Canon Stuff You Should Know!
Please give us a detailed personal history of your character: Claire is the illegitimate daughter of Senator Nathan Petrelli and former Company agent Meredith Gordon, both of whom are evolved humans. The Company tracked Meredith down to claim her and her child, and she panicked and set the apartment on fire with everyone inside. Meredith fled as she believed she had accidentally killed her own daughter, but this was not the case. Claire's ability protected her from the flames, although the incident lead to a nasty cough she carried for a few months as a baby. She was given to a Company employee named Noah Bennet who was wholly unprepared to have a child, but his wife Sandra was delighted. The three of them, and later Lyle, form a nice seemingly normal family in Odessa Texas.
Sometime during her junior year at High School, Claire discovers her ability to heal from any injury. This leads to confusion and panic on her part, and she seeks companionship in a boy named Zach. While they hadn't spoken in years because she became part of the "cool" crowd, he grudgingly follows her with his camcorder when she assures him it won't be a waste of time. To his shock and excitement, Claire displays her ability to him by jumping off a nearby tower. She makes several 'attempts' all of which have the same result -- she can't be hurt. As they walk back home Claire notices a fire that has started and decides to test how hot it is, but her goal changes once she sees a man is trapped inside. Once she has freed him she quickly runs off from the befuddled fireman, who later track down her school to thank the cheerleader. However, they didn't get a good look at her face and Claire refuses to take credit for the action. Her rival and co-captian Jackie quickly jumps on the opportunity and claims she was the rescuer.
Claire instead continues to hold on to her normal life, and attends a bonfire party after school where she meets up with Brody Mitchell. He charms her and a tipsy Claire allows him to lead her to the bleachers to make out, but his intentions soon become more than that. As Claire tries to fight him off, he pushes her and the back of her head meets a tree branch. Hours later, her body is found stripped and she wakes up on the autopsy table once the branch is removed from her head. She puts herself back together and runs out before the doctor comes back in, only to be greeted by her father once she steps inside her house. Claire feels like there is no point in going after him since she can't prove anything until a fellow classmate reveals that "nothing" happened to her too. Enranged, Claire meets up with Brody after school and gives him the impression she doesn't remember the events of the other night. After some flirtation she convinces him to let her drive. As she speeds up, she tells him that she knows what he's done and crashes headfirst into a wall. They are both taken to the hospital where Bennet meets her, and Claire tearfully reveals what happened to her. Unknown to her at the time, her father takes his own action and removes Brody's memory.
Claire is now an outcast at school for putting the star quarterback in the hospital. She feels there is no reason to keep pushing for Homecoming Queen, but Zach convinces her to check the results anyway. As it turns out, her stunts and gained her massive popularity among the student body who hate Jackie and her posse. Later on Jackie confronts Claire and sets her off by making remarks about Zach's sexuality -- to which Claire responds by punching her in the face. Her father is furious and grounds her under this pretense, but he's really seen a painting by Issac Mendez that depicts a cheerleader's death at homecoming. Zach climbs up her window and, while subtly rejecting her flirtations, tells her to embrace her inner freak and helps her escape. Her mother does nothing to stop this, but her father rushes after her. Claire tells Jackie she knows she was lying about saving the man from the fire, but as they try to leave the locker room the serial killer Sylar attacks. Having seen the local paper, he believes Jackie to be the one with abilities and slams Claire aside. Jackie's head is split open and by the time Sylar sees Claire heal and realizes his mistake, it's too late. Claire runs out of the locker room and straight into Peter Petrelli, who believed it was his destiny to save the cheerleader. He protects Claire and fights Sylar, causing them to both fall from the stands outside, but he absorbed Claire's ability and heals on the spot. As Claire runs to get help, Peter is arrested and she is taken home by her father. She tells him everything that's happened, but to her shock he reveals he's known all along.
After visiting Peter in jail, her father attempts to have her memory removed by the Haitian, since he's already removed the memories of Lyle and Zach. Acting under "higher orders", the Haitian does not go through with it and instead tells Claire to play along. He temporarily becomes her confidant as she seeks answers about herself and her parents. Deciding she doesn't want to go at it alone, she brings Zach back to the tower and re-enacts her first attempt. After this, Zach believes her and helps her track down her biological mother, Meredith Gordon. Claire skips school and tells her mother she's going to do research at the aquarium, when she really goes to meet Meredith. Claire sees her mother's ability and asks about her father, but Meredith won't touch the subject. When she returns home, her mother doesn't remember her plans to go to the aquarium and has an "episode". Claire calls her father and Sandra is taken to the neurologist, where Bennet insists she'll be fine. Claire snaps at her father, who later grounds her for the fake aquarium tickets. She calls Meredith to ask about her birth father who is going to visit, but she is hesitant to let Claire meet him. Claire overhears the conversation where Nathan is just there to give money before leaving. Angry, Claire tosses a rock at his car before leaving.
When she gets home her mother is having an even worse episode, claiming she doesn't know who Claire is. Trying to explain what the Haitian did to her does not work, so Claire calls her father and Sandra is once again taken to the hospital, where Claire yells at her father for his constant lying. When they return home, the family is taken hostage by Matt Parkman and Ted. Things get a little too intense and Bennet realizes the only way to resolve the situation is to have Matt shoot Claire (an order he gives mentally) since Claire will heal. The rest of the family truly believe Claire to be dead as her body is moved to her bedroom, where she promptly spits out the bullet. She helps release Lyle and her mother but runs back inside the house when she realizes her father is still in there. Being the only one who can get close enough to Ted when he is so radioactive, she takes the tranquilizer from her father and neutralizes the threat, but also heals from the radioactive burn wounds in front of everyone. Now that her ability is out in the open, Bennet is told he must turn her over to the Company. Instead he leaves her in the care of the Haitian, who she escapes quickly to track down the Petrellis. She is greeted by Angela who gives her the cliff notes of the situation -- everyone believed she died in the fire as a baby. She is estranged from Nathan who is more focused on the upcoming election rather than the life of his brother. Fed up with his attitude, Claire chooses to dive out of the window of his office and looks for Peter. At Kirby Plaza, Peter begs for Claire to shoot him before he destroys the city, but she can't do it and Nathan shows up just in time. He tells Claire she has convinced him that there is another way, and flies off into the sky just before Peter explodes.
Claire and her family attempt to return to a normal life after this incident. Her father moves them to Costa Verde, California and they assume the identity of the "Butlers". Claire tries to keep her head down under the advice of her father, but is found out by a curious classmate named West who can fly. As they discover more about each other and their abilities, he tells her a man with "horn rimmed glasses" experimented on him. Claire realizes this is her father, but does not say anything. Instead she carries on her relationship with West in secret. The two end up using their abilities to pull a cruel joke on the head cheerleader Debbie because of her nasty attitude, which leaves a spot open for Claire and a good cover up whenever she decides to leave the house.
One day, when West visits Claire's house, he sees her father and thinks she has led him into a trap. Noah finds out about her stunt and says they will have to move again because of her screw up; she refuses to go along and she tells him she hates him. Shortly after, Bob Bishop from the Company ends up tracking Claire down at her cheerleading practice, but slips up and calls her "Bennet". She runs home to warn her family and sees an image of Issac's painting left on her father's computer which depicts his death. Unfortunately the attempt to warn her family is too late and Bob shows up with a gun. He kidnaps Claire, but in turn, Noah kidnaps Elle (with West's help) and they agree on an exchange. During the switch, Elle zaps West and Claire as they try to fly away. Noah shoots Elle and in response, Mohinder shoots and kills Noah right in front of Claire. She tearfully tells her family what has happened as West watches on.
Bob gives Claire an urn with (presumably) her father's ashes, and she holds a small informal funeral. While scattering the ashes she sees Elle watching from afar. Incensed, Claire punches the car window next to Elle and threatens to expose her ability and the Company. Back home, as she is gathering all her father's documents from the Company to present, West tells her he thinks she's making a mistake. Claire feels he's being selfish to protect his own secret, so she hands him his file and breaks up with him. Meanwhile, the blood Bob took from Claire is being used to cure her father, who was never actually cremated. He is allowed to return home so that he can warn Claire not to expose the Company, as she's ruffling quite a few feathers. He tells her so long as he continues to work with the Company, they will leave the family alone.
Meanwhile, her biological father Nathan is also prepared to expose his ability, but he is shot in the process - an event Claire witnesses on TV. She packs up to leave, but (Future!)Peter tells her to stay home. This sets off a chain reaction, and leaves Claire where she was never supposed to be. Sylar shows up at her home, and while she makes a valiant effort to kill him, he still overpowers her and takes her ability. Before leaving, he re-attaches the top of her head and tells her she is "special" and she can never die. The experience leaves her numb, quite literally, as she can no longer feel pain of any kind. She tries to make another video of her being hit by a train, but Future!Peter (although Claire is unaware this is Future!Peter and not her Peter) flies in and demands to know what she's doing. Once she tells him what happens, he expresses regret but tells her he cannot help her. At home, her father is concerned with the recently escaped Level 5 Inmates. Because of this, he enlists the help of her biological mother Meredith.
Claire doesn't feel like she should have to go back to school and fights with Sandra about it, but Meredith is intrigued by Claire's new urge to fight. She allows Claire to play hooky with her and takes her a storage container where she suffocates her in flames until Claire admits she doesn't want to fight to help people, she wants revenge. Meredith assumes their little heart-to-heart has tempered Claire a bit, but instead, she's got a stronger drive than ever. She leaves the house by convincing her mothers she is going to a sleepover, but she has taken a box of Noah's files and is driving off to capture a level 5 inmate named Stephen Canfield.
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality: Claire on the surface is a very sweet, average girl. She likes stuffed bears, mermaids, cheerleading, and loves her family although they irritate her sometimes. It would seem that she wouldn't have trouble fitting in or making friends, but the reality is quite the opposite. On the inside, Claire feels isolated and alone. Initially, this was because of her developing powers, which she felt was a curse that would only lead to a lonely existence inside a lab. Although she finds temporary solace in her best friend Zach, and later Peter, her father tries to strip away these memories in order to "protect" her. This begins the start of Claire's growing estrangement with the father she once looked up to. Despite her many relatives in the series, Claire is only truly close to a few of them. Claire cares for Noah, but his constant lies always leave her between loving and hating him. She feels she cannot get her mother too involved for her own safety. Nathan and Meredith are her biological parents, but she knows almost nothing about them. On top of all of that, the many situations she gets in leave any friendships with people her own age fleeting.
Ironically, despite hating that Noah's line of work tears the family apart, she's almost unknowingly following in his footsteps. Claire is quite tired of being victimized by villains and molly-coddled by her various parental figures, because she's grown up now, and she can take care of herself. She doesn't like feeling helpless and out of control, so she's going to take it back any way she can. Most of the time, her acting out makes her seem like a brat, although she doesn't mean to come off that way. For example, she plays a prank using her powers with West on a bitchy cheerleader, but doesn't think how the stunt will effect the family. She simply got overeager to share her ability with someone in (what she thought was) a carefree way, and didn't think of the consequences. Claire also jumps the gun in trying to capture the Level 5 inmates, mostly due to Sylar's recent attack on her. A mixture of anger and loss of control lead her to dive headfirst into the job, which it turns out is more for revenge because she wants to hurt someone who hurt her. Her impulses often lead to situations that backfire on her, although she's got her heart in the right place.
Claire is very brave for someone her age, which is a combination of her own brashness and her ability to never get hurt. She has a very strong sense of righteousness, as she practically spits on the "free pass" Nathan gives her and instead chooses to help her captured friends. While he doesn't understand her lack of gratitude, she doesn't understand the heartlessness of his actions. Claire may sometimes use her ability for selfish purposes (pranks, revenge - as justified as it may be), but she also tries to help others with it when she can. She easily takes a clip of bullets for Matt Parkman and later on dares a secret service agent to shoot her in the head if he's not willing to listen to her (note: I realize these things happened later in canon then where I'm taking her, but they are still canon examples, so I figured it still counted).
Claire almost displays almost infinite forgiveness to those she's close to, and an understanding to everyone. Her love/hate relationship with Noah is the perfect example of this, since no matter how bad he might fuck up as a dad, she still loves and forgives him. Claire even accepts Elle, who was her enemy, when she comes to her home looking for help. When capturing Level 5 inmate Stephen, Claire ends up listening to his story and ultimately helps to try and reunite him with his family. For Claire to hold a grudge is rare, and the person would have to have done something truly evil to warrant her hatred.