Heron Lake Plateau I wanna stand up, a hundred feet tall

@Finley

They'd agreed to send a message (which was way more than she'd expected... it was a trip, and for the sake of a stranger?) but now all she could do was wait.  And Rosalyn sucked at waiting.  She tried not to get moody over it, but it was difficult when she couldnt do anything, couldn't go anywhere, and was one hundred percent dependant on this strange pack she'd stumbled upon.  That for some reason, niggled in her memory like a damn worm.  Why did she know the name Redhawk?

She'd taken a liking to the spot by the lake, mostly because easy water access, so she lay with one paw dabbing the surface of the water while she thought.  If Smokestep found out, there was still no guarentee he'd like that she'd gotten herself into trouble outside their borders again.  She wasn't even positive her current role encouraged as much outside travel as she'd been taking... maybe he'd promote Sandpiper again just to ensure they had a homebody to support him.  Hmm.  Well, if it happened.... so long as she didn't abuse it, Rosalyn guessed she could cope.  It was a sort of worst-case scenario in her mind right now, and not likely... but she needed to be prepared, as usual, for whatever might come of her current predicament.

Finley was fuzzy on the details of this refugee they had apparently taken in. There was something about a wild cat (a lynx maybe? Ha. Alanis Morissette-level "irony"), and Towhee and............ Yeah she was out. But in the end, everyone she cared about had come home safe, and now they were plus one useless mooch. Having been one once or twice upon a time herself, Fin showed a surprising amount of sympathy towards the stranger. It never translated into any sort of generous action - not even in an effort to give this thread a reasonable beginning. But it at least explained why when Fin happened upon the healing Ironsea brigand, she didn't just roll her eyes and stalk irritably away.

As it was, Finley just happened to cross paths with their temporary visitor. Her brows had furrowed intensely upon seeing her. She at first had thought this might be a new joiner that she hadn't become acquainted with yet. But there was something familiar about her, in a way that didn't feel like something she'd been told and had ignored because she really didn't give any fucks. She knew this woman. Somehow... Fin turned her heels towards the stranger, her eyes raking along the woman's frame in search of clues as to why she felt some connection to her. There was no black stripe along her spine, and that was all it took for Fin to be completely lost for a moment as to how she knew this wolf. But once she came nearer, and those golden eyes and kinda scoffing, careless gaze met hers, Fin remembered.

It was that fucking bitch who'd saved her life.

"You've gotta be shittin' me," Fin said, dropping to her haunches with a disbelieving half smile stretching across her muzzle. The side of the Blackthorn's face remained scarred and ragged-looking from where the porcupine had smashed its quills into her, but it was a small price to pay for her life. To thise day, she wasn't entirely sure she deserved the life she had been given back, considering how desperately she'd attempted to abandon it that day. But it had been returned, and in no small thanks to this woman before her.

Who was this one then?  She approached with an easy authority, and when she got closer, Rosalyn judged her to be closer to her own age, if not older.  It was a surprising sight - she was used to being the oldest by far, and starting to wonder if she wasn't these parts of the wilds.

Hold on... why was she...

"Do I," she began, and then cut off as memory finally kicked in.  Redhawks.  Fuck, how had she forgotten?  "Redhawk Caldera.  You moved."  The statement had the sound of a question that had been bothering her a while, and just now come to light.  It had been a long-ass time, and she definitely hadn't expected Red's old pack to be way out here.  Red... Kitten... old stingey (as she referred to him, not knowing his name).  None of them seemed to be around - she'd have known some of their scents anywhere.  "Glad to see they found you before you croaked," Rosalyn finally finished, her own half smile coming to match.

"Yes, you do," Fin answered promptly with a nod of the head. Realization dawned on the woman's face shortly thereafter, but she was still busily processing the what the fuck of the situation. She'd never known where her saviour had run off to after her reluctant rescue, nor had she felt the need to ask. She'd been too busy feeling like a piece of shit for the attempted abandonment of her entire family to care too much. She actually couldn't even remember this woman's name. Had it ever even been said? 

"I don't know what shocked me more - getting found by my family or learning you'd actually gone to them," Fin commented wryly, and rather honestly. She hadn't expected much from the encounter. Getting an actual rescue out of it had seemed like too much to hope for. It had definitely been more than she deserved.

Rosalyn had to laugh at that one.  She almost hadn't, and hadn't exactly made her reluctance secret.  If a wolf was enough of a dumbass to get themselves stranded packless, generally she wouldn't stretch her own neck out.

"If I remember correctly, you played the kid card.  Don't tell me you were lyin."  She smirked at that thought though, it was a good play.  Maybe she should try it next time she needed help.  It certainly tugged at her heartstrings.  But then again, she knew what it was like to be abandoned by a mother, and it fuckin sucked.

Apparently Fin's claim to have children waiting for her was what had swayed the woman to play the hero that day. It hadn't been a lie, but it was still valuable to know how well that worked to motivate others. Especially since all of her children were old enough now to survive without her if she were to croak right now, so she couldn't exactly claim that any of them needed her beyond emotionally. 

"Nope, not a lie," she said reassuringly before settling down to spill the rest, and to attempt to learn a bit about the sarcastic bitch who had saved her life once upon a time.