[ At some point, it'll come up that his head was fucked with, that he was probably overly paranoid looking back as a result, but like her, so much has happened since that it's simpler not to revisit. He's just grateful she was there, and he hopes she knows that. That he only has a small handful of people in his life he can trust.

One less, now. After what he knows. So. But he's not letting himself dwell on that, either.

He pulls his hand away from the lizard; lets it rest on Julie's knee. He isn't trying to be evasive. He just—how does he answer? His head feels ready to split each time he thinks back on all that occurred. ]

They came through a portal. [ A portal that should not be possible to open and yet he knows it is. Because it brought him here, to this sphere, long before he remembered learning that this could happen on the Continent.

A beat goes by. He peers at Julie. ] Have there ever been stories of...entities not of your world, entering it through unique gateways? Something you may call a demon?