"Well, it certainly makes you easier to hug." Snuggle. "...I honestly wasn't assuming you were actually human."

"I was born human. Didn't start turning into a monster until later."

Nod. "Why the forest hermitry?"

Shrug. "It suits me. I was... for a while I couldn't control the shifts, I just took whatever form felt most right at any given moment. By the time I got that sorted out well enough that I could enter buildings without demolishing them, I was already used to living like this. And it does have its advantages. I like being a legendary monster no one's quite sure exists."

Wince. "That sounds unpleasant. How long have you been out here? It...seemed like kind of an old legend."

"A while."

Snuggle. "Well--how far away is the place? It might...be easier, at least, if you were human-shaped for most of the trip."

"Easier how?"

"Well for one thing my car is not built to hold people ten feet tall."

"I can fly," he reminds her.

"How fast?"

"Fast."

"Okay. ...Probably best to travel at night, then. Especially while we're still near here. I really would rather avoid things like people thinking I was being stalked by a rape demon and needed rescuing."

Giggle. "But you are being stalked by a rape demon," he says, hugging her.

"It's not stalking when I know and arranged it with you in advance, I don't think you actually qualify as a demon, and I am not one of your victims," she says firmly.

Shrug. Snuggle.

"Whatever else I am not being stalked by a rape demon to the tune of requiring rescue."

Giggle. "Fair."

"...If I did stay, would you stop?"

"I suspect you'd get bored of living in the forest long before it came up."

"I guess."

"Mm?"

"I like you and I don't want you to be unhappy but I don't want anyone else to get hurt, either."

"You make me plenty happy."

"Well. I'm glad of that." Snuggle.