Ess was born Essi, the oldest of the litter. They and their two brothers and one sister had a fairly normal upbringing. There wasn’t anything special happening in their life. Just a simple wolf living the life of a… simple wolf.
Ess never felt comfortable being addressed as female, though. But thinking about he pronouns didn’t feel right, either. For a year and a half they were, deep down, struggling with their identity, while in their daily life they were addressed with female pronouns.
They felt different, strange, but lived a happy life all the same, despite the confusion on who they truly were. They excelled in certain skills their parents hadn’t considered female, like fighting. Ess was a pretty good fighter, and quickly trained muscle on their body, way quicker than their parents would have assumed. They even surpassed their brother Mersh with sparring, their sibling they felt closest with.
After turning two years old, they finally figured themselves out. They explained to their parents that they wanted to go by they/them pronouns, feeling they were neither gender. Their parents were loving souls but ignorant. They didn’t understand what Ess wanted in life and how they felt.
Even after telling their parents, they kept being addressed with she/her pronouns. It felt like a punch to the gut. So Ess became rebellious, and the star child suddenly was no longer the star of the family.
The only one who understood them was their brother Mersh, who nicknamed them Ess, saying it sounded more neutral, not feminine nor masculine. Ess from that day on changed their name to Ess officially, and decided to leave their pack in search for wolves who understood them, and maybe have their own family. They wanted to have a life somewhere they could call their own, and of which they could be proud.
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They were briefly in Dawn where they traveled and explored the valley, and met Aksel. After spending time with each other, they decided to try their hand at dating, and they followed him and his pack into Canis.