. Attraction without effort.
seen from Germany
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Germany
seen from Argentina
seen from United States
seen from China

seen from United States
seen from China

seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Australia

seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from Poland
seen from Germany

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
. Attraction without effort.
Dice Set #26: Malachite Swirls
Drabble #270
II: character A misunderstands something B said
“And because I’m a woman, you thought you’d ask my advice on choosing, did you?”
“What? No, that’s not—”
“It’s not my fault your circle of friends is so small, Martin. What about your sister? I’d have thought she’s the obvious choice. And she’s a mother herself, so it’s not as though she'll—”
“Carolyn! Can you just listen to me for one second? I’m not asking you to help choose the godmother! I’m asking if you’ll be the godmother!”
“…..Oh.”
“But I- I mean there’s no obligation, if you think it’s a stupid idea…”
“No, that’s…. that would be…. yes.”
Drabble #273
IV: character A invites B to a sporting event
It wasn't a date, Arthur kept telling himself, so there was no reason to get all flustery about it. It was just a simple question... Martin would probably be busy anyway, or he wouldn't be interested. He didn't seem to care much about anything outside of planes, and this was definitely outside of planes.
(Arthur knew, because he'd tried it inside GERTI, and had received a lifetime ban from his mother.)
He took a deep breath, deciding to get it over with. "Martin," he said, "I'm in the regional Crazy Golf finals on Saturday. Would you fancy coming to watch?"
Drabble #272
IV: characters build something together
Herc had been called to Fitton Farm to examine a calf with a crooked foreleg - but on his way to the cowshed, he couldn’t help but stop to see what the three farmhands were doing in the yard.
Arthur saw him looking, and waved him over. “Hi, Herc! We’re building a henhouse. What do you think?”
Thankfully, Herc was prevented from offering a verdict by Douglas’s correction: “We’re building a henhouse, Arthur. You’re building some kind of gothic hen castle.”
“Well, it’s got to have a turret!” Arthur protested. “Else how will Diego know he’s ‘ruling the the roost’?”
Drabble #275
VII: character A encourages B to try something new
“Mama” was far behind her now - Aida’s next word, Martin felt sure, would be “Dada”. He’d even accept “Papa”, but for the purpose of their lesson today, he was concentrating on the ’D’ sound.
“Come on, little A! You can do it,” he said encouragingly. “Da-da-da-da, like this! Da-da-da-da…”
Just then, Douglas entered. He looked down at them, amused. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
Martin was about to reply, when Aida opened her mouth and proclaimed, “Da.”
Promptly afterwards, she elaborated: “Da-dusss.”
Douglas beamed. Looking at him, Martin couldn’t even feel sorry for himself. He was grinning too.
Drabble #269
I: character A searches for the perfect gift for B
Herc's birthday was approaching, and Carolyn was determined not to let it pass without suitably woolly fanfare.
But how to go about it? So many things were made of sheepskin, or could be printed with a sheep motif - too easy. Of course, ideally, she'd present him with a live sheep and be done with it, but if she did that for 57, how could she possibly top it when he turned 60?
...Goodness, had he really got her thinking that far ahead? How unsettling.
She returned to more pleasant thoughts. If not a live sheep, then, perhaps a dead one...?
Drabble #283
X: character A can’t get B to answer a question
“Arthur, have you finished the hoovering?”
He didn’t answer her question, just tapped his nose mysteriously, and slipped past.
“I hope you have,” Carolyn called, “Because the passengers are due any minute now!”
She addressed her pilots. “What’s got into him?”
Martin immediately pointed at Douglas, who had the grace to look somewhat sheepish.
“Sorry. I may have told him he’s something of an open book, and now he’s trying to prove me wrong by being as inscrutable as possible. About everything.”
Carolyn groaned. “Well, for heaven’s sake, fix it, or I’ll be making some inscrutable changes to your paycheck.”