Welcome to Gaia! ::

"You're the barricade of normalcy between here and there," Lucas replied simply. "People will look to you for that affirmation, and you're in a unique position to offer it. I'd hardly call that useless."

He didn't notice, not immediately, what was going on. His brows lofted in a perplexed manner, glancing out over the shop and then back to him and down to his hand when it moved -- and only then did he see. Lucas stared for a long moment and after the trick had ended, he uttered a low, faint sound.

"Sergeant, I don't have a lick of magic in me, so I think it's safe to say you're going to end up Otherside at some point." Pale eyes lifted to Shun, conflicted between amusement, uncertainty and dismay. "You think you're useless but you can do more than I can, other than looking like I belong at a cosplay convention." He was not happy about it - that Shun, too, would be subjected to that place - but there was nothing to do for it, now. It set its sight on him and it would only be a matter of time.

Lucas sighed deeply, pursing his lips and shaking his head before he managed another small smile. "It's worth a hell of a lot more than you think, Sarge. Knowing there's some understanding to our condition and what's happening is worth its weight in gold."

"No, unfortunately. You saw my claws in action, I can do no more than any other." Lucas laughed softly at the next part, subtly shaking his head. "There was a while I could hear what seemed like my entire complex fornicating, but that's it. Some territorial tiffs, but I hardly find that a boon."

Shun's words made the werewolf flinch a little, biting his bottom lip. If he was going to be of any use as an ally, he couldn't withhold information important to the detective. "Look, uh, one of those kids -- was named Michael, right?" Lucas exhaled sharply, his chest tight. "The rogue? The one that hit me? That -- that was Michael." Another pause, a wince tugging at the corners of his eyes. "He didn't make it, Sarge. You'll...find his body at the breaker by the beach any day now."

"Sunny," he said quietly. "She offered the information, I'd have never thought to ask." Lucas looked down at his coffee; he still hadn't come to terms with it. "She said his name was Michael Mitchell and I did some research and...he was one of the missing teens. He was also the one who was supposed to help the Moonwalkers know our purpose."

His pale eyes turned up to Shun, unhappy. "I don't know how. I only know he didn't survive on the Otherside."

Lucas nodded grimly. "Sunny suspects he was put there." And he left it at that as Shun retrieved his phone, leaning back against his seat and drinking his coffee.

What a morning.

"Just be careful with her," he advised, lightly. Of the things he wouldn't say, his pact was one, especially a pact that made her Pack. "She's not someone to take lightly or disrespectfully."

Lucas shook his head, swirling the remains of his coffee in the cup. "It's not just you. The question is, why? It insinuates that there was something more important that we aren't told, and there has to be someone else that knows. I just don't get it." He sighed deeply, eyes searching the black liquid. "I don't get any of this."

Leaning forward onto the table, Lucas put his coffee aside and looked at Shun somberly. "From what I understand from Autumn, The Enemy is the bad guy. From what I understand from Lady, we're all tools to The Enemy, who is, in fact, the whole reason magic exists." He shook his head, slow and methodical. "I am not one of the wardens. Three teenagers are."

And that was a whole different pot of s**t he had no way of knowing how to approach.

Shun was quiet, but there was something about the way he spoke that gave Lucas the impression that this was about the most the man would show in terms of emotion. "I don't know who they are," he admitted with an apologetic tone. "I never asked. That information seemed -- seemed like too much responsibility. The thing is, it may be released when they die, but that also means it can die. Their seal was two fold, both to keep it away and to kind of...make it impervious to being killed."

That was another thing there was little detail with, and hell, that had only been over a text message. "That's why I said, either the thing is released or it isn't, but either way, people are going to die."