Howard drums his fingernails against his front teeth and nods.

He listens intently, hoping that somehow there's some closure to this story that will let him put it out of his mind tonight, but knowing full well that there probably isn't. There never really is, in real life.

He pauses for a while, letting her wait on his response, finding some way to engage with what he was just presented with without just letting another horror story get filed away. He's seen too much to let it shock him.

"Back home, in the FAYZ, sometimes kids'd step out. From the whole thing. Probably to death, that was everyone's best bet. I mean...I almost did. And other ways, a lot of times, I mean, thought about it." He realizes he's not making much sense and makes a 'moving on' motion. "Point is, if you're already vulnerable and you've got someone you think can give you answers, who thinks a thousand times faster than you, who can maybe fix things...is it hard to believe?"

He shrugs. "Or maybe he was just curious. You know what they say about that and cats."