Chapter 1

It was a brisk fall morning in the city of Brussels. The air was fresh and the streets were still slightly wet from the morning's rain. A few people here and there had come out to brave the weather to go about their business, including Tintin, who was out for a walk with his faithful fox terrier, Snowy. Without any particular route in his mind Tintin found himself turning down Labrador Street, the road where he used to live when he had in his own flat. He noticed that a red moving truck was parked outside the apartment where he used to live. Its back doors were open and few cardboard boxes sat on the sidewalk. Tintin was almost positive that the little old lady that had lived across from him still remained; so he inferred that someone must be moving into his old flat. He wondered what sort of person could be moving in.

As he drew closer a young woman came down the steps, speaking to somebody inside the apartment. She wore a bright plum coloured cloche hat which sat atop long caramel coloured finger waves. He could not make out her features from his distance. The girl bent down to pick up one of the boxes. The box must have been water damaged because the entire bottom fell apart, expelling its contents onto the sidewalk below.

"Ah! Flimsy cardboard box!" She yelped as she bent down to pick up the broken pieces of what seemed to be a china set.

"Do you need any help?" Tintin asked as he reached to where she was.

The girl turned around surprised that someone had ended up behind her, "Oh, yes! Thank you!" She replied, smiling. Tintin did not move or say anything immediately; he had gotten a little distracted. Her smile was brilliant. Snowy whined for Tintin's attention. Tintin looked at snowy, back to the girl, then to the ground. He felt a bit awkward and wondered if she had noticed him staring. Large shards of china cups scattered the pavement and he knelt down to help the girl, who was already gathering the biggest shards. Tintin took the moment to get a closer look at her while she wasn't looking. She had soft features, a round face with rosy cheeks and a small nose that was slightly upturned. But her smile, it was something else. She had to be at least Tintin's age.

"I'm Millie by the way" she said, tossing the debris into another box before holding out her hand. "Millie Starling."

"Tintin," He said, grasping her hand and giving it a good shake.

"Tintin! What an interesting name!" she said, smiling once more.

"And this is Snowy." Gesturing towards Snowy, who perked his ears and wagged his tail in response.

Millie stooped down to Snowy's level to pat his head. "He's a cutie that's for sure!" She grabbed one of the boxes on the ground; its top was open and was filled with various items. On the very top sat a camera, a rather professional looking and fairly new one. It had to be reasonably expensive and not the type of camera an ordinary person would own.

"You're a photographer aren't you?" Tintin asked pointing at the camera. Millie raised her eyebrows. "Why yes, I am. " She shifted the weight of the box "How did you know?"

"Your camera," Tintin answered simply. "It's far too professional looking for someone just to have that for recreational purposes." He shrugged his shoulders and slid his hands into his coat pockets. "I just assumed."

Millie chuckled lightly while adjusting the weight of the box again. "What are you? A detective?"

Tintin laughed back "Journalist."

"Oh! I thought I'd try to be impressive and guess your job as well." She said jokingly, moving the boxes weight a third time.

"Do you need help with that?" Tintin asked noticing that she seemed to be struggling with the weight.

"I think I'll be alright...but if you don't mind, could you help me with that box over there?" she asked gesturing to the box behind her, filled to the brim with books. "It's the last one and it'll save me a trip." Millie felt a little guilty to be asking a perfect stranger help her move, but he did after all, offer.

Tintin walked over to box and picked it up, it wasn't too heavy but it was certainly not light. He glanced at the different titles on the top layer of books. Jane Erye by Charlotte Brontë, Charles Darwin's an origin of species, Shakespeare's a midsummer's night dream, and quite a few of Agatha Christie's novels, to name a few. She had quite an array of different stories. Tintin would've liked to borrow some of the Christie novels.

"I'm in number two. Follow me" Millie said, already climbing the steps.

So she was moving into Tintin's old flat. How interesting. "So, where are you from?" asked Tintin, trying to keep somewhat of a conversation going.

Millie looked behind herself to answer Tintin's question, but kept walking. "I just moved here from Lille, in France."

"Oh? What brings you to Brussels?" Tintin asked, curious why she would make the fairly large move.

Millie got to the top of the steps and placed the box on the floor outside her door. She rolled her shoulders. "I needed a change." She looked around as if she was going to say something rather silly, then smiled "I guess you could say I was looking for adventure!" she laughed.

Tintin was surprised. He wasn't sure if her idea of adventure was the same as his. He would have liked to know but he didn't bother asking. He smiled and said "Adventure here? Stranger things have happened." He placed the box on the ground.

"I always seem to end up in interesting situations even when I don't try." Millie said opening the door and pushing one of the boxes through the door with her foot. "It was nice meeting you ."

"You too." Tintin said, thinking about what she had said about looking for adventure. This Millie starling seemed to be quite interesting, and Tintin felt the urge to go and ask her more questions. He waved goodbye and made his way back down the steps. Seeing that his master was leaving, Snowy followed suit.

Hello! This is my first fan-fiction so don't mind me if you find this terrible! I hope you don't though! Reviews are always welcomed! :D Sorry this seems a little short. I promise they will get longer though!

I'm hoping people are reading this, but if you just read this it means you read the chapter so thank you!