Megan
By Min Farshaw
Chapter three: In which Megan and Sophie wash dishes
They landed with a somewhat undignified clatter on a pile of flimsy boxes and a few noisy metal buckets. Howl's helped Sophie up, and as soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she recognized that they were in Megan's garage. Howl's old car sat there in the gloom, squatting like some huge, beat up metal frog.
" That wasn't too bad. Now for the next part of my plan," Howl said. Sophie's dress turned to a grey sweater and a brownish green skirt that fell to just past her knees. The blue and silver suit transformed to a pair of blue trousers and a grey t shirt with a blue jacket. They began to wade through the sea of boxes, Howl holding Sophie's hand.
Suddenly, a blinding light appeared in front of them. Howl and Sophie flung up their hands in order to protect their eyes. The lights in the front of Howl's car had turned on and now a painfully loud alarm sounded, causing Sophie to clap her hands over her ears. Howl said a word that young ladies shouldn't know (but that Sophie knew anyway) and they made for the door, trying to cover ears and shade eyes. Sophie rattled the handle furiously, but it was locked.
Howl, with a grimace on his face, mashed the button by the door labeled 'Garage open', but nothing happened.
" You open up right now!" Sophie told the door crossly, but it stayed firmly shut. She kicked it, but it refused to open for her. Howl, in the mean time, had gotten into his car and did something to it so that the alarm stopped sounding and the lights stopped flashing. He came and rattled the door knob as well, and Sophie saw that he had a slightly panicked look on his face.
"Can't you magic it open?" Sophie asked him as he sat down on the cold, hard floor of the garage.
" No. Magic won't work. There is something stupidly mechanical blocking it."
Sophie joined Howl on the floor.
" What now?"
" We wait for Megan to come and let us out." He swore again, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. " I can't believe that I miscalculated this badly"
" Well, I don't suppose It's any less than you deserve. You were trying to give her the slip you know" Sophie said crossly. It was cold in the garage, and dark now that the lights had gone out.
" You don't understand, Were both doomed now. And it is not no less than I deserve. I've done nothing wrong in my life" Howl responded self pityingly . Sophie snorted in disbelief.
" Nothing wrong? What about all those young ladies' hearts you stole before, Hmm?" She replied, getting more cross. " Or that time you sent me to tell lies to the king."
" They were not lies!" Howl snapped back, "They were artful misdirections"
" So you admit you have faults!" Sophie said a little louder.
"Faults! I don't have anything wrong with me!" Howl said even louder than that. This was the beginning of a flaming row. Sophie's blood began to boil and she stood up as she started to declaim even louder Howl's faults. He stood up too, probably feeling the need to defend himself. He tried to loom over her with his superior height, but Sophie drew herself up and put her hands on her hips and glared back up at him. She had Howl backed up right against the wall, which was hung with various gardening implements and other such interesting paraphernalia. Some how the argument had escalated to the point where Sophie was emphasizing her arguments by jabbing Howl in the chest with her finger.
" Ah, Howell, glad that you came to join me today. Tea?" Asked Megan pleasantly from the doorway that had held fast shut for them. She held a steaming mug of tea in one hand as she leaned casually against the frame. Sophie realized suddenly just how close she was standing to Howl. " and this must be Sophie." Sophie stepped back quickly, holding her hands to her rapidly warming cheeks
" Megan..." Howl said weakly, letting his arms fall from where they had been gesturing extravagantly during their argument.
" You know, the funny thing about my garage. I do mean My garage Howell, for all that you like to assume that it is your garage, what with all the useless junk that you keep in it," Megan continued as if none of them had spoken. Sophie figured that it must be a family trait. " is that I had Neil in here yesterday. That boy is no good at English, but has been doing quite well in auto mechanics lately." She smiled. " Do you know what Neil has been learning in auto mechanics Howell? Well, for example, Neil just got a crash course in wiring and installing proximity sensitive car alarms." All of the colour drained from Howl's face.
" Do you know what the other funny thing about my garage is , Howell Jenkins?"
" What is it Megan?"
" That, until yesterday, the door to the garage used to open from both sides" She smiled again, cradling her mug of steaming tea. " I know you Howell, better than you think I do. I know exactly how your mind works, and if need be, I can trap you at any time. Remember this, because next time I won't be so lenient. We can have that discussion now, and you can explain to me what is going on."
They followed Megan out the garage door and across the small concrete patio to the front door of the house. The screen and the door were open. Howl looked about to bolt, but Megan had a hand firmly planted on his arm, obviously assuming that Sophie would follow. She was slightly annoyed to find that she was following, when clearly she was free to run. Running did seem a good idea, what with the feeling of impending doom and all.
They went into the house, took off their shoes (Megan removed a pair of well worn slippers instead.). Megan sat them down on the living room couch, locked the front door and went into the kitchen. Megan's son, Neil, stumbled down the stairs, bleary eyed. He looked at Howl, then Sophie.
" Did you catch them then Mum?" He asked, weary and tired.
" Yes dear, you can go to sleep now." Megan called from the kitchen.
"Neil, she roped you into this too?" Howl asked, " How could you , your own flesh and blood."
" Sorry Uncle Howell. But I'd rather it were you than me." Neil responded before going back up the stairs.
Megan's living room was not quite the same as Sophie remembered it. First off, there were blueprints on the table of her garage, with other blueprints that appeared to be of complicated looking doors. The other interesting thing was that there were several new wires running along the carpet and plugged into her magic box. The picture on it was of the inside of her garage, and on a continuous loop, she saw herself and Howl appear out of thin air, stumble around and then argue.
Megan returned with a pot of steaming tea. She poured a cup for Sophie, who accepted it gratefully. Megan pointedly ignored Howl and did not pour him any tea. There wasn't even a cup available for him.
She sat in the large armchair in the corner so that her face was partially obscured by shadows. This was another apparently new feature of Megan's living room ; It was set up for a very comfortable sort of interrogation. The sofa was of course lit by two standing lamps so that Sophie and Howl were in view at all times. A large, evil looking ginger cat settled itself on Howl's lap. From the look on his face, the cat had claws and was using them to great effect in order to keep Howl immobile.
"Explain. Now." Megan said, using the tones of an executioner.
Howl did. It was perhaps the biggest crock of lies that Sophie had ever heard. Apparently, the witch of the waste was a dangerous criminal, and like the brave soul he was, Howl had been tracking her, undercover, for the police department. Of course, this woman worked in the theater, hence the elaborate suit. It was really a beautiful masterwork of lies, carefully crafted so that it had just a grain of truth to be somewhat believable. Sophie was trying really hard not to laugh at his tale. She took another sip of her tea. It tasted a mite different than it did back home, but the difference was not entirely disagreeable.
"... And that's why I couldn't tell you earlier. As you see, I'm not really the horrible man that you made me out to be." Howl finished. Sophie almost let loose a quite unladylike snort at the end, but schooled her features to calmness. Howl let loose a dazzling grin, that screamed 'Responsible!'
" Lies. All of them." Megan said calmly. Howl sputtered and protested, but remained immobile on the couch. The cat was washing itself now, it's hind legs digging deep into Howl's belly.
" What! Why would you accuse me of such a thing?"
" First off, your young lady friend there was trying to restrain herself from laughing the entire time." Sophie felt a bit ashamed at that, " And secondly, you failed to explain anything on this tape, or why your entering my garage didn't trip the silent alarm. Third you didn't explain how I could have opened my own door and found myself in a room that is not my own, or why, when I opened the second floor window in Neil's room, I looked out on yard full of messy scrap metal. Last of all, you especially forgot to explain why you appear to be living with a girl nearly seven years younger than you." This caused Sophie to blush.
" You may have five minutes to come up with a more plausible story." Megan continued. " Sophie dear, won't you come into the kitchen with me?" Sophie was dragged off into the kitchen by Megan. The door shut on Howl's frantic face.
Sophie looked around in the kitchen, still holding her empty cup. Megan turned on the tap and poured some dishwashing liquid in to create a mass of frothy bubbles.
" Er, can I help you with that?" Sophie asked, seeing cleaning to be done. Megan snatched the cup out of her hands.
" Of course dear. I'll wash and you can dry." Sophie was handed a dishcloth and she began to dry off dishes as they were handed to her. She noticed that an inordinate amount of coffee mugs and teacups were being produced out of the soapy water, but decided not to mention it.
" So, Sophie, how old are you?"
" I'll be nineteen this fall" She said, realizing that her birthday really was approaching. Last year's birthday had been marked with sadness, due to the loss of her father. The year certainly had gone by fast, with all the hats, and then being turned old, and Howl. Nineteen seemed awfully young all of a sudden. Sophie missed Megan's slight wince.
" And what do you do for a living? Are you a student?" Megan asked conversationally, handing her a rather unique looking mug that had dragons twined around the handle and the body of it.
" Well, I used to work in the family hat shop with my mother in law. Then I worked as a cleaning lady." Sophie said truthfully. " Umm, now, Well I'm not sure what I'm doing. Howl says..." Sophie said, blushing slightly, " He thinks that we should make a study of my gift." She continued, distracted by the mug. There was a spot of dirt stuck in one of the crevices created by the dragons.
" Howell can help you with that then?" Megan asked lightly.
" I think so. He does know an awful lot about Ma..." Sophie started, then trailed off in abject horror at what she had almost just said.
" What was that dear?" Megan said, an almost predatory quality entering her pleasant tone. Think Sophie Think!
" Maladies?" She said weakly. But Megan wasn't looking at her. She was looking at the glass, which appeared to be cleaning itself. Sophie quickly grabbed the cloth she was using to dry and laughed nervously.
" And what is my wayward brother teaching you about Maladies?" Megan asked, handing her another cup.
" Did I say Maladies? I really meant..." But Sophie couldn't continue, because Megan was laughing so hard. Silently, but the laughter shook her body violently.
" God, I didn't think it was true. I didn't think that it could be true. What is he, some kind of magician? No, Howell's probably cooked himself up some sort of outrageous persona. Probably goes around calling himself Supreme High sorcerer or something."
" He does not!" Sophie said hotly, hands on her hips. She suddenly covered her mouth with her hands, cursing her stupidity.
" Then what does he call himself my dear? By the way, the dustpan is in the corner by the window" Megan said, pointing just behind Sophie's head. There was a shattered glass on the ground where Sophie had dropped it in her anger. She muttered an apology and turned to grab the dustpan from behind her head.
" He's not as irresponsible as you think." Sophie muttered, sweeping up the pieces of broken glass.
" What was that?"
" I said, He isn't as irresponsible as you seem to think. He may be vain and fickle and selfish, but he has a good heart." Sophie said.
" Yes, well, that's all well and good Sophie, but Howl has slithered out of this explaination for far too long."
Oh my goodness. I just saw Miazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, and let me tell you, it is gorgeous. The visuals are simply stunning, and the castle is magnificent. Of course, the plot is almost entirely different, but the spirit is the same, and I got the same 'Yay yay yay' feeling from the film that I got from the book. In no way would I recommend using the film as a guideline in anyway for fanfiction for the book. The two are separate entities, though my rabid fandom causes me to love both. The voice acting was not quite up to par (Old Sophie was good, I wasn't quite as thrilled with young Sophie. I don't know that Emily Mortimer was the right choice. I was worried about Billy Crystal as Calcifer, but that turned out alright. Christian Bale makes a good Howl, but he doesn't quite pull off that petulant brat tone that I love in Howl). Some people might find the plot confusing, but if you have my level of rabid fandom, then you really won't care.
Never fear, I will continue to stay 112 percent true to the content of the novel for this fanfic. Either way, the film is just too fresh and sacred in my mind to even attempt to write about it. The Book has been such a well loved companion over the years that I feel comfortable writing from it. It is unfortunate that the novel left me with such a burning desire for the 'What's next!' But this is one of the reasons that HMC is one of the larger sections of the DWJ section of in conclusion, these two media should forever be kept separate from each other, as they are simply so different. Both good, both worthy of generations of insane fanatics (like myself) but completely different. HMC writers for the Miazaki version should probably avoid writing in the DWJ section, as I'm sure that the bookists (Wow, I come with my own set of nonsensical vocabulary) would appreciate this. But we shouldn't be too hard on those who have only see the film and fall in love with the concept as well. None of you 'bookists' should avoid the film though. It's just too good to pass up. I expected nothing less from Miazaki working from Diana Wynne Jones.
Holy cow, I wrote y'all an essay . Sorry about that, Won't do it again
(Stupid Min, Stupid! You told yourself you would stop doing that! Bad girl!)
Anyway, R & R please? I really appreciate your comments, they really spur me forward! ( I promise to work on the grammar ) Finals are over now, I just have to deal with getting a job, volunteering, and my impressive reading list for English, so I should have more writing time.
Min
(p.s. If you guys get bored, and if you like anything I've written, you may want to check out my fiction press account www. fictionpress. com/ minfarshaw (same account name, Min Farshaw. Yes, I'm creative). I doubt that anything else I've written as fanfiction will interest you, unless you like dragon ball Z, and that stuff is real old. Anyways, I shut up now)