A perchance meeting (Hana/Markl)

[Markl]

Markl was spending his time alone in the flowery fields. It was far enough away from humanity that he could be himself, and also all the others of the flying castle were busy and interested in their own things anyways.

As he hummed lightly, he started to gather together a handful of buds, interested in what they would do to a mixed with other things. He was quite the experimenter these days.

Smiling to himself and enjoying the mid afternoon sun, he paused to gaze out over the field. There seemed to be no one around for as far as the eye could see…

[Hana Mizuki]

Hana's traveling had led her to an unknown place of beautiful flowers. Countless flowers as far as the eye could possibly see. She was enjoying the sun, which shined upon her creamy white skin. Her dark eyes glancing over the countless fields. "Such a beautiful day!" She looked to the farest place, it seemed she wasn't the only one here! "Oh?" Maybe she wasn't suppose to be here, or this was a private place.

Oh well, she was here, right? She started to make her way over to the object or person in the distance. "Hello?" She asked softly, before coming upon a boy. "Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't know anyone was here!" She waved happily, before stepping back some. A big smile crossing her features, while her hands laced behind her back. Her waist swaying so lightly, to where it seemed she was really happy. In which she was, who wouldn't be on such a beautiful day?

[Markl]

Markl was shocked to hear the voice, and when he turned around to see the lovely blond girl moving towards him his whole body immediately went into a state of panic.

His throat turned dry, as the redness that darkened his face matched the color of his hair. The flowers he held were instantly crushed and he became as stuff as a board. His heart raced so quickly he thought it might burst.

Who was the girl? And why was she talking to him? Markl couldn’t help himself. He just stared silently at her with an expression of wide-eyed fear as she came nearer.

[Hana Mizuki]

She couldn't help but to think his reaction was so cute! "Shy?" She asked, while reaching her hand out towards him. She was wanting a hand shake, an introduction you could say. "Hi, I'm Hana." She giggled lightly, tilting her head. She loved the color of his hair. But she couldn't help to notice the shade of red covering his small cheeks. "Cute." She said out loud, she was sort of blunt with her words at times. Or maybe she was just naive.

"If this is a private place, I'm sorry! I was just looking around, you know!?"

[Markl]

Markls eyes blinked a few times as his eyes moved slowly down to the hand that was offered him. He stared at it for a long moment before realizing the girl had spoken.

“Uh…uh well um… no… no it isn’t actually…” He stammered loosening at bit and shifting himself so as not to stand at such an awkward position. He knew he was being silly to be so shy, and as Sophie had told him he needed to learn how to be more social. This girl was obviously nice. What was the harm in having a simple conversation.

He then realized she was still waiting for a handshake. “Oh! Um…” He held out his hand, the one that contained the flowers, and placed it in hers, shaking it and withdrawing it awkwardly, leaving the flowers where his hand had been…

"I'm Markel"

[Hana Mizuki]

Such a cute boy, he was indeed shy. But that didn't bother her, as long as he was nice, she was fine. "Nice to meet you, Markel." She replied, shaking his hand. But once he with drawed, she felt flowers with in her palm. "Aw, pretty." She said, placing one behind her ear. "How does it look?" She smiled, winking playfully at him.

She heard him say it wasn't really a private place, so then she could enjoy some rest here, huh? "Thank goodness, I've been traveling awhile and needed a pretty place for rest. This shall due perfectly! " She giggled, flopping herself down into the flowers and grass, before letting her eyes shoot up to look at him. "Wanna spend sometime with me?" She leaned back onto her hands, still looking at him.

[Markl]

Markl could have been knocked over with a feather, the way the girl took his flower and placed it behind her ear, and then how she smiled at him. The tone of her voice and the look in her eyes made him feel like his insides were going to start cart wheeling all over the field. He had to gain some control…

"Its...uh... very nice..."

He mentally smacked his forehead.

As she sat he looked down at her, then looked over in the direction of the door that lead to the castle. He didn’t actually know if it was private property. After all, no one but he and the others of the castle seemed to even know of its existence.

Seeing as no one was coming from that direction he looked back at the girl who was making herself comfortable on the ground in front of him. He gulped and adjusted his bowtie, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about every aspect of himself.

“Well… I uhhh…” He hesitated then said, “Okay.” And sat down beside her, crossing his legs under him and folding his hands into his lap. Unsure of what to say or do next, he glanced side long at her, wondering how it was possible that a girl as pretty as she even existed….

[Hana Mizuki]

She giggled once more, she couldn't help but to be amused by his behavior. No one has ever been shy or this way with her before. "You're so cute, Markl." She re-marked, letting her lips curl into a small smirk. She was enjoying her time with this boy for some reason, was it because he wasn't a total perv, or that he seemed innocent enough?

"Todays nice, huh?" She didn't really know what to say anymore, but she had to keep the conversation going! She loved meeting new people, making new friends and enjoying life it's self. "So, tell me about yourself Markl." She kept her eyes on him, waiting for a reply or something.

[Markl]

Markl blushed even more when she called him cute, and he couldn’t help but smile slightly. He looked at her side-long, watching her smile. He have a small laugh and looked down at his lap. It was true, he was incredibly and even painfully shy of girls, but he wasn’t shy enough to try and get out of this situation.

“Thanks…Hana…” He said softly. He wanted to tell her that she was cute too. Not only that, but also that she was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Even he, with all his social oddities, knew that that might be too much.

Instead he just nodded in response to her question. “Yes. But it’s always nice here. You should see it at night though… I like it better at night when the stars are shinning. You can see hundreds of shooting stars…” He was beginning to relax, forgetting his awkwardness…

[Hana Mizuki]

She saw that he was getting more relaxed with her as time went by. "No problem, Markl. It's true." She nodded happily, before smiling even more brightly to him. But once he started to talk about shooting stars, the girl got all excited, she loved beautiful places. "Shooting stars?!" She asked in a loud voice, leaning up now, instead of laying backwards.

"Will you watch them with me, Markl? Unless you have something else to do. I would of course, understand!" He probably did have something else to do, besides hanging out with a weird girl like her. But it would be great if he didn't have anything else to do. She would probably be moving on in the morning anyways.

[Markl]

Markl was again surprised by this girl. Nighttime was a little ways off and that would mean a few hours of just waiting around for the stars to come out. Did this girl really want to spend that much time with him?

Looking down at her, he checked her expression and found it to seem sincere. Clearing his throat he looked away and shrugged.

“Sure… if that’s what you want. But we’ll need to find some provisions… dusk is a little ways off…”

Already he was thinking about the left over bread and cheese in the castle, and perhaps a blanket for them to sit on. He and Sophie and Howl had sat out and watched the sun set often enough, what would be more natural that simply doing the same thing with this girl?

[Hana Mizuki]

She knew night time was a little ways off. So the two would have to find something to keep them busy till then. She so wouldn't mind spending her time with him, he was sweet. And this place was beautiful, but what to do untill sunset? She didn't have a clue on what they should do. But then she heard him speak. She could only agree. "Yes, I know. So what should we do? Any ideas?" She could only wonder on how they could spend their time. She was so excited to see the shooting stars, it had been awhile since she even stopped to have a cute conversation such as this.

"Hey, do you know anything about the waste lands?" She asked, she was looking for her grandmother. So she had to search everywhere even there. But most people were scared to go there or even talk about it. What was his reaction to the waste lands?

[Markl]

Markl shrugged again. The waste lands were nothing special to him. “Oh yeah. I know plenty about them. Although Calcifer probably knows more than I do…”

He didn’t remember anything before the moving castle. Perhaps it was because his mind didn’t want to remember. In any case, he had practically grown up in the waste lands. If he had known Hana was traveling towards them he could take her into the castle and let her go through the door to them…

“What do you wish to know?” He leaned back on his hands as well and turned to look at her. He didn’t have any ideas for what they could do while they waited. But simple small talk would work for now. He was becoming more and more relaxed with this girl, and now he looked at her freely and without shyness….

[Hana Mizuki]

"Calcifer?" She asked, she didn't know who that was or what he was! But maybe it would be a good idea to meet him for more information on the waste lands. She saw his shyness was disappearing, that made her happy. Really happy, she smiled, before he asked why she wanted to know about them. "Oh, I'm traveling that way. I'm looking for something special." She was indeed looking for something special, her grandmother. There was no trace left of her grandmother after the war. But she wouldn't believe her grandmother was dead, she had to keep moving forward. She wouldn't give up hope!

"I just need to look everywhere I can." She would look around the world if she had to, she would never give up so easly. Her grandmother raised her, gave her so much love. How could she just forget her? She needed to know about this place called the 'waste lands'. "I need to know everything there is to know about them."

[Markl]

Markl saw her excitement and it made him smile as well. He leaned forward and drew his knees up, resting his arms against his legs and clasping his hands together.

“Yeah Calcifer would know a lot about it… although getting him to tell you might be difficult…” He paused to think about what she said. She searched for something special. He wished he had something special to search for. Actually, he wished he had a purpose at all. Lately he felt like his life wasn’t living to its full potential, like he needed more…

“Something special huh….” He thought about this for a moment, looking over the horizon. Deciding to shrug the feelings of want, he stood and reached out his hand to her, “Lets go into the castle and get the things we’ll need. We can ask Calcifer there if you want…”