Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Right, thank you."

The web. If he dug into the news papers there, maybe, as long as he could find a computer to do so on where he was sure no one getting money from the wrong folks would find his trail. Which was harder when one didn't own their own, but still perfectly doable. For the sake of simply being there, and a personal preference for direct experience, he still noted the suggestion; he'd have to look up where Barton's news paper companies were located. If any of them had survived the event in question.

It left him time to realize one thing while the woman was off fetching the siren, however, idly rubbing at his legs and palms as though he hadn't quite worked the chill out of his clothing yet, looking around the shelves.

There weren't nearly as many books in the store as he'd thought there had been. Perhaps he had come to entirely the wrong place for this. Scarcity in the broader sense had been the theme, he'd collected nothing that wasn't entirely questionable and likely about something else entirely. Chicken scratch and nothing at all. But if nothing else, he knew he'd come to the right person.

"Lu!"

All the books and digging he could stumble through, but if there was one person he knew who could find that needle he was looking for...

Flicking up the cap further, face practically unobscured entirely now, and flashed that toothy grin, right down to the distinct scars up the side of his face stretching with the expression. It was his turn to blink when she wrapped her arms around him and spoke, though he offered a decent squeeze back.

"Not if I did my job right. Ba' what, one of the scars new?"

Feeding the banter he poked at his cheek thought fully with a gloved finger, making a small motion like taking a mental inventory of his facial decorations and when he'd acquired them. Aside from the scar through his lower lip that had settled its way in from an injury he'd picked up while Mythos was competing, and the lines worn in under his eyes where bags had recently disappeared for far from the first time, there wasn't a lot to comment on- even if he likely had carried some armor and a sword on him most of the times Lucind had seen him outside of their teams suite, both of which were absent now.

"Actually," he let a small touch of the joviality fade away as he got down to business, but a shadow of the grin kept on kicking at least. His eyes, however, briefly traced around the room for possible ears too close. "'fraid I came about a favor.

"I'm digging for information, most of it old- I'm talking beyond simply 'historic'. I haven't been having much luck myself, but I figured if anyone might... you remember the events following Heaven or Hell two years ago?"

Lucind reacted too, looking serious. His face simply stayed flat and level. She asked, almost like she didn't know, but it didn't bother him. He'd had his grace period. His chance to cower and be afraid, to run away and deal with his own personal demons. He'd been through a lot since, and even more since Mythos had fought together. Explored his own mind, fallen into a lengthy stretch of near mental collapse. Some of it had been him being terrified or just failing to make any progress no matter how hard he'd tried, refusing to get help. They'd put him to trying to fight on his own, and he hadn't even been able to find the enemy. Some of it couldn't have been helped, but now...

"I'm looking for Teira, and the shades."

Now he was sick of it all.

"Teira. Victor Fah. Eden. The shades. The Forgotten One. The Knights of Anima. Moam. Commander Ezra."

He looked he straight in the face and didn't blink once as he listed it off, low and level tone, unflinching. It had gone on long enough. There was unfinished business. The shades needed to be dealt with. And he had a promise to keep...

Even now...

He clenched a fist, and cracked a smile that didn't touch his eyes.

"Anything about them. Any manner of locating them. Any piece of history. Scraps of information. Anything that could help locate them, anything I might be able to exploit.

"I'm 'seeking' to finish what I started, Lucind."

Kael followed without comment, trying to be casual about it. They weren't exactly being covert, so it wasn't hard- it was simply a private conversation. Chances were good that it wouldn't matter if someone overheard them, enough not to merit being so careful as to draw suspicions. But a word to the side wouldn't hurt either. No one else needed to be caught up in this. No, if he played his cards right it would never come to battle of that scale, like before, or like on Moam...

He followed her gaze out the window, but kept staring down outside even as she looked back.

"You could say that."

Too much, Lucind. Too much and not enough.

"I'm doing things I should have been doing to begin with. Tired of getting caught up solving my own affairs while waiting on some sign, or opportunity looms over my head. Tired of trying to take it on all by myself. Let's just leave it at that."

As much as he tried, he couldn't keep his face straight through what she said next. He had expected that Teira was still with them, much as it merited a grim nod, staring out the window. The idea that she could leave, and had been, but had to go back... free but caged... and that all along he'd never known a thing even while it came to this. Maybe it really was a sign that he'd been going it alone far too long, not to know when he'd been so concerned with finding her, getting her free. There was an unfortunate truth to it that twisted his gut too. He couldn't run and sweep her away when she was out like he wanted to. Couldn't suggest freeing her. She could have run, though she might not have made it. But she'd made a decision to stay and fight. She was... forced to it, because he'd taken too long? As if he didn't feel guilty over it enough already.

However, he wasn't frowning when she finish.

Kael was wearing a grim grin, baring a sliver of teeth, though a hand rested on the window was clenched tight inside of the glove covering it.

Good girl, Teira.

My fault for thinking you'd be helpless, waiting. No... I shouldn't have forgotten, what I saw in your eyes. Even in that naive little thing I met on the roof. That fire.

If yours still burns, how can I give in!?

That was right. Whether she needed him or not, he had a promise to keep. She might not need him, but it wasn't the issue- he wasn't about to let her down, especially if she was still fighting. Funny to think how a little thing he hadn't known for very long, had barely known him but for one conversation could have shaped the past few years of his life so powerfully. So much guilt, but now... maybe he had just needed a purpose. Something to believe in. Either way, now...

"Thanks, Lu."

Kael turned his gaze back to her, the steel in his blood-red colored eyes changed. He listened calmly to the rest. Calmly, thinking, but not as bothered as he should have been by it all.

"Believe me, you've already done more than enough for me. But..."

One corner of his lips drew taught, curling into a full on grin, wrinkling the scars down his cheek.

"You could say that. It might not be enough. But if you've already looked into the shades, Eden, or Fah... what about Moam or the Knights? Those should be new subjects. Unless you've already heard the names from someone else, in which case..."

Whatever Lucind's misgivings, Kael didn't really notice the questions the siren was asking herself. For one, he didn't read minds, but on top of that, you could say he was distracted. Enough so at least that he only noticed her being a bit quiet, not any hint of what might have been behind that. Not like people you could blame a person for being a bit on the quiet side when they liked.

He nodded along, unbothered, while she apologized and explained something about looking for information that he didn't really understand. But that, as much as anything else, was why he was here.

If Kael could have snapped into the same resources as Lucind, even half as well as she could, then he would have been doing it himself. He'd gotten rather used to taking efforts upon himself before looking to see if there was a better alternative, or if he had to. Force of habit. Some people might have called it being a hero, or responsibility. To him, it was mostly impatience and trust issues.

But there was something to this whole teamwork gig he'd estranged himself from.

"Ah, right. One second,"

Kael dug into the pockets of his jacket, with a small rattle, and then a rip, before producing a scrap of paper and a pen. Suddenly, he understood why those rich business types carried their cards everywhere with them. Saved time, and it came off a lot more stylish. Scribbling his number on a random scrap of paper, half felt like something that belonged for pick ups in bars.

"There. You ought to be able to reach me relatively anytime. 'n the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open, but I've just about exhausted my supply of rocks to go looking under."

He handed off the piece of paper and replaced the pen in his pocket.

Hopefully, at least, she'd know how to use a phone and hadn't been expecting some kind of psychic frequency or bar-of-residence.

On Gaia, who knew.