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Mate'moto sighed softly as she flopped down on top of a warm rock. She was glad the rains had come to give them some water, but lately she had been craving to be hot. Swimming, she had discovered, was lots of fun, but only really worth it when she was boiling hot. Thankfully her mostly black coat helped her warm up very, very quickly.

She rolled to her back, paws in the air to block the sun from her golden eyes. They traced the patterns on her paws and she grinned a bit as she surveyed her markings. She was mostly dark, yes, but she loved the way her paws looked. It was like they were on fire! Humming to herself, Mat poked her markings with her hind paws, and ended up rolling right off the rock in the process.

"Oof!" she said she landed on her side, her tail lashing to get her back to her feet. She shook her head and glanced up at the rock with a scowl, as if it was its fault that she had fallen off. No matter...she was sure she had better things to do than lay around. She huffed as she stood and flicked her red-tipped tail before sauntering off. Maybe she could find her mom...she was getting a bit hungry.

Mat grinned as she approached her family's den, spotting her mother outside. She quickened her step to trot forward, pouncing on the paw that was held out to her. She was very easily a mommy's girl, constantly by her mother'rs paws. She loved her dad, of course, but her mom was big and tough and she wanted to be just like her when she grew up.

"I was gonna to swimming but the dumb rock pushed me off it," she said, chewing happily on Azar's toes. She lifted her head and sniffed slightly, her tail flopping to the side. "But that's all right...I'll get it back," she said with a little grin and a growl, her tiny claws digging into the dirt. She pounced again, this time throwing her arms around her mother's neck and biting playfully.

"What were you doing? Besides waiting for your favorite kid to tackle you?' she asked, laughing happily. Look at her, a little cub taking down a brigadier! She bet that was pretty impressive.

Mat flopped onto the ground as her mother pushed her down, and she squirmed around, trying to escape the large paw. "I sure can!" she said, snarling and growling as best she could. What emerged sounded more like squeaks and purrs, though. She had a bit of growing up to do before she became as intimidating as her parents.

The question made her stop, her hind legs resting from kicking her mother's arm. "What do I wanna do?" she repeated, rolling away to her feet. "I wanna go explore! Or..." It was kinda hot to do that. It was even too hot to go swimming. "Or maybe you can show me how to pounce!" That would be fun. Then she could get that stupid rock back. She had been practicing and watching the older cubs, but she could never get as far as they could, and they looked so elegant and tough. She just kind of flopped through the air.

"Real sneaky," she added, crouching low, her butt high in the air, tail flopping around. Decidedly not-sneaky. "I wanna be a good fighter like you some day and all the older cubs pounce way better than me! I wanna be better than them!"

Mat stood tall as her mother praised her scary sounds. Ha, she knew she was terrifying! All the other cubs said she sounded just like them, but she knew they were just jealous of her intimidating roar. No one was better than her at snarling and growling. She sounded like a grown-up lioness! In her head, at least.

As Azar got up and moved about, the small cub ran between her mother's front legs, making a figure eight around and between them. "Yes! Target practice," she said with a grin. "I hope there's a frog nearby. I've seen some by the water." She had never know what a frog was until very recently. It seemed they came with the rain, which was quite funny. She hadn't seen any falling from the sky with the water, but perhaps she had missed it. It had rained for a very long time, after all.

"Or maybe a bird! Birds are fast, though, and they cheat," she huffed. She didn't like that birds could fly out of her reach. It didn't seem fair.

Mat circled her mother as the older lioness thought, keeping her front end low to the ground and her butt high in the air. She snuck around her mother, looking for any 'prey' she could pounce on. Unfortunately there was nothing in the immediate area. A paw distracted her, and she looked up at Azar with a grin.

"A sneaky snake! Yeah!" she said enthusiastically, jumping up from her crouched position. "Let's find a snake, mom." She zoomed into the green grass to her right, not very stealthily at all, and then back to her mother's side. "There's none in that grass," she said with a pout. "Where do you think they are?"

Because, obviously, all the snakes in the Firekin lands always hid out in that tiny patch of grass that was hardly never there. The rains had made the lands explode with color, all the dormant plants finally blooming thanks to the surge of water. Were she older and more used to the lack of life, she'd appreciate it more. But since she was so young and this was fairly normal to her - since she hadn't experienced much - she just figured it was another boring part of life.

Mat followed Azar eagerly, her ears up and listening to every word her mother said. Azar was a pretty awesome lioness, if Mat had anything to say about it, and she hung off her words as if they were the most valuable thing in the world. To her, they were! Everything she had learned thus far had come from her mother, and she wasn't ready to stop learning from her just yet.

"Right, I've seen some people with snakes!" she agreed, nodding just a bit. She wouldn't hurt the snakes, then. That wouldn't be very nice. That and she might end up hurting one of the higher-ups in the pride's friend, and then she'd get into huge trouble.

She did as she was told and lowered herself to the ground. Mat was used to sticking her rear up in the air, but apparently being quiet and low to the ground was better. She waited for her mother to give her the all clear before wiggling just a bit and leaping at the snake. The lazy serpent gave her a little flick of her tongue before slithering away, making Mat laugh.

"How was that, mom?" she asked, turning to grin at the larger lioness.

Mat puffed up her chest as her mother praised her. Ha! She was going to be awesome at sneaking now that she knew to keep her butt down. No one would see her sneaking among the dead grass. She wanted to go try out her new skill on her brothers and sisters, but Azar brought up an even better idea.

"Fooooood! Yes!" she said, leaping up into the air in excitement. "Yes, let's do that! Oh man I'm so hungry...pouncing is hard work," she added as she butted her head against her mother's leg. "C'mon, mom, I'll race you!"

And with that she set off, running as quickly as she could in the direction of the den, managing to only trip and fall a few times.