your-queen-shuri

[your-queen-shuri]

Hello justiman nation, how are we feeling today

Cause i have a LOT for you

First of all. Justiman but it's WOMEN

Justin would be Jeanne (as a reference to Jeanne d'Arc, genius idea by @your-queen-shuri )

Ben would be... Ummm.... Bennie?? We're still thinking, offer your options

Oldwomen yuri....

[your-queen-shuri]

Justiman sketch dump part 2

I had some fun with it

Part 1

Justiman in color

[your-queen-shuri]

Justiman sketch dump part 2

I had some fun with it

Part 1

Justiman in color

[your-queen-shuri]

Justiman, as i see them!! Sketch and original version below the cut⬇️

@callonpeevesie 👋

Justiman sketch dump:

part 1

part 2

[your-queen-shuri]

The scene where WoTW and Howl were running across the yard might have been so confusing and creepy though the Megan's point of view.

Imagine sitting at home, minding your business, washing dishes or playing in the yard, and suddenly this weird-looking lady, dressed as she just escaped from some kind of really unique and rich troop, wearing a dark, gorgeous, medieval-like dress and high heels, that's almost impossible to buy at the store nowadays just... appears before your eyes.

She stands on the grass, leaning on the swing and you're already reaching for your home phone to call the police because how the hell did she find a way into your house?? Except you didn't have enough time to do it because right after that some kind of weird, physical force starts dragging you to this strange, creepy woman, and you want to tell her to go to hell with her stupid tricks, but you can't.

And you kids, waking right alongside you, cannot do anything, too. You can't all possibly be mad, can you?

An when it starts to get even weirder and unavoidable, your jobless, potential-losing piece of a brother, comes into a scene, jumping through the damn fence, dressed in the same weird-looking costume, as If he escaped the same wery troupe (seriously, If you weren't so worried about your kids and unnatural forces right now, you'd think what would happen If people saw this atrociously long sleeves and eye-burning colours), and just...runs at the mysterious woman right away, dragging away your daughter in some kind of sport-like movement. Your brother and the woman then start running across the yard in the most ridiculous way possible.

The force stops. Your brother and the woman go out of sight. You take your kids into the house and pretend this never, ever happened in your lifes.

[your-queen-shuri]

controversial statement: the Scarecrow is Ben Sullivan’s……objectsona? or can you still call it a witchsona, since most of his magic was stored in it

‘me or its skull; between us we are the best parts of him’ is a really creepy statement

ben sullivan: oh no, im being captured by the witch of the waste

ben sullivan: *brings a scarecrow to life*

me: damnit ben, you’ve given it anxiety is what you’ve done. look at it. it’s got depression. you’re lucky sophie came to give it a pep talk

[your-queen-shuri]

Also can we talk about the guitar, please? I know that in it's usually a part of a joke of Howl keeping this instrument around even though he can't even play it, but I think people keep forgetting that the said guitar is the only thing Ben took from Wales to Ingary.

Or at least the only thing we absolutely sure he took with him. And he, apparently, was attached to this guitar so much that he took it with him on his mission to the Wastes, giving the Witch a chance to sell it after capturing him. I don't think she would waste her time visiting his home just to take the guitar.

Ms. Angorian canonically stating that he could never parted his guitar. And, although ms. Angorian is never the most reliable source (I mean, I dobt she actually was Suliman's late fiancé), that's one of her statements that we're actually required to believe. Because he wouldn't, because he didn't.

Ben is not Howl. He's actually settled in Ingary, years ago, adapted to their norms and ways of life. Not a thingle modern thing in his house, described in CITA, not even a poster or a ballpoint pen — and yet he kept the guitar.

This small, old piece of wood and strings might have been the only thing connecting Ben to his culture, his people and his past life. The one that's also connected him to his own hobbies and favourite things to do in a spare time, as he's definitely a great guitar player, judging on Percival's immediatel ability to play on it and adjust it.

The musical's instruments in Ingary, made by actual masters of the craft, probably differ horrifically from the ones made on fabrics in 70s or early 80s. That was the reason Howl bought it in a frist place — he started he's sure that the guitar came from "there", meaning our world, because it most probably stood out, looking in a way only Howl could call "usual" or "ordinary".

That could also be the reason of Ben taking it with him — maybe he didn't know If there would be a single instrument he would be able to comfortably play here, except for his own.

And then that guitar just. Exploded. With the whole meanings it could have carried and the whole importance it held for its original owner. Because of ms. Angorian.

And I actually feel sad for Ben wheh it comes to it.

[your-queen-shuri]

Modern AU Prince Justin would be the kind of a guy who works for this really rich famous family company but never usually tells people that. Not because he wants it to be secret or goes undercover, but just because he sees this information irrelevant and uninteresting so you wouldn't know he's the reachest guy in the country till he starts complaining about his brother getting him to sign this stupid expensive contracts.

He wears the same green T-Shirt for like forever. He went to a martial arts and fencing club when he was a child, thinks that's the coolest thing ever and can easily knock a person down, except he doesn't really gives a chance to show it. He has some kind of weird training at a street at five AM waking up everyone in the house and loves talking about his time in the army even though not many people actually believes he really ever was there.

His favourite hobby is feeding random street cast everywhere he goes. He gives every thingle one a the wiredest name possible (there were at least two Whippersnappers) and buys treats for them specifically. He saves various pictures of these same cats on his phone. He's almost in his thirties and doesn't feel any shame for anything described above. Especially the cat pictures.

He's also really educated and knows a thousands of linguistics rules, geography, politics, etiquette norms and conduct of speech or negotiations. His informal speech is still consists of street slang and insert words for more than a half.

He is always confused in directions and absolutely does not remember locations. He himself does not know how it happens. You can schedule a meeting on a specific spot under the neon sign and he still will call you an hour later telling you he's somewhere in the middle of Sahara desert. He says he knows the "shortcut" and then you end up wandering through jungles for another three hours.

He looks like the most pleasant person you've ever met but secretly he kinda despises half of the universe and prefers animals to humans as a company, with Ben being one of a few exceptions. He absolutely loves his niece and tells her the randomest life stories everytime they chat.

He ran away from home at least five times. He is still almost in his thirties. He quarrels with his brother a lot and then they both have to act like this had never happened. He knows the randomest forest survival lifehacks, never needs a single one ever. He's not really a spender but sometimes he throws a lot of money into things he thinks are really important for his life only for them not no work at all and ending up laying on a shelf.

He also surprisingly doesn't care about more of the things until they personally bother him. Like, at all.

Yes, he's still almost, If not is, in his thirties.

[your-queen-shuri]

After months of running away, objecting and arguing with his brother, Prince Justin finally marriess Beatrice of Strangia. And it's... not bad, definitely: the weeding was big, rich and loud, made for four people, marrying at the same day. Beatrice herself is a great, a strong-willed person who knows how to dab socks and manage the country.

He can't tell anything here is objectively wrong: on the contrary, every single detail, from the number of candlesticks arranged in an even circle on the chandeliers, to the color scheme of the napkins and the distribution of seats at the huge tables, semeed horrendously perfect. People approach him, glowing with the wide smiles on their faces, sharing their remorse that the Royal Wizard — as If they thought it would be great to remind him about this miserable fact, or somehow guessed he wasn't keeping it in mind himself — can't come to see his dear friend on such a important day of his life.

For fully unknown reason, Justin almost finds the fact that he isn't there a good coincidence, at least a little bit, walking around a huge decorated hall, so full of music and voices he can't quite hear his own steps. Royals and commoners of all wise and statutes are eager to shake his hand, tipping a glass or two of wine with him.

But aside of that, things go pretty smooth. His own brother is smiling at him, almost as If they never argued about anything in their lifes, proud and clear. Prince Justin finally found a place of patience, stopped running around his problems, throw yourself into the flames of a chaos, burn himself with their tongues, without considering the consequences. He became what they all called, "a model prince", in the end of the day.

And, watching at all they do, and hearing all they say, Price Justin thought that they may be right. That the feeling of tingling uneasiness will ease with time, earning itself, that he'll find the way of ruling, the way of earning trust and respect hundreds of times larger than the one he has. There's nothing that tragic in leaving your own country forever, when you're an adult general with important issues on your mind? Justin thought he could handle it.

It lasted for about a week. Even less, if Justin had to be honest, counting days, unsure whether the whole week has passed yet. Less than a week of time, stretching and testing him, ticking with the hands of the clock. Less than a week of missing his small garden outside of the castle, where cats would climb on trees and water would rush through small, calming stream. Less than a week of missing Valeria's scribbles, silly painting on wich Justin was almost always shown somewhere at the top of the paper and childish, mischievous laughter.

Less than a week of one particular name jumping on the tip of his tongue, showing up in his own thoughts, appearing before his eyes everytime mighty mountains cleared the path into the Ingarian fields, somewhere in the distance.

There's nothing wrong in the feeling of loosing something so dear to you tearing you up, he reasoned. Most accordingly, his own reasoning had much more swearing, army slang and vague wording within it, but it sounded close to that.

And there's definitely, absolutely nothing wrong in being so eager to see your friend, whom you are not sure you will ever meet again. No matter how often your last meeting — brief, sore and painfully quick, accompanied with with the impatient clatter of horse hooves and the order to move forward — flashes in his own memory, keeping him awake at night.

There were simply so many things to tell, and so little time in which saying them had at least some sense.

And the irony is, Justin didn't even know, what exactly those words were supposed to be.

He looked up at the celling of his hew home, trimmed with gold, while Princess Beatrice was moving a little uneasily by his side, having long since fallen asleep.

The other disadvantage of marriage turned out to be sharing a room with another person. Justin didn't want to wake her up, nor bother her the nonexistent problems, seeping through his fingers like sand.

Still, he was at the right place. He had to be at the right place. He was a Prince with a powerful Princess by his side, wounded in worthy amount of battles, getting his long-earned rest. That's what every fairy tale says: happily ever after comes after Prince finds his courage to find a Princess, and they face not a single problem after that, filled with joy. There's a reason they never show married life in this books, If you squint.

Except, it didn't feel right. Nothing, written in ink, engraved on the paper, felt right. The walls gave off a ghostly coldness, the curtains swayed in the wind in rather strange way, the halls drowned those present with its grandeur, completely different from the one he knew. Even the selling — higher power knew how much he wanted to close his eyes just not to look at it — looked even more distant than the one they had in the library, mirroring his reflection.

Here it goes again.

He liked Ben. He liked him a bit too much for his own well-being, or at least that's what his brother had been telling him. And his brother was a big fan of reminding Justin of all the wrongs in his life.

According to him, there were a lot. According to him, more than a half of them led to the Royal Wizard.

Not like he cared. Of course, screw the rules, let your own worries consume you, let your legs take you whenever they want to go, let the darkness eat you alive, let it decide what are you made up from.

His brother could scream at him all he wanted. That's wouldn't have changed anything. Justin knew there were things and people worth fighting for.

It didn't matter, now that he was away. That's not something a model prince should be thinking about, but it was certainly something Justin couldn't help but think about despite this new status.

Everything returned to Ben, in the end. As If it was a cycle.

To than strangely big amount of moments they didn't get to share, to occasional smiles and words in a language he could never quite make out. To the days when his friend couldn't even understand what he himself was saying, looking fascinated by every thing that met his eye, asking unusually basic questions. To quiet melodies, created by the strumming of the guitar strings, which he always deeply, unreasonably cherished. To that too peaceful ideas — he told him the only thing that could stop the Witch of the Waste was well-armed army, and certainly not a planting of fields, but Ben always clang to more idealistic ideas than Justin did.

Every thingle moment, unwillingly running across the celling — as If Justin's own image wasn't really his — collected a cluster of such a strange, pulling sensation somewhere under the side, that he wanted to punch something. Or hit it with a sword.

Shit.

His vast, colourful vocabulary had no substitute for this particular word.

If he's gonna stay here for a second longer, no damn princess will save him from what he's about to do.

Justin doesn't really remember how exactly he got out of bed, leaving a disheveled blanket on the mattress, the floorboards creaked somewhat under his weight.

Gathering his things into a small cloth knot, moving as quietly as possible so as not to wake Beatrice or anyone else important enough in the castle, Justin quickly glanced at the clock on the wall.

There was a brief conclusion, made on a rush of his mind, the same way every of his questionable, unbearably harsh ideas, that never led to anything remotely sane or logical: he held the status of a model Prince for about a dozens decades less than he was supposed to do so.

Yes, definitely less than a week.

Justin didn't give himself benefit of the doubt. Whatever the hell will be going on there after he does what he does is not his problem.

He was never supposed to be a King of this country. He's more of a solider. A general. A dog, a servant, an inpatient mysterious costumer gone to buy spells. That felt right.

The curtains had stopped waving, freezing in a slippery, eerie moment. Justin could swear the sound of water droplets hitting the metal supports of the balcony began to reach his ears. A thread of chill stretched through the crack in the window, making its way into the room, right under the sleepwear.

The dim glow of the candles cast shadows across the corridors, echoed by the heavy boots of guards and servants.

He couldn't get straight through the main exit. As if his situation wasn't a total crap without this fact.

The cold was getting on Justin's nerves as he opened the window wider, hastily pulling on a green coat and rough shoes. Tons of fighting about saving his "unacceptable" clothes definitely paid themselves off.

Justin looked down, gripping the handle of a huge, door-like window tighter with his fingers. Only a couple of meters, no more that two floor — no thing that a proper army man couldn't handle.

He jumped onto the balcony, grabbing the handrail with one swift movement. He took one last, quick glance around the room before turning his back to it.

Beatrice continued to dream, almost motionless now, like had never known any strong worry. Raindrops, from that moment large and unpleasant, flew into the room, blowing out the lights of the candlesticks with the howl of the wind, that was treacherous enough to start picking up again now.

The flame went out. Justin closed the window.

He jumped over the partition, holding on to the small connecting bars.

It was very stupid. Very unclear. But there was no difficulty in crossing the mountains of Strangia, even on foot. Justin did much harder things. No matter how majestic the borders were, they could hardly compare to the fearless dryness of the Waste.

He knew where he was going. Of all the houses that had ever been in his native country, he knew exactly which door to knock on. And Ben might laugh at him for it — he would have every bloody right to burst into pure mockery — and at the same time he would not mind in any way. He liked Ben, no matter what it meant.

Justin jumped off the balcony, landing nimbly on the ground.

He was going home.

[your-queen-shuri]

Okay as we started talking about Ben and Lettie's random pair up, I want to talk about how how hilariously out of place their main "love" moment were in the final of the book.

Without any hatred to the final itself, it's one of the best happy endings I've ever read, it's just this particular scene looks like it was written in the last second.

Wizard Suliman was at least a strong-minded as Lettie was. Lettie looked quite nervous as Suliman loomed craggily over her. "It seemed to be the Prince's memory I had of you and not my own at all," he said.

"That's quite all right," Lettie said bravely. "It was a mistake."

"But it wasn't!" protested Wizard Suliman. "Would you let me take you on as a pupil at least?" Lettie went fiery red at this and did not seem to know what to say.

First of all, Ben, dear, WHY are you starting conversation with "the Prince" and the fact that it was his memory? I mean, it is important, yes, but it also wasn't really worth mentioning as you both see each other for the first time, and she had a brief conversation with the Prince? Lettie is smart, she can connect two dots together.

(seriously, If you want to talk about Prince Justin talk about Prince Justin, there's no need to do randomly conversation with his mention.)

Second of all, again, what happened to "hello"? Or "sorry"? Or some kind of introducing of yourself? She knew Percival, yeah, but this is first time you see eachother, as, well, each other.

Ben, I love you dearly, but you clearly cannot start a conversation. That's the price you're paying for being a nerdy introvert in your thirties.

(Yes, starting the talk with your countryman by apologising for biting him is not the best possible option, either.)

Third of all, I think we all can agree the "at least a pupil" line didn't exits. It was delivered so rapidly and quicky, no one present could actually process whatever is going on here.

Let's all just sing my bestie Ben Sullivan for speaking club lessons, I think he's gonna be glad.

[your-queen-shuri]

I'm bad at writing posts

[your-queen-shuri]

And last

When it comes to HMC trilogy, I take almost no criticism, as it just a wonderful written-story with alive and relatable characters. However, If I had to name a part I'd found reasonable to criticise and may critises myself, I'd say it's Lettie Hatter's arc.

Not because it was entirely bad, but because it could be so much better If it wasn't written in the 80s and had a different mindset attached to it. And because the way it starts and the way it progress has little to no connection to how it ends.

Because the whole thing of the Hatter sisters, all of them, was breaking social norms and expectations.

Sophie firmly believed that she would stay in the Hatter Shop for the rest of her life with the most boring existence possible — and yet she married the most chaotic, whiny and slither-outing wizard in all of Ingary, with whom everyday is a full-blown fantasy adventure.

Martha, as the youngest, was expected to have the above mentioned fantasy adventures, be a mighty witch, even a hero, maybe — but she decided to chose a happy, steady basic life with a husband and ten kids, and she didn't want to listen to anyone who said otherwise.

Lettie's arc, just as the whole stories of her sisters, were tied on what people wanted from her. She was the most beautiful out of all girls, If we believe Sophie's words, and people almost wished she would marry and find a life spouse, as she had one million proposals a day even before switching with Martha. But that wasn't what she wanted — I'm sure she would reject all of them as often as her sister did, because she wasn't a big fan of it, just as working in the bakery. Lettie wanted to be a witch, and she practically became one, switching with Martha, working with ms. Fairfax.

But while Sophie's arc of expecting to be plane and ordinary ended on being gifted and adventurous, Martha's arc of avoiding busy life ended on finding a person she loves and planning to build a big family, Lettie's arc of searching for greatest achievement and avoiding marriages ended on...a marriage.

A marriage that, as stated by herself — "Ben doesn't like people to know I'm a witch" — kinda disregards her initial want to show that she has intelligence outside of her beauty, the one that he can show and that she can use.

(This line has absolutely no context whatsoever and we can only guess why Ben wants so, because it's actually so out of his character, even all the bits that were described before. But nope, no context, no explanations. It may be because she was pregnant at the time, but, again nothing like this was ever said and it's a pretty lame excuse anyway. Magical mirrors in their house also do not obey Lettie, at all)

And, as much as I absolutely love Ben and as much as I absolutely love Lettie, I don't think pairing them was a good choice. Mostly because Lettie was seventeen (one year younger than Sophie) in the end of HMC when their "pairing" started, and Ben is described to be noticeably older that Howl in CITA, which brings us to the conclusion he's at least in his thirties. And that's...a bit uncomfortable of an age gap, especially If we take into the account they canonically had a kid about a year later. And also Ben was supposed to be her mentor.

...And If he stayed her mentor and nothing more, it would be actually great. Because I believe Lettie deserves the same development her sister had, to get was she initially wanted and what she was fighting for. To be an apprentice of the Royal Wizard, to be a powerful a well-known witch, to show the world who told her that she has to marry to succeed in life that she in fact, doesn't, to show all this guys that tried to propose to her that she didn't need them, at all. But definitely not a wife, or a mother.

Not because being a mother or/and a wife is a bad character development. It worked perfectly with Sophie, because it represents her chaotic happily ever after better than anything else, it worked with Martha because she wanted to had ten kids and marry. It's just not for Lettie's character in particular precisely because everything in her concept of "beatiful middle sister" showed that was she's supposed to be.

Because Mrs. Pentstemmon said Lettie awaits a great, good fate, that she'll be as powerful as the Witch of the Waste — and I want to see it. Because I didn't.

[your-queen-shuri]

It's big so

When it comes to HMC trilogy, I take almost no criticism, as it just a wonderful written-story with alive and relatable characters. However, If I had to name a part I'd found reasonable to criticise and may critises myself, I'd say it's Lettie Hatter's arc.

Not because it was entirely bad, but because it could be so much better If it wasn't written in the 80s and had a different mindset attached to it. And because the way it starts and the way it progress has little to no connection to how it ends.

Because the whole thing of the Hatter sisters, all of them, was breaking social norms and expectations.

Sophie firmly believed that she would stay in the Hatter Shop for the rest of her life with the most boring existence possible — and yet she married the most chaotic, whiny and slither-outing wizard in all of Ingary, with whom everyday is a full-blown fantasy adventure.

Martha, as the youngest, was expected to have the above mentioned fantasy adventures, be a mighty witch, even a hero, maybe — but she decided to chose a happy, steady basic life with a husband and ten kids, and she didn't want to listen to anyone who said otherwise.

Lettie's arc, just as the whole stories of her sisters, were tied on what people wanted from her. She was the most beautiful out of all girls, If we believe Sophie's words, and people almost wished she would marry and find a life spouse, as she had one million proposals a day even before switching with Martha. But that wasn't what she wanted — I'm sure she would reject all of them as often as her sister did, because she wasn't a big fan of it, just as working in the bakery. Lettie wanted to be a witch, and she practically became one, switching with Martha, working with ms. Fairfax.

But while Sophie's arc of expecting to be plane and ordinary ended on being gifted and adventurous, Martha's arc of avoiding busy life ended on finding a person she loves and planning to build a big family, Lettie's arc of searching for greatest achievement and avoiding marriages ended on...a marriage.

A marriage that, as stated by herself — "Ben doesn't like people to know I'm a witch" — kinda disregards her initial want to show that she has intelligence outside of her beauty, the one that he can show and that she can use.

(This line has absolutely no context whatsoever and we can only guess why Ben wants so, because it's actually so out of his character, even all the bits that were described before. But nope, no context, no explanations. It may be because she was pregnant at the time, but, again nothing like this was ever said and it's a pretty lame excuse anyway. Magical mirrors in their house also do not obey Lettie, at all)

And, as much as I absolutely love Ben and as much as I absolutely love Lettie, I don't think pairing them was a good choice. Mostly because Lettie was seventeen (one year younger than Sophie) in the end of HMC when their "pairing" started, and Ben is described to be noticeably older that Howl in CITA, which brings us to the conclusion he's at least in his thirties. And that's...a bit uncomfortable of an age gap, especially If we take into the account they canonically had a kid about a year later. And also Ben was supposed to be her mentor.

...And If he stayed her mentor and nothing more, it would be actually great. Because I believe Lettie deserves the same development her sister had, to get was she initially wanted and what she was fighting for. To be an apprentice of the Royal Wizard, to be a powerful a well-known witch, to show the world who told her that she has to marry to succeed in life that she in fact, doesn't, to show all this guys that tried to propose to her that she didn't need them, at all. But definitely not a wife, or a mother.

Not because being a mother or/and a wife is a bad character development. It worked perfectly with Sophie, because it represents her chaotic happily ever after better than anything else, it worked with Martha because she wanted to had ten kids and marry. It's just not for Lettie's character in particular precisely because everything in her concept of "beatiful middle sister" showed that was she's supposed to be.

Because Mrs. Pentstemmon said Lettie awaits a great, good fate, that she'll be as powerful as the Witch of the Waste — and I want to see it. Because I didn't.

[your-queen-shuri]

HMC modern AU but it focuses on Lettie who is interested in magic and tarot cards, and "Sophie, my dear, you and Howell Jenkins are ABSOLUTELY mismatched, you don't even have zodiac signs, let alone your card spread-"

[your-queen-shuri]

If it's matter Justin described as man with gentle face features so we stay on idea that he like 25-30 years old, and younger than king in like 5-10 years maybe

And Suliman canonically older than howl(who's again 27) so hes in his 30 and more

I don't think Ben like terribly older so

A music band HMC AU, but no one actually plays in this band.

See, Howell was put there because of his connection to Suliman, the band's main singer and guitarist (Justin is the second singer and sometimes adds some sparkle, and there are rumors that they are together, but no one can be sure because it's the 80s), with the addition of Megan's screams about how Howell can't find a decent job. Well, he did. And there he's...no, not playing. He's not even a full-fledged member, a he was born an unmusical Welshman and he's terribly upset about it, but still carries that guitar with him, just for it to be. And he tells all the others, especially the girls he's courting, how cool he is and how strong his connection to this cool Suliman's band is, but in reality he's usually just there. He hangs around backstage, gets ready for hours in front of the mirror only to sit at a table eating sandwiches and complaining about his incredible life because yet another woman, whose name he will forget tomorrow, doesn't like him. Oh, and of course, he does some orders, paperwork, sometimes helps with lyrics or costumes, calling himself an expert in everything (but he especially loves costumes, yes).

In general, he lives his best and worst life, sharing Welsh jokes with Suliman™.

Michael got there as a 15-year-old orphan who desperately needed some money. Howl was undoubtedly the author of the idea to invite this unknown sad boy, who had been sitting on the bench for an hour after the concert had ended. He decided to try his hand at mentoring, to elegantly take the boy "under his wing," but it didn't work out well, to put it mildly. Because, although Michael's job is to actually carry things back and forth and be Howl's second assistant, in fact, it is he who is trying to be the voice of reason for this piece of Welshman, because "you can't spend money on another guitar you can't play because Ben bought a new one for himself. No, I don't recommend buying a skull either."

(He complains about this to their local fiery red cat with yellow and blue eyes named Calcifer, who purrs as if he agrees, and then stares at Howl with his eyes burning eyes)

Sophie was miraculously put there by Fanny, because in all universes, Sophie Hatter is destined to be exploited for labor for a pittance because of Fanny. She was personally assigned to the task of sewing costumes, hats, and general decor, and in fact, she was the only one of this team who seemed to have a clear job in this under-troupe. However, over time, she accidentally moves away from hats and becomes (of her own free will) the cleaning lady behind Howl's mess, oops...

At first, she behaves quite quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to herself: she is the eldest of the three, and it is her fate to be stuck somewhere here, behind the scenes and out of the spotlight of the good life and fame, without even thinking about regrets. But over time, seeing how much the crowd really doesn't care about her, and perhaps after breaking a few bones and walking around with a cane, she finally decides to screw it all and goes on all kinds of adventures.

And - oh, yes - she and Howl can't stand each other. So much so that from the moment Sophie arrives, they can't stop arguing about the fit, or the colors, or the look of the performance, or the fact that the little hint of a bathroom they're given was designed for the band members, not for Mr. Howell Jenkins, who has already spent hours in his home shower. And, of course, Sophie continues to involuntarily look at Howell's writing and threaten to remove the spiders he has safely hidden somewhere in the corners, for which she will be called "Ms. Nose" by him (she responds by calling him a slither-outer because, God, man, when are you ever going to face anything but your own reflection?)

Of course, one day she finally finds the moment to go into the bathroom for a second to get something she needs and accidentally mixes the cans of dye Howell left there (it feels as he just leaves his stuff in the bathroom like that on purpose to make Sophie complain, about how his trash shouldn't be there) and OH SURE, the day after that she has to stay up all night cleaning up the scene after Howell throws a horrible tantrum, smashing everything in his path, with good-natured Michael helping her. (And, OF COURSE, this idiot will then say that the color is actually not bad and go on about his business)

And - finally - they can't stand each other so much that they can't spend a second

not to get into a fight with each other (and just be without each other, it seems), so much so that it took Sophie a long time to lose her confidence that all her feelings for him were solely because of the professionally tailored suits she makes, which he always steals from Suliman and Justin, and that stupid damn smile. So much so that they end up kissing somewhere in a secluded corner right before the eyes of the unfortunate spiders.

Obviously, they can't stand each other enough to repeat it more than once.

[your-queen-shuri]

A little post about the parallels between Sophie and Howl and Justin and Suliman because I cannot be the only one seeing this

Fist of all — and I've already mentioned this in one of my older posts but it's worth mentioning again — Witch of the Waste is apparently rather repetitive in her plans, because she took Ben as "a bait to fetch Justin" the same way she has to get Sophie in order to catch Howl.

And the fact they were both very adamant about it: the loser Howell went to search for Sophie looking like a SCARECROW and Justin was arguing with his brother for month without changing the topic before he just RUN AWAY TO FIND BEN ANYWAY.

They say lovers are crazy, after all.

Second of all, whatever is happening here. I mean, I get it, Sophie is too happy too look away from her horrible husband but THESE TO GUYS DOING BASICALLY THE SAME THING THEY'RE DOING TEN STEPS AWAY FROM THEM? (Except they weren't holding hands, but well, there was no chance of happening anyway).

And the fact that there's no dialogue — all of these guys are basically just looking at one another in silence for some amount of time.

(I do not now how to comment this third quote. Besties seemed to be really happy to see eachother as this shaking hands-hugging stuff happened immediately after the horror that was Percival)

Third of all — and there's probably more but I'll stop on these one cause it needs context and one of my favs — this small moments in CITA hinting on both soldier's and the genie's real identities through Ben and Sophie accordingly.

This becomes even funnier when you remember that Howl and Justin were affected by the same kind of spell (although Justin's were lighter) and these two were a bit desperate to notice something familiar, anyway.

(Also I find it especially funny how Ben still stands on his take of knowing the solider even when Abdullah told him pretty clearly that's a random guy from Strangia. "Then he reminds me of someone who I know" HE LOOKS LIKE HE HAS BEEN THROUGH TEN WARS, HAS A DIFFERENT HAIRCUT, UNIFORM, HASN'T SHOWERED PROPERLY IN SOME TIME AND YOU LOOK AT HIM THROUGH DUSTY MIRROR?? These gives me Sophie's "what genie" vibes)

[your-queen-shuri]

HMC modern AU but it focuses on Lettie who is interested in magic and tarot cards, and "Sophie, my dear, you and Howell Jenkins are ABSOLUTELY mismatched, you don't even have zodiac signs, let alone your card spread-"