Emmanuelle was relieved, to say the least, so see that the intruder was such a harmless-looking girl. When she hold up her own headphones, Em couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips, “That’s… that’s really weird. And cool, of course.“ She smiled at the other blonde, trying to communicate that she wasn’t really upset, just kind of taken by surprise. “So, um, what were you listening to?” Emmanuelle looked at her curiously. Music was one of her favorite topics to discuss, even if she wasn’t exactly an expert. She just knew what she liked, and especially what she liked to dance to. “I mean, um, If we’re going to be a dance troupe, I need to know that you have decent taste in music.”
Claire grinned brightly at the girl’s question about her musical tastes, happy to have an invitation to talk about her favorite subject of discussion. “Well, I was listening to this absolutely fantastic band called London Grammar just now, but then earlier today I was listening to N.W..A, so I mean, do with that what you will” She said with a small laugh before shrugging her shoulders. “I’m pretty much just a musical sponge honestly. I have stuff that I listen to more than others, but whenever I hear any music of any kind, I have to listen and take it in, and I almost always manage to take something out of it. and find inspiration in it in some way. I consider basically any moment without music in it to be a moment wasted, so I tend to make those moments pretty rare. I guess you could say music drives me to live, and life inspires me to create more music, while all of the music I find along the way inspires me too” Chuckling at herself, Claire gave a shake of her head. “I didn’t mean to get all philosophical on you there. Music is just a huge part of who I am, so when I get to talking about it, I start to gush uncontrollably, as you just witnessed.” She explained with a nod and a grin. “What about you though? What do you like to listen to?” She asked curiously.
The girl’s whole speech made him raise a brow, and he leaned forward slightly, “A bit ‘different’? How so?” He was somewhat interested to hear her answer, although he couldn’t imagine that she was nothing like other girls he’d known. In his experience, the unique ones were at least as desperate for approval as the rest of them. Of course he wasn’t going to say that out loud. “You think I can’t handle Guinness? Please. I’m even licenced by the warehouse, and I have the diploma to prove it in my bedroom.” He smirked right back at her, “But fair enough, you think you can drink me under the table? I’ll be more than happy to prove you wrong, Ireland.”
The question was a fair one, but Claire didn’t feel obligated to take up the endeavor of answering it; after all, she didn’t need to prove herself to anyone, so she didn’t feel a need to receive verification from this stranger. “I guess if you care enough, you’ll find out for yourself what I mean. And if you don’t, then you won’t” She said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’m not going to lose sleep over it either way. And somehow, I doubt you will either.” Laughing as he boasted over his ability to handle Guinness, Claire’s smirk only widened at his challenge, feeling a both amused and impressed by it; clearly, this was a boy who could keep with her pace. “Well then let’s get going" She said, getting to her feet. “You know, this will actually work out quite nicely, because when you wake up tomorrow morning with your head pounding, and you remember that I did, in fact, drink you under the table, that's when you'll be one step closer to understanding exactly how Claire Walsh is different from the rest”
The girl stared forward, her eyes almost burning holes through the wall in front of her. “You, know, we don’t have to listen to them. The therapists. They use a lot of big words. That’s why they’re smart, but they aren’t telling us anything that everyone already hasn’t. They promise freedom, but making people talk about their bondage, just gives them more.” Bo sighed, looking at the person beside her in the common room.
Claire hadn’t even noticed that another person had come into the room; that’s how silent the other girl had been up until that point. However, when she finally did speak, Claire glanced up from her book, listening to what she was actually saying. She could only assume from what she was talking about that she had just left a therapy session, and once she was done, Claire gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t attend therapy sessions, so I wouldn’t really know” She admitted. “It works for some people, but I honestly think it just makes things worse for others. I think for some of us, the best way to move on from our pain, is to be out there, actually moving on and putting it behind us”
“You could definitely say I have a sense of adventure. Or, at least I’m trying to get it back.” Eva’s smile faltered slightly but she was able to hitch it back up quickly. She didn’t like thinking about how much she had changed, she had to constantly remind herself she was a different person now. “I like to think I pick up on context clues pretty quickly.” Her smile grew as she followed along with the girl. She seemed to be lucking out now that she’d emerged from her room for longer than a couple of minutes to eat. “I’m Eva, by the way. Can I at least know your name if I can’t know where we’re going?”
Claire smiled and nodded her head. “Well, you stick with me, and we’ll get that sense of adventure back in no time.” She declared confidently as they made their way down the bottom of the stairs and out the front door. Once they were outside, Claire led the way to the cover of the collection of trees to the left side of the driveway.,hearing the girl’s introduction, followed by her question as she did so. “Well…I suppose I can do that.” Claire said with a grin. “I’m Claire Walsh. And Eva, I promise you that after tonight, you will never ever forget it.“ After she continued to lead the way for a few minutes, all while staying under the cover of the trees, Claire stopped for a moment once they were basically to the end of the long laneway, then turning to Eva. "Most of the staff around here don’t care how late we stay out, but there’s this one security guard, Steve, who takes his job way too seriously” She explained with a small roll of her eyes. “I wasn’t sure if he was working tonight or not, which is why we took the path covered by trees; just in case he was. He always stations himself right by the end of the laneway at this time of night." She paused and turned to point at the big burly man, about ten feet away from where they hid, who stood at attention like a soldier, his eyes watching intently for any sign of movement coming from the house. Chuckling a bit, Claire turned back to Eva again. "That's Steve. Looks like he is working tonight, so it's a good thing we took the longer way around. All we gotta do is sneak around behind him and we're in the clear" Taking Eva by the hand, Claire grinned. "You ready?" She asked, her face practically beaming with excitement..
It wasn’t a complete lie to say that Claire hadn’t been on Elijah’s mind. In fact, the boy had made it specifically so, to distract himself from the thought of her. The three weeks he had spent with her before her absence had felt like a complete whirlwind; feeling almost dreamy and hollow, like it hadn’t even happened, or at least, not in the way he thought it might have happened. It wasn’t as though the boy was necessarily upset by her disappearance, but perhaps by her lack of informing him that she hadn’t really planned to stay long. And even still, when the idea would begin festering in the bit of his stomach, he realized that it shouldn’t have made a difference. It shouldn’t have mattered that she had come to Safe Haven, leaped straight into his every-day life and then vanished without a single word. He should have expected things like that in a place like Safe Haven. He had never really been sure of the reason of her staying to begin with, after all.
Turning down the main upstairs hall, Elijah had been planning to have a quick change of attire, and make his way out into the town by himself, for the second time this week. Looking in on his last experience: Grace practically having to drag him home by his hand as he slugged along side her; buckled over and dry heaving most of the way, it could have easily been perceived as a failure. However, while partially embarrassed, Elijah had silently considered it one of his more successful ventures into the night, and wasn’t about to hesitate in duplicating it. As he approached his door, he noticed the girl, but took a few extra seconds to realize who she was. Claire had been away from several weeks now and while he was sure the girl knocking almost fiercely on his door had been her, it wasn’t until he was close enough to spot her fiery expression that he had really recognized her. “Claire…” his pace slowed once her name left his mouth; he wasn’t entirely sure if getting any nearer was a good idea, feeling holes being pierced through him by her expression despite having not been in his room as she knocked. He had come to a stop a few feet away, and his brows knitted together in a mix of concern and surprise. Though, shortly after it began turning to confusion. “Uhm… HI…? You good?”
Claire heard someone speaking her name, but gave them a slightly dismissive wave of her hand without turning to see who it was. “Sorry. I’m kind of in the middle of something here. I’ll talk to you later okay?” She said, glancing up to flash the person a reassuring smile, only to find herself looking at Elijah himself. For a split second, as her knocking on his door faded away, the features on her face softened ever so slightly at the sight of him, before she remembered what it was that had brought her here, and she gave a small shake of her head, refocusing herself. The look on his face told her that he was confused, and she supposed she couldn’t really blame him for that. A part of her wondered whether he had even realized that she had come back yet, or if this was truly out of the blue for him. Suddenly, she found herself at a loss for words, not exactly sure how to say what she had come to say, although her face remained fierce and determined as she stood there desperately trying to figure out what words to use. Did she just come right out and say what she needed to say, or did she try to get her answer more subtly? Subtlety might have been the preferred method, had she not entered this conversation making it very clear by her expression and body language that she had something to say; now she didn’t think she had much of a choice but to come right out and say what needed to be said. “Someone told me that you said that you didn’t even notice that I was gone. “ She said finally, hating the way that this situation had unfolded. This was not at all how she had imagined it when she’d made the decision to get answers from him, although in truth, she wasn’t really sure how she had expected it to go. Nonetheless, she kept her eyes firmly locked on his, even after she shook her head, and huffed a sigh. “Look, I just need to know if that’s true, or if some asshole is just trying to be funny okay? Did you really say that?” As strong as she had managed to keep her tone throughout everything else she said, she inwardly cringed at the fact that the last question was spoken in a voice that was a little bit softer, that, to her ears, betrayed the fact that there was more to her asking him this question than simply wanting to know whether whoever had told her he didn’t care had been lying or not. She could only hope that he hadn’t noticed.
Loïc laughed at her reply, giving her an appreciative nod, “You’re something else, aren’t you?” He wasn’t going to compliment her back any further than that, but he enjoyed her attitude; she seemed fun. And of course she was beautiful, but that was besides the point right now. “You are also Irish,” he stated with a wide grin, “So I guess that’s the explanation for that.” He chuckled as he took another sip from his beer, “I’ve been in the UK a lot these past few years, made a bunch of Irish friends. Always great to bump into someone else from across the pond. Makes this territory feel less foreign. Maybe we’ll share a Guinness one of these days.”
Claire chuckled a bit at his observation, although she was a little bit irritated by the insinuation he was making. Proud though she was of her heritage, she had never thought of herself as just another Irish girl, and she didn’t want anyone else to think of her that way either. Giving a small shake of her head, she smiled. “The only thing that’s an explanation for is my incredible accent” She assured him with a firm nod of her head. “Believe me, give it some time, and you’ll understand what I mean. It doesn’t take long for people to catch on to the fact I’m a bit different; particularly because I’m pretty proud of that fact” Giving a small shrug of her shoulders again, she plopped herself down on the couch beside the stranger taking the beer from his hand and taking a long swig, before pressing it back into his hand again. “You sure you can handle a Guinness with me?” She said with a playful quirk of her brows and a small smirk. “Because you’d have to try and keep up you know. Otherwise there won’t be much ‘sharing’ going on. It will just be you sitting there watching me drink”
Emmanuelle was alone in the garden, and she had been dancing around with her headphones on for at least half an hour already. At least she thought she was alone. As she spun around, she saw a person standing there and a shriek escaped her. She quickly yanked off her headphones, mumbling, “Um… I’m sorry, I’m just… I thought no one was here.”
Headphones securely in her ears as was normal for her, Claire had once again taken to one of her most favorite pass times; dancing her way through the house and out into the yard. The sun shining down as she moved her body to the sounds of the music, she was so absorbed in her own private world that she didn’t notice the other person until she let out a shriek which could be heard even over the sounds of the music playing in her ear. Although she hadn’t meant to scare the girl and felt a bit guilty about it, Claire was far more interested in the strange symmetry that had happened between them, a grin forming on her lips, while she tugged her own headphones out of her ears. “Don’t apologize. I think we were both a bit preoccupied” She said, holding up the cords of her headphones to indicate what she meant and nodding. “How cool is that though? We should totally start our own little club”
before she knew what was happening or could make a beeline for the front door, she felt her hand pulled into the comfort of someone else’s, and she spun around to see who had just grabbed her. quickly noting that the other girl was a stranger, probably one of the new girls who had just moved in, she willed the anger out of her eyes but was met with anxiety instead. what could she do? it was either escape the house and deal with the anxiety alone, or go wherever this girl was leading her. something told her she meant well, so she decided on the latter. allowing herself to be led and giving the tiniest and most pathetic of chuckles to her words, she swallowed hard. “thanks. i just need a break, i think.”
Claire flashed the other girl a soft smile, nodding her head in understanding as she spoke. "That's exactly what you'll get then" She assured her. Glancing back in time to notice that one of the doctors had emerged from the room the girl had just come from and was now following them, Claire stopped and moved to put herself firmly between the doctor and the girl, her eyes narrowed, and her mouth thin, although she maintained her grasp on the girl's hand. "Listen, she told you she's done. Now I'm telling you she's done. If either of us need to tell you one more time, I know that I for one won't be making the point with my words, and I don;t think she will either. Is that clear enough for you, or do you need me to give you an example of what I mean?" Claire said, eyeing the doctor dangerously, who seemed to take the hint and relented, sighing as they turned on their feet and walked back to the room. Only once the door was closed did Claire turn back and continue in the direction they'd been heading before. "Don't think that I didn't think you could handle that. I'm sure you could have. But I figured the chances that they would back down were a bit better if they realized that there was two of us that wouldn't" She explained with a nod, before stopping and pushing open the door of the storage closet turned rehearsal space that she had spent the better part of the day in. The closet was a reasonable size and padded with Claire’s pillows and blankets taken from her bed. She gestured to one of these padded spots , before taking a seat in one herself, reaching for her violin once she was comfortably seated, which she immediately began to play a soft, soothing melody on. “I’m Claire, by the way” She said after a moment, stopping her playing abruptly as she said that, and chuckling a bit. and nodding her head. “But you don’t have to tell me your name today. You don’t have to say anything else at all if you don’t want to” She added with a bit of a shrug,before she resumed playing a melody again, singing softly along with the sound of the instrument wordlessly.
Loïc was kicking back in the living room. Feet on the table, beer in hand, the works. Even through his state of immense relaxation, he noticed someone looking at him. He raised his beer to them with just the slightest smirk, “I think the phrase you’re searching for is ‘hey handsome’.”
Claire had walked into the room fully expecting it to be empty as it had been fifteen minutes prior, a book in her hand which she had planned to read as an exploitation of the room being empty. However, when she stepped into the room, she noticed that it was in fact, not empty any longer, but instead, had been taken up by a lad who had non-verbally laid claim to it through his posture and behavior. When he spoke to her, a smirk rose on the corners of her lips at his words, her eyes locking onto him intently. “And I think the phrase you’re looking for is ‘Oh Wow’”She retorted, saying the phrase words in a mock breathless tone. “Which you would then follow up with an apologetic laugh and a sheepish grin, before you’d say ‘I’m sorry. This usually doesn’t happen to me. I’m handsome and I know it, so I usually don’t have any problems being charming. But then again, I’ve also never seen a girl quite like you before so maybe you could cut me some slack?’” She added teasingly, before she gave a shrug of her shoulders as if to say. “Maybe I will, maybe I won’t”
I realize this post is a bit late, but I figured late was better than never. This is honestly pretty much just a direct copy and paste from the post I made on my first Claire blog, back when this rp first opened, but seeing as lot of you weren’t here for that, I’m posting this so you get all the info on my favorite child (Don’t anyone tell Parker I said that though)
So, something most of you probably don’t know about me is that I’m a massive Sheerio. As in, I have an entire wall dedicated to Ed Sheeran in my room. Now you might be wondering what that has to do with my character Claire right? Well, the answer is that it actually has a lot to do with her.
The initial inspiration for Claire came from the song Galway Girl off of Ed’s new album Divide.. Once I heard the song for the first time, I had a very clear idea begin to form in my head for what would become Claire. I’m shameless in how direct some of the inspiration is: Yes she’s from Galway Ireland, and yes, she does play the fiddle in an Irish band. When something gives you such strong vibes, there’s really no point in messing with them. But from the very basic idea of what I wanted her to be like that I got from the song, suddenly a very elaborate backstory started to form around it:
Claire grew up in a really rich family. Her father’s side of the family has been wealthy for generations, after Claire’s great great great grandfather sold the family shipping company for a huge sum, which he then invested into several smaller companies that went on to become large and profitable themselves. Her family’s wealth allowed her to take singing lessons, and violin lessons from a really young age.
She went to a private elementary school, but decided to go to a public high school, because she wanted the proper high school experience. It was there that she began to explore all the different genres of music beyond the ones that she had been brought up on. She soon formed a band called Crossed Lace, which became her passion. Their music type is something of a cross between Irish folk and trip hop (Think London Grammar if you know who they are, but with fiddles and stuff, and also more upbeat an lively, if you can imagine that)
While she was in high school, Claire found out that her father was having an affair. Initially she was furious with him, but once he explained the situation, she actually ended up being on his side. Claire’s mother was never a particularly loving partner, and she made Claire’s father miserable, but he stayed with her for the sake of Claire and her four younger siblings. His “affair” was actually a loving relationship that made him happy, and Claire ended up supporting that, because she loved her father and didn’t want him to be miserable
Unfortunately, about a year ago, Claire’s father passed away after being in a car accident, leaving her devastated. to make matters worse, shortly after his funeral, the truth about his affair came out and became public knowledge, which brought shame to his family in the inner circle of the upper class. Everyone began saying terrible things about him, but no one really knew the full extent of why he had done what he did except for Claire. She grew increasingly tired of hearing people say bad things about her Dad until she finally decided she’d had enough. That’s when she decided she would go to Safe Haven.
Coinciding with that last point, after the truth came out about her father and her family’s reputation was ruined, Claire’s best friend was forbidden from seeing her anymore. They had been friends for years, and were essentially inseparable, but now she wasn’t allowed to see them anymore. when she made her plan to go to Safe Haven, she also had someone pass along the message to her best friend to meet her there.
Claire was at Safe Haven for about a month before she found out that her best friend had been caught trying to leave to meet her, and had been sent away to live with a family member who would keep him under lock and key. Having learned a great deal about his extended family over the years, Claire left Safe Haven to go looking for him. It took her several weeks of travelling around, but she eventually did find him and managed to break him out. However, he decided not to come to Safe Haven, because his family would have known to look for him there.
As a person, Claire is wild and fun loving with a free spirit. She marches to the beat of her own drum, and definitely has a streak of defiance in her. She’s got a fiery temper, and she won’t back down from anyone. Of the many many many character i’ve played over the years, she is by far my favorite
If anyone wants to plot anything with her, you know the drill. just shoot me a message and we will definitely make something happen!
You know she beat me at darts and then she beat me at pool
And then she kissed me like there was nobody else in the room
As last orders were called, was when she stood on the stool
After dancing to Cèilidh, singing to trad tunes
I never heard Carrickfergus ever sung so sweet
Acapella in the bar using her feet for a beat
Oh I could have that voice playing on repeat for a week
And in this packed out room, swear she was singing to me
“I’m not doing this. And you have absolutely no right to keep me here, so enjoy your fucking day while I find anywhere but here to spend the rest of my afternoon.” She huffed, turning to walk out of one of the therapy rooms when she collided with someone in the hallway. “Sorry - excuse me.” She said quick, not bothering to lift her gaze to check who it was.
After grabbing a quick snack in the kitchen, Claire was just heading back to the room she had staked out as a practice room for her to play her violin in all day. She found that playing was the only thing that took her mind off of the situation with Elijah; which meant she was going to do it until it no longer worked. As she headed down the hall, her usual bounce in her step, she might have known to step out of the way had she not had her headphones in and actually heard the voices on the other side of the door. But seeing as she didn't hear them, she didn't anticipate the door opening, nor the girl coming through it and bumping right into her in her obvious haste. She did manage to hear the girl say she was sorry though, and she could tell pretty immediately from the look on her face that she was upset about something, and as she glanced over at the door she emerged from and recognized it as being the therapy room, she was able to put the pieces together pretty easily. Fully aware that she might be overstepping her boundaries, but deciding to, as she often did, throw caution to the wind, she grabbed a hold of the girl's hand, entwining their fingers and giving her hand a gentle squeeze, while her other hand reached up and tugged her headphones from her ears. "Come with me" She said softly, inclining her head in the direction of her makeshift rehearsal room. "They won't be able to find you where we're going. And even if they do, I'll tell them to bugger off"
"How could you possibly be bored?" Claire asked in a tone of slight disbelief. "Well, come on then. “ She grabbed a hold of the girl’s hand. “I've never been one to find a girl trapped in boredom and just let her stay there. Stick with me and you'll totally forget what the word bored even means. Guaranteed."
Eva moved closer to the girl, noticing the case she held under her arm, and smiling. “Well, I believe it. You seem like the kind of girl that likes to have fun. Not in a bad way, I know how that sounded - I didn’t mean it like that.” Already she was tripping over her words, it wasn’t the best way to make a first impression. She felt like the only way to try and fix the situation was to agree and go with her. “If you want me to join, I have no plans.” Eva flashed her another smile before joining her. “I’m guessing I don’t get to know what this adventure is ahead of time.”
Claire chuckled a bit as the girl stumbled to try and clarify that she hadn't meant her words offensively, before she shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "Don't even worry about it. I'm not exactly what you would call 'easily offended'" She assured her with a nod of her head and a reassuring smile. Happy that the girl agreed to join her, Claire began to lead the way, resuming on the path she had been on before she had stopped to talk with her new companion. Claire laughed a bit as the girl voiced her assumption, nodding her head approvingly. "You catch on pretty quick. Colour me impressed" She said, flashing the other girl a grin. "Maybe even more so, because you figured out that I won’t be spilling the beans in what we’re going out to do, and yet you're still coming along with me anyway. You obviously have a pretty good sense of adventure; which means we’re probably going to get along really well”
Another night in Safe Haven and Eva was starting to get used to it. She felt safe here which made sense, it had it’s name for a reason. The halls were relatively empty at this hour but she didn’t mind. Being alone wasn’t as scary now, she didn’t immediately think back to Oslo and what she’d left behind there - or what she’d done. A noise behind her cause Eva to turn around, scared at first at the sudden appearance of another person but quickly smiling at them. “Oh hello. I didn’t realize anyone else would be roaming the halls at this hour. Off to do something fun?”
Her violin case propped under her arm whilst she made her way through the halls to make for the front door, Claire was a bit surprised to run into another person at this time of night. Hearing the other girl's question, she chuckled a bit and nodded her head. "Since we've never actually met before I wouldn't expect you to know this, but one thing you will learn very quickly living in the same house as me is that Claire Walsh is always off to do something fun" She said with a grin. "And the other thing you'll learn is that I like to drag along the people I find along the way. Which leads me to say, you should totally come along with me on this late night adventure I’m about to embark on”
Regardless of what she might have said, hearing the news that Elijah had claimed that he hadn’t missed her while she was gone had really gotten to Claire. She had never expected to find herself missing him in the time she was gone from Safe Haven, but once she realized that she did, it had seemed foolish to her that she hadn’t seen it coming all along. Of course, she was good at hiding things from herself that she didn't want to deal with, and she was good at pushing aside meaningful moments and dismissing them as nothing to make a big deal of; especially when it came to the possibility of having feelings for someone. Feelings were dangerous for Claire, because the few times she had allowed herself to get attached to someone, they had all eventually bailed, because she was too much for them to handle. But regardless of that, once she realized that she was missing Elijah, everything that she had been ignoring throughout their time spent together had forced itself to be known. She had spent a lot of time dwelling on little moments between them near the end that had felt different, reflecting on the fact that they had meant something, and she had concluded that the reason she hadn't noticed sooner was because she had his it from herself out of fear that she might realize she had feelings for him, but that he wouldn't reciprocate those feelings and it would ruin what they had.
Now there was no hiding it from herself; she had feelings for Elijah. And as she sat in her room, dwelling on the fact that someone had told her he didn't care about her being gone, she eventually shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed with a fierce expression of determination as she leaped up to her feet, because she decided she wasn't going to believe that for sure unless she heard it come from his own mouth; and maybe not even then. She marched over to her door and pulled it open, making her way out into the hall before turning and taking the few steps it took to get to his door. There was too much determination coursing through her for there to be any hesitation at all before she knocked on the door, her face still carrying a hard and blazing look.
