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Lucas laughed, a hollow sound. "I know we can't stop people from dying, but -- hell, you're a detective, Shun. You know better than anyone that we can't just follow the word of suspects. We have to figure this s**t out ourselves."

The mention of Lady was met with an indifferent shrug. "That explains why she was useless and disappeared when we needed her the most. But if she's been gone all this time, then she's just a stranger -- she's just a pawn, like Thorne and Shiloh. Undeserving, but, the fact is that we don't know that those that have been telling us these supposed 'truths' are the right people, the real people...or good, at all. For all we know, the three deer siblings are the actual seals, because obviously they have failed in their duty -- Sorrow let one die, in their court! We just don't know, and that's not enough to go on."

The were knew he also had to talk to Jeremiah, but he really wanted to connect with Shun; he'd considered him an ally before and he wanted to continue to do so. "If this was a situation at work, what would you do to find the 'right' course, irregardless of the outcome? We can't be the blind leading the blind, in the end. Or it wont end."

"And there are people who would spare that type of...sorry excuse for a sack of flesh," he chewed around the words, as if the ones he really wanted to impart included words that weren't polite to say in public.

"I know you'd do whatever it takes, Detective, but what I'm asking is the next step. The evidence is as follows." His good hand pointed at one part of the table. "Teens go missing. Why? I don't know the answer to that, but they're the seals for the cage." Both hands joined in the center. "They tell the first wave of Other-touched the story. Everyone believes what they're told." His metal hand extended to the right. "But they haven't told us everything. They haven't given us enough information or warning to prevent this s**t from continuing. We could have saved the people held as tithe, we could have avoided the entire Blackfriar's incident if they'd just told us everything. But they haven't, and for some reason, they wont."

His arms crossed slowly, eyes leveled. "So. What's the next step? I don't care what people believe. I don't care what they've been told. I want to either find out what is being hidden, or stop this inherent bloodshed and bullshit that everyone is drowning in. Whatever it takes."

As Shun spoke, the wolf slowly leaned back against the booth, nodding slightly in his agreement of the man's assessment. "It's worth a try," he offered lightly, "because doing what we're told is only hurting people and has us chasing our tails." Some more proverbial than others, but it seemed his humor was a bit thinly stretched.

"That theater sounds like a nightmare. But if answers can be found by your gracious hosts, or the owner of the thing, that's something. I'm not so good at getting answers, else I'd have more to tell you from my visit with Michael." Lucas subtly shook his head; saying it out loud was still damn weird. "If there's some way to stave off going through against Heliodora, I think we have to take it. Delaying a few days, weeks -- months, even, shouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things."

The werewolf lowered his gaze, but he was still attentive.

"Shun, if it ever came to us having to destroy others, I will take up the mantle, as Michael once did. It's the job of the Moonwalkers to keep the Otherwise from leaking here, and if that is truly the best option -- I'll do it. I'm not going to ask anyone else to ruin what life they may have for this stupid war we didn't sign up for."

Lucas paused, but his eyes lifted back to Shun, his tone dipping in tandem. "But if there is another way, if I can't be made to believe that this whole seal business is right...then I'll protect from this side. I'll do my job, even if it's against everyone else. I hope you can understand that."

"I know. I doubt I'd be alone, but we both have the same outlook and I just want to make sure you understand the page I'm on. I get where you have to be, in the eyes of the law, of protecting everyone. It's just a due respect, my friend, I promise." Lucas never wanted to face against Shun or Jeremiah, but he also knew he would, if he had to. He'd stepped down once, and it had cost Michael his life; he wouldn't do it again.

"I don't know much else. Michael said a lot but nothing at all, the way they tend to do." The smile he offered was thin but in decent humor. "I haven't talked with Sunny yet. Does she know anything about the ball, or being the cage?"

"It becomes a question if ignorance is bliss. And the whole...Ascending, thing." The wolf shook his head slowly, pursing his lips. Lucas didn't know how to protect Sunny, not when she could do anything and everything that he couldn't even fathom.

"I'm tired of these questions, Shun. I'm all for fighting the good fight but I've been here almost a year and I still don't feel like my feet are on solid ground."

"Has there been anything that's actually been good?" he asked out loud, half in earnest, half in rhetoric. The only good thing that had come out of the Otherplace was Sunny, as far as he was concerned; he loved his Pack, he was serious about his 'job' as a Moonwalker, but he could have gone on without the experience. Sunny, though...she was different. She was special, and not just some tool...

Sighing to expel the tension he could feel twining in his shoulders, he quirked his lips in an expression that was both amused and not nearly so. "I'm not even sure us winning ends up with anyone surviving. The end game is still unclear, and that...bothers me most of all."

"If we remembered the failures, maybe that would echo the sentiment of being trapped, but...we don't. We don't even know what we did right, what we did wrong - and no one will tell us." Lucas felt stuck on the mere fact that everything relied on them succeeding, and yet no one would give them the tools to succeed. That, to the soldier, was being set up for failure.

The werewolf shrugged, eyes sliding to the side. "If we defeat the enemy, then magic will spill into the world." His tone suggested he thought that may not be such a great thing, either, especially given how it had wrought and changed their lives.