Though she was her parent's baby girl, she found herself escaping home often and wandering parts of town her father had always forbidden her from seeing. She met colorful people - children her age who had never gone to school, grandmothers with drug addictions, men with unmended broken bones who still went out to work every day. She met the people her parents had always shielded their precious daughter from and she walked among them. She witnessed drug busts; she saw social workers taking children from their parents; she saw people sleeping in gutters. And she watched it all as a scientist observes lab rats. Pity and sympathy buried underneath the keen curiosity that kept her from ever intervening.
During this time, she began to resent her privileged upbringing. She did not resent the money, for she knew it was stupid to resent the very thing the needy most longed for. But she resented the way her family looked upon the outskirts of society, and the way the ignored it. She was intrigued by it, and crime compelled her as much as it sickened her. From that time on, she became less of a spoiled, rich girl by separating her life at home from everything else. She removed herself from her friends at school and spent more and more time hanging around dilapidated playgrounds and community centers.
Despite this change within the young girl, she was still her parent's precious baby girl. The Bishop girls were sent to Durmstrang, as their parents both agreed it was the most prestigious institution of learning in the world. They dressed Claire up and took pictures and sent her on her way, expecting her to be loved by her peers and doted on by her professors.
Durmstrang Years: Claire's years in Durmstrang were just as she had planned them to be - quiet. She aimed to achieve excellence whilst skirting recognition, and she worked hard to achieve this. She took on a heavy workload, taking every class of merit she could while taking on several academic extracurricular activities on as well. In class, she made sure not to attract the positive attention of her professors. This was helped in that her dormmate, Elsie Norton, was the most obnoxious girl in Durmstrang. Elsie, practically a squib, was hated by Claire the moment the two met. Not only did Elsie's name sound too much like Claire's mother, but she was loud, foul-mouthed, and certainly trouble. However, on the first day of class, Claire observed how Elsie sat alone and still managed to make the boring class seem like a party. Anything said was turned into a joke, and even though the jokes were crude, the method in which they were invented was clever. Elsie shoveled her food the way Claire did when no one was around, and there were rare moments of chivalry when Elsie boasted her muggle lineage. The daughter of a prestigious pureblood in the Ministry as well as a Russian muggle, Elsie was the black sheep of Durmstrang. So, Claire slowly fell in love with the girl and they were best friends by the end of their first year.
Claire's Durmstrang years passed. During the year, she avoided everyone but Elsie (including her sister) and was generally liked but not often thought of. During the summers, Claire visited Elsie at her mother's new home in New York, gradually spending longer and longer stays there as she fell in love with the city. She picked up a pen and began journaling in third year, continued to stay at the top of her class without getting any approval for it, and worked on her own forms of activism
During her fifth year, Elsie convinced Claire that the ultimate source of fun would be to drop in on a popular kid party and ruin their fun by simply forcing their presence upon the Durmstrang Elite. The plan backfired when everyone seemed too drunk to care, and backfired worse when Elsie met Robin Ivanov at the party and the two, as different as they were, hit it off.
Though Claire liked to act as though the boy were the worst thing to ever come into her life, she began thinking of him more and more. Suddenly, she was getting invitations to these Popular Parties, as well as invitations to join them at lunch, and join them in the Quidditch stands. She, true to form, brought Elsie who never once minded that they seemed to hate having her around. They seemed to put up with Claire and her loud mouthed friend because their favorite Ivanov seemed to really like her. The two became an item, and as the relationship continued on, Claire withdrew from his friends to spend more time with him.
Though Robin was the fun guy on campus, and Claire was the school busybody, they managed to have a good relationship. Claire saw more in Robin than anyone else had, seeing that he had a spirit of gentility and intelligence beneath the jokes and the bravado. Though he continued on as usual, she worked hard to try and unearth more about him. She shared her writing with him, spent many nights alone in his company, and talked of the good that could be done in the world if someone just decided they would take on the brunt of the work. Claire, finally, opened her heart to someone.
Unfortunately, graduation was drawing nearer, and opportunities were arising for Claire, but not so much for Robin. Without a second thought, Claire accepted a position in the American Ministry of Magic, but held off on telling Robin. She wanted him to continue in her life, but only if she knew he would grow to be more suitable partner and open himself up to her. She held off telling him as long as she could in the hopes that he approached her first about their future together. Unfortunately, he seemed too focused on graduation celebrations and she began to resign herself to the terrible duty of breaking up with him. She was chosen for valedictorian of their class and found herself without time to do the terrible deed, deciding to wait for after graduation.
But on that night, Robin did something highly unexpected and proposed. Claire, too certain of her life path to abandon it for sentiment, followed the news with her acceptance into the American Ministry and her suggestion that they separate for their adult lives. It was a hard night, and one that broke Claire's stone heart. When she managed to limp away, she spent the night at Elsie's house, silently wetting her sleeping friend's bed sheets with tears.
Adulthood: Though going to the Ministry of Magic in America was a dream of hers, it was going to be tough for her. Her parents were incredibly displeased in her lack of nationalism and all of her "friends" (well, Robin's friends) from Durmstrang currently hated her because of the break up. Elsie, dear Elsie, was being oddly vague about her plans, saying she would travel about and see where she ended up. Though New York was her dream city, Claire was becoming more and more anxious about living alone. Though she was self reliant, there was a big hole in her life where Robin had previously resided, and facing all the changes without an ounce of support was frightening. However, Claire held on, looking as though she were born for the challenge, and moved to New York.
She thought there had been a mess up when she arrived at the apartment the Ministry had assigned her, for she entered to see that someone had left a ton of stuff. It took only a few seconds for the furniture to begin looking familiar, and only a few seconds more for Elsie to spring out of the closet and hug her friend. Elsie had spent the entire summer hiding the fact that she had managed to land a secretary job (for now) in the American Ministry and had requested she move in with Claire. She had even forged Claire's signature on the release form, like a true friend. With this assurance of friendship, Claire felt much more prepared to tackle the challenges ahead of her.
Claire took to New York like a professional. The streets and transportation did not bother her for a second, and she assimilated into both the magical and muggle cultures of the big city. Her time in the Ministry began with serious placement tests, as they were considering her for high-profile work. She tested spectacularly across the board, but seemed best suited for intelligence gathering. Her job title was never actually given, though it was described as a cross between an Unspeakable and an Intelligence Consultant. Though her uppers could give her tasks, she was typically asked to do her own work. As apart of her job, she was rotated between departments in so she had a grasp in everything.
Claire and Elsie made friends, both magical and muggle, and enjoyed a moderate social life. Claire skirted any romantic entanglements, instead focusing her energy on rescuing Elsie from her vivacious social life. They enjoyed New Years' Eves in Time's Square. They spent their weekends exploring the underworld of the big city at dangerous morning hours. And they enjoyed their life as thoroughly as possible. They were young professionals, and they were trying to do their best and attempt to survive the big, bad world they had seen.
Claire spent three years in New York, happily living her life and doing all she had wanted to do with her best friend by her side, as faithful as anyone could be. She was now on first name basis with the American Minister of Magic, often doing jobs specifically assigned for him. In August of her third year in New York, several important American magical objects came up missing, and through preliminary reports, a list of suspects came to Claire. Not only was the British Ministry considered a potential enemy, there was a list of potential individuals who were considered capable of the crime. One being Robin Ivanov. Claire was asked to ship off to the United Kingdom, settle, and take on a Consulting Auror job in the Ministry of Magic there and investigate. It was a sad time for, though Elsie was allowed to assist, she was not permitted to move to the U.K as of now. So Claire finds herself travelling alone to the unfamiliar country to join a Ministry she feels no ties to, to spy and investigate but worst of all, to confront the very man she believes she may have ruined.
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BEHIND THE CHARACTER
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ALSO KNOWN AS: Jackles
RP EXPERIENCE: Some.
HOW YOU FOUND US: In the land of Muse, there was nothing but the Lone Wanderer. She sought light and guidance, she sought the clay with which her fingers could guide creation. She wandered alone, rarely clothed, and with a mind full of thunderstorms and cold. Cold, cold, cold. This was her life without a vessel. She had the means, she had the mind, but what of the vessel to carry the sweet nectar of creativity and thought? Long she traveled, growing wearier with each rise of sun and with each descent of moon. Until came the day her spirit broke, and she fell off the quest for fulfillment and fell into the abyss of creative agony known to some by many names but called by the masses Boredom. In this state, she writhed and moaned out for solace and rescue. She withered, becoming colder and colder, more shrunken and childlike. One day, with the rising sun, a figure sprang forward on a steed of dazzling roan. It galloped towards the Lone Wanderer and offered a hand. On accepting this hand, she found a warmth spread throughout her. She felt characters bursting from her mouth, stories tumbling out her ears. She looked into the figure's eyes and saw the expanse of all of Life. Not just Past, Present, or Future, but the realms of What Could Be, What Shouldn't Be, What Never Could, and of All Potential Ships. And these realms were real, and could fit in the palm of her hands. She wept for the beauty and asked the figure, "Who are you who brings me my vessel?" And the figure responded with the wisdom of the Earth itself. "I am Potter's Army."
^This is actually exactly how it happened.
MAIN CHARACTER: Jack Dyllan.
PURPOSE OF CHARACTER: She, as you might tell, has some history with Robin. Not only will she be plotting with him, but her sister as well. And I think a character with a fresh start might be nice.
RP SAMPLE: - Spoiler:
by Claire Bishop Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:37 am
