In Which Sophie Learns of St. Patrick's Day
A/N: so I'm doing some mental spring cleaning…i.e. getting rid of these plot bunnies that have been bouncing around in my brain. So here's one of them! I did start this on St. Pattie's day, I swear, I just haven't gotten around to writing it till now.
Sophie sat sipping her tea. She had positioned one of the kitchen chairs next to the fire place so that she could enjoy Calcifer's company on the chilly March mornings. Michael was still in his room, but Sophie could hear him scuffling about, probably getting dressed. And not too long ago Howl had called downstairs to order Calcifer to start the hot water. Yes, Calcifer was free to do as he pleased now that the curse was lifted, but that didn't stop Howl from ordering the poor fire demon around whenever he dropped by.
Sophie had gotten all the ingredients ready for breakfast, but she didn't want to prepare it too early for fear that it would get cold by the time Howl came down from his bath. Sophie couldn't help but give a content sigh and a small smile. It seemed like it would be just another day in the wizard's moving castle.
About an hour later, breakfast was close to being ready, Calcifer was munching on a log and Michael had his nose in a book of spells. Sophie glided between the drawers and the table, holding a mix-match of plates, spoons, forks, and knives. The only thing that was missing was the wizard himself; a tall, black-haired man of some age around 28 with ocean blue eyes and a charming smile.
Upstairs, the door to the bathroom flew open, a cloud of steam bursting into the hall. Sophie's nose was prepared for Howl's usual flowery scent to fill the castle and tingle her nose. But it was different today; it smelled kind of like shamrocks and…fresh dew? Sophie found this very odd, but she found the wizard's apparel even odder. He had donned a luscious green button-up shirt and those peculiar pants made of dark blue fabric. Sophie remembered that they were called jeans. Yes, the ones that shrink in the wash, she said to herself. Her gaze wandered back up to his shirt, and she noticed that he had left three buttons undone, revealing part of his chiseled chest. Sophie's cheeks threatened to turn a little rosy, but she willed herself to channel all of her attention to the bacon and eggs.
"Good morning, everyone! Isn't this a fine day today?"
"You seem to be in a good mood this morning, Master Howl," Michael piped up.
"Don't expect it to last," murmured Calcifer. Sophie simply shuffled back and forth, dishing out breakfasts for the wizard, the apprentice, and herself.
"This looks delicious, Sophie dear," said Howl as he slyly coiled his arm around her dainty waist, stopping her from serving Michael his food.
"But there's something missing," mused Howl. Without letting go of Sophie he gathered all the plates together on the table and took a small vile out of the back pocket of his jeans. He poured it onto the eggs and…they turned green! Sophie was utterly confused. Did Howl just poison their food? No, that didn't make sense. She turned her head and looked directly at the green fabric of Howl's shirt. She became intoxicated by the smell of shamrocks. And shamrocks are green too, she thought.
"Howl, since when has your favorite color been green?" she asked innocently, with a hint of confusion clouding her eyes.
Howl simply chuckled in reply and kissed the top of her head. After all, he was feeling lucky today.
A/N: this was originally going to be a one-shot, but it's gonna be a wee bit longer than that. This is based off the book, but I do make some references to the movie XD
Oh, and yes, I was inspired by Dr. Seuss's "green eggs and ham" in the middle of this one, if you couldn't tell.
