The night after Paige had chased the bobcat, she'd struggled to sleep. She'd tossed and turned on the leaves, and tried to sort through feelings of anger and sadness that she couldn't put into fully formed thoughts.

When she woke up, she was fine. Some of the feelings lingered, but they didn't really bother her that much. She knew this was the system at play again, but this time she embraced it.

She decided to go swimming. Paige actually needed a bath, anyway.

She'd been cleaning her teeth with something Grace swore was just as good as toothpaste but tasted like a gritty herb putty.

Still, Paige hadn't taken a bath in days. She hadn't thought to, and she probably wouldn't have thought to clean her teeth either if Grace hadn't reminded her.

Paige asked the crows to lead her to the large pond she'd seen through their eyes.

It was beautiful with her eyes in a way it hadn't been from the crow's. Not that it hadn't been beautiful with the crow's sight. The sheer range of vision and the way colors were just more as a crow was incredible.

But something about seeing it from her own two eyes felt more real. She took in a deep breath.

Once she reached the edge, she wasted no time. Stripping and grabbing the soap Grace had given her, she waded in and washed up. The water was cold, with it being sometime in early October. But fall and winter took their time and weren't that cold in east Texas, so it was still tolerable.

After she felt clean, she tossed the soap to the bank, not bothering to wade back.

Then she just swam. She mostly just floated on her back. She didn't think about anything except the water around her and how good it felt to float. After a while, the way she felt inside was as light as her body felt in the water.

When she'd had enough, she returned to shore.

But as she approached the bank, she noticed something and stopped immediately.

On a fallen log near Paige's clothing, a bobcat sat staring at her.

Its eyes never left her, but it did flick an ear.

It occurred to Paige that she'd left her circlet, the only thing that guaranteed beasts wouldn't attack her, sitting on the bank.

After a very long moment of silence, the staring cat spoke in a distinctly feminine voice.

"Tell me, what is a friend?"

----

How did someone explain friendship to a solitary, extremely territorial predator?

The answer, Paige discovered, was that you couldn't. At least she couldn't. No matter how she had explained, the concept was too foreign to the bobcat.

And she'd been trying for the last ten minutes.

"I don't see the point," the bobcat said simply.

"What about the trait sharing? That could make us both stronger!"

The bobcat gave her a long look. "No. You have nothing to offer. You are a naive kitten. I doubt you can even hunt for yourself." The bobcat jumped from the log and began sauntering away.

"Then teach me!" Paige called out to the bobcat.

For some reason, the bobcat turned back to Paige at that. "Catch a rabbit. Do not use human tools. Do not ask the crows to help. And do not eat until your hunt is successful. You have three days." Then, the bobcat took off in a flash.

Paige grinned. 'Well, that can't be that hard.'

"So what did the furry terror say?" A crow asked as Paige made it to the shore.

Paige answered while she quickly reequipped her gear. "I sometimes forget you can't understand other animals... she said I have to catch a rabbit."

"Oy, that'll be easy then. 'Right boys, let's find the her a rabbit."

"And she said you couldn't help. I have to do it on my own," Paige continued.

"Bah, that's squirrel shit."

____

When Paige started looking for rabbits, she was shocked by a notification she hadn't expected.

- You Are On The Hunt

Predation is a reality of nature. Life for the Beastfriend can be no different.

While on the hunt, intended prey cannot be affected by any Beastfriend skills, and will become nothing more than prey.

Take note, you will be unable to bond with any animals you have preyed upon.

Hunt wisely. -

Paige didn't think that was a bad trade at all, honestly. She could either be a Beastfriend with a bobcat, literally one of the most dangerous predators in her area, or a rabbit.

Plus, everyone had to eat, and it wasn't like she hadn't ate rabbit before.

The problem was Paige didn't know much about hunting, and even if she did, she had no bow or traps and couldn't use them even if she did.

She wandered without direction for a while. After realizing that not only had she seen no rabbits, but that, other than the crows, animals seemed to have fled altogether, she stopped.

She hadn't even seen the squirrels that liked to harass her and the crows, or any other birds.

'As animals do when they notice a predator on the hunt.'

The thought wasn't self-praise or because she thought it was cool to be a predator. It was actually more of the opposite. She felt like an absolutely terrible predator. She couldn't even walk through the woods without alerting everything within earshot.

Then she realized she hadn't even been attempting to sneak, and her footwraps even gave her a bonus.

She slowed herself down, after that. Though she was bad at it, she paid attention to her every footfall. She moved slowly and methodically. It didn't do her that much good. She still sucked. She winced every time leaves crunched or a twig snapped at her passing.

But, after about 45 minutes, she at least saw some progress. In the distance, a deer was spooked and took off through the woods. Though she clearly wasn't as quiet as she needed to be, the deer hadn't noticed her until she was within sight.

She smiled. 'Progress.'

Paige still felt like she didn't have a chance in hell. She had no idea where to even begin looking for a rabbit. Realizing she'd probably walk the woods for a year without so much as getting within 20ft of a rabbit, she took a break.

She sat down on the forest floor to think. She'd almost grabbed rations, but remembered she wasn't supposed to eat until she'd had a successful hunt. And her stomach was already rumbling. Not only was she not able to eat, but she'd been swimming and walking a lot. The exertion had left her drained.

Paige needed to think. What did she know about rabbits? She thought that at some point she'd learned they were mostly active around dawn and dusk. It was only midafternoon. On the other hand, if she found a burrow and waited patiently, she may be able to ambush one as it was exiting. At least she thought they made burrows. Maybe they were just holes or small nests.

It didn't matter much in this situation

Where would a rabbit put a burrow, or at least bed down? She tried to think the way a rabbit would. Several possibilities crossed her mind, but she dismissed them.

Under a tree, at its roots? That sounded like a good way to get pounced on by a bobcat that was sitting in the tree waiting, actually.

Under a large rock? That didn't sound better in any way.

It wasn't that Paige thought rabbits wouldn't use those places, if necessary, but there were so many places where there was dense undergrowth.

Paige immediately knew that was it. Rabbits would bed down or make burrows under the undergrowth where they weren't vulnerable immediately after leaving their nest.

With a now clearer objective of finding some dense undergrowth, Paige resumed her hunt.

She pulled up a feature she'd all but forgotten she had, her map. She didn't think this would count as using 'human tools.'

The only parts that showed clearly were the parts she'd seen firsthand. Paige considered how nice it would be if she could map things using the crows'eyes, but maybe she'd unlock something like that later. Or maybe there was a work around, like manually drawing a map from their vision would unlock those parts in the system map.

She put that out of her mind. She focused, identifying some places with dense undergrowth she could revisit. When she was finished, the blue arrow at the top right corner of her map finally drew her attention.

She zoomed out until the arrow turned into a blue dot. That was where her family was. She found that she really missed them. She could have used a hug from her dad those last couple of days.

____

Levi laid on his back gasping. He'd lost track of how many times he'd been knocked to the ground.

It wasn't Joe who helped Levi to his feet this time, but Tony. Joe had started having Levi spar other people after he decided Levi was 'broken in.'

To Levi's credit, he'd at least tapped Joe out once with a blood choke. That had surprised both of them.

"Well, you're a little better at grappling than you let on," was all Joe had said to that. But that was also when Joe said Levi was ready for other sparring partners.

He'd actually done really well against most of them. But after that, they'd turned up the heat.

Tony slapped Levi on his back. "You did good. Most of us have been at this for a couple of days. We were all wondering if you'd be willing to take the punishment."

Levi shrugged. "The pain isn't really that bad when it's so temporary. That being said, my body is calling me a damned liar."

Tony laughed. "Yeah, I've been there."

Levi noticed everyone was packing up. "Wait, is everyone done for the day?"

Tony nodded. "The sun's about to go down. The first day, a couple of us went until it was too dark to see and barely able to draw breath. It took an extra potion to recover and we didn't really get much out of it. Joe can tell you."

Levi nodded. The truth was he was done anyway. Part of him hadn't even realized how done he was until that moment. His body suddenly felt heavy as he relaxed, as Levi's mind knew the day was over.

Levi stuck out a hand, "Thanks for the spar and the pointers."

Tony shook his hand, "Thanks for making things interesting. That Tai Chi can really throw you off. If you were a little faster, you might have even managed to land a solid hit."

Levi smiled. "I bet I get in a good hit tomorrow."

"I'll hold you to it," Tony said with a laugh. He gave a small fist bump then went to collect his gear.

Levi likewise collected his gear and pack. As he shouldered his pack, something that took considerably more effort than you'd expect with how worn out he was, Joe approached.

Joe didn't even look that tired. He still had bounce in his step and wore a smile. "Great job hanging in there. You won me a couple healing potions." He tossed one of the two he was holding to Levi. "That's for winning me the bets."

"People were betting on me?"

Joe gave Levi the look you gave a person eating soup with a fork. "I'd have been surprised you didn't place any bets yourself, but here you are telling me you didn't even clue into it."

"Well now you're just making me feel stupid," Levi retorted.

"No," Joe corrected. "I'm pointing out why you should feel stupid. Come on, Grace will be pissed if I don't drag you to eat."

Joe started walking and Levi followed.

"I'm not sure I trust her pots. I saw her put some weird shit in one earlier today."

"You're probably talking about her alchemy cauldron. She uses different pots for cooking," Joe answered casually. "But if that worries you too much, you should probably use her potions on the rags or only use them in an emergency."

Levi tried to push that thought out of his mind.