Claire "Fancy" Antilae-Minami

Claire Minami, is a radical horse. Of course, she calls herself that, but others around her do as well! She was born in Irhynam to a loving mother, Eri who later married Natsumi when Claire was only around a year old. When it came to preschool, it was where Claire met her best friend, Alice. The two took to being friends the very first day, and would always hang out at school, and on play dates. Of course they'd always invite Meros, Claire's brother, the child of Natsumi, to play, as well as Gardenia, Alice's older sister. At first Gardenia felt she was too big to play with the younger kids, but after awhile she changed her tune, and the four were great friends since those days.

When she was a little older, Claire's mama gladly sat down and began to teach Claire how to play. Claire always would love to listen to her mom play, and when she got old enough to try herself, she was eager to. Piano was the first thing Claire showed a lot of interest in. Having one of the best pianists in the world teach her in a way she could easily understood did wonders. She also started to dabble in other similar instruments, before she got her hands on her first keyboard, a cheap, awful sounding keyboard. It was cheap, but Claire still had a lot of fun with it. When Eri saw just how much fun her daughter had with a low end keyboard, she knew that her daughter could very well be the next big thing in keyboardists, so she got her a proper keyboard. The young mare would just spend hours tweaking the settings and getting unique sounds from the synth built in. This love kept growing, and now Claire really has a one of a kind style to her keyboarding, be it on a typical unit or a rad keytar! Though, her keyboard isn't the only instrument she loves! When she saw her brother Meros starting to get into his zone with his Guitar, she asked if she could learn it as well. She also picked up on singing from her rather musical upbringing!

And around the time she was 10, both she and Meros began to learn martial arts from Natsumi. The martial arts did wonders for them, not just in their fighting ability, but in every day life! They were never quite as strong as Natsumi, but they can keep their own with her at times.

Beyond those, life was rather usual for Claire, she went to a nice school, had good friends. While she did stick mostly to her group of friends, there was an addition to them. A young rabbit named Natalia. A shy, reserved rabbit, she only ever really felt safe enough to open up around the group. They were glad to be her friend and really help her out. It took awhile for them to later learn she had an ear for sound mixing and mastering, as well as backstage support. Natalia was even the one who suggested the 4 find a drummer and put on a show for the talent shows. Claire loved the idea, though they couldn't find a drummer who would want to be part. Natalia filled in, using a DAW to create and playback drum parts, using the highest quality samples at the time. The team did fantastically, except for the year Claire walked off of the stage during her keyboard solo. Though, that won them best comedy act that year.


Though soon after that, one of the biggest changes in her life happened. At a party, Claire made some poor choices, and in a drunken incident at a party she shouldn't have been at, she became pregnant at the age of 14. She was a mess and scared, but this is where Alice stepped in to really have her back. They were young, crazy kids who then weren't too clear on some feelings, leading to the two dating on and off again for the rest of their school years. Luckily, her pregnancy wouldn't be the hardest, as alongside her friends and her parents, she had two amazing women helping her out during, as one of them was expecting a child as well. Aetheria and Valeria were these women, and they all worked together to have two healthy pregnancies go smoothly, and they became friends, and it was from this chance meeting that lead to their kids being the best of friends from an early age. Anima was born a day before Apres was, even.

 After turning 15, and within the first month of a new year, Claire gave birth to Apres Minami, though she always called her daughter Apres Midi, a favorite song of hers inspiring the child's name. Due to how she was a mess during the pregnancy and having to work extra hard at school, Claire's parents stepped up and took on primary care for their granddaughter while Claire finished up school. After she graduated 3 years later, Claire was a lot more involved in her daughter's life. It was two years after that before Claire and Alice really finally understood what the last 6 or so years were about, and realized they really didn't work as a couple, but as best friends. They worked to keep the friendship, which did not prove too hard.

In her twenties, Claire didn't really have much direction, yes she graduated, but she didn't have any sort of drive, she wanted something to support herself and her child. It was then she saw an ad for people looking to cast for a lower budget film, and Claire figured she had fun in a few student films, maybe she had some of her acting skills left. Turns out she wasn't the best, but her martial arts would get people to consider her even with her rather unrefined acting abilities. She would be in the world of Irhynam's movie scene until she was 25, when she just couldn't take more of the same again. There was no big break, nothing bigger. A few of her co-stars had gotten bigger, but not her. Being that bad actress who could really do some low budget action wasn't really settling with her. But, she did smartly invest the money she was earning in those 6 years, and figured to go with her true calling. Music.

Opening her shop, she hoped her music and financial knowledge could give her a nice purpose in life. 25 and a mother of a 10 year old daughter who was doing great, it was a good time to try this, and she opened up the shop, her friends helping out. The store was actually profitable, not on a major scale or anything, but enough she knew she had done the right thing. She loved going into the Entertainment district, hanging out with friends, being able to use her love of music to help people find what they want, and getting to make a living off of what she knew so well! She never really made any lasting friends, just business contacts. Until one day, one of her best friends would simply float into the shop.  Violette literally floated in, catching some by surprise, but not Claire. She was intrigued by the visitor, who then simply asked to see the drums the store offered. Claire was glad to show her, asked what she played, and well she was surprised. This young looking girl was talking about a few of her favorite bands, and had very similar tastes to her own! That, and the ghost's kindness really resonated with Claire, and the two became really good friends in a short time. It wasn't long until Violette was basically living in the store. An arrangement Claire didn't mind, though it naturally didn't last forever. They are still best of friends.

Another major event in her life at the age of 25 was when someone tried to rob her, she had just bought something amazing for Eri, to thank her for all she has done for her. She had a good business, she wanted to go big. The robbery isn't the major focus of this, though. It was what happened next. the robber was stopped by a white tiger. Claire saw how effectively he stopped the criminal, and was cracking jokes about how it's good that a cop caught the bad dude, and not her. She was ready to just thank him and move on, but then something great happened. Their eyes met. It filled Claire with all new feelings, sure she thought she knew of love before, but it was a confusing time.  This though? She couldn't have had a clearer mind. He introduced himself, Orion Antilae. She was asked out for a date after his shift, and she was very direct and quick in saying yes to him, before he even got the criminal off to jail. He gave her back the stolen goods from the thief and told her where they'd meet, and she couldn't help but skip along back to her mother's house and let her know about this great guy she met, and well to give her the necklace.

And indeed, there was something magical about them two. They really hit it off, and not only that, but Claire introduced Apres to him. Apres didn't really have any father figures, nor did she really need them, but she liked Orion, he treated her mama well, but not only that, he was a great person to her too. As Claire and Orion got more serious, she asked him to move in, and he really became a father to Apres at this point. It took around 5 years since they started dating to get married. They both felt it was going to happen much sooner, but well life was busy and hectic for them, it took awhile until it was the perfect time. Their marriage was lovely, and Apres even changed her last name to the one they planned early, she begged her mother to do so, as Apres was very excited. And thus, Claire Minami and Apres Minami became Claire, and Apres, Antilae-Minami. As did Orion, of course. They also moved to a much larger mansion in the entertainment district, as over the 5 years, Claire's shop, as well as some big investments returned a lot of money.

At sometime in those five years, Claire would meet four others who were pretty big in her life! They are Drift Ironclaw, Dahlia Loveshire, Ghost, and Vincent Vangoat. All of them would be connected to her or her shop. Drift is actually Orion's best friend who originally worked at Claire's shop back when Claire and Orion began dating. He would later leave this job for another, but is still a frequent visitor and customer, they talk a lot and are still pretty good friends!

 Dahlia means the world to Claire, because she's dating her best friend, Alice. In addition, the goat also plays the keyboards, and Claire loved finally meeting a fellow keyboardist, and while they have pretty different styles of playing, they really just love to discuss music, general other things, and of course they both talk and plan the best gifts to get Alice, as well as being a great employee in the shop, who can step in and help people with their synth needs when Claire is busy.

Ghost was someone who came in looking for a job, but was able to get into playing music from being a part of the staff, and is a trusted friend of Claire's. The rabbit also is a hard worker and always brightens up the mood in the shop! Claire looks at how well he learned the bass over his time working in her shop with admiration. A true love of his instrument, she was glad she was somehow involved in it.

Vincent is one who she was not sure about, and pretty skeptical of, but quickly changed her tune when she learned how much he meant to Violette, who at this point, Claire sees as a sister. So to know this guy who is a fellow ghost can be with her, she couldn't help but like Vangoat more, and then his love of Sentai and Rider would remind her of her youth, and not to mention the music tastes they share. He's a good friend who can use ghostly illusions to have a wide range of singing voices, but he's still working on getting over stage fright with Claire's help. He wouldn't join the band, as they had vocal needs covered, but she would jam with her any time!

While working in the shop was great, Claire also wanted to really get back to performing. While she has kept up with playing and even some recording, she hasn't really been in a band or anything. Violette could drum, she knew all the rest of those she jams with, and they formed a band. La Vie en Rose. She was the keyboardist who would sometimes sing, and if they were doing covers, she might be on the guitar. Meros was the other lead vocalist and guitarist. Alice was the lead guitarist, while Gardenia was on bass. Violette rocks on her drums, and Natalia works behind the scenes to refine their sound, and provide her backstage wizardry for shows they have.

Of course, while she does have a band, she will gladly jam with most anyone! She really loves jamming with Ghost on her guitar, as her more metal and Japanese influences work well with his Prog bass influences to create some pretty unique sounds. Dahlia and Claire can also be found having keyboard battles to help demo their newer synth arrivals, something that customers love to come in and hear! They all have fun jamming, and she's always glad to have instruments in the store that are solely for her friends and her to have fun with. She even has had rare occasions of hosting open mic nights at a gazebo outside her store, where bands and artists in the area get a small venue to perform at. She doesn't hold these as much, as she knows there's better places for bands to get used to doing gigs at in the city, and would really want them to have a good learning experience in performances more than getting some business to her shop.