Owen winced, not finding his words while Cabot ranted. This was so unexpected of him; usually he was cheerful and at least politely moving along from what was happening, but now...? He wondered if Cabot, too, was kept in the dark about the inner workings of the world he was from. He was young, after all, and despite that a soldier for a kingdom of some kind, from what he'd heard. Used as a weapon, but as far as Owen could tell, Cabot didn't seem to mind the same way Owen did of his own situations...
During that silence between Bahamut and Cabot, and then during Bahamut's subdued response, the Charmeleon had glanced at Wishkeeper, speaking to him silently with his mind, and then at Diyem, perhaps also talking to him without words. The red orb had no expression, of course, and he seemed too exhausted to intervene directly. Perhaps instead he left it to Owen, who finally spoke.
"Bahamut is being practical," Owen said. "He doesn't know you like I do, Cabot. We meditate together all the time, and I've been able to prove myself to him. And after what he told me... it's possible that minimizing who knows among the team would be good until a better idea comes along. The risk-reward balance is... There are too many lives on the line for me to blab about this. Even for me."
"There may be a strategy meeting soon," Diyem said, gathering barely enough energy to speak up. "Perhaps all the ideas can be pooled there. Tell... Maple of the option, if they haven't considered it already."
Nodding, Owen then turned to Bahamut, but it was Cal who spoke up this time. "Bahamut's got some rough ideas, but they're ideas we can use as a fallback, if you ask me. Better than totally losing." She looked at Cabot, her golden ember eyes unreadable. "So, y'know, for someone all about friendship and teamwork, maybe you should start with fighting Joule instead of the team like Giovanni tried to orchestrate."
