Howl's Moving Castle: Tales Of Love

Frustration

Sophie grabbed her brush off her desk and walked over to her bedroom mirror and began to get ready for the day. she ran her wooden brush through her silvery hair, wincing as it tugged at her scalp and practically tore through the tangles. It was normally so easy to brush her hair, but on humid days like this, when her hair got all frizzy an erratic, the messiness increased tenfold. After a few minutes, all the knots had been separated, and she was finally ready to go make breakfast. She patted any extra hair down and shortly after headed downstairs.

"Sophie! Wait! Don't come downstairs yet!" It was too late. Sophie had arrived on the bottom of the landing to find the entrails of what once could've been a delicious cake, spattered all over the floor, and Markl desperately trying to clean it up. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before asking the boy what in the world was going on.

"I was trying to make a cake to surprise you, but then the castle moved oddly, and I fell and dropped the cake!" Markl explained, wiping some batter off of his nose. Sophie sighed, then smiled, and offered, "How about I clean up the rest, and make a replacement cake?" Being the youngling he was, Markl didn't feel too much guilt, and nodded, accepting her offer with a grin.

Twenty minutes into mixing the stupid cake, she found they had no butter or eggs! What a waste of ingredients she had bought with her own money! She growled and almost broke the wooden spoon in half if it had not been for the castle lurching and her nearly falling backwards. Sometimes she really loved this place, and sometimes she really hated it.

After a few moments of frowning and thinking, Sophie was entirely unsure what to do with the ingredients. Maybe she could feed it to Calcifer? Sophie sighed and grabbed the uncooked batter, hoping the fire demon wouldn't be too offended by the ingredients. She walked over to his hearth and ordered a 'open up' before pouring the ingredients inside his mouth. Calcifer after a moment decided that it wasn't horrible nor was it good, and muttered a 'thanks'.

Within a couple hours, Sophie had managed to successfully cook breakfast and to finish her book, now not too annoyed with how the day was turning out. She grabbed the wool blanket from behind the chair, and wrapped it around herself, as it was starting to get rather cold. Her eyes closed as she began to fall asleep, since for some reason, she had become incredibly exhausted.

She woke up with a startle as she felt a pair of warm hands on her shoulder. "Good evening Sophie. Would you like to continue sleeping down here or upstairs?" Oh, it was just Howl. "Down here if you don't mind, I still have to do the dishes..." Sophie mumbled, barely aware of what she was saying and what she was thinking, as for some reason, she felt extremely tired. "I can do them for you if you like." Howl offered. Howl doing dishes?

Sophie wasn't aware that she audibly snorted and muttered a 'yeah right'. Howl frowned and said, "What, you think I can't do the dishes?" Why he wanted to start an argument now, Sophie will never know. "Well you've never done them before, so why would you start now?" Sophie snapped back, coming off of her drowsiness.

"Maybe that's because I don't have the time to! I have things to attend to, you know that? All you do all day is clean so of course you'd have time for that! It's all you're good for!" Sophie really did not need Howl acting like a child, and she especially did not need the tears that were brimming her eyes. "All I'm good for hmm? So you're saying I'm just a cleaning lady to you too?" Howl lost some of his bravado, but stupidly continued talking. "Exactly."

"Well if that's how you really feel you can hire a different cleaning lady!" She paused and walked towards the back door before turning around and practically hissing, " Oh do please break it to Markl that he won't be seeing his favorite cleaning lady ever again." Howl at that moment realized he should probably stop being an idiot.

"Wait Sophie, I'm sorry! I'm just in a pretty bad mood okay?" Sophie dropped her hand from the doorknob, and turned around to face him. "Well I'm not exactly in a good mood either! But you don't see me starting an argument!"

Howl chuckled and walked over to Sophie, who was still stubbornly standing by the door, even though her anger was quickly dissipating. Howl pulled her into his chest before she could react, and she stuttered out a 'Let me go!' She sighed against him when she realized he wouldn't. He said, "Why don't you go back to sleep in your own room this time? It's probably more comfortable than the chair."

Sophie bit back a yawn at the mention of sleep, and agreed. A bed sounded a lot more comfortable than a chair, and plus, the longer she slept, the quicker this day will pass and she won't have to deal with anymore troublesome things till tomorrow.