Desert wolf adoptions!

Dang you mon!

Name: Solana Sandhound
Gender: Famale
Age: 3 years (Season: Spring)
Appearance: 
To look at Solana is to see a life of hardships, it is obvious she had not led an easy life by the visibility of her rib cage, the extreme upwards slope of her stomach. Her pelt almost seems to hang off of her like a matted carpet. The thief is incredibly emaciated, making the already small woman seem even smaller. She stands at 23" and when she was a more healthy weight her form was lean and lithe, perfect for slipping in and out of things undetected and with a fluid grace that allowed for many daring escapes. Now however it is obvious she is underfed, her skin almost sags off her bones and her eyes are sunken into her skull.

Her pelt, once short but well taken care of is now mostly matted. The base color of her unkempt pelt is that of a dark grey, her face to between her eyebrows, around her eyes, down her neck and onto her chest is black. Her front paws up to just about her elbows and her hind legs to just at her hocks as well as the fur along the bottom of her rump and the under side of her tail are also this color. The next most prominent color is that of a grey-brown, it colors the back of her neck starting at the base of her skull, runs down her neck, along her back, out to her shoulders and across the top of her tail. A mud brown runs in a blaze up her nose til just between her eyes, marks her brows, the tip of her tail and flecks in two lines along her back, sandwiching a flecked line of black. Finally the tips of her ears are painted in an almost white cream color.

Solana's sunken gaze, once a bright turquoise is now a more dim color, though they sometimes still flash with the same fiercness they did in her earlier days.

As for scars, Solana carries a few, most noticeably in a crescent shape running down the middle of her left eye, though the eyeball itself is luckily unharmed. Her ears have also been docked, although it is not always noticeable.


Personality: Despite her more bedraggled appearance Solana is as feisty as ever. She has a talent for thievery and loves a challenge. The more unlikely the success of her mark the more she is determined to get her paws on her prize. That being said she isn't needlessly reckless, a good heist requires a good plan and she has little time for fools who believe themselves to be above careful planning. Still even the best laid plans go awry and being able to adapt and think on your toes are valuable assets to have, luckily for the thief she has those in spades. Additionally she is always quick to make a joke and to offer a friendly smile.

Still she has perhaps grown more bitter as time has worn away at her, Solana has always felt that the world is unjust and that by taking from those who have she is righting a wrong in some way. That conviction has only grown stronger, while also taking on the belief that in order to survive one must look out for themselves and only themselves. She also has a particularly strong dislike of institutions and authority figures. Solana's whole life has seen those in power abusing it so she always assumes the worst of those who hold it.

Deep down Solana wants to do what is right, she is deeply upset by injustice and wishes she could make a positive change for the better, however she has become so disillusioned with the way of the world the only thing she sees as being a positive change would be the total destruction of any power imbalances and the harshness of her life has led her to be unwilling to take the steps she believes to be necessary to protect the weak, the only one who will look out for her is herself, so she has to put herself first.

History: Ah the age old story of the orphan thief, a child left to fend for themselves on the nasty streets of a city and forced into a life of crime to survive. A story that's been told a thousand times and yet never quite in such this way; for while Solana was indeed an orphaned child, one who never knew the loving embrace of her parents, it was the intervention of a kindly stranger that introduced her to thievery. Had it not been for him she likely would have spent the rest of her short life begging for scraps every day in the market place.

As it was the old man must have seen something in her, some glint in her eyes that told him she wasn't done fighting yet and he took her in. Solana never learned his real name,  he only told her to call him Pops, and so she did. Solana was not the only pup, no there were always a few. Some, those that were still young, stayed with Pops and Solana while others, older, flitted in and out of the hidden and half collapsed sandstone house Pops used as his den. Still there was one thing that united all the disperate children, they were all thieves.

How or why the old man had decided to take on the lost and abandoned children of the city was unclear but he had, and whenever he took in a new pup he always began by explaining to them what it was he was asking for in return. "These old bones cannot hunt like they used too but I still have my wits about me." He'd say in his age cracked voice. "You, my dear child, will hunt for me. Oh fear not I know you are too young for living prey but there is more to hunting than making a kill. If one is clever or quick one can take that which one needs. You, child, will be both for I will impart to you my wisdom and all my technique. And in return for a roof over your heads and the leasons I give a portion of all your hunts will go to me, and when you are older you will be expected to protect me and your younger siblings, for all of us are family, so that one day when you get to be my age they will in turn do the same for you."

And so the kids did as they were told, not always right away, whenever a younger pup had taken it upon themselves to push the rules they suddenly found themselves at the mercy of a gang of yearlings and always came home looking a bit more roughed up than usual.

Solana took to the old man's teachings with fervor and while she didn't have the finesse of the older children yet even Pops had to admit that she seemed almost predisposed towards thievery. The pups her around her own age quickly fell in line, learning that when they followed her instructions they tended to come away with bigger hauls and her quick thinking had meant that even after being caught they often got away. With these pups eager to follow Solana had made her own smaller thieves guild within the group and together they pulled of a number of bigger games than a single wolf alone could manage.

One day however, near the advent of her first full year things took a turn for the worse. Solana's plan had fallen through and with angry adults closing in she fled, leaving her rag tag group behind. That night she did not return to Pop, instead she hid in along abandoned and collapsed structure. Then as morning broke she trudged to her home.

Pops was always upset when one of his children was caught, but she had never seen him furious before. She had expected yelling, threats, maybe even for him to attack her. Instead he was quite, and still and Solana feared for her very life. "Jorim was hardly a moon." He finally said and Solana flinched, the youngest of her gang had been Pop's newest acquisition a bright eyed pup who's enthusiasm outweighed his ability, but he made a brilliant distraction. He wouldn't survive a week outside the city. "I could turn you in." He said, his voice even and Solana felt her stomach drop, she couldn't imagine life in banishment! "But you are my child and I could not bring myself to see you mutilated as such, however you are never to return here again. You will no longer have my protection or the protection of your once brothers and sisters. Now get out of my sight."

And so as she moved into her first full year of life Solana fled the only home she had ever know, she camped out in her previous hiding spot and for two days cried, unable to motivate herself to get up. Finally though her hunger won out and the girl was forced once more into thievery. And Pop was as good as his word, whenever she was found skulking around the usual places his older children prowled she was often chased away. She was forced to become sneakier and expand her normal hunting grounds. Solana vowed she'd never put her life in another's paws again, still she was lonely.

That as it turned out wouldn't be an issue afterall as the season changed. Solana met Echo and the two became fast friends. Echo managed to break right through Solana's walls and the older girl quickly found herself thinking of Echo as more than a friend. She taught the girl the ways of thieving and vowed that this time it would be different. They would have a signal if things turned sour and with only the two of them there was less that could go wrong, they'd watch each other's backs. Things would be good.

And for a while things were good. The two of them were in the second years of their lives and Solana had been working extra jobs to afford a particular bracelet she'd been hoping to gift to Echo, an impractical item but she was finally working up the courage to confess her feelings for her partner in crime. So of course things could only go wrong on the very day she had planned to buy the present. It was a job just like any other, Echo was to snag the item and Solana was on look out.

To this day she doesn't know how they snuck up on her. But the owners of the mark they had their eyes on approached with some of the city guard. What happened after? Solana could never quite say, the only thing she knows for sure is that she ran and got away. She ran to the place the pair had claimed as their own and waited the whole day. Surely she had given the signal and Echo would come trotting back any minute now, panting and worn out but smiling and they'd spend the rest of the day laughing as Echo recounted how she'd managed to escape.

That night was sleepless. And the next morning she spent all of the available daylight looking for her lost partner. In fact she spent those first few weeks after the event looking for Echo instead of doing any jobs. When the second week was over she knew that Echo would not be coming back, and Solana feel into a sort of depression.

She was reckless with her jobs from then on, she was angry at the world, at the society that had forced them into such a dangerous occupation and most of all she was angry at her self. She could not remember if she had given the signal or not, she could not even take solace in knowing she had done all she could! Her recklessness finally caught up with her however and she was once more pushed from the only home she had ever known, but not before she was marked as an exile, her ears docked and a fresh scar cut into the left side of her face.

As it turned out a wolf who's whole skill set was based on taking from those that had meant she was ill equipped to hunt for herself. Forced to eat long ago rotted scraps her body at first rejected her rotten meals but eventually she was able to stomach it. Still her body deteriorated and the once proud and swift wolf became a shadow of her former self.

Rough Plans: First thing is I'll probably have her go to all the packs and just try to get more info on them. She'll want to sort of scope them out as potential marks and also to find out which packs would be most receptive to the services she offers.
Obviously I'd want her to run into Echo at some point, she's got a lot of hang ups about her and she'd want to do everything in her power to make it up to her.
Maaaaaybe she'd consider having a band of other thieves again?
She'll honestly probably hide out in the desert somewhere for a while too, since it'll take some time to adjust to the weather elsewhere.

Rp sample: How she had survived the swim was a mystery to her. Solana's pelt hung off of her in a ratty mess at the best of times, now it was a ratty soaking mess and she wasn't quite sure she would survive the next few days if she didn't get her paws on something to eat right away. Maybe she'd need to dry off first, though even as she pulled herself to shore she wasn't sure that would be feasible. The Ocean had been cold of course but even as she adjusted to the air she could tell that this place she had just found herself in was at least as cold as her former home at night. And it was the middle of the fucking day!

There were a few fish washed ashore, she sniffed at them curiously, she had only seen these creatures for the first time as she swam across the great body of water, were they edible?  Their stench did little to help the gnawing in her stomach and even as she felt some part of her, the part that remembered the master thief she had once been, she eagerly gulped down the several days old fish. Her stomach churned and then she heaved. Carrion food she could handle but her system hadn't been exposed to even fresh fish before so it wholly rejected the rotting ones.

Well this is just fan-fucking-tastic! She thought to herself as she stuck her muzzle in the water, letting it clean the sick from her fur. First thing was first, she needed a meal and she needed it bad, then she'd need shelter for the night, if it was this hellishly cold at this time of day she didn't want to be stuck out at night. Then? Well then she wasn't sure. An idea dawned on her and despite her less than stellar circumstances she found a smile rising to her face. A new place a d new life, she could start over here, here where no one knew what she was capable of. But this time she'd be smart, she'd sell her skills to those who could offer her protection and sustenance. Now there was a plan!