Point of View: Diana
"What's the date today?" Thompson asks.
"It's 27th of April. It means we still have two more days to prepare for the expedition. Plus half a day if we start preparing now," I reply.
"May I ask, Diana," Thomson says. "How did you know Tintin?"
"Well, Tintin's my childhood best friend. And I don't want to talk about that," I answer. It reminds me of something bad that happened to me in my past. I don't really want to talk about my past.
"Diana, we'll have to go now," Thompson and Thomson says. "Just wait for Tintin here. Where'd he go anyway?" I scratch my forehead. "You shouldn't go. You know, he just went to prepare some food for us. Who will eat those?" I ask them. "We know you could eat all of them," Thomson says, laughing. "If Tintin ever looks for us, just tell him we already left. We need to do something important."
"I will. Be careful!" I tell them. The two of them open the door and left. I sit at the chair silently, until I hear a loud crash of something that must've dropped. I quickly ran and open the door and look to the right, but nothing was there. I look to right and see Captain cursing and jumping as someone cleans up the broken vase on the floor.
"Is everything alright?" I ask them calmly, walking towards their direction. Captain Haddock stops cursing, and looks at me innocently. "Oh, it's just you. Sorry for the mess, Diana. I just bumped into this table and the vase broke and fell," he says. "Go back to the room, Diana. Here, I'm come with you." He walks towards me and steers me back into the room. He lets me sit down on the chair and he sits down too. "So," he starts saying. "You're a friend of Tintin?"
"Yes, Captain," I reply. "It's been years since I last saw him. I was twelve back then." Captain Haddock picks up the bottle of whisky lying on the side table. "You're strikingly pretty," he says. "Oh, thank you, captain," I say awkwardly. I'm a bit shy receiving compliments from someone I just met. "Captain, how's Tintin doing?" I ask him. The captain picks up the drinking glass from the table and pours some whisky on it. "Ah, he's fine," he answers. "He does not do much. Mostly reading in the house or wandering outside." I nod.
Captain Haddocks drinks from the glass, places it on the table and lets out a refreshed breath. "So," he says. "You caught the thief. Why did you do that? Why don't you just let the police do it?" I straighten my back. "I'm just doing my job, captain. I work for the Interpol," I tell him. "Ooh, so you're part of the Interpol!" he says. "Actually, captain, I'm the one who's been assigned to keep track on the thief. I've been following him for weeks, but he's surprisingly fast. Good thing the Marlinspike Hall has gates. The thief is not a good climber, so it was a bit easy bringing him down the gates," I tell the captain as I laugh softly. "It seems that you're a nice lady. Are you sure you're just Tintin's friend?"
I blush at the question. "Uhm, yes, captain," I reply. And right after that moment, Tintin walks in with a tray with biscuits, bread, and some other food and drinks. He sets the tray on the table and looks around the room, puzzled. "Where's Thompson and Thomson?" he asks. "Oh, they left. Said they need to do something important," I answer. "Here, Diana, eat something," Tintin says as he picks up a piece of bread and gives it to me. Then, someone pushes the door open.
"Hello, Professor Calculus," Tintin greets the old man holding a book. "Fuse?" Professor Calculus asks. "No, this isn't a fuse. This is a book." The professor walks in and looks at me. "Oh! A visitor! May I ask who you are?" he asks. "My name is Diana, sir," I reply. "What did she say?" he asks Captain Haddock. "Oh, dear old Cuthbert, use your hearing device?" Captain Haddock grumbles as he pulls out a small trumpet from his pocket. He holds out his hand to the professor, and the professor happily picks up the trumpet and puts the end in his ear. "Sorry, young lady, what was your name again?" he asks me again. "My name is Diana, professor," I say again. "She's the one who caught the thief!" Captain Haddock says to the professor. "Ooh! Thank you, thank you very much!" Professor Calculus says, shaking my hand. "You're welcome, Professor," I say. Tintin eats a biscuit and sits down. "And about that," he says. "Why did you catch the thief?" I straighten my back once more. "I work for the Interpol. I was the person assigned to track him down," I tell him. "So you're the one being chased by Snowy down the meadow?" he asks. "Yes," I reply.
"Would you tell us all about the expedition?" Tintin asks. And I went on explaining things to them. "So we should be at the dock by 08:00 am on April 30. Thanks for the info, Diana," Tintin says. I look at my watch. "I should be going now. Thank you for the food, Tintin. Captain Haddock and Professor, I will be going now," I tell them. I open the door and walk out of the house.
At Diana's Apartment…
I fold all my clothes and pack them into my bag. I look for more things that I could bring to the expedition. I look at my bedside table, and there, sitting was a top part of diamond stone. The bottom part was outlined with a golden ring. I don't know what the ring's use on the diamond is, but, I don't let it bother me. When I was thirteen, my mother and father gave me that as a good luck charm. I walk up to the bedside table and pick up the diamond. "I will need all the good luck this charm will give," I mutter. I put the diamond back down the table. "I'll just put it on my travel clothes' pocket on the very day of the expedition."
April 30, 7:55 am
I walk on the plank going up the ship. The ship is very big. As I walk, a hand fell down on my shoulder unexpectedly that made me jump.
He laughed. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. How's it going with you, Diana?" Tintin asks. "I'm doing fine, but you scared me a little. I almost fell on the water, freak!" I tell him, and I was laughing too. He laughs again. "I remember you calling me freak when we're still kids," he says. "Yes, me too. Where are Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus?" I ask. "There," he points at the end of the plank, and I see the two men walking up. "You better hurry, Diana. Walk up, walk up. We only got five minutes left before the ship sails," Tintin says. I walk up the plank again and reach the ground of the ship. The ship is very big, here and there. We were on the right side of the ship, the starboard, which is about 6 meters wide. There are also lots of staterooms, which are about three floors. The men are all up and about, doing their own businesses. Tying ropes, checking engines, and running about.
Two men stand at the end of the plank. The first man is obviously a captain, which wears a green suit. His French cropped hair is salt and pepper that gives a hint of his old age. He has a long nose and stormy gray eyes. The other one wears a black suit with pockets all over the coat. His conservative styled hair was already white, as well as his moustache and pointy beard. The two men shake our hands as we step on the ship.
"Welcome to the ship Cassus, Mr. Tintin and Ms. Diana. I hope you'll feel comfortable here," the captain says as he lets go of my hand. "My name is Captain Ahmet Smith. And this is Professor Mike Wilson."
"Professor Wilson, thank you for gladly inviting us to the expedition. We're sure to enjoy the expedition," Tintin says. "Where are the other professors?"
"They are in their cabins. Oh, and please ask Professor Calculus that he should be on the special room, the Research room by 8:00 pm," Professor Mike says. "Sure, sir," Tintin says. "Who are our other companions?" he asks. "Oh, you'll meet them soon," the professor says. "Excuse us, me and the Captain, it's almost 8:00, and we need to prepare for the sailing. Nice to meet you and I hope you'll be comfortable in the ship." The two men walk away, just as soon as Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus get on the ship. "Blistering barnacles, what a nice ship!" Captain Haddock exclaims. Then, a young man dressed in a sailor suit comes closer to us. He has close cropped hair, and a coffee bean brown skin. He has blue eyes, which totally stands out because he has dark skin. He looks handsome, though. "Good morning, Mr. Tintin, Ms. Diana, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus. Welcome to ship Cassus. My name is Kurt. Please allow me to assist you while you're here," he says. "Oh, thank you, Kurt. Can you tell us where our rooms are?" Tintin asks. "Very well, sir. Your rooms are on second floor, first cabin to the left and so on," Kurt answers. "One room for each of you. Here are your keys, sir." He handed each of us a key with the room number. "Would you like me to accompany you to your rooms?" he asks.
"I'll stay here, first. I want some cold breeze. You can accompany the three of them to their rooms," I tell Kurt. "Oh, no. I'll stay here with you, Diana. We haven't seen each other for years. There's a lot to talk about. You can escort Captain and the Professor instead," Tintin says. "Very well, sir," Kurt says. "Do you want me to carry your luggage into your rooms, sir?"
"No, thank you. Me and Diana can carry this on our own. And Kurt, there's no need to call me 'sir'. Just call me by my name," Tintin says. "Sure… Tintin," he says, but I can tell he seems to hesitate saying it. "Don't worry, Kurt, you can call me by my name, too," I tell him. He smiles and walks with Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus. "What a nice man," I say.
Tintin laughs. "You fancy him?" he asks. "That's not what I meant," I reply, laughing too. "So, how's your mother and father?" he asks, placing his hands on his waist. "They're doing fine, Tintin," I say to him. "But they're not here. They're in their hometown. They allowed me to live here in my apartment because of my job. I want to come with them, to make sure they're okay all the time, but they say they will do fine."
"Good," he says, placing his arms on the handles on the side of the ship. "I see that you still have that gold necklace I gave you before you left." I look down at my necklace. "Oh, yes. It reminds me of you. I didn't take it off," I tell him. "You really impressed me," he says. "You really run so fast. How did you do that?" he asks. "Just a lot of practice," I reply. "You had a lot of adventures, Tintin. I saw them at the newspapers. My grandmother's been sending them to us when we left here. She keeps me updated," I tell him. "And here's another one. " Then, something wet licks my leg and I see Snowy by my feet. "Oh, hello, Snowy," I greet him. He barks happily as he wags his tail. Then, his face changed direction and he growls. "What is it, Snowy?" I ask, as I pat his head. I look at the direction he's looking at, and I see a lady running towards our direction. "Tintin! You're here!" she shouts from afar.
"Who's that?" I ask. Tintin looks back and frowns. "Not her, again," he mumbles. "Who is she? Do you know her?" I ask him. "Yes. Her name is Gina Maxfield. She's been following me for weeks, and she's bugging me. I had to take her out to dinner so she wouldn't annoy me, but that made her follow me more. Now, how did she get here?" he says, annoyed. "Take her out to dinner?" I say. I crack a mischievous smile at him. "So, you've been dating her?"
"No! It's not—I didn't say—It isn't—That's not what I meant," he fumbles as he blushes more. But I can say he dated her. "Tintin! You're here!" Tina says. She stumbles upon him and hugs his right arm. "I'm invited here. How about you?" Tintin asks annoyingly as he tries to pull away from Gina. "I wanted to see you! I paid my way here. When I learned you accepted their invitation to board here, I followed you. They told me that I couldn't board the ship unless I was part of the crew or invited, but I insisted. They refused again, so I paid my way in here. Isn't that great?" she says as she squeezes more of Tintin's arm and buries her face into his shoulder. I hear Tintin groan and squeak a little from the squeezing.
The scene made me awkward to be there. "Uhm," I say softly. Snowy growls more and I pat his head. "Snowy, let's get to our rooms. This is making me awkward," I whisper at him, so soft Tintin can't hear me. I stand up and sneak my way out with Snowy, but Tintin sees me and he immediately pulls away from Gina and grabs my shoulder.
"Ow! Hey, that hurt," I tell him. "Please don't leave me with her," he whispers at me. I look back, and I see Gina walking towards us with a frowning face. "Excuse me, but who are you?" she asks me annoyingly. "Uhm, ah…" I mumble. "She's my friend. My best friend. We've been best friends since we're young," Tintin says, a little angry. "Her name is Diana," Tintin introduces me. "I see," Gina says suspiciously. "You're not that pretty, you know," she points at me. That made me a bit angry inside. Here I am, doing nothing to her, and she kind of insulted me but I just met her just these last sixty seconds. "That's nice, " I lie. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have to prepare for the ball this evening," she says, walking away. I was puzzled. "A ball?" I ask. She turns around, looks back at us.
"Yes, a ball. They will celebrate for the start of the expedition. They will hold it in the special ball room," Gina says. "But, it's only 8:00. It will happen this evening. Aren't you too early for that?" I say. "Uhm, that's none of your business," she says, and walks away. I sigh. "What a woman," I say. "Where are Thompson and Thomson by the way? I didn't see them come up the ship," Tintin asks.
"Oh, they went here ahead of me. I'm guessing they're in their cabins now. Nobody told us about going to have a ball," I say. "Maybe we can ask someone from the ship," Tintin suggests. "Can you do that, Tintin? I'm going to my cabin first. I'll just put my things there," I ask him. "Sure, Diana. Be careful," Tintin says, and we separate ways.