First of a series of drabbles on Howls Moving Castle, book and film. Have fun,y'all!

Disclaimer: We are not Diana Wynne Jones, or Hayao Miyazaki. Go figure.

Chapter One - Of Cliffs and Pogo Sticks

'You saved us, Turnip. Thank you.' Sophie leant in to plant a delicate kiss on the carved turnip mouth. Which was all Turniphead had been waiting for.

A flurry of shifting, flying and crumpling, and the foppish prince bowed before his true love, a tender smile on his lips, and a shifty glance at the creepy old lady with the leer. He eagerly explained his predicament to her, anticipating her sympathy. Unfortunately, the stiff on the floor seemed to garner all her attention, leaving him talking to that sleazy old bag, and the kid.

Jealous as hell, he watched as the rapturous girl threw herself onto the supine wizard, eliciting a cry from the poor fellow as she nearly propelled them of the platform and over the cliff. Gasping, he moved to save her. Howl could fall for all he cared, it'd serve him right, but not Sophie, the beautiful angel who'd broken his curse. Thankfully, his aid wasn't needed. Howl pulled them back from the brink, muttering about idiots and cliffs. The prince glared at him. How dare he call this radiant girl an idiot! How dare he!

Unfortunately, strong as his love for her was, it was obvious that she really did love the poncy wizard, though why he couldn't guess. The others readily accepted this, having known all along. As had he, but a scarecrow can hope, can't he? Ah well.

He found a decent pole, tough pogo stick material. He hadn't spent all that time as a scarecrow for nothing, and was quite talented with a pole. A fact he was determined to make known to Howl.

'Farewell Sophie!' he cried as he set off, blowing a kiss from atop his newly-fashioned pogo. He waved cheerily at the kid, and a touch more hesitantly at the weird old witch. But before he was out of earshot, he called back to Howl, knowing the wizard would hear.

'You take care of her, you hear! 'Cause if you don't, I'll have you know I'm a black belt of pogo, and my stick will make short work of your head! Understand?'

Howl's wave faltered a little, then sped back up with renewed vigour. Flashing a cocky grin, the wizard hollered back.

'Yeah? Well I'm a black belt at Origami, so there! Bring it, pogo boy!'

His angel shook her head in exasperation. Buoyantly happy, the prince hopped back, to stop a war, and plot the retrieval of his true love. All's fair in love and war, as they say. Howl was going down!

Silly little drabble. Next up, the dreaded hair problems. Slime, anyone?