Reclusecrest

Reclusecrest is, in a word, prideful. Growing up the eldest of her litter and favored by her father, the world was her oyster and she didn't really know a major difficulty until Spidersqueak's death. Since that incident and the growing tensions between herself and, not only Widowflame, but Tarantuladusk too, Reclusecrest has been struggling to figure out who she is and what her place is in MarshClan.

## Appearance & Personality

### Appearance

   Reclusecrest, though small in stature, is a very slender, long-limbed molly. She stands at 8.6 inches tall, the second-tallest in the litter despite being the firstborn. She has light, reddish-brown fur with darker tabby stripes and patches of a mid-tone underneath the tabby patterning. Specifically, a mask shape encircles both eyes and extends down to her nose. Four small “eyelash” markings are present under each golden eye. Her ears curl back, a genetic quirk she inherited from her father. The darkest shade of her fur also forms socks on each of her paws, with her toes white. She also has a small patch of white on her chest and white on her chin. Her tail tip is also white and there are a few small spots of the same shade near the tip. She occasionally wears a dried tiger lily, a gift from her late father.

### Personality

Reclusecrest is a confident cat with a bit of a haughty attitude. She is sassy and quick-witted. She took her father’s praise to heart and retains the elegance and grace that he prized. Her intelligence is not negligible and she typically thinks she’s in the right. She’s not always correct, mind you, but she thinks she is. Reclusecrest is prone to being irritable and snappish when things aren’t perfect. She resents Widowflame for abandoning their father and for always acting so stand-offish toward her and the rest of the family. Whose fault is it that she’s that way, ‘Cluse? Hmm?

## Background

### Kithood

Reclusekit was born in MarshClan, the oldest of her litter. She had two younger siblings, a sister named Widowkit and a brother named Tarantulakit. Their mother's name was Rosemite and their father's was Spidersqueak.

They were not the only kits in the nursery. Two of the other kits, Cardinalkit and Firkit, were five moons older than Reclusekit and were out of the nursery by the time Cluse and her siblings were able to do much of anything. However, there was also a single kit Cluse's age, a molly named Skylarkkit. Reclusekit didn't play with her very much, but Tarantulakit wound up being friends with her. The other queens were the stationary queen Cedarpoppy, who was Cardinalkit and Firkit's mom, and Mistralflutter, Skylarkkit's mom. Reclusekit didn't pay much attention to either of them.

From an early age, life was good for Reclusekit. Her father was frequently around, along with her mother, and Reclusekit absolutely loved him. Spidersqueak liked to bring her little gifts, feathers or toys or flowers to play with or decorate her fur. She took after him, bearing the same cinnamon tabby pelt and the same curled back ears. She found his ringtail interesting, a trait that neither she nor any of her siblings had gotten. Rosemite didn't give her quite the same attention, which always rubbed Cluse the wrong way a bit, but given the fact that Tarantulakit had fallen sick shortly after they were born, she could excuse Rosemite's fussing over him. After all, she still had Spidersqueak.

Reclusekit decided early on that she wanted to be a messenger. MarshClan only had one at the time of her birth, a molly named Sootsnow who frequently stopped by the nursery when she wasn't running messages. Reclusekit thought she was very cool, despite the fact that she more often talked to and played with Widowkit than her.

Reclusekit eventually made friends with Cardinalpaw when she was around three moons old. The apprentice and her sister, Firpaw, frequently visited the nursery to chat with or help Cedarpoppy. Reclusekit liked Cardinalpaw's energy and enthusiasm and the two became fairly close. Widowkit didn't seem to like Cardinalpaw very much, which Reclusekit was very confused by, but who cared what Widowkit thought? It wasn't her problem if Reclusekit made friends.

### Apprenticeship

Reclusepaw was apprenticed at the proper age to a tom named Sandbee. He'd had one apprentice before Reclusepaw, a tom named Canyonmist who just so happened to be her brother Tarantulapaw's mentor. So that was fun. Widowpaw was apprenticed to a warrior called Limelace. Reclusepaw didn't know much about them and she really couldn't have cared less.

Training was fine. Sandbee was a very stoic tom, which meshed well with Reclusepaw's intelligence and desire to learn. She got to train with Tarantulapaw and Canyonmist fairly often, as Canyonmist liked to have his former mentor around for guidance in teaching and Reclusepaw & Tarantulapaw worked well together. Widowpaw never joined one of these sessions, which Reclusepaw thought was quite rude of her. She knew for a fact that Sandbee had brought up joint training to Limelace more than once and it was always left up to Widowpaw whether or not to go. Reclusepaw hunted her down one day when they were seven moons old and demanded to know why her sister refused to train with her and Taran. It escalated into a physical fight (claws sheathed) in the middle of camp that Basilpool and Spidersqueak had to pull them apart from each other to break up.

Reclusepaw gave up on her sister after that. Tarantulapaw confronted her about the fight a little later and Reclusepaw did her best to defend herself, but that only turned into an argument. For the first time in their lives, the siblings slept apart that night. Tarantulapaw also had his makeshift den collapse on him, injuring one of his back paws. Reclusepaw felt kind of bad about that but justified not apologizing by reasoning that she didn't *make* him leave their more stable den. He moved back in with her once he was released from the medicine den and the two of them settled into an uncomfortable silence about the whole affair.

* 8 moons - dad gives her the tiger lily
* 9 moons - plague starts, dad dies, fight with Widow, mom dies

## Other

### Trivia

* Her voice claim is Anya from Anastasia (1997)