Matthew couldn't help but shutter as Zephy mentioned a dude that was [i]literally[/i] on fire and how he would never forget the man. His friendly smile twisted into a grimace as everything that had happened flashed through his brain, all twisted faces and bloodied snow. He shook his head, trying to banish the images again, not even noticing his travailing companions obvious displeasure at him telling their story of life and death struggle so flippantly. 

It was lucky for him that Mira herself pointed him at some new distraction, the second most dreamlike thing he'd seen after all this started. What had happened to that man, he wondered, that caused him to end up with parts of someones garden where his hand should have been? He could only picture this man, hands necrotizing and falling to pieces after some awful battle, only for some kind of tiny little gnome to run up, plant a kiss on them, and cause them to bloom into what they were now. Were gnomes real? Was there a gnome on staff here? He didn't know, but the image was certainly a lot more whimsical than the other ones floating around in his head right now.

He was so distracted by thoughts like this that his attention as only drawn back to Zephry when the guy started talking to someone else. When Matthew saw who it was he felt a lump in his stomach drag him violently back to reality. She was just kid. Another kid. Why the hell did this violet aurora crap keep grabbing kids?

God, he hoped her story at least was really boring.