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Since coming back to the island Sherry had been one big ball of emotion. Not the good kind of emotion, but sad, a bit angry, and a tiny bit angsty. It mostly boiled down to being lonely. Very, very lonely, in a way she didn't know she could be. The silence in her head was unwelcome and frightening. She hoped, she prayed, that time would fix things and the ever present voice she'd come to rely on would be back, but not knowing for absolute certain was scary. She stuck one hand into the pocket where Armagnac was being stored for the moment, and simply held the tablet in her hand. It was a terrible thing, not knowing if or when your best friend was going to be back.

Armagnac the would tell her she was being sentimental and that she should stop it. Sherry would sigh and tell the lindwyrm to hush, and then- Sherry sighed. This was getting her nowhere. At all. She needed to go do something. Sitting around and thinking was not helpful, and it really only made things worse. She'd spent the past hour just sitting in her room, staring at the crack in her wall. "I just...need to find something to do. Or go for a walk, or something." The fresh air could only do good, right?

The walk from her room to doorway of the dorm building was long and quiet. The air outside was fresher than it was in her room, though. At least it had that going for it. Sherry stopped, and looked around. Not having a set destination in mind, she now had a decision to make. Which way to go?

Not the training grounds. That was Armagnac's favorite place. She didn't think she wanted to head that way, which really limited her options. Sherry sighed, and started walking along the path. She would figure out where exactly she was going when she got there.

She hadn't gone very far, which was good because she really had no idea where she was head, when a bit of color caught her eye. Someone out in the grass? Hmm. It wasn't exactly Sherry's idea of a good time, but then again, nothing seemed like it would be very fun at the moment. She almost walked past the person, but the realization that it was someone she knew caused her to stop. Jake? That jerkface.

Her shoulders fell and she sighed. No, that's not very nice. I shouldn't call him names like that. "Heck," she muttered, now scolding herself in a whisper, "he did save my life. And here I am, calling him names." This was followed by another long sigh.

Her feet were moving before her mind fully okay'd the action. Maybe it was the loneliness rearing it's ugly head, that urge to find something that would mask the silence in her mind. That could have been what propelled her. Or it could have been the fact that she'd spent so much energy trying to make sure he was alright, that stopping now would have been like giving up. (It was probably the loneliness.)

Either way, a few moments later the life trainee found herself standing next to the death trainee. "Hey," she said, the toe of her boot gently prodding his ribcage, "you're not dead are you?"

She gave a small push with her foot, just to make sure he was awake.

One of these days, Sherry would actually wonder why anyone would take pity on Jake.

Maybe even today. But not right at that moment.

The fact that her question and the gentle push with her boot had yielded no response was a bit worrying. Was he ok? The island should be a safe place for hunters, but she'd seen trouble around more than once. What if something had happened?

Or.

What if he was ignoring her? She knew he didn't want to be her friend, but, to just totally ignore her? Oh, Lord. She was a horrible person who was just annoying and made people around her unhappy. That's what he was saying. Sherry's heart sank. She was just a giant problem and she should leave him alone before she made it worse.

But.

What if something really was wrong? She couldn't just walk away. She couldn't go get help either, because if he was just trying to tell her to leave then getting someone else would just be blowing this all out of proportion and therefore just making everyone mad at her.

Problem.

A problem which Sherry was sure she wouldn't have if Jake just told her he didn't want to talk. So clearly, this was his fault. Sherry's sudden spiral into a depressed pre-hunter-era of herself was suddenly halted as a bit of anger flared. She deserved an answer, dammit.

"Hey. Are you hurt or just not talking to me?" The soul of her boot firmly planted itself in Jake's ribcage, and she shoved him. Hard.

Armagnac would have been proud.

His eyes opened and she felt him grab her boot. She didn't know what to expect, but apparently she hadn't been expecting that. The shock of his movements caused her to try and step back, but she found that to be a bit difficult considering she didn't have immediate control of her foot. It didn't help that anything resembling balance had seemed to leave the trainee in her shock.

Half a moment later, she was firmly seated on the grass, with a strong suspicion her tailbone would complain about it later.

"I was trying to make sure you weren't dead. Though why I bother I do not know," she scowled. "Why didn't you just answer me the first time?"

Sherry sat up straight and moved her feet so she was sitting cross-legged. She stared right back at the boy.

"I just don't want anyone to die. Not if I can help it. I'm certainly not trying to have you killed. If I were, I can promise you I would be much more direct about it." She hoped the anger and annoyance she was feeling made it into her voice.

"And no." The answer hit her like a sack of potatoes. "No, I don't have anyone else to bother," the anger was gone as quick as it had come.

At the same time, she fully realized something else. She was bothering him. She knew it. And then she had gone and..."Oh, damn! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! What are you doing out here, anyway?" she added, remembering why she'd gone and nearly kicked him.

She rolled her eyes. She didn't want to fight anymore. Especially without Armagnac. Besides, he was right. She couldn't kill him, but she was pretty sure she could take the boy in a fight. Hopefully.

"Tori?" she said, not wanting to touch the idea of a challenge, and therefore skipping straight to his question. "She has other friends to see about, too." Tori was a sweetheart, and Sherry knew she'd be checking on every single one of her friends.

His response to her apology had caused her to flinch. "I'm sorry," she began, rubbing her forehead, "I guess I'm just a bit lost without my weapon in my head. That, and you know, you can be rather frustrating. Not like that makes you a bad person or anything. Oh! I don't mean... Don't be offended please." Her mouth had seem to run away with her; that was the type of thing she usually thought, not something she said out loud. No wonder he thought she was annoying.

"You know, it looks really boring out here," she added quickly. "Is sitting around in the grass your idea of fun?"

Sherry sat silent for a moment, taking her time to respond. He was right. He was so freaking right.

"No, I suppose all the people I know have tons of other friends, and I just don't." She raised one finger and tapped her temple. "I haven't really felt the need to find anyone. For the first time in nearly a year, I'm completely alone in here, and it's scary. I don't know what it's been like for you, but I suppose my weapon is my best friend. She'd been asleep before, but it was never like this."

"Though," she laughed a little, "you sound just like her. She hates the apologizing." So do I. "Ha! You don't even know how many times she's wanted to shake sense into me. But yeah, I guess am just feeling a little lost right now." She almost tacked on a 'sorry' but stopped herself in time.

"What about you? Where's that jackass who wouldn't say two words to anyone? I mean, I picked up on the fact that you weren't a complete a** during the mission, but you don't seem so bad." Nope. He just sounded an awful lot like Armagnac. "Even if you are sitting out here brooding instead of trying to have 'the time of your life'."

He was right. Sherry probably wouldn't last too long without her weapon. At least she didn't think so. Armagnac would disagree, but as she wasn't talking to anyone right now, no one would ever know.

"People like me? I don't know if "thrive" is the right word, but it does help," she shrugged. Between having Armagnac and being busy most of the time, however, Sherry just hadn't been too social. Not that she'd been a huge butterfly of social interaction ever.

"That's a good question," Sherry chuckled. "Though I suppose so. If you want."

"Please," she gave him a skeptical look. "You," she held up one hand in order to count things, "saved my life, didn't walk away from immediately when I asked you to stay, and you," she stopped for half a second, unsure of how to say it, "you basically showed more emotion than just "a**-hat." That had been at various times, though she was specifically remembering their talk about why they fight.

"Do you want to be a complete a**?" She was genuinly curious.