Winterborn

[Blighter]

[font=Palatino Linotype][color=#999999]A[color=#99AA99] moth is drawn to flame.

It's not magic that draws it nearer and nearer, close enough to burn its own wings, it's just a mere coincidence, or maybe even an evolutionary defect. To this day no one can even tell as for why it is that those little insects are drawn to flames, to light in the night, so much that that they will even fly headfirst into their own undoing just to get closer, much closer to a source of light. Be it fire, be it artificial light of any kind, or the constant blue shine of your typical moth-trap.

Multiple theories exist on the subject. Some suggest that the moth perceives the infra-red spectrum of say, the above-mentioned moth-trap, but instead of registering and processing the information as a human being would, simply said instead of thinking "It's a trap!", the moth, not knowing that it is one, mistakes the infra-red emissions from the light-source as something else, like vibrational frequencies of a female moth's pheromones on the infra-red spectrum.

Another theory suggests that moths, being nocturnal insects by nature, use the source of light as a benchmark for navigation and that it is an evolutionary defect of sorts. At day, a moth has to hide. The camouflage patterns on a moth's wings are there to protect it from predators during the day, when the moth hides. When a night ends and the sun on whichever planet you happen to live on rises, the moth rises too. It makes a beeline for the sunlight, gaining height at first to find itself a hiding spot from above so it can stay safe and out of sight during the day. So when a moth is near a source of light, it will make a beeline for that source, even if it is our moth-trap or a dancing flame. The defect in itself isn't that however, as that is just akin to the moth heading towards the sun. The moth just sees the light, but it can't differentiate between what kind of light it is. And given that a moth which will fly into a moth-trap or have its wings soared by flames will die, the moth hasn't even got the experience necessary in order to stay away from the hot light sources at least. Be it a candle or whatever you prefer, the moth would had to survive the contact with the flames in order to have an experience based on which it could learn - if it even can learn that much, but that is another question.

However most of us don't bother to question the reason for the moth's behavior.

Simply put, for us a moth is drawn to flame.