Patch

Patch was the first member of our pack to join us from the trading center!! It was very exciting and he's beautiful, I love him so much!!

Gentlesock found exactly what he was looking for in Patch. Someone to raise as his own, someone to teach everything he knows. Patch looked miserable when Gentlesock found him. Tired and covered in wounds, but despite it all, still well fed. A capable young fellow, pretty impressive. 

At first, Patch didn't really want to talk about where he had come from. He'd weep in his sleep, then woke up pretending everything had been fine. He slowly began opening up to Gentlesock, sometimes even to Vitani. About how he left his original pack and began wandering the wilderness alone. About how he learned to hunt, how he learned to find shelter and avoid trouble. How he learned which pray is safe and what will kill him. Still, he avoided talking about his family. He and Vitani, though, they seemed to share a special bond. Like they knew each other from another time, another life. 

Patch grew up with humans. 

His mother was a strong, proud wolf who had been captured by people who ran an underground dog fighting rink and she was forced to participate. She thought her good fighting skills would help her get out, or at least keep her head above the water. Instead, her skills made her famous amongst the betting-men and fight organizers, which led to her being forced to have puppies. They'll be expensive, they said. 

And so Patch was born, one out of the six puppies of the famous fighter-mother, and all signs pointed to him facing the same future. Her mother never cared for him much. She was young and proud and the experience of having Patch and his siblings nearly broke her. She wanted no part of this and he couldn't blame her. He was hurt at first, when he was younger, mostly because he didn't understand. He learned about it later, from someone who knew his father. 

He never met his father, but from the stories he's heard, it sounds like he might have been a dog. A german shepherd, maybe. He never knew much about dogs, except they are similar to wolves and sometimes loyal to their people to a fault. He blames his father for never being able to talk to his mother and if given the chance, he absolutely would kill him. 

After a few miserable months he spend at the fighting rink seeing his mother go out onto the stage day after day, her eyes becoming duller and duller with each fight, something changed. They said "the truth came out" about her. That she wasn't actually a dog, that she was a wolf. This cost their captivators a lot of money, which wouldn't mean a thing to Patch if not for the fact that this made them very angry. They always have been, but now they were furious. 

They'd sold the rest of his siblings already, and they were keeping Patch, hoping for him to become their next star fighter. This news. however, suddenly meant he and his mother were worthless to them. If they can't fight, they're nothing. 

So the man walked into the barn where Patch and his mother were being kept, holding a shotgun. Patch had no idea what this was, but he felt more scared than ever before. He looked at his mother and for the first time, he saw fear in her eyes as well. As the man leveled the gun at her, Patch felt his heart break. In a moment of madness and bravery, he jumped at the man's arm and bit down as hard as he could. He's seen his mother fight before, after all. 

"Run", he told her. And for the first time, she looked him deep in the eyes and said, 

"Thank you". 

And she ran. He's never seen her after that, which he never blames her for. He was, despite everything, a memory of one of the worst things that's ever happened to her. He hopes she's happy, though. He hopes she managed to find a way to be happy, maybe joined a pack where she can live life at her own pace. 

After that, the man only got angrier. The adrenaline was kicking in, though. And Patch was a strong young wolf, bred to fight. He bit at the man's hands until he let go of the shotgun, then toppled him over. He went for his neck, just like he's seen his mother do so many times in the rink. And then he ran. He doesn't know what happened to the man, he doesn't know if he lived or died. He knows he drew blood, and he knows the man sounded like he was in pain, but he didn't stick around to find out what happens next. He was free now. 

He mostly hid in the woods near the farm where the rink was after that. One thing he never learned about while growing up with humans was how to survive in the wild. How to hunt, how to find shelter or water. So he'd sneak near the farm to find food. 

One they, however, there was a big commotion. Something sinister was going on. 

He saw the men from the farm arrive with canisters of gasoline and pour it all over the dry grass around the farm. It was the middle of the summer and the sun was high on the horizon and the air smelled of trouble. He saw them get into their trucks, and drop a lit match before driving away. Soon, the whole farm was engulfed in flames. 

Soon, the fire spread to the forest. 

He saw deer and critters run out of the curtain of gray smoke and heard alarmed howling from the depths of the forest. He stared at his childhood home burn, alongside all the terrors he knew were inside. 

In the next few days, the place where the farmhouse once stood was now filled with cars with blue and red flashing lights and men dressed in blue. The dogs that came with them informed Patch that they were looking for "criminals". The words "animal abuse" and "arson" and "gambling" were used, but none of them meant much to Patch. 

So it was time to find a new home. 

He wandered the forest until Gentlesock found him one day, sleeping in the shade of a tree. 

Patch has never before lived with real wolves, and he's never met many, except his mother. He was nervous and scared of being judged, but he went with Gentlesock anyway. 

Gentlesock and his pack asked a lot of questions, but they were kind. Their questions were not coming from a place of judgment, but rather a place of concern. And they never pushed. They asked about his past, but mostly they were just there for him. They took him in as one of their own. If they ever noticed, they never said anything about his dog blood. 

And when some of the wolves howled, he felt like he'd heard them once before. In a different life, when they were scared and hurt, and their lungs filled with smoke. 

He was glad they found a place to call home, after it all. 

Patch is currently residing in Cushion home, alongside other scouts, herbalists, pupsitters, and pups. 

Patch is currently residing in Wolf's Sanctuary, a hunter's cave.