While Elin couldn't help but notice the differences between the goblins they'd fought and Heather's goblin-child, she didn't really care. Not with how the goblin-child was.
He might be a little big for his age, but Elin doubted that she should be that surprised. Since as far as she knew, the goblin was supposed to grow this fast. Plus, as far as she knew, the goblin having a tail at this age was normal.
There was so much that she didn't know about this that she didn't see the point in saying anything about it. If she did, she worried hat she'd put her foot in her mouth more than anything else.
However, since she wasn't really involved with what was going on, nor did she really know the other young women who either had a goblin-child of their own or were still pregnant with one, she quickly grew tired of trying to learn what she could about them.
Maybe it was because she didn't have a shared experience with them, or that she didn't have a child of her own, or just maybe it was that she was a general outsider to them, but she quickly got the impression that they didn't want her there.
She wasn't sure about Sonya, since she was involved with Heather, but she herself didn't have that going in her favor, and so was quickly pushed aside figuratively.
Looking around, she noticed Harold talking with Elmo. She wasn't sure what it was about, but Elmo was scowling and glaring at Harold while Harold seemed to be finding their exchange rather entertaining. Which Elin doubted was something that Elmo was finding as entertaining as Harold.
Elin quickly excused herself from the others, not that she thought they really heard her, before starting to walk over to where Elmo and Harold were. If she didn't like what the exchange was about, she had a feeling that she'd be able to chase Harold away by making it sound like he had either impure intentions in regards to the goblin-children or a threat to them. Which she doubted would be hard to do.
"…seriously still don't think that being in the Twilight Zone is the only explanation for everything, do you?" Harold was saying, amusement clear in his voice, as Elin approached.
"Maybe we were in the Twilight Zone from when this competition started and it was only until now that I realized t," Elmo replied, sounding like he was politely replying to the question, but Elin suspected that he might be simmering under the surface, ready to blow given enough provocation.
Harold merely laughed. Not a friendly kind either. His laughter made it clear that he was mocking Elmo. Which Elin couldn't explain why that bothered her so much. She'd understand if it was Kim, but not so much with Elmo.
"And what evidence do you have that we're not in the Twilight Zone?" Elin demanded, not caring about the fact that she still didn't know what that was in the first place.
Harold looked at Elin, looking a little surprised to either see her there or that she spoke up in Elmo's defense. "Maybe because that series is total shit and fiction?"
"And you thought dragons and magic were real before all this started?" Elmo asked, looking like he was perking right up with Elin's support.
Harold looked back and forth between Elmo and Elin, looking as if he wasn't sure what to make of them. Then after a few minutes, he just scoffed and turned away.
"You're lucky there's children present or I'd look at paying you back for the disrespect you showed Stanley," he said as he turned away and started leaving. "Even if they're not human, children are still children."
Elin wasn't sure what to say to or about Harold at that moment. While she was glad that he was leaving peacefully, she couldn't understand what he meant about 'disrespecting Stanley.' The closest she could think of was when they didn't do what he wanted back in the library, but even that was more Stanley disrespecting him by making demands he didn't have any business making in the first place. At least if she remembered correctly.
If she didn't then she was certain that there weren't any demands made and he'd just left with the assurance that he was going to wait outside the library for them.
Not that she worried too much about it. She was instead more interested in figuring out how to deal with them now. Which she was confident Jonas had well in hand right then.
Although, she also had been a little worried that Harold would have attacked Elmo, even with the 'children' present if she hadn't spoken when she did. If he wasn't, then she couldn't say what his intentions were in regards to approaching Elmo like that.
Which made Elin wonder if coming here was such a good idea in the first place. As suddenly it felt a little too exposed and vulnerable to potential ambushes. Where she could easily see a few locations where an ambush could be set up to attack them without them being able to do much about it.
"You, know, I think we should head back to the inn," Elin said to Elmo. "I'm not sure we're safe here."
"Yeah, you never know when the Twilight Zone might try for you," Elmo said quietly, as if he was afraid that his words would act as a trigger for something or other.
"I don't care about that," Elin said, feeling like it was important for her to make that distinction for Elmo. "I'm worried about where Stanley and Thomas are. Or maybe if Harold is going to come back and attack us on our way back to the inn. I just don't think that we should be separate from the others right now."
Elmo looked a little hurt by Elin's words, but she wasn't bothered by that. If she had to hurt him, even just a little, in order to get him to behave and stop moaning about the Twilight Zone. Whether they were trapped in it or not, or even if they were on the periphery of it, Elin didn't think that mattered as much as if they'd end up getting attacked by anyone from Stanley's group soon or not.
At the moment, she felt torn. She wanted to wait for Heather and Sonya to finish up, but she didn't think that it'd be very nice for her to try and push the visit short so soon, which meant she'd had to wait for them to finish that on their own and there was no telling how long it'd last. Though, if she and Elmo returned on their own, Sonya could protect Heather on herself, even though Elin was pretty sure it'd be better for all of them to travel together. That way they'd have more fighters in any confrontation that might be waiting for them.
Besides, with Sonya in her human form, it might take too long for her to change to a shape that would be good for combat. Especially if their opponent was waiting for them.
She certainly couldn't be sure that Harold hadn't been directed to do just that.
However, the choice was taken from by Elmo when he said, "Well, lets wait for Heather and Sonya to finish up. I'm sure they won't be too long."
Elin nodded, feeling grateful that Elmo had made a decision on the matter since she wasn't sure which she'd go with herself. Although, she didn't know what to do with her time while she waited.
Which turned out to be a rather boring time for Elin as she didn't have a reason to join Heather and the other young women, Sonya seemed content to watch from a distance, and Elin and Elmo were left at an even further distance, unable to really make out anything that was going on or even hear anything that was said.
In the end, Elin started treating it like she was on watch. As there wasn't anything remotely interesting to do then, aside from maybe staring at the stars when possible. Yet, she knew at those times that if she did that, she'd miss anything that she was supposed to be on watch for. A distinction that sometimes annoyed her.
While Elin had originally thought that this would be a short visit, it wasn't until the sun started to set that she realized how long they'd been there. All day. They'd arrived in the morning and with the sun starting to set, she wasn't sure if the others had finished up with whatever it was that they had been doing.
Elin knew that she knew what that was at one point, but now she couldn't remember what that was. Just that she was bored and had been ready to leave since before the middle of the day had arrived.
She just had to hope that whatever had been going on with Jonas, Frank, and Kim had gotten resolved. Otherwise she wasn't sure if she'd start believing Elmo in his theory about being in the Twilight Zone.