Hey here's an update! Trying to piece together some unfinished ideas. Another one-shot, but I have a separate piece in the works that's a series. Coming soon. Enjoy this. It's by far my favourite in this whole one-shot series, probably because I took more time on it... heh. Cheers!

"I mean," Sophie continued, watching Howl prod his eyebrow in the mirror, "Wouldn't Mari just love an outing to the theatre?"

"I don't know that she's actually ever been to a play," Howl said thoughtfully, still considering the eyebrow.

"Never?!"

"It's not exactly as common around here… you know I told you about the moving picture we'd go see, right?"

"Oh, yes… so she likes those instead?" Sophie thought it the silliest thing that a child would be more entertained by fake pictures rather than real people singing and dancing, but then, Wales was slightly stranger. She splashed her face and then turned off the sink.

"Well, I don't think she's had the chance to be introduced to theatre properly… you know, you could take her shopping… as long as I tell you where to go… and we'll give her a grand night out as the highlight of her week?" Howl loosened the sleeves of his shirt and turned to open the bathroom door, gesturing Sophie out in front of him-with no apparent purpose, for instead he changed his mind and transported them directly onto the bed, where Sophie stumbled over a pillow in temporary surprise.

"Oh, that would be so perfect!" Sophie became almost giddy with joy. Howl felt quite pleased with himself for touching upon such an idea, especially as he'd been annoying the past few days and was still being enough of a prick that he hadn't yet apologised.

Sophie was talking about when she'd gone to the Royal Theatre in Ingary a few times as a child as Howl turned out the light. "... and then, we'd have one fancy dinner, well, fancy for us… and there were the stars that seemed so much brighter after you'd just come out from seeing a particularly good show… and the time we took a carriage ride to the hotel at night just because we could."

Howl's appreciation for grandeur and spectacle overtook him and he felt himself quite awake and interested. He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the dark, mostly spiderless ceiling.

"What would Mari like?" asked Sophie, pulling a bit of quilt from him.

"Oh, I don't know… I'd have to see what was playing. She does seem to have a great love for princesses and fairy stories, so I don't think we'd go wrong with that… remember I said I'd show you a moving picture, speaking of which?"

"Mmm," said Sophie, still thinking of the previous subject.

"Well, she would be over the moon if we took her to see one when we get there next week, since it's just in their town. It's called Tangled, she was exclaiming over an advert today while I was talking to Megan."
"What's it about?"

"Rapunzel… you know, she's locked up in a tower, but this time it appears as if this non-royal rogue thief happens upon her, and together they go in search of these magic lanterns…"

Mari was a ball of energy and giggles when Howl and Sophie arrived, and it only escalated when, after Megan had finally left, they revealed to her that they were taking her to the cinema. She ran back and forth from her room, carrying out different pairs of shoes for Sophie to look at, a poster of the movie, a hairbrush. Sophie finally slowed her down by braiding her hair, and then Mari was off again into her room, searching for something else.

Sophie watched Howl from the door of the guest room, as he tapped lightly on the windowsill, a concentrated look on his face. "Checking for mice?"

"You really do appear at the most inopportune times!"

Sophie tapped a foot, and Howl resumed tapping the sill. Finally, he continued, "I'm just checking the magical reinforcements. And before you exclaim, whatever are they doing in the windowsill, my dear husband! let me tell you that this window has a connection with our moving castle window."
"But our window doesn't look into this window…"

"No-it's hard to explain, but, if we're going to have a connection to this world there, there needs to be a similarly functioning object here in Wales for us to tie our object to. Thus, the window, and thus, like this one, it looks out on the garden." Howl straightened up, picked up his jacket, and turned towards Sophie, who nodded.

"Oh!" Sophie exclaimed, "We'd probably better go, hadn't we? At least we could get Mari out before she tears down the house in excitement."

Howl heard another shoe being thrown and nodded in agreement. "I'll go tell her."

Sophie looked around the room and, on impulse, threw open the wardrobe. It was empty save for a few blankets. She looked down at her simple jumper-and the strange blue things Howl insisted were suitable "trousers"-and willed them to transform into something else, since after all it was unseasonably warm outside. They didn't budge. Sophie paused, hesistated, hemming and hawing to herself.

"Howl?" she called down the hall.

"Yes?" came his voice from Mari's room.

"Can you spare a moment?"
"Go on, use the toilet first or you'll miss half the movie!" Howl exclaimed to Mari, giving her a push as he came down the hallway. He stopped in the doorway and bowed teasingly.

"You rang?"

Sophie smoothed down the strange blue garment. "I was wondering if… there were other clothing options?"

Howl laughed and felt around in his pocket, bringing out a small key. "I thought you'd never ask!" he said mockingly. "Sure. What will it be?"

"Well, I was thinking something… oh, I don't know, lighter? A dress? Florals?"

The wizard raised a finger. "Ah! I have the perfect idea!" and he flipped the little key over in his hand. Sophie felt soft cotton under her fingers and was happy to discover a (short, by her standards! she harumphed to herself) green and yellow floral dress with a loose, draped skirt and a cardigan overtop. And the shoes-heels, but wedges, so she could easily walk. "Oh!" she said. "What a handy charm."

"Beautiful," Howl said, arms folded, smiling at her. "You know what I just realised? If we lived in Wales, this would have been the sort of thing I'd taken you to on a first date! And, to boot, it's our first movie date ever." He waved the key again. "I better look the part as well."

Sophie found herself smiling like a fool, without immediately realising it, and ran a hand over her hair. He did look quite fine, and that was saying something for the strange Welsh fashion. The crisp shirt with its unbuttoned collar and rolled sleeves was classic, in an Ingarian way, but not too odd.

"Mari!" Howl said, as Sophie took a glance at her hair in the mirror just to be sure. "Are you ready, my lady?" he said as he held his arm out. Mari jumped up to catch it, and Howl caught Sophie's hand and pulled her along out of the room with him, all three in giggles. Sophie felt her heart beating a little faster, and shook her head at her own silliness, as if she was a girl with a crush. Well, she thought to herself, I suppose it's the best of both worlds to have a crush on someone that's already yours.

While Mari's excited reactions were cute and gratifying, Howl was most interested in watching Sophie, who had never experienced a moving picture nor quite the level of modern consumerism they would encounter in the lobby. Thus, he resolved to get both ladies moving through there as quickly as possible, and Sophie seemed altogether too happy to leave the noise and weird lights and signs behind.
"There's more than one stage in here?" Sophie asked, watching Mari zigzag ahead of them, twirling a pink toy wand Howl had given her.

"Yes, there's quite a few… screens," Howl corrected, as they walked into the semi-lit theatre. Mari was already skipping up to a seat.

Sophie and Mari settled themselves, Sophie surreptitiously looking around at the layout and wondering at the small size of the place, and the scarcity of the people, and the blank wall ahead of them. Howl reappeared with popcorn just in time to see her jump as the screen lit up and sound surrounded the small auditorium.

"Don't worry, my dear," Howl said teasingly as he sat down, patting her hand.

Sophie snatched the hand away and folded her arms. "Oh, don't you tease me for being-surprised!-at your silly Welsh magic."

Howl raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He snuck a glance over to where Mari was sitting, hearing nothing of this, eyes wide and focused on the screen that was lit up with flashing colours. The wizard passed the popcorn over to Sophie. "It's different here," he warned, popping some in his mouth.

Sophie considered popcorn to be popcorn, and went for it. To her chagrin, it was, as Howl pointed out, different. "It's… unnatural tasting." Their voices lowered to a hush as the credits began and the theatre darkened.

Howl leaned over her to snatch some more. "Nothing is quite so pure as Ingary, I'm afraid. This sort of thing-made in a factory here."

Sophie shook her head, passing some to Mari, who was already eating candy. Howl nodded at this and whispered to Sophie, "Don't let me forget to take that away in ten minutes or else we'll leave the theatre because of a projectile vomiting child."

They left the theatre vomit free, and all three with smiles on their faces. Mari had crawled over to squeeze between Howl and Sophie, the latter of which was clasping the former's hand… Howl was quite relieved when the happy ending rolled around and the credits played, for his arm and hand, quite red and sore from both wife and niece clinging to it, was in a state. Sophie held the other hand as they walked through the square, allowing Mari to skip nearby. She frequently ran back to them to interject a thought about the movie and a cry of happiness, which not unpleasantly interrupted the conversation that the Pendragons were having.

Sophie felt glowingly happy, as if her heart did a little squeeze and had comfortably settled deep inside her chest. The surrounding buildings were lit up with twinkling lights that were marvelous, and as she looked around she thought how Howl's hand was such a comforting anchor. I may very well float away into the night sky, what with all these other floating lights, she thought happily. The puff of the bus sounded as it braked on the pavement near them, and Mari ran back to grab Sophie's free hand.

"I want to be a princess more than anything in the world."

"How are you planning on becoming a princess?" Sophie asked, watching Mari skip along. So carefree, so like her and her sisters when they were younger.

"I dunno. Maybe I'll find a magic toad in the garden."

"And he'll cast a spell on you, and you'll realise you've been a lost princess all along," Howl put in, leading them towards a brightly lit restaurant from which wafted the scent they had been following. Sophie admired the flowers spilling out of the boxes on the windows, the lights that softly flickered against them. The lights of the town flickered gently in the same way when later, Mari sound asleep in her bed, Howl and Sophie stood on the edge of the lane looking out past the dark fields and hedge brush. Sophie yawned. "I don't ever want this night to end."
"Always good to end things on a happy note, at least," Howl said, arms crossed round Sophie's waist, moving to look at her in the eyes and smile. "A perfect first date-"
"Except for the breadsticks argument-"
"Yes! But nevertheless, a perfect first date should always end with a kiss."
Sophie leaned into him as he kissed her, his hand softly resting on her cheek... the familiarity of his rougher, warm lips and feeling him starting to smile slightly much more wonderful because they weren't a first, but a continuance.