Gunk 🌿 {he/they}

gunk was born to the very beginning of a pack, made of nothing but his mother and father, along with their newborn pups. born to a litter of five, he was never particularly confident as a pup. he was often marked as a disappointment by his pup pack, and was considered, by his parents, to be nothing but a disappointment. this was, of course, incredibly disheartening.
because of his families rejection, he never felt that he was able to partake in normal pup play. as much as he longed to tussle, race and stalk small feathers and mice that his mother or father would bring back to the den, he could never bring it in himself to handle the bitter taste of disappointment the moment he tripped or stubbed his paw.
so, instead, he began to take his own adventures. nobody noticed when he would slip away as an adolescent, following the smell of wood and dirt until he was too exhausted to continue forth. every night he would get farther and farther, and as time passed it would take him longer and longer to return home.
it was at the age of about nine months old where he had been gone for well over a week. in the time he was gone, his mother had fallen seriously ill. returning to her upon her death bed, his siblings berated him with the force of blind rage because he abandoned them in a time of need, and he had done nothing to help. in his plea for forgiveness, he was shunned. forced to sleep outside throughout rain, harsh cold and nothing to lay on but hard stone. his father was the most furious, nearly tearing his ear off in his rage.
that night, gunk dreamed about the exploring he had done, remembering the smell of herbs that had been so close to their home. when he awoke, he also remembered eating them, the bitter taste and the vomit they had induced. with nothing but high hopes, he quickly made the two day journey to gather the herbs. he knew that whatever caused his mothers illness was no normal sickness, it was a poison that had been festering within. he knew the only way to save her was to get it out.
by the time he got home, he was met with nothing but gnashing teeth and thick growls that threatened to tear out his throat, but he insisted on his idea. hesitantly, his father let him through. they were devoid of any ideas, so clearly this was their last solution.
his mother ate the herbs quickly, and she vomited even faster, and it was after she coughed up the last drop of bile in her stomach that she fully opened her eyes for the first time in four whole days. she quickly recovered soon after, sunrises melted together and gunks siblings milled about him with a new sense of respect.
however, gunk knew that the pack that had belittled and held nothing but distrust was not the pack for him. when he met the age of a newly risen yearling, he declared his departure from his family. for the first time since he was no older than three weeks old, his mother and father told him they were proud. he knew his path was elsewhere, but he finally felt at peace with his parents and siblings, and that was enough for him.
he journeyed for a couple days before coming across scent lines for a evidently newly established pack, and waited at the edge. he waited until next sunrise, when a lovely and surprisingly enthusiastic and warm female greeted him at the edge. she introduced herself as Tunk, leader of the newly establish Skernnis Hills Pack, and eagerly invited him to join.
it was at that moment that he recognized that not only did he want to protect and serve tunk as a loyal packmate, but he wanted whatever pack that formed on the mountainside such as this to be safe under his own protection. he chose the path of a herbalist to continue the peace he felt upon his families departure.