#Guido and ciccio | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

marcmarcmomarc · 7 months ago

Text

Once Upon a Lamp - list of characters

In honor of Once Upon a Studio turning one year old

EXT. THE STEVE JOBS BUILDING - EARLY EVENING

Feature films

Toy Story (Toys)

Woody

Buzz Lightyear

Jessie

Mr. Potato Head

Slinky Dog

Rex

Hamm

Bo Peep

Mrs. Potato Head

Aliens

Bullseye

Mr. Pricklepants

Dolly

Trixie

Buttercup

Chuckles

Stinky Pete

Barbie

Ken

Lots-o-Huggin’ Bear

Big Baby

Twitch

Stretch

Chunk

Sparks

Chatter Telephone

Bookworm

Peas-in-a-Pod

Forky

Giggle McDimples

Ducky

Bunny

Duke Caboom

Gabby Gabby

The Dummies

Billy, Goat, and Gruff

Toy Story (Human side)

Andy Davis

Mrs. Davis

Molly Davis

Sid Phillips

Hannah Phillips

Bonnie Anderson

Bonnie’s Mom

Bonnie’s Dad

Buster

Scud

A Bug’s Life

Flik

Hopper

Princess Atta

Princess Dot

The Queen

Molt

Slim

Heimlich

Francis

Manny

Gypsy

Rosie

Tuck

Roll

P.T. Flea

Dim

Mr. Soil

Dr. Flora

Thorny

Cornelius

Thumper

Aphie

Monsters, Inc.

James P. Sullivan

Mike Wazowski

Boo

Celia Mae

Randall Boggs

Henry J. Waternoose

Johnny Worthington

Scott “Squishy” Squibbles

Don Carlton

Terri and Terry Perry

Art

Tylor Tuskman

Val Little

Fritz

Katherine “Cutter” Sterns

Duncan P. Anderson

Roz

Yeti

Jeff Fungus

Banana Bread

Roger Rogers

Suzy “Sunny” Sunshine

Finding Nemo

Marlin

Dory

Nemo

Hank

The Incredibles

Bob Parr

Helen Parr

Violet Parr

Dashiell Parr

Jack-Jack Parr

Lucius Best

Edna Mode (E)

Buddy Pine

Winston Deavor

Evelyn Deavor

Mirage

Rick Dicker

Voyd

Cars

Lightning McQueen

Tow Mater

Cruz Ramirez

Ratatouille

Remy

Alfredo Linguini

Chef Skinner

Colette Tatou

Django

Emile

Anton Ego

WALL-E

EVE

Captain B. McCrea

John

Mary

M-O

GO-4

The Reject Robots

Hal the Cockroach

Carl Fredricksen

Russell

Dug

Charles Muntz

Alpha

Beta

Gamma

Kevin

Kevin’s Babies

Brave

Merida

Elinor

Fergus

Hamish

Hupert

Harris

Fergus’ Dogs

Angus

The Witch

Maudie

Lord MacGuffin

Lord Macintosh

Lord Dingwall

Young MacGuffin

Young Macintosh

Wee Dingwall

The Witch’s Crow

Conan the Clan Dingwall Hunk

Inside Out (Mindscape)

Joy

Sadness

Anger

Fear

Disgust

Anxiety

Envy

Ennui

Embarrassment

Nostalgia

Paula Persimmon

Xeni

Jean Dewberry

Janelle Johnson

Teen Riley

Rainbow Unicorn

Melatonin

Inside Out (Humans)

Riley Andersen

Jill Andersen

Bill Andersen

Grace Hsieh

Bree Young

Valentina Ortiz

Dani

Ally

Sofia

Nour

Coach Roberts

The Good Dinosaur

Arlo

Spot

Henry

Ida

Buck

Libby

Nash

Ramsey

Butch

Thunderclap

Downpour

Coldfront

Frostbite

Windgust

Bubbha

Lurleane

Pervis

Earl

Forrest Woodbush

Fury

Destructor

Dream Crusher

Debbie

Coco (Land of the Living)

Miguel Rivera

Dante

Abuelita Elena Rivera

Enrique Rivera (Papá)

Luisa Rivera (Mamá)

Tío Berto Rivera

Tía Carmen Rivera

Tía Gloria Rivera

Abuelito Franco Rivera

Abel Rivera

Rosa Rivera

Socorro Rivera

Benny Rivera

Manny Rivera

Coco (Land of the Dead)

Papá Héctor Rivera

Ernesto de la Cruz

Mamá Imelda Rivera

Pepita

Mamá Coco Rivera

Papá Julio Rivera

Tía Rosita Rivera

Tía Victoria Rivera

Tío Óscar Rivera

Tío Felipe Rivera

Onward

Ian Lightfoot

Barley Lightfoot

Laurel Lightfoot

Corey

Colt Bronco

Blazey

Soul (Living World)

Joe Gardener

Libba Gardener

Dez

Dorothea Williams

Curley Baker

Miho Akage

Connie

Melba

Lulu

Soul (The Great Before)

Moonwind

Terry

Counselor Jerry A

Counselor Jerry B

Luca

Luca Paguro

Alberto Scorfano

Giulia Marcovaldo

Ercole Visconti

Massimo Marcovaldo

Daniela Paguro

Lorenzo Paguro

Grandma Libera Paguro

Ciccio

Guido

Machiavelli

Turning Red

Meilin Lee

Ming Lee

Miriam Mendelsohn

Abby Park

Priya Mangal

Tyler Nguyen-Baker

Jin Lee

Grandma Wu Lee

Auntie Chen

Lily

Helen

Auntie Ping

Mr. Gao

4*Town

Lightyear

Izzy Hawthorne

Sox

Mo Morrison

Darby Steel

Commander Cal Burnside

Alisha Hawthorne

Kiko Hawthorne

Elemental

Ember Lumen

Wade Ripple

Bernie Lumen

Cinder Lumen

Gale Cumulus

Fern Grouchwood

Clod

Brook Ripple

Harold Ripple

Alan Ripple

Lake Ripple

Eddy Ripple

Marco Ripple

Polo Ripple

Ghibli

Elio

Elio Solis

Ambassador Questa

Ambassador Grigon

Olga Solis

Glordon

OOOOO

Ambassador Helix

Ambassador Tegman

Ambassador Turais

Hoppers

Mabel

King George

Short films

The Adventures of André and Wally B.

André

Wally B.

Luxo Jr.

Luxo Sr.

Red’s Dream

Lumpy

Red

Tin Toy

Tinny

Gumbo

Flip ‘n Beth

Ace

Clocky

Spot

Zoo Train

Chrome Dome

Rallye Guy

Fire Hydrant

Helicopter Sheep

Toypot

Frodo

Bouncy

Eben’s Car

Les

RenderMan

Knick Knack

Knick

Sunny Miami

Sunny Florida

Sunny Egypt

Sunny Jamaica

Sunny Palm Springs

Sunny Israel

Surf Death Valley

Sunny Atlantis

Geri’s Game

Geri

For the Birds

Bluebird Flock

Gawky Bird

Boundin’

Jackalope

Lamb

One Man Band

Bass

Treble

Tippy

Lifted

Stu

Mr. B

Presto

Presto DiGiotagione

Alec Azam

Partly Cloudy

Gus

Peck

Day & Night

Day

Night

La Luna

Bambino

Papà

Nonno

The Blue Umbrella

Blue

Red

Lava

Uku

Lele

Sanjay’s Super Team

Sanjay

Sanjay’s Father

Hanuman

Durga

Vishnu

Piper

Lou

J.J.

Bao

Mom

Son

Dad

Cindy

SparkShorts

Purl

Lacy

Office Bros.

Office Ladies

Kitbull

Dog

Smash and Grab

Smash

Grab

Float

Father

Son

Wind

Ellis

Ellis�� Grandma

Burrow

Rabbit

Badger Landlord

The Rabbit’s Neighbors

Loop

Renee

Marcus

Out

Greg

Jim

Manuel

Greg’s Parents

Gigi

Nona

Renee

Twenty-Something

Gia

Nicole

Self

TV shows

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

Commander Nebula

Mira Nova

Booster Sinclair Munchapper

Warp Darkmatter

Gravitina

N0S-4-A2

Win or Lose

Coach Dan

Laurie

Rochelle

Kai

Yuwen

Tom

Taylor

Borna

Hannah

Other

THX

Tex

31 notes · View notes

ironychan · 2 years ago

Text

A Little Human (as a Treat)

Part 1/? - Un Voluntario

Part 2/? - Un Escursione

Part 3/? - Una Complicazione

Part 4/? - Una Famiglia

Part 5/? - Una Aiutante

Part 6/? - Una Ricerca

Part 7/? - Un Confronto

Part 8/? - Un'Emergenza

Part 9/? - Una Speranza

Ciccio and Ercole need a place to spend the night. Flavia and Perla just need a grownup. @dysphoria-sweatshirt @writer652

The problem with sulking is that it's boring, and Ciccio hadn't been sitting there at the base of the anchor chain for very long before he started to get tired of it. He was still angry with his father, so he couldn't go back to shore, but Signora Trota wasn't going to want to see him, so he couldn't go to Giordana's house, either. Where did that leave?

Even worse, what was he going to do with Ercole? Ercole wouldn't care about the argument, and it wouldn't have been any of his business if he had. All Ercole would want was to see that stupid magic scroll and change back to human. It wouldn't be fair of Ciccio to leave him stuck down here just because of some family drama – and unlike Ercole, Ciccio actually cared about things like that. He would probably have to make up with his father as soon as the kids got back. He wasn't looking forward to that.

Ciccio was still stewing over this when Ercole himself arrived, looking for him. It was impossible to say whether he'd also gotten the sea monsters' innate sense of direction with his transformation, but he clearly hadn't had a very good trip. He was once again tangled up in seaweed, and his leg was stuck in a scrap of net.

“Here you are!” he said indignantly. “Why are you sitting around?” He shook his foot to try to get the piece of net off it. A small crab, also stuck in the mesh, hung on for dear life. “What happened to the children, huh?”

“They're not back yet,” said Ciccio.

“What? What's keeping them?” Ercole demanded.

“They got lost.”

“Well, what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing,” said Ciccio. “There's anything anyone can do about it. Signor Marcovaldo and Signor Scorfano went to San Giuseppe to get them, and they'll be back when they're back. Until then, we just have to wait.”

He couldn't help feeling a little smug about it. Ercole enjoyed making other people do things he didn't want to do himself. Now he was in the last place he ever wanted to be and there was nothing to be done about it. It felt well-deserved.

“I don't want to wait! I'm sick of this!” Ercole insisted. “I want to go home!”

“Good for you,” Ciccio told him. He settled further into the mud, as if he never intended to move again.

“You can't do this to me!”

“Can't do anything else.”

Ercole reached to grab him by the gills, then stopped, not wanting to get stabbed on a spine again. Neither of them had any idea what a second such injury might do. He seemed to think for a moment, then sat down on the bottom next to Ciccio. “Then I'm gonna wait with you,” he announced, “just to make sure you're telling the truth.”

“Why would I lie about it?” Ciccio wanted to know.

“How am I supposed to know why you'd do something? You're the one who apparently wanted to be a slimy sea monster,” Ercole replied.

Ciccio was about to say something rude in reply, but he heard the sound of a motor. Looking up, he could see the shape of a small boat against the sunset light, puttering out towards the Island. It looked familiar. Was that the same boat Guido had been in earlier? If so, was it heading to the Island on the assumption that Ciccio would go back there? He wasn't sure about his ability to recognize a boat from the bottom – although he knew Alberto could apparently do it – but if there were some news, did he really want to risk missing it?

“Wait here,” he told Ercole, and swam up to see what was going on. He grabbed the side of the boat to look over the edge, and was relieved to see his friend. If it had been somebody else, there was a chance this situation might have gotten even worse. “Guido?”

“Oh, per fortuna!” Guido exclaimed, turning around. “I had no idea how I was gonna find you! Listen.” He used an oar to turn the boat so he could better face Ciccio. “Signor Scorfano telephoned from San Giuseppe. Flavia wasn't where she promised to wait, so they're going to look for her.”

Ciccio felt that awful crawling fear inside him again. What if they never found her? He wanted to shut his eyes and try to physically shake that horrible thought out of his head.

This must have been plain on his face, because Guido held his hands up and tried to reassure him. “Don't panic! They think she's got somebody with her, but they might be back really late, and your Dad wants me to make sure you're okay. He told me to ask if you have somewhere you can spend the night if you need to.”

This really did nothing for Ciccio's state of mind. If his father was resigned to him spending the night in the water, then this was really serious. “I don't know. We might be able to stay with the Donzellas, I guess? We helped them fix their barn.”

“We?” Guido asked. For a moment he was puzzled, then he remembered Ercole and was even more confused. “Ercole helped?”

“Sort of. Not on purpose,” Ciccio told him. “Anyway, Papá's met Signor Donzella. Silvio's dad, the big guy with the beard.”

The Donzellas were fairly familiar faces around Portorosso. Guido nodded. “I'll probably be back really early to check on you again,” he said. “I don't know if there's any way to let you know if they get back after midnight or something...”

“I'll wait for you at the Island again in the morning,” Ciccio promised.

“Okay. Uh... sleep well,” said Guido uncertainly.

“I'll try,” said Ciccio, who was pretty sure he wouldn't sleep a wink.

Ercole was waiting just below the surface, tail twitching impatiently. “Well?” he asked.

“Flavia's still missing,” said Ciccio.

Ercole scowled. “Doesn't she know we can't change back without her?”

“Yes! She knows that!” Ciccio replied impatiently. “She's probably not doing great, either, you know. She's by herself in a strange place.”

“What if she doesn't come back? I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a nasty, smelly sea monster!”

That hit a little too close to Ciccio's own fears. “Maybe I do!” he snarled, not because it was true but just to make Ercole angrier.

“I don't care what you want,” Ercole informed him.

“I know! You don't care about anybody but yourself!”

“Why should I?”

“Because everybody else does!” Ciccio roared. “Giordana wanted to help the Donzellas because she wants them to have a place to live! I wanted to do this partly to hang out with Giordana but also partly because I felt sorry for Flavia and I wanted her to have a good time! I could have just left you there but I felt like this was my fault and I didn't want you to get hurt! Everybody cares about other people except you!”

For a moment Ercole just stared at him, astonished by this outburst. Then he snorted and said, “it's not my business if your fish girlfriend wants to do extra work. Now, if the children won't be back tonight, what are we going to do?”

“We're going to ask the Donzella family if we can stay with them,” Ciccio replied. “And if Signora Donzella allows it, it's because she cares that we don't get eaten by the giant squid!”

Ercole looked suspicious. “Everybody keeps talkinga bout this giant squid. I think you're making it up.”

“Then you can just sleep on a rock somewhere,” Ciccio said, and turned to head for the Donzellas' house.

“Hey! You just admitted that this is your fault!” Ercole swam after him. “You can't just leave me!”

Ciccio didn't answer. He'd been told that sea monsters could instinctively find their way back to any place they'd been before, but it was still surprising to see first-hand that it was true. He didn't even have to think about it. He knew exactly which way he had to go to find the Donzellas. Ercole didn't question his sense of direction, either. He was too busy continuing to rant.

“Why do you want a sea monster for a girlfriend anyway?” he asked. “I mean, I see why normal girls wouldn't want you, but are you really that desperate?”

“Believe it or not, I like Giordana,” said Ciccio. “She's tough and pretty at the same time, and we both like to bake. And she likes me, too,” he added. “She says I treat her like a lady, while the sea monster boys think she's not girly enough.”

“Oh, so neither of you can find somebody your own kind,” was what Ercole took from that.

Ciccio didn't answer, because something caught his eye... a flicker of blue-green light somewhere off in the darkening water. He turned to look, but didn't see anything.

“What are you...” Ercole began, then fell silent. “Per milli cavoli.”

This was spoken in a hush that was very out of character for Ercole. Ciccio found him looking up – he followed his gaze, and saw that with the sun going down, the water near the surface had lit up with softly glowing blue plankton. This swirled and shifted with the water, looking like pictures Ciccio had seen in a magazine of the aurora polare in Canada, except in constant motion. It was breathtaking.

“Wow,” he said.

“Does that happen every night down here?” Ercole wanted to know.

“I couldn't tell you,” Ciccio said. Neither Giordana nor Arturo had ever mentioned it to him. Maybe it was so ordinary to them that they didn't think it was worth talking about, sort of like the moon.

It must have been the same glow that Ciccio had seen a moment earlier. It had only startled him because he hadn't known to expect it. Yet he couldn't help looking over his shoulder before they continued on their way, just in case. When he did, there it was: a gentle pulse of greenish light among the seaweed. He waited, but it did not appear again.

Ciccio's sense of direction didn't fail him. The Donzella family's house was right where he'd thought it was, with a soft pinkish glow visible through the windows. This, too, was bioluminescence, coming from a cluster of jellyfish the sea monsters kept in their houses. Silvio was helping his mother feed these when Ciccio and Ercole came to the door.

Massimo knew he was supposed to call out. Ciccio did not, and feared that doing so might be rude. Since there was nothing to knock on, he just waited there awkwardly for somebody to notice him.

It took a few moments, but eventually Signora Donzella spotted them, and cried out in surprise. “Mother of pearl! Say something next time!” She gave her bowl of krill to Silvio and came to welcome them in. “What can I do for you boys?”

Ercole looked at Ciccio – talking to sea monsters was his job. Ciccio took a deep breath, or at least its underwater equivalent. How much should he tell her? The truth was complicated and he didn't know how she'd react. Signora Egelfino earlier hadn't exactly been upset, but he couldn't imagine her letting them spend the night, either.

He decided to say as little as possible. “I had a fight with my father, and Ercole's a long way from home. We were wondering if we could stay here tonight.”

Signora Donzella was surprised and a bit puzzled by the request, but she rose to the occasion. “Of course you can. I'm sure everything will seem much better in the morning. I remember having some awful rows with my mother when I was a girl, but a good night's sleep always helped. Let me find you something to eat. Silvio!”

Her son looked up from what he was doing. Half the jellyfish immediately extended their tentacles to try to grab the bowl of krill from him, and he had to quickly move it out of their reach. “Yes, Mom?”

“Find those extra sponge mats, will you? I know we brought them with us. I'm afraid there's not room for you in the house,” she told her guests, “but thanks to all your good help today there's plenty of space in the barn, and we haven't moved our livestock in yet so you won't even have to share.”

Ercole was appalled. “You want us to...” he began, but Ciccio grabbed him by a whisker and pinched it. “Ow!”

“Grazie mille, Signora Donzella,” said Ciccio. “That's perfect. We can finish feeding your jellyfish for you.”

“Would you? That woudl be lovely,” said Signora Donzella with a smile.

Silvio grinned and gave the bowl to Ciccio before swimming off to find the bedding. His mother vanished into another room, and with them both gone, Ciccio took Ercole's arm and leaned in close to talk to him.

“We are gonna be good guests,” he said threateningly, “and if you aren't, I'm gonna tell her husband who you really are.”

Ciccio did not know if Ercole realized that Signor Donzella was the same person as the large bearded man who'd helped scare the American carnival owner away back at Christmas time, but he had the events of earlier in the day to tell him that this wasn't somebody he wanted angry with them. He nodded.

“Good.” Ciccio let go of him. “Keep your mouth shut, and let's get to work.”

Flavia and Perla were afraid Felicia would try to drag them back to the French bakery, but she seemed just as determined to reach the police station as the girls were. All three came puffing up to the Piazza Centrale together. Flavia had not noticed the police station when she had been in the piazza earlier, but it was not a conspicuous building, wedged as it was between a dressmaker's and a shop that had once been a greengrocer's but was now empty. Even now that she was looking for it, Flavia would have needed Perla to point it out if it hadn't been for the crowd gathered around it.

“I need everybody to stay back, please!” a young policeman was saying, standing on a chair to address everybody. “This is not a circus show! We're trying to contain a threat to the community.”

“You girls hear that?” Felicia asked, worried. “You two shouldn't be here.”

“What about you?” Perla asked.

“I'm looking for my husband,” the woman reminded them.

It wasn't impossible that he was here somewhere, Flavia thought. There were at least a couple of dozen people gathered and he could easily have been one of them. Rather than go look for him, however, Felicia remained lurking with the two girls in the side street.

“What do we do now?” Flavia asked.

“I dunno,” said Perla, with a nervous look at Felicia.

There was a fuss somewhere up the street, with the ringing of a bicycle bell and several startled shouts. The girls and Felicia turned to look, and then froze as they heard a familiar voice.

“Heaven's sake, watch where you're going!” exclaimed Signora Pepitone.

“Sorry, Ma'am!” replied the boy on the bicycle who'd nearly run into her.

Perla grabbed Flavia and the two darted into the space between two buildings, ducking under an old wooden pallet that was leaning against one wall. Felicia, who had turned back to watching the crowd outside the police station once she'd realized nothing important was happening up the street, did not notice them. Moments later, Signora Pepitone and Roberto went hurrying by, in the sort of tired jog that suggested they'd begun their journey running but were now out of breath. Felicia jumped as they startled her on the way by, and only then did she look around and realize the girls were gone.

She did not look for them, though, because as soon as she entered the piazza Signora Pepitone began calling for help. “We need the police!” she called out. “Those sea monsters! They took my granddaughter and her friend!”

“Oh, no,” whispered Flavia. Now Signora Pepitone was even more upset about the sea monsters! If Flavia and Perla came out and said they'd run away on their own, then the others wouldn't have to take the blame... but then Signora Pepitone would drag them back to her flat and there'd be nobody to try to help Alberto and his friends. Flavia wished Papa Leo were here. He would have been able to do something. This was getting worse and worse. “We're gonna be in so much trouble.”

“Then we have to help your friends before she finds us,” Perla decided. She wiggled out from under the pallet and studied the side of the building. “I'm gonna go take a look.”

“She'll see you!” Flavia protested.

“No, she won't,” Perla promised, and began shimmying up the drainpipe. “Wait here, and be very quiet,” she told Flavia.

“Okay,” said Flavia, glad Perla hadn't tried to make her come along. The other girl vanished over the edge of the roof, and Flavia sat down on a wooden block to wait. She hoped Perla wouldn't be too long.

Flavia might have worried less about Perla falling if she'd been able to see her scrambling over the rooftops like a mountain goat. By the time she reached the former grocery shop, Signora Pepitone was already inside the police station shouting at the prisoners. Perla could hear her voice, and so she crouched on the roof and waited for Ippolito to escort her grandmother out. Then she slid down onto a lower part of the roof, and peered in the small window there.

There wasn't much happening inside. Alberto was pacing up and down the room, trying to think of a way to escape. Giulia and Luca were sitting on either side of the thoroughly miserable Antonio Macarello, watching their friend.

“I knew I should have taken Errico up when he offered to teach me to pick locks,” Alberto grumbled. “Massimo said I didn't need to know that.”

“Even if you did, they're still right outside,” said Luca. They could dimly hear Signora Pepitone wailing as she described what had happened to the police. Luca didn't like being stuck in here while Flavia was apparently missing... he hoped she was still with Signora Pepitone's granddaughter, even if only so she wouldn't be all alone. “If the policeman comes back, you should try talking to him again,” he told Antonio.

“Yeah, I think you were getting to him,” Alberto agreed.

But Antonio shook his head. “My parents were right. Land monsters can't be reasoned with.”

“That's not true at all!” Giulia protested.

“Yeah!” Alberto said, and almost made a joke about how Giulia was still totally unreasonable even now she was a sea monster. At the last moment he managed to think better of it.

“Once the people in Portorosso realized we weren't going to hurt them, they stopped wanting to hurt us,” said Luca. “You just have to convince the people in San Giuseppe. You're already friends with some of them, so that's a start.”

“But how?” Antonio asked. “You saw Ippolito. He just... stared at me, then took us all away.”

“But he looked sad when you started talking about how long you guys had been friends for,” Giulia reminded him. “You need to do more of that.”

“He left, though,” sighed Antonio. “He probably never even...” he cut himself off with a yelp. Luca and Giulia jumped to their feet, and Alberto nearly fell over.

“Sorry!” said Antonio. “Something went down the back of my neck. I...” He shook his shirt, and they heard a small object hit the floor. Giulia reached down, and picked up a little pebble.

Everybody looked up, and found a face peering in between the bars of the tiny window high up on the back wall.

“Flavia?” Giulia asked hopefully, but a moment later she realized it couldn't be. Flavia had short hair, while this girl wore hers long in pigtails.

“Don't shout!” said Luca. “The people outside will hear us.” He thought for a moment. “Signor Macarello, could you stand on the bench, please?”

Antonio got to his feet and climbed onto the bench along the back wall, and Luca and Giulia helped Alberto up to sit on his shoulders. While they watched nervously for the return of Officer Ippolito and Signora Pepitone, Alberto grabbed the bars and looked outside. There was indeed a girl of about eleven crouched on the roof outside looking back at him, and she was definitely not Flavia.

“Who are you?” he whispered.

“I'm Perla!” she replied. “Are you Alberto? Flavia told me about you,” she added, without waiting for an answer. “She's scared of climbing so I came. Are you guys the sea monsters?”

There was no point in denying it – and if this were Flavia's new friend, she would hopefully have a different opinion about that than the adults outside. “We sure are,” said Alberto. “You wanna see?” He took a deep breath and transformed.

“Hey!” protested Antonio, as Alberto's tail suddenly smacked him in the face.

“Sorry!” Alberto quickly changed back.

“Wow!” whispered Perla, grinning.

Alberto couldn't help a proud grin, but he quickly got back to the important questions, “is Flavia okay?”

“Yeah, she's fine,” Perla promised. “I know Nonna's looking for us, but we're gonna help you guys first.”

“How?”

“We dunno yet, but we're gonna do it. Just sit tight, okay?”

“Yeah, we can't exactly go anywhere,” Alberto said. “You'll tell Flavia we're all right?”

“Absolutely. See you soon!” Perla stood up to climb onto the roof edge above the window, and vanished from view.

Alberto dropped back to the floor, and Antonio Macarello dejectedly sat down on the bench again. After a few moments Luca and Giulia once again sat on either side of him, doing their best to look like they hadn't moved in case the police came back and got suspicious.

“She's not going to help us,” sighed Antonio. “She's just another land monster.”

“Don't say that,” said Luca. “Humans can be surprising.”

Flavia waited for Perla for what seemed like an awfully long time. She sat on the block of wood in the alley, fiddling the the ribbons on her borrowing blouse or scuffing patterns into the dirt with her shoes. What if Perla got caught? Could Flavia possibly help her friends on her own? Or what if somebody found Flavia waiting, and asked her...

“There you are! What are you doing back there?”

Flavia screeched involuntarily, which in turn frightened the woman who'd just spotted her – Felicia from the Patisserie. Felicia shouted back, and the two of them spent a moment staring at each other in shock and horror.

“Are you okay, Signora?” a boy's voice asked from somewhere out on the street.

Flavia gave Felicia a pleading look and shook her head.

“I'm fine! I saw a... one of those things with the tail,” Felicia said. “Everything's all right!” She squeezed into the space between the buildings with Flavia. “I looked up and you two were gone. Where's your friend?”

“I'm here!” Perla slid down the drainpipe again and landed in a dusty heap between the two. “There's a little window up there that looks down into the cell, and after Nonna left I could see everything.” She glanced up at Felicia and thought for a moment before continuing. “There weren't any sea monsters though, just people.”

Flavia nodded. “Too bad. Seeing sea monsters would be cool.”

“Guess we'll just go to the candy shop and go home!” said Perla. “Come on! It looks like he's still open!”

“Buona Sera, Signora!” Flavia said, waving as the girls climbed over the pallets to return to the street. “I hope you find your husband!”

They took a quick look into the piazza to make sure nobody would see them – nobody did. They were all still gathered around the police station. Keeping close to the wall, the two girls ran down the length of a building and darted into the candy shop. A bell on the door rang as they went inside.

“Good evening!” said Signor Giglioli, removing trays from the display for cleaning. “Oh, hello, Perla!”

“Hello, Signor!” said Perla, and pulled Flavia into a corner so they could talk quietly.

“Did you see them?” Flavia asked.

“Yeah, they're all in there! Alberto even showed me what you really look like!” said Perla with a grin. “I saw him, and there was another boy and girl who must be Giulia and Luca, and a man with a moustache, in a yellow shirt.”

Flavia had nodded eagerly at Perla talking about her friends, but then paused at the mention of a grownup. They hadn't had anyone with them. Were they locked up in there with an actual criminal? Would she and Perla be able to get her friends out without also freeing this other person, and would that be a problem?

Why had Flavia ever wanted to come up on land anyway? She was always hearing about her cousins getting into trouble above the surface. She should have known the same thing would happen to her. Were they going to be mad that she'd gotten them into trouble?

“Don't panic!” Perla whispered. “There's gotta be something we can do.”

“Yeah, but what?” asked Flavia. There'd been so many people, and while she'd never been in one, Flavia had heard enough about police stations to know that they had places to lock people up behind bars.

Perla wasn't sure. “In the movies, you get people out of jail by paying bail money, but I don't have any.”

“Me either,” said Flavia. “Giulia was carrying the money.” And if that had been enough to buy their way out, surely she would have already done it.

“Nonna usually gives me money if I say per favore,” Perla said, “but she always wants to know what it's for.”

“We need more help,” Flavia decided. She looked over her shoulder at Signor Giglioli, who was keeping one eye on the girls as he washed a tray, and remembered something Luca had said earlier. Hoping he'd been right, she approached the counter. “Signor Giglioli?”

The shop owner smiled at them. “Oh, I remember you, you're one of the kids from Portorosso! Do you and Perla know each other?”

“We do now!” said Perla.

“Signor,” Flavia began, but then hesitated, nervous. What if Luca had been wrong? What if Signor Giglioli turned out to be as scared as the other people in this town? For a moment she just stood there, unable to speak, but then he made herself continue. Flavia trusted Luca, and they needed somebody to help. “Remember you gave us candy sea monsters, because people like sea monsters in Portorosso?”

He nodded. “I've run out of them today, I'm afraid, but you're welcome to come back tomorrow.”

“No, no, I don't want any. I mean, they're very tasty, but not right now.” Flavia took a deep breath. “People in Portorosso like sea monsters because we are sea monsters.”

Luca had said Signor Giglioli wouldn't mind but Flavia's heart was still thumping as she waited for his reaction.

It was not what she had expected. “Oh, is that so?” he asked with an indulgent smile.

Flavia didn't know how to reply to that. It was Perla who became indignant. “She means it! Her friends are the sea monsters Nonna saw at the zoo,” Perla said. “Everybody's talking about it.”

Giglioli nodded. “Well, I'll have to change my candies, then. Here I thought sea monsters were scaly things, but it turns out they look just like children.”

Flavia was starting to panic. Of all the reactions she'd imagined, it had never occurred to her that somebody might think it was all a game. “Only when we're out of the water,” she said. “When we get back in, we Change. That's what happened at the zoo, was that the fountain broke and everybody got wet!”

“I see, I see,” he said, still humouring them. “I would like to see that! Do you have to be in the ocean, or will any water do?”

“Any water. But I don't do it,” Flavia said. She could feel tears rising. He wasn't going to believe them.

“It's like how some people are born and their eyes or legs don't work,” Perla added.

“Well, that's a shame,” Signor Giglioli said.

Flavia shut her eyes as the tears spilled over. She hated crying. It was bad enough underwater, where all the salt got crusted at the edges of her eyes, but human crying had turned out to be so much worse. Human tears were hot, salty water that left trails down her face – and that would make things even worse, because Signor Giglioli would see that her cheeks were wet and yet she wasn't Changing.

Signor Giglioli sighed. “Oh, no, don't cry,” he said. “Girls, listen. Sea monsters are a fun story, but it's like the Befana bringing you gifts or jaculi hiding in trees. It's not real. People are panicking now, but they'll feel silly in the morning.”

“But they need help!” Flavia protested, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. Signor Giglioli held out a handkerchief, but she didn't take it because she didn't know what it was for. “They've been locked up for being sea monsters and I know something awful is going to happen to them. Nobody else is going to do anything because they're all scared! Please!”

“Locked them up?” asked Signor Giglioli. “You mean all that fuss that's going on out there... they've got three children in jail?”

“Yes! I saw it,” said Perla. “I saw Alberto turn into a sea monster, too!”

Signor Giglioli took his apron off. “I'm going to go have a word with some people,” he decided. “You girls wait for me.”

Flavia and Perla hovered in the confetteria doorway while he marched past the triton fountain and into the little crowd.

“Now see here!” they heard him say.

#pixar luca #luca 2021 #luca paguro #alberto scorfano #giulia marcovaldo #ercole visconti #fanfiction #a little human (as a treat)

21 notes · View notes