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Like most things, it had begun rather quietly.
Normally a fairly observant girl, Abbi noticed one night when she was feeling a little more anxious than normal that there was a small bit of noise coming from one side of her room that had been silent since she'd moved in, over a year ago. There had been noises from room 176, but nothing from 172. Until now.
Though her experience with the Infected had been pretty simple, the dreams had not and had left the teen a bit more on edge than she cared to be. Already a bit skittish naturally, this new sense of always being alert was exhausting. The noises that drifted from the previously empty room, however, were a nice distraction, even if sometimes she would hear something and find herself on her feet when a second ago she'd been flat on her back. They weren't the scary noises of something coming to get her, just someone new, someone who probably needed a fresh start too!

But it was hard to investigate without coming across as stalkerish, so there was little Abbi could do at first. Though she tried, there seemed no opportunity for her to casually run into her new neighbor and the teen was loathe to leave her door open and hope for the best.
A fortuitous trip to the library that involved falling under a pile of books and landing with her nose in the pages of her solution, however, changed things.

Feeling quite pleased with herself, Abbi crouched that evening in front of the wall that separated her from whoever had moved in next door. With a deep breath to calm herself, she brought up her hand and rapped on the wall; First a long knock that she just made louder than the short one that followed, then two long ones preceded by a set of three long raps.
Abbi had learned a few Morse Code letters and decided the first thing she should greet with was "Yo".

There wasn't much time between when Abbi had knocked on the wall and when the reply came, but she had still begun to fret.
What if her neighbor wasn't actually there? Even though she'd heard their door open and close and some shuffling around and humming, maybe it was just her imagination!? What if they didn't get morse code or thought she was just randomly tapping on the wall? Sometimes she knocked her elbows against the wall when she tried to sleep or tripped or various other occurrences! What if they hated Morse Code! What if they had some terrible secret about Morse Code and Abbi had just unearthed all their carefully placed sanity about the subject?!?!

A reply came and quickly put an end to her worries, but a new one took its place.
Those raps were... What did they spell?
For a good, rather long, minute Abbi sat on her haunches and tried to piece the puzzle together. She'd only learned 'y' and 'o' and her own name, but she couldn't remember them now and the longer she stared at the wall as though it would give her the answer the more she started to tremble.
Finally both her fists whacked against the wall, her head soon to follow.
"I'M A FRAUD!!!" She yelled, falling back a second later to bemoan her fate.

Except... WAIT!
With a small screech the girl threw herself up onto her feet and at her door, yanking it open and throwing herself into the hallway.
"I'm sorry! I thought I could learn Morse Code but I couldn't or well I mean its been a day! I'm sorry!" Abbi called through the door of room 172, tapping stockinged feet against the floor in a skittish sort of dance. Yeesh, she'd totally forgotten to grab shoes before she came out...

In for an even bigger surprise that not only was her neighbor a tall, super adorable lady was the idea that she actually answered the door.
Abbi's eyes went wide when it opened, but turned to nearly all sparkles when she saw who exactly it was. Not at all afraid to label other girls as pretty, Abbi was all too willing to name her neighbor as totally gorgeous and cool and to fawn over her given half the chance.
"Oh! Wow you really know Morse Code!? That's awesome! I only know like... A little bit of french because of school and like... It doesn't come in handy enough?" There was her awesome French friend, but they didn't get to hang out as much as she'd like.

Introductions were one of Abbi's favorite things and she straightened up to properly reply. A hand shot out toward the blonde woman, her own grin bright.
"Abbi Killian! Moon! Intermediate! Its nice to meet you! And yeah!" She paused and shrank back a second, quick to wave her hands. "I mean like only if its ok... If you're busy then no worries!"

"Yeah! Moon does Defense!" Abbi was all wide eyes and curiosity as she entered the room and peered about, her gaze lingering on the mirror. It had never occurred to her to bring something so simple and had instead suited herself to the one in the common bathroom. Maybe it said a lot about this girl that she brought a mirror, but the teen couldn't think of a single bad thing it might mean.
"And its ok to not have much at first! I brought like... One messenger bag and a trunk of clothes. But you'll get some leave soon, since I guess you're new?" The teen cautiously took the chair, careful to smooth her skirt under her before she sat. "I mean, I guess people take the upstairs rooms all the time... So maybe you're not new?" Maybe Abbi was just being super awkward at conversation good job Abbi.

But oh yeah! Morse code!
"That's awesome! And like... Really smart? I tried to teach myself Tolkein Elvish one time and I... I only remember one phrase that translates to 'Run for it'." Not nearly as impressive as Morse Code.
"So do you like... Study languages then?" Was Abbi already totally in awe of this super cool lady? No not Abbi...

Abbi nodded in a most engaging manner, half smiling excitedly and half trying to look nonchalant. It ended up with her just looking like a wiggly puppy.
"The basement is CRAAAAY. But the room next to me hasn't been taken since before I moved in! Which was over a year ago so like... Congrats!"

Surprise colored her expression for a moment to learn the girl had not finished high school, especially when she knew Morse Code. That didn't quite make sense because one had to have a knack for learning to have taught themselves another language, and she said she liked learning.
A gentle push from her headmate reminded her that not everyone had the same upbringing as she did, something Abbi always seemed to forget.
"That's really cool! Being an independent learner is really gonna help you here. If you ever need like book recommendations or something, or a library buddy lemme know!" The need to senpai was strong...

Now she was really surprised and laughed, a hand reaching out to grab at one of her pigtails.
"No! Its not a bad question at all! I'm just... Not used to it?" The ginger was often the one to ask all the questions and do all the prying, so the fact that someone had turned the tables was kind of nice. "Uh let's see... I've been on the Island for a year. Just got promoted to Intermediate... And I joined because... Well..." What answer was Paige looking for? The heroic one, or the real one?
"I wanted to make a difference. And I wasn't really sure how... And I was pretty sure school wasn't going to tell me how... But Deus found me, I've heard its common they seek out people who can see extra things, otherwise they'd have never found me. I'm.... Super boring." A mix would do for now.

If Paige was grinning excitedly, Abbi was all but falling from the chair in her glee.
"The name sounds familiar but I think I only ever met him in like... Passing or at a party or something. I-D-K." Thankfully her own neighbor on the other side was pretty quiet, though Abbi herself was not noisy, but certainly always restless.
"Sure thing! The library has lots of crazy stuff in it, but its fun and great for something to do during downtime."

Though she had intended to ask next, Abbi was glad to hear her own reasoning wasn't so farfetched. A look of worry did diminish her smile some to hear something had happened.
"Well... Whatever happened is done now! You've got a whole new life here at Deus! Its kind of insane sometimes and you'll definitely want to start keeping a journal or find a coping mechanism for stuff but... Its something!"

Inwardly Abbi keyboard smashed to be called not boring, flushing a little and waving a hand quickly.
"Pfffttttt. Whateves." But she was still smiling. "So! Where ya from?"

What a surprise!
"I just visited Chicago a few weeks ago with a friend! We had a lot of fun!" About to say more, Abbi found herself unable to speak when Paige mentioned a child. There was no thought of judgement or harshness, for Abbi was far too self-centered for all that.
The first thought that sprang to her mind was that fifteen seemed awfully young, but then to consider what she had been doing at fifteen. At such an age the girl had only just started noticing boys and the thought of something as simple as a kiss was scandalous.
"Woooooow... You're like... Super brave." Immediately the teen flinched and sat up straighter to explain herself. "I mean! It sounds like you've had a lot of hardships and... S-stuff to deal with! But you're really upbeat and nice!" Um! How do properly compliment?

"Oh! Um me? Ok uh well... I'm... from Connecticut, pretty small town, you could walk everywhere. And um... I graduated from high school early? I got skipped a grade ahead when I was in 2nd grade so I graduated a year early and joined Deus?" This was all... Really boring. "I like video games! And I make dumb jokes! I'm a Virgo, definitely Paragon... OH! OH! OH! I'm training to be a Battle Nurse! Um, Medic! Sorry, the technical term is medic."
She laughed, lightly tapped the side of her head.
"But Battle Nurse is the... Its my term. Basically I just like the idea of getting to fight and heal all at once."

Once more she turned her attention back to Paige.
"Can I um... Can I see your tattoos? If that's ok?" And by see, she really meant sparkle over them.

A lopsided smile was brought out, along with a mimicking shrug of shoulders as though that might help Paige feel less alone in the telling. There were at least five questions the girl could ask, but for once she didn't really feel like being too nosey. Somehow she was learning and instead kept quiet.

At least until she was offered tattoos.
Then Abbi nodded excitedly, clapping her hands together once in her anticipated glee. The sudden removal of Paige's shirt didn't phase Abbi at all, she'd pulled a similar move a month or so ago, only noting to herself that she liked the color of her tank top.
"OOOOOOOHHHHHH!" The girl jumped off her chair to toddle forward, fingertips pressed against her chin. "They're sooooo pretttttyyyyyyy~" And there were so many of them! "Did it hurt a lot? I bet it totally did... And whaaaat? You're like super mega pretty!" She paused, going softer as she smiled down at the various designs. "I mean, you're really pretty with them too."

Oh! Oh! OOOHHH!
A more mischievous smile turned Abbi's face and she happily sat back to roll up her sleeves to the elbow. Wrists turned to show the inside, where her left wrist held the phrase "Heads" with a Bird under it, and her right was written "Tails" with a Cage.
"They're small and simple... And from a video game."