"Daisy...what's wrong?"
He put his prize catch down and rushed over to her side, sitting on the bed.  She tried to push him away with a shaking hand, shivering with tears.
	"P-please go James..."
	"What's wrong with your face?  Why are you shaking?"
	"Please I don't want you to see!"
	"I wanna see, please, stop worrying me!"
He pulled her hands with some effort away from her face and saw her face freshly scarred.  A few lines of red were grooved across her sweet cheek.  James was horrified, but not for her appearance which was not badly altered.
	"...who did this?"
	"F-f-freya...she..."
	"What happened?"
His voice turned dark.  His eyes started to strengthen their gaze, vibrating with a swell of fury rising in his body.  His fists clenched into slow crackling knuckled claws.
	"I was just talking with her...sh-she's always been nice to me since she moved in but...she was weird with me today and...and she got in a fight with me about the two of us, she thought we were like sniggering behind her back mocking her and then she...oh J-james..."
She started to weep, more hurt by what had happened between them than what had happened to herself.
	"Why haven't you told Copper?"
	"I...I don't want Freya to be in trouble, it was a misunderstanding I wanna sort between us, but...why did she do this?!  I thought she was my friend!"
James however was filling up with rage and didn't try to hug Daisy in fear of misdirecting it, as he got up slowly and said:
	"Tell you what...I'll sort things out with Freya."
	"W-w-wait James-"
	"It's just a little talk, she can hear it from me about us, okay?"
	"But she doesn't like you!"
	"Tough, she's gonna hear what I have to say.  Oh, I caught a fish, we'll talk about it when I get back, okay?"

With that he left, an impulse to ruin surging through him as the canine pathetically tried to call out to him.  He marched straight up to the wolfess' house with a stiffening stride.  He was tempted to break in the door, but decided to be clean about it, and knocked solidly three times on the door.
	"Just a minute!"
The familiar voice from inside made the raptor's teeth clench before the door opened and Freya stood before him.
	"Wh-wh-what are you-"
	"Shut up."
He grabbed her by the throat and she gasped in panic as he walked inside, holding her neck and kicking the door closed with his foot.  He pushed her up against the wall.
	"WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOI-"
	"I said SHUT UP!"
	"L-let go of me!"
	"You hurt Daisy pretty bad today."
	"Oh...you heard about it?"
	"You fucking blind, I SAW it all over her face you fucking whore!"
	"I was a-a-angry, I'm sorry, I made up with her, I did not mean it!"
	"She's whimpering like a puppy on the bed crying!  YOU THINK YOU MADE UP WITH HER!?!?"
	"Please, you're scaring me!"
	"GOOD!"
His eyes took on a venomous glare as Freya shivered with fright trying to struggle out of his grip,  She wasn't choking, but certainly felt his claws as he threw her onto the floor with a yelp, and laid on top of her.
	"UFF DA, PLEASE!!!"
	"You fucked with me long enough, I was gonna leave you alone but you do NOT hurt my girl!  Now I'm gonna give you the same thing you gave Daisy!"
He raised one of his hands above her cheek, the three obsidian claws glaring at her violently.
	"PLEASE, NOT MY FACE!"
	"YOU DON'T DESERVE A FACE YOU BACKSTABBING BITCH!"
	"SOMEONE, HELP MEEEEE!"
	"SHUT UP!"
He gave her a warning slash, one scar across her face which made her scream in terror and pain.
	"I'm not gonna kill you for god's sake, I'm just gonna teach you a lesson to not be such a BITCH!"
Freya at this point was crying, fearful for her life despite what James had said, whimpering.
	"P-please...leave..."
	"That's it, that's exactly how Daisy feels right now.  How does that feel?"
	"T-terrible...."
	"Good.  Now I'll give you two more for the road."
As he got ready to slash again she screamed a howling cry, with James' other hand grabbing at her shirt.  Suddenly, a voice from behind him cut through their ears.
	"JAAAAMES!"

The call from behind was one he was surprised to hear.  Turning around slowly, he saw Daisy standing there with the cuts revealed on her face.
	"Wh....what are you doing?!?"
He looked at himself, his claws and Freya under her.  The halting of his actions made him look a little confused to explain.
	"D-daisy...I..."
	"Daisy, help me!  Your boyfriend's psychotic!"
	"Get off her James!"
	"But I-"
	"GET!  OFF!"
She had never screamed so powerfully at him before.  And it surprised him truthfully, scaring him even to think she was so horrified with him this way.  Like a nervous child, he tenderly got off of Freya and let her get up.
	"H-he...he was going to kill me-"
	"No I wasn't, I told you, I was gonna give you what you did to Daisy!"
	"Oh lord, he's scaring me!"
	"Shut UP James!  This is MY friend, not yours!  I will handle this myself, and I do not need YOU to deal with it.  Please...go home."
	"But...but I...oh christ..."
The presence of Daisy taking control of the situation made him somewhat humble, his anger winding down as he realised what he was doing and slowly shuffled out of the door.  But Daisy stopped him before leaving.
	"Say you're sorry to Freya."
	"Wh-what?  No way!"
	"You frightened her to death James, do it!"
	"But...but she hurt you!  She spread lies about me!"
Freya responded snarkily:
	"What?!?!  You're one to talk the way you talk behind my back!"
	"The only thing I told about you was that you are a LIAR, and that was to Daisy!"
	"LIAR!"
	"WHORE!"
	"SHUT UP!"
Daisy's piercing shriek made the two flinch before she said in a hoarse tired voice to James:
	"GO HOME JAMES!  If you still love me, go home RIGHT NOW and we will talk later!"
With worry of hurting her so much to make her scream at him, he backed off and ran back to his house in shame, leaving the two to talk things out.
	"Are you okay Freya?"
	"I...ahhh...my face hurts..."
	"Yeah I...know how ya feel..."
She smiled nervously back.
	"I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry, I don't know what came over me!"
	"I told you, me and James never said anything about you!  Why didn't you believe me?"
	"But what he DID do to me, he hurt me, uff da!"

She started to weep, sniffling against the floor, shaking from the attack on her as Daisy came closer and laid beside her.
	"I know...I'm sorry about James.  He...I told him about what happened with us, I told him not to go, I tried to but he ran off to you...he really likes me."
	"He likes you enough to scar me?"
	"I...had an argument with him about you this morning, I don't think it helped his mood...he's just protective of me is all."
	"Daisy...I know that kind of man and you have to be careful with those like him.  I'm not saying that because of him...but he scares me."
	"Well I know he would scare you but-"
	"But what?  You're going to tell me he's a wonderful sweet lover for you?  He'll do anything for you?"
	"He did do anything for me!  Didn't I tell ya about all the fossils he buried near my house?  The time we laid in a hole on the ground?  The way he's always thinking for me everytime he wakes up?"
	"You've only been together seven months, you don't know enough about him to say that!"
	"Please, Freya, calm down, he won't hurt you again!"
	"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT!?!?  HE HURT ME TWICE!"
	"Because of ME!  He only did it for me!  I know what you did the first time!"
	"You...oh Daisy...I had no idea..."
	"Stop lying to me Freya, I thought we were friends!  Why did you try and take him from me?!?"
	"I want to be your friend, Daisy!"
	"Hurting me and forcing yourself on him isn't what a friend does, so tell me why!
	"I'M JEALOUS OF YOU!"
The wolf went into another fit of tearful crying, shivering and leaving a pool of tears on the floor to cool her cheek upon.
	"J-...jealous?"
	"I was hoping for someone unique to be in love with me...I've met so many good looking men and none of them ever stay with me, but the first time you have someone and he's been with you more than half a year!"
	"Well...I don't know why he likes me...."
	"I know why.  You're always so nice, so humble, so sweet...I can't be any of that, I'm too proud of myself to redu-I mean...become that way."
	"Well...being humble always helps."
	"I've been so used to getting my way with anything I want.  Money, men, all of it...but...I just want love to last."
	"I'm sorry...I wish I could help."
	"Just...I didn't mean to hurt you Daisy.  I was very angry today too, I was hearing rumours about you two had been talking behind my back and I was so ANGRY."
	"I guess...you were kinda going like James huh?"
	"...don't compare me to him, please."
	"Sorry...I guess...being friends isn't something we can do right now right?"
	"Why would you be my friend after what I did?"
	"Because...I'm priceless?"
	"...pffft hahahahahahahaahaa...you remember what I said to you that first day?"
	"Well, you like fossils too, why not?  I know you need a friend, and...I know you can't be that mean."
	"...You...umph...th-thank you.  I'll call someone to sort our faces out, I know a very good surgeon with the most magical hands."
	"Thanks, hehehe...least you can do I guess.  You mind if we all take a li'l time off from each other then?"
	"Of course dear."
Her confidence slowly restored itself, along with her haughty nature.  Daisy tried to giggle along as the two sat together, chatting for the night, repairing their friendship slowly.
But Daisy would never say her true reason to be friends with Freya.  It was not just because she was the only other fossil enthusiast in the town, but also because she pitied the emptiness of Freya's life.  To be continuously filled with money and never achieving to fill the absence of what she felt she needed.

In the time the two girls spoke, James sat on his sofa, head within hands.  He growled to himself, trying to not break the place in a fit of rage he was desperate to have.
Why did Daisy stop me?!  Freya obviously hates me and her or something, why the hell is Daisy friends with her?!
He could only sigh and await her to come to him for an apology.
Thinking over the right words in his mind, he tried to remember the times when he was a kid and had this similar kind of situation.  But then children had much simpler relationships, simpler objectives in life, and held grudges for less longer, usually.  Thinking on this, James remembered quite a few grudges, but only the worst ones.  Thinking on Freya's frightened expression made him think back to the time he first hurt a girl in a school.  A snob just like Freya, who denounced him and his orphaning/adopting.
Detention for two months for breaking her arm.  Bitch shouldn't have talked that way, she was just as much an orphan as we all were.
As he thought about his younger days, he was interrupted by a knock on the door.  Hurrying to open it, Daisy stood waiting nervously.
	"Can we talk?"
He nodded silently and welcomed him in, politely asking:
	"How's Freya?"
	"She's fine.  She won't report you."
	"Okay."
	"We made up, but I'm not sure to thank you or not."
	"Whatcha mean?"
	"On the one hand, you attacked her, really badly, I mean....bow-....what were you thinking?"
	"I...I'm sorry...I...I was so angry someone would do this to you!  I'd never want you to get hurt!"
	"But you're willing to hurt other people because of me?"
	"Yes!"
	"Wh-why?!?"
	"Because I love you too much to not have something done about it!"
	"It was a mistake!"
	"It...Nnngh.  I don't wanna fight with you again, I'm too tired."
	"I...listen, James?  I love you, a lot, you're a really nice guy but you scared me tonight.  A lot."
	"I didn't mean to, I was just gonna do a little eye for an eye."
	"But James...sometimes that's wrong.  Especially when it's not your problem."
	"But someone hurt you, I wasn't gonna sit by and feel useless not helping!"
	"If you really wanted to help me, you would have sat by me!"
	"I was angry!"
	"And that's your problem, not mine, so you have to deal with it, like I dealt with my own problem!"
	"But I wanted to help you dammit!"
	"Well you didn't..."
	"I...I'm so sorry...lemme make it up to you, please!"
	"If you want to make it up to me...go and apologise to Freya."

He was afraid she would say that.  He did not like her, anything about her.  Her upper class arrogance, the way she expected him to do anything she wanted, the venomous lies he feared she would spread of him.
	"I...she'd never let me approach her."
	"I'll come with you...we clear everything up between us, I am not having this fight between us left under the carpet."
	"But...but I-"
	"James...do you love me?"
	"Absolutely."
	"Then do this for me."
With that ultimatum in hand, he chose his love for Daisy to be more strong than his hate for Freya, and got up to walk to her house with Daisy in tow.  He let her lead, following meekly until the two reached the door, Daisy knocking politely to have Freya open the door carefully.
	"I got someone here who wants to tell you something."
She nudged James into view and understandably the wolf flinched back scared, covering her face before James said calmly with a sigh:
	"I'm sorry, Freya.  I'm sorry about what I did to you.  It wasn't what Daisy wanted, and I shouldn't have done that to you.  I never spread any rumours about you and neither did Daisy."
He thought to offer his hand but thought better and decided to turn around showing his thick tail waving before her.  Understanding with a confused smirk, she slowly gripped the tail and shook the tip softly, giggling at the odd but considerate gesture.
	"Th-thank you James.  And I'm sorry about...trying to seduce you.  And I'm sorry about Daisy."
And with that, they had resolved the matter, the three bidding each other goodnight, with Daisy and James hugging wordlessly.  Smiles returned to their faces before they reached their beds.

September soon came, and since that terrible night, the three had their relationships more stabilised.  James largely did not interact with Freya and being only Daisy's friend, rarely needed to.  Instead he found more time spent with Rasher after work, who he was starting to like, possibly due to how familiar his speech was to the streets of Chicago.
	"So you had two girls fightin' over ya huh?" was his coarse reply to hearing what happened while the two were fishing.
	"Not over me, exactly, but I was a part of it."
	"Damn dude, musta been so awkward."
	"Tell me about it.  Me and Daisy are clearing the air with each other, she's gonna spend time with Freya, maybe teach her to not be such a bitch.  And I got you."
	"What about Bob?"
	"...that guy's a li'l weird."
	"Hell yeah, dude's got a stare all the time that just sets mah hairs on edge cool as ice, and not in the good way, brah."
	"Well he's not a bad guy, I just think he's a li'l weird, right?"
	"Yeah, anyways, anythin' catchin'?"
	"Nope...this is kinda relaxing though."
	"Told ya."
	"At least I know why you like fishing so much now."
	"Hey it's a pretty cool thing to do."
	"And I was expecting you to play American Football or something MANLY!"
	"Hahaha, yeah...but place is too quiet for that kinda machoness...just kinda drains ya until ya can relax with the simple things."	
	"I think that'd happen in any tiny place like this."
And so the two kept fishing, losing themselves to the swishing of currents and paddling of fish they occasionally caught.  By the end of the day James had caught two salmons, an eel and a pale chub, before selling all but the chub at Nook's house.  He decided he could just eat the chub instead and it was apparently so common it wasn't worth much money compared to the other fish.
Later that night, he went over to Daisy's for company, passing near the Able Sisters' place.  He became disheartened to hear someone crying softly to themselves.
	"Hey sweetie!"
	"Hey there."
	"Wanna come in?"
	"Sure."

Daisy had barely changed her house other than the hung up kimono from the festival, something he was starting to reminisce about when the two didn't have as much bad feelings between them.  He was still feeling guilty over his reactions to Freya.
	"So how ya doing?" asked Daisy.
	"Oh fine fine, I got some more fish with Rasher, two salmons, an eel, pale chub that I kept to eat back home.  I don't suppose you wanna have some for dinner?"
	"Mmmm nah thanks, I'm okay with food here."
The stereo was playing softly, one of K.K.'s songs he realised.  K.K. Soul was Daisy's favourite.  Finding himself with little to talk about, he decided to ask:
	"Uhhh you're close with the Able Sisters right Daisy?"
	"Yeah I talk to them a lot, why?"
	"Well...I was thinking of getting them a gift, I've known them long enough but I dunno what to get them...can ya help me out?"
	"Hmmmm...you know ya don't have to get them a gift, they enjoy your company."
	"I know but..."
	"But?"
	"Well...you must know about their parents right?"
	"Ah huh...Ohhhhhhh I see."
Her eyes widened a bit in realising the connection as James nodded softly.
	"I always feel like Sable feels alone in this town with nobody to...well confide these kind of feelings in, but I don't wanna force her to talk about it.  You know her, she keeps things inside."
	"Yeah she does...hmmmm..."
	"I mean all I can think of is...sewing stuff but is that really a good gift?  I mean, I dunno if she actually likes her work or just presses on because of duty, I don't wanna look insensitive."
	"Course not."
	"So..."
He leaned against the wall and started to ponder, with Daisy looking occasionally at him.  Doing it long enough made him look up and ask:
	"What?"
	"Sometimes you worry me, especially of late."
	"Oh god, listen I know I went crazy about Freya-"
	"It's not just that, it's just...well I've never met anyone so emotional as you."
	"I just care about you a lot, I'm sure you'd be angry if someone hurt me and all."
	"Well...yeah but...I was scared."
	"I...didn't mean to Daisy...I dunno what came over me."
	"Are you...gonna be okay?"
	"Well, I've calmed down a lot, yeah, why?"
	"I'm just scared...scared of it happening again."
	"You mean...me?"
	"Well, you were a li'l scary being a dinosaur when I first met you, but seeing you like that..."
	"Well, look, I promise to not be so angry next time anything happens okay?  We deal things out better, I don't want to scare you Daisy, I'm sorry."
	"It's okay."
He gently kissed her and gave her a soft hug, before suggesting jokingly:
	"Would you like me to wear oven mittens?"
	"Uhhh why?"
	"Well, to make me look sillier and my claws aren't always out?"
	"Hehehehe, awwww no I trust you James."
	"Haha, okay then...hmmmm..."
	"You know you don't have to get them anything, it's not like if you can't think of anything they're ever gonna know James."
	"Yeah...just...I heard Sable crying to herself...on the way here..."
	"Oh...."
	"I just...I want to make her feel not alone, I want to be her friend, it feels like she's hurting inside all the time.  I want her to know she has someone here, I want to be a shoulder for her to cry on, you can't hold all that inside you, it's not healthy."
	"Mmm."
	"Ah...anyways, um...anything doing today?"
	"Nope.  I was thinking of watching the stars tonight, wanna see?"
	"...sure."
With little resolution to his question, they ended their night by simply watching the stars through Daisy's telescope, yet even the smallest things he said to her he enjoyed.  He wondered if she did too, or if she was starting to move away from him out of fear for his anger.  He let it be for now, thinking maybe that it was not Sable he should make a gift for.