A little on Mo’s parenting style … Mo has experience teaching and taking care of young cats, namely with his adopted sister Cress. He is nonetheless insecure about his abilities (reinforced by his experience with Cress running away from him, although their relationship is restored now) and, while enjoying interacting with kits and apprentice-age cats, if he feels he has a responsibility to them, it will unnerve and unbalance him, leaving him scrambling. He will try to do his best despite this, but it will make him nervous and overprotective, even snappish if he sees the kit as endangering themselves, all the while suffering from extreme doubt over his own abilities. More succinctly, he will be controlling and anxious, especially at first or if the kit is rebellious or even interested in doing anything alone or which Mo deems dangerous. All this will be borne out of a desire to keep the kit(s) from harm, something which he feels he and Wisp were not protected from. The most triggering thing for Mo would be the kit wandering off, as that is how he got lost himself. Still, he would encourage their curiosity at times, being so curious himself and enjoying sharing his knowledge of the world with them, as well as deriving joy from hearing their thoughts, questions, and stories. When lulled into security by his love or the feeling of being loved in return, Mo would be relaxed, curious, happy, and always bringing up new, interesting topics to teach the kits (although this attitude could easily be broken by his perceiving some new threat). He would be a very affectionate father or father-figure, and tends towards being overly sappy and clingy. Mo is also very empathetic and, when not blinded by his own fears and anxieties, will always try to understand and help the kit(s) if they express their feelings in ways he can comprehend (such as overt dialogue on the subject or visible sadness; distance or anger will make him feel he has done something wrong, and he will be very apologetic and hurt). Mo’s OCD will also play into his relationship with the kits, namely influencing his controlling attitudes in irrational ways (keeping the stones outside the den in order, otherwise keeping clean, saying things multiple times even if the kit has acknowledged the statement, avoiding the kits interacting with other cats or going off on their own even when they are old enough, et cetera, all these resulting from his certainty that something bad would happen to the kits if they do/don’t happen). He would likely also have nightmares and/or intrusive thoughts of the kit(s) dying or being lost. Despite all this, Mo would unconditionally love the kit(s), always seeing any of their mistakes as something he himself did wrong or failed to prevent. let me know if you have any questions!! some of this will likely be altered as i roleplay, particularly because i wasn’t taking too much of wisp’s own parenting style into account, and his respect and trust for her may lead to him deferring to her opinions even if is very stressful for him to do so at times. :D
