greathowl

[greathowl]

          he peers over sophie’s shoulder like the sun through her hair, starlight twinkling against his jaw. she traces a groove into the colored paper with careful determination, the magic she’s manifesting already misting from the sheet.

          teaching her brings a joy in him howl doesn’t expect. when michael had shown up at his doorstep, it felt almost like a weight saddled on his shoulders, another boulder he bared on top of the many from his past. the curse was taking more and more from him each day, and he feared that returning one night dressed with the 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 of his hunger might just shock the poor boy into madness. but michael was persistent, and howl was vain, and he found that he quite liked the idea of someone looking up to him. after his disappointing ms. pentsimmon for so many years, it felt refreshing for the roles to reverse.

          he has to admit, sophie makes it easy for him. it was no mistake that without realizing it, she had the potential to be a magnificent witch. after all, she’d trapped herself within a curse for far longer than she meant to just by sheer stubbornness. it was a rare branch of magic, to call someone to your bidding— one not even someone as talented as himself could master. did the thought make him a tad jealous? of course. howl, as the world knew him, was a very jealous man. but — and here’s the truth, undeniable and held to his breast as secret as it is — it also made him unbelievably and incredibly proud.

          his musing ( and perhaps the way the golden hour touches at the nape of her neck ) distracts him from her work. when his eyes lazily fall back to the table he gasps, wrenching her wrist from the sheet.

          ” no! you’ve got it all wrong, see? ” he runs a finger against one of the lines; when he brings it up, ash spurs from the paper. “ you want the spaces between the curve to be evenly matched, otherwise the rune won’t work— or, worse, it’ll backfire. michael had the misfortune of losing an eyebrow to a particularly nasty fire spell he’d mistraced once. my fault, really. i assumed he’d catch on as fast as i did. ” then again, his words seem to suggest, we can’t all be as talented as i am. surprising himself, he lets out a genuine, great laugh, grinning at her with his glassy gaze. “ i was a terrible teacher then, can you believe it? oh— here. ”

          he laces his long fingers through her own, steadying the brush to the paper. with a slow deliberateness ( putting off the moment where he’d have to let go ) he goes over her lines, thickening them to make perfect symmetry on the paper. it would make the spell less effective, but at the very least it would keep her from blasting a hole through the wall. when he pulls away he admires the rune, a chuckle rumbling at the back of his throat: tender, but not without a hint of smugness.

          “ hm. well, you may have a way with words, but your penmanship could still use a little work. ”

@spellspeaker.

[greathowl]

OH, WHERE’D YOU GO?   a mixed media and headcanon-heavy portrayal of howl pendragon from howl’s moving castle. an exploration of phantasmagoria, self-discovery, and most of all, love. independent, private and low-activity. written by rory ( 25, est, they/them ), affiliated with @spellspeaker.   #GREATHOWL.