[center] Clara had still lingered behind the group in the slightest until Lye had given her the list of books that she was to pick up. It seemed that everyone was quick to scatter, perhaps eager to get back to that hell-hole of a mansion that they’d been in for a while now. None of them really had too many moments of calm as of late, so Clara did want to take advantage of her isolation once everyone had left her. Her shoulders felt heavy with the new knowledge that Ryanair provided her, unsure of whether or not to believe him. Then again, he’d given her no reason to think he could have lied to her, what motivation could he have possibly had? 


She’d become so bitter over the irony of all of it -- that [i]she[/i], of course, had matched and needed to provide her blood to save him. Part of her had despised the panic that she had felt once he’d fallen under, feeling the tug of those memories before she was thrust right back into them. All of those years of trying to dull them and make her believe otherwise had all fallen to the wayside -- she remembered full well every little bit of that night and she wanted to forget once more. Yet, Ryanair’s words coupled with that past unsettled her more than she thought it would. She could have never imagined that he [i]stayed[/i] with her until he couldn’t -- that he even had come back to check on her. Clara had [i]needed[/i] that -- if only she could have known that so many centuries ago, things perhaps would have turned out far differently. She wouldn’t feel as bitter as she had… She wouldn’t have turned out so terribly hardened from it all. 


A slow sigh fell from her lips as she headed towards the bookshop, a younger male already greeting her before she really had a chance to look around. “Morning, miss -- can I help you with anything today?” Clara shook her head all at once and lifted her list from Lye. “Just going to look around -- I think I can find everything.” She didn’t want to be bothered anyway, and perhaps she could find a thing or two for herself there. It had been a terribly long time since she’d allowed herself to indulge in any sort of story..


It took her a little while to find everything that had been on the list, grabbing a couple of books for herself that seemed interesting enough. The stack was handed over and then paid for, packaged up nice and neat so it was easier for her to carry. She’d collected everything before she set back out into the snow, sort of wandering through the town before she found a bench and sat down with a small yawn. The urge to simply run off and away from all of this had been terribly strong -- Christian wouldn’t even know where to find her this time. But, she knew full well it wasn’t necessarily a good idea. Whatever it was that was hunting Kieran had to have been familiar with each and every one of them who stayed under that roof. It probably still wouldn’t have been safe for her to break off on her own -- no matter how tempting it really did sound… [/center][@Arista]