Aside from the noise around her, a pounding headache greeted Elin as she started to become aware of her surroundings again. She could feel a warm embrace encompassing her as her surrounding felt like they were solidifying around her. When she opened her eyes, she was happy to see Kim.
Though, it looked like her attention was elsewhere. It dampened Elin's spirits, but only a little. The fact that she was in Kim's embrace when she woke up was more than enough. Besides, she remembered what happened and was happy to know that Kim didn't die. Not only that, but she wouldn't have expected Kim to focus her entire attention on her the entire time she was unconscious. While she would have loved it if Kim did that, she accepted that wasn't something that would be likely to occur.
"…'s why if she wakes up before then, we shouldn't give her time to make sure everything is alright. If we do that, we risk possibly losing this chance in front of us."
Elin suddenly realized that they were arguing about something. Though, she wasn't sure what just yet. It also seemed that Kim hadn't realized Elin was awake, which Elin was happy about. It gave her a chance to look at Kim's face from that angle.
"I realize that, Jonas," Kim answered, her voice tense and firm. "However, if we push forward too fast, we might not be able to handle what we encounter in the first place."
"Look, have Elin drink the mana potion and her MP should then be good. As long as we don't encounter another doppelganger or hobgoblin, we should be fine. We don't' know what might happen if we delay longer," Jonas argued.
"Neither do we know what won't happen," Kim pressed.
Elin moved her eyes to try and see what she could without moving her head. She wasn't sure she wanted Kim to know she was awake at the moment. Though, she wasn't able to see much aside from Kim. Though, she was able to make out Elmo looking like he wasn't sure what to do about Jonas and Kim arguing.
So, because she couldn't really see much with the position she was in and didn't think she should just lay there while Kim and Jonas debated about something she wasn't sure she'd understand without asking questions herself, she reluctantly started to pull away from Kim.
Kim's expression certainly looked surprised as Elin pulled away from the warmth of Kim's body. She knew she should feel tired yet, at the same time, she couldn't help but feel like she'd just slept for hours. Despite seeing that very little time had passed. Which made Elin wonder if she'd feel tired sooner than she otherwise usually did when she woke up in the morning. Not that it was morning at the moment.
Elin opened her mouth to say something, but was instead stopped by the announcer.
"Good evening everyone! Another day has gone by and the attempt on the king is getting closer to occurring. Will anyone be able to stop it? We'll find out soon enough. So far we have had three contestants die, Charles McCoy, Michelle Baker, and Rachel Plum. Currently the leaders on completing challenges are Elmo Garcia, Elin Davies, Kim O'Hare, and Jonas McCain. We've seen a slow down in the action currently, but we all know that it's going to ramp up soon enough. Additionally, Stanley Clinton, Frank Winchester, Thomas Walker have completed a secret challenge and defeated the Emerald Falcon. How they found it is a mystery to even me. Or was it merely luck that allowed them to take it down with an arrow? Maybe they'll say and maybe they won't. All that really matters is that they completed that Challenge. So, all contestants, please stay alive until morning. We still would rather not deal with your deaths as mere 'highlights' of the night."
"As pleasant to listen to as always," Elmo remarked.
"Not really anything new again," Jonas added, though he paused for a moment before continuing. "That is nothing significantly important that's new."
"Not that it really matters," Kim commented. Then after taking a breath, she added in a disgusted tone, "We're still stuck in this situation with no clear way out and I have a feeling that announcer was talking about us when he told us not to die until morning."
"Which means we should push forward and complete this side challenge before more goblins can appear," Jonas replied.
"Again with this?" Kim asked, sounding rather exasperated. "Elin just woke up from having depleted her MP. We need to let her rest, even if that mean s the path to the portal is that much harder."
Elin wanted to say something about it, but Jonas beat her to it. "Yes again. If we wait, we might end up in another situation like this or when we fought that flood of goblins. This time, however, we might get swallowed up."
"Uh, I-"
"If we go now, we could get swallowed up by whatever is waiting up there. Letting Elin rest would allow you to go up and see what's up there. That way we can know what we're facing rather than taking a blind chance," Kim argued, her voice starting to get rather heated.
"Can't I-" Elin tried again.
"There are times for caution and times to take chances. If you only take the safe path, you'll never be able to break out of the control of others and right now we're under the control of the goblins. If we don't close that portal soon, we're probably going to get chewed up and spat out before we can close that portal. Then who knows what'll happen to the people in that village," Jonas snapped.
"Won't you-" Elin didn't like where this was going.
"And what would you know about it?" Kim retorted. "You probably haven't had anything go wrong for you in your life."
Jonas chuckled but it sounded more self-deprecating than amused to Elin. "Don't assume people have had an easy or hard time just because of how they appear before you. Even people who look like they're doing great can be struggling to make ends meet outside of the public eye. I've seen doctors go to loan sharks because they weren't able to afford an operation for one of their kids. I've seen high end lawyers go bankrupt because they made a single mistake. Life isn't about what you see before you. It's about what happens when others aren't looking," Jonas replied heatedly. "Like I believe Hellen Keller said, 'There is no security in nature.'"
"Uh-" Elin wasn't sure if she was going to be able to get a word in edgewise, but didn't want to stop trying.
"Are you sure that's a direct quote?" Kim asked smugly.
"Shouldn't-"
"If it isn't, consider it a paraphrase," Jonas answered. "I think I heard it from an episode of Criminal Minds."
"I think-"
"Wow, didn't think you'd be interested in cop shows," Kim commented snarkily.
"Won't-"
"Like I said before, don't judge people on just what you see. Like race, gender, or age, people are more than just their appearances. If you judge someone based solely on what you see, then you won't know what a person is really like. You'll only see superficial things," Jonas replied, his voice starting to sound annoyed.
"Please-"
"I've seen guys for who they are. They always think they're right and won't listen to a word others say," Kim said dryly.
"I just-"
"Good to see you know your gender stereotypes," Jonas snapped. "Though, I can't help but wonder, if two guys disagree, are you saying they'll never agree on that? I mean, that's kind of what that sterotype sounds like to me."
"Don't-" Elin felt like she was getting close to tears. Neither of them seemed to be paying attention to the fact that she wanted to say anything. Only returning one barb after another with each other.
"Yeah, play it off like it isn't true," Kim said. "Never good to look yourself in a mirror, is it?"
"Can't-"
"In that case, what about the song 'Colors of the Wind' where it says 'If you follow the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew, you never knew?'"
"Why-"
"Citing Disney songs now, huh?" Kim laughed. "You must be getting desperate."
"I onl-"
"The point is that there's some things you might not realize you don't know. I've lived my life with that. Ever since it went down the drain when I was in high school at least," Jonas retorted.
"I-" Elin was starting to feel like she should just suggest to Elmo that they both leave. If neither of them are willing to even try to see if either she or Elmo has something to say, she wasn't sure they wouldn't prefer just working with each other.
"Well it's not like you know what Elin is thinking herself," Kim snapped.
"Why don't we do just that then?" Jonas asked, glaring at Kim.
Elin motioned for Elmo follow her as she started to walk towards the exit of the dungeon.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean why don't we ask Elin what she wants?" Jonas clarified, stopping Elin in her tracks as she was about to leave the room they were in.
"Fine. Let's have Elin decide. If we try to close the portal now or if we wait for her to rest some more," Kim said, sounding rather smug.
"Uh, where is Elin?" Jonas asked, confusion evident in his voice.
Elin sighed. She hped that this meant they were done not paying attention to her. "Are you willing to hear what I have to say now?" Elin called out to them, wondering if they would interrupt her again.
"What are you talking about, my gem?" Kim asked.
"I've been trying to get a word in edgewise between you two and you kept talking over me," Elin complained.
Jonas and Kim looked surprised. Not that Elin had expected them to have realized that that's what they were doing.
"If you're willing to listen to me now, will both of you agree to go with what I say?" Elin continued, skeptical on if she shouldn't just have continued walking away.
"I'll accept whatever you decide," Jonas said.
"Just make the right call, my gem," Kim urged.
Elin shook her head. She wondered if she was going to regret this, but she decided to give them another chance. She really didn't want to leave Kim, but she had herself to think about. If she let others walk all over her, how would she be able to adequately take over her father's march one day? Even if she got married, she would still need to take control of some of the lands, just like her mother had done, according to the servants she'd heard talk about it. Otherwise important things could be missed.
Elin sighed before she gave her response after waiting a minute to make sure they weren't going to say anything more. "I believe Jonas mentioned me drinking a mana potion," Elin said flatly. "Give me one and we can go now."