try not to mistake what you have with what you hate

[reassures]

Who: Nill, Gilbert Nightray, and special guest Henry D. Spencer III
When: Just past sundown, and probably going on into the night
Where: Starting off in a park, ending in the orchard
Summary: Nill's been keeping tabs on Spencer for a very long time. It's finally time to say hello.
Warnings: Someone dying horrifically! Will be updated if it somehow gets worse.

Meet me in the park past sundown.

[That was the message that Nill had sent to Gilbert over an hour ago. It gave him plenty of time to do what he needed to do, and it gave her time to get done what she needed to get done as well. It was enough, and almost more than she was willing to put over the NVs with the state of the city as it was lately. Everything was falling apart, and Yosuke wanted to reopen the Cat's Eye now... Meanwhile someone on the network was talking about the world ending.

And to some extent, Nill believed it. The way this place was reminded her of the last world she'd been in when it began to fall apart. Chaos everywhere you looked.

But that wasn't why Nill was there, sitting on a park bench, as if she wanted to talk to Gilbert about her purpose in life again. No - the black clothes, the guns at her sides, were all indications that whatever Nill wanted to meet him for, it probably wasn't good.

Gilbert will find her smoking a cigarette, and keeping watch. It's still early, but things go to hell quickly once the sun is down.]

Comments

[reassures]

[Nill hadn't been keeping tabs on him either. Not until Castiel showed up in the hospital and said that for some reason he was still alive. After that, Nill had been angry enough to keep a look out. And she kept that look out until she thought she had a good chance.]

I am.

[This is the difficult part, though. The part that she's reluctant about.]

Could you help me?

[retraced]

I'd follow you even if you told me not to.

[He takes a short drag off of the cigarette before dropping what's left of it to the ground and crushing it between the rotten street and his boot. Nearby a shadow stirs, but nothing seems ready to jump out at them yet. The smaller creatures keep back, maybe waiting for a good show first.]

Where is he supposed to be?

[reassures]

[She wants to hug him. She almost does, but thinks better of it, because this isn't the time or the place for hugging people. After this night was over, maybe she could hug him then, but now... not now.

Under normal circumstances, she would never ask someone to come with her. She would never want to drag anyone else into this with her, especially not Gilbert. But Nill is sure that one of the mistakes that Shika had made that night was going by himself. He left no traces, and the people that killed him also left no traces. She couldn't do that. She couldn't risk disappearing and leaving Yosuke and Dave with no explanations of what she was doing. It was too cruel.]

Thank you.

[There's an immeasurable amount of gratitude in the words. More than words themselves can actually convey. Nill pauses for a moment to pull her NV out of her pocket, and after taking a moment to type up a message, she hits send so that it will go to Dave's inbox.

She won't disappear. She refuses to.]

An orchard. It shouldn't be difficult to follow him there.

[retraced]

[Gilbert knows full well where it is; he visits it at least once a week for their fresh produce. But he also knows how dangerous it is at night, so if Spencer is headed out that way, there must be something else he's looking for aside from victims. Or maybe there's just something that Gilbert is missing completely (which is usually the case). Either way, he starts off in the right direction.]

The orchard? What business would he have there? What's the owner's name...Grayman? Or Grayson...

[reassures]

It's Grayson.

I think he might be hoping to have another hunt there some day.

[Her expression dims, falls to something close to bitter. ]

I don't know for sure if that's what he wants, but I don't want to give him the chance to start thinking about it again.

[retraced]

[Of course the hunts that he'd been doing so far would be too predictable. He agrees, if this is the information that she's found, then he's trying to make things more interesting for himself and for the people who pay to hunt the people that he captures. Gilbert grits his teeth, takes another glance down at the shadows behind them.]

Even if he's just there to buy apples, it doesn't matter. You're right, we can't give him a chance to start another hunt.

Let's go.

[reassures]

[Nill honestly doesn't know why the angels, who seem all powerful, didn't just kill him the minute they were given the chance. For people like that, there have been multiple chances. Some divine punishment would be fitting for a ball of human sickness like Spencer.]

I can't ask you to do anything to him.

[Even if Nill knows to some extent that Gilbert has killed in the past - that's something she can't ask of him, or of anyone.]

If you can help me... that's enough. And if something happens, I want you to leave.

[She pauses slightly, before offering him a smile. She loves you Gilbert, she really does. Then Nill nods, and quickly starts walking down the street. She's already mapped out the way there a dozen times, knows it by heart by now.]

[retraced]

[Over the years since he'd met Break, he's learned that there are some people who need to be killed, and whose blood he can justify spilling. Illegal Contractors, those who threaten the peace of his loved ones. The first time he'd killed a man, he'd fallen to his knees and choked so hard on his tears that he'd lost all air in his lungs. The floor had stained red, and his younger brother had simply stood behind him, smiling in that gentle but terrifying way of his. But it was necessary, he'd learned. This was the world that Oz would return to, after all. He needed to keep it safe, and that meant erasing the existence of people who were beyond help, whose cursed time on this earth would only be a hazard to everyone around them.

Spencer is a person who falls into this category. Gil has seen the result of both of his hunts, seen the faces of those who were hurt by his actions. Not just the victims, but their loved ones as well. Even if she doesn't ask him to do anything, he won't feel any guilt in watching the man die, no matter how it happens.

And he realizes now that thinking that, she can probably overhear it, but he doesn't mind. He just hopes that his own burden doesn't make hers any worse.]

If anything happens, I can use Raven to get us out. [She probably remembers the strain it put on him before, but it's still something that he can do, even if he can only use it as a last resort.] Just stick close to me if you can, and I promise not to get in your way.

[reassures]

[Nill's own reaction the first time she killed a man was different. It was months ago now - a man called Fife, who had raised the daughter responsible for part of the agony that occurred during the hunt that she was in. A despicable man in his own right, one that she'd found in an AGI sex club the night that she killed him.

Nill had stopped time, and she slit his throat with the knife that Claire had given her. The only blood had been on her knife as she walked away. After that she felt mildly unwell, and went home - and time started back up again. The club had panicked, it was on the news for days after... and no one came after her.

She still dreamed of that night sometimes; but ultimately, they weren't images that haunted her. And if they were, she didn't sleep enough for it to be an issue. The man had deserved to die, but Nill hadn't killed him for that. The man died because she wanted to be caught, and she never was.

In retrospect, it was stupid.

But Spencer was different from Fife. Spencer had harmed, and he would do it again, and Nill would be damned before she let the man have the chance to do it.

She knows the risks of Raven though - Nill doesn't remember the day that Gilbert used it to get them both out of a bad situation fully, but the toll of Raven and what it was ale too accomplish were things she wasn't likely to forget any time soon. She'd rather not ask it of him if she can help it, but...

If it can get the both of him out of there, alive and hopefully in one piece, then how can she turn it down.]

Thank you. I will.

[That said, she starts heading down the street. The sooner they did this, the better.]

[retraced]

[Gilbert stays silent until they're near the edge of the supposedly haunted orchards. His nose wrinkles at the smell of it, the rotting darkness causing the plants surrounding the grounds to smell terribly compared to the sweeter smell of the darkness-harvested fruit. As always, it casts a silver glow through the dark, a welcoming sight after the lights have all gone out.

He covers his nose with his wrist to try and block the smell for a moment, but mutters under his breath:]

There's something following us.

[A weaker darkness monster, but Gilbert doesn't want to risk discharging his gun and alerting Spencer to their presence if he really is nearby.]

[reassures]

[Shit. Nill makes a face, and glances behind them. Carefully she puts her gun back into the holster at her side, and reaches into her coat for a kunai or two. Gilbert is smart to not just gun it down.]

I think I can handle it.

[Most of her methods were too flashy for stealth, but with a kunai she could kill it easily enough, provided that it didn't have a thick skin to it.]

Can you wait here and keep an eye out for him?

[retraced]

I will.

[He moves out of her way, but though he's still keeping an eye on their surroundings, his thoughts never leave her. Spencer is the priority here, but her safety is more so. He steps off into a shadow only to walk right into a mess of tiny mouse-like creatures. Most of them scamper off, but the one that stays is easily destroyed under his shoe.

There's no way that their luck is going to hold out like this forever, though, and he knows it.]

[reassures]

[Nill offers Gilbert a nod of her head, and disappears into the shadows herself. Creating images that fool darkness monsters is no easy task, but it's something that Nill has grown somewhat accustomed to in certain situations. The creature makes a sound, not unlike something that has found prey and might get a meal soon, but after that all Gilbert should hear is silence - until Nill reemerges, looking no worse for the wear, though her kunai has something that might be blood on it. She nods in his direction, more able to hear than see him, and then starts heading further in, to wherever they can find spencer.]

[retraced]

[There's a building on the grounds, where one would go and pay for the produce that can only be picked at night. But tonight there's a light on, and voices coming from inside.

Gilbert attempts to stand in front of Nill and lead her through the fields of glowing fruit towards the building, but even though the men inside are talking loudly, it's hard to make out just what they're saying through the darkness proofed, drape-covered windows. Still, if they're anywhere, they're here.

I wonder if Nill can hear them, he thinks. Though he doesn't risk saying it out loud and draw attention to the either the men or whatever other creatures are roaming the patches of genetically altered fruit.]