#[ anyway just lightly READMORE-ing this for spoilers ]

[afraidofchange]

I just finished the 3rd race with Claire where she actually sits you down to talk and ahhhhhhhhhhhh....

So, she and Dean were married for 12 years. I had put her at about 36 years old, she they would’ve got married when she was 23 since he died in 2076.

Dean and Claire were friends long before her gender transition, so I’m imagining they knew each other as kids and into teenagers.

He came and brought her daffodils at the hospital, and had said “to new beginnings”

Dean used to joke that for their 15th anniversary, he could convince her to get her first cybernetic implant.

As it stands, Claire loves machines, but doesn’t want to become one. 

Dean would’ve been the only person who could’ve convinced her to get ‘chromed’ up.

Dean’s death in their race was premeditated murder - the man ahead of him would’ve won but instead, slammed the brakes, forcing Dean to do so too and they lose control. They’d had a long-standing rivalry that went beyond just competition. Something full of strife.

Claire feels that it won’t be made right unless she avenges her husband.  

Anyway, so with that info in mind, 

I believe Claire would’ve been either a late teenager or just a very young adult when she began transitioning. As the exchange seems to imply, she had some kind of gender reassignment surgery, but nothing is specified. Though it could be implied that by that point, with the actual themes of transhumanism as a point of human improvement via cybernetic implants in cyberpunk settings, that the gender transition process to attain and have surgery is likely a lot easier and more commonplace than doing so today.

I think perhaps her trans identity and the aforementioned surgical procedure(s) could be another reason why she’s reluctant to go for any ‘chrome’; she’s already changed her body to be what she wanted it to be, so why add more? (this on top of her not wanting to be a machine, of course). 

So, with Dean only dying a year ago, she still sees herself as a widow, and has grieved for this long to the point she lied to V to get them to help her get her vengeance. She’s doing okay for herself - you have to be, to survive Night City - but once she gets what she wants and can put it behind her, she may be willing to see someone, someday - if they’re understanding of her situation and her past.

She does still wear her wedding ring, by the way. 

Oh and also, I do play her as bi - openly so. She married relatively young, though, but she likes her men and women and non binary pals.