The Systems Challenge-Chapter 444: End of the Discussion

"Hey, I know it's not your fault that I was stuck in the dragon shape for about three weeks, but I still need time out of that shape. A short stint wouldn't be a problem, but it'd probably take us a couple days of me being in that shape to get us back to that dungeon. Which for me, would be just too long right now," Sonya replied, her one as adamant as anything Elmo had heard before.

"Aside from that, what're the others?" Bart asked, his tone making Elmo if the kid also wanted this pointless discussion to be over. "You know, other options for us to vote on?"

"Well, I think there's Elwin's suggestion, Kim's suggestion, Bart's suggestion, and Patricia's suggestion," Heather answered, counting each one on her hand, looking like she was afraid of missing any of the suggestions.

"Wait, mine? I didn't give one," Bart yelped, looking rather startled.

"Oh, you gave one alright," Owen assured him. "You suggested that we do a combination of Kim's and Elwin's. Though, I'm not sure how we'd know which direction the dungeon would be from here. As its not like we know where we are in relation to the dungeon, so I'm not sure how well either your suggestion or Elwin's would work out."

"Come on!" Elwin snapped, pointing eastward. "It's clearly in that direction!"

"Yeah, but is it precisely that direction?" Kim asked, sounding rather smug. "After all, that's pretty much the direction that I'd suggested on going anyway. East."

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Elmo wasn't sure why Elwin had been pushing against Kim's idea, since he was pretty much wanting the same direction. Although, he supposed that it could be that he hadn't explained his idea very well, which is why Kim had been opposed to his and he likely would resist any opposition to his ideas merely out of pride.

"Well, if that's the way you want to go, then technically we only have two suggestions," Kim remarked dryly as she put two fingers on the bridge of her nose, looking like she had a headache that hurt pretty bad. "I mean, the direction you're pointing is east. Which is the direction that I'd suggested we go in, in the first place."

"Then why didn't you say that earlier?" Elwin demanded, as if he'd been clear on the way he'd wanted to go.

"Well, probably because you didn't correct the misunderstanding," Sonya answered. "She did say 'east', so I'd like to know why you didn't realize that you also wanted to head in that same direction too."

"Well, how was a I supposed to know that that was 'east?'" Elwin demanded.

"Because you should know which direction is which," Kim said dryly, taking her hand away from her nose. "I mean, how else were you able to find anything when you traveled away from civilization?"

Elwin looked like he wasn't sure how to respond, which Elmo found rather amusing. Though he made sure to hold in his laughter, since he really didn't care to endure Elwin's wrath at that time.

"If that's out of the way, how about we put it to a vote now?" Kim asked, looking like she was already done with the discussion, which Elmo would be perfectly happy about.

Especially since he already felt like he was caught in the middle of the discussion when he'd rather just start moving again. Even though he suspected that the direction of the dungeon was in more of a northern direction than just plain east. He just knew if he said anything about his thoughts that it would give Elwin more fuel for his idea and drag this discussion out even more.

"I'm good with putting it to a vote, even though it looks like the majority's pretty much against my idea," Patricia commented, glancing at Elwin who looked like he was still trying to figure out what to say about the situation.

"So, does anyone else have anything they'd like to say?" Kim asked, looking pointedly at Elwin. "If you don't say anything, we'll assume you're done talking."

Elmo looked at Elwin in anticipation, wondering he'd figure out what he wanted to say. It was possible that he would, but at the same time, it was possible that he'd still be floundering around like a fish thrown onto land in regards what to say in response to the challenge Kim had given him in regards to his ability to tell the cardinal directions.

After a few minutes of quiet, Kim continued, "Alright. Since no one said anything, then I'm going to assume that everyone's said their piece and is good with that."

"All in favor of heading east?" Bart called out.

Elmo raised his hand almost immediately. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he was at least happy the discussion was over with. Even if he didn't get to hear what Elwin might have eventually come up with.

As he looked around, Elmo saw Kim, Jonas, Elin, Patrick, Owen, and Bart holding up their hands. Which told Elmo that measure had already been approved by their combined group, even though he suspected that they'd go through giving the other options a voting chance.

"All if favor of retracing our steps to leave the mountains that way?" Bart asked sounding rather bored.

Patricia immediately raised her hand, then when she saw Patrick hadn't raised his, she slapped his shoulder, glaring at him. "You're supposed to support my suggestions no matter what they are," she informed him.

Patrick merely shrugged. As if he wasn't sure if that was the case or not, though Elmo suspected that Patricia was convinced of her statement already, even without evidence.

"So, it looks like heading east is where we'll be heading," Owen said, causing Elmo to blink.

Elmo had expected for them to also have put out Elwin's and Bart's options, even though it had been mentioned that they were essentially the same as Kim's suggestion of heading east.

"So, with that settled, we can start heading out," Jonas said, sounding more cheerful than Elmo had heard him being since they started out in this competition.

Maybe he had been cheerful when Elmo wasn't around, but he kind of doubted that. Elmo suspected that Jonas was in fact changing. How he was changing, he wasn't quite sure. All he knew was that he hoped he wouldn't change too much from the Jonas that had been willing to become his boyfriend.

"Hold on," Elwin finally managed to get out. "What about my idea?"

"Uh, didn't you agree that the direction you think the dungeon is, is in the same direction that Kim was thinking we should go?" Bart asked curiously. A sentiment that Elmo was curious about as well. He was pretty sure that Elwin had pretty much agreed to it and so it wouldn't make much sense to have a vote on that idea as well since it was basically the same as Kim's.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have put that to a vote as well," Elwin protested.

Elmo wasn't sure where Elwin was going with that, but apparently Kim did.

"All in favor of Elwin's idea?" she asked, to which Elwin rose his hand. No one else.

"There, it's decided now," Kim said. "We're heading east."