Howl

Send “&” for a LOVING text.

Howl: If I haven’t told you lately how much I appreciate you, let the flowers do the talking. There’s a dozen giant roses awaiting you at the shop, sweetheart, and we hope you have a wonderful day.Howl: As always, I am here for you, only a call or a text away.

“Well that was a rather heavy sigh. What is exactly eating you up? The magic part?” Calcifer smirked, “Eh, you’re right. A sense of taste skips every generation… So your son will be even better than you.” 

“Only in the thought of how his mother might react,” he pointed out carefully. Snorting, he shook his head, “I have perfect taste. He simply will have more resources, and so be able to be better.”

“Right, right. Sophie would yell at us if he got hurt, magic or no.” Calcifer nodded thoughtfully, “So what do you do if he wants to have an awful sense of fashion?”

“Exactly. The goal is to keep Morgan from getting hurt, but we both know we don’t want to stifle him if he does wind up with magic,” he pointed out with a heavy sigh. An outraged noise escaped him and he shook his head, “My son wouldn’t dare. He has too brilliant of an example for that.”

“I am sure you do,” she said, her voice low with amusement as she moved to find a broom.  The amusement turned to a laugh as he admitted his fault, but managed to do so in a way that made it sound like a strength.  “Are you considering it your only specialty?” 

“It can be difficult to keep track after a while.” He nodded and sipped his tea. He generally had to count back whenever someone asked. The longer it went on, the less he believed he’d see his family again.

“It can be. That’s why I simply chose to make the best out of life here,” he smiled easily. He had most everything he wanted here, after all, so it wasn’t such a hard thing.

Calcifer just blinked and stared at Howl, “How is that going to stop the magic if it happens?” They looked around as if expecting something to floating around the house. 

“Oh, it won’t do that. It will just keep him from hurting himself if he rockets himself into a wall,” he shook his head.

Sophie fixed a straight-faced look of exasperation on her husband, but she was sure her eyes betrayed her amusement.

“On the contrary, I think rough hands and the occasional dirt could be quite attractive,” she opined. Her minor, fake irritation faded somewhat. If nothing else, he was an adorable father. His flights of fancy and explosions of temper were, in part, because he cared as much as he did. “The best of both worlds indeed, but as per usual, you have taken the best job as well.”

“More than two years. Yourself?”

He frowned as he tried to think of the passing of time. “Not entirely sure. Long enough to have been on the council,” he pointed out with a chuckle, “So at least a few years.”

“… What if he has powers here?” Calcifer paused, looking at Howl, “How do we prepare for a toddler trying to mess with things?” 

“Lots of pillows? Padded bumpers?” He wrinkled his nose at the idea of it.

“Yeah, I guess” Calcifer made a face, “For a human anyways. Well sort of human. Neither you or Sophie can entirely qualify.” 

“I was about to see, he’s sort of... extra.”

“I suppose” They huffed, “At least the baggage you have is alright. So I guess it isn’t so bad.” 

“My baggage is rather cute,” he reached over to run a finger over Morgan’s hair with a little grin.

“Yeah, well… You’re a pain in the ass partner. Thank god Sophie and Morgan come with you now.” 

“And you’d miss me,” he grinned, “And yes, yes, I come with more baggage now.” He snorted, knowing he was only teasing.

“I never want to say yes to anything” Calcifer huffed, “Saying yes to a deal with you has been a lifetime commitment and I don’t plan on doing another one of those any time soon.” 

“Awww, I’m your only lifelong partner, I’m touched.”

He nodded at that explanation, thinking tame was a good description of Fableton most of the time. “No, it’s quite different. My home was small and rather simple. The technology here is new to me. Many things are. Or were.”

“I take it that you’ve been here for a while, then?”

He nodded and trailed Howl to the table, shrugging out of his jacket before he took a seat. “What sort of place did you live in before Fableton?”

Howl considered how best to answer the question as they settled in. “Parts of it weren’t so different, really. Most of it wasn’t, actually. This place is just more... tame... than parts of home. You?”

“Which is all the time” Calcifer sighed dramatically, “But fine. I can definitely do that.” 

“Noncommittal noises that are neither agreements or disagreements is key. You don’t want to accidentally say yes to something,” he chuckled.

“But I was a fire demon” They frowned, “Something to be afraid of. Now I just get little students complaining about everything. They are so annoying, Howl. How did you deal with Michael?” 

“You tune them out when it’s absolutely nothing important,” he suggested.