Saturday-Assistant Auditions (Zac, Estelle)

[Zachary LaRousse]

To say that Zac learned a lot from the Mrs. Tonaya would be an understatement. Within just moments of being with her (they haven’t been here for more than an hour or so, right?), he can honestly say he’s been enriched a thousand times over compared to, say, going to those boring three-four hour seminars his uncles push on him during the summer. Sure what they say and what Mrs. Tonaya said are quite similar to each other, but there’s just something about the informal setting of it all (and the fact that Zac isn’t yawning three times per second) that it made it easier for the mimic to process all the information and insight he’s been getting.

“Hah. If only I had a choice Mrs. Tonaya,” smiled the boy. Not that he doesn’t want his future responsibility – he does – he just isn’t sure if he can handle it properly. He may look so confident about everything (and most of the time he is), but when it comes to something as big as handling his family’s legacy, it’s rather daunting. “Hire good people to help me? That sounds wonderful. I might just do that.” He flashed the older woman a sincere smile, and with a bow dashed off to the other side of the shop to grab them flowers their customer requested.

Zac promptly grabbed those he can identify – a couple of hyacinths and a pair of roses – and tried his hardest to find the ones Mr. Tonaya’s mother told them to add. It took him a moment to realize that the flowers do have labels in them, albeit a bit too small for his already deteriorating eyesight. “Hey Mrs. Wilkes,” he whispered, bumping Estelle’s bum playfully with his, “You know how to arrange this? I have this idea of simply clumping them together and wrapping the plastic wrap around them like a springroll, but that isn’t how the Mrs. Tonaya rolls, I think.” In short: “I’ll handle the registry, you handle the bouquet.”

“That’ll be –insertpricehere–“ smiled the boy once more as he punched in the appropriate prices in the register, staring straight at their French customer. She seemed a bit too gruffy for her own good though (going as far as to reject the delicious Momma!cookies; she must be insane really). He made a mental note not to make any cheeky remarks around her. “The bouquet comes with a (small) complimentary card. You want us to write for you or would you prefer to do it yourself?” Zac asked one last time, showing (and handing) a fancy card to the woman.

ooc:
Forgive the whole 'insertpricehere'. I totes have no idea about the whole flower business to give a reasonable estimate. My bad. XD
- Jam

[Estelle Flores]

Estelle swiftly found the remaining flowers, gathering them up in her arms. At Zac’s suggestion (although choosing to ignore the Mrs. Wilkes comment. For now.), she nodded, “Yeah, sure. I got this.” She cast a smile at the woman waiting and went about preparing the flowers. She listened to the woman’s specifications. No vase, going to travel. Okay. She lay them on the free counter, pulling off a large piece of clear plastic wrap and laying the flowers down in some semblance of an arrangement. She felt a little out of her depth here; she’d never arranged flowers before. She was pretty sure there were training sessions for that kind of stuff. Still, she put them together in a way she thought was pretty, keeping in mind the instructions of the customer. Rose in the middle, other stuff around it. Got it.

Once she was done, she turned to Elaine, “Does this look okay?” She held up the arrangement, uncertainty written all over her face. Hopefully it wasn’t too horrible.

[Elaine Tonaya]

Elaine simply nodded when the woman declined the cookies. Then she watched her two assistants go to work. Zac shoved the actual bouquet off on Estelle, she noticed, though he seemed friendly enough at the register. Just a bit hasty, and perhaps more willing to let someone else do the work for him. He was good at the suggestive selling, though, as he offered a card to go along with the bouquet.

Estelle had put together a nice arrangement, though it perhaps could have been done a little more delicately. At least there was room to learn. And the effect wasn't bad, it still looked quite nice.

"That looks fine," Elaine said to the girl. "But here." She plucked a few flowers out and placed them more evenly around the rose. "Just balance this out a little more and it'll be perfect. Excellent work, though--better than some of my early bouquets." Sensing that Estelle might need some extra encouragement, she made sure to smile widely as she said all this. Then she finished off the bouquet, tied it with a ribbon, and handed it to the customer.

"Here you go, miss. Thank you for your help with these two. I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to think of us again if you need another arrangement." And hopefully the woman wouldn't feel frightened away.

"Well," she said, turning to her two assistants. "How do you feel? Think you did well? Could you do it again if, say, I stepped into the back room for a while?" She grinned. "Don't worry, I'm not abandoning you yet. But now that you've had a chance to deal with a customer, is there anything else you want to know?"

[Sloane Deveraux]

The young man's suggestion of a card was met with a curt nod as Sloane asked for two cards and a pen. "I think I will write my own, thank you." She replied in what she thought was the most polite she'd been to a younger person. She scribbled a little message for both her mother and grandmother and slid the cards and pen back over to the teenager.

A smile started to twitch against her lips when the younger girl looked to the older woman for assistance. Sloane would have done her own, even if she didn't know what to do. Then again, she had never had much respect for elders aside from her own parents and grandparents.

The older woman gave her purchases and Sloane slid the exact amount of money needed for everything over to the teenage boy. She nodded as the motherly shopkeeper did the usual shopkeeper sell. "Thanks. I'll...be sure to come back. Um...good job?" She looked at the two teenagers with a forced smile, gathering her purchases and exiting the establishment with another smile to the shopkeeper.

Well, that was something.

[OOC: Crappy outro. SLOANE OUT! ^^]

[Zachary LaRousse]

Despite him thinking that the woman’s acting pretty odd (too much side glances and all that, not to mention she seems so unsure of herself), Zac managed to smile brightly the whole time he’s in front of her. Who knew the skills he’s acquired in manipulating all those ‘minions’ of him would come in handy for this experience?

“Ooh. Exact change. Thanks so Ma’am,” he said, bowing slightly as he took the woman’s money, practically bursting with energy. At least he won’t have to do the whole mental math thing on the dimes and quarters for change. “Have a good day. See you soon!” waved the mimic as she walked out the door.

Once he’s sure that she’s out of sight, he promptly turned to Estelle and Mrs. Tonaya and sighed. “Boy that was something,” he said, leaning on the counter as he wiped his forehead. “Was that acceptable Mrs. T? Me and Mrs. Wilkes over here make quite the great time, don’t we?” Yup. He apparently thinks he’s close enough with the woman already to call her like that. On his behalf, I apologize.

And Estelle, feel free to pound him whenever you wish.

[/blockquote][/justify]