[Mini Event] To See and Pray [OPEN TO ALL]

Oh soldier, take your time No one said the words all have to rhyme ☙ It was all so much. It was all too much Nathaniel paid little attention to the bickering, too distracted by the weird frission of energy inside him, by the scene taking place in the distance. He nodded as the older man answered his question, glad at least someone still had their wits about them. Glad, too, the stranger called the gathering to order with a sharp admonishment. Even if the other Naturals were correct, now was not the time to air grievances. Now was the time for... fuck it, Nate hardly knew. He stood slightly apart from the crowd, tension running sharp between his shoulders, hands clenched at his sides. What were they all doing here? It was so macabre, standing and waiting for these people to die. But he couldn't leave. Not on the off chance one or more survived, and needed help. And... How could he turn his back on them? Outlanders or no? So he was silent, a grim statue paying little mind to what went on around him. Little mind, even, to the dark shadow of Ludo settling over Maea's shoulders. Later, Nathaniel would think that was odd, but for the moment he had more pressing concerns. Of course, he was not prepared for what actually happened. Nothing, nothing would have prepared him for that. For the brief moment of — triumph? — and then the explosion, the body of the stranger thrown away from it like a rag doll, as if it had never been alive, at all. Nathaniel winced, his attention shifting finally to the rest of the crowd. The range of reactions, emotion an electrical current crackling through them. And he... He felt something else. A strange kind of — emptiness. Was it grief? Did he mourn that thing? Or did he mourn, instead, the end of everything he'd ever known? Nathaniel felt strangely as if something was about to shake loose inside of him. Some... something large and horrible welled up in him, like grief but unfamiliar. He breathed out, ran a hand through his messy hair, and paced first to one side, then the other. All the while, that new emotion shivering inside of him, demanding he do something. But he'd no idea what. Only — he was not glad. Even if they don't, no one needs to know you gotta let things go