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In addition to Wilson, Saya, and Lex, Gale was one of the very first people who Eva had thought of when she had been considering who to invite. He had also been, however, the one who she had hesitated the most over asking. Although she still considered the boy to be one of the friends who was nearest and dearest to her heart, she wasn't sure that the opposite could be said ever since Gale's memory lapse. To be fair, they had promised to start anew, but they also hadn't had the opportunity to see each other since either.

(Of course, she had been avoiding everyone, so that was no surprise).

But maybe this would be a chance to rekindle their friendship. Of course, Eva wasn't sure if that was even entirely possible considering her current state--first and foremost, her priority was to release the knot of anger in her stomach that her encounter with Nevada had caused--but she hoped that it would do her well to see an old friend again anyways. There were two ways she knew how to let off steam--fighting and talking--so with any luck, this was what she needed to help clear her mind and for her to finally get a grasp on what to do from here on out.

Wandering out to the training fields a little earlier than she had scheduled, Eva dropped down to sit and wait for her sparring partner to arrive. Until then, she simply...stared, her dull eyes fixating themselves on the training dummies standing a few meters away. She looked at them but did not see them, finding herself instead too preoccupied by the echoes of Nevada's accusations that had stuck themselves in her mind.

By the time Gale actually arrived, she would probably be a ball of frustration just barely holding herself together, her knuckles white as she dug her fingers into her thighs.

Despite Gale’s soft tone of voice, his presence startled Eva enough to make her physically jump, blue eyes suddenly round as she whipped her head around to look at him. There was a moment of silence, then two…and then her tensed shoulders sagged in relief, the fingers digging into her thighs loosening and relaxing. Pushing herself up to her feet, a small smile touched her lips—much more genuine than the others she had been wearing that day—and she made her way forward towards the blon—wait.

She stared at him, lips parting in blatant surprise as she slowly lifted a hand and pointed to her own head. “Ah, your hair, did you…?” She wasn’t even sure why she was asking—it was obvious that he had dyed it (unless he had been in the midst of some freak accident, which honestly wouldn’t surprise her considering they were at Deus Ex) but then she smiled. Closing the distance between them, she gingerly reached out to give him a brief hug. She was afraid of overstepping her boundaries and making him uncomfortable, since she was practically a stranger to him right now.

”It looks good,” Eva complimented him as she drew back, her expression more subdued and gentle than cheerful like it usually would have been, ”I really like the color.” She may or may not have given his hair an experimental pat before drawing back. Suddenly looking a little uneasy, she clasped her hands behind her back, averting her gaze as she scuffed the ground with her foot.

”Sorry for the rather abrupt sparring invitation,” The young woman murmured, ”Things happened and I have a little…tension I need to get rid of. I figured that it’d probably be better to release it in a more productive way than throwing things in my room, so...” She made a vague gesture towards their surroundings, her gaze flickering back to him.

Her smile grew ever so slightly then. ”Not to mention that you’re a skilled fighter, so I don’t think I’ll have to be too afraid of accidentally hitting you too hard. Though in hindsight, I guess that I should be worried that you’ll hit me too hard though.” She had seen Gale in action before—if there was anyone who she’d consider a top class Hunter, it was him.

She let out a short laugh, quiet and weak, and then stepped back to summon Chara. Planting the blade in the ground, she pressed her cheek against her weapon’s crystal and leaned against it. ”I’m ready when you are.”

She couldn’t help but feel that he may have been imposing on Gale—after all, he must have had his own things to do had she not invited him out here—but the fact of the matter was that he was here and she had no words to properly express how much it meant to her. Upon seeing Gale summon Jinhai, Eva straightened up, working out the cricks in her neck as she tried to prep herself for this fight. She was feeling stiff and kind of out of sorts—no doubt she probably wouldn’t last long against Gale, but that was okay—but she also had a lot of tension to let go of too.

Giving Chara a few practice twirls and trying to get ahold of the feeling of sparring again, she let out a sigh and lifted the staff up in front of her, holding it up in a defensive stance as she readied herself.

”Alright—ready?”

His offer visibly surprised her, her lips parting slightly as her blue eyes went round. After a few seconds ticked past, her expression softened, and she hunched her shoulders a little. Between all this distress and anger she was feeling, Eva was forever grateful that there were some people--like Gale--who could still warm her heart and calm her.

"Thank you," She managed, her voice a whisper, "I think I might have to take you up on that offer."

Except not right this second. His sudden attack effectively winded her, sending her staggering back with wide eyes and an sharp ache where the rifle had met her body. As expected, Gale was definitely an amazing sparring partner, there was no doubt about that.

But she wasn't about to give up here, of course. She had asked him out to help her vent her frustration and anger, and she still needed to do that. Jaw tightening at the memory of Nevada's accusations--how hurtful and how furious some of them had made her--she retaliated with an attack of her own. Spinning Chara around, she swung down with the staff.

Panting heavily, she took a few steps back, feeling like she was already a little better after having dealt such a heavy strike. No doubt that she felt absolutely terrible for hitting Gale of all people with something like that, but she had no intention of going anywhere past his FEAR shield if the fight progressed in that direction.

"Otto and I broke up," She croaked suddenly between pants, "It was my fault, I was dumb...but then just today, I had a run-in with someone else."

HP: 40
Damage: 12

If Eva thought that his first hit was bad, his next one was just as bad—if not worse. His attempted strike met its mark straight on, her expression briefly twisting into one of pain as she want stumbling backwards. Managing to catch herself at the last moment by planting Chara in the ground, she took a moment to regain her breath, a tiny smile playing on her lips. He wasn’t holding back, and she really appreciated it because that meant that she didn’t have to either.

Except it was a little hard to talk and fight at the same time. She distanced herself from him by a few feet (not that it’d do any good since his weapon was a long range one) so that she’d be able to answer. ”Y…yeah. We had a bit of a falling out, unfortunately. Honestly, I’m not even entirely sure that he even wants to be friends after my screw up.”

Her hands tightened on her staff, and then she let out a small laugh. It looked like she was considering how to answer his question, but finally she shook her head. ”It was a run-in with…one of Otto’s friends,” She answered, deciding that naming Nevada wasn’t necessary, ”I mean, I can’t blame her for confronting me since she was just trying to defend Otto, but…” But it had hurt, and a part of her had felt that it was entirely one-sided as well. The last thing she felt she needed when she was already down was someone tearing her apart.

”That I let people wait on me hand and foot, that I don’t have any sort of feelings beneath that dumb, cheerful smile that I always wear.” Lunging forward then, she swung her weapon for the boy’s shoulder, her hands trembling slightly, ”That I don’t genuinely care about people when I’d honestly die if it meant saving you or Otto or Wilson or Saya or--!”

Eva had managed to suppress most of her anger and retain a cold, icy exterior while speaking to Nevada, but she was letting herself go now.

HP: 28
Damage: 7

She moved to strike, only to falter slightly at Gale's assurance that she wasn't dumb. His words caught her off guard, which resulted in her staff merely grazing the boy. When she took a step back, it was clear that her anger dimmed slightly, but it still flickered in her eyes--subdued, but still present. Her hands trembling a little as she took a deep breath and tried to brace herself.

"First off Gale, you don't owe me a debt for anything." Soft as her voice was, there was a firmness in her tone, "I don't know how it happened--your memory loss, I mean--but I don't blame you. That's not your fault. Secondly..."

The girl hesitated, her knuckles going white as she wrapped her fingers even tighter around her weapon. "Secondly...how can you be so sure? Without your memories of our time together, how can you be so sure that I'm good?" A hint of that frustration seeped into her voice as she continued, giving a furious shake of her head. "The last time you saw me, I was weeping like a baby, and now I'm broken again for a completely different reason. I just..."

Eva let out a sigh, sharp and frustrated. "I don't even understand what they--the one who confronted me--want me to do! Did she want me to feel bad for what I do? To hate myself? I...I'm sorry Gale, I know you're trying to help while I'm just standing here and being self-deprecating, but...even if you tell me not to listen to them, it's so, so hard when that's all that I can hear in my head."

Chara nearly slipped from her grip as she lifted a hand to clutch at her head, fingers tangling in her hair.

HP: 26
Damage: 2