Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was sheer determination that kept him coming back to the training grounds. His first attempt had been a failure, his second one had been no better, but as the saying went, 'third time's a charm!'. It was his hope that he could at least make it two steps in this one, seeing as it was his third try at training. This time he chose something new, approaching the area reserved for the Mist training. He had heard about Aria, the woman who had watched the Hunter Games with him, but it didn't stop him from wanting to try it out.

To his surprise, he was not alone. There was a woman there with red hair, but by this point he shouldn't be surprised. By now three of the five women he had met had been red-headed, perhaps this island simply enjoyed hiring anyone with genetic differences...which also explained how he was here too. Thank you, poor eyesight. More important than her hair colour though, was her body language. It completely screamed nervous, and it was enough to make him drift closer.

"Is everything alright, Miss?"

Ripley merely smiled along; he was used to scaring people. He had been told in the past that he walked too softly, and it seemed that old habits died hard. Either that or she had been so lost in thought she never thought to keep an ear out for company.

"I don't think so, either." He agreed, reaching out to take her offered hand for a firm shake. "Molly? Oh, you're the lady who commented on my twitter." His lips twitched into an amused grin. "Ripley, Death Division." New kid trying not to fail he added mentally, before he released her hand.

"Could I be so bold as to ask you to join me on this training exercise?"

Oh. Oh okay. A hug. Yes, that was nice. He'd only gotten as far as patting her on the back before she detached herself and put some distance between them. "Any time. Training's more fun with company." He assured her with a smile, which faltered a bit at her question.

"Of course I did, I always do." He answered, surprised. Very few people asked him about his eating habits, but he was always very keen on making sure others had eaten as well. Mostly Abbi. Still, it was neat to have someone ask him about that too. "Did you? You can't go training on an empty stomach, you know." Plus it was the most important meal of the day.

"I've never tried this course before, have you?"

“Yes it is!” Molly agreed, clapping her hands a bit, and then was beaming widely once Ripley answered her question about breakfast. She was oh so delighted! “Oh, I’m so glad!” She exclaimed. “A lot of people aren’t eating breakfast in the morning, and that’s not a good way to start the day!” She sighed softly, and frowned a bit at the thought of people not eating, before she smiled again. “I always do, too!” She assured, and then finally turned back towards the tower.

“Ah, yes! Once, back when I was a trainee…and it was a little under two years ago I last did this…” Molly admitted a bit sheepishly, and looked back at Ripley. “The first part is the Sun run, followed by the Death run, and then the Life run, and then the Moon run, because we'll have to escort our princess golems all the way back down after reaching the top…and um…” She paused. “At the top, there’s going to be a princess golem you have to rescue…” She smiled. “The golem might take on the appearance of someone you know…any one on this island…! Just to give you a heads up…it startles people sometimes when they get to the top and it’s the golem in the form Death Divison Lead waiting for them…” She laughed a bit nervously.

“But, good luck, Ripley! I think we can do it!” She smiled, and stepped away and towards the tower to put some distance between her and Ripley as she summoned her weapon, and then got to work. She mowed through a wave of shadowlings with ease.

“You keep it up too! I’m so proud!” Day was made, because someone else made sure to eat breakfast too.

Molly was indeed plowing through shadowlings…until she made the mistake of looking over her shoulder to make sure Ripley was doing okay. “Are you doing alright?” She asked, and stumbled, but luckily managed to fend off the shadowlings. She then focused straight ahead again.

“We’re at the next stage now, Ripley!” Molly just sounded so excited, since she deemed this as a good start.

Ripley didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until he had cleared the first stage, coming out from the dark tunnel to see the Deathsweeper training. He looked behind him, and then ahead of him, and let out a cheer. One that was quickly silenced due to embarrassment.

"I, err - have never passed that course." He explained, feeling the need to considering he had, well, yelled. "...never got further than two steps into the room." He added sadly, bowing his head in shame. Her excitement was enough to make him perk up again, and he nodded with a grin. "Yes, this is great! Onto part two!" The Trainee pointed ahead with Wilhelm, the weapon gasping at the appalling gesture.

< How RUDE! > The weapon huffed, promptly ignored by the excited Hunter.

"I can hear a little accent in your voice...where is that from?"

The loud cheering was nice, and Ripley dipped into a little bow despite himself. "Thank you, thank you~" Her enthusiasm made the embarrassment flee, and in its place left a strange feeling of giddyness. It was strange: Ripley was not the giddy type.

"Yes, Accent." He agreed, before startling at her sudden announcement. Well then, that was interesting. His head tilted and he looked down, observing the tiles around them. Omitting the one she had just stepped on, that left... Ripley moved to the next tile, delighted to find that it was a safe one. The last time he had done Death Sweeper, he had been impaled. Well, his golem was, but he sure as hell felt it. He glanced at her as she answered his question, but put more of his focus onto where to step next.

"Ireland, huh? That's interesting! Where was home after that?" He inquired, understandably distracted as he tried to plan his next steps. "Ah, I didn't think I had an accent. I'm Canadian, born and raised."