Pinocchio's wickedness had been honed by the curse, his actions driven by a desire for chaos and destruction. His eyes, once gleaming with malevolence, now gleamed with sustained curiosity. Geppetto, aware of the false boy’s darkness, saw an opportunity to shape it! Most impactfully, his hands moved with precision, carefully grinding down his godson’s oaken nose with sandpaper. (The puppet’s consent removed the threat of bleeding what was essentially magical purple sap.)

The ex-hitman refined Pinocchio’s already admirable skills as a silent assassin, teaching him to handle daggers and garrotes with deadly precision and ease. The ex-hitman’s gestures and expressions during trainings and lectures conveyed a palpable sense of pride; he had found a new protetto!

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Pinocchio's silence hid many of his thoughts, but his actions revealed a growing sense of purpose. He began to see the vecchio as a mentor, a guide who could help him channel his wickedness, sadism, and occasional depravity into something more refined than wanton murder and mayhem. The puppet's curse still drove him, but now he had a new focus: become the perfect instrument of Geppetto's will!