Character Study of Claire Albright – Player Linda B.

Claire Albright was born into a family that cared very little about her existence. Her father spent most of his time making love to a bottle of Jim Bean and her mother was out making love to just about everything else. It was this environment that taught Claire to fend for herself at an early age. Her first contact with another adult, at school, left Claire enamored with her kindergarten teacher, Ms. Mills. Claire told her everything, including her visions of fantastic creatures and things lurking in the shadows. Ms. Mills gently discouraged these thoughts and suggested that Claire be more social with the other children. However, when the other children overheard Claire's confessions they promptly turned on her, taunting her and throwing sticks and stones on the playground. In a flash of anger one day, Claire grabbed the ringleader's hair and smashed his face to the pavement, letting the pool of blood flow wider as she ground his head into the concrete. After that, the smart children let her be, and the stupid and mean formed a gang around her. When the calls from school started, dear old daddy was too messed up to care. Eventually Claire dropped out of high school and terrorized the local neighborhood with her fiendish gang. From there things only worsened. Claire's Chrysalis brought her the attention of the Fae, but of all the wrong kind, including the changeling known as Freddie. Used to the gang mentality and harassing others into getting what she wanted, Claire quickly adapted to her new comrades and lifestyle. Her gang reaped a new kind of havoc, leaving destruction, madmen, and suicides in their wake.

It is at this point that Claire's story takes its first turn for the better. She is confronted about her actions by BEE, and, true to form, fends for herself to the best of her abilities against a Sidhe noble, by disregarding any class differentiation and by telling BEE, “ Who are you to tell us to stop? You've never gone hungry! Go fuck yourself.” Claire only agreed to change her behavior after meeting the famed and infamous Sir Jain. He impressed her, and his slight aura of danger intrigued her enough to persuade her to listen to his words. BEE and Sir Jain truly influenced Claire because they treated her differently from anything she'd ever experienced before; they gave without expecting anything in return. Claire realized the immorality of her previous acts and regretted her ways. She took up residence in the Highground estate and delved into a revitalizing relationship with Sir Jain. For the first time in her life, Claire understood what it was like to have a family built on love, and not a gang built on fear. Unfortunately, some ghosts from her past still haunted her, such as her forsaken lover, Freddie, who vowed to exact revenge on the new blissful lovers. His vow was never carried to fruition, for the war against the War Goddess began too soon afterwards. The morning of the ritual attempting to return the Goddess to her former self, Sir Jain and Claire were wed. The same day, Sir Jain was slain.

Claire was torn. Her wail of mourning echoed through Mary's halls. She was broken, one half left to wander the world alone. She tries to go on, attemting to survive by relying on the skills that helped her as a child, but the pieces keep falling apart. She keeps near to BEE, the remaining foundation of her new life in hopes that she will be a stable rock to grasp in these troubled times. At the funeral in Muses, Claire clung desperately to the satchel and hat left behind by her departed husband. When the Forest God of the North appeared at the ceremonies, she immediately knew his intent. At first she quailed to relinquish the hat, clinging to it as if it were her lover, but as the evening progressed, she learned that the hat was imbued with some of the God's own magic, and as such, rightfully belonged to him. With trembling heart and hands, she offered the hat up to him, but strangely, he turned her away, saying he needed more time to contemplate the situation. At last the God called Jain's closest friends into a circle and announced that he had decided to let the magic, and the hat, stay within this group. Though Claire was filled with relief she felt something move within her. The hat's magic was not for her, and she could feel it being drawn to another. She acknowledged this a little sadly, realizing that, for the good of all, the hat belonged in the hands (and on the head) of the person who could use its powers best. After asking the God's permission, it was with both a heavy and happy heart that Claire passed the hat on to Sir Careg.

Later Claire learned that Sir Careg and Amelie intended to be wed, and she accompanied them to Las Vegas , along with Gabriel and BEE. The ceremony was a beautiful sight indeed, but it was a bittersweet occasion for Claire that brought memories of her own short-lived marriage. The event has left Claire questioning her future and purpose, now that Sir Jain is gone and the end of the world is close at hand.