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2kmps · 7 months

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BED-REST IS BEST

howl pendragon x sick!reader | 2.1k

synopsis; while sophie and michael are away fetching you bone broth for your illness, howl decides to pay you a visit.

story warnings; sick!reader, howl is a pompous turd, book!howl-coded, interrupted kiss, roughly proofread, posted 2021.

Sophie supposed the malady came on the winds of spring, carrying with it all manner of sickness, unpleasantness, and turbid air just the thinnest tinge of green from particles of pollen. She herself felt the effects of the great thaw, the budding tulips of richest hue, and the haze that drew over head like a personal cloud of suffering all her own.

Of course, Old Sophie had a way of dramatizing, meanwhile simultaneously catastrophizing stuff, so you knew to listen to her words loosely, with a solemn nod that you also shared similarly in those feelings. To a lesser degree than her, you were already aware your forced bed-rest could be attributed to allergies.

Or, something else you considered, it could have been the number of sputtering children who yet not knew to duck their faces in a tissue or their arms; it could have been the last embrace you shared with your sickly aunt. It could have been so many things that you had to press the pads of your fingers into your temples to subdue the stab of a headache building beneath them.

“Michael and I are going to Market Square to get supplies and bone broth. That’ll whip you into shape in no time.” Sophie anchored her fists against the bulky layers of her skirt, nearly losing them from how deeply they sunk. “Don’t you dare think about moving until we get back, hear me?”

“What about customers?” you couldn’t say you were disappointed by her firm demand, though all the same it made you restless. Even in times where illness or injury got you down, rest eluded you like fine sand slithering through crevices in your fingers. “Howl went off and blew half our income on that- that, damn, what was it? Some kind of enchanted flute? The more customers we serve, the more we can stash away.”

Sophie’s nostrils widened while her shoulders sagged forward with her breath. Her eyes lost their hardness, ebbing into something far warmer, motherly, almost. As you shifted anxiously beneath the covers, she came back around and began tucking them under your body once again, sure to secure you tighter than before. In fact, you were so caught, so much in your cocoon that you only saw the gray ball of wadded hair pinned atop her head bounce as she rounded you.

“Just stay down you worrywart,” she sighed, heels tapping the floorboards in a collected gait. At your head, she was careful to fluff the feathers in your pillow. “Between us, I’ve been putting a bit aside here and there. Just enough so he can't go buy another one of those enchanted suits. I’d like to know the dealer he’s getting them from and have a word with them myself.”

Your lips curled up at the mention and, honestly, you believed she actually would. “Where is Howl, anyway? I thought he was around.”

“Good grief, I almost wish he wasn’t. He’s been banging around in his room for hours now.” Old Sophie threw her hand towards the adjacent wall, upper lip curling as she continued, “says a lot that you haven’t heard a lick of it.”

That was enough to get you to concede to her obstinacy, letting the weight of your head- suddenly a strain on your neck- fully rest atop of the pillow she had fixed. The more she talked about you needing to stay in bed, drink bone broth and saltines, the more you felt the lead in your limbs rooting you to the mattress and the world floating around you when you closed your eyes.

It was any guess to you when it was the moment Sophie slipped out of your room with that hobbled gait of hers. You had been vaguely aware of her giving your cushion a bit more lusciousness, and then warmth of her palm covering the space of your forehead, giving a fretful tongue click. Behind your heavy eyelids, your eyes floated after her tiny footfalls, but that at once made your bed feel like a boat crashing through cresting waves.

So, you finally resigned to your fate of her and Michael’s care, finally let the stone in your bones meld you into the bed like beige boulders sinking further into the earth and undergrowth with coming centuries.

The silence that surrounded you was enthralling, probably the only true amount of peace you had had in a long time, considering your days were often brimmed with mediating Sophie and Howl’s explosiveness, meanwhile, still cooking up meager spells and manning the business with Michael.

In your weariness and delirium, a thought crossed your mind in a drawl: what about Calcifer, did he need more wood? You anticipated his voice bursting out soon, imploring attention in any number of ways. What of the front door? You expected a knock to come soon, and then another, and another, and perhaps a dozen more. That was money well needed.

What of Sophie? Your thoughts continued. Would she need you to help with scrubbing the floors? Maybe she wanted to give you a knitting lesson later, or expand on her tutelage of weaving hats.

Oh, and Howl—

God, how could you forget Howl? The man felt like a job all on its own.

Surely he intended to go out again and woo many of the loveliest in Market Chipping, or hell, maybe he’d move the castle somewhere else for the night to do that. You expected him to hunt you down, throw open your door, barge through the threshold with his hair aflutter and eagerness in his eyes—where did you and Miss Nose stash his suits? His guitar wasn’t where he left it, where was it? Neither of you meddled with the charm over his door, right?

As it turned out, you mumbled in your sleep, or at least in your discombobulated state. Your head rustled the feather pillow, lolling to one side and then the other as sweat prickled your forehead in cold beads. Behind your eyelids, Sophie’s nimble and darkly spotted hands worked on a suit, meanwhile Michael was ran ragged around the castle to try to fulfill orders, Calcifer bellowed for attention and eggs and bacon, and Howl’s hair whipped up in the breeze as he spun round and round with another lovely.

Your entire face twitched when a large hand smoothed across the top of your head, a damp weight of something laid spread across your forward, unpleasant and clammy unlike Sophie’s warm hand. “Hey. Don’t take the newt from the shelf, it’ll get on the floor.”

Howl gave a bemused smile that took a while to dissipate. You continued to babble incoherently here and there about things that didn't matter while the peaks of his knuckles simply rocked across your temple and cheek.

“I’ll keep that in mind. I pray that Sophie has made herself useful instead of sticking her nose in on us again.” He said with lightness in voice, peering across his shoulder towards the bolted doorway to be sure. “Good. She seems to think I only make you worse in these states. I would never.”

You were sure you were hearing his voice at this point, rousing you from the cluster in your head until your eyes fixed with his, wonderful and marble-like. They were softer than usual, glittering like the sea when the sun hung highest, making the water like a trove of dazzling treasure.

“Your eyes are amazing, Howell.” You whispered hoarsely, swallowing through the desert in your throat. “I don’t notice them enough.”

His smile took on something brighter, almost as though delighted you took notice of something that menial. “I would agree with you there! You can look as long as you’d like. Tell me more about it.”

“I think about us sometimes, Howell.” It was a strange feeling right now, the words you spoke were the first to float forward in your mind. You knew you were speaking garbled silliness, still you didn’t think better of it. “I remember college together, before we came to Ingary. I remember how you used to look before you… started doing the enchantment stuff. I feel like I’ve forgotten you.”

The lines in his lips were significantly deeper as they pulled down, his hand halted against your skin. It was either the thought that you felt such a disconnect from him, or the reminiscence of who he once was that brought the sullen look of his on. No longer was there a glitter of childish joy, but rather of anxiety, of concern.

“Nonsense. You’re talking nonsense just like Sophie and Calcifer.” He moved closer to you on the bed, rolling your arm from its spot as the mattress bent. Next, the pillow cradling your head flattened, his hands cuffed into the thick fabric as he leaned across you, your eyes only able to see him. “I… I’m still here. I have not left you, I wouldn’t entertain the thought. Didn’t I tell you that wherever I’d go from here on out, you would have to be right with me?”

You only wished he’d tell you such things in every other state of being, instead of during the peak of being bedridden. “I want to believe you, but in this world I am as ordinary as the hat makers and bakers. I’m replaceable. I wonder if that will happen one day.”

Noticeably distraught from the creases deepening around the corners of his mouth, and his eyes flitting wildly around your face as though in panic. He came down onto his elbows, caging you below him as his fear neared, his hot breath inches away.

“What makes you think I could ever replace you? Has someone put that bull into your head? Was it Calcifer—the pest? Was it a panderer we met the other day?” Now that he was so close to you, his voice had lowered and it rumbled. “Or, are you so sleep deprived, so loopy that you’re finally now telling me your heart?”

“Does it matter what I confess to you now?” you asked, pushing your head deeper into the feathers and farther from him. As you turned your face away, he shifted to gently coax your chin forward with the daintiest touch of his fingertips. “I would be alone in that venture. In a matter of five, six, ten years—I’ll have all the age and lines you hate. I’m sure I’ll shrink even more.”

“You do realize we have someone in our house who already looks like that.” He said this jokingly, of course, but even in your fever, your hand shot up to pinch his arm. “H–Hey, stop! Furthermore, you’re making up stuff, who would be to say you’d be alone with your heart?”

The explanation to that was obvious, considering the whole business with Calcifer and the Witch, but you didn’t want to think about it. In fact, at any opportunity to steer your mind away from that debacle, you found it.

Once again, you tried to look away from him—both sleep was beginning to weigh on your bones more than what you imagine Howl would if he were to collapse, and away from the furor gleaming in his eyes. And once again, he pulled you back towards him.

“Sick as you are, I’d like to prove it to you.” It was an unusual thing to hear from him considering all his caution with appearance and health. You wondered if he was desperate to alleviate your distrust. “Why are you looking at me like that? Close your eyes—yeah, I would rather not risk your germs, but some things can’t be helped.”

You weren’t sure if your eyes slid shut from gravity, or from some sort of internal desire for him to do this. Either way, his hand returned adjacent to the other near your hair, tugging slightly at the strands and his breath came so close you felt it tremble against your lips.

And then, all at once, his breath snagged in his throat as the door was thrown open, bouncing off the wall with such force it vibrated. In waddled Old Sophie, arms conveniently free of anything other than an old wood broom with long, spidery bristles that she held aloft across her shoulder, eyes blazing and the most malicious you had ever seen them.

“I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone with this dog! This cretin, vile imbecile! This complete, utterly hopeless dolt!” She screeched, the layers of her dress billowed behind her as she started into the room as fast as her creaky old limbs could. “Get out, get out, get out! Away with you, you absolute user! Away! Away! Away! Begone!”

Howl yelped in surprise as the tiny old lady swung the broom with enough ferocity for you to feel the air gush and whoosh around you.

“You demented old coot! Swinging brooms and the like around, are you completely classless?!” he propelled himself upright, expertly ducking her onslaught until he was well out the door into the hall. “I won't forget this!”

As luck would have it, their bickering continued on even once they were out of the room, even fifteen minutes later when Michael weaseled through the threshold with your bone broth and bolted the door behind him.

divider by @/anlian-aishang

reposted from my deleted blog officiallytheduchess/cardeneiv

#howl x you #hmc howl #howlscastle #howl's moving castle #howls moving castle #howl pendragon #howl x y/n #howl x reader #howl pendragon x y/n #howl pendragon x you #howl pendragon x reader #hmc imagines #hmc fic #howl hmc #hmc book #hmc #2k writes

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spoondrifts · 11 months

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born of the question "could sophie's magic gifts potentially extend to talking life into corpses, and would that make her a necromancer?" with an added 14k words of falling in love with that wizard you accidentally raised from the dead that almost has a plot and also a really cool magic battle at the end

#+ quite a few john donne references that made me feel very clever to write in #hmc #howl's moving castle #howl pendragon #sophie hatter #michael fisher #lily angorian #mrs pentstemmon #martha hatter #lettie hatter #wizard suliman #fic #writing #my writing #hmc fic

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tossawary · 7 months

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Rewatched the Howl's Moving Castle movie (fantastic animated movie, definitely inspired by more than an adaptation of the book) while doing something else and I was struck this time by the fact that the Prince (Turniphead the Scarecrow) says that he intends to go tell his king to call off the war, but THEN he intends on COMING BACK to Ingary to shoot his shot with Sophie again because (as he says to the flirtatious Witch of the Wastes) "hearts change".

And maybe he will come back to make Sophie an offer of marriage and then leave again when he's turned down, but I imagined for a moment that the Prince (who is possibly the movie's version of Prince Justin, so let's call him Justin) might just... move back into Howl's house without asking and stay there. There are several cases of precedent for this. Also, as Turniphead, he's shown several times helping Sophie with laundry, or playing with Markl, or helping the Witch of the Wastes move around, and Sophie deserves that kind of help around the house! Howl isn't going to reliably do chores.

And you know what? I think Howl would be into that shit. There's something very Wynne-Jonesian about it all still. It's tempting to write a post-canon fic about this situation from the movie with an extra dash of flavoring from the books. Like:

This is the infamous wizard Howl Pendragon/Jenkins, a vain draft-dodging flirt who likes to build moving castles to evade taxes too. The beautifully angry young woman with the silver hair over there is his wife, Sophie Hatter, who may or may not be an extremely powerful witch, but right now she's dusting and do not get in her way. This is Calcifer, the fire demon who used to have Howl's heart and is arguably his other life partner and also might be in love with Sophie, and this is arguably kind of actually his house. The old lady smoking a cigar over there is Howl's ex-girlfriend and former nemesis, the Witch of the Wastes, who now lives in their house. This is Markl, Howl's apprentice, kind of his kid, and there is no explanation of where he comes from or what happened to his parents. The dog used to be(?) the Royal Wizard's spy (Howl used to be her apprentice and potential successor) but now he also just lives here. And that's Prince Justin of Strangia, Sophie's house-boyfriend. Don't listen to the propaganda, he wasn't kidnapped by a heart-eating wizard; he used to be a cursed scarecrow and now he wants to be here to help Sophie do laundry. He's trying to homewreck and Howl thinks it's both funny and hot.

#tossawary hmc #fic ideas #howl pendragon #sophie hatter #prince justin turniphead

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vofart · 1 month

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For you @sensitiveheartless because I have a feeling you enjoyed writing these scenes and i really love them

Your gonna have to click on the to read them

#skk #art #bsd #chuuya nakahara #dazai osamu #soukoku #au #fic #fanart #vofartdoesart #hmc #howls moving castle au #These mf so gay #Bro literally said can't you kiss me once #Chuuya this is #Just CHUUYA

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athena-theunicorn · 7 months

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Howl's girl

A Howl's Moving Castle one-shot

The heart-stealing wizard Howl Jenkins Pendragon would no longer look at another woman, besides his girl Sophie, with her kind eyes and hair made of starlight.

Tags: Domestic fluff, Humor, Found Family

Read it here on Ao3 or here on Wattpad!

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howlandsophiesbraincell · 1 year

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I’d like to think that Sophie would tell Howl that she was with child by using her flowers. Like instead of telling him simply and directly, she planted daffodils and baby’s breath around the house until he noticed and asked her about it. It took him 2 days to notice, and a week before he asked. Needless to say, he had no clue ‘till Sophie told him about it :)

#i have to admit i was smiling the entire time writing this LMAO #my friend asked me about flowers and the topic went to baby’s breath and then boom headcanon #also if you don’t know #daffodils are a sign of rebirth and new beginnings #maybe because for Sophie and howl #this is a new chapter in their happily ever after :)#baby’s breath is pretty explanatory ngl #aaa I wna write a whole fic about this :( maybe after exams hehe #this is cute tho bc I think that it would rlly happen #I’ve been having family pendragon shenanigans lately and I kinda want to make a long list of my thoughts in another post LOL #what do you think?#howl pendragon #hmc #hmc book #howl series #sophie hatter #howl's moving castle #angelica rambles

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hueberryshortcake · 7 months

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Is there a place to read your ducktales fanfics?

spectacularific question here is the link to my ao3

I feel that I've only posted a few things so far but rest assured I'm having a regular old sock hop in my drafts and someday the world may just be invited

#there is also hmc fanfiction on there too. i do not remember writing half of it.#the people werent ready for the howl jenkins/sophie hatter/ben suliman fic but that's ok. the world wasnt ready for da vinci either.#ask #in the world's defense choosing to title it benjamin scarecrow 4d not clickbait was probably not the best marketing choice #that forensics class did things to my psyche man. i have vivid memories of working on that so i wouldn't have to pay attention to the extrem #extremely graphic body farm documentary they decided to play in class all week #anyway.#hueberry shortcake

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displayheartcode · 5 months

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Sophie Hatter/Howl Pendragon + 45 for the kiss ask pls?

Being raised on fairytales, Howl knew the dangers of kissing cursed women.

Had it stopped him before? No. But there was something about the way Sophie commanded magic without realizing. Her hair shimmered between auburn and gray – usually in moments of self-deprecation, the clothes followed her wordings carefully to ward off dust and tears, inanimate objects like the tea kettle crowed to be near her…

Isn’t she a charming puzzle, Calcifer murmured, interrupting Howl’s growing line of frustrated thoughts. Perhaps a kiss shall set things right? Become a noble hero and set her free.

“Hardly a kiss when I don’t have a heart.”

That would be your own fault, fool.

Howl banished the image of him running down a road in a set of chainmail and armor. He would look ridiculous, and his hair would never be the same because of the blasted helmet.

(After all, what use were holy knights and gallant princes when he could play with the building blocks of the universe?)

Still, he played with the idea of kissing Sophie, wondering if it would be enough, but the space where his heart should be remained as cold as ever.

He asked, “What is a kiss when it is not a kiss?”

Bah! Calcifer spat an ember on the rug. All that power and full of nonsense. Go ask the girl yourself.

"I'm afraid she might pluck my eyes and turn me into a tree."

Calcifer made a contemplative noise. That would be an improvement.

#searchingforserendipity25 #hmc #howls moving castle #fic #howl: should i kiss this powerful woman to satisfy my curiosity?#calcifer: lmao i'm not your conscious

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teashoptiramisu · 1 year

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Fluffy fanfic rec list

On one of my Discord servers people were talking about how people seem more likely to recommend angsty fic, so I decided to put together a fluff rec list, just for fun! This is gonna be a variety of fandoms, wordcount length, genres, etc. -- the common factor is I like ‘em and they turned up when I search “fluff” in my bookmarks. I’ll point out if any are nsfw

ATLA

see your son rising at last by aloneintherain -- ATLA -- 6.5k words -- Iroh & Zuko 5+1 things fic

North by ryfkah -- ATLA -- 300 words -- short & sweet Appa POV fic

definitely not suspicious at all in the least by presumenothing -- ATLA -- 1k words -- post-canon Gaang shenanigans

All The Gentle Creatures by Haicrescendo -- ATLA -- 10k words -- animals love Zuko, he’s basically a Disney Princess

Yuri!!! On Ice

see you next level by verity -- YoI -- 1.5k words -- Yuuri, Viktor & Phichit get drunk & watch TV, Yuuri & Viktor continue to be the most adorably sappy couple

Friendship!!! Is Magic by afrai -- YoI & OHSHC -- 10k words -- Yuuri & Haurhi meet at a conference and become friends. Viktor & Tamaki make fools of themselves (but what else is new)

Howl’s Moving Castle (mostly bookverse)

Second Time Lucky by labellementeuse -- HMC -- 5.5k words -- Howl & Sophie plan their wedding (lol i spelled that “weeding” on the first try... also accurate). As you might expect for these two it doesn’t go without some hiccups.

Could it be magic? by SpiritedYoungLady -- HMC -- 500 words -- Howls comes back from night with the rugby club, and Sophie is unamused

Fulllmetal Alchemist (mostly bhood/manga)

All That Describes a Joyful Heart by anthrop -- FMA -- 3k words -- Hohenheim & Trisha cook together during a winter storm & they are simply TOO ADORABLE. Features some Xerxian cultural headcanons inspired by Nowruz (Persian New Year) traditions!

And They Were ROOMMATES by Turbulent_Muse -- FMA -- 30k words -- Modern AU in which college student!Ling moves into a haunted house, but since the rent is too good to pass up, he decides to try and befriend the demon. Greedling friendship & adventure fic.

Science for People Who Hate Science by Tierfal -- FMA -- 66k words -- Royed Modern AU, but even if you dislike that ship you might want to give this one a chance; it’s really more of an origfic about two characters losely inspired by Roy & Ed. They run a goofy educational youtube channel and are two dorks in love. Al shows up to make fun of them sometimes. It’s a good time!

The Sleeping Horror of Whiskerford by Eltea -- FMA -- 3.5k words -- another modern AU, in which the gang (Ed, Al, Winry, Riza, Roy, Hughes) plays D&D. Worth it for Ed’s character sheet alone, but overall just a hilarious & fun time.

A Clowder of Cats by Batsutousai -- FMA -- 4k words -- post-canon (a more-or-less canon universe fic for once!), Al settles down and adopts a bunch of cats (AS HE DESERVES)

Teen Wolf

the butt is a gift by lazulisong -- Teen Wolf -- 1.5k words -- Stiles is pinned to the couch by cats. I think this is part of a larger AU but tbh I don’t care: Stiles, cats, relatable dilemmas, what more do I need?

When the Bough Breaks by The Feels Whale (miscellea) -- Teen Wolf -- 12k words -- A bit of a weird one, but sometimes I like my TW fic weird. post-canon-ish/canon-divergence with endgame Sterek; Stiles is on the outs with Derek’s pack until they learn that he’s adopted a baby, and then they’re suddenly all over to dote on her. I actually really mostly liked this for Stiles’ single parent struggles and (platonic) relationship with the baby’s birth mother, the werewolf stuff & romance was cute but mostly incidental.

Misc fandoms

it's a new craze by attheborder -- Good Omens -- 5k words -- Crowley & Aziraphale start an advice podcast

Hot Springs and New Beginnings by CorundumBleu -- Hollow Knight -- 3k words -- in a good ending universe, Quirrel, the Knight, and The Last Stag relax at a hot springs and discuss hopes for the future. I recommend looking through CorundumBleu’s other HK fics as well -- there’s a couple other good fluff fics in there and some most angsty but still amazing stories! (I’m biased: CB is my sister & I helped edit these, but still, I think they’re great!)

Sufficient by atheilen -- The Goblin Emperor -- 2k words -- deaged!Maia; in which everyone and particularly Beshelar shows how much they care for and cherish Maia.

Sick Day by avg (AnxiousEspada) -- The Murderbot Diaries -- 4k words -- Overse & Arada are sick; Ratthi and later Murderbot visit to help them out. “To everyone’s surprise, a feverish Overse is SecUnit approved humor-fuel.” (P.S. if you like this fic consider checking out my sequel to it!)

Thrilling Night! Romantic Adventure at the Video Rental Store! by Masu_Trout -- Undertale -- 2.5k words -- wonderful Outsider POV of an employee at a video rental store who gets the admittedly uncertain priviledge of helping Alphys and Undyne pick out a movie to rent for their date night. I’m still not over the movie they end up picking, OMG.

Gonna add a reblog with BNHA, Natsuyu, Gravity Falls, and maybe some HP recs tomorrow.

Also, if you like these fics and know of more like them, feel free to let me know! I’m always taking fic recs (I’m slow to get around to them but I WILL save your recs for later) :P

#not atla #but also atla #fic recs #fanfic #yoi #hmc #fma #teen wolf #good omens #the goblin emperor #the murderbot diaries #undertale

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2kmps · 7 months

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Morning Routine

howl pendragon x reader | 1,534 words

synopsis; it could never just be a peaceful morning in the castle. not while howl was around, not as long as he had time to disturb your bath.

notes; book!howl-coded bc he's a massive fucking brat here, slice of life moment, implied established relationship, roughly proofread, written 2021.

The cataclysm that was your life often began just as dawn broke across the sky, all with its hues of pink and orange spearing through the shroud of night. You knew it not by the caress of light seeping through the slithers of space between your curtains, nor by crowing roosters in their tragically optimistic song. In fact, by comparison to what you typically endured, a rooster would by far be your preference.

At that point, you had become attuned to stirring right around that time as it was; the fog of sleep still sat in your mind like an anvil, inciting your head back to your pillow for just a bit longer. You always resisted because it would never amount to anything anyway.

So there you sat, legs hanging like lead over the edge, shoulders and back rolled forward in such a way you felt the pull of gravity teetering you towards the floor.

You eyes were the last thing to adjust, keeping them closed for the most part until you found the bravery in you to put forth your feet and stand.

Most days, however, you waited for the castle to erupt.

And that it did.

Although notoriously not an early-riser, Howl had quite gotten into the habit recently for reasons you didn’t bother to explore, aside from petty teatimes with Sophie. His gait was unmistakable as he pounced down the stairs, attempting all the lightness of an antelope in his movements, but only ended up like a clumsy giraffe stumbling down them.

You thought you caught a waft of his new cologne or another from the gap beneath your door.

From there, you listened with an increasingly steady heart, anticipating the next things to come.

Below your feet you heard a mishmash of voices, all their owners very distinct, though their words were dulled by the splintery floorboards supporting your feet, and probably the fact your ears were still deafened to most sounds right now.

Sophie was likely asking what everyone wanted for breakfast, encouraging Michael to fetch you out of bed, to jab you a couple times in the ribs with a broom handle if you were being particularly fussy. He gave some affirmative, you were sure, listening to the lethargic groan of staircase.

Next came Howl’s voice, damn bold, bright, and too fucking chipper for this early in the morning. He was speaking with rapid succession, you could only assume it was a complaint about burnt bacon, or insisting he cook up his own eggs. It wasn’t unfathomable the dolt made mention of some travesty Sophie committed yesterday as well.

“Why you—first thing in the morning! This is what you let fly out of your flap?! I should’ve known you’re no good. Eat your bacon! Shush!” Sophie’s screech was clear and loud, jolting you upright from the remnants of your sleep. “The eggs are fine, you buffoon. There’s nothing—no, there’s nothing wrong with them!”

“I shouldn’t have to make breakfast every morning!” Howl rejoined, being the only thing you could discern through the floorboards before an awful, cacophonous contest of bellows erupted from downstairs.

You rose to your feet then, swaying back on your heels for just a second as you propelled yourself towards the door, throwing it open against the wall just as Michael’s knuckles had come forward on it to knock.

“Oh, mornin’, figured you were awake.” Michael said, rubbing away the sleep in his eyes. “I think Calcifer overcooked the bacon, but you know Howl.”

“Mmmya,” came the grunt from your throat as you sidled past him in the doorway, onward towards the bathroom, missing the kid’s utterly apathetic, distant stare after you.

Even with the thick door shut and the ferocious hiss of water gushing into the bathtub, you still heard traces of their argument downstairs. You tried to pay little heed to it as you sat along the rim of the rub, a foot hiked across your knee as your fingertips glided in a dance across the rippling surface, testing the temperature by plunging your hand to the wrist, smacking your palm on the bottom of the tub.

At this stage in the morning, you didn’t have the capacity to understand and express emotion let alone meditate whatever their spit was today.

As the mirrors dotted throughout the bathroom began to fog, steam swirling around you in white puffs that touched your skin the same as a warm breath; familiar yet always new enough, you shucked off your night clothes and stepped in carefully. You had ran the temperature too high, but your shared frugal nature with Sophie made it but impossible to drain the tub—or worse, use even more water.

The heat nipped at your toes, searing the pads of your feet as you bounced from one to the other. It crept higher to your shins, to your thighs and groin, hips, waist, and finally the rest of you as you slowly submerged your body beneath the fragrant waters. The eucalyptus and lemongrass floated inside your nostrils as you breathed; both a classic, yet harmonious meld that brimmed your lungs and parted from your lips.

“Ah! I knew it! You were the one who stitched a patch into my suit! Michael, look at this hideousness! I can’t wear this!” Howl lamented, his sheer agony managed to seep through the crevices in the floorboards into the bathroom.

You weren’t sure how.

There was a pause, presumably of reluctance before Michael offered his thoughts. “Why not? It looks fine to me.”

“Michael!” Howl exclaimed, his voice jumping a to a higher pitch, clearly affronted. “My own apprentice says such things. Where did I fail? Was it when, out of the kindness of my soul—my very being, Michael, when I let Sophie start sleeping on the cot?”

“Can’t you pipe down?” said Sophie in exasperation. “Some people are trying to enjoy their morning. Now, stop being a baby and go put your suit away.”

Of course, the fighting did not end, and you resigned to drowning out their voices to incoherent shouts for the sake of enjoying your bath. Even still, your eyes floated about the bathroom lazily; noting the many absolute useless trinkets that decorated the walls, to the bottles of dyes and cosmetics rammed haphazardly atop the sink, stacked thoughtlessly.

It was much the same on the adjacent rim of the bathtub touching the wall, Howl’s collection of mysterious dyes, shampoos, scrubs, and washes were all in unmarked glass bottles.

You thought some even glowed.

You could barely bring yourself to look above the containers at the white walls stained like an artist’s palette after a time of mixing, dabbing, adding, and stippling. It was mostly curiosity that led you to reaching a hand above water, attempting to dig a nail under a splotch of vibrant red, grimacing once you realized it was not coming up.

“God, he just needs to suck it up and take some bleach from his sister.” You groused, scraping dutifully at the stain with some hope any amount of red would chip away.

You had anticipated for the fighting downstairs to eventually migrate to the top floor. It was less an attempt of escape on Howl’s part and more of his desire to complain to you until the evening at this new wickedness of Sophie’s.

Predictably, feet pounded up the staircase, rattling the oddities on the walls and jingling others as the hallway exploded with all the ferocity of a thundering stampede. You heard first the noise stop at your bedroom door, Howl’s voice echoing your name urgently before tromping onward.

The eucalyptus was getting deep into your muscles at that point, you didn’t even consider the fact that the tips of Howl’s boot-clad toes peeked beneath the bathroom door.

For some reason, you expected a smidge of courtesy and rapping knuckles against the wood door, not it swinging open hard enough to strike the wall behind it and bounce off it.

Howl surged forward into the bathroom, swiping the steamy air with his suit as he thrust it out at arm’s length. “Look! Look at what what that sad old woman did! Can you see it? This patch is hideous, and right in the elbow! I’m beside myself, you need to stop her—”

“What in the living hell, Howl!” You shouted, unsure of what parts of you were appropriate to cover, so you simply ripped the shower curtain over until all except your head was hidden. “I don’t care! Get out!”

Howl let out a horrified gasp, clutching the suit jacket closer to his chest. “You don’t care? What world am I living in that my sweetest, my beloved does not share in my pain? We swore ourselves to share agony and hardships and—”

“Oh my god, Howell! I’m trying to take a bath! Scram!” The first bottle flung was in plastic, an orange dye to be precise. Your hands felt along the cluttered wall for anything else light. “Git! Git! Git!”

Howl ducked around your onslaught, nearing closer to the door as he went. “That awful woman! Look at how she’s rubbed off on you! I won’t forgive her.”

“Holy hell, Howell! Go!"

divider by; @/anlian-aishang

reposted from my deleted blog, cardeneiv

please interact and reblog if you enjoyed!!

#hmc imagines #hmc fic #hmc howl #howl hmc #hmc book #hmc #howl x you #howlscastle #howl's moving castle #howls moving castle #howl pendragon x y/n #howl pendragon x you #howl pendragon x reader #howl pendragon #howell jenkins #2k writes

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magpiesbones · 9 months

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mayhaps a Witch Hat/Howl's Moving Castle fusion?

Ooooh not only is this a FUN one but it is one I have thought about before!

—

Before Coco got herself cursed, she’d always thought she’d live and die a tailor in that little town, where nothing exciting actually happened. The most interesting thing to ever happen to Market Chipping was when the train station got built ten years ago, and when people come out from Kingbury and Kahln. Coco is willing to believe that interesting things happen, of course, but interesting things don’t happen to her— they happen to interesting people. Like witches!!

This is what she tells herself, to keep herself from getting too bored.

Actually, the most interesting thing to happen in Market Chipping happened three months ago, when the girl down the street saw the Wizard Agate’s castle in the fog creeping about the hills— but that’s terrifying, not not interesting at all.

They say the Wizard Agate eats the heart of any pretty girl she finds out on her own, that she peels the magic from other witches, that she does all manner of madness in her quest for power.

But, well, Coco isn’t a pretty girl anymore, now that she’s nineteen-going-on-ninety, and she was never a witch to start out with. And she can’t bother her poor mother with all this, not after that business with placing her sisters in nice apprenticeships. Maybe the Wizard will even feel like breaking her curse! Maybe the Wizard will teach her some magic! Not wizardry, since you have to be born with the talent to be a wizard, but maybe a bit of witchcraft!

Probably she won’t, but being an old lady is good for hope! What’s the worst that will happen, anyways?

—

“Who the hell are you?” The woman— Wizard Agate, since it couldn’t be anyone else but her— said. She was, shockingly, wearing trousers. Coco couldn’t imagine ever being so scandalous, but she figured one must get used to it after some time.

Oh no.

“I’m your new cleaning lady!” Coco said.

Wizard Agate took a long drink of whatever was in her mug. “Why,” she said, but not like a question.

“Because you need one,” Coco said, and since Wizard Agate hadn’t eaten her heart yet, she dared a little further. “Really badly.”

Wizard Agate pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, dramatically and showily. “Fine, whatever.”

Coco would have danced in joy if her bones didn’t protest to the thought. “I promise you won’t regret it!” She said.

“I already do,” the Wizard said, and reached behind Coco to shut the door. She was taller than Coco, as she was, and probably would’ve been taller than Coco as she had been, too. Her outfit made her look even taller, long straight pants with pin folds that went all the way up to a long blue and silver vest over a fine shirt with flounces on the sleeves.

#Look I just think. Agott and Coco map better onto Howl and Sophie than Qifrey and Oru #Coco’s LEARNING magic!! she’s the pov character AND she’s being introduced to the world #also there aren’t enough adults in wha to really map into the hmc characters. Even though I think witch of the waste!iguin is pretty funny #anyways Agott is a she/he lesbian here and if I ever wrote the rest of this I would lean hard into the combined howl and Agott Gender vibes #witch hat atelier #witch hat #my fic #whats the ship tag here #agoco #arcko #ehhhhhh #anyways. Send me a prompt and I’ll write a bit of fic!

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tossawary · 2 months

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Thinking about the family arrangements of the "Howl's Moving Castle" film, specifically the question of where Markl (Howl's young apprentice) (pretty different from the Michael of the books) comes from... I do like the idea that Howl essentially took in an orphaned child whom he found on the street or something, because I like seeing adopted families. They're cool. It's cute.

Or maybe there was some complicated situation (curses, spells, adventures, oh my) with Markl's parents? Who can't care for him or can't be trusted to care for him, but they're still out there? If you want to get into the "messy bio family situation" side of adoption issues.

While thinking about this, my brain took a leap to the side and asked, "Even if I really don't like a 'Howl and Markl are biological family' angle on this, is there a way to pull that off?" In the books, Howl performs several extended courtships of beautiful women, so I suppose that you could just go with him having accidentally had a child with one of his exes or something. Easy enough. I still prefer the adoption of an orphan route.

And then I thought, "WAIT. If Howl has a reputation for seducing women, eating hearts, and then running off, then it would be really easy for some young girl with an unwanted pregnancy to CLAIM to her unhappy parents that the wandering Wizard Howl fathered her child." So then Howl could get saddled with a small child dumped on his doorstep and told to take responsibility as a father, even though he's never met this woman in his life!

And I thought that sounded like a really funny balance between the ambiguous situation of the movie and the style of humor of the books. That sounds like a Wynne-Jonesian situation to me! Sophie has to wrestle with her admiration that Howl selflessly took in this poor, unwanted child (Markl) and is raising him as best as he's able (for a given value of "best"), and also wrestle with her annoyance that Howl's reputation as a flirt is such a fucking mess that he has a "bastard" child who isn't even actually his bio kid.

Even funnier bonus interpretations / directions for this, in my opinion: (1) Howl is a trans man and is physically incapable of knocking anyone up without magic being involved. (Sophie and Howl have a kid in the books named Morgan.) The girl making the claim did not know this and Howl did not enlighten anyone.

(2) If it happened once (a girl successfully claiming that Howl is the father of her unwanted child despite never having met him), then it can happen again! Sophie knows Howl didn't cheat on her, but she's still not impressed by this mess. (Maybe this is where Morgan comes from in this AU.)

#tossawary hmc #howl pendragon #sophie hatter #markl michael #fic ideas

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