this was a stretch to rationally do with how thick the tensions were left at between them. Gaby knew that, but didn't know Jill had just as much regret for never reaching out to Lenore after all this time.
But she didn't even know where Jill lived, but maybe something like that could be sent to the bar at least? Did any bars in general even have a mail system nowadays?
The thought of delivering the letter personally of course scared Gaby even if it could be given to one of Jill's reliable co-workers since she only knew Jill, the knowledge of those employees and the bar's location in the first place being attributed to past usage of danger/u, which she wouldn't really admit to anyone due to her age.
But all the while, Gaby still had conflicting inconsistent thoughts.
She tried to not blame herself for lashing out at Jill in the bar, but it couldn't be helped. At the time, it really did seem that against better judgment, Jill just stopped loving Lenore, chasing her own "freedom" at the cost of her ex's life.
But lashing out like that without reason towards someone shell-shocked with their girlfriend's passing was the worst possible course of action. It was too harsh, too selfish. The eventual realization of those actions made Gaby hurt physically.
They hadn't seen each other in ages, with Lenore wanting to secretly see Jill one final time before passing, neither party being aware of that fact. So much had changed.
Gaby then again thought 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 seemingly affect Jill so much when the breakup occurred such a long time ago? Did Jill still love her in reality and never fully move on?
Gaby's heartbeat quickened with each second. There were so many questions that needed answers from Jill, mentally too many for someone as young as her.
Those answers would only come from this sole solution of writing this letter to reach out, to avoid an everlasting regret that Jill also shared. It was worth bearing all this fear of a reconciliation for that purpose.
To waste no time, Gaby got off her bed to open the nearby desk drawer. A stray blank piece of A4 paper was pulled out from under a few study books, quickly accompanied by a flashy ballpoint pen she always used.
Gaby took deep breaths to recollect herself and think of what to even write with it being emotionally charged, but started shortly after.
"First of all, I want to apologise for how I acted towards you in the bar."
"My sister's death still hurts me so much and it wasn't right to let out all the stress I had onto you, let alone blame you especially when I was clearly not the only one mourning."
"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."
"I want to understand this freedom in life you talked about with me, the fear of losing that freedom that drove you and my sister to fight and break up long ago."
"I'll go back to the bar on the *. I promise I won't take much of your time while you're working."
"If you don't want to see me again after all that's happened, I'll understand."
"But please Jill, I really want to speak to you."
"-Gaby"
With all the writing that Gaby ever did, she always made sure to review the relevant work over and over to not miss any mistakes. Punctuation, misspelled letters, and so forth. An intent learner.
The thing she tried to make most important in this letter was starting off that she was at fault the most, not Jill. No more victim blaming.
Another important thing was the left out date at the letter's end. Gaby didn't know Jill's shifts in regards to times, even if it was clearly based past evening.
In light of that, Gaby hoped that when she showed up to the bar to deliver the note, one of Jill's co-workers would be present who'd be able to fill in that missing date for when they could talk.
No matter the date, Gaby would need to mentally prepare for the potential reunion, warranting seeking advice from her father.
But she was confident that this letter had been written to the best of her ability after much proofreading with it being inserted into an envelope, retrieved from a stack of such used for pen-pal purposes.
With that envelope sealed, the subsequent problem was when to actually visit the bar to deliver this.
Today was out of the question, being too sudden due to the time and being a whole district away. It wasn't safe with how many people were celebrating for Christmas in Glitch City now, plus the multitude of closed stores.
Gaby didn't want to go on the 31st and risk the bar being too busy on New Years to allow her to deliver this note, which would leave the planned Jill talk at an even later date as a result. But she realized if planned right, tomorrow could work out due to knowing routes of the University District well.
Thus it was decided. She'd set off tomorrow, quickly get to the Neon District, give the letter to the nearest co-worker of Jill, swiftly discuss an appropriate date for it after explaining and then go back home ASAP to avoid worrying her father, as well as count on Jill not already being at the bar, of course.
Was this all a simple task? Gaby could genuinely only hope.
Glitch City, Neon District
207X, December 26th
Gaby was finally at Valhalla, having reached the narrow alley after bearing with Glitch City's usual frigid air.
But it wasn't the only thing that left her shaking, not having full courage to go the extra mile inside the bar despite all of the build-up that was done prior.
She just hoped there was someone she knew and trusted present here as a form of motivation now, to just get things over with and go back home to emotionally recuperate.
But to her surprise, after looking to the side, there was a roughed up poster of *Kira* Miki on the alley wall, featuring them looking quite energetic.
And it was like their expression was meant to be invigorating towards people that were down, as was her entire personality as usual.
It seemed to help Gaby to some form, leading her to shake her head and faintly smile looking downwards.
Clutching the note in hand, the bar's entrance began being walked towards, more confident about a positive outcome.
Even if she knew it was a bit weird to say, Gaby still said something to herself as the actual empty bar was in front of her.
"Don't worry Sis, I'll try to make things right."
"I promise."