In which two talk
The daylight twinkled through the spotless windows of the manor, the grand house the stood in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by the scorched trees, from last nights fire and, perhaps, pervious ones. Wind whipped and whirled, cold wind, around the house, causing trees to creak like rusted bolts in forgotten doors.
The girl was all to glad to get back inside, inside the house that Calcifer was keeping nice and toasty. She muttered under her breath, thought as she kicked off her boots with some difficulty, arms full of wood and pockets full of plums, hair hanging like the ears of a bushy dog in her face. She was getting so dirty doing all this silly man work, if it wasn’t already scattered everywhere, she wouldn’t be doing it at all. Silly Calcifer, needing wood to burn, and whatnot.
But, but...Oh! Her chest felt so wonderful, so wonderfully light. Without a heart! What a marvellous thing! She wanted everyone to experience this magical feeling...
There were no tears for the plum trees she once loved, because she couldn’t- love that is. Oh, she felt rather bad for them, but it wasn’t overwhelming. It was nice, there was no worry, and no doubt. Not one of her thoughts had a single cloud in them. As she kicked off her boots in the narrow entrance hall, she made a mental list of things to ask-
“Hey!” The fire demon yelled from the floor, as he had made a very nice wooden path for himself, moving the partially burnt planks of wood along until he ran out of wood, which he did right in front of the hall way. He was down to only a half of plank, looking a little dismayed, “Coulda ya move it a little faster, I’m starving!”
-Calcifer.
“What on Earth are you doing, Calcifer?“ The girl sighed, her thin eyebrows arching perfectly. She bent over, picking the wood Calcifer was on up, wood spilling out over her arms. They hit the floor, the ungodly clean floor. But she walked over them, making Calcifer ponder if she was the one that kept this place so ridiculously clean, it didn’t seem like it.
“I’m hungry,” He whined, spitting out some off coloured flames. He bobbled on the top of his final plant of wood, struggling to stay on, “And bored. Are you just gunna leave me in the fireplace for our century?”
“Our centrury?” The girl inquired smoothly, entering the Living room. It was equally stark and clean as the rest of the house, with a plushy white carpet (the kind that collect dead skin and dust mites), furniture that looked like it was furnished by puritan old lady, and silly little knick knack that sat on super polished tables that had no real purpose at all. Calcifer looked around, not sure what to think. Those super clean people usually had a few nuts and bolts loose. “What ever do you mean?”
Calcifer didn’t reply as she placed him back down in the fireplace, dumping what wood remained in her arms on top of him. He made all sorts of complaining noises, and all sorts of complaints that she promptly ignored as she went about, picking up the fallen wood. Calcifer supposed it was because he didn’t answer her right away, but then again she could have just been moody...Great, a moody adolescent girl.
He pushed the wood around underneath him so he could sit more comfortably watching her dump the firewood next to him with a sigh. He averted his simple eyes as she knelt down in front of him, he decided to pretend to be completely absorbed in wood picking.
“Do you like it?” She asked suddenly, causing Calcifer to drop the tiny piece he was inspecting into himself, it made her smile, “The wood, I mean.”
“Oh, yeah,” He replied, his voice was as quick as his wit, sharp and ever burning as his fire, which was now spread out wide amongst the soft wood, “Its really tasty stuff, kinda like rainy days only with a little more-”
“Plum?” So quickly she had produced the plum, it was as though magic had transported it into her hand. Calcifer watched her rolling the plum along the tops on her fingers, mud covered from the little out door excretion.
She placed the plum down in front of him, which he quickly gobbled up with much yummy nummy sounds, pit and all. The girl laughed as she pulled the rest of the plums out. A powerful fire demon indeed! That was like calling a kitten a scary tiger!
“Hey,” Calcifer called as she stood up and started to walk away, he stuffed another plum in his mouth before he continued, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“To bathe,” She replied, mounting the stairs, “I’m filthy, can’t you tell?” She climbed them up, two at a time with her long legs. The stairs disappeared into the upstairs, in what looked like a cut out square, like the stairs were added later to connect the house together.
“What?!” Calcifer wailed, “Do that later!”
No reply came, nor any sounds, it was like she transcended into another realm entirely, “Keep me company!” He cried, trying again.
He waited...still no answer. Calcifer shifted forward, holding on to the andiron, that thing in front of the fireplace, “Don’t I even get to know your name?”
Success! The girl thundered down the stairs quickly, already damp in the hair and apparently lacking clothes as that’s what bathing people tend to do. Her eyes sparkled like star points, like star points up to no good. She hung her head down, grinning.
“It’s Howl,” She replied, before tromping back up the stairs again.
“Howl?!” Calcifer yelled after her, sinking down into the grill, “That’s not a name!”
“No more not a name then Calcifer!” She yelled back down at him, laughter in her voice.
Calcifer grumbled something under his crackling fire, snatching up another plum and devoured it.