One of my favourite aspects of Agott's character is that she isn't a genius or a prodigy, actually. A lot of the time, a character like her would be naturally gifted, but we can see from the kinds of awful comments the people around her made that Agott was not "gifted" when compared with her mother or others in her family. And this means that every astute observation she makes, every light bulb that goes off in her head, every perfect sign and ring she draws is a result of the actual effort she put into her studies. Agott genuinely deserves the acclaim she gets from her peers because she works hard to be that good.
It's tragic that she feels the need to do so at all, but still, she's not the typical "snooty high-class girl who's so good at everything and berates the new girl for being beneath her", this is a girl who genuinely had to work her ass off to get to where she is seeing this new girl who got everything she worked so hard for with seemingly no effort. And it's really notable that even though Agott sets Coco up to fail and is unfairly harsh on her at the beginning, she never tries to outright sabotage her. She expects Coco to fail, but since Coco continues to pass based on her own merit, well, that's not something Agott can really argue against.
Agott being written like this makes Coco's admiration of her make a lot more sense, as Coco also constantly feels the need to prove herself out of guilt, and Agott is not just skilled, she puts 110% effort into everything to do with magic. It all builds nicely to her eventual apology. They're both really similar in that sense, and Agott reminding Coco to make magic for herself makes her dive back into the magic that she herself loved as well, independent from the notion of redemption and the imposition of expectations.
Coco and Olruggio: “Hello, despite being kinda mean to me I also noticed you seem a little bit sad and bitter and anxious so I have decided I am personally going to put in every bit of my energy into befriending you now.”
Agott and Qifrey: “um? I didn’t agree to this?? no????????”
Coco and Olruggio: “It’s too late. Friendship is coming. Friendship is coming. Prepare yourself.”
Agott and Qifrey: “no waitwaitwait nononononononono”
—
Coco and Olruggio: *just existing*
Agott and Qifrey: “You are the brightest thing in my life.”
It's easy to question Qifrey's motives for taking on apprentices in the early manga, especially Coco (and to be fair, the initial deciding factor there was Coco's Brimmed Cap connection) but any concerns I had that he didn't also care about the struggles and well-being of children was alleviated for me after he heard about two seconds of the verbal abuse Euini was being subjected to and immediately tried to take in a fifth child on the spot
one of Qifrey’s first ever major actions in the series is to break into the house of the nice seamstress and her daughter he just cheerfully did business with earlier that day for brim cap clues only to suddenly realize “oh no a child is in danger!” and swiftly pivot into a rescue and I think that just establishes everything right off the bat
I know people have already talked about the chapter 89 hug but it gets me because it's such a fantastically devastating visual microcosm of their relationship.
The interesting thing about this hug is that while it's a gesture out of relief (since they don't even know each other yet) it's very indicative of the kind of future closeness they'll eventually develop.
And yet, because they are hugging, they cannot see each other's faces in this scene.
I've seen quite a lot of discussion on the way Qifrey reacts to this hug, which is understandable, because it's devastating - he practically melts into a total stranger because he was "saved". He seems to be actually quite amenable and starved for gentle touch, it's the stupid tree that's the problem. But I haven't seen much discussion on Olly's face here. Dear god this poor kid looks almost manic. Look at him scrunch his face into Qifrey's shoulder. He’s okay! He’s okay because Qifrey’s okay! :(
Yet, when Qifrey yanks himself back out of the hug, neither of them are making anything close to these expressions.
All Olruggio sees is Qifrey's brief panic and then him throwing up walls again. All Qifrey sees is Olruggio's bright smile. And this colours the way they think of each other. Due to the repeated loss of his memories, Olruggio is under the impression that Qifrey will always pull away from him, that he is forever chasing his past. Olruggio has no context for why Qifrey does this, and he is forced to find roundabout ways to support him. Qifrey, meanwhile, thinks of Olruggio as the kindest person he knows - and yes, he is very kind! But Qifrey, too, is missing important context here as to Olruggio's safety-oriented and conscientious mindset. Qifrey is forever questioning Olruggio's steadfastness towards him and never getting a clear answer.
Slipping into slight theory time: due to the nature of Olruggio's backstory being shown thus far only through a vague nightmare sequence and not one, but two other character's backstories, it is my current belief that he never actually did talk about what happened in Noz to Qifrey, or anyone really, in any direct way. I find it hard to believe that Qifrey wouldn't at least know of the incident, but Olruggio's attitude, both as a child and adult, strikes me as someone who decided "well, it's in the past, so why bring it up?" mostly because he just really doesn't want to think about it, and would rather work on never "failing" people ever again. [In this way, it would be interesting if this was confirmed because Qifrey is insistent on laying his past to rest to allow himself to move forwards, whereas Olruggio is just like. Okay. I'm just gonna tuck that into a dark corner somewhere. I am a fine and normal witch.]
The thing is, it's not like either of them are entirely unaware of these hidden sides of each other. They're too close, too observant, and they care about each other too much not to. We know Olruggio watches Qifrey carefully, tries to help him in the ways that he can. He knows when something's up, he just doesn't know what he's allowed to do, or what he's allowed to ask. This is made clear as early as the snugstone introduction - he doesn't know why Qifrey isn't resting well, but he sure does notice that he isn't. Olruggio has become increasingly indirect as they age in his attempts to provide support.
But even young Qifrey, who had to relearn social interaction basically from the ground up, pauses and stares when Olruggio has these non-sequiturs like "it's really easy to die out there" or "there are lots of things that can kill you", etc. Now, Qifrey also had very little context on what's normal and what isn't, but all the same, he clearly noticed that some of the things his new friend said were a little odd. It's very likely that he just, again, didn't know what he should or shouldn't ask, and when he finally does try to ask why Olruggio is helping him, he never actually gets much in the way of elaboration (perhaps Olruggio believes it should be obvious? perhaps he sees nothing special about what he does for him - that it's just what he ought to do for a friend. perhaps there's more to it we've yet to understand ourselves as readers.). As an adult, Qifrey continues to question why Olruggio goes so far for him; downplays the net positive effect he's had on Olruggio's life because he's so wrapped up in his own guilt and perceived selfishness.
Neither of them would want to overstep after all. They just want to keep holding onto each other - but the nature of the curse necessitates secrets between them. It's because they're close, because they love each other, that they cannot see each other clearly.
And so Olruggio knows Qifrey appreciates him, but he does not see the full extent of how at ease he makes Qifrey feel. Qifrey knows Olruggio cares deeply about him, but he does not see the full extent of how much Olruggio's well-being is wrapped up in his own.
