Another of those terrible giggles, the spectre of mania lingering in it. "O-oh that's- that's the j-joke of it all, the punchline. There are no werecougars. J-just me and h-him, and now- now only him. It was- it was e-easier to explain it that way, w-when he was young. I had- I h-had to be sure he could hold the s-shape in his mind. That's the k-key. Two firm shapes. I-if you have them to move between, you'll s-survive. But if there's j-just you, j-just... human?"

Her hands ball up and explode outwards. "Meat. You b-become nothing b-but meat. Churning and bloody. I s-saw many, many people g-go that way. That was m-my fate. B-but. I was smarter."

She tucks her hands back into the borrowed jacket. "You and him, y-you're survivors because you g-go with it, all of it. You k-know better than to be nosy like me. That's- that's vital. I didn't... I didn't learn. Until it was too late."