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Post by Javert on Jan 3, 2012 11:32:26 GMT -5
Javert had acquired an office.
Apparently the people in charge of his district thought that the man's seniority, rank and accomplishments warranted such an honor.
Javert felt like heartily ripping their throats out.
Him! In an office! The inspector idly wondered whether he could petition the court to add a Law against this atrocity. Cluont would have a field day with this one... though it was a testament to the man's good sense that he'd not yet shown his face.
He felt trapped in the worst way possible and had already taken to pacing his office like a caged animal. It only took three of his long strides before he had to turn again... it was an office, not a big office. Just enough to lock him in, away from the general area of desks where it had been so easy to carefully glare any paperwork unfortunate enough to hit his desk into submission, then walk a few rounds out on the street until the offending papers were gone once again, leaving room for Javert to do some actual police work.
This was no way to treat a proper officer of the Law!
He'd had to sign things! What would be next? Filling out forms while he could be out there, hunting?
Hunting down criminals, of course, those who had broken the Law, Javert quickly amended to himself. Not just hunting... he wasn't some animal.
That last statement would be doubted by anyone who heard the slight snarl just beginning at the back of the inspector's throat before he could bite it back when there was a knock on the door.
"Enter."
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Tintin
- Masterful Virgin -
masterful virgin indeed%\0\%
Posts: 11
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Post by Tintin on Jan 3, 2012 13:28:49 GMT -5
He'd tried to leave Snowy behind -- the dog had braved far riskier situations, but Tintin wasn't sure whether strolling into a police station with an animal in tow would make the best impression. Other officers of the law didn't seem to have much of a problem, at least the sensible ones, but better safe than sorry. But he should have known better to expect Snowy to take no for an answer; he'd broken free from their landlady's arms and Tintin didn't have the heart to really leave him behind. Better hope there were no cats, or bones, or spiders. He'd had a brief talk with another one of the officers, who hadn't seemed too enthused about answering his questions, but he hadn't thought to ask about how the distinguished Javert had any trouble with animals.
A young man stood in the doorway, notebook in hand and attended by a small white terrier.
"Monsieur l'Inspecteur, have I caught you at a good moment?"
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Post by Javert on Jan 3, 2012 17:28:27 GMT -5
The distinguished Javert was a bit of a special case when it came to animals. Most appeared to have sufficient intelligence to steer clear of the wolf lurking within the man, but there were seemingly always a few exceptions... because the world in general was always out to annoy Javert.
He couldn't help but briefly lift his upper lip, baring his teeth at the small white thing, but then the inspector's iron self-control rose up to slam the beast within back into its cage and Javert's face was once again carefully blank. Almost imperceptibly, his eyes flicked to the small stack of papers that had already managed to invade the office that had been freshly imposed upon him, then back to the... boy.
"As good a time as any," the inspector said after a few moments of consideration, in which speaking to Tintin had apparently been judged possibly just a little less terrible than doing the paperwork.
((Lemme guess... Snowy: "Oooh, big dog!" *ATTACH*))
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Tintin
- Masterful Virgin -
masterful virgin indeed%\0\%
Posts: 11
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Post by Tintin on Jan 3, 2012 17:39:50 GMT -5
Snowy bared his teeth right back, tensing low to the floor, but Tintin heard the dog's surly little growl and brushed past him.
"Stop that, Snowy -- I'm sorry, he's not usually like this. I'm a reporter for Le Petit Vingtiéme, they said you'd be in today. Can I ask you a few questions?"
This was exactly how Snowy usually was, though generally when he encountered another, bigger animal on the street. It did give Tintin a little pause, he was used to taking some of his cues from Snowy when the two understood each other so well -- but that was no reason to be rude, certainly not to a police inspector.
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Post by Javert on Jan 3, 2012 17:52:22 GMT -5
"I am not at liberty to discuss any cases currently under investigation."
That was always a good thing to get out of the way first with... reporters. Not that it ever seemed to keep them from asking anyway. Which, in turn, never seemed to keep Javert from making them permanently reconsider asking him any questions, ever.
Nevertheless, Javert wandered around the desk -not his desk, not in his mind anyway- and took a seat in... well, okay, his chair. The inspector wasn't a man to sit down, but should he be so inclined this chair was most definitely worthy of being considered his. What? It was comfortable. Don't judge him. Can't judge a man for enjoying a comfortable chair. It still didn't mean he liked any of the other things that came with the room.
The inspector briefly considered making a point of not inviting Tintin to do the same, but that would be too petty a thing for him and he simply gestured to the seat on the other side of the desk.
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Tintin
- Masterful Virgin -
masterful virgin indeed%\0\%
Posts: 11
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Post by Tintin on Jan 3, 2012 17:58:17 GMT -5
This left a nice little window for asking about the ones that weren't, though he didn't have motive enough to pry yet. He took a seat, feeling a little dwarfed by the chair, and took out his pencil. Snowy grudgingly came to sit beside him, though his hackles had not entirely gone down.
"How long have you been in this line of work, Inspector?"
That seemed like a fairly neutral question.
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Post by Javert on Jan 3, 2012 18:52:32 GMT -5
((I'm going to do the numbers and history for you, since I've done them a long time ago due to my anal retentive attention to such details. So just for the record: Javert is said to be 52 in 1832, so he should be born around 1780. Code Napoleon was fully established around 1810, still upholding the age of consent at 11 from 1791. Actual books on child labor weren't up until Villermé wrote about it in 1840, which led to the French law of March 21st, 1841, placing the minimum age for a child to be working at eight, making them go to school until 12. It didn't have much effect as people tended to hide the children during inspections and such. The law then went untouched until 1874, where the minimum working age was placed at 12. Formally starting in law enforcement seems to therefore be plausible somewhere between 8-12. However, Javert was born inside a jail and probably made to do chores and such as soon as he could do them. I know that what he actually says is rather vague, but I just felt like shamelessly showing off all the stuff I've researched in my time playing him in various places. XD))
"The Law is my life," Javert stated plainly, actually managing to sound out the capital letter L without trying.
He tried not to stare down the little white mutt, the wolf had already readily accepted any new territory thrown its way and was ready to defend it, but Javert was stronger now and not having any of it. The inspector might still be far from seasoned as a werewolf, he was still a master of controlling his emotions and this was not allowed to be different.
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Tintin
- Masterful Virgin -
masterful virgin indeed%\0\%
Posts: 11
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Post by Tintin on Jan 4, 2012 10:11:59 GMT -5
(( God, Javert, he and the Law really are childhood sweethearts. They grew up together! ))
The Inspector was so serious. Of course, it was probably better to have men like that in such a line of work rather than those who took it lightly, but it was jarring after his own rather limited experiences.
"That's good to hear. Have you worked in Paris all your life?"
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Post by Javert on Jan 12, 2012 19:31:42 GMT -5
((Well, his origin story is basically him choosing between "attacking" or "defending" society... he went with defending. )) "No, I have not." The answer was short, honest, to the point and free of any further (and in his mind unnecessary) elaboration. In that, it was very... Javert. The inspector was a man would could tell many a tale, should he be so inclined, it was just that he often simply wasn't inclined at all. There were more important matters to devote his time to. Preferably matters free of paperwork. Javert was actually rather surprised at how basic the questions asked were. Although he couldn't fathom why anyone would be interested in him without them having some personal stake in it, these things should be within the public domain. Was the boy trying to ease him into a false sense of security?
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