Chapter 117: Catching Up part 1
Elmo didn't mind being invited to talk with Heather and Sonya, though it did feel awkward in the fact that he hadn't really had much interaction with them directly. After all, the was the time when Heather had started healing him, then after she froze, and went back under the status condition they hadn't been aware of, she then seemed to show some signs of awareness as she kept him from leaving her alone.
Not that he had any idea of what that was about. Partly because he hadn't asked about it and partly because they didn't really talk to each other. They did share pleasantries, such as 'good morning' and 'good night' but that's hardly talking. He didn't know them, just as they didn't know him. While he would like to know more about them, he couldn't help but find himself unable to really talk to them.
It wasn't like it was with Jonas, where he found himself flustered about what Jonas would think of him with what he said and how he said it, in addition to what he was talking about. It was more like he couldn't think of anything to say. Almost like his mind went blank and nothing sounded like it was interesting at all. Even to him. Even when it was about something he wanted to know about them.
So, in the end, he hardly said anything to them and let things go. He even couldn't be sure if they would be interested in having him present as they caught up with what happened with Elin. Maybe it was how Elin viewed friends, but Elmo had always been at arms length with the friends he'd had in his own world. He couldn't be sure if it was because of an unspoken agreement, if his friends kept him at arms length or if he was the one who kept them at a distance. He couldn't say that he was good at reading social norms, so he couldn't trulyl be sure which it was in general. Not that it mattered or helped him in this case.
He merely sat quietly as he waited with Elin. It looked like SHeather was getting along in her pregnancy and Sonya was rather lively, though it looked to Elmo that Sonya was more concerned about Heather's condition than even Heather was.
While Elmo recalled that Elin took care of serving the entire room, it looked like Sonya was going twice as fast as Elin had and that was to cover about two thirds of the customers. Heather didn't look too happy about it at times, but she didn't say anything about it. It looked like they had some sort of arrangement, but since he wasn't there when it was made, he couldn't be sure what it entailed.
Then as the customers began leaving, mostly here and there, leaving more of the room unoccupied, Heather came over to sit next to Elin while Sonya took care of the remaining customers.
"What happened in the dungeon?" Heather asked. "We heard the announcement, but that was three days ago!"
"We took so long to get back because, one, the goblins had captured some other girls, like they had you and Sonya," Elin answered, "and because after we closed the portal, we were just worn out. Though, we might have taken longer to get back if Patrick and Patricia hadn't also come to clear the challenge, but we met them on our way out, so they didn't get a chance to help complete it."
Heather chuckled. ""I bet they weren't too happy with it."
"No, they weren't happy, but they weren't upset either. I think that they wanted to complete the challenge, but also didn't want to deal with the goblins as much," Elin said. "It was also nice of them to keep watch for us when we slept at night. If they hadn't then we probably would have had to travel even slower."