[The Cannibal]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

Pinekit listened to her and realized this was going to be much harder than he had thought. He had known it would be hard, it was very hard to get any cat's trust back once it had been broken like that, but Adderpaw...Adderpaw was completely heartbroken. Perhaps now was not the best time for him to be trying to get her trust back, although he knew he wasn't going to give up easily. He tried to think of how to respond. How could he respond to something like that? "If this was a game to me, I would be talking to you nicely. Like this." He changed his tone, making it sound more like he had been talking to her before. "Y'think I would be able to win over anyone sounding like this?" He asked, his voice going back to it's original, true state. He really didn't expect her to believe him. Why should she? Why should she believe a word I say? I don't know how to get her to believe me, because I've never had to before except in a game. And this isn't a game to me anymore. So how do I do this right? Pinekit thought desperately, his tail twitching with aggravation. It was frustrating to see that this was something he couldn't do. All through his life, he had learned to get what he wanted by using a charming, pleasing tone that made other cats feel special or wanted by him. But now- now he couldn't use that. It was too fake, it didn't sound real enough. "Would you rather I hadn't told you? Would you rather I was still playing my game with you? Because if so, that would surprise me...you'd rather I was lying to you rather than trying to tell you the truth now, except you're not listening because you're not going to believe me. And if you do believe me, you're doing a very good job of hiding it. Congratulations, Adderpaw. You've done the impossible- you've gotten me to tell the truth, and you believe me to still be a liar." He mewed, his voice having a sarcastic, hard note in it near the end of his statement.

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't 'put myself in someone else's paws.' I would be running off finding someone else that I could use and forget about you. I'm here because I put myself in your paws, and I know what I did was wrong, and I'm sorry. I can't tell you how sorry I am, and even if I did, nothing I say is going to make you believe me." He said, feeling more guilty and feeling as though she were just slipping away with every word he said. Why was this proving so hard for him? He was Pinekit, he had never had trouble getting anything he wanted...but everything he said to Adderpaw just wasn't good enough. He was failing. He was losing again, only this time it wasn't a game, and he wasn't expecting to win. "Why do I even bother." He muttered in a low tone, almost too low for her to hear- at least, that was what he believed. Still, Pinekit had never been one to just give up on something. He at least worked it to a dead end where he couldn't work anymore, and he would either get her trust back or drive her too far away from him. He wasn't sure which was happening at the moment, although he hoped that her trust was slowly being restored in him. If not trust, at least perhaps a respect that would at least allow her to just think about the things he was saying and look at them in a new light, one that he hadn't broken. That was doubtful; at the moment, Pinekit was pretty sure it would be moons before she would so much as look at him again. And in the meantime, if I go and find someone else to trick, it's only going to break her trust in me further. He thought, with a dejected sigh. So all he could do was wait for her to come around or give up on her now and move on. But the fact that he was still waiting for her told him what he already knew, and wished he didn't: he didn't want to give up on her.

It seemed to have taken him a moment to respond to her, but Adderpaw glanced at the entrance to the den to listen, the corners of her mouth turned down and the fur around her eyes still wet with fresh tears, but she was running out of tears to cry. Hearing what he said, a flicker of doubt in herself seemed to fill her and she glanced away, suddenly a bit confused. I.. Don't know what to think anymore.. He.. He could be lying, or he could be telling me the truth.. The apprentice paused before whimpering out a nearly pitiful, "I-I don't know.." It was a soft statement, but loud enough for the male kit to hear and it was clear that she just didn't know what to think anymore. This kit.. He was.. Just so good at lying, she couldn't tell when he was and when he wasn't, she had gone practically an entire moon, maybe longer believing that he really was a friend, that he was a good friend too, one that wouldn't deceive her like he had planned and technically did do. A small part inside of her wanted to say that he was actually telling the truth, that he had wrangled up his guts in order to finally come clean after so long of lying and that he truly did want to be her friend and didn't want to have to act in front of her anymore, didn't want to have to lie to her anymore. The voice was quiet, but it seemed to grow louder the more Pinekit spoke, leaving her looked confused and just completely defeated. Eyes focusing on him as he started speaking again, she could almost feel her heart sink lower, his words stung and I would say that sarcasm is the last thing that this poor apprentice needs shoved into her face, in fact, she seemed to physically flinch at the words and looked away, a few more tears flowing over onto the fur around her eyes, her lips quivering. She didn't have a response to that and simply sniffled, just not knowing what to make of this anymore, what to make of him anymore.

This time her gaze didn't flicker back at him, only her ears swiveled slowly in his direction as he continued to speak, her eyes blinking a bit, glancing at the ground before looking back at him. His.. Words sort of made sense, they sounded truthful. In fact, he sounded sort of hurt. But for a second, that didn't matter to her, the fact that mattered was that.. He was actually here, talking to her about it, if he didn't care then he would have just found another apprentice to latch onto. Right? Come on Adderpaw.. You.. Could give him one more chance. Maybe he really is telling the truth, maybe he really does mean that he's sorry and wants to be your friend. If he's just lying again you can completely ignore him and put him out of your life. Just one more chance to see if he's actually telling the truth. That voice inside of her was getting louder and she couldn't quite ignore it, a quiet sniffle escaping her as she thought it over. She was just so scared of being hurt like that again.. But she would give him one more chance. Flattening her ears and lifting her head, she focused her shiny, tear-filled gaze directly on Pinekit.
"Ok-hay Pinekit. I'll give you one more chance. One more chance and that's it. You ever lie to me again, I'll never speak to you again, I'll never acknowledge your existance, and I won't have your back in battle, I don't care if you're my clanmate. You will be dead to me. Do you understand?" There was a fire burning in her eyes now as she stared at him, waiting for his reply.