While Lucas waved his fork high, smiling as hard as he might, Shift's laid-back look was drained from his face. The situation had become exactly what he wanted...yet, anything but. Hardly any distance away, Lucas stuffed his face, granting the perfect chance to open up without interruption, but there was no way he could do that now, and no way to feel less distant.<br/><br/>It wasn't uncommon that Shift also masked his feelings, or simply wore a mask to convey them, but watching Lucas linger on John, as if he'd soon lose the chance, brought those just formless worries into existence. Yet unlike how they'd have formed earlier, prompting a detached assessment of their dynamic, Shift now saw his relation to Lucas for how selfish it was. Surely, they both had things to gain from traveling together, but only Lucas had to sacrifice the life he'd known. Perhaps the only one he'd ever known. Compared to him, a ghost with no home, there was a lot of sacrifice involved in that choice, and he wasn't eager to carry that weight, that guilt, on his travels.<br/><br/>Only a few moments into Lucas's grand bravado, Shift's eyes became downcast, unable to watch the act before him, as he threatened to break both of their facades with a solemn question, "Can you really leave this all behind?"