In Which Wizard Howl Cheats a Tailor
Long, scarlet velvet, tapered sleeves dangled just below the fingertips. Two crescent-shaped, ivory motifs flowed from the centre of his back in an eloquent design that flowed through the sleeves and the length of the tailcoat. The motifs continued over the shoulder, swirling over the chest and spiralling down until it rested at the base of the hem.
Wizard Howl admired his reflection in the gilded mirror, turning around every so often to survey the remainder of the suit; mainly to pride himself how the coat enhanced his looks or even how the coat was made even better by his own physique. "Perfect!" he thought out-loud at the sight of his pre-purchased clothing.
"Except…"
He drew his hands out of the silk lined sleeves almost unwillingly, "I shan't be purchasing this particular item."
The stout, disgruntled tailor, looked miserably upon the tailcoat.
"But sir, surely a magnificent piece of attire of this quality must be worth the money?" The man begged on his knees.
"Of course it is!" Howl stressed.
The tailor paused for a moment "Or…are you having me on?" Rising up, puffing his chest out. "I mean, do you even have the money to purchase such an item?"
"Heavens, yes," Howl protested as he revealed a coin purse from his own coordinating coat. "As you can see," Howl jingled the coin purse for reinforcement. "I am well in funds."
The tailor raised an eyebrow. "Well…what's wrong?" he queried.
Howl sighed melodramatically "I have a tailcoat very similar to this; near exact. Very well made, the fabric is a little finer than this…" The tailor gawked at the wizard.
"Then why are you here?" he interrupted "Browsing my wares when you have already replicated them!"
Howl stood stunned. The man's face had become a very bright shade of rage-induced crimson, whereas his knuckles were a contrasting white. Howl walked over to the man, gave him a kindly pat on the back and gave him a small smile.
"I was kind of hoping to get one of your well made garments. Mine has no…charm"
The tailor stepped back, the crimson faded to a small flush "Charm?"
"Oh yes," Howl replied confidently. "Nothing has more charm than a handmade item such as this." He proclaimed.
"Why thank you!' The tailor gushed briefly; he then recomposed with his sales face "So are you now interested in purchasing?"
Howl smiled "I'm sorry not today!"
"What! Not enough 'Charm' for you!" he said curtly. The tailor's rage resurfaced. He was quite angry about the attitude of this pompous customer and was about ready to punch him in the place that counts.
His face.
"Oh, no, no, dear sir" Howl chirped. "I simply don't have enough charm for the tailcoat." He waved off the tailor and slipped his way out of the store before the tailor could reply.
The Tailor, in a mixture of rage and confusion, simply gave up for the day and swung the sign on the door to "CLOSED", grabbed his hip flask and took an enormous swig.
A few streets down, Howl backed into a desolate alleyway. Inside his coat he produced a small brown paper package, tied with Hessian string. Smirking to himself he snapped his fingers to produce a fairly new, slightly worn shamrock green tailcoat. Howl surveyed the coat as he further produced a piece of tailors chalk from his pockets and began to make intricate symbols on the front and back of the tailcoat. He stepped back a few paces, uttered a few words under his breath and snapped his fingers twice more. The brown paper package returned which was quickly snapped up by long greedy fingers and slipped back into the coat.
"Calcifer! Sophie! Michael! I'm back!" Howl yodelled as he gracefully skipped through the front door. Michael rolled his eyes at the package; Sophie resumed sewing silver and blue triangles to Howl's damaged suit, muttering curses under her breath and Calcifer smirked. Howl slammed the brown paper package down on the workbench, scaring Sophie, hastily unwrapping the brown wrapping. Sophie glared at Howl as he twirled and danced about in a new scarlet tailcoat adorned in ivory swirled motifs.
"You know Howl" Sophie growled "You could save more money if you enchanted your clothes!"
END.
(So what did Howl do with the money? Let's say he took Sophie and Michael out to dinner. After all he did just 'buy' new clothes.)
(Edit: just a mention - HMC belongs to Dianna Wynne Jones, the only charracter I can say is my own is the tailor)