he sounds a lot like her, personality-wise. ellie can empathize with his situation - she also moved to portland when she was ten, after her stepfather was discovered having an affair with her mother. she's got three younger siblings that seem to get more attention and affection from her mother than she does, so her relationship with them isn't great. she's also very much a listener over a talker, and dreams of being a writer while working a boring office job that she hates. i can see them getting along really well - maybe he's brought her along for a few of those instances where he's found trouble? her toxic trait is that when she gets bored she starts acting impulsively and goes looking for anything that will fall under the banner of exciting because she feels like a side character in her own life sometimes.