November 3rd, 1891 - National Portrait Gallery
Irene Crawley

Getting out of the shop was good for her. She needed the distraction that work provided, especially now that her office felt suffocating after what had happened with Noble after her disastrous attempt at getting some sleep. She had gotten one night's decent sleep this week, but now her body felt even more starved for that rest. At least a brisk walk down the streets of London would certainly help her. Perhaps a stop at a tearoom on the way home was also in order. A little tea would helpa against the chill and provide a much-needed perk up to help her finish out her day.

Daff had never been to the National Portrait Gallery before, and she was surprised to learn it had a magical side to it. The directions had been quite simple and once she was in, asked after a Miss Crawley. The Potts family had been commissioned to decorate for some private function or another (or so she assumed) at the Gallery and Daff was in to see what she was working with. Zinnia would have been the better choice, given her sister's love of art, but she hadn't been available and since Daff was trying to take on more of a business role in the family, she supposed she would have to do. She was creative enough to handle it, everything would be fine. It took some vision to decorate and entire gallery with the appropriate life, but she had done the bulk of the work on her father's party in the park this summer, which had gone over pretty well.

After being led into a small room to wait, she paused to admire some of the artwork on the walls. Painting was certainly not her forte, she could sketch with charcoal fairly well, but nothing much other than flowers. Her creativity tended to come out in arrangements themselves, with the real, dimensional flowers, not on a canvas. Still it was easy to appreciate anything that someone put so much obvious care and love into. She was examining a lovely still life when she realized she was no longer alone in the room. "Pardon me, I was just looking. Miss Crawley? Daffodil Potts of The Florist Potts. I was asked to design some decorations for a party?" Daff smiled easily as she turned her full attention toward the other woman.

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The opening of the magical wing of the portrait gallery had been descended upon them all way too soon and, in Irene's estimation, had been rather haphazardly thrust into her and Louisa's hands. Without warning they had been made volunteers and Irene, the head of decorations. After a rather hectic afternoon darting from corner to corner of the new gallery, Irene now had about two dozen requests from the portraits currently hung on the wall (and another half-dozen from those being restored) about what flowers would look best and which wouldn't. One portrait she'd been restoring had even insisted he was allergic to chrysanthemums, the mention of which had dragged Irene into a 20 minute long debate.

She had just been on the brink of winning this argument when a voice piped up from the other side of the room. The best thing about being in a live portrait gallery was that the portraits could warn them who was in the little make-shift waiting room. The downside to this was often times the portraits knew more than they did. Case in point, this one particular portrait had sidled into their frame to let her know someone was in their little waiting room.

"We are not finished with this conversation." She exclaimed to the painting before getting up and taking off her apron and setting it on the stool. She absently swiped at her cheek, likely not getting rid of a small streak of blue paint on her cheek and wiping her hands on a towel before she walked through the gallery.

She pushed open the door, ready to burst into an exclamation as to why she was delayed, but her excuses died on her tongue as she saw the young woman observing the paintings they had. A smile perked on her lips and she closed the door, walking over to the painting, which seemed to alert the other woman to her presence. "Yes, that'll be me." She said with a smile, and a nod of greeting, though her eyes still trailed on the painting Miss Potts had been observing. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Potts."

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"Lovely to meet you indeed," Daff agreed with a wide smile. She hadn't seen much of the gallery, which made sense, as it wasn't open yet, but she was thoroughly intrigued by the very idea of a magical gallery. Muggle ones were already a spectacular way to spend a rainy Saturday and the paintings didn't even move! To be able to chat with the paintings and move about the different eras and styles!

"How is it that we can help you Miss Crawley?" Daffy turned her attention back to the pretty face before her, sketchbook and quill ready to jot down any notes about what it was they gallery was looking for in regards to flowers or any other decorations they might need. If she understood the initial contact correctly, it would be a rather large undertaking, for which Daff was quite excited. She may have to pull Thistle from her workshop to help this time, which would be interesting. Zinnia would certainly enjoy this particular assignment however. It would be a family endeavor, certainly.

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"Well -" Irene began, a multitude of explanations beginning to crowd her tongue before she closed her mouth, biting her lip as she looked around the waiting room. They would also likely need this area decorated as well, wouldn't they? A multitude of designs began to leap to Irene's mind as she surveyed the area above Miss Potts' head - nothing too elaborate, seeing as guests would be entering via a magical panel in the National Portrait Gallery, but there was nothing stopping customers from ending up here and lamenting over the lack of decorations...

Brilliant.

With that, Irene was jolted back to her current visitor she had and color flooded her cheeks as she realized she'd trailed off completely. "Forgive me, Miss Potts, it's been quite hectic here." She provided by way of an excuse before clasping her hands together. "I believe it would be best to start in the gallery, so why don't you follow me?" She nodded toward the doorway, walking through and holding the doors open for the florist.

Perhaps it would be best for them to start in the gallery, where she might get the full effect of what they were working with. As they walked through, Irene saw the paintings still automatically to look towards who had come in before going back to their conversations. Even so, Irene shot them a look that clearly said, Behave yourselves.

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"I can see that, but most exciting nevertheless." She really was enchanted by the whole thing and thrilled to be part of the opening. Miss Crawley did seem to be almost a little overwhelmed by it though and so Daffy passed her a soft smile, following easily as they moved on from the waiting room.

Seeing the space would give Daffy a better idea of how grand the whole thing was to be, but of course as her brain already jumped to suitable arrangements and décor, Daffy realized she would have to wait and see what it was exactly Miss Crawley and her associates wanted as well. "Did you have a particular vision in mind?" Her wheels were already turning; different arrangements in each gallery, suiting the sorts of paintings and their techniques or periods, but with something cohesive to tie everything together. She had a myriad of questions poised to fall off the tip of her tongue, but she tended to get ahead of herself, when that happened and so she managed to still the onslaught before it began.

"How much of the gallery will we be providing pieces for?" That was an easy place to start, she supposed, as she poised her quill over her notebook.

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At the mention of a vision, Irene glanced at Miss Potts, studying her taking in the gallery. She certainly seemed young, but nevertheless quite capable. Having been underestimated about her capabilities throughout her life, Irene knew not to underestimate others of the same caliber, and she gave Miss Potts a grateful smile as she followed her gaze around the gallery. "A majority of the gallery, I believe," Irene replied, tilting her head to peer up at the high-vaulted cieling. She'd never seen the gallery from a decorator's point of view, and so her curiosity was piqued imagining how they would get decorations up there. Levitation charms, surely, but one never knew everything there was to know about a craft, and so she was interested in hearing the techniques that the florists used to make the decorations last. And were there specific scents of flowers that went with other flowers but clashed with the rest? How would that be mitigated if the flowers looked pretty together?

To stop the barrage of questions that threatened to spill forth, Irene bit her lip and began with the matter of quantity. "As much as our budget will allow, I imagine," Irene mused, knowing that it was a far cry from an accurate answer. "I know the ball after will be themed as a jungle, but I have no qualms with the two themes being entirely different from each other."

She scanned the portraits around them, taking in their reactions. "Most are determined to look good in a gallery setting - some of them have even gone so far as to demand specific flowers surrounding them." This message she delivered with an apologetic grimace on her face. "Have you ever decorated a gallery setting before?"

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Daffy was already taking notes as they moved, marking down the room, its paintings and their style, before she paused to add tropical to the very top of the list. "I'm sure we can accommodate whatever it is," Daffodil could easily make the arrangements fit any budget, so that was not necessarily the problem.

"Tropical flowers will be a nice contrast to some of the more traditional paintings." Daffy thought. "Though I may suggest that we tamper them with some local favorites here and there." The vision was blooming in her imagination already and Daff could picture the flowers now as she looked around the gallery itself. "I would be happy to take the paintings' wishes into consideration." What a task that would be! She was up for the challenge she thought, however, ready to tackle it and do her best.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Daffy wrote down a couple more notes before turning her attention back to Miss Crawley.  "This will be a first, but my dear sister Zinnia is an artist and she will be helping, so I imagine we can handle it. Did you have any specific colors in mind? I had a few thoughts." Daffy thought in bright colors, always, so that was nothing new, but she liked to make sure she wasn't running in a direction that was unwanted.

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She wanted to give a sigh of relief - even though it would be the Potts' first time decorating for a gallery, they were still the experts in exposition, and Irene was grateful for any sort of advice they could give. Local flowers would tie in nicely, she agreed, and nodded along at Miss Potts' musings. "Oh, they'll love you for that." She responded with a grin, truly meaning it. The paintings were always appreciative when someone else took their feelings into account. Sometimes Irene worried she was too hard on them sometimes. But then again, their requests were so outlandish at times, it was hard not to give them a hard time for it.

"I did have some ideas about colors, but more about the general color scheme - jungle to me seems like lots of greenery with more bright colors scattered here and there." She went about gesturing a slightly paint-covered hand in the air to demonstrate her thought process. "But again, you're the expert so I would defer to you on your opinion!" Irene added with a smile, thoroughly enjoying envisioning what the final result would look like.

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Daffy nodded along and took notes as they moved, quite practiced at the multitasking of getting everything written down so she wouldn't forget anything. "I'll take a walk around to get some input when we're finished, if you don't mind." She was eager to hear what the paintings had to say on the matter after all. It might be tricky to get so many perspectives into a cohesive design, but she was pretty sure she and Zin could handle it.

"Please feel free to share whatever it is you'd like to see, you would know the space best. The more information the better we can meet the vision." Generally that was how Daffy operated. She was pretty good at paring down the information to make everything work. She had grown up around flowers, spent every day around them, had decorated numerous spaces to date, this would be large, but not unreasonable. It would be good for the shop's reputation if they could pull it off. "I'll have Zinnia do some sketches before we start anything, just to make sure it's to taste." Working with artists, Daff thought the visuals might be necessary.

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The more they walked around, the easier of a time Irene had with envisioning which flowers could go where. She could feel her pace quicken as they walked around, the eyes of the paintings peering from their frames. Irene hoped to God they stayed quiet while Miss Potts was making her assessments. Though she supposed some of the paintings — despite looking beautiful together, some of them could...bicker. "I can send you a chart depicting where certain arrangements might look best." She responded, smiling. "Though I've no preference in terms of what flowers are used, there are a few places where arrangements might be more useful and...conducive to the night's atmosphere." She put delicately, throwing a knowing look at Miss Potts; right on cue two paintings ahead of them had begun to argue, and Irene attempted to suppress a laugh.

"As you can imagine, the curators would like an exciting atmosphere rather than a rowdy one!"

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Daff was very astutely taking notes, pausing here and there to take in her surroundings. "Perhaps a copy of the building's layout and the displays in each section would be helpful." She mused. It would certainly help her to visualize the project in its entirety and give her a good space to make notes and plans for each piece.

"Rowdy would certainly not be on the list, no." Daffy chuckled. She loved a lively event as much as the next girl, but generally preferred if things stayed in control. "Would some sketches or samples be helpful for me to come up with?" Some small sample arrangements would be easy enough to do and since she knew artists tended to be visual people, might be a good way for Miss Crawley and her coworkers to get an idea of what Daffy already had going on in her head.

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Oh, that was a good idea. Blueprints would also give the florist some more precise dimensions to work with. Irene had been about to suggest she provide some sketches of the area, but in truth those would take a bit longer to produce especially if she wanted to provide precise measurements. "I'll have our curator pull them from our archives so I can pass them onto you and your sister," She noted, praying to Merlin she would actually remember to do so.

"Oh, yes that would certainly be helpful, though I shouldn't want you to do more work than is necessary," She always benefited from something more visual rather than descriptive, but given that she dealt with many a commissioned client whose abilities to describe certain things left much to be desired, she always made do with what she was given. That Miss Potts seemed eager to help out where she could spoke volumes to Irene, and she smiled gratefully at her. "On second thought, why don't you come with me and I can provide you the blueprints now," She suggested, gesturing to the doorway to the painting studio. "It might be beneficial to get you as much as I can now so you aren't running back and forth between your shop and here!"

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