Cats Can't Cry

[Gosh]

Bronzefoot stared. "You want to follow orders all your life?" he asked in disbelief. "You don't want to be an individual?" He had known before that Clanners would do what their leaders told them to, but this tom sounded like he had been brainwashed-by his parents, most likely.

[Ten]

"Of course I want to follow orders! The leader w-would always know best and my life would be b-better. Plus, look what life is like without a C-Clan. I'd m-much rather have something safer and m-more structured. What g-good is there in being an 'indi-dividual'?" Shortwhisker scoffed. Bronzefoot acted like it was a good thing.

[duckyaisha]

Patchfur's eyes widened. "So you want someone telling you want to do every minute of your life? I'm all for a Clan, because if we worked together, we'd get more food and live longer and better, but I don't want a leader. What good is there in someone else making all the decisions for us? I'd like to be able to decide when I hunt or where I sleep, and how would someone else know what's best for me? I think all the cats should decide on large issues, and everyone can control their own day-to-day lives. That way, we can have the benefits of working together as a Clan, and a safer, more structured style of living like you said, but we wouldn't have someone bossing us around," Patchfur meowed. He had worked on this solution for a long time after Russetstorm died, and he believed that he had finally perfected it. The only problem was, not many cats were willing to listen.

[Gosh]

Spiderpaw crept into the graveyard. Her ears twitched as she heard Patchfur's revelation. "That's an interesting idea," she meowed softly. She looked around for the body of her mother while she listened to their conversation.

[duckyaisha]

Finally, someone who understood that leaders were a bad idea and that all cats should have a say in their lives! "So you believe me?!" he meowed excitedly, his eyes wide and his ginger and white fur fluffed up. She could become his friend and ally, and help him convince other cats that his views would be the best for every cat.

[Ten]

"Yes, that is c-correct, I do want someone t-telling me what to do," Shortwhisker mewed, impatient. "Is th-that so hard to underst-tand? We need a leader to make d-decisions. That's an important p-part of having a Clan."

[duckyaisha]

"I don't want someone telling me what to do!" Patchfur yowled angrily. "And yes, it is hard to understand why you want to be bossed around all day. Do this, do that, it would make me sick! Besides, we don't need someone else to make our decisions for us. Didn't you hear what I said? We can /all/ make decisions so that everybody agrees on what they think is best. A leader would never take the ideas of every single cat into consideration, but if we worked together to make decisions, we all could decide together. And having a leader may be an important part of a clan, but it was what got us in this mess in the first place. It was a mistake for the clan to give one cat all the power."

[Ten]

"If th-that's all it takes to m-make you sick, you m-must have a w-weak immune system. If ev-veryone got to do whatever th-they wanted, fights c-could break out, and there'd be n-no one to make them st-top. And the Clan d-didn't give one c-cat all the p-power, cricketbrain. There was a d-deputy."

[Gosh]

Spiderpaw shrugged. "I have no problem with leaders," she meowed. "But it's quite an interesting idea. I know there are some cats out there who don't like the idea of a leader but like the other aspects of Clanhood. So your idea is intriguing to me-a Clan should be satisfactory to all, in my opinion." Her full attention was on the three toms now.

Bronzefoot growled at Shortwhisker, "And did the deputy try to help us? Nope." He paused, but didn't explain that he didn't believe these stories yet.

[Ten]

"The deputy was in l-love! But what d-difference does it m-make? When we form a new C-Clan, the leader isn't g-going to make us build an-nother enclosure."