"Your trick. Pardon." Ruth's already situating herself back in front of hers, taking the edges in her hands, and for the first time in days, she lets herself reach out with everything she's been pretending not to have.

The nosebleed starts almost immediately, but something in the way she stands eases, too. She feels simultaneously more and less real, peering through the glass at Ellie's thin face. "You sorry, y'might've missed something."