Clara

Clara (クララ, Kurara^?), formerly Nurse Clara and better known as the phantom thief Psiren (サイレーン, Sairēn^?), also spelt Siren on her official reference sheet, is a normal woman in the city of Aquroya by day and a thieving beauty by night who is exclusive to the 2003 anime.

Appearance

In all outfits, Clara has shoulder-length blonde hair with a left part, red lipstick, and bright blue eyes.

Psiren

In her Psiren persona, she wears an asymmetrical reddish black jumpsuit that covers from her neck to her feet. The top half has no sleeve on the right, not covering any of her left arm, although she wears a long black fingerless glove that stops just below her left shoulder. Her right arm is completely covered except for the fingers, looking very similar to the glove on her left, except it's attached at the shoulder with a cutout that reveals a white shoulder pad covering said shoulder. The top also covers around her neck, however the neck is held closed by a belt, which if unclasped allows her to undo buttons to reveal the tattoo of an alchemy circle hidden in her cleavage.

The lower half of the jumpsuit is also asymmetrical, with the left side looking like a one-piece swimsuit while the right side continues down covering her entire right leg. On her left leg she instead wears a matching black stocking held up by one black strap at the top, leaving her left upper thigh and even butt cheek exposed.

Aside from the jumpsuit, she also wears a black waist belt with a silver buckle and a pouch on the back, and a black hood with folded over bunny ears, on top of which she wears a white mask that covers around her eyes and fringe. Around both wrists, she wears three black straps or bracelets. Finally, she wears a pair of pointed closed-toe high heels.

Other Outfits

As Clara, she is seen wearing three outfits. The first and most shown is her nurse uniform, which consists of a long flowing pastel blue skirt that stops just below her knees and a matching blue jacket atop a white collared blouse. She also wears a long white waist apron tied with a bow in the back, a white nurse's hat and stockings, and light blue Mary Jane shoes. She also wears a dark red bowtie with two dangling ribbons.

Her second outfit is that of a nun, with a flowing greenish-black dress that stops a bit below her knees, and longer black dress underneath. She also has a white covering which covers around her forehead and neck, extending down to above her chest and a bit onto her shoulders. Beneath her main robe long fitted white sleeves can be seen around her wrists. Finally, she wears a black veil which combined with the covering completely hide her hair, extending down a bit past her shoulder blades, along with a pair of black Mary Janes and white stockings.

Her last shown outfit is the one she wears while working as a schoolteacher, which consists of a red blazer, white collared long-sleeved undershirt, and a dark burgundy skirt that stops just above her knees. She also wears a thin burgundy bowtie with two dangling ribbons, similar to the one she worse as a nurse. With this outfit only, she also wears a pair of silver rimmed oval glasses and has her hair held up high. Her shoes are never visible in this outfit due to being blocked by Al, but she does wear dark brown leggings.

Abilities

Clara is a skilled alchemist, thief, and acrobat. She is also an experienced seductress who uses her sex appeal and well-endowed figure to outwit her male opponents when backed into a corner.

Her main weapon and form of attack is a standard deck of playing cards. Using them, she is shown to be able to make a bridge across a river to evade capture, as well making a sword from them. She also frequently uses her cards to pin pursuers to the wall or floor, including both Edward and Alphonse at various points.

Clara also has a transmutation circle tattooed just above her chest. As Psiren, she wears a shirt with a zipper that allows her to easily reveal it and surprise her enemies, frequently using it on unsuspecting opponents and even managing to escape police custody using it. It's shown to be able to do multiple things. First, she uses it in conjunction with a deck of cards hidden in her cleavage to create a large gust of wind that knocks Edward to the ground, also sending her cards flying at him and pinning him down. She's then shown at the hospital using it on a flower, seemingly absorbing it. Lastly, near the end up of the episode, she uses it to cause an explosion and escape police custody.

Her last form of alchemy seems to be liquid based, as she makes water drop from the ceiling and turns it into a smokescreen of steam. She also is able to make what seems to be a tentacle made of water that slips under the crack of a door to unlock it from the other side. Clara is not visible both times she uses this liquid alchemy, so it's unclear how she performs it.

If Edward's interpretation of Clara is correct, then she also appears to be a good actor, posing successfully as a hospital nurse, nun, and school teacher during the time Ed and Al are in Aquroya. As Alphonse points out, though, she is also very good at her job as a nurse, even able to administer a syringe shot to Edward without pain or him even noticing. It should also be noted that while the buildings she works at are all demolished, she is a thief and receives no benefit from working the other jobs but chooses to anyway, so the kindness she displays at these jobs may not be totally an act after all.

History

She is first seen briefly as Psiren, successfully evading Aquroya police and steeling a large ornate black jewel. Sometime after, Clara meets Edward and Alphonse at the local hospital after the former got food poisoning, working as a nurse. Despite Edward's fear and reluctance of shots, she manages to administer the needed medicine painlessly in a way that he didn't even notice it while it was happening. After Edward is cared for, Al notes that he was fascinated by Clara, noting how pretty she was and later adding she was kind as well. In the dub, he expands on this saying she is "good at her job, smart, and gorgeous, too" and later adding that she had a calming presence. In both versions, he ends his commendation of her by comparing her to their mother. Ed retorts that Al has strange taste in women, is "nothing but a bad present in pretty wrappings", and is nothing like their mother. When an elderly woman she's tending to drops her plate of sliced apples on the ground, Al comes to help, using alchemy to reform the apple and make it "good as new". At this, Clara actually scowls a bit, noting that she hadn't realize the brothers were alchemists.

Clara next meets the brothers as the Psiren due to them being recruited by the police to help stop her latest heist of an antique arm band. She manages to take it from its container and escape the museum, but Edward intercepts her path before she gets far. They get into a brief struggle before Edward manages to pin her down, but in doing so he accidentally gropes her breast and gets flustered, causing him to jump back in embarrassment. Psiren uses this his flustered state to her advantage, unzipping her top to reveal a tattoo of a transmutation circle above her chest. It results in him being blown away and pinned to the ground with her cards, ultimately allowing Psiren to escape.

Ed later discovers her true identity after witnessing her use the same transmutation circle on her chest that he previously saw on her as Psiren. She tells the brothers a story about how the hospital was to be demolished and that she was only stealing to try and raise money to save it. Believing this explanation, Ed ends up helping her escape a trap the police had set for her, in hopes she could save the hospital. Due to this, she successfully steals an ornate pocket watch with a red jewel in its center. To the Elric brothers' dismay, though, they find that the hospital was destroyed the next morning anyway. This happened again twice, once as a nun working for a church about to be demolished, and again as a teacher to a school about to be demolished. While the Elric brothers are confused about her true motives, a local man points out that Aquroya is currently sinking into the water that surrounds it. On the revelation of the imminent disaster, many families fled the city, leaving only those who couldn't or wouldn't move. Tourism also suffered, until the newspaper stories about Psiren started. The locals credit Psiren with giving their town one last boost before their inevitable fall. Al wishes to believe this, but Ed merely remarks that the only thing he is sure of is that she tricked him, and he wants her to pay for that.

Ed confronts her after this, and she counters that while she may be just a thief, he also wants something that isn't his – the Philosopher's Stone. He remarks that every thief he encounters tries to say how he's just like them, before Psiren attempts to sink him in the canal. But while she is congratulating herself, Ed succeeds in turning the tables and capturing her, much to Al's dismay. Before the police put her into a van to take her away, Clara gives Ed a lead that the Philosopher's Stone may be in Xenotime.  

While being taken to jail, Clara asks the policemen to unzip her outfit, because of the heat inside the van. This uncovers her tattooed transmutation circle, and she uses alchemy to quickly escape. Psiren/Clara does not appear in the anime after this point. However, when Ed and Al return to East City to report to Mustang about their experiences in Reole and other adventures, Mustang reveals how close a handle he is keeping on them by asking if Psiren really is as beautiful as they say under her mask.

Trivia

• Her water tentacles move in ways similar to Sloth does while using her powers.
• The way Clara puts her hair up while working as a teacher is very similar to the way Winry puts her hair up in the latter part of the show and in the movie.

References