"I can't fail! My plan is entirely foolproof. The girl won't be able to resist!"

Flora looked up from her tools in curiosity. It seemed old Daryl was at it once again. The scientist had made her the object of his affections (if affections they could be called) for weeks now. She was usually the sort of girl who was oblivious to such things, but Daryl was not subtle in his ways.

However, she did feel a bit sorry for her eccentric neighbor; if only his insanity had robbed him of his ambition, perhaps he'd have an easier time of it. Not only with his self-appointed task of courting her, but of everything he tried. The poor man simply did not know when to give up.

Daryl was tottering just outside the dig site, a pile of expensive-looking food making a leaning tower in his arms. Flora watched him from the door, dim amusement spreading through her. She wished it was pity welling up within her instead of laughter.

⌠Oh ho, this is my best plan yet! One, two, three,"- here he set down food at each count -"Heh, it's perfect!"

The pile of food gradually disappeared as Daryl edged closer to the dig site. Flora withdrew completely inside, leaving the door open just a crack so that she might watch him. Daryl began to set down the last bit of food. When he straightened back up - or as straight as his arched back would allow - he gave a shriek as he came face to face with Flora, peering at the violet eye that observed him through the crack. Desperate and wild, he fled to the nearest bush and hid there.

Fighting to suppress her giggles, Flora looked at the food. Beside it was more food. As she raised her eyes, she saw that there was a whole long line of food; it began at her shoes and continued down the path until it ended at the door of the inn.

"Come on, follow it! It worked with that blasted white monster... follow it!"

Flora, all smiles, spoke aloud as she emerged from the tent. "Daryl, what is this all about?"

Making a sigh of conceded defeat, Daryl shuffled to Flora's side. "You, err... were supposed to follow the trail of food. But... you didn't. Hmm. Back to the drawing board, I suppose."

Flora caught him by the collar to keep him from leaving. "And why was I supposed to follow it?"

The man seemed to become a little sheepish at this question, and stared quite intently at his decrepit shoes. "You - dear me, how do I say this? You were to follow it so that I might take you to dinner at the Inn."

Instead of laughing, Flora stared at him in sheer amazement. "You wanted to take me to dinner?"

"I do believe that's what I said, but one can never be sure."

Flora couldn't speak for a while. She'd never been asked (or conned) to dinner before. She and Carter had shared meals at the Inn many a time, but all they spoke of was work. Now Daryl was standing beside her, having failed in yet another attempt to court her. The fact that she was being courted at all it surprised her, to say the least. And she'd rarely set eyes on the scientist before this whole fiasco began. The idea of going to dinner with him had never crossed her mind. However, Daryl wasn't a horrible person - odd, insane, eccentric, oh yes! But he was kind. In his own special, albeit strange, way.

"You know, you could have just asked me," Flora said with a smile.

"Y-You wouldn't have said yes," he returned, still studying every fiber of his shoes.

"Well, I'm saying yes right now." She gave Daryl her hand, which he took in utter perplexity. "Lead the way, sir."