Welcome to Gaia! ::

That fight with the giant monster on the beach had been not only terribly exciting but also horrifyingly scary. It had attacked suddenly and while there had been a bit of a lesson to learn in all of it, Abbi had mostly realized she was poorly prepared to fight. Viveca had protested to that loudly, going on and on about how great she was at battles (not that she could really remember any), that she would totally be able to lead the teen through to a flawless victory. That was all well and good, but promises didn't compare to the real deal.
While she was young enough to think that one battle was enough to prepare her for another giant monster attack, she at least understood that getting any experience at all was the best thing to do. And though Abbi had casually asked around for help on getting some fighting experience in, she'd discovered the best course of action was to ask someone she knew for a friendly match.
And given how that giant monster fight had gone, Abbi knew just the person to ask.

Careful not to appear like some crazy stalker, Abbi waited until it seemed as though Ripley were in his room. At least, as much as she could assume he was in without actually trying to track his comings and goings. In any event, she decided to change into a more appropriate battle outfit before she skipped across the hall to knock at Ripley's door. And wait with a bright smile and hope that he answered.

Waiting for the door to be answered seemed to take an agonizingly long time to the point that Abbi began to lightly bounce on her toes. C'mon c'mon c'moooonnnnn! This was the most perfect plan and she was ready to put it into motion. Especially since she was already kind of in motion, so now it was time to get the plan moving. And since Ripley had been a super nice guy so far, because he'd been on board with being shot into the air by her, she figured that he was the perfect person to ask.
Finally, after what felt like ages, the door opened and Abbi brightened considerably to hear her name.
"Hi Ripley!" She cheered with a wave, most likely looking a bit like an eager puppy who had finally found someone to play with them. So enthused that she had been right about him being in his room (her careful noting of scheduling had proved right! Yes!), the teen totally missed his roaming gaze.
{ Hol-ee shi-it. } The second word was pulled out to two syllables in the girl's mind. { 'e's checkin' you out. D'ya see this? Awww Jack n'Sally }
No he's not adklh;fsjg

Realizing she had kind of zoned out staring at his smile the teen jumped once and stuck up a finger into the air.
"I wanted to see if you wanted to spar! Cause I haven't fought yet and I mean maybe you have or not but I think you should be my first!" A dopey smile was given up to the man. "First spar."
A loud sputtering noise resounded in Abbi's head but she only gave Ripley a funny look like 'alright we'll let's go then!'. To help drag him toward the battle arena, she reached out a hand to him, palm up and waiting.

It seemed she was always giving him a scare, either by being startled by him first or just by her hasty actions, but Abbi was starting to get the sense that Ripley was a bit skittish. While he stared at her, she stared back, eyes unfocusing a little as she imagined him with white kitty ears that flicked up and down. Happily content to daydream, Abbi had totally not even noticed that she was not only standing there with her hand stuck out to him, but that he was just kind of... Standing there not taking it.
If it had been possible for Viveca to slap her own forehead inside the teen's mind, she might have. Since one needed a bit more of a corporeal form in which to enact such a thing, she could only scoff loudly and rattle around uselessly.
This did nothing to rouse Abbi.
In fact, the thing that did finally bring the girl back to ceasing her little kitty imaginings was the wrap of fabric around her hand with an odd solidity behind it.

Oh. The gloves again. Did he always wear those things?
Patient enough to wait for him to turn back and close his door, the moment he returned to a forward facing stance Abbi was tugging on his hand. Jumping and trying to wrestle him faster down the hallway, she grinned and wiggled as she pulled.
"Yeah?! That's awesome! I'm so happy! I get to be your first!"
{ Stop sayin' it like that }
"I figured, since this is our first, we should probably use our weapons. I mean, I only ever summoned Viveca when I got her and I didn't even get a chance to use her on that big bad scary beach monster."
Letting go of his hand to rifle in her back pocket, the teen produced a small black notebook.
"I brought notes! Or well something to make notes on!"

Far too excited to continue at a leisurely pace she raced around Ripley once before she hopped in front of him to walk backwards, effectively looking at him while she talked. Both hands stuck out from her to keep her balance, the teen occasionally tripping over her own feet but always righting with a goofy grin and a laugh.
"Been up to anything fun since the beach party?" Yes. Because right before a fight was the perfect time for conversation. At least they were pretty close to the training fields already!

"Well like--" The teen took a huffy breath that she used to blow up her bangs off her forehead in a gesture that did not move them anywhere but up for a moment before they floated back down. "Only if you want. I like notes, being organized helps me a lot so I kind of like... Want to record it? Whenever. Not during the fight..." A hand cut through the air before her as though that simple gesture would explain things, but she was saved from really talking about it more by tripping over her own feet. The sudden dip in altitude had her clamoring to the side for better purchase before she righted and shot back in front of Ripley as though she had totally meant to take a minor detour.
Talk about awkward.

Nodding where it seemed appropriate, Abbi looked awfully interested in all the fun things Ripley had been up to since the not so fun beach party. That is, until he mentioned Halloween. With a suddenly quite serious change in demeanor the teen stopped dead in front of him, her head tilted back to show him her srs bsnss face.
"Where did you learn about the geography? And golems? I wanna know that stuff too." Though it made more sense for Ripley to know these things since that was kind of his job, Abbi still felt with a sharp need that she should know them too. In fact, if prompted, she would recite in a three paragraph format why it was good for her as a defender of justice to know about her opponent's home. Also Miss Cass had mentioned golems... Or Stormy and Nevada had... Either way, the teen found herself all sorts of excited to learn about the cool technology this Island had.
A hand on her arm distracted her enough to break her from her question and being turned around suddenly elicited a small noise of surprise. With no sleeves, the wrap of his gloves on her bare arms made her face feel a bit warmer but she only mumbled a tiny "Oh! I know that... I was uh... Making sure you knew that." before she marched ahead of him, her shoulders stilled so as not to shrug off his hands.

"Oh Ripley~ I only throw you at giant monsters." She told him in a syrupy voice tossed over her shoulder with an additional bat of her lashes. More was intended to be said, but before she could they reached the end of the hallway, the whole area opening up to the various arenas. Unmindful of her friend's arms on her, Abbi shot forward to run out onto one sparring area, doing a lap with her head craned back to look at everything.
"WOW WOW WOOOOOW! This place is crazy!" She jumped up and down and threw her hands out, doing a spin before she ran back to Ripley. "C'mon c'mon c'moooon! Let's do this-- This is so exciting-- Have you ever seen anything like this in YOUR WHOLE LIFE?!"
Possessing absolutely no interest in whether he wanted it or not, Abbi grabbed one of his hands between both of her's to drag him to the middle of the arena.
"You wanna go first? Or do I get first hit?!"

"I'll start---" Ripley started, but instead trailed off with a noise of surprise as tiny little Abbi grabbed his hand and dragged him further into the field.

Well, he meant to start - first he had to free his hand from Abbi's grasp, and perhaps he tried a little too hard to do so.

"Honestly?" Ripley parroted, his eyes lifting to make him look thoughtful. "He's sarcastic, but somehow straight to the point...but I like him. I think he's an interesting guy." Of course things could always change down the line, but for what it was worth, right now, Ripley had nothing against him. He seemed like a good guy under all those layers. "It's a date, then. We'll arrange a time later?" Ripley's mind was everywhere but in his wording. It was an innocent reflex, and all he could think about was whether or not he'd be able to find the library again, let alone the sections and books he and Jack had looked into.

The attack came before he was fully prepared for it, and though he lifted his arms to block the attack, the blade of the scythe still tore into his shield.

"So we finally meet." Ripley managed to get out after having the wind knocked right out of him. Viveca, he recalled, was the weird-talking voice in Abbi's head; somehow he didn't imagine her being a scythe though. Let alone a scythe large enough to dwarf the already tiny Trainee. "Well, let's just say I'm flattered she even reacted to me~" He mused, pressing his lips together as he tried to mentally map this battle of theirs; perhaps if he stayed in close range, Viveca wouldn't be as effective...

< I'm waiting. >

The impatient yet bored voice in his head was treated to a summoning for all his troubles. Wilhelm's two-toned sword self formed into Ripley's gloved hands as he advanced on the girl, swinging the blade in a wide arc.

"Wilhelm says hi, too."

< Stop putting words in my mouth, Crowell. >

"And he says it's a lovely day, isn't it?"

< Stop. It. >

"You'll be happy to note he's still a stick in the mud."

"I am indeed." It was rather impressive that she could wield such a weapon, and he even found himself lucky that Wilhelm was on the smaller end of the scale. He was having a hard enough time with a properly sized sword, and trying to figure out how to use something easily larger than himself would have been a pure nightmare.

"She's not going to cut it, is she?" For a moment, a single moment, Ripley looked legitimately worried. As if the weapon was sentient enough to actually aim. His worry spawned from a simple, probably off base thought: Did the island even have anyone who could properly cut hair?

"Which is your dominant hand?" He inquired, probably a little out of nowhere, as his next charging swing brought him a little too close to Viveca's pole and Abbi's hands.

"You never know..." Ripley murmured, eyeing the scythe and still finding himself to be quite worried about the fate of his gloriously pale locks. Her little comment though caused a grin to spring to his lips, the words coming before he could stop them. "You mean, if the carpet matches the drapes?" Almost immediately he regretted them, but it was too late now. So, with a nervous sort of breath, he just rolled with it. "Well, maybe you'll find out one day~" Smooth. "What about yours?" He had a feeling it was natural; he didn't imagine such a pretty orange could come from a box.

"Oh and uh...I only asked to see if maybe you were holding it wrong. I was holding Wilhelm wrong when I first tried." He explained with a shrug. "Otherwise I can only suggest spacing your hands out a little more? To kinda balance the weight?" He just knew it was easier to carry the mop at work if he was holding the handle with both hands wide apart.

Because that was totally the same as wielding a scythe.

He swung Wilhelm once more, and hoped for the best.