My Present to You

As the unwounded Jest reached for Yuri, he would be rebuffed by the sword slash gashing through his hand. It would cause his body to recoil back, almost as if there was some kind of feedback and not so much of pain. It would give Nadia and Yuri time to finally leave. Yet... the one wounded and bleeding on the floor would finally breathe his last as that slash would serve as a coup de grace.

When the Psyche-Terrorists began to leave, there has been yet any other patrons or staff to arrive. Yet, the incoming footsteps suggests there were going to be on-lookers from the recent disturbance...

Good grief, it seemed the commotion finally attracted some attention. Honestly, that was to be expected by now. Yuri dispelled his soulbound. He wasn't sure whether non-Persona-users could see it, though it could have been Cadets as his rescuer stated. One clown was still moving, however, and Yuri couldn't let it leave here. It would escape and go on to hurt someone else, and he would not let that happen.

Maintaining eye contact with the clown, he backed up into the hallway. Without turning to her, he said in a calm voice "I appreciate your help, though I request you listen. There is no proof of our." That wasn't a complete sentence, but she should understand what he meant. "If the Cadets arrive, that's perfect. They can take care of these men, and I can tell them most of what happened. You understand, don't you?" He quickly glanced down both directions of the hallway. if he was able to see who was approaching, he would base his actions off of that.

At bystanders - He would urge to contact authorities, and remain standing where he did.
At authorities - He would warn that there was a murderer in the room.
At clown reinforcements - He would agree to run. He had to be realistic about his strength. If he died now, it would be in vain. The terrorists could come back later with backup, if the Cadets didn't arrive first.

If his condition to flee was not met, to Nadia, he would continue to speak. "I will not leave here. I have to make sure this man is stopped, because it's within my ability to do so." His sword was enough to take on a single clown. That wasn't the case against a large group, not without his Persona.

The figure that was still moving seemed to recoil from Yuri's Psyche Terrorist blade. The movement was unnatural, and gave Nadia a bad feeling. she wanted to run even more now, but Yuri had a point. If they left now, it might hurt innocent civilians. Nadia was torn between staying to keep people safe, and running because she knew that staying would only make them suspicious to Cadets, if they showed up.

As Yuri joined her at the doorway that led into the hallway, Nadia faced away from him, keeping her vision on the hallway left and right. "If you think they need proof you're mistaken." Nadia replied in a hushed tone, low enough for only Yuri to hear. "But I'll stick with you for now. I'll watch the hallway, you keep your eye on the -- On them." She wasn't sure quite what to call the figures that they had been attacked by.

Just like Yuri, Nadia stayed on standby, watching down the hallway for anyone who might be approaching. If more faceless men came up the stairs or down the hall toward them, she would bolt with Yuri, otherwise, she'd stay put. If Cadets or other authorities came up the stairs, she would defer to Yuri, and lower her scarf and hood to seem less suspicious. If it was bystanders, she would urge them to keep back even as Yuri urged them to alert authorities.

As the chaos in the room was going on, the footsteps would rattle against the nearby staircase from the descending floor. Uniformed hotel staff would begin to arrive on the floor and notice the opened door with Nadia standing at the threshold. There were two in number, men. One of them called out to her, recognizing her attire, "Hey, Nadia! We've been getting calls at reception of something happening. What the hell's going on with the guest in there?"

Just as the staff was saying this, the faceless man inside the room roughly grabbed at the television set and ripped it off the drawers. The amount of strength this man had was remarkable and he was just about to throw at Yuri as it giggled between exerted grunts.

Nadia's brain was already telling her it was time to fly when the footsteps could be heard. It was time to be the civilian again, she decided. She looked panicked because she was panicked, and seeing the two people she knew as coworkers made her feel a fresh wave of relief. She looked back to Yuri, prepared to use this opportunity to leave the situation and (hopefully) evacuate the inn of it's patrons, who would mostly be down stairs by this point. What she saw made her scream in earnest as the living smile man had yanked the TV from the nightstand and was about to throw it directly at Yuri.

Reaching, she grabbed Yuri by the lepel of his shirt and jerked him into the hallway and around the door with all her strength, hoping that the thrown TV would crash somewhere without hurting anyone.

Nadia stumbled away from Yuri, and removed her glasses. The coworkers would be able to see the anxious distress on her face. "Hurry, we need to get out of here. Alert the guests. Get everyone out. One of our guests has been attacked, and I think they might be on some kind of Drug!" The Plea and the concern were genuine. The last thing she wanted was for whatever just happened to back lash on the Inn or hurt the patrons. She glanced over her shoulder, then at the two coworkers, expecting them to act quickly as they were blocking her way.

If they didn't move quickly enough she would insist again "Ben! Jerry! Please move, we have to warn everyone downstairs!"

Oh no. That TV probably cost several hundred dollars! And he was just gonna throw it like that? Unbelievable. He needed to dodge, but that was done for him from the pull by Nadia. Catching himself on the wall, he approached the employees alongside her. "Now! He's on a rampage!" He kept facing towards the door of the room as he backed up, expecting the clown to come out, possibly still holding the TV had he not already thrown it.

The television was thrown, high and true in purpose as it sailed towards Yuri and Nadia. It wasn't so fast that it couldn't be dodged. But it crashed with a loud and sudden impact against the carpet that caused the hotel staff to flinch. The glass would crack and shatter across the floor and would further crack as the faceless coworker giggled as they approached outside. Though, once they made one step outside of the hotel room... they fell face first to the ground like a puppet with their strings cut.

It was... oddly strange how sudden it all stopped. But a string of low curses escaped one of the staff's lips as they carefully approached the still body and peered into the room to see the comatose and bleeding corpse. "Shit... shit... Nadia and you, stay down by the lobby. Cops are coming. They're gonna want to talk to both of ya."

Almost right on cue, the sirens could be heard as the cruisers quickly parked at the hotel's entrance. Worry and concern could be seen knotted on the older staff's face, but there was more certainty and poise when the familiar sirens of the law enforcement could be heard. And perhaps it was to be expected with the recent murders and shootouts of last night...

Though Yoshio would suddenly have a text message with only a smiley face from the same unidentified number.

This is not the outcome Yuri expected for today. It was not desirable that it would get so out of hand, though nothing bad for certain had happened yet. He was alive, alongside everyone else at the inn. He stared at Nadia in silence, considering what to do next. Quietly, he said "I'm going to tell them what happened exactly as it would were it not supernatural. Do the same, our accounts must be identical." He realised there was still some potential for variation. "I stabbed one because you surprised him by opening the door when you heard a struggle, and the other died for seemingly no reason. That's exactly what happened."

As long as she cooperated with that, there should be absolutely no reason to suspect she was a Persona user. Yuri was in a somewhat deep hole, however. "They were faceless men, of course they were Psyche Terrorists," he could say. "Terrorists attack random people all the time, that's what they do, isn't it?" That on its own was fine, that was believable, though everything that lead up to that complicated things. "Why would a student with a dorm rent a room, why did people see you sneaking around with a suspicious package?" Surely someone who saw him would be questioned. He'd already decided it, however. Yuri knew the cleanest way out of this would be to be as transparent as possible.

Wiping the sweat off his face with a handkerchief he procured from his coat, he hugged himself, gripping tightly, keeping his focus on the floor. Though he hid it, his mind was clear. Yuri faked a complete display of body language that would imply he had just experienced something horrific, not that he didn't. He descended each step slowly, to the lobby where the officers would arrive.

Nadia was already fretting when the TV crashed behind her. Her mind recalled how quickly things had spiraled out of control before. Last night, with Gabe, her first night with Cecil...and now she had allowed her curiosity to get the better of her again. She let out a scream. A very real scream and stumbled back toward the other workers, falling into a sitting position.

Nadia stared as the man fell out of the doorway, face first, and stopped moving. For a moment there was nothing. Just the sight of another dead on the floor. Her breathing started to pick up. It was just like last night with everyone talking about what would happen if a Psyche Terrorist was caught. If she was caught...

At some point she stood or was helped up, ushered down stairs where she would likely have to report to police. Yuri alone descended the stairs with her. She was stumbling down the stairs, only half seeing and feeling the world around her, when Yuri whispered his plan to her. She nodded. It was her plan to. Or the closest thing she had to a plan. They didnt have much power during the day as it was "Yuri was attacked by terrorists and I came in because I heard the struggle" was entirely truthful and accurate. Still, now that the thought of capture...of losing Cecil and Tomomi and everything that made her herself, she felt overcome.

Nadia missed the last couple steps, tripping and falling ungainly to her knees at the base of the stair. She leaned forward, palms on the carpet, trying to catch her breath. dont panic she thought to herself as the feeling of dread began to grip her and she started having trouble breathing. The thoughts did no good, there was no room in her lungs for air, and no room in her mind for anything but panic.

The staff would remain near the site of the crime, surely there to help lead the cops. With the two Psyche-Terrorists reaching the lower floor, the rumble of footsteps could be heard as the first responders trailed up the stairs. Yoshio and Nadia could see several cops moving up. Four of them, at least. They were relatively stony-faced and ready to do their job. Though a couple of them showed concern to the collapsing Nadia. Out of the four, one made quick work to catch her and help her up on her feet. "C'mon, take it easy. Let's get you to the lobby, okay? I'm here to help."

Once hitting the below floor, they were of course greeted by the sight of police cars in the parking lot through the window. But soon more may come by the distant sound of sirens in the air. The police officer sat Nadia at one of the nearby couches before retrieving the complimentary water cup towards her for her to drink. When she did, he would ask them. "What are your names?"

The world was a blur of vague colors and shapes and Nadia clutched the ground and tried for breath. The panic was only made worse by the fact that she had no idea what this feeling was, only that she had the unyielding desire to escape from this place. She started moving, tried to stand up, and realized that someone was helping her. She heard a voice, unfamiliar, and the proximity of it unnerved her. She flinched away in shock, but sudden fear snapping her vision into stark clarity. And suddenly the feeling of panic was subsiding. If only just. Beside her, steadying her with an arm, was an officer of the law. It made the hair stand up on the back of her neck, and she looked bewildered to see him.

But as the situation settled in around her she eased more into the understand. She was still breathing deeply, as if to refill her lungs with air that had been forced out by her episode, but followed the man's instructions in a daze. She sat, hands shaking as she accepted the cup of water from him. "N-Nadia M-ar" She gripped her knee with a hand to steady herself, and cleared her throat. "Nadia Marquee, Sir." She said, in as still a voice as she could muster, eyes flicking about in order to catch her bearings. She felt dizzy, light-headed, like she had just run a marathon, and sweat was beaded on her brow.

That girl seemed like she wasn't handling this whole situation too well. She seemed fine enough to fight earlier. Whatever. Good grief, the cops sure got here fast. That was good, though. Now all they had to do was get this talk out of the way, and they were free to go. Yuri kept up the fake expression of fear. "My... My name is Y-Yuri Ivanov." If they pressed for proof of identity, he'd show his license from his wallet.

"Let me see your id." They were being compliant, which was good. Though they were just a pair of teens, it was clear that something was going on. After all, he wouldn't be here if there wasn't. The Officer began writing the names on what looked like a small notepad, taking note of their appearances all the while scribbling down the details. After seeing the identification from them, assuming Nadia showed hers, the officer began to start off. "Start from the beginning. Can you tell me what happened?"

After procuring the piece of plastic to the officer, Yuri would begin to recount what had happened. He took in a deep breath. "This morning, you know what SMILE Web is, right? The social media site? I was on there earlier when someone named Joker started joking about wanting money. I don't know if you've heard of him, but he's a pretty talked about person on there, but no one knows who he is. I eventually decided I'd pretend to give him money, by telling him to meet me here. I got a room in case I had to wait super long." Yuri pointed to the window, where the other side of the street could be seen. "I left a box for him outside with one dollar inside of it. I was curious to see if he'd actually come and get it, and maybe I could see who he was. Joker's identity would be a pretty big discovery. Then..." Yuri trailed off. "A bunch of weird things happened. A huge crowd of people came out of nowhere, then the box was gone, and a weird video started playing on the TV in here, and I got a text from Joker, but I never gave him my number!" He took a moment to catch his breath.

After a short moment, Yuri continued. "It said to go meet him in the room I got, and I did. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself." He dug into his pockets. "Oh, I guess I dropped it somewhere. Yeah, I remember, I thought it was okay because I brought a screwdriver with me, cause meeting someone from the internet could be dangerous, y'know? That's what they always say. I guess they were right. When I got into the room, there were two faceless people. They kept laughing, and they tried to strangle me. They must have been Psyche Terrorists. I mean... they literally didn't have faces. They were like monsters." Yuri held his head with his hands. "I thought I was going to die, but when this girl opened the door, they were surprised, and I was able to reach into my pocket and... I killed him. He just kept laughing. There was so much blood, and they just kept laughing." He buried his face into his arms, pretending to cry. Given the situation he just experienced, forcing tears to come up wasn't terribly hard. "Am I gonna go to jail? I'm sorry... I didn't want to kill anyone!" He continued his fake weeping. That went perfectly.

Nadia listened to Yuri's tale with unabashed curiousity, worry, and continuing anxiety. Inwardly, she was a little irritated that he'd done something so foolharty without asking the rest of the playhouse first. Had Nadia known about this attempt, she or anyone else could have helped make it less dangerous by having more people. Having a plan. If she hadn't been here, he likely would have died. The tale was fantastic but made sense for the kind of person she was beginning to think Yuri was.

when he was done, she realized it was her turn. She looked back to the officer, took another drink of her water, and set the cup down beside herself. She sandwhiched her shaking hands between her knees and took a deep, shuddering breath. "I work here." As if just remember he'd asked for it, Nadia fished her school ID, which was the closest thing she had to identification, from her pocket and handed it to him, then returned her hand to the space between her legs. I wasn't feeling very good, and went to take a break outside, when I thought I might check with my friend Kendra, who lives here, to see if she would have any medicine I could take. On the way to her room, I heard the sounds of struggling from his room and after a moment of thinking about it, I decided I should check just to be safe. It sounded violent... I used my card to open the door and when I entered I saw him with the two faceless men. They....they really don't have faces. And even when he stabbed them they just laughed..." Nadia wasn't sure what it took to end up like them. They could be psyche terrorists, or demons, or something new they'd never seen before, she couldn't say. "I turned and ran. I was going to call 911 once I got away, but I saw the two - Ben and Jerry in the hall. That's when one of those...things threw the TV. R-ripped it off the wall and threw it. Is that really what Psyche Terrorists do? I was so scared..." She wasn't lying. It was plain on her face that whatever those things were scared her shit less, especially considering she had no powers during the daytime, yet they seemed to at least have some kind of super-human resistances or strength at work. The concept was worrisome.