(Untitled)

[ever_noteful]

Meg Ford is studying her left hand

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[cutting_edgex23]

"Meg," X says, approaching from the left.

"Hello."

Beat.

"You are okay?"

[ever_noteful]

Meg looks up and smiles.

"Hello, Laura.

"I'm wonderful.

"How are you?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I am okay," X says, very seriously.

Then, after a short pause --

"Wonderful is good."

That is not meant to sound like a question.

[ever_noteful]

"It is, yes.

"Alain asked me to marry him," Meg says, holding out her left hand for inspection. "And today I got my engagement ring from the jeweler."

[parkerlee]

Parker had just opened her mouth to say, Hey, Meg.

Then she sees what's on Meg's finger. And what issues instead is a squee.

It is not a squee that can be heard across the bar. Oh, no. A squee like that is reserved for things like kittens and baby shoes.

Such a squee is for amateurs.

This squee vibrates the very foundation of the bar. It can make the floors of the upstairs room shudder, cause horses in the stable to jerk their heads up in alarm, and draw demon bunnies out of the forest to sniff the night air.

And Parker's breath control is not at all compromised by the fact that she is crushing Meg in a near-strangling hug.

[ever_noteful]

"Parker, I'm happy that you're happy but I can't quite breathe," Meg says, faintly.

But she's still smiling.

[parkerlee]

And that would be bad, Meg not breathing. Parker loosens her grip. A little.

"When did this happen?" she asks.

A couple of decibels below the squee.

[ever_noteful]

"New Year's Day," Meg says. "If you mean the engagement.

"But I only got the ring today."