Winona and Will haven’t gone to much fuss for their engagement party. The back room of\u00c2\u00a0 Wazzer’s bar has been adorned with white fairy lights. A long table is jumbled with wine bottles, bowls of chips, and irregular engagement presents that arrived with guests. When Ulrika attempts a dramatic entrance, no-one pays much attention, they are all getting along so well and calling for more chips.<\/p>\n
The happy couple are standing up, being introduced to some friends of Wazzer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No, mate, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both my dates! Otto and Alf! They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re from Amsterdam!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
One of the tall dreadlocked blondes holds out his tattooed hand and says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how you say in English? Polydactyl? Polyamorous?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The other one nods in agreement, setting his saucer-sized ear disks wagging.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Winona manages, faintly. She casts a quick look at avant-garde Karin, who is eyeing up the trio speculatively. If her sister was polyphonic, or whatever, it was surely overdue to start warping Wellington. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do have a drink.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Shy Willow plucks at Winona\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sleeve. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that? In the bowler hat?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Will\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s friend Owen from Omaru. I think he was in Christchurch for the quake.” Ignoring Willow’s embarrassed waving and shushing, she shouts, ‘Owen! Come here and meet Willow. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ever so brilliant!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Sipping a stout, he ambles over, one thumb denting his braces. “And what do you do?”<\/p>\n
“I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a soil microbe scientist,” Willow stammers. Oh dear, she’d been doing so well lately, and now she gets to repel him instantly, she thinks.<\/p>\n
But no. His eyes light up. “Really! Do you mind if I ask you some questions? I’ve been trying to enrich soil for avocados and…”<\/p>\n
Ulrika hears someone behind her squeal. She turns, and a painfully well-groomed woman beams at her, to enunciate a well-bred, multi-syllable,\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hello! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Win\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cousin, Angela. Down from Auckland. Your hair is just brilliant. Such a dark blue. And your cheekbones! That dress – is it Nom ‘D? I thought so. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so quintessentially Wellington, except you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re much too gorgeous. Do you ever come up to Auckland?”<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Auckland?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, yes. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much warmer. Do come up sometime, I must take you out to drinks. Can I post your picture on Facebook?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She squeezes beside Ulrika and snaps a shot at arm’s length.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Ulrika’s entry has been noted by Will and Winona at last. Will watches this development with a creased brow. “What do you think they’re talking about?”<\/p>\n
“No idea. Especially because Ulrika is smart. Oh! Hello, so nice to see you…”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Winona and Will haven’t gone to much fuss for their engagement party. The back room of\u00c2\u00a0 Wazzer’s bar has been adorned with white fairy lights. A long table is jumbled with wine bottles, bowls of chips, and irregular engagement presents that arrived with guests. When Ulrika attempts a dramatic entrance, no-one pays much attention, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[61,43,23,54,41,14,36,15],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shortfic","tag-other-cities","tag-romance","tag-style","tag-ulrika","tag-wazzer","tag-will","tag-willow","tag-winona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsawellingtonlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}