Chapter Text
It was another sunny day in New Kahln City and Agott was loading in the last batch of flowers into the van.
“Dad?” Agott called out.
Olruggio leaned out the door, binders in his hands, “Hmm?”
“All black on a day like today? Isn’t it supposed to be hot?” Agott asked, pointing to the sleeves on her Snugstone Flowers shirt.
“Yes, but Mr. Qifrey had asked us to dress comfortably, and that the studio is normally kept cold,” Olruggio said, locking the door behind him, “Besides, normally for stuff like this you have to wear the orange vest you hate, so don’t complain.”
“Fair enough.” Agott said, jumping up to reach the cord to close the back and locked the hatch in place.
Agott buckled her seatbelt and plugged her reading tablet into the charger port.
“Did you fall asleep reading again last night? What book was it this time?” Olruggio asked, plugging his phone into the other cord, buckling his seatbelt, and putting the address into the GPS app.
“Same one as the last time. The main character, Daniella has to take this insane test on the way to the City of Silver but she can’t let anyone see that she’s using her powers or she’ll fail.” Agott said.
Olruggio started driving, “So, she’s cheating using her powers?”
“No. The point is for her to use her powers, but she has to do it discreetly so that no one else sees, because then she’ll fail and she has to wait a whole year to take it again.” Agott said, matter of factly.
Olruggio stopped at the red light turning on the indicator, “Reminds me of a class I had to take in my first year of community college back in the day.”
“Wait, you failed a class?” Agott asked.
“Yep, it was my History of New Kahln class. Had to take it twice because I failed the final. Even though I technically passed the class, my professor said this,” Olruggio made the turn before getting stopped at another red light, “I’m not letting you pass onto the next part of this course line until you pass the final.” He said mockingly.
“Your professor sounds annoying. If I ever become a teacher, I hope I’d never turn out like her.” Agott pouted, leaning against the window.
Olruggio pulled into the parking lot and handed Agott his phone.
“Could you text Qifrey and tell him that we’re here please? I’m going to unlock the back.”
“On it.” Agott unbuckled her seatbelt and started typing fast, “Sent.”
“Alright, let’s start bringing the flowers in.”
The two of them were unloading the cart when Alaira came out to meet them both with a rolling cart with Euini sat on top of it.
“Good morning to you both! Glad to see you. Need help getting the flowers up?” Alaira asked, already heading towards the van.
“Perfect timing Alaira! Could you take this cart up please?” Olruggio asked.
“Euini, could you grab this bundle for me please, I think I added too many flowers to this one.” Agott strained, trying to pick up the bundle.
“Oh sure, wait, be careful of your back Agott!” Euini exclaimed, helping her lift it.
Olruggio and Alaira laughed at both of them, continuing to load up the cart bed.
“Are you also in the test photoshoot? What’s up with the pantsuit?” Olruggio asked.
“Yep! About a week ago, Qifrey asked for my and Euini’s measurements, and when Qifrey and his girls pulled up, he handed me the outfit to change into. Euini’s going to change into his later.” Alaira closed the door and locked the hatch.
Everyone started walking towards the large elevator, with Olruggio and Alaira pushing the carts and Euini and Agott carrying the extra-extra large bouquet of flowers.
Alaira leaned against the wall of the elevator, “It’s honestly a miracle Euini said yes, this morning was trouble because I couldn’t find his ANC Sensory Headphones this morning, so he’s been borrowing mine.”
“Has the therapy you were recommended by that one guy been working for him though?” Olruggio asked, watching over Agott and Euini.
“He’s made impressive progress, he’s gotten to the point where he can be in a larger classroom. So when the school year starts up again next month he’ll be in that.” Alaira smiled.
“Oh well that’s good. Progress is progress.” Olruggio smiled.
The elevator doors opened up to the 15th floor and the carts were pushed out. A bright space, pierced their eyes with a faux stage set up and streamers and ribbons were strewn about carefully across it. Three girls were running around in cute outfits who made their way over.
“Dad! The florists are here!” The pink one yelled.
Qifrey rushed out, still fixing his collar, “Welcome in! Olruggio, lovely to see you again,” Qifrey squatted down slightly, “And you must be Agott. Lovely to meet you.”
Agott stuck out her hand, “Thank you for hiring us to help you. This is heavy, is it alright that set these down and start getting ready?”
Qifrey shook her hand, “Yes, of course. Do what you need to get done according to the photo.”
Agott and Euini started separating the flowers while Olruggio started to set out the flowers on the opposite end of Euini and Agott.
Alaira pulled Qifrey aside, whispering, “Don’t worry about her, she does this when she’s nervous,” She smiled, “So how do you think the dinner went?”
“Well Olruggio and Agott are here so I think it went well. Also you never told me he had a kid!” Qifrey whispered back.
“Well I figured the both of you could use an ice breaker. I didn’t tell him you had three either.” Alaira laughed quietly.
“I suddenly feel like you had an ulterior motive for this.” Qifrey crossed his arms.
Alaira put her hand just above her lips in pretend shock, “Oh Qifrey how could you ever say something so insane?”
“Oh knock it off!” Qifrey waved at her.
Agott sat at a table with the other children, focusing quietly on separating the extra large bouquet into smaller ones for them to carry.
“So your name is Agott? My name is Coco. The one with pink hair is Tetia, and the blue one is Richeh.” Coco happily exclaimed.
“Nice to meet you all. Do you guys help Mr. Qifrey with his work or are you just models?” Agott asked, continuing to curl the ribbons.
“A bit of both!” Coco replied, watching Agott’s hands intensely.
“Yeah! We’re kind of his design apprentices! I like designing toys! If all goes well, my toy line will be debuting the same day as the fashion show! All the teddy bears and alphabet blocks that you see are all my designs.” Tetia smiled, pointing to each of the toys.
“Hmm… part of me wonders if I should incorporate the bears into the bouquets. Maybe tie the ribbons around the bears?” Agott said, thinking out loud, Tetia smiling big in response.
“I helped design the set for the actual fashion show. Today is just the testing photoshoot to see how things will be set for the photoshoot next week.” Richeh said, quietly.
“You use a lot of ribbons in your designs, when you prototype do you use ribbon for it?” Agott asked, pausing to look at Richeh, “Do you want to help me curl the rest of the ribbons?”
“Yes, I split the ribbons by the seam and add metal so that it can hold its shape. I get a lot of my ribbons from Coco.” Richeh nodded, taking some of the ribbon and curling it with the scissors.
“From Coco?” Agott turned to face Coco who was kicking her legs back and forth in the seat.
“Yeah, I run my mom’s fabric shop. It’s kinda hard running it without her but I still have a solid amount of clientele! I do the fabric supply for Mr. Qifrey.” Coco smiled sheepishly.
“That’s still impressive, never mind the weird labor laws surrounding that… I’m sorry for your loss also.” Agott shrugged.
“It would be a law issue but Mr. Qifrey officially adopted me into the family with Richeh and Tetia after Mom passed so he has it run under a second business… or something like that. And it’s okay, I like to think she’s still watching over me.” Coco explained, leaning slightly off of the chair.
Agott opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the sound of clicking heels.
“Hello, I’m Luluci with Moralis Photography, is Miss Alaira or Mr. Qifrey here?” Luluci asked.