Sidestory:
In The Market For A Romanus
by Chris and Skysong
The sun above shone down brightly on an open air market tucked away into one of Rome's innumerable hidden corners. There would be a hundred flashes of light and the clicks of cameras eating up film, if any tourist could actually find the place (highly unlikely), this being the sort of place not seen outside of European metropolises. Fish mongers yelled about the freshness of their fish, caught just that morning, fresh from the sea; little old ladies haggled over fresh vegetables; old men stood around in groups, ignoring their wives, or at least trying to. Bolts of silk from Florence and Venice gleamed in the sunlight next to a stand selling authentic Persian rugs, which was just across from the stall selling chickens, which was just a stone's throw away from the flower merchant, which was near the other stand who was selling Persian rugs which were even more authentic than the other stand, and so on. It was a wild riot of color and noise; women haggling and fighting over items, children laughing and the sounds of boots on pavestone filled the air, with the occasional chicken squawk. It seemed almost like pure insanity to an outsider, but to those who knew how to work the system, it was the best place to get a deal this side of eBay.
Currently working the system was one Allegro da Capo, shopper extraordinaire, with her sister Andante in tow. Already she'd found an absolute deal on a bolt of silk that would make a perfect dress, half a dozen slightly used romance novels, an alarm clock shaped like a bumblebee, and that was only the start of what she had planned to buy. Andante was less thrilled with the noise and clamor around her, she preferred everything to be gentle, soft, quiet. Sadly, this was southern Italy, she wasn't about to find that outside of a church -- and even then sometimes -- for several hundred miles. Then again, there was a third addition to their little party that wasn't overly obvious -- Juvie, or rather Juvenal. Hiding as best as he could in Andante's purse (he knew better than to try Allegro's, he'd end up with a lipstick jammed into his eye at some point, and his prickles covered in wadded up bits of tissue. As much as Andante wasn't quite enjoying this, Juvenal was much less happy. Why they insisted on taking him everywhere was beyond him, but at least this way he was there to dispense his pearls of wisdom to the girls. Okay, not pearls of wisdom, more like pebbly bits of sarcasm. Still, he was there, and so were Andante and Allegro -- two girls and a hedgehog-satirist.
"Ooh, you can't let me forget, Andante, that I need to find someplace that sells shoes, I need a new pair and that guy over there is cute, don't you think?" she said, pointing to a random passerby.
"Well, I suppose so, but I don't really think," started Andante.
"I know, total hottie!" giggled her sister. Her attention was grabbed by something further down the street. "A fruit stand!" She went off running, with Andante trying not to loose her in the crowd. By the time that she'd caught up with her, Allegro had already bought half a kilo of dates and a couple of ripe pomegranates. Allegro grabbed her sister's arm. "The guy selling fruit was all old and icky, but did you see his son? I think he'd be good for you, hmm?"
Andante glanced at the boy then turned back to her sister, "Yes, he's nice looking, but really, Allegro, you know that I want to be a nun and nuns aren't allowed to be married or have boyfriends or..."
"You'll be the only nun in the convent who doesn't know what its like to kiss a man other than papa," giggled Allegro. From somewhere out of the crowd a very observant casually dressed chauffer materialized, plucked Allegro's recent purchase from her hands, gave a short bow, then disappeared back into the crowd. "Antoine is so good at that, it scares me sometimes. Anyway, time for more shopping!"
A tiny wail escaped from the Andante's purse. No one paid any attention.
No one was paying any attention to a teenage boy and his dog eyeing the Persian carpets further back in the mess of a market either. He was always stumped about what to get his aunt for her birthday, but she had been eyeing one of those rugs for quite some time, always saying she�d get it �later.� She had been looking at one that would �be complimentary to the warm colors of the bedroom.�
Now he had to figure out which one that was.
Amata sat patiently, with a large dog grin on her face as she engaged in a staring contest with the owner of the stall. She had neither a muzzle nor leash, and managed to convey an expression that implied she was in the process of planning mischief. Idly, her ears swerved, listening to the sounds of the market, she broke her staring contest when she thought she heard a very peculiar whine� no� it couldn�t be�
The hedgehog stopped wailing as Allegro bounced over to the next stall and Andante followed her. He could feel something in the air. Two somethings, in fact. He peeked his nose into the air outside of the purse and sniffed around. Where in the world was it coming from? A little girl ran screaming by, her voice reaching into decibel levels typically reserved for dog whistles. How in Jove's name was he supposed to be able to concentrate in this nightmarish market?
Allegro was holding a skirt up to her waist, and trying to see what Andante thought of it (too short). "Allegro, how much money, -did- you manage to get out of papa today?"
She giggled. "Enough," she answered. "Oooh, what about this skirt?" she said, tossing the other one aside, and grabbing a new one. Juvenal tried whispering to Andante; it didn't work.
"It's rather pink..."
"Isn't it great?"
The hedgehog tried whispering again. Success was not to be his.
"And don't you have one that looks almost just like it?"
"You can never have too many skirts!" Juvenal tried rustling around in the purse. Still, he failed in getting anyone's attention.
"And isn't it twice the price of that other one?"
"I -know-! Isn�t it great?" .
Juvenal finally squirmed his way to where he could nudge Andante's hand with his snout. Looking down at him glaring up at her from her handbag, she beamed, "Juvie! Is there something you need?"
"Enough wine to fill the Tiber," he grumbled. "Barring that, some peace and quiet in this deity-forsaken marketplace." The little girl whose voice could shatter glass ran by, screaming again.
Andante brought Juvenal up closer to her ear. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear anything you said."
"Jove help me," sighed the guardian. "I said I need some peace and quiet in this wretched bazaar of horrors, because somewhere there is another Romanus and a guardian wandering around, and I would like to try and figure out where and who they are."
"Another one?" asked Andante.
"Yes, as amazing as that may seem, there are more then three Romanus in Rome, thank Jupiter," Juvie continued.
Allegro had, by this point, moved on to looking at a different skirt.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Romanus and his guardian were still standing at the Persian rug stall. Eric had since slumped his hands into his pockets, his posture screaming of defeat. He hadn't the money for what he'd had in mind. Amata, on the other hand, had other things in mind. At first she had tried barking, then whining, then nuzzling his hand (the only reward had been an absent-minded scratch of the ears � not that she minded).
When all else failed, she went for what never failed to catch his attention before � she grabbed his pants with her teeth and started dragging him. Eric � whose mind had been on the Persian rugs and his inability to afford one � was caught unawares and was systematically dragged by his dog through the market, his arms wind-milling slightly as he attempted to regain his balance without smacking anyone.
"Amata! What are you doing?" He was beet red and clearly embarrassed, especially since he was getting some strange looks from the other shoppers.
Juvenal's tiny hedgehog eyes scanned the crowd from his vantage point in Andante's hand. The sun was too bright, this form wasn't meant to see well in daylight, but in dusk. Not even his half-blinded sight could miss the boy being dragged through the crowd by a rather large dog, though. Yes, he was certain of it, that must have been them. He whispered into Andante's ear, "The flailing boy being dragged through the crowd by a dog, they're who we're looking for."
"Yay!" beamed Andante. Several shoppers glanced up at the girl holding a hedgehog to her ear. They didn't pay more than a moment's notice, though; Rome was full of crazies, they were all used to it by now.
Allegro rounded a corner and faced her sister, yet another article of clothing in hand. "Doesn't this look... Hey! What's Juvie doing out?"
"He says that we've got a teammate and guardian in the crowd," her sister answered.
"Cute boy senshi, cute boy senshi, cute boy senshi," Allegro whispered and prayed. Andante pointed to the boy with the dark hair who was currently tripping over his dog. "Thank you," Allegro whispered back. She tossed the skirt back in the general direction of where she found it (`Ow, my eye!') and sashayed over to the fallen boy through the shoppers. "Let me help you up," she said, extending her hand to him.
Eric hadn't really noticed the younger girl who had made her way to him, but took the pro-offered hand in order to regain his balance. Unfortunately, as he did so, Amata released his pants and subsequently crashed into the girls legs. The result, was that girl, boy (who had been holding onto her hand) and dog ended up in a large heap.
"Allegro!"
"Insufferable boy, I'd wring his neck if I still had hands if he's hurt her."
"Hello there, handsome, nice to meet you."
All three statements were said almost at once. Andante started off towards her sister almost as soon as she first took her tumble, and Juvenal had hardly finished his statement by the time that she was at her sister's side. "Thank God you're not hurt," she said, as she helped her sister to her feet.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Allegro said to the boy as Andante helped him up, too. "What a perfectly awful way of introducing myself. My name is Allegro, and this is Andante, my older sister. It�s a pleasure to meet an old friend."
Off in the distance, the charming little girl with the voice that could melt steel screeched her way into another stall.
Eric looked a little befuddled for a moment, glancing down at Amata then back at the girls. It clicked � finally � and he grinned, though he couldn�t quite hide the almost pained look. Children. These two were �children-� like Nyssa. Children shouldn�t be fighting.
Still, she stuck his hand out politely. �Hey, yea. For a while I thought I was� alone in this. I�m Eric.�
Allegro shook his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Eric."
Antoine suddenly materialized next to the three young senshi. (How does he do that?) "Excuse me, miss," he said, giving a short bow to Allegro. "Is this boy causing you any trouble?"
"Oh, no trouble at all, Antoine," Andante interjected. "We happened to see a friend of a friend, so to say, having a few problems with his dog. We were just getting reacquainted." She flashed him a serene smile.
"If you're sure, miss," he said. He gave another short bow, and melted back into the crowd. The best servant was an unseen one, an old maxim Antoine seemed to follow to the letter.
"It�s nice to meet you, too, Eric," said Andante, after the chauffer had disappeared.
"Pluto," quipped Juvenal from the purse where he had been placed during the whole falling incident.
`Pluto' was looking a bit weirded out by the appearance and subsequent disappearance of Antoine, and had stepped back a pace. He cast a look at where Juvenal's voice had quipped up, and his expression turned wry.
"Looks like you two have one as well, huh?"
Andante scooped the hedgehog out of her purse. "This is Juvenal. Juvie, meet Eric."
"A pleasure, I'm sure," he grumbled. "Now, are you going to introduce us to your guardian, or are you just going to ignore her all day?"
"He gets testy," whispered Allegro.
"I am quite capable of introducing myself� Juvie." Amata's nose wrinkled as she sniffed. "A hedgehog. How fitting. You always did curl up in a ball at the first sight of trouble."
"Amata!" Eric hissed.
"I was an author, an essayist, a poet! I wrote about the deplorable state of Rome, I most certainly did not curl up in a ball at trouble, I confronted it in my essays!" fumed the Hedgehog. "And I'd appreciate it if you would call me Juvenal."
"Juvie, calm down," whispered Andante. "We need to go somewhere where we can talk that isn't in the middle of a crowd of people. What if someone heard you talking?"
"They'd most likely think they were hearing things and go on doing what they were doing before, ignorant slobs," said the hedgehog.
"Listen, there's a cafe around here somewhere," Allegro suggested. "It�s squashed away in a corner, it would be better than this. What about there?"
Eric held his hands up, palms out. "Hey, no complaints here. Amata, down, girl." He grabbed hold of Amata's collar, and she laid her ears flat � an action that was more of a sulk to it than aggression. She muttered something that sounded like `moronic rodent' and gave a rebellious flick of an ear when Eric gave her A Look.
"Follow me," said Allegro. The three senshi and two guardians quickly walked through the crowd, leaving the hustle and bustle of the main section of the marketplace. Soon, even the ear shattering screaming of that darling little girl faded into the background.
The group rearranged itself around a little table in a corner of the outdoors section of the cafe; yes, it was much less crowded here, comparatively. "So, you're the second Romanus we've met personally," Andante said. "We met Discordia awhile ago."
Eric perked up visibly. "Really? You two are the first I've met� and I've been here for a good year or two now."
Amata shifted quietly. One Senshi she had found in a good two years. How embarrassing.
"Yes, and he's given us information on other Romanus!" said Allegro. "Um, who did he say? Mercury and, um..."
"Diana," interjected Juvenal. "So, tell me, Amata. What have you been doing with yourself for the past year?"
"Training Pluto, naturally." Amata sniffed. Neatly leaving out the bit that she had been unable to identify or otherwise find other Romanus Senshi during that time. "Clearly you haven't bothered to get off that sorry excuse for a derri�re and do so yourself until recently."
"Diana and Mercury?" Eric directed his question at the two da Capo girls. "Could you introduce them to me? Or ask them to give me a call or something?" Looking at the two sisters, and taking his previous encounter with Nyssa into consideration, Eric was hoping that not all of his fellows would be so� young. Ares had clearly been a� mature woman, and Lunnotaur had been near his own age � or so he thought � so he knew there were possibly adult Senshi out there�
He was simply hoping there were some on his own team.
"We have their numbers written down somewhere at home, don't we, Andante?"
"Yes, I have them, and Stavros'. We can call you sometime and give them to you, Eric. We'll need yours of course," Andante said, rummaging in her purse, and looking for something to write with.
�Sure.� Eric nodded.
Juvenal merely wished that the old wives tale about porcupines (and by proxy, hedgehogs) being able to shoot their quills was true. This not being the case, he sufficed with watching a young woman pass by wearing an outfit that even Allegro would think scandalous. "Trollop. Do you remember the days when prostitutes in Rome were required to have a dress code, Amata, or was that after your time?" he serenely smiled.
Amata looked disgruntled, or as disgruntled as a dog could look. �Indeed.�
"Ah, so I was right... Ammy," Juvenal said.
Amata gave an irritated flick of an ear. She was tempted to ask what he believed himself to be so right about, but decided not to possibly set herself up for a verbal barb. �So how have you been getting along with your girls training Juvie?� Her voice was sugary sweet.
"For being so young and only Soros tier, I think they're doing quite well, Ammy dear," Juvenal said, his voice coated in syrupy goodness.
"Juvie, you'll make me blush," said Allegro, grinning.
"I think that's the first time he's actually complimented us," mused Andante.
"Yes, well, you can see that my girls aren't afraid to speak their minds, at least," he continued in his oh-so-charming voice. "Eric, is there something bothering you that you'd like to tell us?" he rounded onto the boy.
Eric blinked, surprised to find himself suddenly the center of attention. �Well� I�m sixteen, single and enjoy romantic walks on the beach�� He grinned. �Well, seriously, there�s not much to tell. Why do you ask?�
�Juvie�s just curious dear. He never was one for independent thought.�
"Need I remind you that I wrote sixteen satires on the deplorable state of Rome in my day? I was a voice of dissent in the tawdry affairs of the Roman Empire," Juvenal huffed.
Allegro was about to say something when Andante cute her off. "'Dagio would kill him, no."
Andante looked crestfallen. "You're right."
"I meant the fact that you keep looking at my girls like they're about to explode," the hedgehog said to Eric, "or that they're a couple of lost little puppies."
�Puppies!� Amata bristled. �They are not puppies! They are-�
�-children.� Eric interjected, and shook his head slowly. �Juvenal, don�t you think they�re rather� young for this? I admit I�m not much older-� he looked sheepish, �-but they probably shouldn�t be fighting this.� He gave Allegro and Andante an apologetic look.
�Dear, they are Senshi. Chosen by the gods, no matter their age. They can fight if they�ve been properly trained-�
�Trained to fight in a war. This IS war, and it�s no place for children. No place for anyone as far as I�m concerned. Especially not children or the innocent.�
"As if there are any innocent anymore," Juvenal said. "I will have to agree with Amata on this one. They were chosen by the gods. And I am trying to train them properly, but with the schedules that these girls keep it�s almost impossible to find a proper time to do so. If one's not dancing, the other is at church, or at some social function for their parents..."
"Oh, It�s not really all that bad, is it?" Allegro asked.
"You've never been a guardian, my dear," he replied.
�Why don�t you try training them on a more individual basis, Juvenal?� Amata asked, as Eric started to open his mouth for what undoubtedly would have been a counter-argument. Eric leaned back in his seat, his eyes glittering silver, clearly unhappy about the situation and his inability to control it.
�Individually it may be easier to work out a time to train them, than doing both of them at once. I would be willing to help out of course, since there�s little left I can teach Pluto, all that�s left will have to be garnered from experience.�
"A gracious offer, but I think I'll try to manage on my own. That would then require trying to find a time and place to meet up with you on a regularly scheduled basis, something not even the gods would be able to manage without trouble."
"And we like training together, because that way we can help each other out," said Andante, "and we always have someone to practice with."
"Aren't they touching?" asked Juvie.
�It�s cute.� Amata agreed. �And Eric, dear, do stop sulking.�
"I think all guardians like bossing around their senshi," Allegro nodded.
"It�s our job," said Juvenal.
Eric rolled his eyes skywards. �Yeah, yeah� So what about those numbers, eh?�
Amata winced, that one had almost sounded like a pick up line.
Allegro giggled. "I think he's hitting on you, Andante."
Andante stuttered, "I, I, I..." She scribbled down her phone number on a piece of paper and slid it across the table to Eric. "Here."
Eric laughed and ripped off a piece of the paper, and gestured for them to hand him the pen. �Sorry, you�re a bit too young for me.� He winked. �But, if the guys ever give you grief, let me know. I�ll whack them with a large stick for you if you�d like.�
Amata did groan aloud at that.
Allegro burst into a fit of giggles. "Oh, don't worry. Our older brother does that without us asking. He thinks it�s his job to threaten any male who looks interested in us."
"It's his way of showing that he loves us, Allegro."
"Oh, yes. Wonderful way to show that; beating guys up for us. You'd better watch out, Eric, he might try to take a shot at you," Allegro said, still giggling.
Eric signed dramatically, one hand going to his forehead, �Alas, it was a good life. Mayhap he�ll go easy on me?�
Amata coughed slightly. �Back to business everyone.�
�Aww, Amata��
"You seriously expect teenagers to be able to keep on task for more than five minutes?" Juvenal huffed.
"Juvie, that isn't very nice," Andante reprimanded.
"But it�s the truth," he answered.
�Alas.� Amata sighed. �As predictable as rain in summer.�
�Or guardians in regards to combat.� Eric said with a surprisingly light tone. �Could one of you girls pass a pen?�
"Oh, sure," said Andante, passing her pen over to Eric.
"Juvenal won't let us patrol by ourselves, though," said Allegro.
"If you think for one moment that I'm letting two young girls patrol by themselves, then you've less sense than I previously thought."
"Which is why we asked Stavros to patrol with us," Andante said.
"He's older, and I would rather you didn't go out by yourselves. Senshi or not, you're still young girls," Juvenal reminded them. "Rome is still the den of thieves and whores that it was in my day."
�Oh do get over it Juvie, Rome HAS changed since your day and age.� Amata quipped.
Eric just shook his head, and scribbled his number on the torn piece of paper and slid it over to the da Capo girls. �Hey, who�s Stavros?�
Juvenal merely smirked as he saw a woman passing by who, from his point of view, seemed to be a class-A whore. Now all he had to do was find a thief.
"Stavros is Discordia," answered Allegro. "He's kind of cute, but a little old."
"Don't start up with the cute senshi thing again," Juvenal moaned. "Oh!" he said falsetto, "he is cute! That is the most important thing! Yes, wonderful," he said, returning to his normal tenor.
�Be nice, Juvie, they get to decide what�s to be done with your corpse when you die.� Amata�s tone was exasperated.
�Hey, how old is this guy?� Eric added, trying to hold to his own thread of conversation while the guardians snipped at each other.
"Twenty?" Andante answered, unsure of herself. "He's older than `Dagio, I think. He's older than you, at least."
"Irritable woman," spat Juvenal.
�Moronic rodent.� Amata shot back.
�Alright�� Man, everyone seemed to be older or younger than Eric was. This would be an awkward social situation in the making when everyone got all bunched up. It also seemed that everyone also knew everyone else, leaving him out of the loop. He couldn�t help but feel somewhat gypped. �Man, I don�t seem to know anyone.� He laughed. �Maybe we should� I dunno, rally the �troops� sometime?"
"That does sound like a good idea," said Allegro. "I mean, we've never actually met Diana or Mercury ourselves. It might be good to find out who they are."
"Bitch," Juvenal said serenely from his place on top of the table to Amata down below.
Any response Eric might have had was lost as Amata lunged, knocking the table over as she attempted to get at Juvenal with her teeth. �Bitch� indeed.
The girls both screamed as the table came crashing down on top of them, and they were sent to the ground. Juvenal scrambled over to where Andante was, and threw himself into her arms.
The sound of a crashing table attracted the notice of several of the people who were also at the cafe, and a waiter. He quickly came striding over. "What's happened here?" he asked.
�Uh, sorry, it�s nothing� won�t happen again�� Eric grimaced as he held onto Amata�s collar � a move that was now unnecessary since with the arrival of the waiter, Amata was putting up the �dumb mutt� act and waved her tail in a friendly manner.
"So very sorry," said Andante, trying to stand back up, and keep a good grip on Juvenal, without getting a spine jabbed into her finger.
The waiter let loose a few mumbled oaths to God, Jesus, and Mary, and righted the table. "Would you care to order anything?" he asked in a tone that suggested that their ordering something wasn't optional.
"Sparkling water, tiramisu," answered Andante.
"Same here," said her sister.
Juvenal said nothing.
Off in the distance, the girl with the voice that caused oil paintings to melt paused to catch her breath. She quickly resumed her screaming.
�Coke here.� Eric added, with a curiously cheerful expression that said more than words that he was trying not to be too mortified over the incident.
Amata, meanwhile, had sat down on the floor, wagged her tail, and tried to keep from wincing as she picked up the voice of that charming little girl�
The waiter nodded and briskly turned away.
"Well, wasn't that... fun," Andante said. She looked down at the hedgehog who was trying to bury himself into her arms and asked, "What in the world did you say to her?"
"She tried to kill me!" hissed Juvenal.
"What did you say to her, Juvie?" asked Andante more sternly.
"I called her a..." he mumbled something inaudible.
"Decimus Iunius Juvenalis, you answer me this moment," Andante said, using the ultimate in demands, his full name. "What did you call her?" You could tell she'd make a good nun.
"A bitch," he finally said.
"Juvenal!" Andante gasped.
"Somebody's getting a baaaath!" Allegro said in a singsong voice.
"And a confessional."
Juvenal looked as heartbroken as a cute little hedgehog could.
�He deserves it.� Amata muttered, flattening her ears. �You�d think that being a satirist would give him a better means of being insulting beyond name calling.�
�Oh, no. Not that again.� Eric gave his guardian a Look. �You two be quiet.�
"Something told me that bringing up the story of Claudius's wife Messalina would have meant nothing to anyone else," grumbled Juvenal.
While Eric�s response to that was a baffled, �Who?� Amata�s hackles rose and she growled, and Eric reached down to grab her collar to keep from another incident.
"Emperor's wife who spent her evenings whoring herself out in a brothel," he answered simply.
"Juvenal, that isn't very nice," said Andante.
"No, I don't suppose that it isn't."
�Juvie has long since lost his sense of decency or humor. But I can put him out of his misery-�
Eric steadfastly held onto her collar, now looking rather annoyed. �Both of you, stop this. NOW. You�re both acting silly. We have more important things to worry about right now.�
Like the arrival of their drinks and the girl's dessert. The waiter placed them on the table, glared at them doing so, and left.
The girls began delicately nibbling their tiramisu and sipping their water. Juvenal managed to get a piece of the ladyfingers and munched happily.
"So, what was it that you were going to worry about, again?" asked Allegro, after drinking a bit of her water. Andante was currently lost to the dessert, her favorite.
�Well, like what the other teams are up to.� He nodded, and sipped his coke. �It�s kinda hard to come up with any sort of plan when you don�t know what you�re up against.�
Amata, meanwhile, was longingly eyeing the tiramisu, reminiscing of days when she ate food that didn�t come in a can, or a large dog-food bag.
"It's almost better not knowing that knowing, though," said Andante. "I mean, at least they're not doing something so obvious that we all knew, right?"
"Yes, and let them surprise us all when they do actually manage to pull something off," said Juvenal, taking a pause from his snack. "I'd rather that they all just left Rome, but I know that's just wishful thinking. They're most likely up to something, the dirty Greeks and barbarous Noords. I'd be careful around the Kemet, too. Alliance or not, they're still outsiders."
�I don�t think so. I�ve only met one of them, but she didn�t seem the� backstabbing kind. She wasn�t much younger than Adante.� Eric added.
"That's fine and good for you to say," said Juvenal, "you weren't around when the ideals of Rome was being diluted by foreigners. Suddenly, it was fashionable for women to talk in Greek, as if Latin wasn't good enough for them. The Roman pantheon suddenly wasn't enough; we needed to include some of the Egyptian deities in there with those that we'd been honoring for generations. If you're going to work with them then that's your choice, and I suppose that I can't keep Andante and Allegro from doing it either. But watch your backs. Push comes to shove they're going to look after their own before they look after you."
�Can we blame them? We�d probably do the same.� Eric pointed out. �Anyone would. I don�t understand why we can�t come to the same sort of agreement with the others though. Yeah, they�ve done some pretty bad stuff in the past, but so have we, I think. I don�t remember. Why are we carrying on a war that killed everyone off in the first place? And, no, Amata,� Eric gave the dog a look as soon as her maw opened, �don�t give me the run down on honor and such. I don�t buy it.�
"Have him almost wholly trained-up, do you?" Juvenal looked down at Amata. "As I said, you weren't around during the glory of Rome, back when honor might have meant something. You were apparently seen fit to be the god of the underworld. If you won't listen to honor, then listen to duty. It is your job to guard Rome, you wouldn't have been given this task without some reason, Jove only knows."
"Well, Juvie� I don't really know about fighting, either," Andante spoke up.
"You are a muse. As such, it is your job to inspire and support. You're young yet, anyway. It�s your task to accompany your teammates and support them. Help where you can. No one really expects a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old muse to do the dirty work."
"Juvie, I think that's the sweetest thing you've said all day," said Allegro. "It almost sounds like you actually care for us."
Juvenal grunted and turned back to his ladyfinger crumbs.
Eric frowned and crossed his arms defensively, figuring that he wasn�t going to be convincing anyone this time around. He cast a look at the two da Capo girls, a little awed and a little worried. They were the first Romanus he had met in a long, long time of waiting, and they said there were others� �So, about the other Romanus� I think it�d be a good idea to plan out a meet. You know, dump what we know and,� he grinned sheepishly, �I�m kinda itching to meet the rest of the team.�
Juvenal nodded. "Yes, all of your should get together sometime. It might keep you all alive a bit longer."
"Juvie, don't be such a pessimist," chided Allegro.
�I agree.� Amata chimed in. �It doesn�t do much for the morale, Juvie.�
�Anyone have any ideas for what would be a good time?� Eric asked.
"Not today, that's for certain," said Allegro. "I never even managed to get half of the things that I wanted to get today," she said wistfully, looking back at the market.
"I don't know," said Andante, "maybe sometime in a couple of weeks? We'd need to get these things straightened out, call the others that we know, find out what's best for them, that sort of thing."
Eric nodded. �I�ll probably have to leave that to you two. It�d probably be weird for them if a stranger suddenly popped on the phone rattling about senshi� especially if it�s not the right person who picked up the phone. Besides, I don�t even have their phone numbers.� He sighed.
"Silly," giggled Allegro. "We wrote them down for you, they're in your pocket." She smiled sweetly over to the now blushing boy across the table from her.
�Eh-heh.� Eric�s shoulders hunched, and he grinned sheepishly. �Forgot.�
"Yeeees," drawled Juvenal with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I think it would be better if my girls handled this. Considering."
Amata sighed and laid down, her ears flicking occasionally. Honor-less son of a �
Allegro glanced down at her watch, and caught her breath. "Andante, if we don't get moving soon, I'm never going to make it in time for my dance lessons, and you know how madame is about being late."
Her sister followed suit, and looked down at her watch as well. "Oh, gracious mother, it is getting late, and I just can't miss evening mass. Eric, Amata, you'll have to excuse us, we really must fly."
As if on cue, once more, Antoine appeared by the table. "Are you ready to leave, ladies?"
"Yes, we really do have to leave now," Allegro said, standing from the table. "It really has been nice to see you again, Eric. We'll get a hold of you later." She maneuvered around the table, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye.
Andante took the prickly and slightly squirming Juvenal, and placed him into her handbag, for safe keeping. "It's been a pleasure," she said, walking around the other side of the table, and brushing his cheek with her lips lightly. She then nodded to the chauffer, who placed a banknote with perhaps more numbers than necessary on the table.
�Uh, yeah.� Eric blinked, his mind whirling to suddenly catch up with the sudden flutter of almost-late appointments the da Capo girls were chattering about. He tried not to stare too much at the banknote on the table and got up. �Hey, when you�re not so busy call me sometime.� He grinned. �I�d be glad to hear from you two for more than just� business.�
Allegro giggled coyly, "Of course, Eric." Andante merely smiled and nodded, "It would be our pleasure." With that, the two sisters, hedgehog, and their chauffeur hurried down the path, and quickly lost themselves in the crowd, the strains of, "he thinks you're cute, Andante," and "oh, be quiet," floating over the crowd, the last evidence of the two da Capo sisters.
Eric ran a hand absently through his hair, and glanced down at his guardian. �Well� guess I�d better finish looking for something for Aunt Alanna huh?�
�I suppose. Try and find something you can afford, dear��