Argument

There wasn't any real reason he chose to follow her. Merely just wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything wrong. After all, unless she chose to leave their group, like Sonya and Heather did, her wellbeing was the concern of everyone in the group.

However, that didn't mean Jonas knew what to say to Kim. He felt clueless as to how to even broach the subject, but felt he should anyway, no matter how awkward he made it. Doing anything else would be tantamount to forsaking someone on the team just because he felt uncomfortable helping them.

So, when Kim stopped running, Jonas was finally able to catch up. Although, she had started to worry that he was going to drop from exhaustion himself before that happened.

Still, now that they were face-to-face, so to speak, since Kim hadn't turned around yet, now was the time to say something. Anything. So long as it actually came out in a coherent manner.

Yet, still, Jonas couldn't bring himself to say anything. He hadn't felt like this in about 17 years since he'd been hit over the head and lost chunks of his life. Not that he'd admit that happening. Just that when he woke up, he couldn't find the words to tell the people in the hospital what happened wor why he wouldn't tell them his name or where he was from.

Shaking his head, to get rid of the unwanted resurfacing memories, he made his mind focus on the woman in front of him. The one who he could tell was in a difficult position, not that he had any clue as to what to do about it, or if he even should do anything.

"What do you want?" Kim demanded, her voice sounding more tired than angry, which was what Jonas would have expected her to be.

"Just making sure you're okay," Jonas answered simply, happy that Kim started the conversation off. "You kind left suddenly."

"Well, I'm fine," Kim snapped.

"Want to talk about it?" Jonas asked, acting like he didn't hear her response.

Kim sighed, her annoyance clearly rising. Then after a moment she turned on Jonas, jabbing her pointer finger into his chest, forcing him to take a step back as she stepped towards him. Although, he mostly moved back to Kim wouldn't feel like he was there to just force her to open up. He merely wanted to make sure she was aware that there was someone she could talk to, even if that person wasn't someone she exactly liked.

"Look, I don't need your pity. I'm fine on my own," Kim said.

Jonas nodded. "Alright, I'll let the others know you've decided to leave our group. I'm sure Elin won't be happy, but it is your decision," he said before turning away to return to the banquet hall.

"Hey!" Kim snapped, grabbing Jonas' shoulder after he'd taken two steps away. "You know that's not what I meant!"

Jonas then stopped and said over his shoulder. "Then say what you mean. If you don't do that, I can only try to figure out what you mean. Unlike Owen, I can't read minds."

"I don't have to tell you anything," Kim snarled.

Jonas nodded. "Of course you don't have to. It's just that if you don't have an outlet for some things, they can build up and push everyone around you away. Not because you want that, but because you can only take so much before it comes out in one form or another. Usually it can be pretty harsh when it does."

Kim glared at him, so he shrugged and started to walk away again. "What makes you think I'd want to talk to you about it anyway?" she asked after he'd take a couple steps.

Jonas then half turned back towards her. "Because I'm the only one out here right now. I mean, you're free to not talk to me and if you have someone else to talk things out with that's great, but otherwise, I'm the only one out here."

"I do have someone I can talk to," Kim stated flatly.

Jonas doubted that, but he wasn't going to call her on it. After all, this wasn't an intervention. "That's great," was all he replied with before turning back in the direction he was going, not that concerned with if Kim would actually talk with someone.

She was old enough to make her own decisions after all, so it wasn't something that he really needed to bother with. Besides, he really didn't want to deal with whatever she had going on anyway. Especially when she took that kind of attitude.

"One moment," Kim said, walking towards him, making Jonas pause his steps. He didn't feel like dealing with anything more, but he still was willing to listen. Especially since she wasn't taking as hostile or as defensive of a tone as she had a moment ago.

"What is it?" Jonas asked, unable to hide how tired he was feeling.

"Just curious. Did your family really think you're a loser? Or was that something you made up for your backstory?" Kim asked.

Where did that come from? Jonas asked himself, surprised at the change of direction Kim took with the topic.

However, before he said anything, he looked around, not wanting to directly lie to Kim at this time, but not wanting others to hear what he wanted to say. Not that he expected Kim to understand. He merely didn't like telling others about himself or the looks off sympathy and all that when he was actually honest with them.

When he was certain that there wasn't anyone else around to overhear what he said, he shook his head. "No, I just made that up. I haven't seen my family for about seventeen years," he said.

"Wait, you haven't seen them since you were eleven?" Kim asked startled.

Jonas couldn't help but chuckle. "Actually, I haven't seen them since I was sixteen. Don't even remember what they look like," he said, starting to feel uncomfortable with the topic. This was more than he'd shared in a long time. Which he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. Just something he felt he had to say for some reason.

"So, you lied about your age too?" Kim asked, sounding like she was unhappy about that.

Jonas merely shrugged. "Why not? I get told all the time that I don't look my age. I might not make much doing day labor, but I can still take care of myself."

"You mean the kingd of day labor that gets you involved with shady people like at the last village?" Kim asked.

Jonas merely shrugged. "I never said it was the usual kind of day labor. Just made it clear that each job was a different job in itself," Jonas merely said.

"A distinction without a difference, you know," Kim remarked dryly. "You shouldn't try to be as ambiguous about that sort of thing here. What happened in your past doesn't matter in terms of what kind of person you are."

"Ah, but it does," Jonas corrected Kim. "What happened in our past determines who we are right now. Good or bad, it has shaped us into the kind of person we are. The parts aren't always acceptable to others, so I make sure to keep some things to myself."

"How is that any different from not telling others about it?" Kim asked.

Jonas had to suppress his laughter. He couldn't say how the conversation had shifted from being about Kim to being about him instead. Yet, he was sure Kim wouldn't take it to kindly if he started laughing out of no where.

"It's simple," he said when he was sure he wasn't going to laugh. "If I don't say anything about how I earned a living, assumptions would be made, if the person, or persons, I didn't tell that to didn't ask questions. As such, I give enough information for them to get a picture, but not enough to really understand what I did, and so to make judgements about it."

"Why are you so worried about that?" Kim asked.

"Maybe the same reason you're worried about opening up to someone," Jonas retorted, surprised at how much venom was in his own words. He hadn't realized just how annoyed he was currently with Kim.

"How can I be worried about 'opening up to someone' when I have someone I can talk to?" Kim asked.

"Maybe because you only said that to get me to leave you alone," Jonas snapped.

Kim blinked, clearly caught off guard. "What makes you think that that's what I was doing?"

"I don't know," Jonas drawled, wondering if this would be helpful or not. "Just that I've spent my time around people who lie for a living. Some even get killed when they get caught in a lie. I kind of makes it easier to learn how to tell when someone is lying, even if you can't explain how."

Kim nodded. "Fine. How about this, I'll get someone else to talk to. Will that satisfy you?" she asked, her eyes blazing.

Jonas shrugged. "I really don't care," he replied calmly, his heated emotions suddenly gone as if there were merely an atmospheric anomaly. "I merely brought it up because you were pressing me about things I'd rather not talk about myself."

"Fine," Kim said, turning to walk away.

Jonas turned to continue back to the banquet hall. While things hadn't gone as he had expected, he was at least sure that Kim wasn't going to leave their group. He couldn't say what was going on with her, but he was at least confident that their argument had at least let off some of the steam of whatever Kim had been bottling up.