Malumbra

Age:  4 and 1/2 Years
Description:
 Malumbra has a gorgeous white base coat, with a top layering of gray, giving her almost a silver sheen. In the winter her fur turns a darker gray around her rump, back, and neck. Her fur is fluffy in length, all the way from her cheeks to her tail.

Her face is predominantly white, with a streak down her nose that is a deep dark gray, and a thin lining around each eye of the same coloring. Her ears are striking, being of the same dark shade of gray as her nose streak. In contrast to the rims around them, her eyes are a bright amber gold, especially if caught in the sun where they shine like honey.

She has many scars hidden under her lush fur, with a few more visible, including three that score over her muzzle, like a paw with claws viciously tore over her muzzle, and one slashing across her left eye. More scars crisscross over her shoulders and legs, slightly visible if you look hard enough.

Personality: 
Fierce ~ Focused ~ Caring ~ Determined ~ Loyal ~ Just
To anyone who doesn't know her, Malumbra would seem a harsh, fearsome wolf, mostly due to her eye scar, with no softness anywhere in her. But that would be extremely misguided. Though anyone who hears her strong and deep howl might disagree, she is in fact an extremely gentle and caring canine, especially with pups. Often she can be seen laying underneath a pile of wriggling youngsters as they "take down" the warrioress. But she can be just as focused and fierce as she is gentle, and will protect her pack at all costs, rarely backing away from a fight.
She is gentle with those who need it, loyal, calm and levelheaded with those she respects, and rarely gives way to her more negative emotions. If she does, it is only either when she is alone, or with her most dearest, trusted friend.
To any outsiders, newcomers or dogs (even a wolfdog) she is icy, always on the alert, and almost harsh. You do NOT want to meet this wolf in the woods, unless you have pure intentions.
She also has an odd fear of ice, and avoids going over any rivers, lakes, or ponds in the winter.

Likes:
~ Playing with pups
~ Patrolling on her own
~ Caring for her packmates
~ Swift and precise carrying out of orders
~ Running, Battling, and Hunting
~ Cold, or mild temperatures
~ Showing weakness

Dislikes:
~ Being told to not have emotions when she does have them
~ Ice
~ Lack of obedience, sloppiness
~ The murder of female or youngling creatures
~ Hot temperatures

Love life: Hunter. He is a pure black wolf, with heterchromia eyes of blue and green. He is EXTREMELY fluffy, and so kind. She met him on a patrol, he was an outsider, but quickly earned her trust. He is now her one and only solace, comfort, companion, and trustee. If she has a problem, she will go to him. Or he will go to her, when she most needs him. He will protect her at all costs, even against her own packmates if need be. She trusts him completely, and there is no denying the sparks of feeling flying between them.

Backstory:
Malumbra was born into a large pack, living at the foot of a mountain range, in a wonderful pine forest. She lived happily through her first year... until The Great Hunt. Humans broke into the forest, and began killing off the wolves. Her mother and father joined the pack in the fight, as did she. The wolves fought bravely, but one by one they dropped to the ground. In a rage, she attacked the lead hunter, felling him. But he still had his gun. With a misguided, yet very close shot, he almost killed her, and she had to flee, although with one eyelid drooping, almost completely ripped apart. The hunter was after her, his dogs right on her tail, snapping, biting, slashing with their teeth at her legs. But then she came to the river. It was winter, and a seemingly thick layer of ice spread over the great expanse of water. Without thinking twice, knowing certain death was behind her, she leapt onto the ice... and it cracked. She tried to scramble across, but to her dread it broke beneath her, and in a second she was swept under, and gone.

She thought herself dead, until something heavy smashed through the ice, and she found herself being pushed by the current against a large warm body. An enormous grizzly was looking down at her, expressionless. With a weak whine she pulled herself to shore, laying, spent, on the river side rocks. The bear continued it's path along the edge of the river, searching for a new fishing spot. She did not expect it to help her, it was silently understood that it had saved her, but it had not meant to. The fact that it had, left her in it's debt, and one day it would be her role to pay him back. Miraculously, she pulled through the night, waking in the morning with an ice encrusted body, and a swollen shut eyelid. Struggling to her feet, she found the remains of the bear's meal, eating the measly scraps of fish skins as she could find them, then pulling herself into the forest.

The next few months she traveled, gaining strength as she followed the bear's route, eating whatever remains from it's meals it had left behind. She did not know where she was, but she knew she could not go back. Over that time she met a few packs, but they were untrusting, and unwilling to take the seemingly disabled wolf, as her eyelid was still unhealed.

But one day, moving slowly through the forest, she came upon a lone female. The she-wolf never spoke, but wordlessly showed her friendship, and they merged their paths, traveling silently side by side. Every time they stopped the she-wolf would search the area for some certain plants, placing them on Malumbra's eye and leaving them for the night. The first few times Malumbra was, needless to say, wary, but as she felt the throbbing lessen, and her focus return, she allowed and welcomed the treatment. Until one morning she awoke alone, the only evidence of her companion being a small pile of leaves, and footprints heading into the brush. With a heavy heart she retrieved the healing leaves, and continued her own journey. A week later, her eye was fully healed, except for an angry slash running straight over it, the mark of the evil of humans. And onward she traveled for the next year, now on the third year of her life, and still with no den to call home, no pack to run with, and the scent of wolves growing fainter and fainter in the woodland. Until one evening, as she loped through the forest, the scent hit her, stopping her in her tracks with the strength.

She had stumbled upon an ancient pack's territory! Entering cautiously, she found her way to their dens, making her presence known, and acting as friendly as she could possibly know how. But as soon as these wolves emerged from their dens, she knew she'd made the wrong choice. Gaunt and wild eyed, they staggered from their dwellings, surrounding her in a matter of seconds. Keeping calm, she tried to show her submissiveness, letting them know she was just passing through. But they were too far gone. And she looked well fed. Knowing it was for her life, she managed enough strength to leap over the scrawny wolves heads, and raced through the forest, thinking to outrun them for sure. But she had not counted on their Alpha. A giant red furred wolf burst through the underbrush, snarling, eyes blazing. Unlike his pack, he was limber, and full of strength, and very, very angry. She pushed herself, but there was no way to outrun him. Spinning to face him, she leapt for his face, teeth flashing. He met her, and for a moment they grappled soundlessly, claws seeking purchase. But he found his first, and threw her to the side with an unforseen strength. Staggered, she picked herself up, a sharp throbbing stinging on her muzzle telling her his claws had found their mark. Knowing she didn't have a choice except to keep fighting, or forfeit her life, she took a stance once more. He almost seemed to sneer at her, then rushed forward, jaws widening the sound of his growling like a death knoll. Until a sharp crack rang from the trees, and he staggered past her, letting out a screeching yelp. Turning, he faced the new, feared enemy. Human. Gun. And like a maniac, he charged. Malumbra spun and raced away, not stopping to look back as another shot rang out behind her. Somehow, she had survived once more.

For the next year she dodged and ran, avoiding humans and packs alike, no one to be trusted. She scrounged, fought, hunted, whatever was necessary to stay alive, and so she did, growing tougher, harder, but still a soft streak ran through her, evidenced as she spared many young creatures, although hunger gnawed at her belly. Her fourth year, on the first day, started out with a deep fog rolling through the forest. Visibility was low, and she had slowed to a walk. The moisture in the air seeped into her scars, and the throbbing was making her lose focus. And that, was how she stumbled into the pack's territory.

The rest of the story, is told here: Beyond the Walls
(How she found a pack, found a purpose, discovered a blind pup, and then lost her purpose. But love kept her going, even through the darkest of times)


Focuses and Themes for Commissions:
So, there are a few approaches you can take...

1. Meeting outsider/stranger in the forest. 
This would be the fearsome, imposing, mysterious wolf, staring from the fog, head raised high imperiously, or dropped low threateningly, every inch a ruthless warrior.

2. With Hunter
This would be her laughing, happy, relaxed, fluffy and totally at ease, eyes sparkling. In short, a very huggable wolf.

3. With Pups
This would be her laying, sitting, or standing near the dens, smiling over or down at the pups, tail curled if laying or sitting, smiling or panting. She would look alert, motherly protective, but also soft, loving, and fun.

4. Artists choice
Based on all you've read, you can make your own choice of how YOU imagine her acting, posing, feeling. Is she fearsome? Is she totally soft? Submissive? Falling through the ice? It's your choice!