It was hard for Acorncharm to get out of her nest most days anymore. The loss of so much family and the tom that she liked weighed heavily in her heart. If only she had realized her feelings sooner, perhaps things would have turned our differently. There were so many 'what if' scenarios running through her head, so much time had been poured into crying over them. Somehow, she had picked herself up enough to care for Frostpaw's kits after the death of Applecrisp. It was hard, and she knew she could do a better job, but they were the things that got her up in the morning. As such, she had brought them along to this picnic. Perhaps she shouldn't have - they were still kits, after all - but there were plenty of others around in case something did go wrong. She entered Firefly Meadow cautiously, her gaze often flickering to count the kits, but she offered her sister a slight, small smile.


This was Sparrowkit's first time out of camp, and to say he was excited was an understatement. Even so, as his eyes darted around, there was a hint of worry behind them. Would Hystericstar be angry that they had left camp? What if they ran into something big and scary - like a fox! With the luck that seemed to follow him with his family, he couldn't help worrying that something would go wrong. He hid his fears well, however, as he bounded to the picnic beside Acorncharm and his siblings.

( Nova uniqcrim tagging you guys since you have Frostpaw's kits!)

“That’s good to hear. I guess I never realized how big your family was. Seeing them all together is really something else,” Swordstrike hummed as he surveyed their surroundings more closely. Even a couple kits had come along for the get together and Nettlepaw had made it too. Good. Swordstrike would need to introduce himself to the apprentice for sure, but not yet.

Shieldheart tore his eyes from the food as Appleblush spoke, his eyes raking over her carefully. She was pretty, but was she really deserving of Swordstrike? Pasting on a grin, he held his paw out to her to shake. “Hey, I’m Shieldheart. I know we see each other around a lot, but I guess we’ll have to get used to it happening more often now, huh?”

Nettlepaw looked up at Seablossom as she approached, his blank face giving nothing away. He didn’t know her very well. He didn’t know anyone well for that matter, but he wasn’t so rude as to brush her off. If anything, going for a walk with Seablossom could very well free him from having to talk to his mother. “Sure,” he said simply. Hopefully, she wouldn’t read too much into his dry tone. It wasn’t unusual behavior on his part.

@dot lavellan Flurryofstars uniqcrim Nova

Appleblush's smile turned sad for a moment as she looked around. "There used to be more of us...." Her mind went to her Uncle Amberbird who left to live life as a kittypet, to her siblings who've died, her father, her cousins, and her aunt. Each was gone now, passed away, except in the case of Amberbird, never to return. She had the option of going to see her uncle but she hadn't, unable to understand his desire to live the life of a kittypet. The mere thought just frustrated her and so she's not visited the tom, especially with everything going on in her life with Swordstrike and then the family in general. Come to think of it, did Amberbird know his sister Frostpaw was dead?
The smile returned though as Shieldheart started speaking to her. "Of course! I'm Appleblush, but I take it you know. I'm sure this one, motioning with her tail towards her lover, "has mentioned me before now." Turning her gaze back to her lover's and then a quick dart back to Shieldheart so as to include him as well, she spoke up, "I can introduce you to everyone else if you like? They've not all arrived but it'll be a start."


Seablossom had always acted as the head of the family, even more so now. But as of late, with all the deaths and heartbreak, she'd allowed cats to fall through the cracks. Something she would have never done in the past. It was as though she didn't even know these cats that she called family, where a few moons back, she would have known everything about them. It was an awful feeling and realization, one she was determined to fix, starting with the youngest ones here. "How have you been Nettlepaw? I'm sure training has gone well so far. Are you enjoying it?"


Dewshine had been adopted into this family by Seablossom and Crownglass with her littermates. While the other two of her litter hadn't survived kithood, she had and from that, she'd taken to enjoying time to herself. Which then morphed into loving herself more than anyone else. Maybe it's because there had been no other kits when she was one? Or because she's the last from her litter, but the she-cat developed narcissistic tendencies, such as staring at her own reflection for hours on end. Nonetheless, it was a shock when Dewshien was able to pull herself from the shine reflection she so loved to stare at or didn't get distracted by something and change course entirely. It was known to happen quite often, enough that Seablossom had always gone out of her way to make sure Dewshine returned to camp each night. Lately, that task had fallen on Berrybloom, the only surviving child of Seablossom and Crownglass's two litters. Though Dewshine may be older than Berrybloom, it tends to be the other she-cat who is the more responsible one of the two of them, but just barely. Berrybloom is an adventure seeker, danger-loving, nut case all on her own. Her one thing of responsibility is looking out for her family, a trait she picked up from her ever-loving mother.
The two of them were walking in now. Dewshine with a frown and anger on her face as Berrybloom raced ahead of her, a creature in her mouth. "Bring him back! Berrybloom, bring him back right now!" They were running into the clearing, Berrybloom jus a tail length ahead of her sister. A wicked grin was trying and failing to come through on the younger she-cat's face around her package she'd stolen from her sister. It was the one sure-fire way to keep Dewshine's attention, well unless you were talking about Dewshine to Dewshine.

Swordstrike gave a somber nod of understanding. He already knew some of what Appleblush implied. She had been dealing with a lot of loss recently and it hurt him to see those feelings were still fresh in her mind. "I see... It's nice to see so many here though. Shieldheart and I... we never really knew anyone outside of our parents. And well, he was closer with our mom than I ever was. I think that's why I'm so excited to meet your loved ones. It's nice to think that we might be part of your family too."

Shieldheart's expression turned to stone while his brother talked. He never liked it when Swordstrike discussed their family. It was a sore subject for him since they never saw eye to eye about the matter when they were younger. Now though, it seemed Swordstrike had changed. Suddenly, he was eager to have a family and to take his role in one more seriously. It didn't feel right to start an argument now though so he offered a weak smile to Appleblush. "May as well introduce us. We're sort of the oddballs here, right? Bet some cats are pretty curious about why we're here."

Nettlepaw shrugged lamely. "Fine, I guess..." He didn't know what more to say. Seablossom wasn't someone he normally talked to and no one ever seemed to show him much interest. Socially, he felt like an outsider--a misfit. No one understood him and even his own mother shunned him. The fact that she seemed genuinely interested in him was confusing and he had no idea how to react. "I don't mind training, but my mentor got reassigned. I wasn't all that close with the first one but I'm sure this will take a while to adjust to..."

pao