Claire Merriman

Claire Merriman is the co-protagonist of CLAIRE AND JANETTE. Raised by the last surviving member of the Order of the Hood, she and her sister/partner Janette work relentlessly to bring the world back to its former glory, one bank at a time.

Appearance
Claire is a young woman of a short stature. Rarely is she ever seen without her orange turtleneck sweater and glasses. She wears black pants and brown shoes. Her hair is curved and pointy towards the front, and round-ish towards the back. Her bangs point towards her right. She can often also be seen with a strap to keep her belongings on her person. Her clothes are of poor quality as they wear and tear through use and are frequently messy, a result made possible from her many adventures.

Personality
Perky, outgoing and brave, Claire treats every new experience with a smirk on her face, raring to go. She'll jump into any issue headfirst and do her best to blow any obstacle out of the way of her goals. She loves making new friends, and making new rivals even more. She wants to prove to the world that she can overcome any overpowering force or authority that tries to keep her down. Being a thief, she also knows how to be sneaky and mischievous, and her learned experiences from the battlefield have left her all the more crafty with her tricks and schemes. Her thieving nature has left thoughts of greed and fortune within her as well. She'll help anyone in need, but absolutely refuses to call herself a "hero."

Early Life
Claire was born to married couple Stella and Mavis some time after the first defeat of the then up and coming Mayor Hayley. As a child she remained curious of things around her, but her thirst for adventure, and freeing everyone from the powers that be comes from seeing the world at such a young age. Claire was their first child, before adopting another who would become her sister, Janette. From small they trained as a family, Claire's mothers teaching her everything she would know and develop today.

The mayor sought for revenge against the couple and their rebellion, and would quell any and all resistance against her power. At 8 years of age, Claire was used as bait to lure her mothers in. She was also experimented on, against her will or knowledge at the time. With Mavis fighting to rescue her, Claire was freed from her shackles, but her other mother mysteriously vanished without a trace.

The Beginning
Despite the defeat of the mayor, Claire remained in poverty for years to come. In her growing years, Claire would fend off members of her community, or others with her mothers' names on a list, in hopes that they would reap in the big bucks of having a member of the Hood, or their children, taken out from the picture. In turn, she had honed her skills by stealing from those who steal from her in stead, her experience making her sharper and cunning.

Seeking vengeance for her fallen mother, Claire and her sister would finally take up the reins left behind by the long dismantled Hood in bringing the fight to the now middle-aged mayor. She catches the mayor's attention after robbing ten of her government banks in a week. Their first fight was not an easy battle, as Claire was still inexperienced with facing the mayor and her forces. The tools that served her mother well in the battles before could not dent any of the mayor's newly upgraded weaponry and tech. It wasn't long before a helping hand from the other side would aid them with newer, secret weapons that could do the damage her old weapons did by tenfold. Emerging victorious, their battle would kickstart many more in the near future.

Skills and Abilities
Weapons

Claire owns a seemingly infinite arsenal of explosives at her disposal. Bombs are almost always stored on her person and have been kept as a preferred method of attack. They come in multiple sizes: PeeWee, Cherry, Normal, Large, Extra Large and Hyper. The larger the bombs, the more damage they can do.

While able to throw the bombs with peak efficiency, Claire can also resort to her Bombzooka, which she named herself. The Bombzooka is a bazooka-like rifle developed by a currently anonymous source that allows her to shoot multiple bombs at an even greater efficiency than she would throwing them alone. Great for dealing with large machines and armies, this is Claire's personal method of dealing with threats. The Bombzooka is solar powered, the power of the sun giving the weapon energy to store and fire massive amounts of bombs from a pocket space, functioning as her "ammo." Each part is recyclable as it's made of tin cans and hard plastics, making it easy to repair if damaged.

Combat Ability

Trained by one of the best, Claire is very agile and aggressive. She was taught what her mother had learned from being with the Hood. From a young age Claire learned how to use her surroundings, never leaving herself defenseless, and can use hand to hand combat ability with rapid jabs and kicks. Claire is also well versed with close quarter combat. Her moves are arguably weaker than her sister's own, however and her body can't take as much as it can dish out.

Thievery

Her outward appearance is made to fool, naturally hiding the idea that she's a thief to begin with. But Claire knows how to squeeze herself into the tightest of spaces and can keep her tongue shut to move about without making as much of a sound. Her need to speak can blow her cover whenever she's not able to focus.

Relationships
Family

Janette

Sister, partner and trusted individual, Claire and her sister are like two peas in a pod. Their bond has grown so strong after years of training and enduring crazy adventures that Claire trusts older sister Janette with her life. The two are often at odd ends, as siblings can be, sometimes arguing about plans and ideas for their heists and robberies. They differ in strategy and tactics, Claire usually opting for a louder approach when available. At times, Claire feels like she can't live up to how cool she thinks her sister is and hopes she can become more calm and composed in the future like her.

Stella

Claire's surviving mother, as well as her teacher and trainer. She looks up to Stella with nothing but respect, love and care. Despite her old age, Stella still has much to teach her daughter, and much to keep from her as well. Claire understands that Stella's not fit for battle as much as she used to be in her heyday, and does her best to protect her mother as much as she does her. Both share a love of adventure that refuses to be sated even after retiring. Claire wishes she could try to disappoint her mother less, just to avoid the lectures Stella gives her after a failed, or nearly failed, heist.

Mavis

Claire's other mother. Currently MIA, Claire seeks nothing but answers to find out just where her mother could have gone. Mavis was the more tender of the two moms, and made sure to teach Claire to respect those who earn hers, among other means of advice. Mavis' disappearance has left her heartbroken, missing a piece of herself as she grew older. Despite the lack of Mavis being in her life, Claire knows that she'd never want her to give up, her missing mother turning into her undying flame of putting down the mayor once and for all.

Friends

Trina

Claire's go-to shopkeeper. Trina and Claire are on good terms when it comes to making business. Some of her stocks are even thanks to the effort Claire and her sister make. Trina's shops have become something of a second home to her, and whenever she needs to take a break, Trina was always there to lend a helping hand. Trina's pacifistic nature irks her a bit, but Claire and sister Janette always make a valiant enough attempt to protect her and her store. Claire can't help but scratch her head whenever Trina makes a pop up shop somewhere she least expects one to be...

Shay

On-and-off-again rivals. Originally hired by the mayor, Shay makes it her sole mission to hunt Claire down no matter what. Claire groans at the sight of Shay, who often butts in on heists and schemes against the mayor. Unfortunately for both, they end up working together more often than they are raring to kill one another. It leads to banter, insults, and sometimes even a little bit of roughhousing. But when both are in sync, they're unstoppable. As time passes on, Claire grows to understand Shay a little better...as much as she can try to, at least.

Melody

The mayor's daughter. At first, they were enemies, bound by the roles of their predecessors, but over time, Claire learned just how different Melody was from her mother. It grew to interest at first, before eventually the grew into friends even quicker. Before long, Claire would depend on Melody for being an inside source of any and all information on the schemes her mother was planning. To keep the mayor off their back, they put on a show to give her the right idea, and she has yet to notice. Their feelings have developed so much that it just might appear that they...

Dep.

Friendly rival from Mars.

Enemies

Mayor Hayley

A thorn on her side, the mayor is the one thing in the way of Claire's goals. Claire sees the mayor as a threat, but an old one, who's past her prime. She takes every opportunity to mock the ruler of Neo Terra, cracking jokes at the mayor's expense. But she's well aware of what she's capable of, with the money she has. Their battles can leave the two on the brink of life and death, the stakes growing higher after every fight. Claire refuses to let up to someone like her, until she can answer for all the wrongdoings she's committed.

Roe Grimm

Claire can make fun and crack a joke at the mayor, but her right hand is a harder cookie to crack. Roe can even outright scare Claire at times, and the commissioner's many "games" she love to play have left her impaired with night terrors and headaches upon impact. She's well aware that she's being used as a pawn every time, but knows how to turn the tides against her. She's much harder to fight that the likes of the mayor, Claire finds, due to Roe's demonic essence. Claire's will remains unfettered even in the presence of the demon.

Blaire

Claire's evil clone. Hardly deterred by her endless need to be the "real" Claire, Claire finds Blaire to be excessive, aggressive, and downright creepy. As an opponent, Blaire is hard to figure out, as she has mastered every single move of her own and more. It often takes a team up with Janette to put her down temporarily. Like her, she keeps coming back stronger, more dangerous and deadly every time. Claire questions her own legitimacy as a person for every experience she has with Blaire, the thoughts of her possibly being a fake get harder to shake off every time.

Trivia

 * Claire was originally intended to be a side character in Ivory's story as Kadym's odd cousin from France.
 * She was designed to be an antagonist before gaining more development, then getting her own universe and story not long afterwards. The original idea of her being an antagonist would be shifted to the likes of her clone, Blaire.
 * Despite her overwhelming amounts of explosives kept on hand, she will not survive the gorilla test.