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Starlight	By : sarahM Category: +G to L > Howl\'s Moving Castle > Howl\'s Moving Castle Views: 11152 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Howls Moving Castle, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Starlight
By Lady Mac
A/N: WOOT!! Chapter two!! I really had no idea how long it would take to write this, since I don�t have any sort of plot planned out, except for some stuff way down the line. I�ll probably take my normal route and just write some sappy stuff. So if you�re offended in any way by that, just don�t read, because pretty much all I write is WAFF-y, saccharine-sweet romance.
Have you ever eaten a packet of artificial sweetener? I have. Don�t do it. It�s disgusting.
Okay, and now a confession: I�m actively working on three stories at once. I never intended for it to happen, but it did. Top it off with fanart, trying to find a job, preparing for college, and spending time with my boyfriend (v2k3, from the early �Hitori� chapters and some Macbeth (gasp! Macbeth? What happened to that?)) before he moves to Madison in August and our HS romance ends, and there�s little chance of me getting much done on any front. But worry not; I WILL continue everything at some point. Just be patient. And if it gets to be a long time w/o posting anywhere, I�ll put some little crap piece up as an apology, just so you know I didn�t drop of the face of the Earth, or something.
And naturally, the three-story count doesn�t include �Event Horizon� or �All That�s Left of Yesterday,� though I am not finished with those (I think). I�m trying to figure out a second chapter for �Event Horizon,� but I�ve been feeling pretty good on the �ATLOY� front, so not much there for now. Just wait until August � then you can expect to see several chapters all at once. Maybe even a spinoff in the Howl�s universe.
You know what�s hot? Gay guys. Yeah. I�m glad v2k3 is metro enough that I don�t feel bad that he�s never �obliged� our gay friend, iykwim. I�m also glad that he�s not homophobic, so some interesting things have happened. I � won�t go into that. *ahem*
Did you ever notice that I spend more time writing author�s notes than the actual story? Feel free to yell at me for it.

You know, as much as I dislike Sarah Brightman�s Christine, she does have very impressive technical facility. And in her lower range, she sounds downright good. That�s totally irrelevant to everything here, I know.
Thanx also to brother Pete for beta-ing this for me (kind of).
Urgh. Mir tut mein Finger ein biß chen weh, weil ich Gestern Blut gegeben habe. Aber er wird bald besser.
Disclaimer: Full rights to Howl�s Moving Castle belong to Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, and Diana Wynne Jones and her publisher. I fall into �none of the above.�
P.S. The original Canadian Phantom of the Opera is also Jean Valjean in the video of Les Miserables! And Hugh Panaro is a god!
Geez, I should just get a blog or something. I talk too much.
I will respond to reviews and clarify some things that I just found out after the chapter.

Kapitel Zwei

In Which There Are a Number of Awkward Moments

(First revision)

�Are you gonna marry Sophie?�
Howl nearly spat his mouthful of tea back into the mug, and proceeded to choke as Markl set his chin on his hands on the kitchen table. Howl had been working out a particularly tough spell for a customer while Sophie, the witch, and Heen finished hanging the laundry in the courtyard outside.
�I just wondered,� he said, trying to look innocent as Howl coughed.
�That�s okay,� he said, wheezing a little as he slid his mug away from the paper. �Just caught me off-guard, is all.� He looked at Markl closely for a moment. �Why don�t you go outside and see if they need any help.�
�You�re not going to answer my question.�
�Exactly.�
�Why?�
�Because I don�t feel like it.�
�Come on, Howl.�
�I said no and I mean no. Go help your grandmother.�
�She�s not my grandmother and you know it,� he said, pouting. �Admit it. You�re in love with her.�
�Fine,� Howl said, dropping his pen into the inkwell and crossing his arms defensively over his chest. �I�m in love with Sophie. Happy now?�
�You still didn�t answer my first question.�
Howl rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. �Would you like it if I married her?�
Markl nearly jumped with excitement. �Of course! That would be so great!�
An evil smile planted itself on Howl�s face. �Then I won�t!�
�Howl!�
The wizard chuckled and turned back to his spell. �That�s life, kid. Take it or leave it.�
�You�re lying!�
�Now, why would I lie?� He ticked something off on his fingers, then wrote it down on the parchment.
The scratching of the quill was like an unspoken taunt to Markl. More than anything, he wished that Howl could settle down a little. Sophie was having that effect on him already, but all the same, wouldn�t it be nice to have a real family? Of course, it would be dysfunctional by virtue of their already strange relationships, but Markl hoped that with time Howl and Sophie would become like parents to him. Howl had taken him in when he was very, very young, providing, in his usual disconnected manner, the home that he had never really had before. In that way, Markl had always seen him as a sort of father, though Howl preferred to be known as a mentor or, even better, �boss.� Markl stood silently, staring at the older man.
�Fine,� Howl finally ceded, growing weary of his audience. �I�m going to ask her. Eventually. But she might say no, so don�t go getting your hopes up. And,� he added quickly, turning and fixing the boy with his bright blue stare, �if you say even one word to her, I�ll � I don�t know, but it won�t be pretty.�
�Howl!�
They both whipped around to see Sophie come in through the back door, the witch and Heen right behind her.

�Sophie!� Howl sputtered, turning half a dozen shades of red and pink in a split second.
�Did I just hear you threatening Markl?� she asked, fists on her hips as she gazed coolly at him.
�Um � no?�
She rolled her eyes and batted the back of his head as she walked past. �Be nice.�
He slumped back in his chair when she went into her room, willing his wildly beating heart to be still. Was that really all she had heard?
�You should go ask her now,� Markl said in a stage whisper.
�What? No!�
�What�s all this?� asked the witch.
�Nothing!� he growled, standing up from the table and grabbing his things. �Can�t I even work around here without being harassed?�
Sophie stepped out of her bedroom in time to see him turn the corner at the top of the stairs. �What just happened?�

Markl shrugged innocently, and the witch looked as oblivious as ever. Sophie decided she should just leave well enough alone. She was beginning to get used to Howl�s moods, and this one seemed relatively harmless. He would be fine in an hour or so, she figured.
-----#%&%#-----
Three hours passed, and Sophie began to worry. Howl hadn�t pulled a stunt like this since before his curse was broken, which was now nearly a month in the past. In reality, she had been amazed by his marked transition as soon as he got his heart back. Many of his childish behaviors had simply disappeared, and the charming ones that remained seemed to be a product of his own selection, rather than facets of his personality that he had no control over. To put it simply, he had suddenly become a man, and Sophie was more in love with him than ever.

Which was why this behavior worried her so. She crept upstairs, and from outside his room she heard him grumbling softly. �Howl?� she said, pushing the door open.
He whipped around, upsetting half the things on his desk with a loud crash. It never failed to amaze her how quickly he had managed to resurrect so much junk from the old castle�s ruins, but she still winced, thinking of the mess that would grow in there if he never let her clean it up.
Howl looked around, startled. �Wooh. Okay. It�s just you.�
�Of course it�s just me. Who else would it be?�
�That pest Markl, come to bother me again.� His eyebrow twitched angrily.
�Are you all right?� Sophie asked, stepping cautiously towards him.
�Yes, yes!� he insisted, backing up into his desk again and sending more things to their doom in his haste.
She walked softly around the bed to stand right in front of him, stopping when his bony knees poked her stomach. �What are you hiding?�
�Hiding? Me? Nothing! Why � why would you say such a thing?�
She narrowed her brown eyes at him. �You�ve got your hands behind your back.�
�Oh! That. Uh, yeah. I�m just, you know, relaxing.� He leaned back a little and crossed his legs. �Yup. Just relaxing on my desk.�
�You�re such a horrible liar.� She sat lightly on the edge of his bed, facing him. �What�s going on? I saw you come storming up here three hours ago; I figured you�d be done brooding by now.�
His face pinked slightly. �I�m not brooding. I�m doing work.�
�Then you won�t mind showing me what you�re working on.�
�It�s just a dumb spell,� he said lightly, trying to brush the topic away.
�Oh, really?� She got up and jumped to his side, trying to peer around him.
�Aaugh! No!� He slid off the desk, and yet more things fell to the floor. He freed his right arm and used it to try to fend her off.
�Come on, Howl!� she laughed. �Just let me see it!�
She lunged at him, and squealed when he intercepted her and they both fell onto the bed, his body pressing her into the soft linens.
For a long moment they just stared at each other, their faces only a breath apart, brown and blue eyes locked on one another. Almost without thinking, Howl lowered his head and gently touched his lips to hers.
The door burst open. �Intervention!� called Markl and the witch joyfully, and the lovers sprang apart.
�Damn, you guys!� Howl cursed, trying vainly to regain his composure, though he was plastered against the wall opposite Sophie. �What the hell was that? You almost gave me a heart attack!�
�Kids like you shouldn�t be alone together!� the witch explained gleefully, and Heen wheezed in agreement and wagged his tail happily.

Ende Kapitel Zwei

A/N: WOW!! Huge thanks to all my reviewers! I hope you keep reading and reviewing � a lot of you had really great stuff to say. Attic Cat: I very nearly did the same!! Lupa Wolfe: It feels � kinda strange. I don�t have anywhere to go for inspiration except the new 2^nd fic in the category by Crystal56 (go read it!). And you weren�t actually the first reviewer, it takes a while to post. Sorry! Andrea is cute: Yeah, it is vastly different from the book, or so I�ve read from various sources. But I like it anyways and Diana Wynne Jones approves. Crystal56: � gurl, what can I say? Even what I mean to be one-shots end up having more chapters. So to answer your question � that was chapter two. We could dunk Howl in a vat of soap (or Pantene) if we end up dyeing his hair� Wolfariusorca: Thanx for the vote! So far the score is black 6, blonde 3, and red 2 (including me). Fairyskye: yeah, that was my fave part too! Plus that he�s basically naked and is SUPER HOT!!! I love skinny guys. Viperthe strange: I�ve looked at a lot of animanga (for Inuyasha and Spirited Away, for instance), and I really don�t like it. The pacing is really odd and the page compositions kinda off, I think. But I might make an exception for Howl�s, just because Howl is SUPER HOT!!! A.B.: Ah, my fave review! As for the dialogue, I tried really hard to make it fit their new characters. I had the most trouble with Sophie, just because she�s not exactly like modern 18-year-olds (being one, I know this). And Howl might seem a little OOC, but that�s a deliberate choice on my part. HERE�S THE BIG EXPLANATION (courtesy of nausicaa (dot) net): Howl�s curse was to be stuck with the mentality of a child � that is, mentally/emotionally be the age that he was when that happened. When he got it back, he was able to grow up. I try to reflect that in the way his character behaves now, but I did leave in some of the stuff he did before because I loved it so much. If this isn�t what you meant, I encourage you to review again or email me, and I�ll try to work it out. As for the castle � I was too much in shock from the kiss to pay much attention to the architecture. I figured they re-built it kinda like it was before, and I�m going with that for this story, just because the castle itself has so much character and I like it. So basically the same as the last one, only it flies now, I guess. Whatever. Maybe I�ll do some concept sketches. It�s not vitally important to me.
To all reviewers: please write legibly � pweez? I get huge headaches if I have to strain my eyes tO rEaD sTuFf LiKe ThIs!!!
So yeah, I found out the bit about Howl�s curse from nausicaa (dot) net (sorry if you knew it already, I�m a little slow on stuff like that sometimes), and then I went to Disney�s site for the movie (which is very good) and read all about the characters and recorded their music that plays for it (very, very cool � it�s a 30-second track that loops). Go to the Disney web site and link through (something like) entertainment, movies, Howl�s Moving Castle. I just googled �Howl�s Moving Castle� and it was the fourth or fifth link. (Revision: It�s www (dot) disney (dot) com (slash) castle, and it takes a while to load.)
P.S. To record the music, I have a program called Audacity, which is freeware (and thus totally beats shareware and works like a dream). And it�s a good waveform-editing program, far better than our old unregistered version of CoolEdit 96, and if you mention it in the same sentence with WaveTrim, you�d better watch out. My brother (the beta) downloaded it from somewhere, and it can record anything playing in your computer. If you�re a huge geek like me, you should go get it. Because of it, I now have all sorts of TV-length Inuyasha songs (which I adore!!).
Now playing: �1985� by Bowling for Soup who played a LIVE acoustic set at Waukesha County�s �Taste of Summer� festival! It wasn�t meant to be acoustic, but it started to rain (I mean, really rain) so they had to move everything inside and � well, you know how strange stuff like that always works out. This one guy in the audience shouted �you suck� so they spent a while telling him they hope the next jelly doughnut he bites into has a string hanging out, or they hope his penis falls off or shrinks when he leaves. Anyways � WOOH! Can you beat $7 for that? I think not! And we saw the Raspberries, too.

Now playing: �Gauze - Mode of Adam� by Dir En Grey. They rock.
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