[Ellie glances up, returns the smile and shrugs slightly.]

I still think you're right. But I think that we all kinda start out that way. We just... reach a breaking point, I think. When you just can't do it anymore. Or maybe you can't do it the same way.

Like-

I don't know, Lance. Everybody was really fucked up, coming back from the Aerie. Hating who they were. Who they had to be. What happened to them.

[Ellie pauses again, then reaches up to rub at the fingers that aren't real, the seam between robotics and skin, where all of her scars stop.]

I came back and-

That place at its worst was better than anything I'd ever had, by light years. I was better. A lot better.