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Family obligations were what they were. Matu's family was large and friendly, which meant that they knew a whole lot of lions in the pride. Which was nice. Matu was a little awkward around strangers, so it made things easier when the people he was with weren't strangers. Part of being a member of a large, friendly family was the requirement to help keep up with all those friends, which meant that Matu had been asked to drop in on Nisha and Kialio to see how everyone was doing. He vaguely remembered playing with some of the boys from their litter a long time ago, but that was about it. So this was going to be awkward. Oh, joy.

He looked around and only spotted one dark-furred lioness nearby, but he hoped that the rest of the family would be inside, perhaps. He wasn't sure he'd be able to consider his task complete if he only exchanged pleasantries with one of them. Particularly if he couldn't remember that one lioness's name. Gods, this was embarrassing.

Hviske was lazing about outside the den, thinking about all the places she would like to see before she died, but most especially about where she would like to live when she left the den, as she would soon be doing. She had once thought that she and her best friend Hidaya might share a den, but Hidaya seemed to be growing up a lot more slowly than Hviske was, and her parents were really protective of her, so it could be a long time before she was able to move out of her den. Which meant that Hviske would have to come up with something else for the time in between. Her reflections were interrupted by the arrival of a white lion with red speckles and deep brown eyes. He was familiar. Probably a friend of her brothers'.

"Hello," she called out to him. "You've missed my brothers, I'm afraid."

"Oh. Um, hi," Matu said lamely. "That's too bad."

He didn't remember the names of the lioness's brothers, either, he realized with horror. Could this possibly be any more awkward? Probably, his brain told him with a certain vicious pleasure. And then it bet that in less than two minutes he'd manage to make it more awkward. As usual, it was right.

"What about your parents? Are they around?" He glanced around nervously. Kialio and Nisha were the only ones whose names he could remember, and now that he thought about it, he wondered if they were even living together. He thought he remembered hearing that they'd decided not to. Or maybe that was somebody else. He'd been busy doing other things, okay?

Hviske made a face at the young lion. He was handsome. Really handsome. But what on earth did he want? Were her brothers in trouble or something, and he was looking for her parents to rat them out? She hoped that wasn't the case. It would be terribly disappointing if so. She wanted him to be someone interesting, and maybe crush-worthy.

"No, they're not here either. Would you like me to take a message, or are you hoping to sell them something?" She knew she probably shouldn't tease him, but it was hard to resist. He looked so uncomfortable standing there. She would have given good odds that he didn't even know her name, but it would have been much too mean of her to point that out. "I warn you, we don't tend to conduct trade with strange lions, and you are acting very strange."

Matu flinched. And then he flinched because he'd flinched. Such a stupid reaction. Gah.

"Sorry. I'm Matu. Probably you don't remember me. I'm really just coming by because my family asked me to." He rolled his eyes. "I'm not really sure why they asked me. Probably because I was closest."

Or maybe Tala had dropped the word in someone's ear. She had a mean streak, did his sister. Well, not mean. Mischievous. But when it resulted in situations like this one Matu couldn't help but feel a little bit put-upon. And he was beginning to get the feeling that Hviske was a lioness like his sister, which didn't bode well. She was going to make him look like a complete moron.

Making the lion flinch actually made Hviske feel guilty. Her mum had warned her that she shouldn't go too far in her teasing. Apparently she had done now, and she'd made him really really uncomfortable, which hadn't been her intention. She'd been shooting for just a little discomfort. So he'd think she was clever and be impressed.

"I'm sorry, Matu. I kind of know how that is. My name's Hviske. If you want, I can find someone who's related to you later today and tell them how very nice it was to see you again and invite them not to be such strangers without telling them who I am or where I live."

She meant it to be sort of like they would both be teasing his family, then, but it occurred to her once the words were spoken that they could be interpreted otherwise and he might take offense, or flinch again. Really, she just wanted him to stay and talk to her a little more. She was bored and he was cute.

"This is going to sound horrible, and I hope you'll forgive me, but even knowing your name, I'm afraid I don't remember you." He did at least look chagrined as he admitted this, and in fact thought to himself that perhaps he shouldn't have done, but it was too late to un-say it at this point. It was weird for him to be this tongue-tied. Usually he was better with people.

"And as tempting as your offer is, I think I'll have to refuse. That would be a little too unkind. Besides which, I'm not sure I'd be able to describe any of my family members well enough that you'd be able to recognize them by name to approach them."

It was an appealing idea, and he really was tempted, but he didn't want to put Hviske in an awkward position of having to approach people she didn't really know. Even though she had volunteered to do it. Perhaps if he knew her better, and knew how she felt about strangers. She seemed to enjoy talking to him well enough, but he might be the exception. Not that he could think why he would be. He didn't see himself as particularly cute.

Hviske shrugged. "Well, if you're sure. I really don't mind though. I haven't got a great deal to do lately since my parents say I'm too young to go out with the hunters and my best friend's family is being way over-protective."

She sighed dramatically so that Matu would know how much she was suffering as a result of these factors. He looked like he was probably a bit older than her, but he'd likely understand the trials an adolescent had to endure nonetheless. After all, his family seemed to be a little bit thoughtless, or possibly just a little unkind. It was hard to say. She couldn't remember ever interacting with any of them. Maybe as cubs, but cubs played with everyone and simply playing a few times didn't mean they were memorable or permanent parts of her life. Obviously.

"I'll tell my parents you stopped by."

"Thank you. I appreciate that," he said absently.

Matu had thought about it some more while Hviske explained how she was suffering from a dearth of activity. He couldn't quite relate, since his family had all but shoved him into hunting parties as soon as his mane began to come in, but he enjoyed hunting, so that wasn't an issue. He did feel sorry for her being bored.

"Well, if you're that bored, let me tell you about my sister Tala," he said, and then proceeded to describe his spotted sibling. He supposed it was possible the two of them might get along and gang up on him in the future, but it wouldn't be so awful if they did. It would be all in fun, after all.

Hviske grinned, showing a great deal of sharp teeth when Matu decided to accept her offer to create a little bit of consternation among his kinfolk. And then she settled in to listen to his description, asking questions to clarify anything she wasn't sure about. She hadn't seen very many lions that even partially resembled the lioness he described when describing his sister, but the pride was huge and she didn't want to make a mistake.

"You'll have to tell me if she says anything about it after I do it," she told him. "Promise me you will."

After exacting his promise that he would do as she asked, Hviske was satisfied. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything else to say to keep him from leaving, and so she was forced to bid Matu goodbye. At least now she had something to do with the rest of her day, she supposed. The thought made her smirk as she watched him walk away.