She looks both older and younger than she ought to, steel-hard determination showing through the tears. It makes him think of the sound of rain and Laura asking him not to leave her behind.

Logan holds Ellie's gaze for a long moment, then glances away into the embers of the fire.

"I don't know, kid. This place.. it's doin' somethin' to me. Makin' it harder to heal."

He raises his claws again, turning his hand to watch the light swim over their surfaces. Twitches his fingers and lets them slide back into his arm. Red blooms appear on the bandages between his knuckles.

"This metal on my bones, it's poisonous. If I ain't got healing to fight against it, it starts eatin' me from the inside out. Before I came here it got.. real bad. That's how I died, 'cause it all ran out on me."

He looks sideways at Ellie. "But this don't feel that bad. Feels slow, but it's still there. When it's workin', I can't get drunk, even if I try." A wry grin. "And I try pretty damn hard. But here.." He raises a shoulder in a shrug. "So if you give me the booze you find, I can't promise I won't feel it. But I can promise I'll make anythin' that attacks me regret it, no matter how goddamn drunk I am."

It's a bitter kind of honesty, but it's all he can give her. He glances at her again.

"That how this guy died? The one you were with?"