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The sun was hot as the summer sun sat low in the sky as noon time settled in. Most found relief in playing in the park fountain or sitting under trees and basking in their shade. While most bought ice cream cones from the ice cream vendor, whatever way it was they still managed to enjoy themselves.

Except for one, and his name was Ethos. Ethos was dressed in a black hoodie with blues which hung loosely around his waist. His face face hidden from view due to his hoodie being pulled up over his head. He smiled and sniffed the air before chuckling softly "Humans are so unique in their way of cooling theirself off." He giggled his usual nervous speech no where to be found.

He sat on the bench near the fountain and smiled as he watched the children play.

There came a sound from nearby, seemingly out of place in the cheerful warmth and in amidst the sounds of laughing children: a soft cry, both of pain and utter despair. It was soft enough that the humans might not pick it up, but Ethos' feline ears might.
A small figure, silhouetted by the shadow of the large tree unde which she sat, lay curled up in a loose ball. She was shivering, not in cold, but in pain, and she was clearly in bad shape. She let out yet another soft cry and tried lifting her right arm, but even in the shadows, Ethos could probably see that it was broken by the way her arm hung limply from about the center of her forearm. Her next cry was much louder and much more pained as she tried and failed to reset the broken bone and she immediately stopped.

Ethos felt his ears pricked at the sound of the cry and stood up looking around "H-Hello?" He called, his voice trembling slightly as he heard the cries. As his eyes scanned the area he noticed the figure under the tree, his sharp animal senses told them something was wrong and he gathered up his small courage to approach. He inched forward slowly and blinked wearily "H-Hello...are y-you okay?" He asked his nerves causing him to tremble and stutter.

She looked up, startled, and immediately scrambled back and away from him as best she could, but the injury to her arm prevented a lot of that.
"P-please don't hurt me again..." she whimpered quietly and curled up as tightly as she could, moving her broken arm against her chest so that it wouldn't be hurt further. "P-please, no more..." she begged weakly. Apparently she hadn't really heard Ethos' question, and she was clearly much more scared of him than he was of her.

"H-Hurt you...again?" He questions softly. He shook his head and dropped to all fours "I won't hurt you...." he said, to prove his point he tugged off his hood thinking it would help the other notice that he isn't a threat. "See, I'm not who e-ever hurt you. But I j-just want to h-help you...y-you're hurt." He mews softly pointing to the broken arm.

"You... Want to help...?" she asked skeptically and glanced up at him. Upon seeing the face of another... Maybe another Anthro, she was more than relieved. Only the humans ever beat her, other Anthros at least pitied her.
"Th-thank you, s-sir..." she said quietly and looked down, unsure of how he could help.

"Y-You can call me Ethos. A-And you're welcome." He said his eyes shining with joy due to being able to help someone. He helped her up and held her steady with his massive paws gently "S-So wh-what is your name and if y-you don't mind me asking w-who did this to you?" He asked nervously out of fear of being yelled at for being invasive.

"I-I'm Natalia," she said with a pained, forced smile and stood on shaky legs, with her good hand resting gingerly over her injured arm. She glanced nervously up at the lion then down to her bare toes. "J-just some people..." she answered the second question.

"Natalia thats a pretty name, and p-people c-can be so cruel." He said pouting, his ears lowering in shame. "But d-dont worry, I can help your arm, there is a h-hospital just down the road...but no one goes there, all their equipment is s-still inside which I find strange...if you want I can take you there to fix up y-your arm."

She blushed deeply when he said her name was pretty, but she said nothing. When he suggested the hospital, she frantically shook her head and backed away. "N-no!! N-not there!!!"

He understood her nervousness with the hospital and he rubbed the back of his head "Um...we c-could try my home, its pretty far from here, l-like a thirty minuet walk but I also have medical supplies...." he said softly. "A-And I don't think the ones w-who hurt will f-find you." He said hoping that was true, he didn't like seeing others hurt.

She whimpered a little bit; she appreciated this boy's kindness, but at the same time, she didn't want to just follow him home. She was afraid of what he might do if she didn't comply though and she subtly nodded.
"O-okay..."

Ethos nods feeling a little bad that Natalia didn't fully trust him but he understood. She had been harmed by someone or most likely a group of people and he would feel the same way, no telling how jumpy he would be bad enough he is already very cowardly.

Ethos nods "A-Alright...my home i-is th-this way." He said softly.

As Ethos led his new friend away he couldn't help but feel like something bad was bound to happen.

Her head hung low and just about every possible aspect of her screamed "submissive" and "please don't hurt me." her ears were flat against her head, her tail was dragging on the ground, she was slouched forwards and she had her arms crossed timidly over her chest.
She was silent during the entire walk, afraid that anything she might say would set him off like it did with some people.

The walk was silent which was somewhat unusual to the male lion, he was used to rowdy conversations and endless questions, all of this coming from his friends. As he was usually quiet, he too wanted to say something but was scared of being ignored which tends to happen to him a lot, in fact he was nearly invisible at times. But luckily the Ethos's home was in sight.

The home was a small cottage, in a field of thick lush short grass which was surrounded by thick oak trees "T-This is my h-home...i-it may not l-lool like much b-but, its a-all I have." He said looking down at his paws as his tail is fiddled with in his front paws.

"I-it's more than I've ever had..." Natalia whispered and glanced shyly towards him and then back down at her feet.

Ethos lowered his ears before picking then up again "W-Well you c-can call this p-place h-home if you w-want." He said "You'll b-be safe from those b-bullies, t-they w-wont hurt you anymore." He said his red and blue eyes shown worry.

She blushed then looked back at him. "W-why would you do that for me...?" she asked nervously.

Ethos trembled slightly at the question not sure if she was angery or truely curious. He blinked and began to play with his tail like someone would play with a scarf or stray piece of string on their clothing when they were nervous "I...I j-just thought y-you would like a h-haven...." he admitted in a tiny voice. "I-I promise I w-wont hurt y-you...h-heck I'm to sc-scared to hurt a f-fly...I m-mostly run from t-them..." he admitted.

"Thank you..." she whispered then slowly walked towards him and glanced up at him. Natalia was pretty much incapable of feeling anger or aggression, so he'd never have to worry about that.
The hybrid girl looked up at him then shyly, nervously hugged him.