Ryugazaki Rei (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chou_utsukushii) wrote2014-01-06 12:06 am
chou_utsukushii) wrote2014-01-06 12:06 am
Entry tags:
Application
→ OOC
□ Name: Alicia
□ Age: 27 (b.1986)
□ Contact: http://plurk.com/saruzake
□ Journal: http://saruzake.livejournal.com
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: No
→ IC
□ Name: Rei Ryugazaki
□ Journal: http://chou-utsukushii.dreamwidth.org
□ Series: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club
□ Canon point: After Episode 12/End of Season 1
□ History: Not much information is given about Rei’s life prior to joining the swim team. He is a first year (10th grade) at Iwatobi High School, and when he is introduced, he is a member of the school’s track team, where his event is Pole Vault. He has been in track for a while, long enough to have a substantial trophy collection. Before he joined the swim team, he generally kept to himself, not having a group of friends or a close relationship to his track teammates. His home life is not mentioned either, other than that he lives with his mother and father and that he has an older brother.
Years before the series begins, four young boys, Makoto Tachibana, Haruka Nanase, Nagisa Hazuki, and Rin Matsuoka, all members of a local swimming club, win a youth relay race. Shortly after, they drift apart, with Rin going to Australia to train for the Olympics, and the others not swimming anymore for a variety of personal reasons. When the series starts, Haruka and Makoto are second year high school students, and run into Nagisa, who’s now a first year at their school. When the younger teen finds out that neither of his old friends swim anymore, he is determined to start a swim club at their school, so they can all compete together again. They even discover that Rin is back from Australia, enrolled in Samezuka Academy, a swimming powerhouse. But his attitude has drastically changed, and now, his only concern is beating Haruka in a race.
Rei first makes his appearance in the third episode. Haruka, Makoto, and Nagisa find that they cannot form a swim club at their school without at least four members, so they go in search of fellow students to swim with them. They fail dismally until Nagisa discovers Rei, who rides the same train to school with him every morning. Rei always gets off one stop early and runs to school, and Nagisa admires his dedication. Right then and there, he decides that Rei needs to join them and follows him around constantly to try and poach him from the track team.
At first, Rei is not interested at all. He doesn’t consider swimming a “beautiful” sport, and points out that he already has a commitment outside of his studies. But Nagisa doesn’t give up, and even drags Makoto and Haruka to a track practice so they can see Rei in action. There, they discover that Rei has very good form, although he spends too much time in his head (as his track coach tells him).
The constant meddling in Rei’s life finally makes him agree, just so Nagisa will stop asking him. He agrees to go with the others to their joint practice with Samezuka on the condition that he will not swim. As one would expect, the other school won’t hear of such a thing and forces Rei into the pool, where everyone discovers that he doesn’t know how to swim.
Despite this potentially being a disaster, the other team members don’t give up on Rei and instead try their best to teach him to swim in the little time they have before their first meet. Each person tries to teach Rei their own style of swimming with disastrous results, until Haruka and Rei sit and talk. Rei sees the beauty of Haruka’s freestyle and his attitude of just doing without thinking. He decides to give swimming another chance. The only stroke he hasn’t tried is the butterfly, and thanks to Haruka’s support, Rei discovers it’s the only stroke he can actually do.
With their team now complete, the four young men, their coach Sasabe, faculty advisor Amakata, and manager Gou (Rin’s younger sister) head off to the ocean for some extreme training. Their training course includes swimming across a bay to four different islands, and even the more experienced swimmers on the team have a difficult time completing it. That night, Rei, disappointed with his performance during the day, decides to go out by himself and practice in the ocean.
As fate would have it, a storm suddenly kicks up, and Rei is helpless to swim against it. Luckily, Makoto wakes up and notices that Rei is gone and goes out to save him. In turn, Nagisa and Haruka wake up as well and rescue both of their comrades. The boys make it to one of the other islands and discover an abandoned rest house, where they wait out the storm until morning. To pass the time, Nagisa devises a game where they tell each other embarrassing stories about themselves, but somehow, most of the turns seem to go to Rei.
After getting back from their “Training from Hell,” it’s time for their first big competition. Everyone has an individual event, and Rei’s is the 100m butterfly. He and the rest of his team fail to win a single event, and even more devastating is the fact that Rin beats Haruka in the 100m freestyle, proclaiming that he will never swim with Haruka again. The team is dejected, thinking they won’t get to swim at the competition anymore, but Gou confesses that she secretly signed them up for the relay, and they will be back to compete the following day. Since none of them have practiced for the relay, Rei takes it upon himself to spend the night practicing the exchange, breaking into the school with Nagisa, just to use their pool. Their determination earns them a win in the relay, and Iwatobi passes on to the regionals.
The next school day, they are recognized by the principal for their success and told to do well in the next competition. Later, the four decide to go to their town’s Summer Festival; spotting Rin there as well, Rei ends up following him around to make sure that he and Haruka don’t see each other. He’s still not sure as to what happened between everyone, but Nagisa has him do it anyway.
The history between Rin, Makoto, Haruka, and Nagisa forces Rei to finally demand to know what happened between them as children. Ever since Rin met the other three, he was obsessed with winning a relay, and got the others to participate in and win one. Haruka also tells the group that about a year after Rin left for Australia, he came back. Haruka and Rin raced, and even though Rin had been training hard for a year, Haruka ended up winning. Rin angrily said that he was going to quit swimming, and Haruka’s guilt made him quit swimming competitively as well.
Instead of going to practice the next day, Rei decides to confront Rin and find out just what he wants now that he’s finally beaten Haruka. Angry words are exchanged, and Rei confirms his desire to be a member of the team and to work hard to stay there. Worried that he didn’t practice with them, the other three go to Rei’s house to convince him that he’s one of them and that they don’t want to replace him.
The day of the regionals arrives, and the team heads out to the city, checking into a hotel and trying to see the pool where they’ll be competing in the morning. That night, everyone is too nervous to sleep, and Rei gets a message from Rin, saying that he wants to talk to him. Upon finding Rin, Rei finds out the reason that Rin quit swimming. Despite all his training, he reached a point where he couldn’t improve anymore and didn’t think he was good enough for the Olympics. Rin also tells Rei not to embarrass his team during the relay.
The day of the competition, Iwatobi finds out that Rin has been removed from the relay for poor performance, and will not be racing against them. They race to find him and convince him not to give up. He refuses until Rei comes up with an unconventional solution. The team makes it back in time for their race, and Gou, Coach Sasabe, and Miss Amakata are shocked to find Rei sitting next to them. Rei has given up his place in the relay so that Rin can swim with his friends. Finally together again after so many years, they are able to swim beautifully and win the relay.
Unfortunately, having a swimmer from another team join you is against the rules, and Iwatobi is disqualified. However, they don’t mind, since the most important thing was that they were together once again. After regionals are over, Rei is more determined than ever to improve his swimming, so that he can compete with everyone again next time.
□ Personality: Although Rei seems like he would be the typical super-intelligent megane (glasses) character that appears in most anime and manga, in reality, he’s much more anxious and a perfectionist to a fault. He is still extremely book-smart, but he and Nagisa are often the comic relief when things get more serious for the other main characters.
He takes “well-read” to new levels, trying to get his hands on any material related to any subject he might be required to talk about. Rei is interested in the statistical side of sports, in that he constantly runs numbers and formulas to calculate his jumps and dives. This tends to do him more harm than good, as he constantly overthinks everything he does. He also likes to have references available for any subject of conversation and, once he begins to study swimming in earnest, always has an appropriate set of facts for the situation.
Rei loves for things to be aesthetically beautiful, and can often be found complaining that something isn’t “beautiful enough.” His vision of beauty is something that works or moves flawlessly or logically, rather than what is considered to be conventionally attractive. He initially thinks swimming is not a beautiful sport, until he sees how Haruka swims freestyle. He also becomes interested in doing the relay when he watches a video showing Olympic swimmers doing their exchanges. He described their teamwork as beautiful, too.
When it comes to things that aren’t academic or sports-related, Rei wants to be as up-to-date as possible on interpersonal relations. He is the only member of the Iwatobi Swim Club who didn’t know everyone else as a child, he’s the weakest swimmer, and he was initially dragged into the group by force. As Rei gets attached to the other members of the team, he becomes protective of his friends, demanding he be told what happened in the past to cause the rift between Rin and the others.
His loyalty to his new friends is unmatched. He spends the entire festival episode trying his best to keep Haruka and Rin from seeing each other, because he knew that a confrontation would make Haruka upset. He confronts Rin at Samezuka’s practice, even getting physically rough with him to prove his dedication. He wants Rin to make up with Haruka and the others and heal the wounds of the past. His dedication and loyalty are also shown when he volunteers to give up his position in the relay race to Rin, just so the four friends can race together once more.
Rei is easy to tease, a fact that his friends exploit mercilessly. He’s embarrassed by his lack of swimming ability, and is prone to blushing and protesting when something he’s said or done is taken the wrong way or joked about. At the same time, he makes extremely questionable fashion choices (such as rainbow-colored swim pants) and is not shy regarding his physical appearance.
□ Age: 16
□ Gender: Male
□ Appearance: Rei is 5’10”/177cm tall and weighs 143lbs/65kg. He has dark blue hair and his eyes are purple. He wears glasses all the time, and prescription goggles when he’s swimming. His body type is athletic and his muscles are developed, but not to an extreme level. He is in very good physical condition for his age, thanks to his history in Track and his current membership in the Swim Club.
□ Abilities/Powers: While Rei is athletic and in excellent shape, he is a human teenage boy and has no special abilities or powers.
□ Personal Items: Rei’s personal items will include his black swim pants, Swim Club uniform (jacket and pants), a waterproof wristwatch, prescription goggles, swim cap, and his cell phone.
□ First Person Sample: [Audio]
I’m not sure if this is working the way it’s supposed to, so this will be a test. An experiment.
Assuming you can hear me, whoever you are, I’ll go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Ryugazaki Rei, I’m 16, and I’m a first year at Iwatobi High School. If that rings a bell, please let me know. I don’t think anyone I know will be here, but if there’s a chance, I’d like to be sure.
I still don’t know what to make of this place. I’m not comfortable having this thing in my head, especially since it appears to have required surgery without my written consent. Whatever doctor was responsible for this is in for a malpractice suit, without a doubt. I’m sorry if this place has gone through some rough times, but that’s no excuse for human rights violations. Kidnapping, medical experimentation, and complete disregard for the safety of others fits the bill exactly.
I’ve been hoping this entire time that I’ve been in the middle of this elaborate dream, and I’ll wake up any minute now, in school, ready to start taking my exam. However, there’s a distinct probability – perhaps 78% - that I’m just on a random corner in a foreign city, talking to myself like an insane person.
Maybe 78% is too generous a number. Make that 90%.
□ Third Person Sample:
Rei knew he had stayed up too late the night before. There was an important exam the next morning, and he had pulled an almost all-nighter because he still hadn’t felt prepared enough. So as he sat in school the following day, he had to fight with himself to stay awake to take the thing in the first place.
Though he struggled to keep his eyes open, he eventually lost. His body involuntarily jerked after what felt like only a few seconds, but when he opened his eyes, he was no longer sitting in the classroom at his desk. In fact, he had never seen this room before in his life.
There was a man sitting behind a desk, and before Rei could get more than a few words out, he was explaining about a city and a war and a program and things the teenager needed way more time to puzzle over than he was given. Once the man was finished speaking with him, Rei wandered out of the building, still dazed and trying to absorb the ridiculous amount of information that had just been thrown at him. A microchip in his head? It was a plot straight out of a science fiction movie.
There was a foreign object in his body and he was told not to worry about it? Of course Rei would worry about it. Worrying was something he was extremely good at. He stopped by a reflective building to check out what he looked like, but aside from some minor scarring, it was difficult to tell the incision was even there. Perhaps they were controlling him right now, though he didn’t realize it. Mad scientists would make something like that fairly subtle, after all.
Moving along again, not wanting anyone to look at him strangely just in case this was simply someone messing with him, Rei realized that he had no idea where he was. He pulled out the map that the man had given him, pausing only for a moment to wonder if that was a trick, too. Adjusting his glasses so that they sat higher up on his face, Rei leaned against the next building he came to and studied the map, looking for the building they had assigned him to live in.
Was it terrible, he wondered, to want your friends here with you, even if it meant they’d have to go through the same weird kidnapping and potential experimentation? It was probably selfish, but at the same time, he’d feel much better to know that he wasn’t going to have to face this new challenge all alone.
He put the map away, trying to walk confidently to the place where he was supposedly staying. ‘What I need to focus on are my immediate needs, according to Maslow’s hierarchy,’ he thought, ignoring his surroundings to focus laser-like on his destination. ‘Food, shelter, and safety. Everything else can come later.’
□ Name: Alicia
□ Age: 27 (b.1986)
□ Contact: http://plurk.com/saruzake
□ Journal: http://saruzake.livejournal.com
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: No
→ IC
□ Name: Rei Ryugazaki
□ Journal: http://chou-utsukushii.dreamwidth.org
□ Series: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club
□ Canon point: After Episode 12/End of Season 1
□ History: Not much information is given about Rei’s life prior to joining the swim team. He is a first year (10th grade) at Iwatobi High School, and when he is introduced, he is a member of the school’s track team, where his event is Pole Vault. He has been in track for a while, long enough to have a substantial trophy collection. Before he joined the swim team, he generally kept to himself, not having a group of friends or a close relationship to his track teammates. His home life is not mentioned either, other than that he lives with his mother and father and that he has an older brother.
Years before the series begins, four young boys, Makoto Tachibana, Haruka Nanase, Nagisa Hazuki, and Rin Matsuoka, all members of a local swimming club, win a youth relay race. Shortly after, they drift apart, with Rin going to Australia to train for the Olympics, and the others not swimming anymore for a variety of personal reasons. When the series starts, Haruka and Makoto are second year high school students, and run into Nagisa, who’s now a first year at their school. When the younger teen finds out that neither of his old friends swim anymore, he is determined to start a swim club at their school, so they can all compete together again. They even discover that Rin is back from Australia, enrolled in Samezuka Academy, a swimming powerhouse. But his attitude has drastically changed, and now, his only concern is beating Haruka in a race.
Rei first makes his appearance in the third episode. Haruka, Makoto, and Nagisa find that they cannot form a swim club at their school without at least four members, so they go in search of fellow students to swim with them. They fail dismally until Nagisa discovers Rei, who rides the same train to school with him every morning. Rei always gets off one stop early and runs to school, and Nagisa admires his dedication. Right then and there, he decides that Rei needs to join them and follows him around constantly to try and poach him from the track team.
At first, Rei is not interested at all. He doesn’t consider swimming a “beautiful” sport, and points out that he already has a commitment outside of his studies. But Nagisa doesn’t give up, and even drags Makoto and Haruka to a track practice so they can see Rei in action. There, they discover that Rei has very good form, although he spends too much time in his head (as his track coach tells him).
The constant meddling in Rei’s life finally makes him agree, just so Nagisa will stop asking him. He agrees to go with the others to their joint practice with Samezuka on the condition that he will not swim. As one would expect, the other school won’t hear of such a thing and forces Rei into the pool, where everyone discovers that he doesn’t know how to swim.
Despite this potentially being a disaster, the other team members don’t give up on Rei and instead try their best to teach him to swim in the little time they have before their first meet. Each person tries to teach Rei their own style of swimming with disastrous results, until Haruka and Rei sit and talk. Rei sees the beauty of Haruka’s freestyle and his attitude of just doing without thinking. He decides to give swimming another chance. The only stroke he hasn’t tried is the butterfly, and thanks to Haruka’s support, Rei discovers it’s the only stroke he can actually do.
With their team now complete, the four young men, their coach Sasabe, faculty advisor Amakata, and manager Gou (Rin’s younger sister) head off to the ocean for some extreme training. Their training course includes swimming across a bay to four different islands, and even the more experienced swimmers on the team have a difficult time completing it. That night, Rei, disappointed with his performance during the day, decides to go out by himself and practice in the ocean.
As fate would have it, a storm suddenly kicks up, and Rei is helpless to swim against it. Luckily, Makoto wakes up and notices that Rei is gone and goes out to save him. In turn, Nagisa and Haruka wake up as well and rescue both of their comrades. The boys make it to one of the other islands and discover an abandoned rest house, where they wait out the storm until morning. To pass the time, Nagisa devises a game where they tell each other embarrassing stories about themselves, but somehow, most of the turns seem to go to Rei.
After getting back from their “Training from Hell,” it’s time for their first big competition. Everyone has an individual event, and Rei’s is the 100m butterfly. He and the rest of his team fail to win a single event, and even more devastating is the fact that Rin beats Haruka in the 100m freestyle, proclaiming that he will never swim with Haruka again. The team is dejected, thinking they won’t get to swim at the competition anymore, but Gou confesses that she secretly signed them up for the relay, and they will be back to compete the following day. Since none of them have practiced for the relay, Rei takes it upon himself to spend the night practicing the exchange, breaking into the school with Nagisa, just to use their pool. Their determination earns them a win in the relay, and Iwatobi passes on to the regionals.
The next school day, they are recognized by the principal for their success and told to do well in the next competition. Later, the four decide to go to their town’s Summer Festival; spotting Rin there as well, Rei ends up following him around to make sure that he and Haruka don’t see each other. He’s still not sure as to what happened between everyone, but Nagisa has him do it anyway.
The history between Rin, Makoto, Haruka, and Nagisa forces Rei to finally demand to know what happened between them as children. Ever since Rin met the other three, he was obsessed with winning a relay, and got the others to participate in and win one. Haruka also tells the group that about a year after Rin left for Australia, he came back. Haruka and Rin raced, and even though Rin had been training hard for a year, Haruka ended up winning. Rin angrily said that he was going to quit swimming, and Haruka’s guilt made him quit swimming competitively as well.
Instead of going to practice the next day, Rei decides to confront Rin and find out just what he wants now that he’s finally beaten Haruka. Angry words are exchanged, and Rei confirms his desire to be a member of the team and to work hard to stay there. Worried that he didn’t practice with them, the other three go to Rei’s house to convince him that he’s one of them and that they don’t want to replace him.
The day of the regionals arrives, and the team heads out to the city, checking into a hotel and trying to see the pool where they’ll be competing in the morning. That night, everyone is too nervous to sleep, and Rei gets a message from Rin, saying that he wants to talk to him. Upon finding Rin, Rei finds out the reason that Rin quit swimming. Despite all his training, he reached a point where he couldn’t improve anymore and didn’t think he was good enough for the Olympics. Rin also tells Rei not to embarrass his team during the relay.
The day of the competition, Iwatobi finds out that Rin has been removed from the relay for poor performance, and will not be racing against them. They race to find him and convince him not to give up. He refuses until Rei comes up with an unconventional solution. The team makes it back in time for their race, and Gou, Coach Sasabe, and Miss Amakata are shocked to find Rei sitting next to them. Rei has given up his place in the relay so that Rin can swim with his friends. Finally together again after so many years, they are able to swim beautifully and win the relay.
Unfortunately, having a swimmer from another team join you is against the rules, and Iwatobi is disqualified. However, they don’t mind, since the most important thing was that they were together once again. After regionals are over, Rei is more determined than ever to improve his swimming, so that he can compete with everyone again next time.
□ Personality: Although Rei seems like he would be the typical super-intelligent megane (glasses) character that appears in most anime and manga, in reality, he’s much more anxious and a perfectionist to a fault. He is still extremely book-smart, but he and Nagisa are often the comic relief when things get more serious for the other main characters.
He takes “well-read” to new levels, trying to get his hands on any material related to any subject he might be required to talk about. Rei is interested in the statistical side of sports, in that he constantly runs numbers and formulas to calculate his jumps and dives. This tends to do him more harm than good, as he constantly overthinks everything he does. He also likes to have references available for any subject of conversation and, once he begins to study swimming in earnest, always has an appropriate set of facts for the situation.
Rei loves for things to be aesthetically beautiful, and can often be found complaining that something isn’t “beautiful enough.” His vision of beauty is something that works or moves flawlessly or logically, rather than what is considered to be conventionally attractive. He initially thinks swimming is not a beautiful sport, until he sees how Haruka swims freestyle. He also becomes interested in doing the relay when he watches a video showing Olympic swimmers doing their exchanges. He described their teamwork as beautiful, too.
When it comes to things that aren’t academic or sports-related, Rei wants to be as up-to-date as possible on interpersonal relations. He is the only member of the Iwatobi Swim Club who didn’t know everyone else as a child, he’s the weakest swimmer, and he was initially dragged into the group by force. As Rei gets attached to the other members of the team, he becomes protective of his friends, demanding he be told what happened in the past to cause the rift between Rin and the others.
His loyalty to his new friends is unmatched. He spends the entire festival episode trying his best to keep Haruka and Rin from seeing each other, because he knew that a confrontation would make Haruka upset. He confronts Rin at Samezuka’s practice, even getting physically rough with him to prove his dedication. He wants Rin to make up with Haruka and the others and heal the wounds of the past. His dedication and loyalty are also shown when he volunteers to give up his position in the relay race to Rin, just so the four friends can race together once more.
Rei is easy to tease, a fact that his friends exploit mercilessly. He’s embarrassed by his lack of swimming ability, and is prone to blushing and protesting when something he’s said or done is taken the wrong way or joked about. At the same time, he makes extremely questionable fashion choices (such as rainbow-colored swim pants) and is not shy regarding his physical appearance.
□ Age: 16
□ Gender: Male
□ Appearance: Rei is 5’10”/177cm tall and weighs 143lbs/65kg. He has dark blue hair and his eyes are purple. He wears glasses all the time, and prescription goggles when he’s swimming. His body type is athletic and his muscles are developed, but not to an extreme level. He is in very good physical condition for his age, thanks to his history in Track and his current membership in the Swim Club.
□ Abilities/Powers: While Rei is athletic and in excellent shape, he is a human teenage boy and has no special abilities or powers.
□ Personal Items: Rei’s personal items will include his black swim pants, Swim Club uniform (jacket and pants), a waterproof wristwatch, prescription goggles, swim cap, and his cell phone.
□ First Person Sample: [Audio]
I’m not sure if this is working the way it’s supposed to, so this will be a test. An experiment.
Assuming you can hear me, whoever you are, I’ll go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Ryugazaki Rei, I’m 16, and I’m a first year at Iwatobi High School. If that rings a bell, please let me know. I don’t think anyone I know will be here, but if there’s a chance, I’d like to be sure.
I still don’t know what to make of this place. I’m not comfortable having this thing in my head, especially since it appears to have required surgery without my written consent. Whatever doctor was responsible for this is in for a malpractice suit, without a doubt. I’m sorry if this place has gone through some rough times, but that’s no excuse for human rights violations. Kidnapping, medical experimentation, and complete disregard for the safety of others fits the bill exactly.
I’ve been hoping this entire time that I’ve been in the middle of this elaborate dream, and I’ll wake up any minute now, in school, ready to start taking my exam. However, there’s a distinct probability – perhaps 78% - that I’m just on a random corner in a foreign city, talking to myself like an insane person.
Maybe 78% is too generous a number. Make that 90%.
□ Third Person Sample:
Rei knew he had stayed up too late the night before. There was an important exam the next morning, and he had pulled an almost all-nighter because he still hadn’t felt prepared enough. So as he sat in school the following day, he had to fight with himself to stay awake to take the thing in the first place.
Though he struggled to keep his eyes open, he eventually lost. His body involuntarily jerked after what felt like only a few seconds, but when he opened his eyes, he was no longer sitting in the classroom at his desk. In fact, he had never seen this room before in his life.
There was a man sitting behind a desk, and before Rei could get more than a few words out, he was explaining about a city and a war and a program and things the teenager needed way more time to puzzle over than he was given. Once the man was finished speaking with him, Rei wandered out of the building, still dazed and trying to absorb the ridiculous amount of information that had just been thrown at him. A microchip in his head? It was a plot straight out of a science fiction movie.
There was a foreign object in his body and he was told not to worry about it? Of course Rei would worry about it. Worrying was something he was extremely good at. He stopped by a reflective building to check out what he looked like, but aside from some minor scarring, it was difficult to tell the incision was even there. Perhaps they were controlling him right now, though he didn’t realize it. Mad scientists would make something like that fairly subtle, after all.
Moving along again, not wanting anyone to look at him strangely just in case this was simply someone messing with him, Rei realized that he had no idea where he was. He pulled out the map that the man had given him, pausing only for a moment to wonder if that was a trick, too. Adjusting his glasses so that they sat higher up on his face, Rei leaned against the next building he came to and studied the map, looking for the building they had assigned him to live in.
Was it terrible, he wondered, to want your friends here with you, even if it meant they’d have to go through the same weird kidnapping and potential experimentation? It was probably selfish, but at the same time, he’d feel much better to know that he wasn’t going to have to face this new challenge all alone.
He put the map away, trying to walk confidently to the place where he was supposedly staying. ‘What I need to focus on are my immediate needs, according to Maslow’s hierarchy,’ he thought, ignoring his surroundings to focus laser-like on his destination. ‘Food, shelter, and safety. Everything else can come later.’