Dionaea Forest

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"I'm staying." Camellia said decisively.

Cyrus let out a long suffering sigh,

"Fine, I suppose we really don't have a better alternative. If Frog Lilies are the start though, I'd hate to see what else it's got up its sleeve."

There was a long awkward silence.

"Hey uh..." Camelia began,

Here it comes. She was going to ask about the Venus Hydra, he just knew it...

"What'd you mean earlier about nearly getting eaten twice and one of those times wasn't because of the plants?"

Cyrus was so caught off guard he had to do a double take.

"ER, what,"

"You said earlier that..." Camellia began pointing at the naga before trailing off, as if something just occurred to her. she gasped and turned to the naga, "Oh my god I am so sorry I just realized I haven't asked you your name yet!"

Cyrus found himself flinching as he realized...shit he didn't know the naga's name either.
 
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Jax blinked, lost in his own thoughts for a moment, then their conversation registered in his head. "Oh, I've completely forgotten to introduce myself. Hello, my name is Jax, Naga since birth and forever onward."

He thought about the question of being eaten twice not concerning the plants, and could not think of a single moment where Cyrus was almost eaten. 'Then again I could just be thinking of this question the wrong way' Jax thought to himself.

"On the subject of you being almost eaten multiple times I am quite curious, I don't ever recall you almost being eaten any other time except by the hydra."
 
"I'm Camellia Lockhart," Camellia said, "You probably already knew my Dad, Cornelius Lockhart. He said he used to hang around your parents a lot and that they helped him out when his experiments backfired."

Cyrus wondered if he should feel bad about the fact that he'd been tempted to call the naga 'Jack.'

"What? You seriously don't remember that time we got chased by a nest of naga from that other city about thirty miles from here? Y'know the batshit crazy cannibalistic one?" He specified, "We had to sleep in a tree over an entire grove of Sleeping Violets!"

"There's an entire city of man-eating naga? Oh my God Cyrus why didn't you tell me that earlier I would've completely understood why you were acting so nervous earlier!" Camellia exclaimed,

"I'd actually forgotten about them." Cyrus said with a shrug. "Seeing Jax again must've jogged my memory a bit."

To Camellia's credit, she refrained from saying "I told you so" though she looked sorely tempted.

That was before the other half of his explanation registered and she demanded incredulously. "And how in the Hell did you get into the tree without getting shot by the Sleeping Violets?!"

"Jax was really good at climbing trees. he basically hopped one tree over to another with me in tow until we were situated over a tree that the other naga couldn't climb. Unfortunately we discovered that once we got in the tree, we couldn't get out because the branch we climbed in from was higher than the one we got on."

He turned to Camellia, almost laughing as he said,

"Have you ever tried to go to sleep in a tree with hundreds of Sleeping Violets pointed straight at you AND a pack of cannibalistic naga circling around you like sharks."

"No," Camellia said before adding thoughtfully, "I did sleep in a legitemately cursed tomb once, does that count?"
 
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Jax laughed at Camelia's input, "cursed tombs don't really compare to what we put up with that night."

"Man that was one horrible night, I could feel their eyes boring into my skull hoping to get a taste of the flesh on our bodies. Fortunately those naga prefer human flash over actual cannibalism and eating another naga, so Cyrus was worse off than I was," Jax said thoughtfully. He paced the room, thinking for a moment before speaking again. "Why were we out near that place anyways, I do forget that part."
 
"I don't remember," Cyrus said with a shrug. "The fact that I remember this much is nothing short of a miracle."

After that point the two seemed to become quickly drained, emotionally and physically exhausted. They soon fell asleep after bidding their host good night.

Later that night Cyrus dreamed.

It had happened so suddenly.

One moment his mother was telling him all about the city they would live in, the nice family that would be looking out for them, next second there was an inhuman scream. His mother had left for barely a second before bolting back into their tent, all but shoving him into their largest trunk with a panicked fervor. The lock had barely clicked shut before he heard his mother scream and dragged away.

"Mom?!" He cried out, only to get a haunting scream in response. An audible 'snap' sounded through the air, along with a strangely wet tearing sound. Something splashed against the trunk, and soon foul smell of blood seeped into the trunk, though he didn't understand at the time what it was.

"Mom?!" He shouted again, but received no answer.

Next thing he knew the trunk was being bashed around. He cried out in surprised pain as the trunk was tossed and turned, rolled and crashed about. Pressing his limbs against the sides of the trunk, he tried to keep himself stationary as the unpleasant ride continued. When it was finally done, he had a few already forming bruises and a few nasty cuts.

Silence fell...and it was a long while before he found the courage to call out.

"Hello...? I-is anybody out there?" Cyrus called out, hitting the trunk's lid to make a bit more noise. When there was no answer, anxiety began to settle in. He pounded the lid harder, more desperate. "C-Can anybody hear me? HELP? I-I'M STUCK!"

"help me..." The real Cyrus whimpered out. His breathing was shallow and he curled into himself under the covers, hands clutching at the sheets. Sweat formed on his temple as he made a distressed sound that woke Camellia with a confused start.

A chill ran up her spine, and she practically scrambled to relight the beside candle, breathing a sigh of relief as the light lessened the darkness. It took her eye a moment to adjust and see what was going on.

It looked like he was having a nightmare.

She glanced at the door before deciding to see if she could wake Cyrus on her own.

"Cyrus?" She called out.
 
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Jax shrugged once again, "Oh well, at least we lived to tell the tale of this story."

He fixed the two dinner that night, and then went to his bed. Jax didn't necessarily go to sleep right away, he liked to read at night since it was a good past time of his. Mainly because he had such good night vision, that he was able to read with barely a light from any candle. He slowly drifted off into sleep, not knowing what kind of dreams he would have that night.
 
Cyrus lay there, broken and sobbing, hands bloody and his air running out. His hands were stiff and bleeding and throbbed with every sob that racked through him.

How long had he been in here?

Minutes?

Hours?

He wanted to go home.

The air was muggy and thick, it was getting harder and harder to breathe with every passing minute. Another painful sob racked through him.

He was crying so much he almost didn't hear the voices approaching.

"Oh my God!" A female voice gasped,

"We're too late." Another voice, distinctly male, grieved.

It took the boy a moment to realize that rescue was imminent if he could get their attention.

Suddenly his struggles renewed, desperate to be noticed.

"HELP! I'M IN HERE HELP!"

He heard the two gasp,


"Hello?! Is somebody there?"

"I'M HERE!" Cyrus screamed, pounding his still bleeding fist against the trunk lid. "GET ME OUT GET ME OUT PLEASE!"

"
Don't leave me..." Cyrus whimpered a little louder, a little clearer and quickly distressing his tired and confused companion in the other bed.

"Cyrus?" She called out a little louder, struggling to get up. Her knees buckled as the room began to spin. She hissed as she fell to the floor, knees stinging. She clutched at the bedside with her one good arm, fighting to stand even as her vision blurred. "Cyrus can you here me?! Wake up!"
 
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Jax woke up to sound of something hitting the floor and a faint cry, he had been edgy since the plants in the forest and it was causing him not to sleep as deeply now. Slithering out of his bed, he headed over to where Cyrus and Camellia were sleeping in his house, the nose had come from around that area, or so he believed anyways.

I wonder whats going on, it's the middle of the night, what could they possibly be up to. Best to just go check it out anyways, Jax thought to himself. He stuck his head inside the room, only to find Cyrus in his bed, nothing different there. Turning his head towards camellia's sleeping place he saw she was trying to stand up, she looked almost sickly, like something was affecting her. Jax rushed over and picked her up carefully, knowing her arm probably was still in pain if he did manage to touch it, and set her back in her bed carefully.

"What's going on? I heard someone cry out and then a thud, something wrong," he asked.
 
"I-I think Cyrus is having some kind of nightmare. I was trying to see if it was a fever dream, he-he's usually a very light sleeper and he wasn't answering me." Camellia explained, her head bowed and shivering as her arm rubbed against her side. "I-if it's a fever dream h-his leg's p-probably infected."

She was shivering, whether frightened or cold she wasn't too sure herself. She laughed shakily,

"I-I guess I overestimated how far I could get."

Alarmingly, Cyrus started coughing wheezing like he was having trouble breathing. In his dream his air was running thin, and the vivid dream affecting him in real life.

"Hang on we've almost got it!"

"Just stay calm sweetie, it's almost over!"

"I...can't...breathe..." Cyrus sobbed out, barely audible.

"Cyrus?!" Camellia exclaimed, now legitimately frightened, no longer bothering to keep her voice down.
 
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Jax shook his head, "Next time just call out for me, I'm the healthy one here and if it randomly woke him up from his nightmare he'd probably thank you."

The coughing started, and jax rushed over to Cyrus. Shit what is going on in his dream? I need to do something.

He grabbed Cyrus's shoulders and began to shake him a little bit in hopes of waking him up, but it wasn't working. So jax shook him a little harder, hoping it would wake him up.
 
The trunk was shaking, the lid struggling open and...

Cyrus woke up with a gasping scream, prompting a startled yelp from the girl in the other bed. Delirious, unseeing and still gasping for breath, his hands suddenly started to glow as he ineffectively tried to push Jax away.

"LOOK OUT!" Camellia shouted in warning, a second later a blue ball of light shot past Jax's ear, missing him by a hair. The accidental magic ricocheted off the roof, whizzed past Camellia, who barely dodged it with another yelp, and hit a vase. Though the impact itself didn't make the vase shatter, it did tip over and shatter against the floor.

The sound of the vase breaking seemed to startle Cyrus back into his senses, blue eyes coming back into focus as he looked around.

"WHa-I-wher..." He sputtered out, eyes darting from Camellia to Jax in a confused haze. He was still unknowingly crying a bit as he processed what was happening. It finally registered and he shrunk bacck with his head bowed. Heat flushed into his face as he hissed through clenched teeth, trembling hands forming fists.

"G-Get off!" He snapped, trying to push Jax away again and refusing to look at him.

He didn't want to talk about it.

He didn't want to talk about it.

He did not want to talk about it.
 
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Jax let go of Cyrus, more freaked out than Cyrus himself probably. He had never seen a mage have those blue eyes before, let alone use magic when they weren't trained at all. The shock of the blue bolt almost smashing into his face left a weird look on his face as he put Cyrus back down on the bed. Jax slithered over to where the vase had been and began to pick up the broken pieces.

Might as well clean-up while I'm at it, he won't want to talk about this at all.

Jax finished picking up the pieces and left the room, Camellia could deal with Cyrus better than he would be able to. The fact Jax didn't know much else about his brother than when they were kids limited his ability to be able to possibly help the situation.
 
Cyrus's eyes chased after the naga, brows furrowed and opening his mouth to say something, because thinking better of it and shrinking back, looking at the blankets. Usually speaking he felt better alone, solitude was a constant companion back at his Aunt's estate. Other people made him uncomfortable, and often drained him faster than anything else. You'd think he'd be glad to be left to his own devices but...

That look was haunting him. Of course anybody would've been surprised to almost get struck by accidental magic, but he hadn't looked so much surprised as he did...

...betrayed...?

Cyrus bit his lower lip, head hanging as an unpleasant knot formed in his stomach.

"I...didn't...mean..." He mumbled to himself, heart heavy. He suddenly regretted snapping at the naga.

"Ahem,"

Oh shit.

Suddenly he remembered that he wasn't alone, looking up to see Camellia glaring at him. Her arm was clutching at her side in an attempt to cross what was no longer there.

"The hell was that?" She demanded. "And don't try to worm your way out of telling me, you nearly choked in your sleep that's a cause for concern."

He grimaced as he realized, she was right.

But it didn't change the fact that he didn't want to talk about it.

"I-I dreamed..." He stuttered out before sighing, "i-I dreamed around the day my parents died."

Camellia immediately softened.

"Oh Cyrus..."

"I didn't see anything!" Cyrus said quickly. "My mother, clever woman that she was, locked me inside of one of the trunks so that the Venus Hydra couldn't get to me. But...I...I spent the rest of the day and night inside of the trunk, trying to break my way back out and only succeeding in getting these."

He held up his scarred hands, the blemishes almost erie white in the candlelight,

"Jax's parents found the campsite the night site that morning," he continued, rubbing his forearms, "and managed to break the chest just before I ran out of air."

"Cyrus..." Camellia repeated,

"I-it's not that big a deal!" He insisted before correcting with a shake of his head "th-the dream I mean. I-it just scared me is all. I-i-I haven't had a dream like that since I first moved with my Aunt. P-please c-can we just go back to sleep?"

He was pleading.

Camellia gave him a sad look before saying,

"Okay," she agreed, settling back down and pulling the covers over her. " but we still have to talk about that little trick you did in the morning."

Cyrus sighed in relief, also settling back down when it really hit him that...he used magic?

But

BUT HOW?!
 
Jax tidied up the little mess and had left the room, he thought about what had happened and had no explanation as to how it could have come about. He finally decided to just sleep on it after a little while and went back to his bed, curled up in a comfortable position, and proceeded to falla sleep.

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Jax woke up slowly, he had always liked to just lay there in the early morning and listen to what was going on around him. The birds sounded beautiful in the morning as well as the sound of people already busy in the streets was heaven to his ears. Some may have considered him strange for loving sound, but anything that had to do with music or everyday sounds was what he loved. He was an alright welder and craftsman, not as good as his father, but then again his father was one of the best. It took him a bit longer of laying there in be before he finally decided to get up and go check on his guests.

JAx slithered around the house, happy that he didn't make any sound to disturb their sleep if they weren't already awake. He passed through the kitchen and made a mental note to cook something right after, as he was famished currently. He reached the door of their room, and peered in.
 
Like Jax Camellia was a slow waker, even more so in that she was still fast asleep. Granted she was missing an arm and still recovering from traumatic events, so it wasn't exactly unreasonable for her to still be asleep. In fact the more Cyrus thought about it, the more he came to the conclusion that he should probably be following her example.

Unlike the other two however, Cyrus was an early riser. Always had been, though he didn't remember it when he was younger and shared a room with Jax he'd often drag the naga out of bed at some ungodly hour for another adventure. Rarely did he get what he wanted then though, Jax was still considerably bigger than he and would often hush him to go back to sleep.

With no Jax, currently anyway, to hush him though he was wide awake and staring at the ceiling, unable to do much else without a certain appendage. Normally he'd be half way through eating breakfast by now, but instead was left to his own thoughts about the night before.

Should he tell Jax about the dream? He hadn't had one of those dreams since he first came to live with the Naga family so it was kind of odd he'd have one now of all times.

At the same time though, despite his short stay he really didn't know the naga. He didn't remember how he'd usually tell Jax everything that bothered him, including the dreams.

He should definitely apologize for snapping at him, and for almost hitting him with accidental magic.

He should probably also take the time to thank the naga for what he'd done for them so far.

And he should probably ask for a crutch or something. He was starting to get sick of being bedridden and unable to do anything.

He jerked out of his stupor when he heard the door click open, turning his head and sitting up.

"Ah! Jax-! I..."
 
[Sorry wasn't really able to post just check stuff]

Jax, upon seeing Cryrus was awake, smiled at his brother.

"You hungry?? I'm about to go make some breakfast for everyone, anything in particular you want? I have just about everything you could imagine in my house" Jax said, completely not hearing what Cyrus had started to say.
 
"I..." Cyrus tried again, only to get cut off by a very loud and audible growl from his stomach. "Ah-that's a yes to your first question, and pancakes would be nice, but there's something I really need to say before anything else."

He took a deep breath, glancing to the side as he sighed out, "I'm sorry for last night. I'm sorry for scaring you and Camellia, I'm sorry for snapping at you, and I'm really sorry for almost hitting you with magic and for breaking the vase. I honestly have no idea what the Hell happened with the magic, but I'm sorry I almost hurt you, especially after everything you've done for us."

Cyrus rubbed the back of his neck as he rambled on without thinking, "I honestly don't know why I dreamed about being in that damn trunk when I haven't since I was seven..."

He sucked in a breath as he suddenly clawed the back of his neck.

He hadn't meant to say that.

HE REALLY HADN'T MEANT TO SAY THAT.
 
Jax looked at him quizzically for a moment, then just smiled and laughed.

"Cyrus you're fine, honestly we were more worried about you than you are now about how we reacted to it. There is In the moment moments when people can't control what happens. Trust me, that's not the worst I've seen yet."

He thought for a moment on the last thing Cyrus had said, but wasn't able to think of anything to say to comfort his brother. Jax turned to leave the room, "I'm gonna go make some pancakes, wake Camellia will ya?" He said as he slithered back into the kitchen to start on breakfast. The blueberries were still good from being picked recently and jax decided he didn't want normal pancakes this morning and pulled them out and pour a handful and a half into the batter.
 
Cryus let out a breathy puff, relieved that the naga didn't seem to hold anything against, him, even more so that he didn't press the subject of his dream. As the naga left he turned to his sleeping companion, who had hidden her head under the pillow in a subconscious attempt to block the two's conversation.

"Camellia, wake up." He called.

Camellia grumbled, rolling over in her sleep.

"Up." He called out a little louder.

"Noooooo..." Camellia whined. "Gooo awaaaaay..."

"Camellia, get up now," Cyrus called out again, throwing his pillow at her. She woke up with an indignant snort as the pillow struck.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," she growsed, extracting herself from under her pillow.

"Pppffft," Cyrus snickered, "nice bedhair."

"Shaddup, you're no better jerk."

"You should probably ask for a brush, breakfast should be ready soon,"

"Oh good, I'm hungry." Camellia said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side. She slowly got to her feet, wobbly but otherwise upright, she had to lean sgainst the bedpost with her good arm. She glanced at Curus before giving him an inqisitive look, "wait, how are you going to get to the table?"

Cyrus blinked before smacking his forehead witht he palm of his hand,

He forgot to ask for a crutch,

"Camellia, could you do me a favor and go ask Jax about a crutch?"

"Sure thing, be back in a sec," Camellia agreed, slowly making her way out without falling on her ass,

Just after she left, something caught the corner of Cyrus's eye, and he looked into the forest outside their window, jax's house was situated right at the edge, where you could see the forest though were still safely out of reach. He leaned up balancing carefully on his one knee as he squinted. He could've sworn he saw movement. Venus Hydra? They were one of the few plants that could come near the city, but if that were the case he'd have to tell Jax so somebody could take care of it.

He saw movement again, but it definitely wasn't a venus hydra it was...

Cyrus gasped and fell over backwards landing on the bed with a thump, his heart racing.

That... That looked like...!

No. No he was spooked from his dream, that's all.

That couldn't have been...

Meanwhile Camellia methodically made her way to the kitchen, following the scent of pancakes.

"Heh Jax, I'd hate to be making requests so early in the morning but Cy's wondering if ya got a crutch or something. I think he's getting stir crazy. Also those pancakes smell really good."
 
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