[@Lord Santa] I don't mean to be problematic, but why was Steven making such a big deal about those who didn't want to help the kid moving on and heading into town if he didn't have any ulterior motives whatsoever? I understand that helping progress the story is a thing, but if that's all it was for, I can't help but feel that it was at the sacrifice of normal social behavior. I mean-- honestly think about the words that were exchanged and tell me that sounds like a typical conversation:

[quote]
Steven spots boy off to the side of the road. 

"Hey, looks like that guy might want some help. Do you guys think we should?"

Lyra spots boy and wordlessly walks over and begins helping him, thus [b]clearly [/b]showing that she is interested in helping him.

“I think we should definitely help the poor kid out," Abel replies. "Sure, why not, nothing much else to do," Illumina replies. Both characters have [b]clearly[/b] expressed that they are interested in helping the kid.

Abel walks over to begin helping him. Elisha walks over following Abel and Illumina's comment-- thus implying that she might be interested in helping him.

At this point 3/4 people have [b]clearly[/b] voiced that they want to help the kid. 

The kid says he's looking for a flower. Steven asks Lyra what the kid says. Lyra repeats that the kid is looking for a flower and [b]continues[/b] to try and help the kid by asking more about it. Abel does the [b]same[/b]. Illumina and Elisha start having a conversation with each other that is [b]about[/b] the boy and his search for a flower.

"Hey guys, you wanna look for a flower?" Steven asks for some reason-- he's basically asking the [b]SAME[/b] question as before, "If not, pretty sure you can just go on ahead. If you wanna help that kid over there, then you can stay here."[b] Why[/b] would he need to say this? They're close to town. Everyone is an independent adult. If they didn't want to help the kid, I think they already know that they can move on or do whatever they want. [b]They don't need Steven to tell them this.[/b] 

Kid tells everyone his name. [b]Nobody[/b] responded to Steven's question because it [b]doesn't apply to them[/b], but he asks it AGAIN: "Anyway, if you wanna help... Säätur find a flower for his mom, you can stay here and help, but... It might involve some climbing. Maybe. It might not, but it'll be hard to find anyway, because I'm pretty sure none of us are from around here. In all honesty, It'll probably take a while, so whoever wants to go ahead should just go and leave whoever wants to help this kid."[/quote]

Steven was the one who suggested helping the kid in the first place and now he's trying [i]really hard [/i]to convince everyone to leave. There's nothing casual about his choice of words. He's [b]clearly [/b]discouraging people from staying for some reason and he's posing the question to the entire group. At this point, the only person who hasn't 100% expressed their interest in helping Saatur is Elisha-- but again, he's not addressing her-- [b]he's addressing the entire group.[/b] 

At this point there are only three logical conclusions-- because this [b]IS[/b] very unusual behavior-- he wants someone to go into town with him for whatever reason (Abel teasingly concluded that it's because he's scared), he wants the others to move on so he can stay and help for some weird reason, OR he is commanding the group around like he's the leader... for some weird reason. 

Even his announcement/question alone is weird. Imagine if you were the kid-- some folks come up, ask if you need help, you tell them what your problem is and then some guy in the group turns to everyone and says "Who DOESN'T want to help this kid?! Everyone raise your hand if you DON'T want to help the kid! It's probably going to take a [b]long time[/b] and be [b]very difficult[/b] to help him! You can change your vote now if you want! Who DOESN'T want to help this kid?"

I dunno. Maybe this is just me, but it all seems very weird. Until now I thought it was intentional, but now Steven is talking to himself (since Abel is [b]very clearly [/b]out of earshot) and clarifying that he had no ulterior motives. You don't ask a yes or no question multiple times while also trying to convince people one way or the other without having a reason to do so. If it was for story progressing purposes-- I think we should leave that to the GM. Because as it stands, at least with me, it sacrificed Steven being viewed as a person with even remotely normal social skills. NOW he's walking back [i]just [/i]because he heard a[i] really [/i]faint sound. 

You don't have to explain any of this to me and I'm not asking because I'm upset. I'm just trying to wrap my head around the why behind what he's doing. He's your character and you can have him do whatever you want, but at this point, nothing is making any sense to me. And if it doesn't make any sense to me, it can only make so much sense to Abel.