"Exactly." Oliver couldn't really meet Jerome's eye, or look at him directly at the moment, knowing that his attention would go right back to that damn ring. Instead he focused on his sandwich, rearranging a piece of baby spinach as he nodded. "Helpin' you out's no hardship. That's not really a statement about what's goin' on now, but before." He didn't want to lay out that there were stretches of time that he felt like he'd been flying almost completely solo, both before the council had been established and after, but he didn't want to plant potential seeds of doubt when it came to having confidence in whoever might decide to take the reigns again. If they decided. He wasn't really sure where that stood at this point.
"I didn't ask for help enough," he finished, knowing that he probably sounded pretty repetitive with that by now, but it was worth bringing up again. He finally took a bite of his sandwich, a thought entering his head that caused him to chuckle to himself as he chewed and swallowed. "All that said, I get the feelin' I'm not in much danger of a repeat performance, even if I were feelin' up to it. I start gettin' in over my head and I get the feeling the elf's gonna snap a leash on that damn quick. Hell if he doesn't have my number by now."