The Systems Challenge

If they weren't heading out the next day, Elmo wasn't sure he'd want to be around the others. Either they were dealing with their own unresolved heated emotions from the night before, as in Kim and Elin, or they were more than happy to speculate about what that might mean, what the end results would be, or what might happen in the meantime.

After they started out, it was clear what direction the conversation would take. Although, he still had to deal with some of the topics he'd rather not deal with or even listen to, the movement seemed to require more attention than discussing those topics would allow. Which meant they'd either stop moving for part of the time and catch up after a minute or two, or they'd briefly mention it and move on.

If that wasn't a problem for the discussion of those topics, Elmo figured he'd either go ahead of the group or behind. He'd expect he'd lag behind the entire group simply because he wasn't a pathfinder or a trailblazer, as those would require a better sense of direction in this wilderness. Something that he acknowledged that he lacked even in the city, where it was harder to get lost.

Or at least in Elmo's opinion.

While they continued on, Elmo wasn't sure how much he'd be able to take with the discussions about what happened between Elin and Kim. He would have thought the well would have dried up with what had been discussed the night before, but it would seem that the well was deeper than he'd have thought.

By the time they stopped for lunch, Elmo was starting to think about falling behind everyone, just so he wouldn't have to hear even brief snippets of the discussions about Kim and Elin. Although, at a glance, he could tell that both Kim and Elin were also aware of the discussions, and Kim, at least, wasn't happy about it. Although, he could also see that Elin wasn't taking it well either, though her reaction was a good bit more muted than Kim's.

After they started out again, Elmo let the others get ahead of him by at least fifty feet before he started matching the pace set. That way he wouldn't have to deal with overhearing about that topic, largely because he really didn't understand why the others were still talking about it. After all, it wasn't like it was anything that helped them out or hurt them in general. If anything, discussing it incessantly as they were was hurting them more than anything, since he wasn't sure what would happen when Kim reached her limit and from the fact that he doubted the others were looking for signs of what might be the creature they were supposed to capture.

However, one thing that surprised him was that Elin also started to lag behind as well, getting closer and closer to him as they moved along in the afternoon heat. He hadn't expected her to end up falling to the back of the group with him, so he wasn't sure what to say when she fell in step next to him.

He couldn't say how long they were walking along before Elin spoke to him. He was pretty sure that it was at least five minutes, but it could also have been closer to half an hour.