Welcome to Gaia! ::

As Richard had told Seth, he believed escape from the island as a subject was probably next to immpossible. Getting rescued how ever was a remote but possibly plausible activity.

In a burst of creative energy Richard had aquired a tape measure and a small can of paint from the village center. He armed himself with a notebook and bravely strode out into the jungle. Richard was beginning to doubt the wisdom of such an action as now he was sweat soaked and very thristy. He had left his jacket in his duplex and had the sleeves of his white collared shirt rolled up past his elbows. All his clothes were absolutely soak through with sweat and he probably smelled less than pleasent.

Still the stubborn old man continued his labor, marking trees with a number, measuring their diameter, placement in the jungle and adding them to the map he was drawing in his notebook. He had promised himself not to head back until he finished marking 500 trees. The 399th tree happened to be a very large one and Richard was having trouble getting the tape measure around it. It also happened to be the tree frequented by a certian islander with a Reddish complexion.

Richard froze when he heard a voice. He looked to the left and then to right, then caught Nita's tail hanging down into his vision. Slowly he tilted his head up, finding Nita glaring down at him.

"Ah... hello there Miss." Richard smiled good naturedly but took a step back. Nita's posture was definitely looking territoral and although she looked more fluffy than dangerous, Richard didn't want to take chances.

Richard didn't even smell the paint any more, the paint can had been opened for almost more than two hours. He looked at the paint can and frowned, "You can smell the paint? Richard said a little incredulously. He looked back up at her, " I'm marking the trees, don't worry I'm not out to hurt your tree there. I'm Richard by the way.l" He'd offer to shake her hand but that was hard ten feet back from one another. "What your name? From the looks of it you've been here for a bit." Richard's voice was friendly.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm.

Richard put the lid on the paint can, albit loosely and set the can on the forest floor.

"Nita eh, thats a pretty name." He nods in approval. "Six months? I've been here seven days, still getting adjusted to realities or insanities of this place. Depending on your viewpoint I suppose." Richard said with a chuckle, taking a step towards the tree and Nita.

"How are you doing? Everyone seem to handle things a little differently."

Richard recognized the quiet depression that seemed to be lurking in all the islanders that were fairly far along. It seemed to come in all flavors, Ambrose's bitterness, Amaya bleakness. All were simply going through the motions.

"I'd say, the first islander I ran into was a fellow named Tommy. Poor fellow. " Richard pulled a tape measure from his pocket and took another step towards the tree. "Anything I could do to make life better?" The question is innocent but Richard is aware that it could be a bit of a loaded cannon.

Richard chuckled dryly, "Well other than he's turning into a vampire bat, he's doing quiet well. His ribs are feeling much better and he's learning to use his feet instead of his hands. He's a wee bit drepressed, just like everyone else I've met."

Richard is now at the base of the tree's trunk and has hooked the tape measure on a knot in the tree trunk. He's walking around the tree, wrapping the tape measure around it.

"Me? I'm just an old reporter that smelled a good story and got his nose trapped in the door. I got my interview but it hasn't made it back to my blog yet. Someday perhaps."

Richard noted the circumference of Nita's tree in his notebook. "I'm finding I'm absolutely no good at this, "forced retirement" and I keep coming up with stupid ideas to keep myself busy. Today I decided to make a map of the jungle and since they took my GPS unit I'm using the trees as a unit of measurement." He finished writing and pressed his back upagainst the tree, aligning himself with a tree he had done previously. "Of course I have no idea what I'm doing. And I forgot to bring some water." Richard chuckled. "You don't happen to have a water bottle laying around do you?"

The original plan was to map the trees to figure out which ones to cut down inorder to cut a giant "Help us!" Sign into the jungle. However, Richard was having second thoughts about the intellegence of the idea.

Richard walked back to the tree nearest to Nita's, counting his steps and hoping they were constant. He marked it in his notebook and then sighed, noticing an error he made a dozen or so trees back. Useless. He muttered something rude at it and closed the notebook with a snap. Maybe he'd finish it some other day. That stream didn't sound like a bad idea.

He looked back up at Nita, "Say you haven't seen Ambrose around today have you? He wasn't at his duplex this morning."