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The circles under his eyes were, at least, faded. There was no limp while he was working, not that he let show, and his shoulders rolled and stretched out of trying to ease the cold ache that had not faded.

Coming down the path to the park, however, there was a slight limp and just a small pinched expression that faded when he caught sight of Shun. Jeremiah was not avoiding the discussion, he was simply trying to get a handle on everything before he did. There was simply too much work, too much to look into, and-

Not the time.

Jeremiah was, as usual, dressed for colder weather than was going on and - of all things - a small white cat was curled around his shoulders. Hellbine had been brought along on purpose.

"Kuroda," he said, head inclined slightly in greeting. "I'm expecting that you're going to have a lot of questions. You may not, however, like the answers." Or even believe them.

It was not so much flowers as something viney and the occasional bloom in a strip down along the cat's head like a mohawk. Hellbine merely lifted his head up, eyes an unnatural bright blue, and blinked very slowly at Shun before he went back to lazing.

"I'll sit for now," he replied, taking a seat. The cat stayed where he was for now. "Honestly, it was not that long ago that I was in the exact same place you are now." His head tilted back, looking up briefly and then smoothing a hand through his hair.

"I don't believe in being blind in this but I also did not expect what happened at Blackfriars to happen."

"No one was. So far as we knew, we weren't expecting anything until August." So much for that. Things had happened that were not supposed to and-

In good time.

Jeremiah's lips twitched up a little at the questions. Straightforward was always best in his book. "The cat is named Hellbine and he is a cat from the other ashdown." The small cat, not much bigger than a kitten, was plucked off of his shoulders and sat on the bench between the two of them. He looked vaguely disgruntled at being moved. "The vines on his head are real and part of him."

The question about being warm ... That made him snort.

"As for being too warm in this? No, I'm not. I'm just barely warm enough." His shoulders rolled in a way that was likely familiar at this point. As if he was stretching them to ease an ache that would not go away. It was easier enough to just hold out a hand for Shun, as if they were going to shake. He was not sweaty at all, instead his hand was cool - cooler than one would expect.

"There's a story for why." A huff of breath. "It's why I said that it was not that long enough I was in the same place. At least there's answers for you."

"I'm not so much sure that I keep him as he allows me to keep him." Even as Jeremiah said that, Hellbine was sniffing at Shun. His tail flicked from side to side, as if deciding, while they were doing that people greeting thing, before he butted his head up against Shun's hand.

The flowers were small and delicate, the vines soft.

His hands returned to his lap, fingers smoothing along a trouser leg. "I was not going to, at least not yet. Not until you had seen more or heard more. This is a lot to take in and I was not expecting you to get an abrupt education - much worse than I did though thankfully not as injured." His eyes cut towards Kuroda and he sighed as he recited what had been heard. "'There is a ball in the eighth month. There they will find their quarry. There is where Adoelle is.'"

He watched as Hellbine was, very insistently, pushing for attention from the new people.

"I don't know more than that but ... we've found Heliodora, Michael," his stomach twisted, "and in a couple months we will find Adoelle."

The moment scratches started, Hellbine purred. It would not be noticed immediately, but vines would start to creep up around the bench legs.

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow at the rocks and just let out a short laugh. "Sounds about right. Do you dream? About Ashdown. The streets are empty, the buildings don't look right, and it's raining all the time ..." It was a silly thing to ask but if Shun could do what he just did then, in theory, he was also part of this. "Bring me one of those rocks, I'll show you a trick."

His lips pressed to a thin line, not sure that Shun had heard him address Michael during everything that had happened. Things had been hectic. "There was a lot going in but I mentioned it that night. Michael was the large one. The one we pushed through. He's not meant to be here, not on this side, or that's what it looked like."

Now he was not so sure.

"Heliodora, on the other hand, I've known where she is since before I went missing." Hellbine was not having the lack of pets, enjoy the cat in your lap, Shun.

Jeremiah tilted his head again, studying Shun. "In theory, yes. It means you'd be able to cross over and go to other ashdown." He took the rock. "I might need a couple more just to make a point but ..."

There was a trashcan, not that far away, and the detective closed his eyes and balanced the rock on his thumb. It was flicked high into the air, towards the trashcan, and looked as if it was going to miss. At least until the rock hit a nearby lamp post and bounced from that a tree limb where it rolled until it clunked into the trashcan.

His eyes slid back open as the pebble hit. "How would you tell people that you found her in a place that they cannot go to. That she's there, with a long healed foot injury, ice coming from her shoulder, and in a grove of mangroves that are not even native to this part of the States." He shook his head from side to side. "They are all still missing because they are in other ashdown, Sergeant Kuroda, and despite everything I have not found a way to bring them here without possibly doing more damage than good."

Hellbine was purring contentedly, eyes sliding shut. The vines were now under Shun's shoes, curling around the toe and upwards.

"It's part of it. Never known someone to get a talent," for lack of a better word, "and not also dream about other ashdown." Jeremiah snorted at the impressive comment. "It isn't, not really. My marksmanship scores are excellent, I'm a good shot, but after I got involved in all of this ..."

His hand flicked in the air in annoyance towards the trashcan. "I can't miss, Sergeant. If I need to hit a target, I will hit the target - even if something causes me to have to shift my aim - and it will be something ridiculous like you just saw." Jeremiah cut his eyes back towards Shun and nodded.

"Something like that," another huff of breath, that neutral expression fading away into something of brief annoyance, "I went missing because Sunny was calling in her chip with me to find them. I wasn't lost in the forest during the fog, Kuroda, I was dropped in other ashdown for a week with Zac. Looking for Heliodora, Michael, and Adoelle."

He leaned to see what Shun was looking at and then rolled his eyes. "That is Hellbine. If you'll notice, those vines that are growing are like the ones on his head." The cat just continued to purr regardless.

"You remember that there were additional reports about people that went missing in the fog?" They were well known, especially with #fogpocalypse2016 coverage that had happened. "Ones that were dismissed due to the fact that everyone showed back up - just considered part of the problem with the fog being so thick."