Carol

Carol is an assistant to Gustav St. Germain, vice president of the Daily Days newspaper-information brokerage, where she is formally interning as an apprentice photojournalist. By 2003, she has become known as a "famous reporter from the annals of history

Appearance In 1934, Carol is estimated to be younger than fifteen years of age. She is of petite stature and often wears a cloche hat over her bobbed brown hair; her hats' ribbons tend to color coordinate with her dresses' frilly lining. For cold weather, she owns an overcoat whose collar is lined with fur or faux fur. When she is on a job, she keeps her black-and-silver Leica camera slung around her neck.

Personality

Carol is an excitable young lady, naïve and prone to wild or fanciful assumptions despite believing reporters should remain objective. She tends to assume the best in people, or, rather, lacks the cynicism needed to jump to pessimistic, worst-case scenarios. She is easily starstruck, flustered, and prone to anxiety when in the presence of powerful authority figures or dangerous individuals—if she realizes the dangerous individual is dangerous Though Carol has a tendency to lose her head when panicked, she has a rubbernecker's instinct and the eager, youthful curiosity of someone with the ambition to improve in a field they believe in wholeheartedly in. She does her best to be brave when she and others face mutual danger, but she is at her bravest and most confident when she is in Gustav's company. In her own words, she is a "courageous coward."

Relationships

Gustav St. Germain: Gustav is as much a mentor to her as he is her employer, educating her in manners and logical reasoning alongside journalistic methods; with regard to his own educational methods, he frequently awards and deducts her arbitrary, cryptic points based on her performance. Carol has immense respect for him that borders on adoration with regard to his expertise in their field and general finesse, admiring his rock-solid sangfroid in comparison to her own tendency to lose her head when panicked. This respect perhaps explains why she tends to take the point system seriously. Gustav's didactic approach can border on stern, for he frequently minds Carol's manners for her more than she does, chides her for failing to restrain her emotional outbursts, and keeps her on her toes with his enigmatic points system. Nevertheless, he readily affords her praise when it is deserved, not merely for clever or plausible logical reasoning but for personal merit, such as acts of bravery, kindness, and reconciliation when she has acted boorishly with others. Of especial mention is the protective streak Gustav has exhibited toward her, as seen when he pulls her behind a pillar when an explosion rocks the walls, or when he sees her with Renee: his first move is to place his hand protectively on Carol's head before interrogating Renee on what, exactly, she is doing with his charge.