Author's Note: The following is an adaptation/reimagining of an Flist RP that was never completed. At the time of writing the account that participated with NotAFurryLad was deleted. I will warn as well to PLEASE check the tags below before reading. This isn't a dark fic, but some of the themes are less fun. And yes, Jess is shamelessly OP in combat.

The Cast:
-Pearl the Lioness (Partner), 14
-Jess the Pine Marten (NotAFurryLad), 20

The Lioness without a break
	The mind of the bard would usually assosiate a bandit raid as happening in the dead of night, or in the rains, or even in the midst of a wartorn nation. This time though? It happened in broad daylight, at the head of a party of hyenas, jackels, and wild dogs. The sun had only been up a short time over the savanna, and with it had come the raiders. This raid though would likely never be adapted to song, it was inremarkable. The brutes and rogues had shown up, set fire to a house and extorted goods from the locals. When they'd made it to Pearl's home it had been a rather simple affair. "We want the Albino girl." They'd said.
	See, Pearl was indeed an albino lioness, and a pretty one at that. A spitfire known in her village as the one that would quickly become independent on her own in the years to come. A mid-teen looker who had a streak of headstrong behavior. Her fur color was said to bring luck, and so taking her would most definitely do so would it not? Superstitious in nature as they could be, it hadn't taken much shoving and threats to make her parents, and indeed the whole village decide that giving up Pearl to these raiders in exchange for their safety would indeed be worth it. "No way! What!? Dad please!" She'd hollared up at the defeated looking lion. He and his had no way to fight so many, and definitely not with their leader being what looked to be a dragonborn mercenary of some sort. It was no choice at all, but maybe a parent with a stronger heart wouldn't have done it. He did nothing as they tore her cloths from her right in front of him, nor as they paraded her away and back toward the hills.
	Nonetheless here pearl was, arms tied behind her back, stripped of her dignity with young budding breasts open to the wind, a bit gag a couple sizes too big for her mouth and a couple of half drunk canines walking along with her. It had been hours now since they'd started marching her through the hot sun unprotected, and that annoying jackel at her side insisted on groping and touching her chest. She'd tried to plead with them through the gag but it had done nothing. The band of raiders marching in a disorderly mass all around them. Cutting off any escape attempts and keeping her nice and close to his unwelcomed poking and prodding. It wasn't as bad as when he'd been rubbing her back and whispering about all the terrible things they'd be doing to her when they got back to camp. It'd taken so much willpower in the beginning to not break down from the stress of it all, but now? Her face was streaked with long dried up tears. She was miserable, and for good reason. What sort of fucked up day was this?

	In entered Jess, Jess the pathfinder. A Pine Marten with a dimgray coat and icy blue eyes. He wasn't the tallest around either, compared to most larger species his digitigrade stature left a lot to be wanted. 4'4 he was, and proud of it. Along his neck was a wheat colored highlight, a color that matched the inside of his rounded ears. He was drapped in a olive green and leather set of what looked to be foresting gear. A belt plate, heart guard, and shoulder armor plates adorning his toned figure. It was clear he was the hero to be in this bard's tale. No doubt! He was lounging up in a tree on the edge of the woods in which the savannah was bordering on. Jess had been hired by the guild of the nearby city of Yeorlan to watch the well used merchant's road right next to the woods.
	His form laid down belly first on a rather thick branch as he huffed in annoyance. He'd been staking out the road for a couple days now, waiting and watching for the supposed band of raiders who'd been tormenting the lightly used road. All he'd seen so far though? A couple money bags and a rather large band of entertainers, and well...Just normal old travellers. From his camoflaged vantage point. The lazy looking marten had been laying down with a leg hanging from the particular branch he'd been resting. Eyes lazily glazed over. This place was too hot for him. At least, too hot in the noontime. It was closer to dusk now though, so counting his blessings. It wouldn't be long before he had enough money to take the trip back north, where he could enjoy the nice cold mountains and forests that were his usual home.
	Jess had gone off on adventure for the guild after all, but unfortunately for him he'd watched his guildmates slaughtered down in front of him on their third outing to a mysterious temple. Since then he'd only lost out on fortune after fortune, acting as a trailfinder and mercenary for hire had gotten him close but- Well...Here he was. He'd already made it hundreds of kilometers north of where he'd started his journey, but he'd run out of coin a while back, and now he needed more! Having heard that some of the savage locals were raiding and otherwise making themselves undesireable he was more than happy to volunteer his skills as a hunter and path finder.
	But it'd been long, and he couldn't stay here forever. Another trip to the stream didn't sound all that fun when compared to simply going back to town to enjoy an evening to himself. It'd have to wait until morning though. The trip took a good chunk of the day, and showing up past nightfall usually meant you were met with the shut gates of the city. Which meant staking out a liiiittle bit longer before heading back to his camp.
	So the single hunter waited, and just as he was preparing to pack up and head back to town in another fruitless day he saw it. A dozen or so laughing Hyenas and Jackels headed by a particularly smug looking Dragonborn. Ah. That'd explain why their raids had intensified. With a sigh he kicked himself upright onto the branch, bow in hand as his other pawed hand let out his semi-retractable claws. Pressing them to a rope holding the pitfall on the road in place. Waiting and watching for when they'd be over it. When someone had come around previously he'd been nice enough to ask them to avoid that particular trap.
	It was then, as he was preparing to cut it he happened to see a...Was that... A small lion? Oh... It looked to be a- His eyes squinted as the sun blared into his eyes. It was what looked to be a teenage lioness, tied and being tormented. He grimaced. That made things a bit complicated, but ehh.. He could handle it. His brow creased in sympathy at her plight, that looked....rather terrible. Wish a shake of his head though he was back to work. Cutting the rope and letting the deck of the pit fall out from under the dragonborn and a number of his host. The Marten gripping at one of his arrows in the quiver and pulling it taunt on his bow.

	Accompanied by the screams of falling victims to his pitfall was a sharp *TWANG* of his bow letting loose an arrow. The wooden and metal tipped impliment lodging itself into the chest of one of the bandits who hadn't been lucky enough to not be standing over the pit when it gave way. The ambush had more than halfed the number of combatants the lone fighter was left with. Those eyes of his sharp as they nocked another arrow, let fly, and then leaped from the tree down to the ground. He was left with three to fight now, two clutching at their arrows and the rest trapped in a pit of caltrops hollaring in anguish. Ill gotten goods having weighed them down from climbing out in the confusion.
	Speaking of luck, Pearl's eyes were alight with fire as she beheld her golden shimmering savior from the heavens....Well. He was rather short actually, well... She was smaller than him just by virtue of not quite being full grown but was he a... A ferret? A Weasel? The lioness couldn't believe her eyes as she saw him pounce down to the ground, those knives coming from his belt and with a wink winding his way toward the bigger hyena and jackel that faced him head on with their own wicked daggers. The creatures snarling and shrieking in rage at his dirty trick.
	Even as he whirlwinded and planted his silvery steel impliments deep into her tormenters Pearl couldn't quite believe it. He was really here to save her? A hero like out of the bard's tales? He was fighting like a demon, clearly used to fighting foes bigger than him as he slid under the hyena, a firmly planted knife stabbing into his chest as he came out the other end of the legs and tossed it into a second foe. "The guild sends its regards!" He'd hollared as he dispatched the final foe with a cracking back kick to their leg.
	It was a glimmer of hope, even as he stepped over to the pit, bow out now and checking on his catches. His bow string going taunt and thudding into the pit that silenced all the cursing and angry voices within. She could only guess that he'd... Killed their scaled leader, leaving the rest a dazzled and maybe even frightened mess. Not that she could see it.
	The mystery savior jogged over. His face half masked by the shadow cast by the sun on the other side of his face. It was a dreamy sight. A knight in shining armor... well. Sort of. A knight in ranger's gear more like. But still! He'd come all this way just to save her! "Ooah fank youh!" She'd managed through the gag as he scooped her up in his arms and started to make for the treeline as fast as he dared. "Hank youh shooo hmauch!" Her lips tried to meet to make the words, tongue pressing hard against the wooden bit holding it in place. She even pressed her head into his fuzzy chest, it was like a story book.

	Jess for his part was still filled with adrenaline, his features sharp and alert as ever. For his size he certainly seemed to be well toned, a great acrobat if he had chosen a different line of work. It was only a mild inconvenience then when one of the other bandits did try to give chase. The marten laughing back at them as he climbed up the tree with his sharp clawed legs and one arm, out of reach of the silly unarmed fennec that insisted on hollaring up after them. Evidently the fox having been the odd one of out of the band. "Maybe next time sweetheart." He'd said down to them as he disappeared with the albino in his arm into the high thicks of the trees. The only sign he wasn't there anymore the kicking down of leaves from the trees leading further into the woods.
	After a couple minute of traveling by leaping branch to branch he slowed. Rounded ears flicking this way and that from a stationary position. He eventually decided they were safe from any revenge having criminals and screeching fennecs. The brown furred marten plopping himself down, his breathing slowing and that silvery look in his eyes leaving as he let the thrill of the moment pass.
For just a moment he considered the smaller package of feline in his arms, he'd saved her alright. But she hadn't been on the contract, nor did he recognize her. Albinos were extremely rare, and it only now occured to him that she was indeed pressing herself to him in his arms. Thankful for his assistance more than anything else. With a blink he sat down across the branches of the tree he'd taken refuge with her in. Settling the lioness down across his lap, evidently she was almost his own size, if still a bit stringy. "Whew..."
	His claw flicked over the back of her head, severing the rope holding the bit gag in place and letting it fall from the tree. It warmed him to see her work her jaw out, and eventually smile up at him with a wry look. "Thanks. Thank you so much. That was going to be the end of me I think. You're... A life saver heh." She was speaking with a genuine and gentle tone. But it was clear from her vernacular, at least to Jess, that she was a tough customer any other day. She let out a hum, which turned into a purr as her tail flicked behind her. "H-heh! Maybe you can take me back home? Get me untied?" She asked with a cheery look.
	The marten smiled back, "Well... I might be inclined to take you home. But I don't know the open plains that well, and its near dusk. I'm not much of a night person." It was the truth after all, he was a day hunter. His eyes weren't tuned for travesing a dark grassy field in the night. Though he had his unspoken other reasons. Her shimmying in his lap and brushing against him was making him giddy, a butterfly or two rummaging about in his chest as he leaned down to rub her cheek into his. "But don't worry. I'll keep you good and safe for now, no sinister bandits to take you away."

	Pearl wasn't smiling quite as broadly anymore as he explained that he couldn't quite get her home just yet. A shame. "Oh.. Well don't worry." She was trying not to sound upset, he had saved her after all. Her backstabbing parents could wait another day she supposed as the relief of the moment still washed through her mind. She'd been dour and sad all day, this was a welcome respite. "It doesn't have to be right away... Just... As soon as possible." She really doesn't want to be a bother and soon her smile comes back, albeit a little weaker than before. "Thanks a lot, I know you will keep me safer than I ever was back home!" She means it, none of the warriors from her village could do a thing against the bandits. Somehow this little furball had managed it all alone, abeit not... really all that fair of a fighter but still!
	"As for the rope on your arms maybe if you give me a little thank you kiss I'll let you loose." What? Had he really just said that? Normally she'd have had alarm bells ringing but...Well. He was a hero like from the stories, mmmh.. Her ears twitched, an anxious look on her face as she considered the offer. The lioness retreats her head between her shoulders a tad, her bound hands wriggle aimlessly behind her, nervous. "W-well... I never kissed anyone before... and..." It's either now or never. It's not like a hero asks for a kiss every day. "I mean, isn't a damsel supposed to kiss her hero after he's done saving her?" There is no second chance with these things, there's no waiting, no doubting. "But... Alright..."
	And with that? Her head leaned forward, a blush tinging her cheeks as she took the offer. Her tongue met his, both warm and soft like their coats of fur. Her moving with passion and energy, and him with a desire. But it was quick, maybe a bit too quick for the young lioness as he pulled away, winking down at her.

	Little did she know, he wasn't quite the hero she envisioned.