Chapter Text
Naturally, the first idea involves magic.
A display so extravagant and mindblowing that Coco will never forget it, so that her face will light up and she will fall in love with magic all over again.
She thinks about it. Mainly, the bird of light she had drawn as a distraction during their rescue at the river, when she had felt the first hints of something towards Coco. Unsure whether it would be a good idea to reference a moment of realisation if it happened during a crisis. It could bring back a bunch of bad memories, and that's the last thing she'd want.
Overwriting it with a more positive experience sounds like a better plan. An entirely new experience that will only be recognised as the moment in which Agott expressed her feelings. There needs to be a clear distinction.
No light magic, for starters, which instantly eliminates a whole array of options. That's equal parts good and bad.
Fire would be a bad idea for a glyph that large, especially if it doesn't serve a purpose. The risk of the wind carrying it of someplace undesired would be too high. Earth magic is just… A bit boring to look at, in full honesty, more for practicality and support than for its appearance. Wind magic could be easily missed, if Coco happened to be looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time, not to mention that it's already quite hard to perceive to begin with, and it could kick up dust and debris around it that might get in their eyes.
Water magic, then. A form that can be delicate regardless of it's size, fun to look at because it's still surprising to see it anywhere other than where it would naturally appear or where it has been built into their civilisation. Easier to manage, too, for the aftermath or in case anything goes wrong. So that's decided, lest she spends another month cycling through her options.
But the inspiration refuses to come to her, even as she tries her usual method with small animal glyphs, or whilst she flips through all her different journals and spellbooks, or during their lessons where she gets to live the magic in a way no writing ever could convey. Even if she finds herself looking more at Coco than her paper, at her long eyelashes and her focused gaze and her parted lips that are undoubtedly letting out the same type of soft breaths that always fill the space between their desks during their evening work. Agott likes watching her move; how her hand wraps around that damned customised pen as she carefully maps out her lines with a lasting inexperience.
Eventually, the distraction is so dire that Qifrey pulls her aside to figure out what is wrong, to check whether he can help somehow.
However. That would mean sharing that she has a crush, so she blames it on sleep instead.
A few more days later and her apprehension gradually fades away as she grows more desperate for the perfect idea. Asking Qifrey for help starts to sound more appealing with every pointless scribble she puts down, especially since her professor has more than plenty experience with water glyphs.
Not to mention that their professor has made it clear they can come to him with anything that might be bothering them. So that's bound to include an issue as simple and silly (or, from Agott's perspective, monumental and life-altering) as a confession.
She waits until the sun has set, past her bedtime, when Qifrey usually starts preparing a late night snack that the girls pretend not to know about. Her eyelids are heavy and her defense is lowered as she stumbles into the kitchen and lazily observes the different ingredients placed along the counter. Qifrey's relaxed body language as he maneuvers himself around, all but floating between utensils as he hums a comforting tune.
"Professor?" She interrupts his moment of peace.
"Agott?" The surprise in his voice seems fair enough, as he puts down his tools and turns around to lean back against the counter. "Can't sleep? I can make you some tea."
"Oh, no, that's not it," As she plays with her fingers to redirect her nerves. "I need to talk to you."
"That sounds serious," Qifrey attempts to lighten the mood, his smile warm and inviting where he stands, his casual clothes making him easier to approach than his professional witch attire. "Have a seat, I'm almost done here."
Which means that within the next few minutes they are sat at the table with collection of various sweet snacks between them. Joined by their respective cups of tea, which she is happy to warm her hands on, despite her previous claim that she did not need any. She yawns as sleep keeps pulling at her mind, eyeing a cake with consideration for the sugar boost it might give her to stay awake.
Qifrey clears his throat, picking up a small cookie from the tray only to place it on the saucer in front of him without taking a bite. "What's troubling you, my dear?"
She hesitates, not knowing where to begin when her thoughts are all over the place. At least it's nice to know that Qifrey can be trusted. That, in case she does does decide to pour her heart out, her secrets won't float across the atelier until they flood the space entirely. Her own words won't be used to drown her like they have in the past.
Agott exhales a deep breath, plucking the delicate cake she picked up apart without ever putting it in her mouth. As if she will find the answer to everything hidden within the center of the spongy texture.
Her prolonged silence sets Qifrey on the wrong path, as his demeanor suddenly grows intense. "Are you in danger, Agott?"
"No! No, nothing like that," She rushes, her face heating under the flush of embarrassment. To make her professor worry over her safety when the reality is merely a small issue with no looming threat other than a hit to her self-esteem. "I just," As she finally lifts one of the demolished crumbs to her lips to find encouragement in a soothing hint of vanilla. "I want to make something, for someone," Her eyes firmly fixed on the grain of the wooden table to avoid how vulnerable she feels in front of Qifrey's curious gaze. "But I'm stuck on what to do."
"I see," Qifrey sounds amused, now, his cup raised near his face as if the ceramic will hide his smile. He already knows too much after only a single phrase. Or, even worse, this confirms an idea that had been planted in Qifrey's mind before she ever even thought to mention it. "Let's start with what you have so far, and we can go from there."
Qifrey tastes the cookie, approving his own baking skill with a quiet hum.
She thinks it over, whether there is anything among her scattered thoughts that she can use, or if nothing productive has come from her continued efforts. Most of the time, her head has been filled with Coco.
"Not much," She is a bit ashamed to admit her failure. "I want it to be big, and a water glyph, so that it'll be pretty and memorable."
"Who is it for?" Qifrey wonders. Because that is, after all, an important factor in crafting magic catered to a specific person. It's no more than an question to achieve better understanding. Not to pry, or to make her admit to her crush. It's still in her hands to decide how honest she wants to be. Besides, she can still pin it on an act of friendship, when she has made no mention of this being a confession. Although it's clear that Qifrey knows. "If you want to say, of course."
Agott hides her face behind her hands, peeking through her fingers as if that will shield her from potential judgement. It's scary, because it will be her first time admitting it out loud, as her heart thunders in her chest in a way she has never known until now. "For Coco."
It leaves her tongue numb and her lips tingling. She never thought it would be so exciting to inform another person of her budding feelings.
Qifrey keeps smiling at her, though he does cock his head to the side, chuckling under his breath. He takes a slow sip, buying himself time to carefully select his words before he gives a proper response. "You girls have grown close, I see," The witch observes. "I remember how hostile you were at first."
The topic makes her flinch, because she is the furthest from proud of her past behaviour. To try and scare Coco away, to put her in such danger at her first test, to say such nasty words with no filter. She had been so angry and cruel to a girl who was already dealing with so much. It was a wonder that Agott was ever forgiven for her awful actions, and even more of a miracle that the fellow apprentice remains unguarded and vulnerable around her.
"Yes, I," Agott seeks out the most mature phrasing, to prove how serious she is. "I have grown quite fond of her."
"How exciting," Qifrey reassures, tapping his fingers on the side of his cup to hear the subtle chime it creates. A tad nervous, upon closer observation, worried that his support will come out wrong. It's his first time handling such a fragile topic, after all. Young love entrusted in his hands by a rosy-cheeked little witch with the earnest belief that he will know how to keep it safe. He would hate to mess it up, when Agott opening up is such a recent development. "A special glyph sounds like the perfect idea."
Agott releases a breath she did not realise she had been holding, a small smile working its way onto her face as relief washes over her. She feels a lot lighter, now that she does not have to keep it all bottled up, now that Qifrey's reaction has made it seem so normal.
"I wanna see her face light up because of my magic," Agott admits, because she wants to share her reason, because she needs Qifrey to understand how crucial this is. How serious she is.
"Naturally," Qifrey nods, encouraging her to keep talking.
"And I want-" She feels shy again, suddenly, as she realises what this means for the nearby future. Soon enough, she should be in a blunt confrontation with her crush, spilling every embarrassing thought that has been in the way of her work, directly to the origin of her distractions. "I want to hear her laugh, and I want to be the cause of it."
Qifrey gives her a look she has never seen before and therefore can't quite place, and that does make her curl in on herself ever so slightly.
"What?"
"You've become such an admirable girl," He states, with a tasteful hint of disbelief. He refrains from mentioning how fast she's grown up. If he brings up her age, specifically how young she still is, then that might ruin the comfortable atmosphere that has dawned on them.
Agott clears her throat, flustered as she is curious. Eager to figure out what exactly Qifrey means by that, whether he has realised in this very moment and what had been the exact trigger behind it. Maybe falling in love is an experience that sets apart the adults from the children. "Really?"
"I'm glad you have found peace for things like this," Qifrey is graceful as he ellaborates. "A topic outside your studies, a person you like, magic that makes you happy."
She opens her mouth to reply, but fails to see a reason to protest. Coco has changed her life. Added colour to her world, shown that her future is broader than the lone goal of becoming a librarian, a light cast over the darkness that had been gradually spreading within her for years. Coco is bright and warm even when Agott had still been so cold, melting down her exterior until her icy walls had been melted down in their entirety.
Which brings her to the idea that, maybe, she could incorporate ice into her confession.
Maybe ice cream, then, inspired by the sweet crumbs of cake she has been snacking on during this exchange. But Coco might not be in the mood for that, with the harsh, cold weather that has been keeping them cooped up inside. Besides, that would be more about the flavour than the magic involved in making it, which would defeat the purpose of the idea.
A sculpture still feels too simple. She has shown Coco that she is capable of that already, after all, and pulling the same stunt twice is less than impressive.
But a stunt may work. Acrobatics. Or, to ensure their safety, a much milder variation of it.
She settles on a slide. Coco will come down it, and then she will be waiting at the bottom, ready to confess her feelings once her fellow apprentice is standing on steady ground again. Maybe she will even catch her in an embrace, if she tweaks the speed just right.
Then she could say some cheesy line about how she has really warmed up to Coco, and she may even be so bold as to kisshercheek but, those are all scenarios that are only possible under specific circumstances. Small bonuses that she secretly wishes for, but not the main goal. So she dares not dwell on them too long.
"I wanna make her a slide," She mumbles, speaking the words into her cooled down cup of tea with purpose. Giving herself a chance to deny it ever happened in case Qifrey hates the idea.
Qifrey finishes off his cookie, politely cleaning the crumbs off his mouth. He has missed out on her train of thought, and now this concept has been sprung upon him with minimal argument to back the decision, so Agott honestly could not even blame him if he found it ridiculous. But he is always kind, always supportive of his students. He simply nods along in thought, breaking the silence with a quiet hum, as if he has somehow worked out exactly how Agott ended up here without a single question asked. "That sounds perfect."
Which is a relief. As silly as it may sound; she does feel a lot calmer with Qifrey's approval.
"Show me the glyph you're thinking of," He coaxes, pushing a piece of paper and a pot of regular ink in her direction. He'll know whether it will work as intended without a need to activate the magic. "I'm sure you have something in mind."
Agott does a few scribbles before she starts brainstorming different variations that could work. How it should look from the outside, how much support it will need to carry the weight of a person, how it will be the most fun to go down from. All of that is laughably easy to figure out, compared to the process it took to get here so far.
"This should work," She states, sliding it back over to Qifrey for his review. Then quickly, with a sudden doubt of her own ability, she adds a nervous "I think."
He looks it over with a finger curled against his lips, a physical display of how seriously he is taking her glyph into consideration. Then he looks up at the ceiling, imagining how it would turn out based on the lines Agott has put down, calculating the logistics behind her complicated drawing. If all the lines make sense with their purpose, if it can be simplified in any way, if it will work as intended.
Qifrey takes a soft breath, redrawing her version to get a good grasp on it and then starting another right next to it with his own adjustments. A respect for her idea and then showing his suggestion. Not necessarily an improvement, but moreso a measure of the amount of effort she can put in for similar results.
"Oh, I see," Agott muses, unoffended by his input when he shows such understanding for her process. She picks up the sheet, admiring how crisp his lines still appear compared to her own, outshining her even after her endless training to perfect them. "Thank you, professor Qifrey."
"Any time, my dear," He sighs contentedly, resting his chin in his head as she hurries back to her own room to undoubtedly put in some more practice. "Don't stay up too long."
She does not sleep much that night, despite her best efforts.
Instead, she spends the better part of her hours tossing and turning, butterflies going crazy in her belly to keep her wide awake, nerves keeping her palms clammy no matter how many times she has wiped them dry on the sheets.
Every time she starts drifting off, she ends up imagining how Coco will react to her glyph and ends up so giddy about it she wakes up all over again.
When it is finally time to get out of bed, after some very fleeting rest, Agott is delighted to find that more snow has piled up overnight. A perfect fresh base for her to execute her great plan on. With the usual grassy plains covered in an even cast of white, her personalised glyph will stand out even more. And, with the freezing temperatures expected to last, they can savour the memory to the fullest for several days after it initially occured. If it goes as desired, that is.
Agott attempts to skip breakfast so she can get right to work, but is stopped from doing so by a wordless staredown with Olruggio. Hypocrite. Though she does take a seat in front of a bowl of wonderfully aromatic porridge.
The girl has never finished a meal so fast, with her fluffy coat and her hat already on, mittens waiting on the table as if mocking her patience. She does display the manners she was taught as she rinses out her bowl and puts it with the rest of the dishes, but that is all she can muster before she is rushing outside to make her magic come to life.
Her cheeks are burning hot enough to keep her whole body warm amidst the freezing landscape, diligent as she maps out her shapes and lines, the dark ink a stark contrast against the snow. Glistening like crystals when the moon is still doing more to illuminate her surroundings than the morning sun struggling to climb above the horizon. But that's great, because it means her glyph will be done right as the day breaks. Her slide should catch the sunlight just right.
When she steps back into the atelier, she is positively beaming.
"Coco," She adresses, emboldened by her succes up until this point, as the girl is finishing up her last sip of morning tea. Perfect timing. "I wanna show you something."
Right away, the little witch's face brightens, interest finding a place in her sleep addled self. Blind faith in Agott to make it worth her while, cleaning up after herself before she gets ready. She makes sure her layers are warm enough, as she drapes her fuzzy scarf around her shoulders and does up her furred boots. Easy as that, she is bundled up and ready to face the outdoor world. Coco confirms her readiness with a short nod and her lovely mild smile.
Upon closer inspection, Agott takes note of the messiness in her hair, and the smell of her freshly washed bedding that still lingers, the pillow creases still indenting her cheek from where it had been resting on her pillow.
Maybe this is a lot to spring upon a girl who has barely become conscious. But alas, there is no backing out now, when their first steps past the front door have already been made. The proof of their presence pressed into the snow, leaving a trail for any who'd wish to find them, giving the ground a souvenir of the upcoming special event.
Her heart rate is increasing as they approach, the nerves seeping into her system against her will as her mind keeps supplying her with all the possible bad outcomes.
But the structure sure did turn out as impressive as Agott had hoped for; a large vertical spiral standing several feet tall with a thick ladder to reach the top. It's placed in one of the shallow valleys so that the hills around it can shield it from the wind, although that serves to make it feel more private and intimate, when it's more difficult to spot for people who do not know of its existence.
Coco squeals in delight as soon as she sees it, so that's a good start.
She turns to Agott in disbelief, and then back at the slide, and then towards her once more. Her hands twist into the fabric of her uniform in a manner that has been long observed by the nervous girl at her side.
"Go try it out, if you want," Agott offers, feeling all too hot amidst the frigidity, certain that her face could instantaneously melt any snowball hurled in her direction right now. Then, much quieter, almost like she does not want it to be heard. Once she is has the confidence that Coco is out of earshot. "I made it for you."
In the end, Agott decided against her plan to catch her crush at the bottom of the slide, afraid that it might make her feel pressured to accept the confession.
Agott's breath sticks in her throat as her fellow apprentice reaches the top of the ladder, swining her legs over the start of the slide with an endearing amount of concentration. Probably afraid she might slip. Her caution is well placed, since magic ice is still ice after all.
But then she starts coming down, and Agott feels wholly unprepared where she stands, the whole thing moving much faster than she anticipated. She has not prepared what to actually say or do past this point, never went further than knowing she wanted to be honest with Coco about liking her. Agott is running out of time fast and the self induced stress is not helping her think any better.
Coco is stood in front of her before she knows it, all sparkly eyes and radiant smile and flushed cheeks. Her hands are gripping at Agott's shoulders, shaking her back and forth as she fails to contain her excitement. The wonder for magic that has been missing has—at least for now—found its way back to Coco.
"It's so fast!" She marvels, jumping in place without ever releasing her hold on Agott.
"Ah- yes- I-" Agott sputters, willing the words to wrangle free from her throat and frustrated as she comes up empty.
"Let me go get the others," Coco exclaims, bouncing off before Agott has a chance to stop her. Into the same direction as the sun, running towards the light that suits her so well. Leaving Agott to wallow in her failure by herself.
"Coco, I like you," She whispers to herself, with her fists clenched by her sides. Wishing another opportunity to do it correctly into existence, resolute that her next idea will make this one seem like child's play, unwilling to give up on one of the few things in life that she has wanted so badly. This was the practice round, and now she will get (even more) serious with it.