[At some point, Ryuji is going to go head to head with a bear. He's not entirely confident that he's going to win, but he does it anyway, thinking that his determination alone is enough to make this a successful attempt, and he can't be dissuaded otherwise. Having been warned to not stir the pot several times by several people, he's got it stuck in his head that having at least one of them on his side is enough to set an example for the other Reclaimers. Maybe if he makes himself known as a strong combatant, the rest of the direbears will leave him and his friends the hell alone. So when he takes a bear head on, the battle rages on furiously. He wrestles it, is thrown over and over again, and if anyone- if they were there with him- tried to stop him or intervene, he'd viciously shout back to leave them be. He rages, he throws intimidation down, and at the end of it, he comes out pretty beat up, but the bear bows its head down and respects that he's not going to give up.

And then the wildest thing sort of happens. The bear starts following him around, somewhere between a grumpy pet and a trusted protector.

He's looking out over the lake and it's midday, and maybe it's a bit alarming to have a rather large ursine figure with him, but they both seem incredibly calm and at peace with the both of them. Ryuji reaches out a hand to its massive neck, petting it as his fingers rake into neck fur.]

His name's Theodore.

[And that's that. Ryuji doesn't say anything else beyond that, like this is just a fact that needs to be accepted. He rubs at his face, a band-aid stretched under his eye as an indication of that very same altercation he had before to win Theodore's respect, and looks out over the body of water in front of them.]

a. the adventure path

There's a mine here, right? You think there's some sorta way in there from the lake? This place has gotta be deep enough to reach it, right

b. the gathering path (max of 2 threads please)

I've been thinkin'. That lake back in Vista Virs... didn't have anything in it, right? Like, I fell into that thing and cracked my ass. But I didn't see any life down there at all. You think part of restoring Vista Virs would be givin' it a new source of food that doesn't rely on eatin' whatever's in the desert? Look, I ain't know shit about biology or nerdy science crap. But there's gotta be fish here.

[He looks over at Theodore. He has to be great at catching fish, right? That's a bear thing. He swears he's seen pictures back home at the doctor's office in the waiting room, one of those NatGeo covers with a giant bear swiping down in the middle of a river to catch and eat fish. And this lake seems to only have salmon. Even bearter.]

Wanna help me fish?

[There's a lull in time in between mine excursions where a field of tents are propped up in solidarity. Some are occupied for the night, some are empty, but someone's gone and made a nice bonfire to keep the area illuminated throughout the night. Theodore sleeps quietly next to the tent that Ryuji owns, and he's sidled up next to him, using him as a makeshift headboard as he's reading something. The cover has some sort of artwork on it that looks gaudy, and... well, highly Harlequin.

He nods his head over, inviting you to take a seat, and for a moment, he doesn't interrupt if you've got something to say. He's absorbed into this book, and eventually starts to read from it:]

"Why didn’t you tell me he was here? I would have come sooner." I ignored the guilty feeling over what held me up.

"What would be the point? The damage was already done. Your phone call woke me up and when I saw him lying there beside me, last night came rushing back and then he woke up and we— we… Oh God," she groaned.

That explains her not being dressed yet.

"What do I do, Lake? He will never let me go now."

"Is that really what you want?"

"It doesn’t matter what I want. We can’t do this. We are from two different worlds.”

"It doesn’t seem to bother him."

[He looks up.]

Who names their kid "Lake"?

[Ryuji's not afraid of anything.

Well, that's not true. There's a ton of things that he's actually kind of terrified about, but he tends to try and keep those things inside. That's where those sort of things belong to be, after all. So, when the warning hits that the lake after midnight practically becomes a spookfest worthy of a shitty horror movie, he's in. He spends a little longer exploring one night, or maybe it's just by happenstance that him and his partner are here when the moon is high.

And then everything goes black for a second. No light, no radiance of the lake reflecting back from the moon.

Ryuji narrows his eyes. His danger sense isn't going off, so there aren't likely any monsters around here. But more than that, he feels something else going on, something in his head. He doesn't know it yet, but he's taken a dose of moon bullshit magic truth serum.]

If this is anything like a horror movie, I'm pretty sure we're about to hear a chainsaw and then there's gonna be a massacre.

[That's reassuring.]

Why would you wanna walk the cart down? That sounds... so goddamn boring.

[Eventually Ryuji makes it down to the mine shaft, either invited or inviting someone to tag along with him. Safety in numbers or something like that. He doesn't know what's down there; the closest to a mine he's ever been is the caverns back in Vista Virs. But there's undoubtedly going to be trouble down there, since trouble seems to know exactly just how to follow him.

Fear not! Clad in his barbarian armor, he's also sporting a miner's hat with a little flashlight beaming some light magic out forward in front of him. He hands one over to his partner, figuring that he's being ever vigilant in his preparation.

But really, it's to make sure they don't crack their heads open. Hi, I'm Ryuji Sakamoto and welcome to JACKASS.]

Nah, dude. C'mon, it'll be like a roller coaster!

[Convince him otherwise or else he's going to push for it really hard. Adrenaline junkies, man. You can't win with them.]