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It had been a long night. Sherry had spent much of her time yesterday resting and thinking. Armagnac hadn't liked the thinking, so she'd had to cut that short after a while, but focusing on resting wasn't all that bad. It would have been nice if she'd been able to actually sleep, but short snippets here and there were better than nothing. Comparatively, though, she was feeling rather rested as she set about her day.

Today she had a list of things to do. One was check on people. The second was get off the island. And not in one of those "something is going to try and kill you the second you step out of the portal" type of trips. Nope. She'd heard the news. Portals were working, and she couldn't wait to take care of a few things. But first, checking on folks. People were more important than shopping.

The knock! knock! knock! on the door was quick. She knew Jake was alive, and probably not too worse for wear. But she still felt a bit bad about losing him. He might not care, but she did. She'd told Ofie she'd watch him, and well.

The voice in her head was not whiny, but rather steeped in anger. Armagnac had not enjoyed all the thinking, and feelings of guilt annoyed her when she was not the cause of them.

Sherry only sighed, and waited.

Sherry rolled her eyes. No. Why do you even ask? Sherry had no intention of leaving just because she knew he was alive. If that were the case, she wouldn't have even come all the way down the hall. She wanted to talk with him and make sure he was ok. Just because Armagnac didn't care about anyone...jeez.

Sherry stared at the door for a moment. Busy, huh? Really. How busy could one be? Clearly since he responded he wasn't sleeping. So. Perhaps it was a lack of sleep, perhaps it was the Joy that seemed to be lingering, or perhaps it was some strange combination of both. In the end it didn't really matter. Sherry had decided she wasn't going to leave without having a decent conversation.

She sighed again and moved to open the door. She half figured it would be locked, and if that were the case she planned to stand there and knock a few more times. If it were open, well, she saw no problem with that. And it was indeed open. The moment she felt it give she started speaking. "What? Too busy to talk to me? Real--" She froze one foot in the room. She had expected to find a mess when she opened the door. But a half-naked Jake? No, no, she hadn't planned on that one at all. "--ly?"

Armagnac grumbled.

Sherry felt her face turn red. She also assessed the situation. Not half-naked, just shirtless. Which was really the same thing but for guys that was ok. Right? "Errr...Um. Well. I hope I'm not intruding."

Except that was exactly what she was doing and everyone involved knew it.



Sherry may have turned a bit redder.

"Er...All of it?" The words were out of her mouth before she could even stop them. She just kinda watched as he put on his shirt, noting a few key things. The shirt was in terrible shape, he had several fresh scars and...



Sherry blinked and looked away. What? Why are you lucky?

Armagnac wasn't planning to answer, but she didn't need to. Jake continued talking.

"Um..." Sherry looked back at him, "I was coming by to make sure you were ok. Things got pretty bad back there." And then she just kept talking. "You weren't wounded, were you?" Was that what those scars were? She frowned. "And why are you putting that shirt back on? It looks like you've worn it into battle. And it's not really "chilly island" attire, either." So clearly he needed to take it off again.

Sherry stopped talking. Simply because her own brain had just surprised her. Armagnac groaned.

"Well, no, of course I don't." Except maybe she did, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "Especially when it snows. You did see the snow yesterday? There's actually some still out there. I mean, it's not freezing outside, I don't think, but it did snow." It had snowed the year before, too. It didn't make much logical sense, being a tropical island and all, but nothing made much logical sense anymore.

"You didn't wear any more than that on the mission, did you?" Understanding began to dawn on her. "Jake, do you even have winter clothes? You really should have some. You need clothes for all weather types, ideally. We can be sent anywhere."

The best idea in the whole entire world entered her head right then. "I was planning on going shopping in a bit...would you like to join me? It's probably safer to take someone anyway, what with horsemen running around."

Jake was clearly not pleased. She couldn't be certain, but she was pretty sure she was the cause of this. When he finished speaking, she took a moment to simply stare.

It was a stare that turned into a pout. His words had stung something awful. The lingering Joy may have dampened the blow, but only a little.



Sherry inhaled deeply, and let her head tilt in thought as she exhaled.



"I'm sorry. You're right. The chances of me running into any trouble are pretty slim, I suppose we can both admit that. But what, what exactly makes you think I intended to use you as a 'pack mule'?" She straighten and took a step into the room, letting the door shut behind her. "I had planned on going alone. I only asked you along to be nice. Now, I realize this is a concept you don't fully comprehend, so let me spell it out for you."

"You are my friend. I worry about you, I care about you. Whether or not you'll be warm enough the next time we get sent to some frozen landscape matters to me because I apparently have a heart made of mush. We were not all blessed with hearts of ice." She didn't feel like apologizing for that.

"So," her hands rose in a very exaggerated show of estimating measurements, "are you coming with me, or shall I pick something up for you while I'm out shopping on my own?"

There was only one way this was going to end, and that was with Jake in a warm shirt.

She'd seen that before. A small glimmer of something else, a weakness in his armor. In her experience, he tended to be super grumpy after that, too. She should just turn and walk away; there were plenty of other people who would jump at the chance to go off island for fun.

Sherry did the exact opposite of walking away. She did move, but only as far as his bed. Which she promptly sat on the foot of.

Armagnac clearly meant another place, and another time.

"Fine, then. I will go without you." As clearly proven by planting herself on his bed. "But first. I need to know what you want. Cause I would hate to pick you up a few things only to have you completely not like them. I mean, a couple of new shirts, clearly, and a jacket...." She trailed off, thinking.

Jake had pretty good instincts. Sherry liked Solia quite a bit, thank you.

She gave him an exasperated look, and made no indication that she intended to move. "Alright then. What do you NEED?"

Oh, the hint was loud and clear. But sleep deprived, Joy tinged Sherry didn't care. She was trying to do something nice here. Jake was just being his usual grumpybutt-self, clearly.

"Jake." She moved. Not to stand up and leave, but further onto his bed. It was a sign of defiance. "Show me one shirt that looks suited to weather below 40 degrees, what is that, 10 in Celsius? --and I'll leave you be. Hunter coats don't count."

"And I am still bringing a coat back for you." And some other stuff, but she'd decide on that when she got there.