Claire smiled an authentic, sweet smile. She was glad to see that he was relaxing a little. The last thing she wanted to do was make him feel uncomfortable, or think that he was going to be judged here for what he looked like. Some might - there would always be jerks in the world, after all - but she wasn't one of them. And she had a feeling a lot of others present would react much as she had. With kindness and understanding.
If they didn't, she certainly wouldn't stay quiet about their insensitivity either.
"Yep, a book," she affirmed, flushing ever so slightly when he asked if she enjoyed it. Giving a nod of her head, she admitted, "I did. A lot. It's one of my most favorite, actually." Pausing, she gnawed lightly on her lip for a second before deciding she should explain why. It might help, if he knew that he wasn't one of the only ones who didn't exactly fit into the status quo of society. Even if her reasons were vastly different from his own.
"A few years ago, I discovered something about myself. I..." She wasn't sure quite how to put it so she hesitated, glancing at her lap briefly to sort out the best way to word what she wanted to say. As her green gaze flickered back to his face, she stated, "When I get hurt, I heal. A lot faster than anyone else does. I also don't... stay dead."
Her brow furrowed and she swallowed, her gaze falling to the traffic passing down the street. Her voice took on a softer, more somber tone. "For a long time, I thought there was something wrong with me. That I was, I don't know, less human somehow, because of what I could do. I felt... a connection, somehow, when I read that book. Like I wasn't the only one who knew what that was like."
With a shake of her head and a bemused smile, she met his gaze once more. She was somewhat embarrassed, having admitted what she did, so she did her best to brush that off and offer another reason that she'd so thoroughly enjoyed what equated to his life story.
"Plus, it really is a good novel. Well written, and the fact that the author wasn't much older than me when she wrote it was always interesting to me, too."