Ellie couldn't say she'd worry. People couldn't force themselves to be concerned if they weren't, and it wasn't necessarily a requirement of friendship. In theory. In practice, sympathy and care for others was generally a good thing. "So am I, mostly," she said, after a moment of quiet thought. "I like to go out and find things, though -- as you've seen."
A hard habit to break.
She listened politely now, though, as Taisce spoke. Her hands busied themselves rifling through a small shoebox at the bottom of the heap -- mostly full of baseball cards, apparently, apart from a machinery catalogue and a bunch of nondescript keys.
"The desire for self-preservation isn't cowardly," Ellie said finally, tone level. "It's instinctive."