Welcome to Gaia! ::

Outside. Sherry liked being outside, she decided as she ran. Even if the island was shrouded in mist, being outside was freeing in a way. Indoors felt cramped, the walls always seeming to want to encroach upon her. She imagined them doing so less and less; time was doing what it did best and was dulling the memories once again. It helped that she was doing her best to stay busy. There were too many things to think about, too many things to dwell upon.

That's why she was outside. That's why she had spent nearly every free moment of the past couple days training. Focusing on improving herself seemed the most effective way to push all the pleasant thoughts from her mind. Walls, dead things, Jake. Her failures in trails, missions, and with...

Damn. She cursed to herself and began to slow down. Jogging, it seemed, was not the best way to go about occupying her mind. Too much time to think. She should probably go back to hitting training dummies or running though a course again. Those took more brain-power. Anything to help take her mind off of...well...everything else.

"Must be mid-afternoon," she muttered, looking up as she headed back towards the main training area. "Or closer to evening." She was huffing and puffing just a bit. Perhaps she should just head back to the dorms for a shower and then have an early dinner?

Now, seeing people around the island was not at all unusual. Seeing people at the beach was not entirely unheard of either, even if all it really offered was extra space and sand since swimming wasn't generally advised. On this occasion Sherry's attention was however dragged toward the beach, but that particular shade of blue hair was known to catch the trainee's eye.

It's him. She'd been keeping an eye out for him. You couldn't avoid someone if you didn't know where they were, after all. He was just standing there, on the beach, looking at the ocean. If she kept moving, he'd never know she was there.



I... Sherry didn't know, but she had stopped moving, and was basically just standing there staring at the figure on the beach. One one hand, she was still angry at him. He'd been mean to her, hadn't he? She'd done nothing wrong. Nothing except be foolish and let her emotions get the better of her. Kissing him had been a mistake and telling him why she'd done it had turned out to be a bigger one. If she had been able to keep her feelings secret then things would be as they were and she'd still have him as a friend. So really, it was all her fault and being mad at him for pointing out her stupid mistakes was unfair.

Armagnac was not pleased with that train of thought.

I know. We've been over it. But if I hadn't-- Sherry let the thought drop as she realized that Jake was more or less, no. No he was definitely stripping. Jake without clothing was not a new site, but Sherry certainly felt like she was slightly intruding. Only slightly. It wasn't like she was staring at a camera in the showers or anything.



"Armagnac!" Sherry gasped and looked away from the beach as Jake started working on his pants. I've told you that's not-- This isn't-- It's not about that!



"We are not having this conversation again," Sherry whispered as she turned to look back at the beach; back to the topic at hand. Yep. He was standing there in his boxers. You don't suppose he's swimming, do you? Why else would someone strip on the beach?



Sherry rolled her eyes. "No he doesn't." Sherry was off the path and heading toward him before she realized she'd started moving. For the second time in a minute or so she pulled up short.

He'd said he never wanted to see her again. As she remembered the look in his eyes while he said it, she nearly shivered. He'd meant it, hadn't he?

Emotions began to bubble up as Sherry stood biting her lip and silently contemplating her options. She should probably just turn and walk away. But...

[A.V.]

Yes, yes I do.

Leaving would be the best idea, Sherry knew. Just walk away and pretend she'd never been there. Unfortunately, she was just a bit too slow.

He didn't even finish his question before turning his back to her. That told her everything she needed to know. Turn around and walk away and maybe down the road they could have civil conversation. Maybe. If Jake didn't get himself killed in a fight or by doing something silly like running into the ocean. Weren't they 'strongly advised' against swimming in the ocean because of sharks and other teethy things?

"Jake!" Sherry was moving again. Not running, but certainly moving down the beach. "What are you doing? That's not supposed to be safe!"

Sherry stopped moving as Jake went under the water. Clearly he was trying his best to ignore her. Did he really hate her that much?



Sherry bit her lip again, looking out at the waves. Mist clung here and there, nothing unusual about that. But Sherry really didn't know what lurked under the waves. She just knew they'd been advised against swimming at some point.

She glanced down at the pile of clothing she'd stopped next to. Jake was acting like a child. And Sherry...



Sherry didn't answer as she sat down on the beach. The jerk had to come back for his clothes sometime.

Sherry knew how to be patient. Usually.



"I would very much like to apologize to him." Everything was her fault, and even if he really did never want anything to do with her again, she wanted him to know she was sorry.

Armagnac's tone was flat.

Sherry looked down at the pile of clothes. She was pushing wasn't she? This whole waiting and hoping to force him to talk to her, she was being pushy. "Now who's acting like a child?"

Sherry sighed. She was acting like a child. Like some sort of spoiled brat. No wonder he didn't want to talk to her. She wouldn't want to talk to herself, would she?

"Never see me again? I can't promise that...but I guess...this isn't even trying." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

The tears that tried to form as she typed surprised her, as did the pain in her chest. She'd already had enough hurt and honestly had hoped she past the worst of it. Apparently seeing him again had opened that wound back up.



She hit send, then wiped one tear off her cheek. She didn't bother looking at the ocean; she kept her eyes on the ground and on the hunter coat that lay there. After a moment, she stood, turned, and started to walk away.