"you used to be nice" - cotn 236 & 237

[SkyWishes21]

return to 236 or 237

✦➤ Stag, Scene One >> A Disastrous Early Lesson

There were quite a few things Stag would have liked more than getting a new apprentice. A bigger budget for higher quality clay, for one, or perhaps a new travelling cart that didn’t threaten to fall to pieces. Surely the guild could use more security for their most experienced sculptor’s fragile pieces?

Besides, she’d long since had an apprentice or three, all of whom had gone on to become masters of the craft themselves. Only one had stayed with the guild, Dusty, and he was younger and more patient than Stag was with beginners these days. By all rights, he should’ve been the one to take Willow under his wing. His instruction was just as good as, if not better than hers. Then she’d be able to focus on mastering advanced techniques and Willow would get the education she deserved.

But no. Instead of all that, the guild’s leader Sterling bounded up to her one day with a big doofy grin on his face that always spelled trouble. Who let him be in charge again? Honestly, if things continued on the way they were, Stag might very well challenge him for his spot.

“Morning, Stag! I’ve got a surprise for you,” the silver tom said, his eyes sparkling with glee as he pranced around her.

“Is it the kind of surprise I’m going to like, or the kind I’ll want to claw your ears off for?” Stag deadpanned, keeping one eye on him while she inventoried her supplies.

“You’ll love it, I promise.” He nudged her like she was in on something. Stag just scowled at him. “C’mon, don’t give me that. Here, let me introduce her!”

‘Her?’ Stag whipped around, curly fur swooshing in the wind. Why was there someone new, and how is that a surprise she’ll like? Honestly, the nerve of that tom! He should know by now she liked to be in the know about comings and goings from the guild.

From where she’d been waiting behind Stag’s cart stepped an incredibly fluffy silver cat, big blue eyes glittering in the light. Her paws pranced as she stepped out, looking altogether too excited to be here. Oh stars. Was this a fan?

“This is your new apprentice, Willow!” Stirling said, gesturing to Willow with his tail. “Willow, this is Stag. She's our best sculptor and a brilliant mentor, from what I hear.”

Wait. No. Stag swallowed back her alarm and leaned in to murmur in Stirling's ear, “Didn't I tell you I wasn't taking more apprentices? Why not send her to Dusty? He's just as good!”

Stirling gave her an apologetic smile. “Look, her family's donating a lot of money to the guild and specifically asked for you. I'm sure you'll do fine.”

Ah. Money. That made more sense. Stag just nodded, now resigned to her fate. She turned to Willow with a studious frown.

“All right, kid. Welcome to being my apprentice, I guess! I wasn't prepared at all, so…” she shrugged. “I guess I can start by showing you around?”

Willow bounced excitedly in place, barely restraining herself from bowling Stag over when she darted forwards to touch noses. “Okay! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I'll be the best student ever!”

“We'll see about that,” Stag muttered.

—
The first week, Stag mostly kept Willow busy running errands, cleaning messes, and generally familiarizing herself with the tools and the trade. Most apprentices would complain about the menial labor, about not getting to sculpt just yet, but not Willow. She just seemed happy to be there, doing every chore with a smile.

Good. At least there was a faint silver lining in this mess. Stag had planned out her week to practice her own techniques and prep for the next exhibition. Instead , she was desperately pouring over her old lesson plans to try and piece together an updated lesson plan that accounted for Willow's... unique abilities.

Look, it wasn't like Stag had a plan for reteaching the basics! Willow might've had creative vision, but her techniques were kitten level at best.

"Willow?" Stag padded over to where Willow was busy cleaning Stag's detailing brushes, a determined look on her face as she clumsily tried to get all the clay from between the bristles. Sigh. At least she was trying. "It's about time for your first lesson."

Willow blinked, startled for a moment before her face split into a grin. "Really? That's great! Are we going to start with traditional realism or more neo-leafist modern?"

"We're going to start with how to handle clay," Stag said flatly. "We'll see where it goes from there."

An unsurprising flash of disappointment crossed Willow's face, but she pulled herself together impressively fast. "Do you want me to finish with your brushes first?"

Stag held back from pulling a face. She'll have to spend some time fixing her brushes; poor things looked terribly out of shape now. "No, no, I'll take care of them while you practice."

“Okay!”

The teaching area Stag had set up was separated from her own workstation, just to keep the mess away. Better to have simple tools be used and well loved by a novice than to have them wreck the good ones Stag needed for her exhibition pieces.

She led Willow to a bucket of clay and a piece of polished wood presently existing as a table, the perfect workstation. “All right. This is where you’ll be working for the time being. It’ll be just you and the clay right now. Once you’re comfortable with it, I’ll start introducing you to detailing tools. Are you ready?”

Willow looked down at the clay with a slight frown. “...I’m going to be honest, I have no idea what kind of clay this is.”

No. Seriously? Stag swallowed back her irritation - she’d watched Willow use it to practice! “Is river-bed clay not what you usually use?”

“Aha… no. My mom gets me a reddish-brown one, I think it’s terracotta?” She ducked her head in embarrassment. “But I really want to learn how to sculpt like you do!”

Okay! The different materials might explain why Willow seemed to struggle so much. Still, who thought it was a good idea to apprentice her here instead of with terracotta sculptors? Whatever. Just the best you can, Stag, it’ll be okay…

“All right. So the first thing you’ll want to do is gently scoop out a base chunk of clay, like so.” Stag demonstrated this, placing a large glob of clay on her workstation. “Don’t worry if you get messy, that’s part of the process.”

With intense focus, Willow watched Stag scoop out the clay. Then copying Stag’s motions exactly, she dipped her paw in, grabbed an amount of clay, and promptly flung it into Stag’s chest fur.

Stag stared down at it for a long, long moment. On one paw, things happened. On the other, what on earth? There wasn’t a lot she could save without getting her long, curly fur stuck in the clay. …hm. That might make an interesting sculpture later, when she has free time.

No, focus! She took a deep breath, put on a patient smile, and peeled off as much clay as she could. “Okay. Next time, you need to be slower with your movements so you don’t waste the clay.”

Willow cringed only slightly before nodding. A slight smile crossed her face. “I guess it wanted to be a bird the way it flew from my paw!” she joked.

Stag did not laugh. The waste of resources hurt her heart too much. She just turned back to the clay and watched Willow try grabbing clay again. This time it didn’t fling from her paws so much as drop in the three pawlengths between the clay bucket and the workstation.

“I guess it was a grave situation!” Willow said, giggling at her own joke and not caring about the fallen clay. Or perhaps she did considering she dropped down to scoop up as much as she could. There was still plenty left on the ground though…

Stag let out a reluctant chuckle. “Ah, yes. Gravity.”

The lesson continued in this manner for quite some time. Willow was certainly enthusiastic, perhaps too much so considering every motion seemed to fling clay every which way. Stag kept pushing her to slow down, be more intentional, but no no avail.

At last, Stag could stand no more.

This was awful. It was a total disaster and a waste of precious resources, even if it was the lowest grade. There was clay on her fur and in the grass and on her canvas. It was all Stag could do not to break down into tears.

So she broke down into laughter instead. High, bubbling things that had her laying on her back while she stared up at the sky. Willow looked at her with wide eyes before joining her in a fit of mad giggles. What a strange little cat, but goodness knows how she managed to keep smiling.

...maybe they’ll start a little simpler.

[lacke]

res!

[SkyWishes21]

✦➤ Stag, Scene Two >> A Traveling Expedition Fail

Thanks to that no-good, rotten, son of a rat and a flea Stirling embezzling guild funds and taking off, Stag was now the leader of the guild. Everyone was looking to her for guidance on how to climb out of this wretched mess of a hole Stirling had left for them, and fast. Unfortunately, this meant she had no time for her apprentice.

Truth be told, Stag had half a mind to send Willow back to her parents and be done with it. She was a pest of Stirling's doing and life would be so much easier if she was gone.

And yet, Stag didn't have the heart. Maybe she tried pawning off her constant annoyance to Dusty, who took quite a liking to Willow, once or twice, but she couldn't help it. Part of her just really wanted to see if this disaster of an artist could ever improve. And, loathe as she was to admit it, Willow had grown on her too.

Unfortunately, now was not the time for her to be pestering Stag about lessons seeing as Stag was in the middle of planning out an exhibition and sale to hopefully recoup some of the lost funds.

Willow bounded up to where Stag was sitting and pouring over "Hey, whatcha working on? Can I help?"

Oh no, not this again. Stag shook her head, willing herself not to bite. "I'm trying to plan an exhibition to recoup all the money Sterling stole. It's taking a lot of concentration, so please go bother someone else."

Contrary to what was asked of her, Willow plopped down beside Stag and peeked over her shoulder. "I can help! My parents sell stuff for way more than its worth all the time."

Ah. So scammers. Or... you know, rich house cats. Either or. Still, might as well humor her. "Go on."

"Well, first of all you want to make sure people want to come," Willow said, as if that were not the simplest concept in the world.

"Like a spectacle! I'm thinking glitter, big drums, just making it a party."

"Uh-huh. If we had money to burn, maybe, but we don't have the budget." Stag stared down at the budget sheet, her stomach turning.

This didn't seem to phase Willow. "I'm sure we could make it work! You can always dress up something cheap to make it nicer."

Which was more effort than they could afford right now. "Maybe. Got any other big ideas?"

"Of course!" Yay. Willow beamed, evidently pleased she was helping. "Mark up the statues, make it a premium. People will pay big money if they think they're getting something special!"

"That's... not half bad an idea," Stag said thoughtfully. "We were planning on doing an auction and putting everything on sale, but I'll see if there's anything we can mark up. ...thanks kid."

Willow gave Stag an affectionate nudge, purring all the while. "Of course! I'm just happy to help."

---

"What did you do?"

Stag had spent almost the whole night painstakingly preparing the exhibition. She wasn't alone, of course - some of the less socially inclined guild members had helped out. Still, the sun had started peeking over the horizon when she'd finally collapsed beneath her cart and fallen asleep.

They'd used some of Willow's suggestions. Kid wasn't half bad, truth be told, just... enthusiastic and a bit naive. But Stag had put in the effort to liven up the place a little - just a few flowers, a couple repurposed old decorations, things like that. She'd also gone through all the prices and meticulously marked up some she thought she could get away with.

Evidently Willow had not realized that Stag had listened to her and, rather than sleeping like everyone else who wasn't actively helping, disappeared in the wee hours of the morning to do what she thought she was right.

Along with the carefully picked flowers, there was now a massive dusting of pollen that made potential purchasers sneeze with every step. Stag watched as yet another cat bolted from the exhibition just to stop sneezing.

And then the prices... Stag had spent hours agonizing over those. Willow had decided to add a zero at the end of each one, making prices too high for even the richer clientele to want to pay.

To top it all off, Willow had procured some sort of wood-based makeshift drum and was enthusiastically playing it loud enough to hurt everyone's ears. Stag had to gently run into her to get her to stop.

Willow looked up with a gasp, blue eyes wide. "What was that for?"

"This!" Stag waved her tail wildly at the exhibition, which presently boasted a whole two patrons that hadn't yet been driven away. "You ruined the exhibition!"

First Willow stared at stag, hurt on her face. Then she scowled and folded her ears back, smacking the drum extra hard for emphasis. "You didn't listen to my suggestions!"

"Yes I did!" Stag snapped back. "And if you'd been paying attention, you would've seen how I tweaked them to fit the exhibition, not just throw pollen everywhere!"

Willow froze. "...what?"

"They weren't half bad ideas, but the way you've executed them ruined it! No one's staying long enough to buy, and those who want to can't afford it without finding one of us and doing a long, drawn out negotiation." Stag grit her teeth, willing herself not to throw her useless apprentice down the hill.

"Oh. I- I thought you'd ignored me- I-" Willow stumbled over her words. Her face betrayed something of shame and pain. "I just wanted to help. Let me clean it up, please."

"You'll only make it worse. Just go, think about what you've done." More venom than she'd intended spat from Stag's lips as she flicked her tail in the opposite direction.

For a moment, Willow looked as if she wanted to say something. Then she turned tail and fled.

Despite everyone's best efforts, the exhibition was mostly a failure. There simply was too much bad press attached to even dream of turning it around. The guild was stuck hauling their statues to the next location that would take them, all the while still in the hole. Willow stuck around Dusty the next little while, though she kept trying to appease Stag.

In the end, Stag reluctantly forgave her.

[lacke]

story 2 res

[SkyWishes21]

✦➤ Stag, Scene Three >> A "Solo" Career

Despite all her best efforts, Stag couldn't keep the guild together. It wasn't anyone's fault in particular, but after Sterling's ignoble departure and every money-making failure since it only made sense.

Fine. It's not like Stag wouldn't miss working together with a whole host of people, but perhaps it was time for her to fly solo for a while. No responsibilities to anyone, just her own career and her own finances to worry about.

...except Willow.

Stag no longer claimed Willow as an apprentice, but the young molly hung around anyways. It wasn't something they'd remotely talked about. When Stag left, dragging her raggedy cart behind her, Willow had padded along. It'd been a bit before Stag had realized someone was there, but when she realized who it was she just shrugged and let it be.

They didn't have lessons, not formal ones anyway. There were too many logistics for Stag to sort out about her new life to have the bandwidth to try and sculpt Willow's atrocious artistic ability into something beautiful. Occasionally, Willow would be practicing off to the side and Stag would breeze by with a helpful tip or two, but nothing more. Not right now.

Look, Stag felt bad for the kid, all right? It wasn't her fault Sterling dragged her into this mess. Plus, she wasn't going to pry but she was pretty sure Willow had a darn good reason for not being able to go back to her parents. It was the least Stag could do to let her stick around for a while, keep her fed and sheltered and whatnot.

That being said, it was hard for her to look Willow in the eye. None of this was Willow's fault, but she was emblematic of everything that had caused Stag's perfectly wonderful life to fall apart. Sterling had forced Stag to take her, to try and sculpt talent from nothing.

And it's not like Willow didn't have good ideas or anything, every cat can make art, but it's frankly obvious that she just doesn't have the talent for sculpting. To this day, Stag wished she'd gone with Dusty. He would've been able to help Willow shine and find her place.

For now, that place seemed to be more of Stag's assistant. They barely talked, but Willow cleaned Stag's tools without complaint. When the cart broke down again, Willow was there to help hold it up while Stag fixed it. It was almost nice.

Almost.

Stag couldn't help the resentment that boiled within her. She tried to choke it down, keep it away from Willow (it wasn't her fault!), but every once in a while a snappish word slipped out despite her best efforts.

But it bubbled. Deep within Stag's chest, it roiled and crashed like a wave on a dark and stormy night.

And one day, it was unleashed.

Stag'd been working on a particularly large, experimental sculpture when Willow tentatively put a paw on the other side and began adding her own little touches.

"What are you doing?" Stag snapped, claws buried deeper in the clay than she meant.

"Helping?" Willow said, her voice rather small. "I thought you could use a paw..."

"I didn't ask for this." Thick bitterness spilled from Stag's mouth, an intangible ooze that felt like it was crawling its way up from some unknown space deep inside her gut.

Willow blanched, stepping back as though she too could see the bitter ooze. "I-I'm sorry. I'll go... clean your tools."

"No." The ooze grew hard, darkening Stag's tone. "I didn't ask for you. You weren't supposed to be part of my life."

Apparently, this was the long-awaited reckoning. Despite herself, Stag could feel every piece of rage of the past several moons crawling out of her skin.

In this moment, Willow seemed the smallest she'd ever been. "What? I- I know you weren't looking for an apprentice back then, but I thought you liked me..."

"Did I? Or did I just tolerate you every step of the way?" Cruelty tasted sour on her tongue and part of Stag wanted desperately to claw it back. She didn't, even when it looked like Willow was about to cry. "I was done with being a mentor. You were forced on me and I had no choice but to live with you and your- your antics."

Willow gasped, eyes hollow as she stared up at Stag. "Then why am I still here? Why didn't you send me away?"

"I felt bad for you," Stag scoffed. "You have no skill, no coordination, and apparently no family who wants you. I let you stay because you're so pathetic it'd be cruel just to leave you alone."

...she had liked Willow, though.

There was a sniff, a choked sob, and then faced with Stag's onslaught of cruelty Willow could only choke out something soft.

"You used to be nice..."

[lacke]

story 3 <3

[SkyWishes21]

Click to watch the animatic!

sketch and editing by SkyWishes21, lines and color by lacke