Jeremiah looked between Diane and Damien, clearly uncertain. "I'd rather not impose on him. I'm sure between cases, I can get acquainted with the city?"

He had just begun to relax from Damien's comments when the man mentioned animals. All the tension swept back over him. "Animals? Why? What do you keep?" He was clearly going for 'casual curiosity', but his tone and posture screamed 'strained and barely restrained fear'. He seemed to be aware of that and cleared his throat. "Nevermind. It's probably fine - and if it isn't, I can hardly tell you what to keep in your own home. I'll have to see the size of the bedroom before I decide if I need a separate space for an office." The shift in topic was rather abrupt and seemed to do nothing for his new nervous energy.