Firewood Gathering [Open]

[Charlotte Lewis]

Grabbing another log of wood, she balanced it on her arm on top of the others, shifting the weight in her arms carefully so as not to drop it. Sawyer had suggested she go collect firewood while he found something to eat - leaving Shannon with the brat, which Charlotte personally didn't feel was exactly safe.

Picking up another log, leaves and smaller sticks crunched underneath her feet as she walked, deeper into the jungle and farther away from the beach. She wasn't going too much farther - she understood they weren't alone. Heck, they could be watching her as she walked at that very moment. As if on instinct, her pale eyes flickered around the small clearing she had wandered into.

Setting her small collection of wood down next to her, she kneeled by the small stream running through the clearing, splashing water onto her face. Bloody hell it was hot! Gazing at her reflection in the rippling water for a moment, she spalshed more on her face.

However, she paused in her actions a moment later. Charlotte suddenly felt like she was being watched. On a place like this, that feeling was common, but this time, she had a feeling she knew who it was - the twat with the teenager who had come up to herself and Sawyer earlier. Not bothering to get up, she grit her teeth together.

"You can come out and stop watching me now." She said loudly, glancing up as she leaned over the stream. "It's bugging the hell out of me, if you don't mind."

[Richard Alpert]

"You know, I was actually surprised. And lower your voice; you're not in the middle of the city. I can hear you just fine."

Richard lifted a hand up, clearing a path from the large leaves that were in front of him so he could step out from the thick. Leaves and twigs crunched only lightly as he rested his eyes on the red-headed woman. "Not that you all are back, of course, but that you're back first. I would have thought that your boyfriend would have come back before you." However, Richard had prepared himself before to have some surprises thrown his way, so it hadn't been a complete shock.

"I suppose you're just glad to be back home?" Richard asked, almost rhetorically before he glanced at the bunch of wood by her side. "You should get the drier wood, it burns better."

[Charlotte Lewis]

She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she looked up at him, resting her hands on her knees. "Yeah, well, I didn't know from which location you were watching me from."

Charlotte quirked an eyebrow. "Shouldn't be such a surprise." She muttered. "And he's not my - never mind. But I would like to know why you're still hanging around the beach." She asked, looking at him. Of course he wasn't surprised - he'd been here al this time apparently, and should have known they'd all need to come back.

She shrugged. "It's not like I had much of a choice - but yeah, I suppose you could say I'm glad." She stated, then scowled at him. "And it's a bit hard to get drier wood considering this is a tropical island and it rains - alot."

[Richard Alpert]

A scoff escaped his lips as he listened to Charlotte. He bent down, grabbing a stick from a nearby pile. "All the wood that you've grabbed is from the very top of the trees, I'd say. It got soaked from the last rainshower. It's going to be wet for a long time, but--" he snapped one of the twigs, glancing at it. "--shift under the leaves, you'll find the driest wood."

When she asked about why he was hanging around the beach, Richard tossed the two sticks towards her pile. "Why am I around the beach, Charlotte, well, I was told to stay by the beach. I can't very well have all of you trying to go out to try to find your missing friends and making a mess of things, now can I?" he asked, bending down as he shifted through the leaves once more. "Besides, you can't find decent wood for yourself, so I guess I'm out here doing that, too."

[Charlotte Lewis]

"What? You the wood expert now, snarky?" She muttered, getting to her feet and brushing her jeans free from dirt. Placing her hands on her hips, she looked at him, leaning her head to one side, frowning.

"Who the hell told you to stay by this beach? Don't you have some island to explore or seomthing?" Charlotte asked, scowling again as her arms moved to fold across her chest. "You know where Dan and the others are then? They here too, wandering the jungle?" She continued.

"And the only reason I would go out into this jungle far enough was to get what I came here done, which doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. You seem to know alot about me, so you should know I was born here." She mumbled.

"And I'm not a sodding retard - I can find my own wood, thanks."

[Richard Alpert]

"Who the hell told you to stay on this beach?"

"The same person that told me you all are in danger. And I've seen every inch of this Island. Nothing really left to explore." When she asked about Daniel and the rest, Richard looked behind him, as if trying to see into the jungle, before he turned back. "No. You'd probably know better than me where they'll end up. All I know is that they're coming. So yeah, they're probably wandering somewhere. Which doesn't pose well for them if they don't know where they're going. Which I'm sure they don't."

When Charlotte said he seemed to know a lot about her, Richard nodded. "I think I remember seeing you." Then again, there had been dozens of little children, but her bright-red hair stood out in his mind. "Your hair makes you stand out."

[Charlotte Lewis]

Picking up a thin stick, she twirled it in her hands for a moment, looking at Richard with an almost facinated look. This guy was a bit of a weirdo. Then again, he did seem familiar - how she'd know him, she couldn't remember. Maybe he just had one of those faces. "Well, if they're wandering the jungle like a bunch of aimless idiots, shouldn't I be going to find them so that smoke thing doesn't eat them?"

She frowned when he said he remembered her too. Well then, at least she wasn't going crazy - she had in fact seen him somewhere before. "You can't have possibly known me." She said after a moment, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Unless you were part of the Dharma Initiative - which I'm fairly certain, you were not."

[Richard Alpert]

"If it's you against the big giant pillar of smoke in the jungle?" Richard asked, watching as she twirled the twig in her hand. "My money's on the smoke." When Charlotte said that he couldn't possibly know her, Richard resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Why did these people still doubt everything they saw around them? After everything they had witnessed and been through? "You know, you're on an Island. Just a few days ago, it seems, you were in Los Angeles. You don't now how you got here. And you think it's amusing to say that I couldn't possibly know you? That isn't exactly the strangest thing that's happened here."

When she spoke of the Dharma Initiative, Richard scoffed slightly. "How'd you guess?"

[Charlotte Lewis]

She scowled. "Gee, thanks for that particular vote of confidence." She stated. She was hoping the thing wouldn't bother her - after all, she belonged here, right? So maybe it just went after the survivors, who shouldn't be here. Charlotte didn't really want to test out the theory, but if it came down to it, well, she'd have no other choice.

"Oh wow thank you for that startling news, Captain Obvious. Tell me something I bloody don't know, why don't you?" She snapped at him. She had been happy and content back in Los Angeles, and had been making plans to head back to England, but apparently this Island had other plans for her. "I don't really care about how I got here. I just know that the people I love think I'm dead as a doornail."

Charlotte smirked slightly, the corner of her mouth twitching. "You don't exactly seem the hippy type who'd run around in a jumpsuit and work for people who thought they were helping the Island, when really all they were doing was hurting it."