Plain and Boring... Promise.

Who: Claire and Sean
When: After school
Where: Steps outside of the library

It wasn't too shortly after school that Claire started walking toward the library. It was the easiest, most convenient place to hide for awhile and read and hopefully the building would remain shadowless. She wasn't sure what the things were, only that it freaked a lot of people out - some more so than others. It wasn't affecting Claire so much, given what had been going on in town over the past couple of months anyway. However, that didn't mean the shadows weren't terribly unnerving. She thought about texting Josh to see if he was okay, you know, just in case, but bit back on the urge. She hadn't heard from him since they hung out a few days prior, and she didn't want him to think he had to hang out with her, or communicate, or just about anything with her. Then again, maybe something had happened, or he broke another body part, or hurt himself and couldn't get in touch with her. Maybe she should text or something.

Claire readjusted her book bag on her back and decided not to turn into one of those annoying girls who wondered if some guy was going to call or not. Especially when they were just friends. Claire rolled her eyes at herself and quickened her steps to the library, attempting not to trip over herself on the way. She managed it - until she got to the steps. She wasn't even sure how she did it, except that her feet were sort of tangled up and then she was landing hard on her knees on the stone steps. A few books slid out from her bag onto the stairs behind her. Sighing, Claire shifted and sat down, watching three of her papers flutter away from her books, down the steps toward the street. She would have jumped up to run after them if her knees didn't hurt - and she was sure she wouldn't have just gone toppling down the stairs after them. "Bullshit," she muttered, resisting the urge to throw a fit. At least no one saw her.

Sean stooped down and picked up the papers as they blew past his feet and walked up to the girl, blessing his own luck that gave him the opportunity. He didn't ever mention the fact that he occasionally followed his ward, but he did - there was nothing else to do in this shitty town a lot of the time and he got bored easily. And Joshua had mentioned the girl, so he'd put two and two together and since there'd been the nightmare of finding out that the boy's ex had been made of black magic, the angel had decided that anything female in Joshua's life was worth checking out before things got to the stage they had with the last one. Runaway papers was a great excuse for a meeting. "I believe you dropped these," he said, walking up to her with a smile, his Irish accent ringing out clear and pleasant.

Claire was picking up her books and piling them on her lap when the voice startled her. She looked up, surprised that she hadn't even heard the guy coming. Then again, she was too busy cursing herself mentally that she wasn't paying much attention to anything else. "Oh! Thank you... I appreciate it, believe me." She offered a small, grateful smile, shoving her books into her bag to free up her hands. At least there were some courteous people left in town. Courteous people with Irish accents. Claire studied the guy's face and wondered if this was Josh's cousin? How many people had Irish accents in town? "I'm Claire Korey," she said, figuring introductions were the best way to get her answer. "The wind always seems to pick up when I drop things."

"Sean McInney," the angel told her, holding out his hand, either to shake, or to help her up, whichever she preferred. "Quite the fall you had there - are you okay? You didn't hurt yourself, did you, Claire?" he asked, glad that he'd been right and this was the girl. He'd thought as much, but confirmation was always nice.

She took his hand, blushing a bit, given she had been wrong and apparently he had seen her fall. Fantastic. Oh well. "Yeah, I'm fine. It happens." She used his hand as leverage and pulled herself up. Her knees still hurt, but she'd survive. She released his hand and reached down to pick up her bag and sling it over her shoulder. Eager to get off the subject of her spill, she smiled at Sean. "You wouldn't happen to be Josh's cousin, would you?" She knew it had to be, given he was Irish and shared the same name, but it was probably still more polite to ask than to assume. She didn't see any physical resemblance to Josh, other than Sean was pretty cute too - not that attractiveness was any indication of family relation at all.

"Josh... Oh! Joshua? Barclay? Not cousin, not really, but I'm his guardian," Sean told her - then realised that his presence might have been explained away by a relation label. Right, he should go with that. "We have a strange extended family thing going on - aunts, uncles, cousins - not so much blood relations, but it all works out in the end. I grew up with Joshua's family, see," he told her - which was almost the truth. he'd been an adult when he'd found them, but he'd been with the family for the last eighty-odd years. Possibly it was more accurate to say that Joshua's family had grown up with him. "You know Joshua, er - Josh then?" he asked.

"Oh." Claire shot him an odd look, wondering why Josh called him his cousin then. Maybe it was just one of those things - like having an Uncle Phil who really wasn't your uncle. Or maybe Josh felt it was easier to say cousin than to explain guardianship and the whole... strange, extended family Sean was talking about. It didn't really seem to matter, she supposed. "Sounds confusing, but if it all works out in the end..." She trailed off with a faint smile. "I know Josh, yeah. I mean, sort of, anyway. We've only hung out a couple times. But it's been fun, watching his face slowly return to a more normal color." She motioned to her nose and her smile blossomed easily. "He's actually pretty cool when he's not in his emo boy mode." Claire cringed slightly. "Er, don't tell him I said that."

Sean chuckled. "'Emo boy mode'?" he asked, appreciating that, though it got his hackles up on some levels - he was allowed to poke fun at Joshua, other people? Not so much. Not that it wasn't accurate, but still. "Yeah, he gets like that sometimes, but he's had a rough ride of it since he came out from Ireland. Seems to be finally finding his feet though. you must be the Claire he mentioned then," he added.

"Yeah, I kind of got that impression from him. The rough ride, I mean. He told me about the college, and mentioned maybe getting a job there. Maybe having some kind of specific goal will keep him distracted from the rougher stuff, I don't know." Broken bones, bad break ups, being away from family, friends and your home. Claire figured it was quite an adjustment, which was why she was glad that he seemed to be doing better, at least around her. He was smiling more too - which was nice. Not that it had anything to do with her, but still. His smile was kind of contagious. Claire shifted on the steps, thinking that probably wasn't the wisest path to venture down. She also didn't know how to react to the fact that Josh had mentioned her. Was it just in passing, or something else? She finally just smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that's me. I hope it was a good mention. I promise I'm not a bad influence or anything."

Sean shrugged. "You're not the wicked undead or some kind of harpy, right?" he asked her with a winning smile - not like he actually expected her to answer that if she was, but it was expressed as a joke anyhow.

Both eyebrows lifted in surprised, and then she laughed. "Well, no. I'm definitely not the undead, wicked or otherwise. And I don't think I'm a harpy, but I guess it just depends on who you ask?" Claire tilted her head a bit, thoroughly amused. "Has the wicked undead been a terrible source of Josh's bad luck lately, or something?"

You have no idea. "Could be the harpy," Sean grinned. "Or it could just be my turn of phrase. Sorry, I get a little over-protective at times. We're both kinda far from home, y'know," Sean told her, reaching up to scratch the back of his head, looking a little bashful.

Her mind alluded the harpy to Josh's ex-girlfriend, but she tried clamp down on that urge, because she didn't even know who his ex-girlfriend was. It was just easier to pretend she was some kind of bitch who didn't deserve him or something. Maybe it was just some weird sense of placed loyalty that she probably shouldn't even have, given she'd only just met him a few days back. Claire's smile was one of understanding. "It's okay. I promise I don't have any harpy tendencies. And I definitely don't have any wicked undeadness going on. I'm actually pretty plain and boring, if that makes you feel any better. Absolutely no threat whatsoever." The whole psychic vampire thing seemed unnecessary to mention.

"Plain and boring's good - though, not too boring, I mean..." He looked up at the library, then back down at her, clearly kidding. "You spend much time here?"

Claire glanced behind her at the library, cheeks turning a dull pink, despite her dismissive shrug. "Yeah. It kind of goes with the whole boring aspect. You won't find many harpies reading in the library, you know? There's not much else to do in Marquette, especially now that the cooler weather is coming around. It's a quiet place to get homework done, and study and... again, with the boring aspect." Claire shifted her bag again to her other shoulder. "Were you headed inside when my history notes distracted you?"

"Me? No - I was actually just out for a walk," he said, as though he hadn't been trailing her for a while looking for a moment to stop and do a face to face assessment under the guise of a random meeting. "I'm sorry - I'm keeping you..."

Claire twisted and fiddled with some of the rings on her fingers before she laughed. "Please. It's not like I've got some hot date planned in the second floor Biography section or anything. Besides, I'm glad I got to meet you." She paused a beat and did her best to appear casual about it. "When you see Josh, will you tell him I said hi?"

"Well, I hear the biography section is the place to be these days," Sean joked back. "But sure, I'll tell him you said hi - you take care of yourself, Claire," he told her, making to walk off.

"You too." That had been a bit unexpected, but not unpleasant. He seemed like a nice enough guy, and now she had a face to place with the name. Claire watched him for a second before she turned and continued cautiously up the stairs to her destination.