amentia

Camille Rouillard. Time Preservationist. Born in 1897.

[camillerouillard]

Singapore, 2063 | Camille + Alan

[alancarters]

“I wouldn’t really put it like that.”, he replied and a real grin spread over his features, “Okay, that’s exactly what I mean.” He couldn’t help but laugh at her expression which was full of defiance at his suggestion. His step was full of confidence when he closed the small distance between them. Alan lowered his voice into a confiding tone. “Forget where we come from for a moment, be one with the movement here and forget yourself.” He was no stranger for feeling out of place himself but he knew that the cultural shock always hit Camille harder than him.

“I’ll bring you back home alright, Camille.” The mocking was gone out of his words as he looked at her with his most sincere expression. He meant what he said, he would not return without her because after all they were partners.

[camillerouillard]

"You drive a hard bargain, Monsieur." She felt intimidated by how close he stood to her now and tried to resist the urge to cross her arms to bring more distance between them. Her eyes wandered everywhere but to where she could see into his blue hues, which were looking at her so indiscriminately. Then she let out a sigh and her shoulders sacked. "Another time, Alan? I'm absolutely tired and just want to fall into my own bed." Finally her eyes met his and held the gaze until she couldn't bear it any longer. Her thoughts went back to Antoine and how she had always felt so at ease in his presence. Things had been so clear back then and if it hadn't been for the second war she'd still be there with him, raising their children. She didn't want to move past that image, she couldn't. "Please.", she added as a barely audible plea.

[camillerouillard]

Singapore, 2063 | Camille + Alan

[alancarters]

Alan had places his hands inside the front pockets of his blue leather jacket as he strolled just a step behind Camille, who as usual seemed more than ready to return back into the secure confines of the Institute. He should be used to this by now but he wouldn’t be able to ever understand why she couldn’t use their gift for something else than the job. It had been an easy one this time and they only had to spend three days cooped in a cheap motel room, waiting for their thieves to turn into the driveway and take up residence in the room next to them. After a generous application of knockout gas - especially designed by their scientists to have the maximum effect in the shortest of time possible - they had simply robbed the robbers and returned the price. Easy game. 

Yet Alan wasn’t really satisfied with the experience and they weren’t expected back for another three days at least. He hardly noticed how his own feet stalled and his eyes wandered back to where the small alley would lead them back to one of the smocking centers of 2062 Singapore. The sun was already getting low and the clubs would open up and invite eager party-goers in with their pulsating, modern music. 

“Can’t we just… enjoy ourselves?”, he asked her with his usual half-smile, “Have you ever been to Singapore before? In this age it is the hottest strip there is.” He knew that Camille knew all of that through her meticulous planning before the mission started but she never applied it to herself. She was clinical in her approach and it was most unlike Alan, who loves jumping into new environment after the official part was over. “When was the last time you just tried to shake it all off?”

[camillerouillard]

One of these days she might even let follow his moods but now was not that day - whatever that meant to a time traveler anyway. She liked her routines and felt like an alien among the fast-speeding world around her. At the Institute the surroundings were at least familiar, if in some places also too modern for her old-fashioned soul. The Frenchwoman had never been a prude but when she compared herself to the way young women portrayed themselves nowadays, she felt completely out of her element. 

Camille liked to bicker with Alan and she knew that some of their colleagues talked behind their backs about them acting like an old married couple - an analogy which she found highly troubling but couldn't do anything against - but today she was just tired of his attempts on getting her involved with the places and times they visited. "Are you implying that I don't know how to enjoy myself, Carter?", she talked back with a small grin that didn't reach her eyes.

[camillerouillard]

Singapore, 2063 | Camille + Alan

Camille walked towards the car that was still waiting for them were they had parked it before this mission. She felt exhaustion creep through her bones and wanted to just quickly get the trip over with. One of the things she truly disliked about her job and special ability was the feeling of time stretching her limps and mind, the feeling of suddenly not being something physical anymore but rather just something else that's wandering through time. It was so easy to get lost in simply existing and seeing different moments of her life and the lives of others pass by her, inviting her in to take a peek. If she was truly honest - and she rarely was to anyone but herself - she often wanted to follow the urge to not exist anymore. It would be such a sweet relief of the pain and guilt she felt weighting down on her shoulders. 

Instead the machinery in the Institute and the tracker inside her skull made it impossible for her to get lost like that. It would rip her apart and she'd die and as much as she wished for that to happen, she couldn't let go yet. What would Antoine say if she just gave up like that?

The blonde stopped in her tracks and turned around, when she noticed that the all too familiar footsteps beside her had stopped. She looked back to her partner. "Are you coming? You know I can't drive."

[vegagroves-blog]

You really don't want to do that.

[vegagroves-blog]

“Didn’t mean to step on any toes.”, Vega couldn’t keep her face straight when she remember what she had just seen when wanting to enter this particular supplies cabinet. There was lots of bare skin and heavy breathing involved. Not the kind of thing that everyone liked to run into unprepared. “How can I tell you without sounding too blunt…”, she pondered aloud for a moment just to tick the blonde off. It was one of her specialities, “If you aren’t a fan of accidental voyeurism you should try the supplies room one level up.” 

[camillerouillard]

A beat or actually two passed before the rather blunt hint of the other woman got processed through to her brain. A slight shade of red appeared on the French woman’s cheeks. “Oh”, she replied lamely and stepped away from the tablet in a movement that was too sudden and a hint of her embarrassment. Her usually quite witty tongue deserted her completely as she tried to formulate another sentence. “I’ll better try the other cabinet then.”

[vegagroves-blog]

You really don't want to do that.

[camillerouillard]

“Excuse me?” Camille looked toward the brunette who had just interrupted her from typing in her personal ID-code into the tablet that was mounted next to the secured door.

[rosebunter-blog]

Another stupid assembly...

[neilrostov-blog]

Uhh! Intrigue! I love it!

[camillerouillard]

Do you mind? Putain de merde!

[rosebunter-blog]

Another stupid assembly...

[rosebunter-blog]

Never mind him. He never thinks about what he is saying. Since we were so rudely interrupted you didn’t get to answer my question!

[camillerouillard]

I was just going to say that I mistook you for a good conversationalist, that's all.

[thechronosinstitute]

Name: Camille Rouillard (born Lavigne) Nicknames: Cam, Cammy Age: Between 25 - 35

THE S T O R Y:

Camille is the only daughter of a French tailor, prior tothe 1stworld war. She had a normal, quiet uprbringing in Brest and she hadalways known that eventually she would marry her best childhoodfriend Pierre Rouillard. Over the years their friendship evolved into love and they said their vows in August 1913. When the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated their content life was thron out of order, when Pierre was drafted to aid against the Central Powers in the war.

During the war Camille kept busy by helping wherever her hands were needed, be it supporting her family’s closest friends, who lost their only son during the first year, or sorting through ammunitions for the soldiers on the front. All the while she held up hopes for the letters that Pierre would send her from the front until the days without a letter arriving grow longer and longer.

After the war was over, Camille had to face the harsh truth that her husband wouldn’t come back. On the inside it broke her but to everyone around her she was the steady column of support after the terrible years they’d had. After all she wasn’t the only one with a loved one lost and it was much easier to focus on the misery of other people than her own. Her recruitment by the Institute was quite complicated because the First World War is one of the events in time that are less flexible than other events. She was therefore recruited shortly after the capitulation of the Central Powers. Within a year, Camille had moved out of Brest and fully thrown herself into the new task she had, trying to ignore the fact that she could never go back to save Pierre.

THE M I N D:

Camille is the one quiet person in a room full of talking people, but that no one would ever mistake her for shy or reserved. She’s got an open mind and is easy to joke and laugh with but she keeps people at a distance whenever possible. Although most people see her as someone who would crack easily under pressure, she can focus the best when the world is falling apart around her. It’s the aftermath of disaster that she has difficulty coping with.

THE C O N N E C T I O N S:

Alan Carter - Close friends and partners in the field

[wearyvoices]

Mélanie Laurent by Laurent Humbert for Madame Figaro | 2014 

[rosebunter-blog]

Another stupid assembly...

[rosebunter-blog]

As you wish! Don’t say, i didn’t warn you! What is your purpose here, if I may be so bold to inquire? Will you tell me on the way to the assembly?

[neilrostov-blog]

Helloooooo ladiiies! What do we have on the agenda today? First a cocky brunette, medium height, talks funnny. But what about you blondie? Know any jokes?

[camillerouillard]

What were those words just coming out of your mouth? Not actual English, was it?

[rosebunter-blog]

Another stupid assembly...

[rosebunter-blog]

I see we will get along splendidly, Miss Rouillard. But don’t you know people are supposed to have a first name? If you start keeping even such inanities to yourself, it won’t be long before you have so many secrets that you can’t say a single word anymore. 

[camillerouillard]

We'll see about that and I do have a first name but I'm not willing to share it with everyone I encounter. A few secrets here and there make for a healthy relationship in my opinion. 

[rosebunter-blog]

Another stupid assembly...

[rosebunter-blog]

It would hardly be the first time. Rose Bunter. Head librarian and specialist for 19th century literature. And you are?

[camillerouillard]

I know who you are, Miss Bunter. Frankly everyone knows you and adores you for your cheerful attitude and eternal wisdom. You can call me Rouillard. 

[rosebunter-blog]

Another stupid assembly...

…what could it be about this time? Did the janitor loose the key to the main entrance again?

[camillerouillard]

I don't think that it is about something this... trivial. 

[alancarters]

Do you have to be this grim all the time, Cammy? Could you listen to another lecture about the responsibility we have and the privilege that we got by working here? 

[camillerouillard]

Well if you would actually listen to them sometimes, we'd have to hear fewer of those lectures, wouldn't we?

[alancarters]

I hope this isn’t about the faulty airconditioning down on level seven again. I wasn’t even involved in that incident. 

[alancarters]

[camillerouillard]

I hardly think that completely detroyed means the same as faulty. You do remember that they ignited carbon monoxide in one of the laboratories and it ended badly. Three people where hospitalized.