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The Monad Charity House was as grand as ever.
Lea didn't visit often nowadays, but somehow the place still felt soothing. This had been her home after all, with all that came with it.
But now she wasn't here to visit. She was here to pick someone up.
Just when she finished that thought, the boy came down the stairs. He wasn't wearing his school uniform but nice, fell-fitted clothes. The boy's brother definitely had a taste for fine things. Lea noted, amused, that he was also wearing Romeo's Graduation Necklace.
When the boy reached the bottom of the stairs he stopped in his tracks and frowned. “Where's Romeo?”
“Busy”, Lea said, not bothering with greetings either. “I promised to pick you up in his stead and here I am.”
“Lea?”
“Hi, Sophia”, Lea said, not turning around. She already knew what her sister looked like: surprised, maybe a little bit confused.
“I thought Romeo was supposed to come”, Sophia said softly. Pinocchio looked at them both, clearly sensing the tense atmosphere between the sisters. That boy was too observant for his own good.
“He's busy”, Lea repeated. “I came in his stead.”
“I'm not sure I can let Pinocchio–”
“It's okay, Sophia”, Pinocchio said confidently and went to stand next to Lea. He didn't try to grab her hand and she was grateful. “I can go with Miss Lea, she isn't mean anymore and I don't have to hit her with my arm.”
Sophia frowned. “Pinocchio, you know you shouldn't–”
“Bye, Sophia, see you on Sunday!” the boy called and then started to walk briskly towards the door. Lea smirked and followed. “Goodbye, Sophia. Have a nice weekend.”
And with that, they were off.
“Where's Romeo?” Pinocchio asked again when they had settled in the carriage Lea had rented.
“I sent him to spend some time with your brother”, Lea said, then remembered she was in fact talking to a child. “Because they miss each other.”
Pinocchio nodded thoughtfully. “Carlo misses Romeo, I can tell. Romeo should come for a sleepover. Are they having a sleepover?”
Lea almost swallowed her tongue. “I believe so, yes.”
“Okay”, Pinocchio said and looked at her curiously. “Where are we going?”
Lea smirked. “Would you say no to some ice cream?”
She took Pinocchio to Elysium Street, in one of the cafes where she liked to visit when she wasn't in her Legendary Stalker uniform.
Pinocchio was confident he could finish the biggest ice cream sundae on the menu so she let him order that, while getting coffee for herself. The boy tucked in and for some time they sat in comfortable silence, she sipping her coffee and the boy enjoying his ice cream and listening to the pianist playing in the corner.
This was a good choice. Romeo was talented, yes, and ready to work hard, but he was still young and anyone could tell he missed the Geppetto boy. Lea could only give him an hour or so –her repertoire of babysitting started and ended with ice cream –but it was better than nothing.
Suddenly the atmosphere changed.
Lea noticed it even before it happened –a skill acquired early in her line of work. Something made her tense and grab her sword seconds before anything happened.
But then it did. The whole cafe felt silent. The pianist stopped playing. Fear now hung heavily in the air.
“Pinocchio, get under the table”, Lea ordered a second before another sword was sheathed.
“Everyone down!” a man yelled. He was dressed in brown leather and had a mask over his face, leaving only his eyes visible. “Give me the money, or someone will get it!”
Lea almost rolled her eyes. Amateurs.
With a few quick movements she reached the robber, knocked his sword off his hand and then threw him over her shoulder and to the ground. The whole thing took less than twenty seconds.
For a frozen moment, the cafe stayed silent. Then somebody started clapping and other customers soon joined. A few police puppets appeared and took the thief away. The man cursed, which made Lea shake her head. Didn't he really know he would be better off in prison than in a town full of Stalkers?
The owner of the cafe came to shake Lea's hand. “Thank you, miss, truly. Is there any way I can repay you this favor?”
Lea opened her mouth to answer when she was interrupted by a small voice behind her.
“Miss Lea?”
Shit. The boy was definitely scared. And he would tell his brother and–
But when Lea turned around, she didn't see fear in Pinocchio’s eyes. The boy's nice outfit was a bit dusty and his hair a mess, but other than that, he looked fine. Just…curious.
“Can I try your sword?” he asked.
After the grateful cafe owner had served them another bowl of ice cream and cup of coffee, Lea ushered Pinocchio out. They would walk to Venigni Factory.
Pinocchio stepped lightly, seemingly not at all bothered by a long walk. “Can you teach me some of those moves?” he asked when they walked, he on the low brick wall next to the street. “I want to make Jessie jealous.”
“Who's Jessie?”
“My friend. She'll be a Stalker, just like me!”
“What does your brother say?”
Pinocchio made a face. “Carlo doesn't like it. But he says I can be whatever I want.”
“Smart, that brother of yours”, Lea said. To her surprise she was smiling. “Don't you want to be a Technician like him?”
Pinocchio shook his head. “No. I'm gonna be a Stalker and protect people. Can I be your apprentice when I grow up? People say you're really good.”
“We'll see”, Lea said diplomatically. "Now come back here, you'll fall."
Pinocchio frowned at her but obeyed. Then the boy bit his lip, when a sudden thought occurred to him. "Don't tell Carlo about that man in the cafe."
Lea frowned. "Why not?"
"He'll get upset. He's already sad because he cannot take me to vacation next month, he has to go to France again."
Lea stared at the boy.
Pinocchio was smarter than she had thought: the boy had noticed the weight his brother had in his shoulders and tried to protect him from other burdens.
"Besides, if you tell, he won't let anyone else collect me anymore and then I won't ice cream", Pinocchio pointed out his childish side peeking in. Lea smirked.
“Fine. Consider my lips sealed. Hey, isn't that Venigni?”
Pinocchio glanced at the other side of the street where a man was helping a woman into a carriage. “Yes”, he said nonchalantly. “And that is Miss Adelina, but we shouldn't see that because it's a secret.”
Lea stared at the little boy who turned his back on her and started to march towards the factory. “What is a secret?”
“That Uncle Venigni likes her. He told me that when I saw them kissing in his office.”
Lea kept staring at the boy who calmly weaved his way through the people in the street. “They date?”
“They do”, Pinocchio said, and then turned to look at her, frowning. “Come on, I want tea.”
“You just ate two servings of ice cream”, Lea pointed out but followed the boy. “Say, Pinocchio, if I wanted to know something about my apprentice…”
“Three gold coins, payment first”, the boy answered, not looking back.
“That's a robbery. Two.”
“Fine.”
When they arrived to the factory, Carlo and Romeo were already waiting for them. Both looked a bit disheveled and Romeo had a bite mark in his throat he had in vain tried to cover with his collar.
“Carlo”, Pinocchio called far away and ran to his brother's arms. Carlo picked him up and turned to look at Lea. “Thank you”, he said solemnly. “For looking after him.”
“You're welcome, he's a good company.” Lea turned to look at her apprentice who was still smiling at his lover. “Romeo.”
The boy looked slightly confused. “Yes?”
“Do you truly have a belly piercing? It is not good for a Stalker to have recognizable marks.”
Romeo blushed violently. “What the heck –Pino!”
“What?"