Okay, I hopes by now youse knows da drill. Why art thou thpeaking in pidgin mikthed with weally bad gangthter accent, Wethwie deaweth? And why are YOU speaking with that idiotic lisp, Wethwie deaweth?

Anyways, unless you are hopeless, like certain members of my friends, or just hate to read boring author's notes, you should know what to do by now.

My alter egos have said their parts. Now then, next part has a bit of the first chappie to jog your memory.

Shall we go? Well, then! Tally ho!

P.S. Leslie hasn't read book in long time... has a bugger of a time finding the blasted book, you mean!...Language, language, Leslie. What will the people think?...-.- anyway, if you find any discrepencies with the book, let me know (ie, I put Sophie's bedroom in the wrong place, or I spell Martha's workplace wrong, etc.)

When she showed Michael the shopping list, he nearly fainted. As it was, he had to sit down hard, as Sophie got him a glass of water. "Sophie! Are you trying to kill me? I can't buy all of this at once!"

"Make two trips."

When Howl returned at about 11 with the Hatters' reply, Sophie had almost everything done. Unfortunately for the spiders, she had found their hiding place and had gone ballistic trying to chase them all out of the house. Michael had helped with the basics of cooking (measuring, mixing things she told him to mix, etc.) but Sophie had to do the rest. The one good thing about this was that Calcifer was too tired to do anything but rest for the remainder of the day. At least he wouldn't disturb Megan. Sophie had made sure that all the dinner dishes were supposed to be eaten cold.

But it's not as bad as it could've been. I'm young again, without any aches and pains except for residual magic. I actually feel up to doing both a lunch and a dinner. And best of all, everything's done. Except for my changing. Oh gods! I have nothing to wear! Sophie realized with a start that none of her clothes were completely suited for a formal luncheon and dinner with company. Her grey silk was long threadbare and quite suited to its use as cleaning dress. All her other frocks were simple, as suited a hatter's daughter. And the clothes Howl had bought for her to wear when she had to convince the king not to send for Howl were certainly not suited for this occasion.

"Sophie! What's this I hear about you cooking lunch and dinner? Not to mention driving all my spiders to who knows where? I thought I told you to rest," Howl yelled from below.

"Since when were any of you any good at cooking? Calcifer would burn the salad… literally! Michael's only good at making pancakes and sandwiches. And I haven't seen any culinary genius in you as of yet! And your spiders would drive even Megan crazy! Now get up here, I need you," Sophie bawled back.

With a pop, Howl appeared in her room.

"Eep!" she cried."When I said get up here, I didn't think you'd come that fast!"

"You wound me, Sophie," Howl said in a mock gallant tone. "Not being able to come to my betrothed's aid in her time of need? Perish the thought! Now why does Mrs. Nose need my help?"

"I have nothing to wear."

As it turned out, Howl had remembered the state of her wardrobe (not that he had any good things to say about it) and had taken the liberty to buy her a new dress. And it wasn't grey.

It was a beautiful gown. The color was richer than any green she'd seen before—"Gwyrddlas," Howl supplied— but not too deep. It was rich, but not heavy. The bodice was shot through with gold threads in a smoke pattern that extended into the skirt before disappearing into wisps. The skirt was not very full, made to drape on the body instead, with only a slight bustle. In fact, the only problem Sophie had with it was the décolletage (a very fancy word for neckline, for those who don't know), which was embroidered with gold and lower than anything she had ever worn. Not that anything she had worn ever went below her collarbone.

"It's beautiful! Where'd you get it from?"

"Err... " Howl fumbled for words, before settling with "There's nothing too expensive for me to buy you, cariad. And I enchanted it to change color and style as you want, as long as the amount of fabric is always the same."

"I'll be ready soon. Go away!"

Okay, the dress is that color because I, quite frankly, have no fashion sense AT ALL. I have NO idea whatsoever on how to dress to compliment me, much less a person whose only description I remember is that she's caucasian with red gold (GINGER!Sophie) hair. If you have any tips for a color that's good on her, please let me know... and while you're at it, would it be too much to ask what looks good on a short Asian kid with slightly tanned skin? Nah, that last part was just kidding. Any way, until next time!

Au revoir, mes amis! (assuming there IS a male in the audience reading this)

Oh yes, I almost forgot. What clothing would a working class girl from semi-Victorianish age (from movie) wear? I'm guessing apron, simple dress, no fancy sleeves, somber color, at least one petticoat. And boots. And stockings.

That was the longest author's note I've ever written. And now I will be a good friend and shut up.

And i'm sorry there was no plot WHATsoever in here... Leslie's thinking just went from ballistic spiders to meal, but this just walked in and didn't leave even when i smashed it to bits with my hammer...T.T

Okay, i changed the color of the dress... was red before, is now green. Apparently there is no one word for green, but they don't cover green in the sense that English does... gwyrddlas was one of the many that came up. Why gwyrddlas? Because it also means verdant.