-1Howl was proud to say that he was no longer concerned about his looks. What if a hair was out of place? No big deal! One hair wasn't enough to get upset over. What if his shirt wasn't tucked in equally? No matter! It wasn't even important to him if his socks didn't match. After all, who saw your socks anyway?
He strolled into the bathroom, smiling at how he knew he wouldn't spend hours in there. He was perfectly fine with the way he was! He looked into the mirror and smiled bigger. He looked okay, he thought. There wasn't anything that looked too bad. He felt so proud of himself.
But his hair still did look a little sleepy-headed. He didn't want seem like a slob, did he? That was something people might think of. Of course nobody could think he was a slob! So he brushed his hair until it was all nice and managed.
It looked a little dull, though. It wouldn't be bad if he used a bit of potion to make it look shiny, right? All that meant was that he wanted to show people he cared about himself.
Then the wizard noticed he had some eye crust in the corner of his eyes. Nobody liked eye crust! Anybody who had eye crust in their eyes was considered lazy for not cleaning it up. He was not about to let anybody think that!
As he made sure his eyes were crust less, he then noticed he looked a little too pale. Some potion to make himself look a little healthier wouldn't be too bad. After all, who wanted to look sick?
He then smelled his breath and noticed it smelled a little unpleasant. Now that just wouldn't do! What if he were to try to kiss Sophie, and she turned away from him because his breath smelled bad? He couldn't do that to Sophie! And he definitely couldn't let himself be embarrassed.
That's when he noticed his clothes did look a tad bit messy, and he definitely knew he had to look neat. So he changed those as well.
Little things kept popping up as Howl looked at himself in the mirror until finally, he could smile at his reflection and actually find not one single thing wrong. He looked presentable for everybody!
Grinning, he opened the door to notice Markyl looking quite irritable.
"Finally!" The little boy yelled and ran into the bathroom, shutting it loudly.
Howl frowned, and then noticed Sophie was standing there too. "What was his problem?"
"Well," She began, and Howl noticed there was a little bit of annoyance shining in her eyes. "You were in there for over an hour. We sort of need it too."
"But what about the spare I made for all of us?" he exclaimed.
"The Witch of the Waste has been in there for over two hours."
"Why would she be in there for such a long time?" Howl asked, confused.
"Well, I said we were expecting a delivery and she said something about young men and ran into there. She hasn't come out since," Sophie answered.
"Oh," Howl said, crestfallen. He thought he was doing a wonderful job of not caring about his appearance too much. Obviously, he was wrong.
Sophie smiled sympathetically and put her hand on his shoulder. "Howl, we don't mind you caring about your appearance."
"But that was the old Howl! I'm the new Howl! Who has his heart back and is better than ever!" He cried out. "The old Howl cared about his appearance too much!"
"The old Howl put too much perfume on; I can't smell a bit of it on you."
"I thought that may be overdoing it if I put some on," Howl answered. Why in the world did that matter?
"Then doesn't that mean you've changed a bit?" Sophie asked, still smiling.
Howl gasped, and laughed. He hugged Sophie and then kissed her. "You're right! I have changed! So, then it's perfectly fine for me to make myself look nice, isn't it?"
"Of course," Sophie replied. "But you could try not to be in there for over an hour."
"But Sophie!"
"What?"
"Old habits die hard."