Elmo yawned as he watched Kim and Elin head off into the trees. He was pretty sure what they were about to do and he knew it would be in his best interest to avoid them until they came back. Not because he didn't wonder what exactly Elin had in mind for her attempt, but rather because he was pretty sure his life would be much, much shorter if Kim saw him there.
Though, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should try the same thing with Joans. He doubted Jonas would be as interested by the idea as Kim seemed to be, but he couldn't be sure. Even though he and Jonas were together, he wasn't sure about a number of things about him. He was eager to learn, but the circumstances in which they were brought together seem to have made it hard to actually learn about the other.
Or at least since Jonas started opening up to him. Even if it was more like a crack in the door than anything else.
"While we wait, we should talk about what to do if we see Stanley first," Elwin said, looking like he might think he was in charge. Though Elmo suspected that it was more for his benefit more than anything else.
"Might as well," Owen sighed. "It's not like we have anything better to do now."
"Where's Kim?" Jonas asked. "I think she'd want to be a part of this discussion.
"Uh, I think she and Elin went to take care of something private," Elmo said, not sure if it'd be a good idea to say what he was sure they were doing at that moment. Especially since he didn't want to say how exactly he was sure that that's what they were doing.
"What is it that she's doing that's more important than this?" Elwin demanded, looking like he was ready to searching for her, regardless of what he might find.
"Well, we did start this discussion after she left, right?" Elmo asked, wondering just how tight of a tightrope he was walking right then. "So, in a way, she doesn't necessarily think it's more important, just that she's busy with something else right now."
"You know, he has a point," Jonas remarked, looking around. "I'm pretty sure that Patricia and Patrick should be involved in this discussion too, but they've disappeared as well.
Elwin looked around, his face incredulous. "Why can't anyone stay focused on what we need to be doing!?"
"Well, we didn't start this discussion right after Sonya left, so it's understandable that they've moved on to other things for the moment," Owen said, taking the wind out of Elwin's sails. "All we can do is wait for them to come back on their own." Owen paused for a moment before continuing with a smirk, "I mean, you could go looking for them to round them up, but if you do that, you'll risk seeing something you might not want to have seen."
Elwin scowled at Owen, not arguing, but clearly not happy with what Owen had said. Not that Elmo could blame him. While Owen hadn't mentioned how Kim might react to having Elwin 'stumble on whatever she and Elin were doing' right then, Elmo knew that Kim wouldn't react very kindly. While he wasn't sure how Patricia or Patrick might react, he knew for certain that Kim wouldn't be very kind in her reaction.
"I agree with that," Bart chimed in. "I'm not sure what you're going on about with what Kim or Patricia are doing, but at least discussing what we'll do is at least something that I can follow. Otherwise I'm not sure I'll understand what you'll be talking about since I really don't know what you're getting at with what Kim and Patricia are doing, so I can't find that as interesting as what we should do about getting to the dungeon."
Elmo couldn't help but shake in head at Bart's statement. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll understand what we were talking about when you get older," he said offhandedly. "Though, I agree. If we discuss what we should do while they're busy, we can at least let them know what was discussed when they get finish what they're doing."
Elmo stopped talking, mostly because he was afraid of what he might say if he continued on. He was already embarrassed about having said as much as he had. If he did continue on, he feared that he'd say a good amount more that he wasn't really comfortable saying in the first place. He wasn't sure if he'd accidentally say something that would get him on Kim's bad side without realizing it, or at least once she came back.
"Whatever," Elwin said, shaking his head in disgust. "Though, I won't be the one filling them in on what we discuss when they get back in that case." Owen opened his mouth to speak when Elwin continued, surprising Elmo who had thought he was done talking. "I mean, they made their choice to go do something else, so it's not our problem. In fact, if it was up to me, I'd say just let them wonder what we talked about when they get back. It'd serve them right for considering other things when we have this situation going on."
Elmo waited with the others when Elwin stopped talking again. He wasn't sure if Elwin would start up again, but he did wonder if maybe they should knock him out so they could discuss the issue in peace. Especially considering the fact that Elwin didn't really have a track record for playing nice with others. Especially when it came to Patricia.
"Well, if you're done, then I'll say my piece," Owen said, looking at Elwin as if he was afraid that he'd start going on a tangent again. When Elwin didn't after a minute, Owen nodded, as if that fact confirmed something with him. Something that Elmo wasn't sure if he understood. "Well, if you really need someone else to do that, I can take care of it. I mean, it's not like I haven't filled in others before on things that they missed for one reason or another."
"But we haven't really had this situation before, and when someone did miss something that we'd decided, you really weren't the one who filled them in, so what're you talking about?" Elwin asked, looking baffled.
Owen merely waved his hand as if to blow the subject away. "That would be before I got pulled into this competition," Owen replied without missing a beat, as if he'd expected this point to have been brought up. "I mean, just like you, I did actually have a life before this competition."
Elmo couldn't help but notice that Bart suddenly got a troubled look on his face, but he wasn't sure what it was about. He didn't say anything as he had a feeling that Bart wasn't interested in saying anything about whatever his issue was. Owen and Elwin seemed rather preoccupied with their current discussion to notice and Elmo wasn't sure if Jonas would notice or not.
Either way, whatever was troubling Bart about what had been said went unmentioned.
"Both of you, just calm down," Jonas told Owen and Elwin, as the argument between then started to get rather heated. "Both of you are rather off the topic you'd wanted to discuss, so why don't both of you stop acting like children and get back on topic."
Elwin's eyes flashed in anger at Jonas' statement, but Jonas returned the gaze unperturbed, as if issuing a challenge to him. One that Elmo had a feeling Elwin would back down from, if only because Jonas had a point. Even if Elwin didn't like it.
Which almost seemed to be a silent prophecy that he'd made given Elwin turned away, with a disgusted look on his face, clearly unhappy.
"Whatever," Elwin said, as if he didn't care, despite his actions saying that he did care very much. "Lets just get on with the topic. I'm sure we can come up with something that the lazy ones wouldn't be able to think of themselves."
Elmo suspected he was only saying that as a way to vent his anger rather than actually believing that. Or at least in the case of Kim. Elmo suspected that Elwin might actually believe that in relation to Patricia. Although, he wasn't sure if Patrick was involved in that assessment as well. He usually tended to keep a low profile during their discussions. Which Elmo never thought to question, as that's just how he seemed to be.
Yet at that moment, he couldn't help but wonder if Patrick really didn't have much thoughts in the way they should approach any situation or if he just didn't care to make his presence known. Regardless of which, Elmo couldn't help but wonder if maybe Elwin considered him just that. Someone who would be useless in coming up with a plan. Especially since Elwin seemed to have a high bar as his standards; though he clearly also had a sense that others needed to agree with him, regardless of what ideas he came up with.