Slowly Getting Back Up To Pace {Closed for Pepper's fam }

OOC: I know dreams don't really count but, Pepper has gotten left behind and kinda needs this... I want her to see how big her family got.

Pepper had fallen asleep shivering the barn was taking a beating and the rotting wood wasn't giving much protection anymore. Bat wasn't there when she fell asleep. He hadn't been there all day. She opened her eyes to find herself in some place she knew only slightly. Full of fire colored leaves, she had only ever been on the edge of the forest but this space seemed endless. Her legs still were dragging uselessly behind her but the ache on her shoulders was no longer a constant pain. The wind kicked up leaves and crickets chirped in the distance, scraps of memories forming the landscape she traveled through. Occasionally an item from the twolegplace would show up in the absence of forest-related things. Pepper pulled herself onto a short stump, just barely higher than the ground, and laid there in the cooling breeze.

Blacktwig hurried forwards. The tomcat wasn't as swift as he used to be during his apprenticeship. He couldn't believe that he had first met his grandmother under the title of Blackpaw! He jumped over a few brambles, but couldn't shake a weird feeling. This wasn't real. He soon caught sight of a black-and-white she-cat, and his eyes immediately glittered. He sat down, straying from the rogue. He could scent something familiar, but he was better safe than sorry.

A semi fluffy white she cat with icy blue eyes ran over to her nephew. She then scented the air and caught a whiff of a scent she's only smelled one other time in her life. Her eyes watered and she sniffed. "Mom..? is that you?" Coldbreeze meowed.

Blacktwig looked at Coldbreeze. "Coldbreeze!" He said with happiness. "I didn't expect to see you here..." Blacktwig trailed off with loneliness, then padded in the direction Coldbreeze was heading in. He watched the semi-fluffy white she-cat.

Pepper twisted to look at them and smiled. She thought for a moment. 'Coldbreeze? Coldbreeze... Coldkit!' The she-cat purred, beckoning the two with her crooked tail. "I've missed you all.." It was like meeting someone for the first time, she was no longer the plush queen with downy fur and bright eyes. Pepper looked tired all the time, she was tired all the time actually. Her fur was coarse despite her efforts and a bare path laid across her back from the fire. Coldbreeze was no kit anymore either. Taller, with sharp blue eyes. Pointed ears and Scorchfrost's thicker fur, all with a well trained warrior she never saw grow. "I wish I could have been there for your ceremonies, I know how important they are." She mewed to Coldbreeze.

Blacktwig trotted up to her, smiling. "Oh, Pepper!" He exclaimed, and licked the she-cat's ear. How he had missed his tuxedo-esque grandmother, he couldn't believe his eyes. "It's so good to see you!" His voice was cracking with happiness and nostalgia.

Stormstrike had had trouble falling asleep that night. Especially since Morningshine slept to the left of him. Ever since he had come back, Morningshine had still been acting like a complete jerk around him and Halfpaw, and anyone who had been there when Stormstrike and Halfpaw had returned would know why Morningshine had a sudden attitude. So, he had officially decided to stop trying, and leave Morningshine alone until she calmed down completely. He was officially sick of how she was acting, and he wouldn't let her do anything to his daughters. When the tom appeared in his dream, that he didn't know was being shared with others, he looked around at the scenery with his yellow eyes. He smiled and let out a sigh. No loud noises, no danger, no worries...and no Morningshine. Despite his theory of there being no noises, or anybody else there, he began to hear familiar voices coming from nearby. He padded forwards, tilting his head in confusion, before stepping through a couple of bushes with soft leaves. When he emerged, he saw his cousin Blacktwig, and his sister Coldbreeze. However, Coldbreeze was speaking with a black-and-white she-cat that didn't have a scent from any Clan. Coldbreeze seemed to know her...the cat seemed to know Coldbreeze...Stormstrike blinked, taking in a breath of the she-cat's scent. The scent instantly brought back memories of when he was just a kit in the nursery, not in the ThunderClan camp, but in the barn. He remembered being around the black-and-white she-cat almost all the time. Stormstrike tried to grasp her exact name.
Pep...Pepper...yes, that's it!
Pepper was his mother's name! It was his mother! Stormstrike instantly raced forwards, purring almost violently.
"Mother! Mother, is it really you...? It's me...Stormkit." He said, trying to hold back a huge surge of excitement. He had thought that he would never see his mother again ever since she had left a long time ago...but seeing Pepper in his dreams was enough for him at the time.

Halfpaw had been wandering around the forest for, what she thought was days. Although it had only been a few minutes. However, she seemed to be trapped between the trees and the bushes, and the endless greenery that she was padding through made it seem like she was going through it forever. Well, she wouldn't mind if she was here forever. It was so peaceful, calm, and quiet, and she was by herself. Moningshine had been acting strange around her, in a negative way, and Halfpaw had made it her goal to stay as far away from Morningshine as she could, and as close to her sister and her father as she could. Morningshine could act like a spoiled brat if she really wanted to. The long-haired calico apprentice slowed down warily as the voices of Stormstrike, Blacktwig, Coldbreeze, and a stranger began to get louder. As she approached, she could see their pelts clearly, and what they were doing. She wondered why all three of them were speaking to the stranger as if they knew each other. Halfpaw padded forwards, her footsteps silent, and she paused beside her father, her amber eyes opened wide, cautiously, as she peered at the black-and-white she-cat by the name of Pepper.
"Father? Who's that?" She asked Stormstrike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She had had to nudge Stormstrike many times to get Stormstrike to stop putting his tail in her nest. Morningshine had fallen asleep with a sour attitude. When she awoke in the forest, she immediately began to take in her surroundings, wondering if it was a place that she had been to. When she discovered that it was foreign, she decided to explore it. Instead of going slowly and taking in her surroundings, she began to head forwards at a high speed, a sprint. The she-cat was a fluffy blur as she darted through the woodland, looking back and forth and even over her shoulder. Morningshine didn't know if someone was there, like another cat, or even a predator, and she had no idea if this would be a positive dream or a negative nightmare. When she looked forwards again, she saw a log that was positioned in front of her path, and she made the quick decision to leap over it. Morningshine timed the jump perfectly, gracefully clearing the log, but ungracefully landing straight into Stormstrike. When she collided, she grumpily hissed.
"Care to watch where your standing, Stormstrike?" She asked, with the same irritated tone. The dream had been going so well up until now. Morningshine then looked at Pepper, Her jaw dropped open and she stared in shock of at the she-cat who she immediately recognized.
"Mom?"

A black ginger and white tortoiseshell she cat with hazel eyes and almost transparent, slightly darker than her regular fur, spots padded over to her father. Mothpaw blinked at looked at her cousin Halfpaw and her father and great aunts and great great grandmother. "Dad who's this?" The tortie meowed tilting her head.

Blacktwig looked at the apprentices. Of course they wouldn't know. But it didn't matter... Pepper was here. His own grandmother, and, unbeknownst to the apprentices, their great grandmother. He walked up to her, more slowly, and touched noses with the black-and-white rogue. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again..." he breathed. "We all missed you." Blacktwig looked up and into Pepper's eyes, both happily with a pang of melancholy knowing. He knew he might not see her again after this. He stepped back, orbs glistening. "Oh, Pepper..." he whispered, gladness sparking in his tone.

Pepper was overwhelmed by the surge of cats, she only really talked to Bat, now there was a group of cats around her. She pulled herself along with her front legs to get closer to her now grown up kits to see them better. She wished this were actually happening.

She could introduce them all to Bat, and they could gather in a real place. First, she nudged Blacktwig with her nose in a friendly manner. Then, she nuzzled Coldbreeze, Stormstrike and Morningshine each in turn. She would have placed her muzzle on their heads if she could reach that high anymore.

"I know who you are, dear.. I'm your mother!" Her eyes were round with emotion, "I can't believe that you're all so big.. I missed everything in your lives." The she-cat sighed and smiled softly. "I'll try to change that though.. as much as I can."

The black-and-white she-cat looked down at the apprentices with curiosity that hadn't shone in her eyes since Gold left. Too busy for that.

She couldn't figure out who they were. She had kits with kits of their own, she couldn't possibly guess correctly. "Who might you be?" She mewed kindly to them.

Blacktwig glanced at Blazepaw and Lightningpaw. He would've answered for them, as the tomcat was excited to introduce Pepper to new apprentices. His large blue eyeballs emitted light from their smeary sheaths. The speckly tom sat down, grooming his luscious, ravishing coat. He grinned at Pepper. Her eyes flashed with that curiosity that had once been wonted, now a quiet gleam was revealed in the soft misery and despair that seeped through the air. Pepper clearly wanted to see them more often, and in real life. Blacktwig inwardly promised that would happen.

OOC: Lightningpaw and Blazepaw have NPC parents they wouldn't be part of this family yet I think bc Grasskit is in this family lol but idk

IC: Mothpaw inched closer to her father, Blacktwig. She didn't know this cat but everyone but her and Halfpaw knew who she was which confused the tortie.

Blacktwig curled his tail protectively around his daughter, dusting the ground somewhat lightly as he gave her a nudge, as to not be scared of Pepper.

Ooc: casually bumps

Ic: Pepper's gaze softened as she saw how sheepish Mothpaw was. "Don't worry about me, I'm as dangerous as a mouse now." She mewed nodding to her limp hind legs.