What Happened? (Gabby Only)

It wouldn't be too long for the bus to reach the nearest bus stop to Hayabusa trail. As they left the vehicle, they would continue to walk towards their destination. Jin cautiously look to each side in a rather subtle manner by only allowing his irises to gaze around his environment. They would be alone very soon as they reached the Old Hiking Road. It was fairly empty as people do not usually enter this place at this time of day. Upon reaching rather far into the road away from civilization and outsiders, they would finally stop in place.

"So, who are you?" is the question he first began with as the silence broke to begin their discussion.

The Hiking Road was exactly what Gabby was hoping for: large area, few people, and if anything went wrong, Gabby probably had the advantage. She would keep walking until Jin stopped and questioned her. She would just look at him and smile, “I would hope Jin-sensei already knows my name.” She held up her hands so he could see she wasn’t holding anything, “You can trust me, but let me warn you about something.” Her eyes began to glow golden, “If I suspect for even a moment that you are a threat or will endanger the mission I am on, I will not hesitate to end you. Are we clear?” If he answered anything but yes, she may just kill him on the spot. If he gave her the answer she wanted, however, she would go on, “You were acquainted with Lorielle. Am I right?” Her eyes would stay lit up to remind him that she could very much hurt him if anything went wrong, “I’ve come to you, because I know you were involved with Lori’s investigation somehow. Tell me if I’m right or not.”

"Of course, I do," Jin snorted at her response, "You know what I mean."

Though regardless of the slight change of the tense atmosphere, it reverted back to the strict tension that the air once beheld. It was obvious that she was trying to make herself less deadly and harmful with her arms outstretched and hands empty shown to him. Before allowing him to even speak, her irises turned into a golden yellow. This meant one thing, she was a Persona User. Under normal circumstances, Jin would've taken this as a threat. But he understood that this kid was just simply trying to prove she had power to protect herself.

He gave the word for to continue, "Very well then."

Despite his given word of his understanding, she didn't pull back her "fangs". But it was clear that she was somehow acquainted with Lorielle Rutherford. Perhaps she was another member of her group that the naginata-wielding female couldn't find the time to introduce? Speaking of which, she was absent today...

"That is right. I have volunteered to help out on solving this case," Jin gave an affirmative with his arms crossed together to his chest as he nodded, "If you know about this part of her, I'm assuming you were also working with her as well?"

Music:

Gabby shrugged her shoulders in response, “I was working with her on a different case first. I barely had any involvement with her killer case, until recently that is.” She moved her hat down on her head to cover her eyes, refusing to look at Jin as she spoke these next words, “I’m afraid Lori will be off the case until further notice. She’s had her own brush with the killer, and it very well near killed her. It would have, if not for…” She didn’t want to finish that statement. When she looked back at him, her eyes would return back to normal, “The point is that I need to know if I can actually trust you before I tell you what I know. It shouldn’t be that hard. You did get Lori to trust you, after all.” She would then stand there, staring at him. She was waiting for him to prove that she could trust him with whatever information she had.

His eyebrow raised at this mentioning of some other case. How curious, that girl was busy on other things too? Could it be possible that she was also working on the disappearances that plagued Ueitawa? He wouldn't be able to ask a question on that as a piece of news caused his eyes to bulge in shock.

"...What?"

She was almost killed? Was she not safe in the police station? How could the police allow this to happen? To be able to do this without ever alerting the authorities, this killer was good. Even well-trained operatives would find it most difficult to execute. However, before he could get any answers... he had to prove to this girl that she can trust him.

"You can trust me," Jin had assured her as he rose out of the stupor, "I tried to save her life back on the rooftop when she was being framed. If I was ever the perpetrator, I wouldn't have tried to even attempt helping the police open that door. As I would've known fully well that Kiryu would've tried to kill her."

The teacher gazed at her earnestly so that Gabriela could try to trust him at least. And he sure hoped she would...

She smirked at Jin’s answer. That certainly wasn’t going to prove that she shouldn’t just end him now. He could have just been putting on a front for all she knew. Her eyes began to glow again, “Sorry. I don’t believe in something so fickle.” She could feel a headache coming on. Hippocamp was screaming at her to just put this man out of his misery, but she wouldn’t let him have his way that easily, “Let me make this clear, I need to know I can trust you. For that, I need infallible proof, not just your word.” She wasn’t ready to take him at his word, just because Lori had, “You better have another trick up your sleeve, or you won’t be making it out of here today. I don’t have time to waste on playing with you, so you better hope the next thing that spews from your mouth is worth your life.” She wasn’t going to give him another chance. He had to prove that she should let him walk away from this place alive, or he was going to find out just what kind of beast Gabby was deep down, “So come on. Show me your proof!”

How annoying, she really was this cautious? It didn't seem like anything could convince her to lower her claws away from his face. Jin had acknowledged that when it comes to pure Persona capabilities, his was very likely to lose  much to the fact that his powers were recently discovered. And it was likely hers were found much earlier and had time to be cultivated.

With a sigh, Jin slowly sat down onto the ground as he put a cigarette between his lips and started to light it. He seemed too utterly calm for perhaps the more belligerent Gabriela who claimed to have information that she possessed.

"Really. You're not giving me any other options to convince you. Well then, listen to me until I'm finished. And I hope you don't mind if I smoke considering this may be my last," he replied in a rather droll manner, "If I truly wasn't that trustworthy, I wouldn't have gone through all the trouble to cover our tracks by using the bus routes."

A small hiss of smoke exit through the gaps of his teeth. He wasn't using breathing techniques to hide his presence at this point. As the cigarette was still between his lips, Jin continued to speak.

"I know about Kogami Shibuya and his Church of Nyarlathotep. I once came to the Church to ask about my powers since it seems the Persona seems to have some relevance there. I met Lorielle and Kogami there. Of course the latter was… in other words naked in an impressive red body to hide his identity. But Lorielle at least trusted me enough to even allow him to show his true form as a teenager to me and about what happened in Yoro. Why she trusted me? I guess it's because I seem to be a capable addition at the least. She said it herself that she had no reason to not trust me since we hung out before in this very same place."

The teacher paused to suck in more of the carcinogens to allow the nicotine to settle in. The trail of smoke continued to stream into the atmosphere.

If I really wanted to, I could've had the authorities arrest him much earlier and compromised your hideout a long time ago. But, I didn't because Lorielle seemed to trust him despite his notable record for violence. I had to at least trust her for that as he seemed to follow her orders back then. I wasn't interested in losing comrades who can help to end the killings. And not only that, I could have easily made it in a way that Lorielle would've been arrested already before the events on the roof."

Jin took another long drag of the cancer stick to pause for a moment before continuing.

"She gave me a choice if I wanted to join or not. And I chose the former. After all, if kids like you are the only ones out doing all the dangerous stuff, I can't be fit to be called an adult, can I?" he wryly continued on, I can tell you what else I know. But, I really doubt it's enough to convince you, feel free to take me out... Child."

From this arrangement, Jin had purposely put himself in a very vulnerable position for her to do what she wanted to do to him. He was at her mercy as he held out his arms outstretched with empty palms. He had no ill-will to her. Gabriela should notice that there was no intent to kill from him with his blank expression.

"And besides. Why did you even bother coming to me if you had doubts in the first place? That's utterly ridiculous if anything at all."

The ashes in the cigarette started to fall off onto the ground as he waited for her response. His nostrils breathed in the air gradually, but subtly enough that she wouldn't notice. If it really came to it, he was going to run. Though at least not harm her.

Gabby stared at Jin as he pulled a cigarette out. She couldn’t stand the smell of the things, but it was his last request. She listened to him as he prattled on about how he had met Lori and Kogami. So he knew more of the group than she was aware of. That made him even more dangerous than she had thought before. Now she really was prepared to kill him and let somebody else find the body. He wasn’t helping his case as he tried to convince her with the same trail of logic from before. A person’s word was useless when lying was a plausible answer. Then, she heard him say the thing that really sent her over the edge. As he raised his arms so she had a wide open target, she readied her attack. She leaned backwards and flipped so that her foot met with the underside of his chin. There was no way it wouldn’t sting. As her feet touched the ground, she stood straight up and put her hand on the side of her hip, “I hate being spoken to that way.” She would go up to him and rip the smoke out of his mouth if her kick hadn’t done that already and throw it on the ground, “I hate these things just as much.”

She would give him a blank stare, “You’re lucky I don’t let that kind of behavior sway my decisions.” Her eyes finally went back to normal as a smile crossed her face, “You also could have just said ‘I have a Persona’. You wouldn’t have wasted as much breath.” She needed people that were on her side and could use Persona, “Remember from now on to never be around screens alone. That’s how the killer appears to be getting people. I don’t know the finer details yet, but I know computers and televisions are a problem. I’m not sure about phones, but those may also be an issue.” She wasn’t going to tell him everything. Not just yet. The attack the killer used, the fact that he knew Lori was onto him, or that fact that all she saw was a bloody hand. She really didn’t want to tell him how she got this information, and she would only tell him ‘Katsu’s’ warning if she felt she had no other choice. Most people didn’t handle that kind of news well, “Also, try not to get on anyone’s bad side.” She would yawn as if she were bored, "Now we just need to get this information to Kogami, before he does something stupid. Well, more stupid." She said this as she remembered here was a hit on him. She looked back at Jin, "My threat still stands, by the way. If you ever become a threat, I will not hesitate to end you. Understood?"

A kick. That was really it to it. Jin found himself flung back to the grass as the cigarette flew into the air. That hurt quite a bit. She must really hate smokers a lot. Well, there was really nothing to it. Though at the least, she was kind enough to spare him. It made him chuckle despite being a little bit punch drunk.

"Man I'm getting too old for this," he thought to himself while trying to get back up.

It really turns out that she just simply needed only one answer. Really, and that's just it? She is surprisingly simple. The little comment of being so long-winded caused him to chuckle again.

Jin wistfully replied to her, "Sorry for being a boring teacher through and through even in the face of possible death."

With perhaps some little bit of trust given, the girl decided to fill him in a bit of the case. The information caused him to grimace. Apparently the Killer could now kill or even travel through LCD screens. Now that is omething that is extremely problematic. Especially when he's in "the open" of being a suspect. A possible target.

"Well that's just wonderful."

He couldn't help, but to mutter the sarcasm. This is seriously a problem. How the hell is he going to do his school stuff now that something like that is hanging above him like a Sword of Damocles?

Then there was mentioning of Kogami that caused him to speak out.

"I'm pretty sure you've been keeping up on the current updates over the web, but... That maybe too late. Turns out he provoked Kiryu and is being hunted down for it for an exorbitant price. I'd imagine it would be quite difficult to reach him when all the gangs and cops of this city are out for him as we could possibly risk alerting either of the two."

Then there was her being cautious again, something that Jin understood while he dusted himself off.

"Sure, let's hope it doesn't come to that point. Anyways, if we keep meeting up like this, it may end up piquing the killer's interest. So I suppose we could try coming back here or to the Church if we need to discuss something without having to keep waiting for each other at the school gate?"

Spoiler:

“I’ll try to only talk to you if I need to.” She turned her back to him, “I’m going to be leaving here now. Remember this, you helped me find my book for my science class out here, and then you helped me with today’s history lesson. Simple enough. Do not over complicate the story.” She would look back at him quickly, “Also, you may want to get stronger. Lori was no pushover and the killer already got her. We can’t always be together, so you have to be able to defend yourself.” Gabby would start walking away to go home, “Don’t die. We need all the help we can get.”

{EXIT}

Well that was over with. Jin gazed at the fallen cigarette that retained its ebb of fire. It was extinguished as he stepped onto it. What a waste. Besides cigarettes, she had a few points. Communications would be utterly shot and they were more divided even despite making "contact".

He brought out another cigarette to light as he pensively looked to the side of the foliage of trees.

"What a day."

The teacher gave a nonchalant shrug and left as well.

[Exit]