Spiderpaw's Campaign {The Experiment}

[Thistle]

"Go go go Spiderpaw!" mewed Batkit, prancing around his chosen nominee with obvious glee in his eyes. Both she-cats, Spiderpaw and Redstream, were making good points about why they should be voted for, even though he didn't understand a few difficult, grown-up-ish words.

His dance halted as Spiderpaw continued. Did she really think that all dead cats should be, whatcha-call-it, acknowledged?
"What about the bad kitties, like the cats who killed others and all that?"

[Gosh]

Spiderpaw hesitated for a moment, then responded to Batkit. "Of course, if a cat who had purposely murdered other cats died, I do not think that the Clan would want to acknowledge them. But hopefully," she added with a smile on her face, "there will be not much more of that. If a Clan formed, no one would be killing anyone else over territory or something like that, yes?" Satisfied with her answer, she thought about what next to say.

[Ten]

"Excuse me, Rockpelt - there is a method to our proceedings," Woodstripe mewed. "Our deputy will be determined after the leader election has finished. I can explain this further to you at another time; at the moment we are busy considering our leadership candidates: Spiderpaw, Redstream... and Bronzefoot." She hesitated when adding the name of the last cat. He hadn't said anything yet and though she was glad he seemed to overcome the con in him enough to participate, she didn't want him to speak up and sway more minds to his side. After all, she wasn't sure he was a full Clanner yet. But all in due time.

"I would like to propose a question to our candidates now. How will each of you deal with a cat who speaks out against an order? At what point will punishment be given, and what sort of punishment will it be?"

[Gosh]

Spiderpaw was quick to respond. "If a cat spoke out against an order, I would ask what problem they had with the order. I would try to resolve said problem and not punish them as long as they cooperated. If the cat did not cooperate then I would warn them; if they continued their behavior I would punish them. Their punishment..." She trailed off for a moment, wondering how to word this. "Their punishment would be solitude for a little while, I would think."

Bronzefoot sat silently. He had accepted his nomination, but what was he supposed to do? Pretend to be a Clanner? At least five of these cats knew him to be a con, and that probably wouldn't help him gain any more supporters. It would be splendid if he managed to gain the position of leader, but from what it looked like so far, that wasn't likely. So he watched and listened.

[Darky [Megan]]

Redstream was feeling extremely happy as she looked around at all the cats gathered. She felt heartened by Dingypaw's words, and gave the elder a grateful smile. "Thank you!"

She hastened to respond to Woodstripe's question, and then said, "Well, to me, it depends on the nature of the case. The severity of the issue will reflect the severity of the punishment. However, like Spiderpaw said, it'll always be reasonable to talk out the issue and try to resolve it first. If the cat doesn't cooperate, further action will be taken, such as having to do extra hunting, o-or ..." Redstream paused for a moment in panic, at a loss for what to say all of a sudden. She couldn't stumble in her speech!

"Well, or, like Spiderpaw suggested, solitude," she finished lamely.

Orangestorm stifled a laugh at his sister's trip-up, but took care to pay attention to what Woodstripe was saying. She was still in a position of unofficial authority, and he would have to pay extra attention to her. Redstream, Spiderpaw and Bronzefoot, he recited in his head, wondering when the last tom would speak.

[duckyaisha]

Patchfur looked over at Bronzefoot, wondering when the tom would speak. Hopefully soon, seeing as the two she-cats had already gained some supporters. They might be prejudiced against Bronzefoot because he was a con, but if he had a speech like Redstream or Spiderpaw, things might change. He did have a question for Spiderpaw and Redstream, though. "What if a cat didn't want to follow your order because they didn't think it was the right thing to do or they had a better idea? Would they get solitude for that?"

[Gosh]

Spiderpaw meowed, "If they had a better idea and they shared it with me, we would talk it out and if the idea did seem better they could go do their idea without punishment. If they didn't think it was the right thing to do, same deal. Although," she added, "what would cats be doing that wasn't the right thing to do?"

[Darky [Megan]]

"Well, if a cat disagreed with an order we would have to discuss why and try to come to a conclusion. Provided, of course, if it seems reasonable. If it's regarding a large matter I would get the Clan to vote on it - that way it would be more fair. If said cat had a better idea I'd be delighted to hear it and discuss it. In my Clan, punishment would only be dealt out if something is unreasonable or downright bad."

[duckyaisha]

"I don't know what could be considered a wrong thing to do, it was only a hypothetical question," Patchfur meowed, liking Redstream more and more with each sentence she spoke. She'd let the Clan vote on it? Well, that was new. That was one of his idea on how to lead a Clan, but most cats dismissed it instantly. It looked like he had found his second choice.

[Darky [Megan]]

Speckledclaw decided to pose a question to Spiderpaw. "If the Clan were being threatened by external forces, say, angry cats who decided you were taking too much food, how would you go about defending your Clan? I must add that these cats might also turn violent," she concluded.