So in context, my lead heroine needs to get bored and do magic science to summon weird teenagers with nightmare fuel made experiments. Basically she summons her dream guy this way and she wants to learn how she done it the first time. And reason out how to not be creepy about her accidental summoning. But I need her to not be at her florist job for a few weeks. In universe, Magic is banned in this city due to a line of magic abusers turning the place into a nation wide dystopia. But I need some factor for my lead heroine to even try to do magic experiments full time. She would be the type of person to discover that she can summon things but she wants to be scientific about it. Like Dr. Frankenstein. Or a Mythbuster. What kind of city-wide thing can I enact in universe to force her to be outside the city on her worm farm? Dragons are like cryptids or bigfoots in this world, so I dunno how to implement em.
If the world isn't too advanced she could flee the city due to a cholera epidemic from water pollution
Why not have her track down a rumor that you could use to foreshadow a future event? MC will need time to travel, investigate and then more travel. You might also be able to add a little bit to the world by describing nearby areas outside or have them cross a border. It could also be a good way to introduce how far magic and tech have come along.
Why does it need to be city-wide? Couldn't it just be something that affects the flower shop forcing her to take time off?
screwin with the water's probably one of the more "normal" methods to pull it off without going all-in on smashing shit up. if the water either vanishes due to a drought or becomes poisonous/toxic/sulfurous and kills off or mutates the plants, then there's nothing to sell, and thus no job. it would also cause the situation in the affected area and cities to become more tense/chaotic and prices of goods to rise, thus slowly killing or edging out the people who lack the means to wait for things to get better. throw in some riots and fires, and you've got a bad place to be.
You say your MC is a florist, so how about her (sole/main) supplier has suddenly informed her that they're closing their business (due to reasons). Thus she's scrabbling to find an affordable replacement wholesaler. She's got a lead about a newbie farm who claims to specialize in interesting old fashioned species/unique hybrids/organic pest resistant/new techniques/etc plants. So she closes her shop for "vacation" to go check them out. While she's out there ...
You're right. I could just have it effect the flower shop. Keep it super simple. And yeah. Trying to find a replacement seller is a better option. I'll need to do some more editing to make her situation effect her shop. But this is a simple solution I like. Thanks for chiming in, @Cygsiulle. I'll see if I can find a water contaminant to model the magic effects after. It doesn't need to be city-wide, but I need some impetus and editing done on my manuscript.
She's going to her parents home for xmas/thanks giving/new year, suddenly the city closed down because of police trying to track down criminal organization.
I'm having a hard time understanding what you are trying to convey, but if you need a reason why someone who works in a city works in a farm. If I remember correctly, soviet russia had this thing where workers were required to go serve at farms for a period of time. This practice continued even after they didn't need to do that to some sense where people in Russia own farm land which they visit on their vacation time (Mostly farming low maintenance crops) This is easier to pull off with a florist since the flowers have to be grown somewhere right?