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 Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 6:11 pm
Laveda Kovak was lost.
Sort of.
It wasn't that she didn't know where she was, or where she was going, but more that she didn't know how to get from where she was to where she was going.
She was currently standing in a phone booth, staring down at the map in the back of a phone book, wondering how she was supposed to get all the way from Barton to Durem. She had been told to walk East from Aekea, a half-assed direction given to her in a growl by Erik, but that had brought her here.
And here was not where she wanted to be.
She could see the thick plumes of black smoke in the sky, seeming angry and foreboding and everything Erik had told her to avoid. He didn't seem to like her, but he was still protective, and had warned her about 'the heart eater'. He hadn't elaborated on what that was, except for a low growl of 'dirty stinking pretty wizard'.
Whatever that meant.
She shook her head and went back to looking down at the map. If she took the main road, she should get through Barton rather quickly, but... She sighed, and looked around. It was getting dark. Perhaps she should ask someone for directions...?
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 6:39 pm
Howl looked very little like a heart eater, or even a 'dirty stinking pretty wizard' as Erik had described him. He was wearing jeans and a long sleeved black t-shirt with some band name--it was scribbled in a way that was intentionally unreadable. One could assume not even the wearer knew what it actually said. He was pacing in the dark, not far from his castle that seemedto be doing quite the same thing.
He wasn't watching where he was going. He was watching his sneakered feet pace the ground as if he had never seen them properly until now. And so, as unfortunate things tended to happen, he very nearly bumped into a beautiful girl. Red gold hair, blue eyes, she was beautiful. Once upon a time Howl would have aimed to capture her heart and claim her for his own. She was just the type of girl he looked for.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned. She seemed frightened, but of what he didn't know. She reminded him of someone... A little mouse. "You seem lost. I'm Howell," he added with a reassuring smile. "Just tell me where you want to go, and I'll take you there. I'm not a wizard for nothing, you see."
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:07 pm
Laveda had decided to turn and try the main road, but as she did, she spotted a boy that, to her, had suddenly appeared behind her. She jerked back, blue eyes wide, staring at him in shock.
"Oh." she said, her hand over her heart. "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry. I didn't see you there." Her hair fell in her face, and she twisted her hands in the long grey skirt she wore.
"I'll just be on my way-" She stopped, blinking as he introduced himself.
"Oh. Lost. Well, not really. Only unsure." She smiled, small and quick.
"My name is Laveda. I was heading to Durem, to-"
Wizard.
The word rang out like an alarm bell in her head and she fought to keep her eyes from widening, muffled the sharp gasp of shock by forming her mouth into a firm little line.
Wizard.
She knew very little of Wizards and magic, but she doubted that it was common and she doubted that it was good. So, surely...this must be the heart eater! She couldn't imagine why he would want her heart, but she knew that she could go nowhere with this strange, dark teenager.
"I'm sorry." She said in an almost whisper, shrinking away from him, unable to entirely hide the fear she felt. "I really must be going. I have to meet my sister, you see. I-I have to go. I'm sorry. Thank you-" She stumbled slightly as she tried to dance around him, the letter she was to deliver to said sister fluttering in her fingers. In an elegant scrawl, Kali was written across the front, and she made no effort to hide this from Howl; only an effort to escape him.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 7:37 pm
"You sure?" Howl asked, frowning slightly. "I could get you a drink, or something. Maybe escort you? It's not safe for pretty girls like you to out on their own." She definitely reminded him of someone, and he was determined not to let her go. Sophie. She was Sophie. And she didn't seem to remember him. "Why are you so frightened, you little gray mouse?" he asked. "I mean no harm."
"Sophie," he muttered, taking a step towards her. There was a hopeful spark in those blue eyes, a hope that was marred by anger and hurt. A fierce desire was there--for his wife. He paused, noticing her letter. "To see your sister?" he asked. "You know Kali then? She's my sister too. Well, probably not in the same sense that she's your sister, you see--she's my best friend." He postively beamed at Laveda, completely unaware of how he had frightened her. Until he noticed her moving away from him.
"I can take you to Kali," he offered. "She's in Durem, staying with her uncle and cousins. Are you her sister, really? You look a lot like her." And a lot like Sophie. Absolutely beautiful.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:06 pm
"Mouse?" Laveda squeaked, dancing in a small circle around Howl when she saw a strange look enter his eye. Surely, he was planning to kidnap her. To kidnap her, cut out her heart, and eat it. That was exactly what that look was for, and oh, she wanted no part of it. She swallowed and jutted her slender chin up, forcing her bottom lip not to tremble.
"N-no thank you. I really must be going." No matter how still her lip was, the rest of her was trembling, and so was her voice. "And I think you have me confused with someone else. My name is not Sophie. It's Laveda-" Oh, darn it all, now she'd gone and told him her name. Curses! She flushed, and cringed back, as if the information made him more dangerous.
"I'm sorry." she apologized again, wringing her hands around the letter. "I know where she is. That's where...that's where I'm going. And they're expecting me there, you know!" The last bit came out more forcibly than she'd meant it to, although she did end it in a little squeak. She was sure that Kali would not associate with a creature such as this Howell the Wizard. He had probably only read the letter and guessed where she was going. He had been behind her. Perhaps he'd been looking over her shoulder, at the map she'd been reading.
Yes. That made sense. Because Wizards, Erik had said, were horrible creatures. And Erik wouldn't lie to her. Would he? No. That was silly! It was Howell who was lying to her, and that was that.
"A-anyway." She stammered. "Goodbye, mister Wizard."
That would have been that, had a rogue gust of wind not blown by and snatched the letter from her trembling, lily-white fingers.
"Oh!" She cried, jumping after it. The wind seemed to mock her, keeping the letter fluttering just out of her grasp. "Don't you dare! Stop that right now!" She cried at it, before she realized that she still had an audience. As she realized, she froze and snapped her mouth shut, ceasing her yelling at the escaping letter. This gave it opportunity to blow up, higher than she could reach, and into a nearby tree. Hanging there, it fluttered, and to Laveda the noise it made as the paper flapped seemed very much like laughter.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:12 pm
She even squeaked like a mouse. Howl's heart was breaking already, when she told him she wasn't Sophie. He could see that it wasn't, now. Sophie had been frightened of him, yes, but not to this extent. "I'm sorry. I've had a rough time, and I was hoping you were someone else. Someone very dear to me." His shoulders slumped as he shrugged. "My wife died a month ago. You look like her, so I hoped... I hoped she was still alive."
He paused, and studied her. "Kali never told me she had a sister," he said, almost suspiciously. "I've been teaching her magic ever since I was little," not that that had been more than a few months ago, "and she never mentioned you. Ever. Who are you really, and what do you want with Kali? To hurt her? Maybe you were sent by Zak, to harm her unborn child. If she's expecting you, alright, I'll leave you be. But if you hurt her, if you make her cry--if you harm my godson in any fashion--"
Another pause, for this time, the wind interupted him. He watched as the little gray mouse's letter flew into a nearby tree, as if by magic. "I like your gift, Laveda," he said. "I'll fetch your letter. You can go on your way to see your sister. I can see you're really quite frightened." He'd no idea why. She really did seem to hate him. Had Kali told her bad things about him? Maybe Kali really secretly hated him too... But why then, would Kali spend so much time with him? He muttered a spell under his breath, and summoned the letter. He offered it to her. "Here. Tell Kali I'll meet her at the icecream shop tomorrow when you see her."
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:27 am
She didn't understand any of what Howl had just said to her, about Kali. Truth be told, she hadn't even met her yet. Who was Zak? What was he going on about, with the godson and...what?
She was so confused. And his next comment didn't make it any better.
"What gift?" She asked, eyes wide. "What are you- yes, of course I'm frightened! You're..you're going to eat my-!" She flinched away as he began using magic, sure that it was the spell to get her heart out of her chest. But, instead, it brought the letter out of the tree, and into his hands. He offered it to her, and he stared at it suspiciously.
"The...ice cream shop?" She asked quietly, eyes flicking from the letter, to the Wizard. She was really just stalling for time as she worked up the courage to snatch the letter from his hands. And, a few short seconds later, she did.
"F-fine. Okay." She said, her voice coming out normally, for once. Perhaps her confusion had overrode her fright. She wasn't sure. However, she was still quite sure that she did need to get over to Kali's before it got very dark out. She still had to get all the way back to Barton, after all. Inching away from Howl, with the letter clutched tightly to her chest lest a gust of wind steal it away again, Laveda swallowed.
"Th...thank you. Goodbye." She said, still feeling the need to be polite when it was a frightening Wizard she was talking to. In fact, she felt the need more, if anything, not wanting to anger or frighten him.
Anyhow, she thought as she turned on heel and walked speedily in the other direction, it would be best if she just got going. But what if he followed? What if he beat her there? He had said so much about Kali - what if he did know her? What if...what if she was walking into a trap?!
But, oh, now she was just being silly. She admonished herself for doing so, and slipped the letter into the pocket of her little grey jacket.
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 2:44 pm
"Eat what?" Howl was postively confused when the girl-who-lived to-look-like-Sophie hesitated. "Wait. Wait." He knew what this was about. He remembered the rumors he had had Michael start in Market Chipping when he was first wanting to blacken his name so the king would not think he was responsible-respectable--or entirely good enough to do important tasks for him. He shook his head. "I don't eat hearts," he assured the frightened red head. "It's a terrible rumor... Probably kept even my wife away." It had, after all, caused Sophie to be incredibly nosy in her attempts to find pieces of hearts in his castle. The very idea of actually having human hearts in his castle--let alone eating them, made him feel sick.
"I'm only after one heart. Not to eat, but to keep. Figuratively, see... My heart's very much in love with Sophie's. I hope it already belongs to me." Like his belonged to her.
"Yeah. Kali and I like to go to the ice cream shop. Sometimes she tells me fairytales. Most of the time we just talk. My favorite's blackberry. Since you're her sister, we could all go to get ice cream, sometime..." he hesitated, and stared after her. She didn't seem to like him, and Howl simply wouldn't stand for that. Even if he wasn't interested in her (despite the fact that she looked, and acted very much like his Sophie), he couldn't allow a girl to dislike him so obviously as this one did.
"Goodbye," he said. When he was sure she wouldn't be frightened by any more acts of magic for sheer fact of her being so far away, he muttered a few words--and was at Viktor's door in an instant. He knocked, but not before transforming himself into the size of a six year old boy. He had been warned that Viktor was very frightening, and disliked teenage boys--but maybe if he asked if Kali could play, he'd get away with it. As soon as Viktor was gone, however, if Viktor was indeed home, Howl planned to turn back and ask questions.
Just who was the girl-who-lived-to-hate-Howl?
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 8:50 pm
The door of Viktor's house swung open, revealing a slender blonde girl, a winged shadow hovering over her shoulder. The latter, Luka, sped forward when he saw Howl, one singular thought in mind; his hair looked good to eat.
He landed on the small version's shoulder, stuffing a lump of the golden strands into his hair. Katia's hands were on him in a second and she dragged him off, but not before he had gotten Howl's hair good and wet.
Clearly, the shadow had a death wish.
"I'm sorry." She said softly, struggling to restrain Luka. He was upset that he'd been taken away from his beautiful, yummy snack. He was making upset noises, something between a 'ja' and a 'lu' and a wookie being stepped on. "I assume you're here for Kali, then?"
While her father may have fallen for the ruse, Katia was not a genius for nothing. The way the child stood, his face, and the way Luka wanted his hair?
It was all definitely Howl.
"Hang on. Kali!!" Katia shouted as she dragged Luka away from the door, looking up at the stairs. Shortly, Kali's red head appeared, her mouth full of...well, Katia didn't want to know. Her cousin had been eating strange things, as of late.
Even Luka wasn't interested in eating the things she'd been munching on.
When she saw Howl, or rather Twinkle, she swallowed and leaned over the railing.
"Oh, hey kiddo." She snickered. "Why don't you come on up? I was just having a snack." She waved him up, smiling.
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 11:00 am
Hair wet from shadow slobber, one might have thought Howl would have been more upset than he was. After all, the vain wizard was known for tantruming over his hair. He took this in stride, however, summoning a jar and showing it to Luka. "Want to be stuck in a jar all your life?" he asked. "I suggest you don't do that again."
He nodded and smiled at Katia. "Yes, thank you. It's rather important." He would question Kali about her sister, and why Laveda seemed to dislike him so much. He thanked Katia again as Kali appeared, the jar he'd threatened Luka with disappearing. He hurried up the stairs and gave his red headed apprentice a hug.
"Kali! Why didn't you tell me you had a sister? I met up with her on her way here, and she's nothing like you. I think she hates me. Said 'wizard' like it was a bad word."
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:27 pm
Luka stopped struggling at the mention of a jar, ducking down behind Katia's back and shivering, becoming immediately silent. This suited Katia just fine, and she waved after Howl as he walked up the stairs.
Kali's mouth was open to say something, but whatever it was was lost as Howl mentioned her 'sister'. Instantly, she snapped it shut, a thundercloud passing over her face.
"I don't have a sister." She hissed coldly, her grip tightening slightly on Howl's little shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about."
With a jerk she hadn't intended to give, Kali pulled herself out of Howl's grasp and stalked back into the room, picking up an orange slice and tossing herself (Carefully) onto her bed.
Clearly, it was a touchy subject.
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:15 pm
Howl paused, expression darkening. So he had been right. Kali didn't have a sister, and Laveda had been lying to him in order to attack her. "You don't?" he asked, concerned. "But Laveda said...she seemed genuine. I suspected, of course, she was one of Zak's agents to attack you and the baby." If she was one, she was an incredible actress.
He followed her into her room, and sat on the edge of her bed. "I thought she was Sophie, at first, you know," he confessed. "She looks like her, acts like her, too. Said I was going to eat her heart. I should have figured she wasn't really your sister, Kali..." he muttered apologetically. "I could have sent her the wrong way, or something. She said she was coming this way, so I decided to pop in."
That and he had wanted to find out more about her, but Howl had experience with pregnant, redheaded women, and knew better than to pursue a sensitive subject with one.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 6:30 pm
"Howl, Zak doesn't have agents." Kali couldn't help but giggle, smiling at him and ignoring the gnawing, uncomfortable feeling that was growing at the base of her spine.
The girl he was talking about was not her sister, she thought. And she did look an awful lot like Sophie, in the way of colours, she supposed. But Kali honestly didn't give a s**t. As far as she was concerned, she was a stupid b***h who was...was..
Was coming HERE?!
"WHAT?!" Kali jumped up from where she'd sat, eyes wide. "Here?! She's...WHAT?!"
The news had clearly not calmed or pleased Kali.
"That...that b***h! I told her to ******** off! How dare she?! I'll KILL her!"
Well, maybe not kill her. That would be strenuous, and she couldn't do anything strenuous. But she would certainly make the uppity s**t head miserable!
"Howl! Turn her into a toad! A fly! Anything!" This was certainly turning into a hissy fit rather quickly; odd, since that was more Howl's area of expertise than it was Kali's.
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 6:52 pm
"Turn her into a toad?" Howl yelped. No, he couldn't do that. She was much too beautiful to turn into a toad. Much too kind. "A fly? Kali, honestly. She was already terrified of me! You probably just have to wave your hand and mutter some words. She'll panic and run away." He shrugged. He had no intention of frightening the beautiful red haired girl he'd met, or harming her in any way. In fact, he planned on preventing Kali from doing anything to her, as well.
The thought of seeing her again made he heart within his chest beat quickly, though he wasn't quite sure why. He had only just met her. Why was his heart acting up? Maybe it was the form he was in. "Hey Kali, I'll pay you to be nice to her," he muttered, trying to calm his hysterical, pregnant friend down. "She really is nice, you know. Just frightened. I think someone's been lying to her."
He summoned Kali a cup of tea and handed it to her. "Really. Lance'll kill me if he finds out how upset I've made you. Think about the baby."
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 8:40 am
"Yes, a toad, or a fly!" She huffed angrily, waving away Howl's summoned tea. "It's not you who upsets me, Howl, it's that...that horrible impostor!" She threw herself down on the bed, gesturing at the window.
"I hope she's terrified! She should be! And nobody is lying but her."
She crossed her arms and withdrew into as much of a ball as she could get,what with her stomach getting in the way of her knees.
"...She's living with my dad." A moment later she mumbled this quietly, staring at the floor. "My dad. Not ours. He...it's not fair."
At least she wasn't yelling, anymore, but she was certainly near either tears or yelling again. "He isn't kicking her out!"
Perhaps Howl would have had a chance to clam her down, had a knock not come at the door just then. Kali jerked as she heard it, rushing to her window and staring out of it before she realized that her window faced the side of the house. She swore, and stood, hurrying out of her room and into the hall. She could see a shadow behind the glass of the door from the landing of the stairs, waiting patiently for someone to open the door for her.
Laveda was glad to have finally arrived, without running into any more wizards, or worse things. And, she still had the letter! Two good things, she thought with a smile.
Unfortunately, her short run of good luck was about to leave her. She smiled as the door swung inwards, opening her mouth to speak - and was cowed into silence.
Kali gripped the door as hard as she could, glowering silently. She couldn't even think of anything to yell at this... impostor, on her doorstep. She could see that Laveda was trembling, though, and that made her smile.
Whether because she was braver than Kali expected, or because the smile encouraged her, Laveda swallowed and offered the letter with a trembling hand.
"H-hello." She'd made her mouth into a firm little line, and was thrusting her chin up skywards. "This is for you." She managed to still her shaking arm, holding the letter out to Kali. "From your fa-"
Kali snatched it, and gestured at her strangely.
"Get OFF my porch, or I will HEX you into next week!" She finally shouted. Laveda couldn't help it - Erik's horrifying stories of magic had frightened her terribly - she squeaked, and scurried off the steps.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was only trying to help-"
Oh, this was going all wrong, she realized, wringing her hands. It wasn't fair! At all!
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