"Dunno," Abby answers, and her tone is casual enough, but her shoulders have gone rigid. This lends itself to even more pedantic stitches, but hey. Ellie's not gonna be able to rip these ones out unless she does something truly fucking stupid, so there's that.

She can feel her looking at her. She glances up, catching her eyes for a moment before she returns to her work. Wonders if she imagined seeing a glimpse of what Ellie left unspoken there.

"For my shard, I guess? I was with Vanya, and they chose me over him."

It feels unnecessary to add: and look at me. Who the fuck would choose me?