"That's okay," said Ellie. "Not being able to remember things can sometimes be better for your health."
She was joking.
But.
Anyway. One of the better things about life now -- the kind of thing she enjoyed occupying her time with, like a hobby or even a small mission -- was trying to fill spaces, find ways to be of use. Ellie liked seeing results. She liked seeing people fed, bandaged, sleeping well. It wasn't so much sentimental, even though she cared quite sincerely; it was more a matter of things being in their place, and doing the right thing. Ellie wanted to be the kind of person who put things in their place for people in general, of course, but it felt even better when it was for someone she liked. O'Brien was a person like that.
His question was slightly unexpected, but Eloise had gotten rather used to it. The Army didn't always care when they were assigning what they considered "mundane tasks", but people often wanted to know who they were interacting with exactly. It wasn't always easy to tell what sort of reaction she'd get, though.
"No, I'm not immune," she told O'Brien easily. "That'd be nice."