Clam

Clam is a tortoiseshell tom with amber eyes.

## Personality

Clam is not the most social of cats, tending instead to be quiet and perhaps a little bit snooty, and often more than content to interact with no one except his family members; his sister and his father are his whole world, as he has spent his whole life thus far traveling, with the two of them as his only constants. Keeping ahold of the few bits of stability and consistency in his life is very important to him. He actually isn't a huge fan of change, and doesn't enjoy traveling all that much, but he doesn't really understand that any other way of life exists. Traveling is routine to him, and he's generally not all that curious about the world around him, or about cats outside of his family, believing that his father and sister are all that he needs. He comes off as aloof and unfeeling to others a lot of the time because he centers his life around his family so much; other cats being distressed or in peril does not garner any sympathy from him, and some cat telling him their sob story would likely just make him look down his nose at them. If he found some poor cat being attacked by a fox in the woods or something, he'd be more likely to just turn right around and go back the way he'd come than so much as think twice about assisting the cat in trouble. In his mind, if a cat isn't a member of his family, then it's no concern of his what happens to them - not to mention that he's a little bit of a scaredy cat, in a sense, much more willing to flee a sticky situation or stay in his comfort zone rather than risk getting hurt in some way. For this reason, he doesn't really share his father's charm, not really prone to talking his way out of situations or ingratiating himself to others if he can just walk (or run) away from something instead. However, he can be somewhat manipulative in his own way, even though it's mostly unintentional on his part. If he's forced to interact with those outside of his family, the narrative usually goes like this: he's his usual quiet, aloof, somewhat rude self upon first meeting cats, but the moment a cat thinks "I can fix him," and tries to encourage different or better behavior in him, he'll mould himself to that expectation - but only when directly in the presence of this other cat. He doesn't see any actual problems with the way he is, and has no intention of changing, so if he acts a different way around someone else, it's only because he thinks being on their good side would be beneficial to him in some way. He doesn't really understand how this behavior could be seen as deceptive or hurtful, and would probably just shrug off any pain he might cause others, unless they somehow managed to (painstakingly) worm their way into his heart. For the most part, though, others' opinions or reactions to him mean absolutely nothing, because he believes wholeheartedly that as long as he has the love and approval of his family, nothing else matters. This can result in something like arrogance within him, as he does not value most other cats' thoughts or opinions at all. However, despite all of this, he has good qualities at his core. Though not the most curious or interested in exploring the world around him or learning from others (not from strangers, at least), he is a very intelligent young tom, able to put things together quickly and come up with surprisingly functional plans for almost anything. He's also incredibly disciplined and obedient to his loved ones, going out of his way to be a good son and brother, and giving unquestioning loyalty to his family members, even if their words or actions end up hurting him. He has some deep-seated insecurities and fears, as well; physical infirmity scares him, as he knows his mother died giving birth to him and Thrush, and he is liable to panic over something as small as a twisted paw or a case of the sniffles, afraid that it could have dramatic consequences. He also doesn't have the best understanding of healthy relationships, as his father isn't always the most attentive despite his best efforts, and Clam has come to expect others to forget about him or leave him alone at times, so he does his level best to not get attached to anyone, or become dependent on them, for fear of them being flaky or not caring about him as much as he cares about them.

## History

His mother died giving birth to him, leaving him and his sister to be raised by his father.