Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jeremiah had called ahead, on one of his days off since he was back at work, to talk with Finn. A lot had happened since a large group of people had been pulled into other ashdown and the forest ranger was the only one, beside Aleksy, that he knew had been part of this for a long time.

His car was parked and he made his way to the station, checking in with the visitor center lobby and then waiting patiently for Finn. His eyes glanced back outside, looking for rain clouds. Jeremiah's back ached, along with the chill, which usually meant rain was coming but ...

Probably wrong.

At least he did not look intimidating or otherwise, mostly just a pensive detective looking out the window while he was waiting.

It was a good thing that while Jeremiah's shoes looked good they were meant for the kind of work and traction that a working man might encounter. "Might as well stop by my car and let me grab mine," he replied, "as I've got the same feeling about the weather."
He was followed after Finn, inclined his head when he held the door open for him, and then snorted at the your Algernon comment. It made him, without thinking, rub his thumb across the bloodstone ring on his ring finger.

"There's too many questions and not enough answers, so I don't know that you should feel bad. You helped him as much as you could." His shoulders raised up once, then down in a shrug as he paused at his car as they went by. The umbrella he pulled out was that same bright garish red with small ghosts that he had had in other ashdown. As much as it looked ridiculous, he was now oddly attached to Heliodora's umbrella.

Falling into step next to Finn once they were on the trail, Jeremiah shook his head. "No more disappearances reported which I'm grateful for." He looked to the other man out of the corner of his eye while also paying attention to the trail. "I honestly just wanted to talk to you about everything that has happened. You've been at this for a while, haven't you?"

Involved with other ashdown and Sunny and all the things.

Sentimental fool would absolutely describe Jeremiah sometimes. The way he was sometimes fiddling with the ring further proof.

"It may be because whatever it is has woken up up." Jeremiah looked towards Finn. "It walks, like the fliers said, so that could be why there's suddenly that many more that can go there." Hearing that the other man could easily find his way to other ashdown was interesting, especially with how now it seemed he could find entrances himself but it was simple. He still had to search them out.

"I can find entrances myself," his voice even, if only a little tired sounding for a moment, "but I've still got to look. They look different than everything else around them." To him, at least.

"Was it just the dreams at first then? Was it gradual?" His experiences had been rather abrupt and immediate, having found himself thrown to the deep end before he could even take a breath.

Jeremiah moved, shifted and stepped over with attention to the path as it changed.

"Don't think I honestly have been out here in years," he admitted, "not since my thirties." He had been more about jogging out in nature but as he had gotten older and busier with the department he found himself more in town and less out with nature.

"Sunny, ah ..." There was still a twist in his gut thinking about her. "She dropped me in right as the fog really started. It's probably just the start and we'll see more. Accelerating like you said."

It was what he thought.

"Honestly, some part of me wants to see where her," Heliodora, "grove is on this side but it's also to put a normal face with this forest again."

Jeremiah looked to Finn, stepping over another bit of roots that were inching onto the trail. "I've actually been going over to the other side a little regularly," he let out a sigh, "and I've also run into something there."

"Could be worth looking." He said as his eyes glanced between the paths. "The college isn't even there, so I would be interested to know ..." Jeremiah shook his head, a little amused but also still not really sure what it meant when there were places and then not places in other ashdown.

The detective came to a stop and turned to fully face Finn as the other turned to look at him. "There were fliers around town after the fog cleared but before some of us showed back up. I took them to other ashdown with me." His attention shifted back to the path choices briefly before it flicked back to Finn.

"I know from experience that the books there can show you things and I wanted to know what they would show me." He took a deep breath and shook off the itchy feeling at his neck at the thought (it was just his imagination). "Instead I met something that seemed to know me."

"I don't believe it is something I can just find. Not without another flier, I think." Jeremiah let out a slow exhale of breath, matching stride with Finn and doing his best to keep an eye on the path as well. His deal weighed heavily on his mind. Part of him wondered what would happen if he went to the other side and called for it what would happen. "It was burning, whatever it was. Perpetually on fire and smoking; a burning man."

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair.

"It may also work with whatever it is that is waking up. That was the impression I was given."

"To put it bluntly: it is very ******** up." Jeremiah using language like that, especially not in his own home or not otherwise already agitated, implied that it really was just that.

The lack of wildlife, at least seeing any, did seem a little odd but he would chalk it up to the fact that there were humans walking around.

"That is the impression I had from what Alg and myself have learned." He took a breath and it was followed with a near sarcastic chuckle. "Unless something happens to say otherwise, I would say that whatever walks, is not here to help us."

"Maybe ten or fifteen minutes." They had walked for a while but Jeremiah had ended up finding Heliodora's demesne before he felt like he had walked forever.

"I visited her recently and it seems like we should be in the right area." He was looking around for anything out of the ordinary, something that might catch his eye, but there was nothing so far that seemed like it was part of Heliodora's grove. "It could not exist here, just like the college isn't there."

Then again it had been mangrove trees and he saw none of those around.