Maggotpaw: Training Arc

[Moonraven]

The large brown and white warrior shook his pelt as he stepped out into the overgrown field of WindClan's territory. His half-lidded green-yellow glare darted left and right as he took stock of their surroundings. He knew that twolegs didn't seem to wander this far, and they never had to worry about traps right in front of the camp, but he was on high alert the moment he stepped out of camp.

The twolegs left him beyond wary of every sound and scent these days. He didn't bother looking over his shoulder at Maggotpaw as he bounded across the prairie; he expected the apprentice to continue chatting his ear off as they hurried to their location.

"Do you know where we are?" Batglare asked, slowing down to listen to a thunderous waterfall. He scented the air while he led Maggotpaw further into the lightly forested landmark. The Fury commander started heading to the pond, but slowed his pace till he was walking even with Maggotpaw. It was hard to hear out here, and Batglare wanted to keep the apprentice in his line of sight at all times.
@nyme

[nyme]

AND IT NEVER MADE ANY SENSE, ANYTHING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ❀ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

MAGGOTPAW . 11 MOONS . IT/THEY . WINDCLAN
SILVER TONGUE T1

"It's Twilight Falls. The noise goes forever. Hmmmmmmm. That's what it says. It's thinking about why nobody's even falling here." Maggotpaw explains, matter-of-fact, and then it goes and hums noisily again for emphasis. It's a nice day and they've, admittedly, missed going outside of camp, but their attention is likely to be pulled by the fact that a nice day and warmer weather means that there might be flowers to pick soon enough. Which then means that it might have to convince Batglare to help it pluck all the flowers up that they can before anyone else gets them and uses them for stupid stuff. The elders' den needs redecorating...

The little cat sighs wistfully, then focuses its sickly yellow stare on the pond. Flowerpicking quickly stops being a priority. Maggotpaw, eyes huge, skips forward a few rapid steps and then spins, peering earnestly at Batglare.

"Are there fish in there? Will you get one? Get one, show me! You have to." Curiosity quickly turns to impatience which then has Maggotpaw circling back and all but nipping at Batglare's heels, urging him for a show. "You have to right now!"

@Moonraven ; BATGLARE

[Moonraven]

He had thought he'd have to teach the apprentice about the rest of the territory since he was sure it had stated they had only been around the borders. But it seemed like he had nothing to worry about after all. The large tom was a bit confused about the falling part, but decided not to dwell on it for long.

As Maggotpaw approached the water, Batglare followed and watched the apprentice keenly, not wanting it to fall into the water. He parts his maw to answer the questions but shuts it again when the bother decides to circle around him like an impatience kit and make demands. Whisperinghive must not have taught him any manners. This wouldn't do for Batglare.

"Sit." The snarl comes from deep within his chest, booming loud enough to be heard over the crashing water. "We do not mess around near the water. If you fall in, I can not guarantee your safety," Batglare warns, glaring intensely at Maggotpaw.

"I was going to teach you, but you have the manners of a badger and the patience of a fox." The fur on Batglare's back prickled with displeasure.

"Is this how you ask for everything? Running around making demands and pestering cats until they give you what you want?" The older tom was surprised that Maggotpaw's kittenish nature hadn't been addressed before. Or maybe it had but with little success.

"You are not a kit, Maggotpaw. If you want to learn how to fish, you will ask politely. You'd do well to remember that I do not have to do anything. Teaching you how to fish is not a part of WindClan's curriculum. Aside from that, I am your mentor, not someone you can make demands to." Batglare didn't think Maggotpaw had an issue with authority, but it did seem to be on the bossy side. That was going to have to be corrected quickly if they were going to last under Batglare's tutelage.
@nyme

[nyme]

AND IT NEVER MADE ANY SENSE, ANYTHING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ❀ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

MAGGOTPAW . 11 MOONS . IT/THEY . WINDCLAN
SILVER TONGUE T1

Oh Batglare is angry. Maggotpaw perks up excitedly. Whisperinghive had always been fun when he was angry. Most cats usually are. Maggotpaw will quickly learn that Batglare isn't, but until then sits obediently, still bright-eyed and pleased looking...until it learns that fishing might have been jeopardized.

Maggotpaw's ears flatten. It looks appalled. This is expressed further with a short, wordless hiss.

Is this how you ask for everything? Well...yes. Nearly-yes, which is yes enough that Maggotpaw doesn't mind nodding affirmatively. That these are atrocious manners simply never bothered them. This method hasn't really ever failed it in the past—not in any way that's made Maggotpaw want to change course, at least. A much younger Maggotpaw's snotty attitude had been forgiven one too many times; they don't seem to realize that they're much too grown for it to still be cute or permissible or whatever it'd been that had made so many cats go easy on them. What they do realize is that there is a thing that they want and Batglare will not give it easily. Maggotpaw pokes the ground restlessly with their claws, grimacing quietly into the distance while they're laid into. It isn't ashamed by its behavior or upset by this admonishment in the least, but it knows when something isn't working.

"Okay." A pause. They're thinking very hard about this. "I...would like...to do-over. Okay? I'm doing it over now." Were this any other skill that Maggotpaw could pry out of any other cat then they might just call Batglare ugly and end the day on that sort of note. But who else in all of Windclan knows how to fish? He's right; this isn't something he has to do. Maggotpaw's hackles prickle. Being good is easy. Like telling stories or playing pretend, you say the things that make the story or the game go forward. When you're being good, those things are usually just the things that the other cat wants to hear the most.

"I would like to learn how to fish, please, Batglare. You...are...very...kind, to teach me a thing that I don't even need to know. I will be very happy to get to eat a fish again. And I am sorry I was...not...being right. Being good. I will do that if you need me to so that you will want to show me how to fish." They're talking very clipped, very carefully, and fixing Batglare with a hawkish look as if trying to gauge whether these words are all, in fact, the right words to be saying. They fidget, scraggly tail twitching. "I will even be good after that, too. If you're thinking that maybe I'll only be good for fishing. Is that okay?"

@Moonraven ; BATGLARE

[Moonraven]

He got the feeling that no matter how much work he put into the apprentice, he wouldn't get the results he was hoping for. The apprentice was too old and set in their way. It might have had a bigger impact if he had gotten Maggotpaw straight out of the nursery instead of Whisperinghive, but what's done was done. If he could get the brat to act a little less spoiled, at least in his presence, he'd count it as a win.

Batglare assumed the apprentice would have a rougher time when it finally met someone with more impact in its life, who finally told them no. For now, Batglare would have to work with what he's been given. The words gifted to him sound nothing more than a gift to butter a cat up and get what Maggotpaw wants. They sound hollow, feel hollow, and make Batglare's hackles rise, but he forces them flat a heartbeat later.

"Stop that." His growl is low and monotonous, with no real anger in the voice. "Empty placating doesn't work on me. If anything, telling me what I want to hear to get what you want is beyond frustrating and manipulative." Batglare couldn't tell if it was doing it on purpose or not, though. If no one has ever pointed out such a thing, he could understand why Maggotpaw thought nothing of it.

"It makes me want to distrust you and not believe a word out of your mouth. You said that you like fish, that I believe, and I took the time to bring you all here, to a place that fills me with guilt and sadness, to show you where you can find fish and try to teach you a lesson you don't need to know, because I know it will make you happy. I don't get anything out of this except your joy." Batglare wasn't a known conversationalist, speaking about his feelings and thoughts was not his strong suit, but the time training Featherblossom had been a blessing in disguise for him. It pushed him out of his comfort zone and helped him more than he could have ever expected.

"I am trying to build a decent relationship with you as mentor and apprentice, build a bond for lack of better terms. Yet it seems that all you see me as is a means to an end, using me to get what you want, and it hurts in some way. I am not telling you to behave and be careful around the water because I need you to be good, but because I care about your well-being and don't want to see you drown. As for your demands and impatience, one wrong word or move at the border in front of an opposing clan could start a fight, and lives could be lost. Respect and self-control could mean the difference between life and death in the clans." His eyes dim and grow haunting, watching someone die right before your eyes, and drag home corpses knowing that if you had just shut your mouth...

"As your mentor, I take my duty seriously to guide your paws and teach so you don't make the same mistakes I did. To protect and care for you until you can do so on your own, and in turn, do the same for your future apprentice. To do that, I need a little bit of trust and respect, and your words make it seem as if I am simply a tool for you to use and disregard as you please. I'm not sure what I've done to make you think so little of me, but I do not appreciate it. So since we're here now, I'll teach you how to fish. After that, I'll take you home and speak to Twilightstar about finding you a new mentor. If any old cat will do as your mentor, we can find you a different warrior. I can't continue training someone whom I will grow to distrust and resent."

Batglare can't recall a time he's ever asked for a reassignment. But he's never been given an apprentice like Maggotpaw. Even the apprentices, he doesn't have strong everlasting bonds with; he's never felt the need to reassign them. He's never felt he couldn't trust them or felt used by them. It was a disgusting feeling, and Batglare didn't like associating Maggotpaw with it. So it was better to cut ties now. If Maggotpaw was so stuck in its ways, to a point where Batglare couldn't even blame the apprentice... it'd be too much of a struggle to continue this training.

"Come here," He sighs after a moment, calling the apprentice to his side as he sits down by the water, carefully angling his body to keep his shadow out of the water "When fishing, you avoid casting your shadow on the water. It's just like when you hunt, you avoid letting prey pick up your scent or see you as they'll flee."
@nyme [Maggotpaw]

[nyme]

AND IT NEVER MADE ANY SENSE, ANYTHING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ❀ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

MAGGOTPAW . 11 MOONS . IT/THEY . WINDCLAN
SILVER TONGUE T1

Maggotpaw pulls a look of unabashed exasperation. Manipulative?! But they're being good! They have half a mind to give up entirely and show Batglare just how bad they could be, instead, but there's fishing on the line and they just can't lose that. They...they must not have used the right words. Batglare must like hearing different ones. Or maybe they need to do something different with their face. Did they not look very sorry? That's always been an issue; Maggotpaw has such a hard time knowing what to do with their face and their ears when they're trying to be good. They've never seen the flat, shark-eyed stare they tend to have, but they've got an inkling that they might not do something right with their expressions.

The scrawny cat's mouth opens and closes a few times, soundless save for some awkward sputtering; aborted attempts at more do-overs. It doesn't know how to be good the way that Batglare wants, so instead it just listens in case there are clues. There have to be clues. The more Batglare speaks, the squirmier Maggotpaw feels. Like he's putting ants in their fur. It's hard to listen for clues like this, so they're not ready to say something by the time they finally open their mouth—they're just going.

"I didn't think I was hurting you. I wasn't thinking little of you, either. I actually didn't think about you at all." Maggotpaw admits this readily. "I didn't want to hurt you though. I want to fish."

So then Batglare must be right, that Maggotpaw only thought of him as a tool to get what it wants. Is that bad? They hadn't been trying to be bad. It was just another thing they hadn't been thinking about. It wonders if it's too late to just ask Batglare what he wants them to say and do instead. No, he didn't like it when I tried that. Called it 'empty placating'. Maybe it should ask what the difference is between that and being good for real before it ever tries that again.

"And...and then I'll be a very good fishing-cat, and you can have all the credit. That can make you look extra good and smart. You can get that out of it." It honestly hopes that an appeal to Batglare's ego will reassure him, though a rare shred of self-awareness has Maggotpaw immediately second guessing whether Batglare would really give a damn about getting that kind of validation from this. Really, it just feels the need to be able to offer something back, anything at all, because what Batglare had said is starting to seriously bother it. I don't get anything out of this except your joy.

Maggotpaw's reminded of how they felt when Whisperinghive said he'd find them if they got lost down a tunnel. Something about knowing that somebody would chase them underground just to find them, even though it was awful and even if they were being naughty, had felt very special. It's one thing to instruct other cats to like them. Telling someone that 'you like me and we're friends now' has had an outrageously high success rate—that is, nobody's swatted Maggotpaw or called them any names for having that sort of audacity, so basically it's a perfectly valid way to build relationships. Very rarely does anyone just say these sorts of things to it, though. Duckthroat and Leopardflight are the exceptions. Those two have never had to be coached. Batglare has said plenty of very nice things just now without any prompting at all (Protect and care? For Maggotpaw?? Bond??? With Maggotpaw??? If they'd known the commander was such a sentimental cat, they would have just kept their mouth shut and gotten spoiled rotten...) but he's also not happy with Maggotpaw, and there isn't anything that Maggotpaw knows how to do to fix it. That is what bothers it. Cats are supposed to either agree with what Maggotpaw tells them or be satisfied in the end when it makes an effort to be good for them.

Maybe there's just no fixing this at all. That bothers Maggotpaw, too.

"You are hard to talk to." Maggotpaw leans back onto its haunches to scrub its face with both paws. "I don't know how to do what you want me to if I didn't do it already. Do I need to do it for everyone else also? I could. Even at borders. They're not as hard as you. It's easy." It watches Batglare move to the water's edge and demonstrate how to sit so as not to startle the fish. Maggotpaw hesitates, wondering if it could salvage this by trying to be noble and rejecting the fishing lesson for now as a gesture of atonement, but...if that doesn't work, then it fears it won't get to learn how to fish ever after Batglare has it reassigned. And besides. What is it clinging so hard to? It'll get what it wants today. Batglare will get what he wants after. Still, as selfish a creature as Maggotpaw is dying to know: "Will my other mentor also want to make me happy and bond, do you know? So that I know. So that I remember to be extra good right away."

With that, Maggotpaw creeps over and sits, carefully copying what they've been shown. It resists the urge to swat the water just to see the ripples go.

"Why don't you like Twilight Falls? You said it makes you guilty."

@Moonraven ; BATGLARE

[Moonraven]

It was difficult to hold the apprentice accountable for its words when it acted like this. Hearing that Maggotpaw hadn't been thinking about Batglare much at all didn't hurt the older tom much. Considering how little time they've spent together, he wasn't expecting Maggotpaw to think much about him. Still, that didn't excuse their lack of basic consideration towards a clanmate. His assumption of Maggotpaw's selfishness waned hearing that it wasn't trying to hurt him, though. Perhaps Maggotpaw wasn't as conceited as he first figured. It wouldn't have cared about Batglare's feelings if it were a complete narcissist.

There might be hope for it after all.

He blinks lazily and slowly at the apprentice, and feels muscles he once thought were dead begin to twitch in his face. The urge to smile at the lack of understanding between the two was there, but his face refused to cooperate, and it left his whiskers twitching erratically. He lifts a forepaw and swipes it over his muzzle while replying to the apprentice.

"And you're hard to understand." Batglare didn't think about what he was asking for; common decency was all that hard. But maybe it was if you didn't know how to be decent. He didn't say anything about Maggotpaw's attempts to use his ego as a means of appeasement again. Sadly, Batglare didn't have much of an ego to appease. Whether it be insult or praise regarding him, it often washed right off the tom's pelt like rain water. One might hit a nerve or a heartstring if it involved a clanmate or someone he genuinely cared about, but he tended to avoid troubling himself with others' opinions of him.

"I would like you to be at least decent to other cats. To be considerate of cats' feelings and be respectful. You just told me that you hadn't been thinking about me at all. If you told another cat that, they'd be very hurt, and most likely end up crying. Especially when they're trying to get to know you." He meowed, uncertain if he was getting his point across as he doubted Maggotpaw understood why saying something like that would hurt another cat.

"When we first met, I asked you about your training. You spent some time telling me what you've done, but also made sure to highlight how you like fish and your fish-rock. If I had told you to stop yapping about disgusting fish and that only fox-hearted minnows like RiverClan like fish, how would that make you feel?" He quired, intrigued in the answer he'd get.

"It's hard to say whether or not they will, it depends on who you get. But considering how many apprentices go through reassignment, I'm settling on no. It's hard to find warriors as dedicated to their apprentices as the furies, hence why there are so few of us." There were so few truly dependable cats in WindClan who put in the effort and labor to complete apprentice training. The tunnellers were the only other group of cats he could say might be in the same league as furies, but even then, there were only two of them right now. The high ranks were in a league of their own.

"Patience plays a large part in fishing. You need to wait until a fish swims within range of your paw. When it's within your vicinity, you'll want to try scooping it out of the water rather than trying to hit it. I doubt that unless you're skilled as RiverClan, you could catch a fish in the water." Batglare raised his paw to show Maggotpaw how to their paw.

"Curve your paw before you try to strike, and you can use your claws to hook into its flesh to help you pull it out. You need to be careful not to fall into the water, mind your balance, and don't lean in too far. If you can't reach the fish, then sit back and wait." He advised, eyes watching the fish as they swim. He leans in, balancing his weight on one forepaw, and plugs the other into the water. He just manages to drag out a small fish and rapidly tosses it over his shoulder. It lands with a wet flop onto the grass. Batglare whips around to pin the slimy, flailing fish with a paw and sinks his fangs into where its neck would have been if it had one.

He's surprised that he still can fish after so long, but he guesses it was like working an old muscle. He doesn't miss this tangy taste of fish. His tongue swipes over his muzzle like he's eaten something bitter and turns to Maggotpaw. "Your turn. Try not to aim where the fish is, but where it's going."

While he watched the apprentice hunt, he explained his thoughts on Twilight Falls. "I lost my daughter and former apprentice here. She got caught in a rockfall and was crushed underneath it. I wasn't with her when I should have been, and she lay suffering and in pain without me for a time." It couldn't have been longer than a few minutes, but even that would have felt like an eternity under rocks and in pain.
@nyme

[nyme]

AND IT NEVER MADE ANY SENSE, ANYTHING

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ❀ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

MAGGOTPAW . 11 MOONS . IT/THEY . WINDCLAN
SILVER TONGUE T1

Maggotpaw has a short, petulant scoff in store for being told that they're hard to understand. It doesn't know how to make itself make any more sense to a cat who feels impossible to talk to. If Batglare would just do what Maggotpaw wants or burst into anger (which is also just another Thing That Maggotpaw Wants), then it bets everything would make a lot more sense for the both of them. But he won't do those things. He's doing things Maggotpaw has no control over. Terrible.

Decent. Respectful. A cat who isn't Batglare might have cried because Maggotpaw was not those things. Is not those things. Not usually. That makes sense, so Maggotpaw nods.

"Sometimes it's fun to make a cat cry." It pipes up, almost a litte bit defensive. "They'll boohoohoo and then have a good sleep and then maybe you can try to make them do other stuff, later. Like smile. It's harder to make a cat smile after you made them cry before, did you know? Because they have to like you even more than they did before you made them cry. So it's like the smile means more, because it was harder to get. Like how catching the fastest rabbit means you're the best hunter." Maggotpaw prods idly at the bank, pressing divots into damp earth. "So can I do both? How about I do both. I can say what I like and maybe they'll cry, and then I'll be decent and respectful and make them smile. If I do that over and over, then they have to like me extra and extra to keep on smiling in the end. I will have to work very hard to make them the happiest they can be. Then a lot of cats will be happy most of the time. Is that okay?"

Of course this clearly won't work with every cat. Maggotpaw had made Batglare unhappy and he hadn't been very impressed with their attempt to make nice in the end. But that's just because Batglare is hard. Perhaps that's just Maggotpaw's own system at play. I will have to work very hard to make them the happiest they can be. And here is Batglare, making them work hard. He just never cried first, is all.

Hrm.

"I would think you're stupid if you said that, because it's wrong. About fish and Riverclan, I mean." It explains simply. "I'm a Windclan cat with a maggot-heart and I like to eat fish. So it's wrong. But you would also be easier if you said that. Then it would be like playing. I'd call you ugly and tell you how bad I want to hit you and chase you and I'd talk and talk until your ears bled. I know how to do that. Easy." They say this with no small amount of pride.

"It doesn't matter when a cat says something nasty to you if that thing isn't the truth. And if it is the truth then it's not a mean-thing. It's just a true-thing. The truth isn't nice or mean or anything, it just is. So basically it never matters when a cat tries to talk mean. Do you understand?" Maggotpaw asks this earnestly. "You're scratched up and old and hard to talk to. Those are true-things; they don't hurt. You're mean and stupid and weak. Those are lies; they can't hurt. Do you understand?" Maggotpaw repeats its question, almost as though it means to teach Batglare a lesson in turn. "I know a lot of cats don't. That's why they cry and why they get mad, because they let it matter when it doesn't. I like watching that happen because then it's like...it's like...I don't know. What I say to them is so important that it changes them. I like that. Do I have to stop doing that?"

Probably not. Not if they'll end up with another mentor, likely one who won't have the energy to get invested. Maggotpaw doesn't know why it asks, then, but it does anyhow. The words are gone and they don't really care enough to try and backtrack now. Anyway, it's time to focus on instruction, and Maggotpaw is motivated enough to clamp down around any more chatter and watch what is being shown. The skinny apprentice curls their paw and swings it in the air, miming a few play-punches toward Batglare's side before nodding hard. Be patient. Curve your paw. Strike and hook and—

"Oh! You got it!!" Maggotpaw gasps incredulously at the sight if the bigger cat successfully flinging a catch out of the water as though some part of them had somehow doubted that he could actually do it but look! It's been done!! Stars in its eyes, Maggotpaw raises one quick little paw with the clear intent to snatch the fish away from Batglare...but it must think better of this in the next half-second because it aborts the action and tries to play it off as sliding both paws out for a big stretch. Maggotpaw even feigns a little yawn to go with, tearing its gaze away from Batglare's fish (Batglare got a FISH! Maggotpaw sees the FISH it's a real FISH Maggotpaw wants that FISH right now right now rightnowrightnowrightnow) and staring hard into the water (nownownownownow).

They're trembling where they sit. It's so hard to focus on doing the work the right way when what they want is already within arm's reach. Maggotpaw bets they could snatch Batglare's fish up and get a couple delicious mouthfuls down before he even had time to be cross. Then they would have had their third fish ever. Delaying gratification is the hardest thing in the whole wide world but if they can do this then they don't need to stop at just three fish.

Maggotpaw scoots a little closer to the edge. Don't lean too far. Don't cast a shadow.

"Guilty is when you do a bad thing. You didn't make the rocks fall on anyone. Probably you should have been watching her if she was your apprentice, but then what would you do?" Maggotpaw murmurs, still peering at the water. "Rocks still would have fallen and somebody still would have been squished. That's not fair for her, but maybe it was never going to be. If she didn't get squished then something else bad would have happened later on anyway. Her eyes would get scratched up. Her ears would be bitten. Her fur would get ripped. Her tail would get pulled off. Would you feel bad if you weren't there for that too? It's what you were training her for."

There! [ 13 ]

Whatever wretched attempt at comfort that might have been is cut short. Maggotpaw lurches forward, slapping a hasty paw into the water and, by an undeserved miracle, flipping a little fish up and out of the water. They cry out in amazement and chase the fish to where it landed, delaying a prompt kill in favor of flicking it around and shrieking with giddy laughter.

@Moonraven ; BATGLARE

[Moonraven]

Uhhhhh? Well, that was the last thing he wanted to hear. Maggotpaw's enjoyment of making others cry was something he expected from a ShadowClanner. Even though he felt that was a negative in his book, he did not pass any immediate judgment, at least not openly, and decided to hear the apprentice out. Batglare said he didn't understand it and assumed the apprentice was trying to rectify that. The least the warrior could do was hear Maggotpaw out.

Yet after listening to the first half of his explanation, Batglare felt like he had ants in his pelt. He was not one to mince his words regarding others' feelings, and could be blunt and rude when he felt like it, but he didn't believe he had ever relished the tears of others. He never spoke intending to bring someone else misery... well, not clanmates at least. Seasons' training Featherblossom had softened the older tom up and had made him a little more cautious of his words, but not much.

What Maggotpaw proposed sounded poisonous to him. Batglare had to think for some time before replying to Maggotpaw's question. "While crying can be used as a release of pent-up emotions, I don't believe crying after being bullied brings the same feeling." He was making an educated guess; no cat has ever been knowingly mean enough to him to bring tears to his eye, not since his kittenhood.

"Quite frankly, if you knowingly and purposely make a cat cry purely to entertain yourself or make yourself feel better, I do believe that is considered abuse. The cycle you speak of, making a cat cry, then smile, and cry again, will have terrible effects on the cat's emotional and mental state. Just because you manage to bring a smile to their face after you've hurt them enough to bring tears to their eyes, doesn't mean the cat is happy. Eventually, that smile will become fake, but those tears will always become real. Every little thing you've said to bring those tears to their eyes will constantly replay in their heads and etch scars into their heart." His thoughts drifted back to Featherblossom's exceedingly fragile emotional and mental state.

"And one day, no matter how decent or respectful you try to be, no matter how hard you try to bring that smile back, it will be gone. Pain cuts deeper and lasts longer than happiness. Cats are more likely to keep the bad with them over the good. Rather than like you, I'd think some cats would grow to resent you over time. Others may feel stuck with you, and some might not mind. It depends on the cat, I suppose." He assumed most sane cats would avoid Maggotpaw, but who knows? He was speculating.

"I would advise against making cats cry, regardless of how decent or respectful you try to be after." It didn't seem right to him. But this apprentice was strange. There was nothing 'right' about it.

"You have what is called self-confidence. You don't let others' negative words get to you; you seem to know who you are. I would say that's a good quality to have if your personality weren't so bizarre. I've met a lot of cats who enjoy arguing for the sake of arguing, but you seem to get a kick out of being cruel for no reason." He was puzzled why it was prideful about that. Thankfully, Maggotpaw somewhat answered his puzzlement with his next statement.

"Yes, I understand." The gruff warrior answered with a thoughtful glint in his green-yellow eyes. "However, I also comprehend those who do not follow your same logic. Lies and truths can hurt; both can be mean, ugly, cruel, blissful, nice, loving. It depends on how the cat that receives those lies and truths perceives them. It matters, not to you, but to that cat. I don't believe the lack of understanding is why they get upset; some cry, and others get mad. It's a natural response to hearing something you don't like. Some, like me and you, can ignore it." Batglare wouldn't say there is one way better than the other to express your dislike of something. The aged warrior also knew he wasn't immune to everything Maggotpaw said or did, and he assumed the same could be said of Maggotpaw.

"I wouldn't say this change you'll inspire in them if for their benefit and more for your entertainment." And self-satisfaction. He was in disagreement with Maggotpaw's desire and gold, but... "If I tell you to stop, will you do that?" Batglare was slowly coming to understand that Maggotpaw seemed to lack empathy or simply hadn't been taught it. Perhaps that is why its thoughts and desires were so twisted. He wasn't sure if he could unbend them or at least straighten them out a little at this point in their life.

Maggotpaw had a strange, almost, obsession with fish, too. He watched the apprentice out of the corner of his eye as its paws stretched out and then retreated as it fell into a stretch. Batglare did not doubt that the fish would have been snatched if Batglare hadn't spoken about behavior earlier.

Batglare sits a bit away from the apprentice as it talks while waiting for the fish in the water to draw closer, imparting a lesson about guilt on him. The warrior's lips did that twitching thing again, as if trying to smile but lacking the muscles to fulfill the desire. He digests Maggotpaw's words, rolling them around in his head while the apprentice manages to hook a fish out of the pond, but then decides to play with it.

"We do not play with our prey, it's against the code. Pin it down with your paw; it will feel slimy and slippery, the way it lurches and jerks might startle you, but keep it still. Bit behind the eyes or the back, where the neck would be. Be careful of the fins." Batglare explained, waiting and watching to ensure it's done.

"My guilt stems from my inability to be with her more than my lack of saving her from her pain. I could tolerate her hurt, her death, but the moments away, leaving her to suffer alone, that's what eats at me. I will forgive myself once I've learned whatever it came to teach me." He mused thoughtfully.

This lesson was done, he's completed what he came out here to teach Maggotpaw. However, his decision to give the paw up to another had shifted after this chat. He was invested in learning more about this strange furball. Despite its odd, cruel streak, Maggotpaw was genuine, naive, and selfish, and he still found it manipulative, but not evil per se, just off. He figured he'd learn what he could from this experience, then Maggotpaw was the clan's problem once it reached warriorhood. Batglare might keep an eye on the cats it interacted with; however, no need for a bunch of broken clanmates.
@nyme