Lampwick seriously thought about it for a moment; would she really consider that? After all, Geppetto still was kind of a stranger to her and yet he wanted to treat her at the moment like she was his own flesh and blood. She eventually came to an answer when she gave a small nod.
Geppetto smiled gently, tucking the blanket over Lampwick, mindful of her bandaged cut, which is hidden under her nightgown, but still careful, warmly ruffling Lampwick's hair, kissing her on the forehead, "Thank you for saving my daughter, Lampwick, and you'll always have a place here...Perla obviously wants a best friend, and I won't deny her happiness. Sweet dreams, Lampwick.".
Lampwick cried a bit, smiling tearfully, "Sweet dreams, Geppetto...", her heart swelling happily, having not realized that she missed this little yet so meaningful gesture for so long since she ran away.
Geppetto understood with a warm smile, and left the bedroom, to head downstairs to get changed for bed, and Perla called back, "You okay, Lampy?", and Lampwick replied, "Y-yeah...I think I'll be more than just okay...", with a smile to reassure Perla.
Perla smiled in relief, and responded, "Sweet dreams, Lampy.", and Lampwick smiled again, "Sweet dreams, Slats.", and the girls happily, exhaustedly went to sleep.
It took a week for Lampwick's cut to be healed and such, with a tiny bit of allowed exercise to not get the arm stiff for a long time, and before they knew it, the girls became used to the routine of cooking breakfast with Geppetto's aid sometimes, learning from books that Geppetto brought, and doing a few chores here and there.
On the last day of checking the cut, Geppetto was glad to announce that it no longer looked like a nasty cut anymore but rather a slightly raised scar that will eventually become a faded scar, and to celebrate, he sent Lampwick and Perla to invite Madame Lafleur for a nice dinner as a way of saying thank you.
Yet on this day of goodness and joy, there was a bit of a hurdle to overcome, which came in the shape of two familiar crooks, unknowing that they'd get their just desserts.
"How are you feeling, Lampy?", Perla asked. Lampwick replied, "To tell you the truth, Slats... still a bit weird... maybe it's just me, but I'm still finding it a little strange to get used to this body. You're obviously taking it way better than me, but that's probably to be expected since you only were a boy for a few days.".
Perla smiled warmly, "I never felt happier before until now, and with Father and the others' acceptance and love, I feel so right! Heck, Jiminy is already calling me Perla properly without hesitation. And with the wardrobe from the Blue Fairy, I look lovely and wonderful! I wish I would tell her face to face that I don't want to go back to being a boy especially after what she did in the beginning...But I don't blame her as she'd be busy every night in case if many people are wishing on her star and all...".
Lampwick hummed, "Good point...The Evening Star is a story, a belief. And I bet she wouldn't be mad, I mean, she would have seen everything this week, seeing you happily cooking, dancing, and all as a young woman.", glancing at Perla who is truly looking very lovely in her casual, good quality dress.
Perla giggled warmly, "I guess you're right, Lampy.", skipping and twirling, and Lampwick smiled, seeing her delighted smile...A fleeting memory of that moment back in the billiard hall, remembering how she said about that Perla's ass is cute, that all of her is so pretty.
Lampwick blushed as she realized that she was looking at Perla intensely before shaking her head, refocusing, not wanting anyone to see what just happened, knowing that there have been things of women being involved with other women on the streets...
Cops arresting those women, calling them witches or whatever, threats of execution or exile. It wasn't a legal law, but it was forbidden...at least in Italy as far as she knew.
Perla didn't notice Lampwick's momentary concern as she twirled, dancing to some distant Italian music in one of the village squares when she suddenly bumped into a person's back, and she gasped, apologizing, "Sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't-", before gasping in surprise to see a familiar fox's face looking at her.
"Oh, my, my, such an exquisite young lady! Honest John, at your service! May I know your name, owner of those lovely, enchanting eyes that is more than the sky itself?", Honest John took her hand and kissed it deeply yet tightly that Perla couldn't pull away.
Perla was flattered on the inside that she is acknowledged as a young woman, and that she is attractive, but she's boiling mad, flustered and wondering with worry about Lampwick.
"My name's Perla if you must know, but I'm not interested. I have to get going.", Perla replied casually with a warning tone, not quite warning the way she wanted as Lampwick was way better in that department.
"Ah, but my dear, what's the hurry? The day is still so young? Surely someone like you isn't one for wasting opportunities.", John said as he continued to try and turn the charm. "Please...", Perla was trying to keep herself in control. "I'm needed somewhere else, and I can't stay...".
Lampwick was looking for Perla on the bridge before seeing Gideon skillfully sneaking up to a woman's back as she was distracted by Honest John before her eyes widened, recognizing Perla's dress, and her blood boiled as Gideon was looking up her skirts.
She looked frantically before seeing a cop across the square, and she then nodded to herself, taking a deep breath, "Perla, Perla, there you are!", sprinting up to Perla, "Is this man bothering you? And you, back off, don't you know that it's rude to look up skirts, pervert?", glaring at Gideon who shrank back in fear at the look in her eyes.
Perla looked relieved, "Juliet! Yes, this fox couldn't take the hint that I'm not interested.", and John cleared his throat, trying to keep up his charm, "Oh, my, a friend of yours? More company, the better. Oh, look how your hair is, so vibrant like a glowing fire within a hearth.".
"Are you seriously trying to say all that after I just mentioned your friend was looking up my friend's skirt!?", Lampwick snapped as John took a step back.
"Ma'am, please... I have nothing to do with that pervert that you pointed out; go away, you!", John tried to shoo Gideon away, much to his partner's surprise.
Perla gasped, "What?! Did you trick me for just sneak peeks into my personal space?! How dare you? Let go of my hand, you...you..creep! Leave us alone!", feeling almost vandalized with anger and fear, giving out a sob.
John tried to calm her down, "Oh, please, don't make yourself look desperate. It's really bad to cause a scene, don't you know?", unknowing that Perla and Lampwick had caught the cop's attention, and the cop is coming behind John.
Lampwick retorted, "We'll keep making a scene if you won't let go of my friend's hand and tell your friend to quit looking up under skirts!", glaring back at Gideon who was confused to see long stockings under Lampwick's skirt, cowering back again in fear before widening his eyes in shock at the cop behind John.
"Well, well, if it wasn't Honest John and Clumsy Gideon...", the cop spoke harshly, "You heard the young woman. Let go of her friend's hand, you're giving her the motivation to tell her father, don't you know?".
John froze up as he once more gave a toothy grin, "Officer, please, I was just trying to acquaint myself with this beautiful young woman, there's no crime against that now, is there?".
The cop frowned, "It's a crime if you kept pushing into her personal space after she said no multiple times, and another crime of looking into places people shouldn't, with no permission.", before grabbing John roughly by the wrists, cuffing him.
Gideon widened his eyes, going to run, before another cop turned around the corner, with the first cop calling out, "Henri, arrest the cat!", and the second cop caught Gideon by slamming his elbow into Gideon's chest, cutting him off as he fell backwards, his breath caught, not noticing the cop moving in to cuff him as well.
Perla shakily replied, "Thank you, sir...", holding her hand tenderly as Lampwick saw a bit of bruising around the wrist, and her blood boiled again, wishing to hit John on the nose before taking a deep breath, "Yes, thank you, sir...And I think besides looking up skirts, they might be thieves too. You might want to shake up that cat's suit.".
"Hey, now there's no need to do anything of the sort!", John tried to argue as the officer decided to take her up on the offer, "Really? Why don't we check and make sure?", with a raised eyebrow.
The second cop, Henri had marched Gideon closer, shaking his jacket out, with trinkets falling out, littering the ground, with a few people in the square gasping in shock, "That's my earrings! My mother's necklace! My ring!".
The first officer shook up John's jacket out as well, and more trinkets fell out as well, with other people announcing, "My bracelet! My pocket watch! My proposal ring!".
Henri replied, "Looks like robbery and disturbing the peace as well for their third and fourth crime, Rino.", replying to his comrade.
Rino nodded, "Yep, looks like you and your friend is going away for a long time. Maybe longer if this young lady's father decides to press charges.", chuckling with a smug smirk at John.
Perla certainly wanted to add more to what they already had; but that would pretty much reveal that she was Pinocchio once before. The whole Stromboli and more importantly, the Pleasure Island thing, while certainly tempting to tell, was better off keeping silent for the time being. At least until John and Gideon weren't in much of a position to escape and come after them... or worst, inform Stromboli or the Coachman.
Perla replied, "He hadn't given me much harm, officer, but maybe you should ask questions around town. This is not definitely the first time he and that cat would charm an unmarried young lady or two.".
Rino nodded, "We'll be sure to check into that, Miss. Are you two alright to keep on your day?", and Lampwick replied, "Yes, we are. And if you're looking for us to answer more questions, talk with Geppetto, I'm his governess, Juliet, and this is Perla, his ward.".
"Ah, Geppetto, good man. Yes, thank you, and you certainly gave those people a happy reunion with their lost things, though we might need to look into other cases of thievery.", Rino replied as Henri picked up the remains of trinkets after the people of the square recovered their lost jewelry.
Perla replied, "Good day, officers.", and the officers bid the girls good day while pushing and bustling the duo thieves to the prison, and Lampwick looked at Perla as they walked a bit faster to the shore, "Are you okay? Anything broken in that wrist?".
"No, it's okay... just... a bit of pain...?", Perla asked as Lampwick chuckled. "Sore... you're just feeling sore there, Slats.", Lampwick assured her as Perla nodded.
"But thank you all the same for saving me there... I was trying hard to ignore him this time, but that fox doesn't know when to quit...", Perla was grateful before scowling at the mention of John.
Lampwick smiled, one-arm hugging her, "And I'm very proud of you...You truly are a great woman, Perla, no doubt about it.", and Perla blushed in pride and happiness, glad to hear that she pulled away from temptation.
They got closer to the shore, and Lampwick frowned in confusion, "Wasn't her cottage here by that tree?", and Perla nodded, "Yeah, I would know that tree anywhere.", as there was a peculiar, crooked tree of oranges by Madame Lafleur's cottage.
"I would have sworn that it was here...", Lampwick muttered as the cottage wasn't there at all, and Perla frowned, "Me too...Do..do you think she...she got captured?".
"If she was captured, why could they take the cottage too? It's impossible to take an entire house...unless it was with magic...", Lampwick widened her eyes, and Perla gasped, "She said that the compass was given by the Blue Fairy to her husband...Do you think she...she was a friend of the Blue Fairy? Why she helped us?".
Lampwick continued to glance around, "Perhaps... now that you mention it... how exactly did she know that Geppetto had been captured by Monstro? Or that she would have clothes that fit us perfectly...".
Perla nodded as the village somehow didn't know that Geppetto was captured by Monstro, only that he was desperate to find a talking, walking puppet, selling his beloved wall clocks, that people saw Pinocchio at the puppet show on Stromboli's stage, but other than that, nothing else...
Perla sighed, "Well, at least she truly helped us...I doubt for a second that the village would have helped a couple of streaking naked women especially when it was late and littered with people like Honest John...".
Lampwick nodded, "Fair point...Well, while we're here, should we gather some oranges, and head back home?", strangely happy that she got a place to call home, especially with Geppetto treating her as blood and flesh as much as he treats Perla.
Perla smiled, "Sounds good to me.", and the duo gathered oranges from the tree, carrying them in their arms, heading back to the village, and to their house, where they greeted Geppetto and the others happily, working to make orange juice.
Some hours later, after some lessons with the books and a few other chores, it was suppertime, and they settled in, and upon dessert, the Evening Star came out. A soft, warm voice echoed through the home, "Permission to come in?".
Perla and Jiminy gasped, recognizing the Blue Fairy's voice, and Perla looked at Geppetto, "It's the Blue Fairy!", and Geppetto smiled, "Any friend of my daughter is a friend. Permitted.".
The Evening Star pulsated, and soon, with a twirling spiral of white magic, the Blue Fairy appeared, smiling warmly, "Thank you, dear Geppetto...Oh, look at you, little one, you've done well, and you've became wiser yet so pure and good at heart...", looking at Perla.
Perla blushed. "You... you really think that?", she asked. "I mean... I don't think that I have... After all, I did fail what you asked of me... I'm not a boy anymore and I didn't become this by being good and pure...", she glanced away in shame as the Blue Fairy gave a sympathetic smile and walked over to her.
She leaned down slightly, her free hand gently touching Perla's chin, "Perla, yes, it's very true that you were cursed by the Coachman, yet you've made a bad thing into a good thing. You helped your friends, saving your father, learning to be a human of a great heart, and of course, putting two men of greed in their place without being tempted. I'm very proud of you, Perla, and I would do it again by helping you and your family if I could be Madame Lafleur again.".
Their eyes widened hearing that as Lampwick stood up, "You were Madame Lafleur?!". The Blue Fairy chuckled. "Sometimes it helps when I play a more 'normal' sort of being rather than myself. After all, I don't think you girls really wanted me to come and help while you two were naked, right?", she said as Lampwick blushed.
"So, you were faking the blindness, I'm guessing?", Lampwick replied. The Blue Fairy smiled softly, "Yes, yet I was being polite for you, Lampwick, as Perla had found her true self. Perla, I think I don't have to ask, but to be thoroughly for my sake, would you want to stay as this forever? Say so, and I will make it to be permanent.".
Perla was surprised to hear that, but she still had several questions, ones that she knew Lampwick and everyone else had to ask, "I... I think you already know that answer, Blue Fairy." The Blue Fairy smiled. "But... I have to ask you... what happened to us... that was also magic, wasn't it?".
The Blue Fairy nodded, "Yes, indeed, that was magic, but the most terrible, dark magic it is. I couldn't heal the thousands of transformed boys when they are fully under the control of the Coachman. He has to be weakened somehow for I to fix it all by coming to those people to tell them that they've been trapped.".
"And if the Coachman knew we've escaped... well, good luck finding him for the time being, I guess.", Lampwick added as the Blue Fairy nodded again.
"You should know that in a way you two were somewhat lucky... it's not just girls he's turning boys into... he tends to switch between donkeys and women...", she solemnly said.
A chorus of horrified gasps rang around, and Lampwick whispered, "The donkeys with the stagecoach...I used a slingshot...", shame in her voice.
"You didn't know, Lampwick, and stones were merely the least bad thing for those donkeys...they suffer seeing hundreds of boys swept up and they can't even talk to warn them, and whipped by the Coachman, but there's even worse things out there for boys-turned donkeys, with the rare exception of being brought by a farm family who treats their animals with respect.", the Blue Fairy said.