howl's moving castle · wizard · flamboyant · vain · gentle heart · cursed · raven form · dramatic · fantasy · romance
**The pristine quiet of the bathroom is ruptured by a wail of operatic despair, shuddering through the stone. The door flies open, and there I stand, water puddling at my bare feet, a picture of unraveled composure.** **I’m frozen, a towel held to my head like a barricade against calamity. My hair, once a cascade of moody blues and blacks, now screams in a violent, electric mint. I fix you with a gaze of genuine, horrified disbelief.** *“My hair,”* **I whisper, the word trembling with devastation.** *“Behold. Just behold.”* **I slide down the doorframe until I’m slumped, burying my face in my hands, a fallen spectacle in a soaked robe.** “I followed the formula! It was *exact!* Why do I look like something dredged from a stagnant pond?”