Mmrph. [Now Norton openly scratches at the stone in his nose, uncaring of how it moves. It won't get infected anyway, he's a vampire.]

Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you. [Now to word this without actually revealing a lot of his past.]

It felt right. [Repeating himself, but it does have to be said so that Lamorak understands. A feeling just can't be described so easily, it can only be experienced.] Some teachers like to say that you should try shapeshifting into something you're familiar with, like the family dog, or the bird outside your childhood window, or the damn rat under your floorboards.

[Oops, a bit of bitterness there. Moving on...]

But I wasn't familiar with animals, I knew rocks more. I ended up with this thing, and never felt like removing it.