So Sid was saying that this wasn't about how smart Magnus was? That it was about something else? "Learning to make your own decisions." That's what the cat had said. Magnus stood for a moment and struggled with what the black cat was trying to get through to him. Learn to make his own decisions. Like what? When did he have to try to-- to decide things? Maybe that was what Sid was saying. That Mag had to decide things more? But how? And-- And why? Sid had also said that Rav wouldn't be around all the time. Mag got that because Rav hadn't been around when Mag had gone away. But there had always been others to tell him what to do. Humans, especially. It hadn't really been his dad telling him what to do, not since Pavelle left, and of course not Pavelle since she was gone. But other humans had always been around, the ones that smelled sorta like Mom when Mag had gone to that other city. That "Grand-Mom" lady that had been older but with Mom's eyes, and Magsie, and "Grand-Pop" and a few others whose names Mag couldn't remember. When Magsie had told him with such a serious face that Dad needed to be alone, that was when Magnus had stayed with the Grand-people. That was when he'd listened to them, and they had told him that he was such a good dog. Magnus' tail wagged a little at the memory of those nice people. But the point was that there were always others to tell him what to do, even when Dad wasn't around. There were always more humans, even if there weren't friends or other pets like Rav, or family like his sister and Felix and Dad and Magsie."This isn't about intelligence. This is about learning to make your own decisions. So you had some girl named Pavelle tellin' you what to do all the time, right? Well, she's not around now. And Ravage? He's not gonna be around all the time, if you think you can even trust his judgement at all..." he shook his head, "One of these days, you're gonna be in serious trouble, and you can't rely on other people to tell you what to do. You get what I'm sayin'?"
To Sid's question, Mag hummed out, "Ummm. I don't... know." He didn't quite know what Sid was getting at, though he felt like maybe Sid thought it was important. The Dane scrunched up his face a little, trying to continue on, to explain what he'd just gone through in his thoughts. "But well, I do know that there will always be more people, though, right? To tell me what to do. Maybe not pets like Rav, but there are always more humans..." he said. He paused for a moment, then found himself asking aloud, "S-so then w-why would I need to, uh, know how to make these decisions by myself? Don't the others know that stuff better than me? Like, don't they know what to do better than I do...?" Why would Mag need to make these decisions if the others did know better? Most of his life he'd been taught that he was supposed to listen to others and do what they said. Their decisions were good ones, weren't they? And Sid was sorta worrying Magnus a little. Mostly it was that part Sid had said about Mag getting in serious trouble. Had Mag done something bad again, without knowing? He tried to think of it, but he was drawing a blank. Nervously, the Dane tacked on, "A-and what trouble...?"