Grumpy meets Sassy [Talia/Nala]

Fondue hissed through his teeth as he suddenly looked around and realized how far he'd traveled. Turning on a dime he started making his way back to the temple and felt some of his anger ebb away. Even if the rest of the healers were too "busy" to collect the herbs, it was nice to get outside and walk around. This way he could think about the garden he was planning free from any distractions. Mulling over it, Fons' ears perked up slightly. Tired of having to constantly wander the jungle whenever he needed something, Fondue had started collecting seeds to plant in the spring.

The sight of a clump of aloe made the remaining bulk of Fons' anger slide away and he hurried over to it excitedly. Delicately sniffing the succulent Fondue purred in satisfaction and began to paw at the dirt. Teasing away three of the smaller plants he put them carefully on the other pouch before continuing on his way in a considerably better mood. Trotting down the path like a fluffy jellybean Fondue almost started to hum.

Almost happy Fons wasn't really paying attention to where he was going. Walking into a small clearing the male arrived just in time to observe a particularly stupid female do a particularly stupid thing. The clearly rotting branch exacted its revenge upon the idiot ocelot by falling upon her tail and paw. The female swore colorfully and Fondue raised a brow at her language, tsking under his breath he made his way over to her. "Hmph." Sitting down a few feet away from the feline he appraised her like some sort of fluffy, judgmental potato. "Need a paw?" His voice was grouchy and sounded as if the very last thing he wanted to do was help.

Shrugging off the pack on his back he rummaged through it and pulled out a few herbs. As he looked back up at the ocelot he grudgingly realized that he should give the female some sort of explanation. "I'm a healer at Lucis Temple. We take an oath to heal even the fustilarians who get in arguments with branches."

Looking over the injured ocelot with shrewd yellow eyes Fondue chuffed to himself. Although she had brought the tree down on herself, Fons was rather impressed at the ocelot's reflexes. At most she may have fractured something, but he doubted it. The ground was soft and there had been enough warning for her to get out of the way quickly. Pulling out a sanitary cloth he carefully wiped away the dirt from his claws so as not to potentially infect anything.

Fondue's rounded ears flicked to catch the ocelot's wrathful words and he grinned slyly, "Let me guess, big, bad lion guards putting you up to jungle patrol?" He huffed and rolled his eyes at the thought of the self entitled felines, "It's like they don't even know how to get their paws dirty! Lazy ass maggots!" Holding out a paw he gestured to the spotted cat to let him get a closer look at the injured appendages. "My name's Fondue by the way."

If she allowed him, Fons would examine first her paw then her tail gently which was completely at odd with his grumpy mannerism. As he checked her over he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right. He would then double check everything until it finally hit him. Her paw wasn't the size of his face. It had been literally years since he had examined an adult cat roughly his same size and it was actually a rather nice change of pace. "So, I assume you're from Naxorus then?" He didn't really expect her to answer considering that the jungle wasn't exactly the most copesetic place.

The sun shone warmly through the trees lending the somewhat comical scene a fairytail-like quality. Golden dust motes floated along serenely and somewhere a bird was singing a lovely little tune. It was if the universe had prepared a grand stage for the beginning of a love story and it would have been perfect if only the actors were a pair of striking tigers or muscle laden panthers... not a grumpy pallas cat and a foul mouthed ocelot! Nature seemed to lash its tail in frustration, the song bird was out croaked by a raven and an ominous roil of clouds seemed to suddenly appear on the distant horizon.

Oblivious to Nature's temper tantrum, Fondue examined Talia with extreme care, poking this and prodding that gently before coming to his conclusion. Putting away most of the herbs that he had initially pulled out, the feline listened with no little amusement as the ocelot insulted the rest of the city guard. When she mentioned her being the smallest cat on the guard Fondue perked up his ears in admiration. "Good for you! Those overgrown kits could use a lesson or two from a cat like you!" Nodding in satisfaction, Fondue felt his own chest puff out a bit in pride. As long as there were small felines like Talia working hard to show the big bad lions and tigers how things were done, then he sure as hell wasn't going to take any flack from them either!

Examining one of the plants that he had kept out, Fondue carefully pulled off a leaf. Nothing but the best would do for the gem of the City Guard! "Here, this will help ease the pain a little bit. You've simply bruised your paw and tail, but if they still hurt after a day or two talk to a healer." After he pushed the leaf towards Talia he replaced the rest of the plants tenderly in the sack, one ear flicked towards her to catch her next question. "I'm a healer and scholar at Lucis Temple, although I do come into Naxorus occasionally to provide care to those who need it." Grinning wickedly he returned his gaze to Talia, "You'd be amazed how many big, strong tigers get laid low by the common cold and can't even find the strength to get themselves to Lucis." His long fluffy tail flicked side to side, seeming to share in his amusement.