Bramblepoint Burnt out from a joyride

The mess. Yes, that was an excellent way of putting it. When he really considered the way his family was tied together--Redhawks, Blackthorns, and now Ostregas--it was enough to give someone a headache. He knew which ones were strung with blood versus affection, but he also knew how insignificant that really was. There wasn't a soul on earth who could tell him that Towhee wasn't his mother and that Meerkat wasn't his sister. Their relationships were some of the strongest Fig had. Niamh, in spite of her role as his stepmother, was not a mother figure to him. Bronco, however, was a brother. And Nellie... Wait, what had she just asked him? 

"Nah, I'm terrible at fishing," Fig answered. He truly was terribly at fishing, not that that was why he didn't catch anything that day. He hadn't tried. His eyes trailed over to Meerkat at her next question and he gave a small nod. Fig wasn't entirely sure what Meerkat knew of her parentage, so he offered no further explanation.

Besides, suddenly (it seemed to him), Nellie was reaching for him.

His ears perked as she explained herself, the ducked backwards on his head as he stood frozen like a deer in the headlights. Unbidden, his mind raced back to following her through the mountains to the grotto (ie. her butt) and helping her out of the bush when she was trapped in the Copse (ie. her butt). His eyes shifted over to Meerkat as she spoke, though he didn't move under Nellie's soft touch. She asked him a question of some sort, and thank goodness, because it gave him something else to focus on.

"Yeah, I try not to be gone for too long with the borders still being so new," Fig explained, falling silent then to hear what Nellie's answer was.