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It was a beautifully sunny August morning on Labrador Street. People were out and about, going about their business in the warm weather. Birds were chirping cheerfully, and everyone was awake and happy on that beautiful morning.
Well… all but one.
A young Belgian journalist was sleeping away the day on his couch, having stayed up until 4 AM the previous night to finish working on his latest story about a chase across the country seeking a man who had stolen a valuable jewel from its previous owner, who was now deceased. He claimed that he worked best when the deadline was nearest. Saying he could remember the adventure best just before the deadline. The newspaper editor said he was a fool for doing so, but wouldn't argue with his best journalist about how to write his stories. Once he had finished the story, he had been so tired that he collapsed on his couch and fell asleep. He was perfectly comfortable to sleep the rest of the day away, but there was someone who refused to let him.
Snowy, Tintin's white terrier dog, gave out a low whine to try and wake Tintin up. He was getting hungry, and needed someone to fill up his food bowl with his breakfast. Tintin didn't respond to the whine, so he barked, hoping that would get him to wake up. Tintin's only response was a small groan, sleepily waving away the dog with a hand that hung off the couch. He didn't get Snowy to move, but he didn't care enough at the moment to open his eyes and check. Snowy, getting annoyed with him, jumped up onto the couch and onto Tintin, barking right at his face to get him to get up. He groaned again and opened his blue eyes to his dog.
"Alright, alright…" He moved to sit up and Snowy jumped off of him as Tintin swung his legs off the couch. He sighed as he rubbed his face, still tired from the previous night. Snowy barked again, and Tintin stood up from the couch. "I'm coming, Snowy, I'm coming." Snowy led him over to his empty food bowl and Tintin smiled to himself as he got him some dog food. Snowy's stubby tail wagged happily as he saw him pour it in. "There you go." He petted Snowy's head as he dug into the dog food. He got up from where he had squatted down and stretched his arms. He looked over his appearance, and grimaced when he saw that he was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, only now they were wrinkled. He went over to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Once he had washed his face, brushed his teeth, and he was dressed and done, he glanced up at the wall clock and saw that the deadline was in about an hour, and the story still lay on his desk. Thinking it was best to get it in now rather than later, he donned his coat and grabbed the story. Snowy, seeing that Tintin was leaving, followed him as he exited his apartment. He stopped when he heard a crashing noise and looked across the hall to see a young woman had dropped a cardboard box filled with a porcelain vase, tea set, and other various breakables, one of them having smashed against the ground upon impact.
"Oh, just great." She groaned as she knelt down to pick up the broken pieces, being very careful not to nick her fingers on the broken glass. He saw a few men coming up the stairs as well, carrying a few boxes at a time as they walked into the apartment across the hall from his. It had been a vacant space for some time now, he figured this girl must have either just started moving in, or she was part of the moving team. And since she wore a lavender cardigan over a white blouse and a long skirt of a deep purple shade instead of the grey-blue uniforms that the movers wore, he could conclude that she was his new neighbor. Knowing he still had time, Tintin walked over to her.
"Do you need any help?" He asked. The red head of hair moved, and he found his bright blue eyes meeting a pair of deep green emeralds. She reached up, tucking some of her hair behind her ear as she nodded.
"Yes, thank you." She said. Tintin knelt down beside her, helping to pick up the broken glass and porcelain and place them back in the box she had dropped, "I think I've been moving too many boxes, my fingers are starting to lose their grip."
"Perhaps you should take a break then." Tintin suggested. The girl gave him a grin before returning to the slowly shrinking pile of brokenness. Snowy stayed off to the side the entire time it was happening, knowing better than to get near broken glass so as not to injure his feet. Tintin moved through the broken pieces, eventually coming across the broken face of a porcelain rabbit. The girl glanced up as he held it and gasped.
"No, not the rabbit!" She whined as she took it from his hands. Tintin looked up at her, seeing her pouting sadly, "I thought I… Oh, this is just my luck." She placed the broken piece in the box and Tintin looked up at her.
"Was it very important to you?" He asked.
"It was my mother's." She said. He didn't say anything more as they picked up the last pieces and put them in the box just as the movers passed by them again. She looked up at him, giving him a friendly smile, "Thanks for your help, kid."
"You're welcome." He paused for a moment, "And it's not 'kid'. It's Tintin." He was a little offended she would call him that when they must have been around the same age.
"Tintin?" The girl wrinkled her nose a little as she looked at him, "I don't think I've ever heard of anyone with that kind of name."
"Well, do you have a name that sounds better?" Tintin asked, a little peeved.
"Juliet." She said, shifting the box in her arms so she could hold it in one arm, holding out her now-free hand to shake his, "Juliet Ryder." Tintin reached out and shook her hand.
Snowy barked up at her, coming over to his master's side. Juliet noticed him right away, "Oh, well hello!" She said happily, kneeling down so she could put down her box, reaching out and scratching the little terrier behind his ear, "Aren't you just the cutest little dog?" Snowy easily gave in to her scratches, laying down and rolling over onto his back so she could rub his belly, which she gladly did. "Aw, what a little sweetheart!"
"Well, I'm glad to know you like dogs." Tintin said.
"Of course I do. Dogs make for wonderful pets." Juliet said. She glanced up at him, "Is he your dog?"
"Yes. His name is Snowy." He patted his leg and Snowy rolled over and jumped up, eagerly going to his master's side again.
"And he's trained." Juliet commented, seeming impressed as she stood up.
"Yes, I don't think Mrs. Finch would have let me keep him here otherwise." Tintin said jokingly. Juliet let out a small laugh.
"She does seem to be a bit of a stiff woman." She paused for a moment, "But, does it seem like she has an odd obsession with cocoa to you? When I first spoke with her, she went on and on about the stuff."
"Yes, she's very fond of her cocoa." Tintin agreed.
There was a small pause of awkward silence.
Juliet bent down to pick up her box, "Well, I should hurry and get settled in."
"Yes, and I have some… business to attend to as well." Tintin said, patting the pocket in his coat that held the story he was to give to the newspaper. "I guess I'll be seeing you around, Ms. Ryder."
"Oh, please. Call me Juliet." She said, "Ms. Ryder makes me feel so old."
"Juliet, then." Tintin said with a nod. "Good day."
"And a good day to you, kid." She bid as she headed into her apartment.
"It's Tintin." He corrected, but she either hadn't heard him or didn't bother to respond as he made his way down the stairs and out the door.
After having a nice breakfast at a café that was en route to the Metro News, Tintin walked in through the front doors. He recognized some of the employees who were working and they all greeted him with a simple "Good morning" or a nod of the head, which he returned each time. He made his way to the editor's office and knocked.
"Come in." The editor's deep voice sounded from the other side. Tintin opened the door, seeing the editor sitting at his desk, going over a few different documents that were laid out in front of him. He was a big man, but he wasn't threatening in appearance. With a pair of basset eyes and bloodhound jowls, his face had been most affected by gravity over his 48 years of living. And although he was growing old and growing slow, Tintin had seen this man move as fast as a man of twenty during a day of breaking news story after breaking news story. His hair, which he assumed had once been a deep, luxurious black, had broken out in grey stripes all along his head. He was known to Tintin as Mr. Jacobs. He didn't look up as Tintin entered his office, or when he closed the door behind him, so focused was he in his work.
Snowy, delighted to see the familiar face of Mr. Jacobs, pranced around his desk and went to his chair, yipping up at him. Mr. Jacobs turned his eyes away from the documents and reached down to scratch at the little terrier's head. "Good morning, Snowy." He looked up to Tintin, greeting him with a smile, "And a good morning to you, Tintin."
"Good morning, Mr. Jacobs." He walked over to the front of his desk, reaching into his coat and pulling out the papers that he had written the previous night, "I have that story I promised you." He held it out to the man, who took them, his eyes quickly glancing over the text of the first page, and then going to the second. "I know it's a bit long, but I thought it was best if I got every detail in."
"Mm-hmm." Mr. Jacobs nodded approvingly as he looked over it all, "Yes… It all looks good." He looked up at Tintin, "We might have to take out a sentence or two, just for the sake of space. As popular as your stories are, we still need to have room in the paper for other news." He said with a joking smile. Tintin nodded.
"I understand, sir." He replied.
"Excellent." He glanced at the pages again, "And we might have to buff out any errors you may have missed, but it's nothing to worry about, I don't think."
"Of course not."
"Yes, yes…" He put the pages down, "So, besides meeting your deadline, what else do you have planned for today?"
"I was planning on running a few errands." Tintin said, "And if I have time, maybe make a quick stop at the Old Street Market. There's always something interesting to be found there."
"So there is, so there is." Mr. Jacobs nodded in agreement, "I remember once, me and my wife went to that market. We found this man that was painting portraits for three pounds each. He did a rather good job, too. Captured a good likeness of my wife and I. I think I still have that thing hanging around somewhere in the house."
"Oh, really?"
Mr. Jacobs nodded, "Yes, good man. French man, too, if I recall correctly. He had a bit of an accent. If you see him at the market, take some time to get a portrait made. He's not bad."
"I'll keep that in mind." He looked down at Snowy, patting his leg again, "Come on, Snowy." The little terrier barked and followed him out of the office as Tintin bid Mr. Jacobs goodbye.
Hello everyone! So, in case you didn't know, this is my reboot of my first story "The Adventures of Tintin and Juliet," which I deleted a day or so ago. This takes place during the movie and the story that came with my first one will most likely be the sequel to this one. This chapter is basically the same set up as the first story, but the rest of it will be pretty different, I promise. I hope you enjoy it!