Dead Empress Backwater is the sea

@Atlas ^^

It was weird, knowing she had a pack now. Whether that was a good weird or a bad weird, she didn't know. All she knew was that, while she still felt nervous - like she was walking on eggshells, trying not to offend anyone and get herself sent right away again - she wasn't as hungry. It had been a constant in her life for as long as she could remember, starvation, but there was food available almost all the time, and while Rosemary didn't indulge as much as she wanted to, it was nice to know that it was there, at least.

There was also a den, with other wolves, and while Rosie didn't feel bold enough to cuddle up with anyone just yet, it was still warmer than it was with just herself and her mother, and especially on her own.

This was a nice place, she decided, even if she still felt kind of alone most of the time. She didn't have to worry about much, if anything, right now.

She was busying herself by one of the creeks, stalking a rat she'd spotted by the bank. Hunting seemed a useful skill to have, and she wanted to provide, too, as much as she could, so she was going to practice every chance she got. Creeping slowly, she was grateful the little rat seemed to be distracted by a snack of its own. Once she got to what she deemed close enough, she launched herself at the rodent.

Her feet connected with it first, squishing it to the ground, and for a moment she stood there, tail wagging quick behind her as she realized she'd succeeded. The rat wasn't nearly as enthusiastic, squeaking and squealing under her paws as it tried to escape.

The pack had gone through so much recently. Atlas, young as he was, still reeled from the changes in his life. His sister missing, his mother... Atlas couldn't remove the pit that hung heavy in his belly just thinking about them. The boy found himself wandering again, though he didn't stray as far. He'd kept a distance from the rivers that flowed through their territory since his first foray into the wild. Now he found an odd comfort in the creeks. Atlas wandered there now, only to see the newest member of Dead Empress Backwater stalking the muddy banks. She pounced, she landed, and she scored. He was surprised to see the rat squirming under her paws.

Rose-something, he'd heard her name said when his father introduced her to the pack. Atlas figured she couldn't be much younger than he was, having caught a rabbit on her way in. She no longer looked like she could be knocked over by a light breeze, but there was still a lightness to her frame.

He had crouched down to keep her from noticing him and now stood up. He didn't want to surprise her. "Good job," he said with a smile, genuine in his compliment. Thin or not, she was a capable hunter.

Good job.

She hadn't known she had an audience, but for once the sudden appearance of a stranger didn't send alarm bells ringing in her head. Rosemary had gotten more accustomed to seeing other wolves of varying ages and sizes in these past few days, and while there was still a small seed of anxiety in her belly whenever she spoke to one, she wasn't nearly as jumpy as she'd been before she joined.

This was one of the pups, around her age. She'd seen him around, but hadn't formally introduced herself, so she hadn't gotten his name yet. He seemed nice, though, and her success had uplifted her own mood so much that there wasn't any nervousness in her response.

"Thank you!" she chirped, tail still wagging like a triumphant banner. After putting the little rat out of its misery, she scooped it up and carried it over to the boy, placing it between them. She had no idea the turmoil he was experiencing - didn't know anything about the recent losses that had upended his life in a way not too dissimilar to hers. But she was eager to reach out - to maybe get to know a new packmate and start off on the right foot. Orange eyes flicked between the rat and his face, excited but trying to reel it in. "Do you want it? We could share."

It wasn't much - a light snack for one wolf, - but Rosemary wanted to provide and prove herself useful, here.

For a brief moment Atlas considered her offer. The rat was a tempting morsel, but he shook his head. "No, you have it. You need it more," he said. He sat a few tail-lengths away from her and wrapped his tail around his paws. The air was getting colder with each passing day. This girl especially would need every bit of food she could get before winter.

"My name's Atlas," he said after a moment of silence. "You are uh, you're new, right? I mean, my dad found you out in the woods. He said you caught a rabbit." Atlas stumbled over his words, feeling a little silly asking his initial question.

He looked down at the rat under her paws. He hadn't caught much himself since he started hunting small prey. It was hard not to be jealous that she was doing better than him, but he pushed it down. Clearly she was just capable. He shook himself a bit and smiled. "That's cool. You're a good hunter."

Oh, he was kind. Proper, too. Her mother would have thought so, anyway, with how he was sitting. Rosemary wondered if she should be sitting that way, too, but it might've been weird to mirror him. He was probably right, too - she was still skinny, and perhaps needed to eat more. "Okay," she said, offering him a smile and a wag of her tail. It wasn't as hard to talk to this wolf as it was with most - likely due to them being age-mates and Morven and Eclypse's positive influence on her. "I'll keep it for later, then." It would be rude to eat it in front of him, she figured, carefully moving the little piece of prey to the side.

He introduced himself, then, which was something Rosemary should've done initially. This was his home, and she was new, so the responsibility fell on her shoulders, didn't it? He went on a little tangent about his dad, and her brows rose in surprise. It was extra improper to not introduce yourself to the alpha's pups! Was Atlas in charge of her? She had no idea how this worked - only that her mother used to stress how important being a leader - being the child of a leader - was.

"Rosemary," she blurted out then, feeling little pinpricks of embarrassment in her face. "I'm Rosemary. I should've, um, introduced myself." She wagged her tail hesitantly - he seemed friendly and not offended by her slip up, so maybe she didn't have to worry too much? "Atlas is a nice name." It seemed only right to compliment him in some way.

And then he complimented her, which was nice but incorrect, unfortunately. "Oh, no, I'm not," she assured, shaking her head quickly. "I only caught a couple of things so far. I would've starved by now if someone else didn't help me." There were a few now who had helped, who had been kind to her. She wouldn't forget them anytime soon. Cautiously, she tacked on a question, "Do you, um, like hunting?" Maybe he was learning, too!

"Rosemary is a nice name too. I haven't done much hunting, really. I caught a frog once but it was..." He looked for a better word than 'yucky', "Bad. I haven't been out on many hunts yet so that's, well that's really it. I'm better at catching grasshoppers. But those stick between your teeth." Atlas licked his teeth at the memory of spindly grasshopper legs catching on his gums. They were crunchy, but not great eating even for a pup.

Atlas didn't bother to mention that he'd gotten washed away when he hunted frogs and grasshoppers. It was embarrassing enough having his biggest accomplishment be a frog. Rosemary's catches were much more impressive. He realized he hadn't actually answered her question and startled a bit.

"I do like it though. Hunting is fun. I still think it's pretty impressive you caught a rabbit. They're fast," he said, then felt a bit dumb. Obviously rabbits were fast, and she would know that.

"Did you hunt a lot in your old pack?" He didn't know much about this girl, but he figured the help she was referring to was an old packmate.

His response helped her feel a little better. She hadn't somehow grievously messed up in this social interaction they were having, though her mother's voice still echoed in her ears, as though she were standing right behind her, overseeing their conversation.

Tell me, darling, how should a lady behave?

Rosemary didn't know anymore. Proper, of course, but what did that even mean? She was pretty sure it didn't mean to do what she was doing currently, which was to giggle a little at his statement and let her tail thump against the ground. "Frogs are really yucky," she confirmed, unaware he'd been trying to avoid that very word. She'd eaten a dead one once, but only a bite or two before Morven made her spit it out. It had been really, really gross. "Grasshoppers are fun to chase, though. I'm bad at catching those." Too small and bouncy to keep up with.

He liked hunting, too! That was great - common ground for them to stand on. "Yeah, rabbits are super fast. I think I only got that one because it was, um, really old and skinny and stuff." She offered him a smile, tail still swishing. "Maybe we can try and hunt together next time?"

Atlas asked about her old pack then, and Rosemary tipped her head. "I don't have an old pack," she explained. "It was just me and my mama, and then..." she paused a second, a wave of sadness threatening to take her under. It stilled her tail for a moment, her shoulders slouching a little, before she shook it off. "...and then she went, um, away. So it was just me. And then I met Morven and Eclypse, and they helped me come down here before they left. It was really nice of them." She smiled again. "And now I'm here." And it was nice, too. More food than she'd ever seen, and plenty of company if she sought it out. She tipped her head to the side. "Have you always lived here?"

"Yeah, we can teach each other! I'll show you how to get grasshoppers out of the air. It's a little difficult, but if you get the timing down you can get them with your paw. And you can show me how to hunt rabbits," Atlas said with a grin. His tail wagged, whipping up dust and dead leaves in its excitement.

Her next words did not bring exciting thoughts, though. Atlas nearly asked where Rosemary's mother went, but even to him the sadness surrounding that topic was palpable. That sadness, he understood it all too well. He didn't need to know the whole story. He tilted his head at the mention of two other wolves, though. They were strangers to him. "That was nice of them," he said, rather uselessly. "It's nice to have more wolves around here. We've lost a lot recently."

"Oh yeah, I've lived here my uh, whole life pretty much. Me and my sisters. Well, I think I'm related to pretty much everyone actually. So my dad, my m- sisters Hera and Kalysta, then a lot of cousins. A lot of my older siblings aren't really around for various reasons. Well there's Asmund and Eros. And-- uh, sorry. I'm talking a lot," he chuckled. There were a lot of threads in his family, many of which even he didn't know the length of. He could twist himself into a knot trying to figure them all out.