Where Effy is concerned, everything Ishiah is doing seems entirely counter-productive. It's all too quiet out here; if she were alone, she would find it nearly impossible to do anything but think. The best way to drown out a thought is to chase it away with noise (or a shot, or a pill, but she knows enough about him to know the offer would be wasted on Ishiah). Maybe she's biased, maybe people deal with their thoughts in different ways, but the intense look on his face even before she approached convinces Effy otherwise.

"No offense," she says, "but it doesn't look like it's working."