Well, it's certainly a bit tangled, but he's definitely understanding it. He's pretty sure.

"Right, yeah. You, me, Jon and Martin, we're all an 'us' - an in-group. And yours, you're always ride and-or die for. So Elias being on the outs with the three of us, meant that he got... rather aggressively slotted into your out-group, just from the bloody Venn diagrams lining up." He purses his lips for a moment and glances away. "Massively stupid move on our parts getting so worked up at him, really, knowing you'd end up latching onto that outrage like a limpet."