Problems on Top of Problems

Kim watched the fire burn as the others began settling down for the night as she on the first watch of the night. She recognizes that everyone here pretty much trusts Grisha, except maybe Owen and Sonya. She isn't sure if there's anything that Grisha is up to, but she isn't sure if he's what he seems.

She at least had agreed to use her sword to locate his sister, but she wasn't sure if things might turn out the way that everyone seems to expect them to. Especially since she feels like something doesn't quite add up about the whole situation.

However, what she plans on doing is to use her sword, focusing on Grisha first as she searches for his sister, rather than his alleged sister through her name. Kim wasn't sure if there would be a difference, but she was pretty sure that it would at least help her know if he was being honest about this matter at least.

"You don't like him, do you?" Elmo asked, startling Kim as he came over to sit across the fire from her.

"Who're you talking about?" Kim asked after she calmed down, unsure why she felt so startled in the first place.

"Grisha Violet," he answered. "You don't like him, do you?"

Kim sighed. She wasn't sure if her dislike for men was what Elmo was going on or if he had picked up on her issues regarding Grisha himself.

"Not really," she admitted, not seeing a reason to deny it. Especially if Elmo was going with the first option.

"You really should give him a chance," he urged. "He's not that bad, really."

Kim wanted to slap Elmo until he understood what Kim did about Grisha. While Grisha was good at saying the right things, in the right way and had helped by trapping rabbits, which Kim had to admit likely helped Elmo, Bart, Heather, and Sonya. Though she was pretty sure that they'd be able to have been able to figure things out on their own if Grisha hadn't been there to offer any assistance.

Which was just that, in Kim's opinion. Rather than what she had a feeling Grisha thought of it, which would be more along the lines of a trade of some sort. If she was right, she suspected that Elin's erasure was a result of this.

If Grisha really was as Elmo thought of him, then either things were coming together through chance in such a way that was so unlikely as to be almost a coincidental coincidence. Something that would probably be less likely to happen than any government admitting that they made a mistake of their own accord.

"Well, I will at least help try to locate his sister," Kim replied, not sure if Elmo would accept that as an answer to his statement.

"If he wants, we could offer to let him be part of our group," Elmo suggested.

Kim looked at Elmo, unsure how serious he was. Their 'group' was made up as it was simply because every member was in the competition. Even if Elmo's opinion of Grisha was accurate, he still wasn't in the competition, so he wouldn't really be able to be part of their group. However, she had a feeling that Elmo wouldn't accept that for whatever reason.

"What system does he have?" Kim asked casually, wondering what might be Elmo's response. While she trusted Elmo a little bit, she still had doubts about his judgement and opinion. Especially in this case.

"System?" Elmo asked. "What're you talking about?"

Kim nodded, not pushing the subject any. "If you don't remember, don't worry about it," she said, even though she had a feeling that whatever was behind these memory problems was merely a symptom of what was going on. "As it's all about the competition is all."

"What are you talking about?" Elmo asked, looking genuinely confused. "You've been saying strange things since you got here."

"As I said," Kim answered, trying to keep herself calm, "if you don't remember, don't worry about it."

Elmo sighed. "Look, I can't help but worry about it now that you've mentioned it. What am I supposed to do with what you'd said?"

"Not worry about it," Kim reiterated. "If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you won't need to know the finer details. Such as what the systems do."

Elmo's expression made Kim wonder if he was about to continue his complaint, but then he just shook his head and took a deep breath. While he was a man, he at least seemed to have some intelligence from time to time. She just wished that it would be apparent all the time rather than on occasion.

With Kim's last statement, they both lapsed into silence, Kim wondering if Elmo might say anything more on any subject. When he didn't say anything, she felt herself start to relax a little. She hoped that this subject wouldn't come up again in such a way, but she wasn't sure what the likelihood of that would be.

She wasn't sure what happened to have caused him to forget about the reason they'd been brought to this world, but it wasn't like she understood how he'd been able to forget about Elin. Although, since he apparently forgot about Elin while in the process of talking about looking for her, it was possible that he'd only just forgotten about the competition and everything involved with it.

Kim couldn't be sure why Elmo was staying up himself. He wasn't on watch at this time and usually he tended to prefer to go to sleep quickly when he had a later watch, which in this case was the second watch. Though, Kim couldn't think of a reason to tell him to get some sleep. If he wanted to stay awake through two watches, that was his prerogative, especially since it wasn't like they were going to be heading anywhere in the morning.

Time passed slowly and as she was starting to add more wood on the fire, towards the end of her watch, a thought suddenly came to her. If Elmo didn't remember about the competition, then he likely didn't remember how he got brought to this world.

Yet, Kim suspected that there were a number of things that he'd still remember, since there wasn't any frame of reference on this world at all. While bringing up something like that might be a longshot, it would at least let her know what she might be dealing with here.

"Oh, by the way, would you do something for me?" Kim asked.

Elmo looked hesitant, but eventually shrugged and nodded. "Sure."

"Would you be willing to do a price check on television sets for me when you're next at Best Buy? There's just something I wanted to verify."

Elmo nodded, looking a little relieved. "No problem," he answered. "I'll just-"

When Elmo stopped, Kim had hoped that he'd start working through the inconsistencies of what he knew about 'Best Buy' as well as what he knew about this world. The logical process should help him figure out that, yeah, something had happened to his memory and that it was more serious than just forgetting something in general.

Yet, rather than him working through the issue, he instead collapsed and started shaking about. While Kim wasn't an expert, she suspected that he was having a seizure. If it was related, she couldn't be sure. It was possible, though she couldn't really see how. All she knew for certain was that it could potentially be harmful to his health.

"Heather!" Kim cried out, not sure what to do. "Elmo's in trouble!"

While she'd only called out for Heather, she couldn't say that she was surprised at the flurry of activity around her. While she'd only needed Heather awake, the method she'd used would be just as effective as waking everyone else up.

Heather quickly responded, though it was clear that she wasn't fully awake right then. "Wha- is it?" she asked, yawning.

"Can you see if you can do anything to help Elmo?" Kim asked, partially wondering if Heather herself had forgotten about systems and all that, just like Elmo had.

Heather looked at Elmo, possibly having just noticed him shaking on the ground. Which if she was partially still asleep, Kim wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

At first Heather merely stared at him. Then after a minute, and a quick glance at Kim, she knelt down and started checking Elmo's vitals and touching other places that felt almost random to Kim. However, as Heather stepped back after less than a minute of doing whatever she had been to Elmo, he had calmed down and looked like he was merely asleep. As if he hadn't been having a seizure a minute prior.

Heather then looked at Kim, her expression telling Kim that she had questions. Which Kim also found rather unsurprising. Especially if Heather was like Elmo and had forgotten about the systems and the competition that they were in.