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Howl hadn't been able to sleep in days; and he looked it. The normally well dressed, well groomed wizard had a mop of blond bed mussed hair; but who could blame him, at five am? He was actually in a certain girl's bedroom--but the certain girl was sleeping, and it wasn't like he actually liked her or anything--besides that, he was the size of the average six year old, so they couldn't do anything fun--even if he had known what fun there was to be had in a girl's bedroom when the door was closed.

And though it was quite possibly dangerous to enter a pregnant mage's room without permission, Howl thought it was better than the alternative. His dreams were far more frightening than Kali's wrath, even if she did tend to attempt his murder each time he successfully upset her. She was worse than even Sophie!

"Kali? Are you awake?"

Howl was silent for a moment, before moving to hug the his now awake friend. "Kali, you tried to takie my eyes out," he complained, before hugging her again. "I can't sleep," he added in explaination. "And I'm avoiding Lance's wrath. If he finds out I broke into your room, he'd take my head and mount it on the wall, or something. Well, he'd be scary, even if he didn't do that. So don't tell him, okay? You're the only one I can see who makes the nightmares stop. I couldn't sneak into Sophie's room at night, her father'd eat me for breakfast."

"So I figured if Lance caught me here this size, he won't be able to tell it's me. Besides, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't let him kill me or anything...right? And you did say if I had another nightmare, I could come, so..."

"Tell me a story?"

"A fairytale," Howl said promptly. "A happy ending, with nothing frightening, okay? They have to live happily ever after." The wizard, even as a teenager, was quite fond of fairytales; especially those that ended with a happily ever after. It might have been because he came from one himself; or it might have been that even without his heart, he was a romantic. He sat on Kali's bed, and scooted closer to her before laying down.

"It doesn't have to be a long story," he added. "I could just stare at you, you know." He yawned. "Can we sleep past noon, you think? Without anyone who'll probably kill me noticing? You wouldn't happen to have a spell for dreamless sleep, would you?"

"You do? None of those creepy ones where dead bodies come back to life or crows eat people, right?" He gave a shiver, grateful for Kali's warmth. His eyes widened, and he pulled away slightly. "Really?" he asked. "You've got a potion for it? Brewed and everything?" He wasn't quite used to taking potions--but he had used to use potions on his hair. "Do you think it works? Have you tried it? It won't make me sleep forever, will it? You're not going to poison me, are you?"

He paused, and hugged her. If he couldn't trust Kali, who could he trust? Even if she had tried to kill him four, no three times, seeing as one of them had been when she hadn't known it was him, she was a good person. "I'll take it. You'll tell me the story until it works, then?"

Howl studied Kali doubtfully, before taking a sip of the potion. She was right; it was sweet, surprisingly. He had expected something bitter, like the awful juice Sophie seemed to like so much. He handed her back the bottle, hoping she would start the story quickly. He didn't know quite when it would take effect; a few minutes was rather vague--but as long as it gave him a dreamless sleep...

"Kali, start the story already," he weedled. "I want to hear it before I fall asleep." He wanted to hear the happily ever after, before he fell asleep.

A few minutes? It was more like a few seconds. Howl yawned, and attempted to hide it; and failed in doing so. "Keep going," he insisted, silently willing for her to hurry with the telling so they could get to the best part of the story. He wouldn't hold out much longer. Kali's potion was clearly made for someone older--well, larger in size than this form. Another yawn, but he didn't bother to hide it.

"Well?" he demanded. "What happens next?" He couldn't remember this fairy tale; he didn't think he had heard it before. "And hurry up, Kali. I want to know how the story ends."

"Not saying the right thing," Howl mumbled sleepily. "Magical objects are picky... It would've listened to Sophie. Everything does. He propped his head up onto his arm, hoping that would wake him up enough to hear the end of the story. Well, he supposed if he fell asleep before Kali was finished, she'd have to tell him the ending in the morning. He yawned, and tried to force his eyelids open.

"Finish it in the morning," he muttered, arm drooping to lay on his pillow, head following after. "You have to tell me the ending, though. If you don't, I'll curse you so you have bad luck for the rest of your life--" of course, Howl's curse for "bad luck" only consisted of broken mirrors and black cats. The teenage boy, turned six year old, was neither smug, nor particularly heartless when it came to being in Kali's arms.

But that might have been because he was sleeping.

Howl, fortunately, did not decide it was morning until late afternoon, so he was safe. In fact, it could have been considered early evening when he awoke. Smaller bodies required more sleep, and after not being able to for several days--well, he was taking full advantage of Kali's warm, soft bed. He slowly opened blue eyes, yawning. He sat up and stretched before glancing around the room for Kali. She owed him the rest of the story!

She'd promised! Alright, so he had decided that she had promised. He wouldn't rest until the story was finished--well, he had, but he wouldn't now.