[Branch patiently listens. Then he nods and says:]

That was such a long answer.

[He says it out loud because he's a very rude person, so he absolutely is going to call out Puss's tendency to wax lyrical about himself.]

But...

I think I get it. A little. I wanted to keep people from my village safe, after Poppy dragged me into everything with the Bergens.

I figured "hey I'm here in the thick of it, already doomed. Might as well try to get them out even though it'll just end with all of us dying horribly."

[He did want to save them. He can admit that a little bit, especially now that all of them have become his friends, too. If they'd been left to their fate, he'd have never found acceptance and friendship with them all.]

I guess it's just...it's hard to figure out what to do when you don't have claws. Even if maybe you want to do something. A little.

You know, because apparently I'm insane.