InsaneJournal

He had stood in the back of the crowded town hall for the meeting. The scent of fear clung to so many that it was almost overwhelming for such a creature as this, one who bore the appearance of a peaceful, older gentleman. There were mothers with their hands wrung with the ends of their shirts or forever toying with their bag, the ends of their hair, chewing on the inside of their cheek. Men stood tall but with hardened shoulders as if a whip just cracked in the corner and they should all be sent off to mine in the dangerous darkness of the Earth. Across the majority of them, their eyes were wide and glassy, the look of those fear-stricken and worry-ridden. To have come so far, endured so much in the world they knew, and be greeted after an evening of festivities with the vicious tale of murder.

If there was a murder, that is.

Danukas had seen murder and had murdered even prior to his immortal changeover. Across the faces of many here, there was not what he could recognize in both himself and in Cordelia; the lack of guilt or remorse for what had been done. These people were not the killing kind but damn if they were not afraid of it. He wondered if these same folks would ever be able to kill if it came to it, if their lives were threatened, even here in Elysium.

There were killers amongst them. Perhaps not in this hall, but they were here, and many may miss the taste for blood.

The Elven member of the Head Council, arrived and spoke to the crowd. While she was especially beautiful, Danukas' eyes could not help but wander over the faces of those present. How seriously creased their brows were, as if they did not want to believe it could be something as innocent as a wild beast. It was a natural defense when their lives had been nothing but one disaster after another. How many of these souls have been beaten down so many times with disappointment that they only experience happiness when they are not waiting for the bottom to drop out? Pity, he felt pity for them, but not much.

Despite the reassurances of the council and the veil of safety cast in the form of a curfew, Danukas left with the throngs of citizens unsatisfied. A creature that developed a taste for blood would want it again, most assuredly, but should such a beast be killed for it? There were species of people, of creatures, present in the community that could have committed this murder due to a lack of control or the overbearing need for the kill. He might have thought his own wife capable of such, but she would have told him already and might have stopped going on about how much she loathed this place by now.

Perhaps, if it happened this once, and did not happen again for some time, the citizen of Elysium would be satisfied with Theora's statement. They could rest a little easier when night falls because the creature that killed an unarmed, obviously weaker creature like a faun was not one that had the mind to know what it was doing. It could not have known that the faun had friends or a family. It might have known of the physical pain it put upon the faun but surely it would have no comprehension of the emotional pain, both for the now deceased faun and those left behind.

The old proverb slipped in and about his careful stream of thoughts: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

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