Courtney Clayton

Courtney is an NPC who works for the Ingram mafia as a personal healer on standby for the various heads: most notably trailing after Augustine Ingram. She is also occasionally seen in the red rooms, as although she can heal physical injuries, she cannot get rid of the sensation of pain- leading to phenomena similar to phantom limbs and aches.

Courtney is a driven young woman, evident in her rising in the mafia ranks. Despite having a subpar ability on paper, (lower to moderate tier healing, with the massive drawback of being unable to remove the pain associated with injuries,) she dedicated herself to becoming irreplaceable: to the degree that she is currently (10/17/2018) the only character who does not have to roll a d20 in DND to heal: she only needs to roll for how much. Courtney has immaculate control over her abilities, and has managed to carve out a niche by making herself useful in interrogation sessions: securing her position by Augustine's side as his favourite, despite more traditional healers whose abilities may seem more useful.

Courtney is quite a bit more detached from the players cast than other NPCs: and tends to shy away from getting on too well with her colleagues. This is rooted in a desire not to show favouritism (which would not reflect well on her, as she might be influencing Augustine to pay especial attention to talent she points out) and because it's 'a revolving glassdoor of death.' Courtney can't bear to befriend people when she's unsure if they'll live or die. Despite being on the front lines of some gruesome events, she is still shaken when made to witness gore and is prone to panicky tears. She's described by Val as 'sensitive and sweet.'

It isn't currently known (10/17/2018) why she joined on with the mafia. It's been noted on by other characters, (notably, Odalie, who has a fascination with the young woman as Odalie thinks she's 'pretty and interesting') that she could easily make a name for herself or a killing if she headed into the medical field or worked as an independent contractor.

## Relationships

### Val Fontaine

Courtney's current best friend, the two originally met at work because of the fact that they were both involved in a small handpicked circle of 'interesting talent.' Though they only became closer after the ending of Val and Bo's engagement, Courtney has always been fond of Val, singling him out as someone who was softer than the rest of the mafia.

He was always a little more sensitive, objecting just the tiniest bit about the morality of what they were doing- and she appreciated the boldness he exhibited in his earlier years about defending that and his sister, Devin, even if it landed him in the redrooms himself as punishment.

Courtney admires Val's kindness, and will go out of her way to do little favours for him, like picking up a forgotten jacket and dropping it off at his house. The two perform together occasionally, and she always goes to his country music performances as a show of support. The two often go out on the weekend together for drinks, or after work to just take a nature walk.

### Bo Lawrence

Courtney is vaguely acquainted with Bo Lawrence, who was also hand selected early on in his career to be in circles closer to Augustine, the patriarch of the Ingram mafia. She is not fond of him- snubbing his tactics that are 'more butcher's knife, than surgeon's scalpel' although the two often collaborate to get rid of the sensation of injury and heal it in field.

Ever since the dissolution of Bo and Val's engagement however, she has sided with her best friend and treats Bo with quite a lot of disdain in her personal time. She keeps this away from Val out of respect for the fact that it his relationship and he isn't comfortable when people deride Bo, as it is still a difficult subject for him to ruminate on. While impeccably polite and professional, there is a certain coldness in her administration to him.