Fandom: Howl's Moving Castle

Title: Systems

Word Count: 721

Author: silentstarlight/jikie/oftrivia

Pairing/Characters: Sophie with hints of Howl, Calcifer, Michael, the King, Prince Justin, Mrs. Fairfax, Mrs. Cesari, Ben Sullivan, Lettie, and Martha

Rating: G

Disclaimer: I do not have any claim to Howl's Moving Castle, unless its fanfiction. :)

Summary: Sophie works on the financial report for the flower shop only to have Howl leave her a sheet of equations in the morning.

Notes:Pointless but fun to write! It came to me in the middle of AP Art History, where I started scribbling it down in the middle of my teacher's lecture. I have math before Art History. Knowledge of math is not required.

4.2.08 Thank you to those who pointed out the lack of equal signs!

Math wasn't that bad, Sophie thought as she solved the equations and put together a financial report for the flower shop. Of course, she preferred reading to problem solving, but there was something about math that was comforting. Probably something to do with the fact that numbers were quite solid.

1 plus 1 would always equal 2. 6 multiplied by 6 would always equal 36. As long as you knew the concept and did the basic arithmetic properly, would reach the correct answer. The same answer every time even.

Or at least, that was what the cheat sheet—the one she made for school a while back while attempting to put off studying for that particular subject for finals—said.

It was getting late. Sophie had been struggling with matrices for the past hour or so. Trying her hand a reduced row echelon form made her head hurt. Thought the whole process did make solving multiple systems a lot easier. Even so, maybe she should get Howl to get her a graphic kakulator, or whatever it was called, from Wales. He said, it would make math quick and painless, though Sophie would stake her walking stick that learning to use the thing would be even more complicated than getting one to Ignary.

It was similar to the time when Howl and attempted to explain to the three of them—Calcifer, Michael, and herself—the concept of automobiles and liticity. Calcifer was all for installing liticity in the moving castle, especially when he found out that you could use it to heat water and to heat stoves. Though Calcifer was technically free, he was still being exploited, and that was all his own fault; Calcifer despite all his threats, was too nice for his own good.

Calcifer was dozing off in the grate; he had gone to explore the neighboring country and came back slightly shaken as the occupants of that particular country decided that he was a deity and wanted to keep him in a jar. Michael was asleep after being hoodwinked by Martha to help her all day in the carrying to massive trays of baked goods. He had been compensated with a small fortune of baked goods for his labors, which they had eaten for dinner.

Sophie dropped the pen on the table. She had been doodling or writing, she didn't bother to check, and headed for bed. Howl—whom the Prince Justin had dragged out on account of his Royal brother the King to a meeting that had had tried to ditch—could let himself into the castle. And they probably did feed him at the palace, so she didn't bother leaving anything out for him.

The next morning, Sophie woke up early to clear off her papers from the table so they could eat breakfast on it.

There was a new sheet of paper that hadn't been there the night before. She picked it up and read it. It was in Howl's handwriting.

MATH GIVES YOU THE SAME ANSWER EVERYTIME

-King + Prince equals many arguments where they threaten to throw each other.

Sophie really couldn't argue with that one.

-Michael x Martha equals wizard bakers?

She raised her eyebrows at that one, though the next one had her smiling.

-Sophie – stick equals safe

-Mrs. Fairfax + Mrs. Cesari equals food

Okay, maybe she should of left food out for Howl the night before, if the food reference meant anything.

-Calcifer / knife equals mini stars

She could hear the wistfulness in that one.

-Howl – royalty equals heaven

She couldn't argue with that one or the next two.

-Sophie + scissors equals Howl's clothes – seams

-Sullivan + Lettie equals Useless lovesick Royal Wizard

That was probably a fact too.

-Sophie + math + Wales equals Sophie's bad spelling (it's calculator and electricity, dear)

Sophie looked at the sheaf of papers that she had been scribbling on last night. To her horror, it appeared that she had written down her thoughts as they appeared in her head, complete with spelling mistakes.

-Sophie ( Howl + Calcifer + Michael ) equals Moving Castle equals Home

Sophie smiled at the last one and added one of her own, then left the sheet where it was for Howl to find.

-Howl + Sophie equals Deaf Market Chipping + lots of flowers

First Draft March 28, 2008

First Post March 30, 2008

Edited April 2, 2008