Chapter 22.

Moth hurried as best as he could back to Lane with his shaky feet but he quickly arrived back at his hammock and fed Lane the medicine. He watched as Lane's trembling form stilled and his breathing became deep and relaxed. Moth let out a small thankful sigh before he dropped to his knees next to him. He looked down at his shaking hands wide eyed, even if Lane had his medicine and was getting better he still wouldn't touch him, so all he could do was sit and wait for the tremors from his lack of energy would slow. I really need some energy. Even the small amount of energy I got from Dorian was useful but it isn't enough. I feel so drowsy. He let his head thud against the tree next to him, his heavy eyes closing as he let his exhaustion take him. 

"That can't be comfortable." A calm voice stirred Moth from his sleep, he was dazed for a minute thinking that Lane had woken up but it was just Dorian who was standing over him with his usual smile. "Well someone didn't think to give me a bed." Moth mumbled, straightening his back and glaring at Dorian seemingly wide awake now. Dorian chuckled, stuffing his hands into his long tan coat. "Sorry, I didn't think you would need one given that you were a moth." Moth rolled his eyes, of course a human like this would be so ignorant. "I'm still part human." Dorian turned his gaze to Lane, his eyes seemingly becoming uninterested and dull. "Right. I forgot." 

Forgot? Dorian leaned down at sat next to him leaning his back against the bark of the tree. "How are you feeling? You don't seem to be doing too well." Moth shuffled slightly away from him, glancing at him cautiously. "I'm fine. I'm more concerned about Lane." Rin stated, glancing up at the person sleeping peacefully in the hammock. The two sat there without talking, Moth didn't want him there but it wasn't like he could ask him to leave. Slowly, he felt himself start to doze off again, it seemed with the lack of energy he needed more sleep. His head started to fall forward along with the rest of his body, only to be stopped by a firm hand pushing him back up. He quickly smacked Dorian's hand away and moved further away. "Are you alright?" Dorian asked, he didn't seem concerned but he seemed more curious than anything. "I'm fine." Moth snapped while glaring at him. He felt himself shudder and his sight darkened a little from the sudden change in position as he clutched his throbbing head.

"Stop putting off your own needs, if you die I will stop looking after him so you better look after yourself." Dorian's tone had changed, he seemed harsher and his smile had faded. It reminded Moth that he and Lane were at his mercy, sure he could escape but Lane would die from his poisoning. He had to rely on this man, maybe he could convince him.

"Do you need contact to survive or does it fuel your abilities?" He reaches over to try to touch him but Moth swatted his hand away. "If you haven't got medicine for Lane then there is nothing for us to talk about." He rests his head on his knees as he feels exhaustion pull at him. Moth hears the person next to him hum in thought as Dorian looks over to Lane, his attention on the woven hammock, "Are you a silk moth? The patterns on your wings indicate something different though." Moth groaned tiredly, "...Twin spotted sphinx." He says it without even thinking before immediately regretting his carelessness. "Really?" Dorian asked, tilting his head inquisitively at the creature next to him, his voice full of curiosity.

"Interesting, I can certainly see the influence of that within the patterns but… Your abilities don't line up with that and there seems to be something else within the patterns." Moth turned his gaze to the person next to him. "What are you insinuating?" Moth mumbles in his tired state. Dorian smiles down at him, "What do you think I'm insinuating?"

Moth groaned, he didn't want to play mind games, he wanted to sleep. But the man next to him seemed to want to poke and prod at him, assessing his intelligence, boundaries and responses. It annoyed him but he couldn't do anything about it in this state, he wasn't against killing the man if it came down to it but for now he needed him to help Lane get better but he also didn't want him anywhere near Lane. He could only imagine what people would do if they saw that Lane could turn into a walker, most people would try to kill him out of fear but someone like Dorian would probably try to exploit him for his own gain. So, he would keep the attention on himself, dropping tidbits of information to keep the other person drawn to him, just enough to keep his prying gaze away from Lane. If the humans found out that Lane could change between a human and walker form they might do one of those selfish things Lane was always talking about.

"I don't want to play guessing games." Rin finally retorted. Dorian laughed, plucking a small flower out of the ground and twirling it around in his hand. "Let's go over what we both know about humanoids. A human that comes in contact with The Mist while in close proximity with an animal can lead to a successful combination of DNA resulting in a animal/human hybrid. However the other effect of The Mist is to grant abilities based on the animal and human traits similar to how high level walkers use weapons that would have been significant to them in human form. So, your abilities include being able to dispense silk which comes from your moth DNA and the ability to release certain types of powders with different effects. This ability comes from your human portion, perhaps you or someone close to you was a chemist. But you shouldn't be able to have both abilities, it's usually an animal ability or human one." Moth sighed and glanced at him, "What the hell does that mean for me?"

Dorian smiled, seemingly happy he got the humanoids attention. "Recently there have been reports of humanoids that had their DNA spliced with not one but two animals." Moth whipped his head around to look at him, "That is not possible, humanoid DNA is unstable as is which is why they don't retain any of their past memories. There is no way that one of us could survive being spliced twice." 

"I would usually agree with you." Dorian said, nodding his head in agreement, "If I hadn't seen it myself. All of the humanoids who were spliced with two sets died shortly after. However the subjects were spliced with two different species for example a cat and a fish but I wondered what would happen if two of similar species were spliced." Moth shrugged seemingly saying, how should I know. Dorian smiled at him, "You see, before the creatures died they inhibited a certain trait. Two abilities. The three separate strings of DNA left a space for more changes. But there would be no way to know if it would live, but I always wanted to try it." He looked down at Moth. "For example, splicing a person with two different species of moths." Moth's eyes widened. "...There is no way."

Dorian shrugged, "I know I am right." Dorian stated nonchalantly. "Don't worry, I have no interest in running tests on you. I'm not in the business of performing experiments on creatures that I like." Moth tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "I'm part human as well, I'm not a creature."

"You are probably more creature than human given that you have been combined with two animals." Dorian looked down at the person for confirmation but Moth just narrowed his eyes at him. "Maybe that is why you need human contact." Moth raised his eyebrow in question. "You are more moth than human so you need to steal energy from humans or other humanoids to stabilise your DNA and keep your human qualities."

Moth hummed in thought. "That is actually a pretty good theory." Dorian's expression brightened slightly at the complement as he spun the flower in his hand. "So will you let me help you?" Moth looked confused, furrowing his brow slightly. "Your survival seems dependent on contact and he's in no state to help." He states glancing over to Lane. "So will you let me touch you, or are you too prideful." 

Moth frowned, resting his head on the tree. "I don't want your help with this but if you have more medicine for Lane, I will take it." Dorian sighed, reaching over and placing the flower into Moth's hair. He stood up, dropping a vial into Rin's hand. "Well, when you change your mind, forget your pride and come find me." He looks over to Lane. "He should wake up soon, I'm guessing he'll need three more doses after this before the poisoning is cured." 

"That's good." Moth mumbled absentmindedly, pulling the flower out of his hair while Dorian looked down at him with a concerned expression. "I'm not a bad person." Rin chuckled weakly at his words. "I'm serious, Moth. Anyone else would have killed you and chopped you up for parts by now. You can trust me." Moth nestled his head in his knees. "Yeah, I'm thankful but I won't trust you." Moth mumbled before he nodded off into a dreamless sleep.