Welcome to Gaia! ::

Morna pulled his voluminous black robe over his shoulders and tugged it closed before fastening the sash around his waist. He had always considered it frivolous to use so much fabric in one garment but if it hadn't been that way he couldn't have hoped to fix it after the other elder made a mess of him.

He couldn't get over how strange it was. Damage to his body in dragonfly form carried over to damage to his clothing as a humanoid. Was he healing some other part of him when he stitched his robe back together with his makeshift needle? He couldn't say, but as one of his last worldly possessions he wasn't going to let it turn to rags.

Enfolded back in his proper attire, Mornandum felt more himself again. Or maybe he didn't. He hadn't decided what passed for himself these days and it would probably strain his sanity to think about it... and that would do no one any good. Following thoughts like those were what lead to his killing sprees. Both of them.

"I suppose that makes me a sinner no matter which side of the desert you're on," he mused softly to himself as he crouched back next to his fire. He turned the rabbit on it's skewer to insure proper cooking. He hadn't changed back into dragonfly form since the incident and hadn't been able to tolerate raw meat while in elven form. An odd sort of calm had fallen over him as he set himself to this task. It seemed familiar as little in the forest had since he had come back.

Familiar, no... that wasn't the word. It seemed... "Human," he whispered. His hand tangled and twined in his long black hair, one of his old signs of aggravation. He stayed like that for a moment, head bowed and nimble fingers twirling in long black locks. Living as a dragonfly in the forest had only weakened his grip on reality. If he didn't want to lose his mind and probably his life in the process he really had to think of ways to ground himself.

Mornandum had to admit it, he was stuck in a bit of a bind. He had to think about his situation to try to derive a decent solution to it but the more he thought about it the closer he felt to breaking into hysterical laughter. Why couldn't he just be himself and finally forget about all this? Just forget the time he spent amongst the humans, forget the time he spent with her. As of right now... he could still remember her so clearly. He could still remember the look on her face when-

The crackle of his fire brought him back to attention. His rabbit was almost blackened. He swore in a language probably never heard within Di'jai and hastily drew the skewer out of the ground and away from the fire. One drop of sizzling fat rolled off and struck him on a rare spot of bare skin on his hand. It would figure it would hit him there and not where he was covered. He quickly stuck his rabbit skewer back into the ground and licked the hot fluid away, wishing he had something other than saliva to stop the burning.

Had he really grown so clumsy in his elf form that he was burning himself? Morna suddenly felt barely suppressed frustration come battering. He was so sick of this. So sick of all this avoidance but it was hard to see that he had another option.

A snapping twig cut right through his meditations and Morna's head snapped up towards the sound. His darkness flowed and flared around him. If anyone thought they'd make an easy meal of him they were very mistaken. He was in an unpleasant mood and wasn't going to tolerate any harassment or annoyance.

Behind his glasses his eyes squinted in the daylight. Lack of sleep clouded his vision and in a rare moment he wished he had spent the night the way that most creatures did instead of awake and wandering. His darkness was a twisting umbra around his head and seemed to cling to the tree behind him, sometimes as a mist and sometimes as tendrils. He watched the direction the sound had come from and his smile could have almost been considered friendly.

"Whatever sort of creature is in there... why don't you come on out? I'm not going to hurt you... unless you annoy me enough to make it worth the effort." That last part he muttered softly to himself.

On his back the tips of his scriptures began to rustle. He could pull the thing out if it wouldn't come on it's own... but he would find out who was spying on him.

So, it was this curious beast that had decided to pester him today. She was looking at him with her soft brown animal eyes. Adorably pathetic. Looked a little like the one he had killed a few days ago. Morna wondered if they were related and watched her with sickly amused contemplation.

"Well, you see my fire and can tell that I'm not going to burn down the forest." He swept his hand in a wide gesture around the area. "See? All green and healthy... just like you."

Morna's senses were vastly weakened when in his elf form but he still thought he caught something familiar off this one. Something nagged at the back of his mind but he couldn't put a finger to what it was. An irritation to add on top of other irritations. His scriptures waved, almost lazily behind him and the sun shone through layers of leaves to sheen across his glasses.

"Anything else you needed, pet?" He asked in a tone that implied that the answer had better be a no.

Morna didn't bother to hide the disdain he felt for this... creature. It was strange how many times he ran into other dragonflies randomly in the forest. Di'jai was hardly a small place and with the rate of encounter it seemed like it was almost overrun by dragonflies.... Almost? No, it was overrun. Overrun with happy little mindless creatures going about their lives.

Like this one.

His darkness flowed over his shoulders like a cape and pooled into a mist at his feet. There was no point in restraining his powers, especially not when their use might afford him peace sooner.

"Maybe I was the elder you met. I meet a lot of small fuzzy creatures and don't remember them all." Something about this one did nag at his memories and in spite of his foul mood Morna peered a little closer at her. "But I am a dragonfly..." His disdain was permeated throughout those words as well. It was nothing to be proud about.

Maybe he had seen this creature before... but where?

Keita.

Being stubborn with the ladies will leave you lonely.

His own words came back to him and the memory that went with it. A small green pup and the black and red one that only reluctantly left the shadow of his guardian's wing. Apparently, the spawn of his heart had learned to overcome his stubbornness. Morna laughed a dark little chuckle. Could this be fate? What else would weave this thread of his life back in when he thought he had snipped it out entirely?

"Leaving so soon? Why would you want to leave when we have so much to catch up about. After all..." His darkness flared out behind him in a shadow form of his true shape, wings spread wide against the sky beyond them. "You're right if you think we've met. My name, as I'm sure you recall, is Mornandum... and I believe you know my son."

The shadow form behind him dissipated, leaving Morna in elf form looking down at the skittish female. He couldn't help but smirk at the scene she was making. "Yes... long time no see." He tilted his head to one side while regarding her and gave her a look of mock injury.

"Am I really that frightening? Unless you try to tear my throat out or talk about humans I have no reason to want to harm you." He plucked at the edge of some of the bandaging covering his injured arms. "See? I'm even wounded. No threat at all." His words said one thing but his tone said another.

She's friends with Keski, is she? I wonder what would happen if I sent her back in pieces.

... That was going too far. Even he knew as much. He remembered finding Keskiyo, the small ball of black fur drenched with rain. He remembered later flying with his "son" a warm weight between his wings. He ran a hand through his long hair and then stopped. He knew why he was having a hard time talking to this dragonfly. It should have been obvious.

"One moment." He smiled dryly and took a few paces back from her. The familiar darkness bloomed around him and a moment later he was shaking stiffness out of his true form. It was remarkable how the injuries translated between one form and another.

"Now," he said, stretching himself out on the forest floor. "Are you going to run away in terror or are you going to talk to me?"

"Yes, I've traveled. Seen more of this green and boring place. Not very exciting. I also spent some time with my children." He paused for a moment there, letting it sink in. He also let himself remember them. He hadn't seen them for a while. Some of them he hadn't really seen at all. Mandy was the only one who spent any amount of time with him. She had promise, that one. Then there was the other... the white and scarred Nivorum.

"He mauled one of them, did you know that?" His tone was innocent but his smile was sharp and cold. He had almost forgotten about that small but ever so consequential fact.

"Nearly tore the poor little darling to pieces... and do you know why?" His black eyes glittered behind his glasses. "Because I certainly don't and I hope he has a good reason for it. Otherwise... I'm going to be a little cross with him the next time I see little Keski."