Firstborn of the Bescatti family, PJ grew up in the easygoing ranches of Pliding Town along with his parents and his younger brother by two years, Hunter. You could say Hunter and PJ’s sibling relationship was the standard: “you scratch my back, I scratch yours.” Being not too far apart in age, the two had an inseparability, together and with the trouble they landed themselves into. When Hunter was in too deep, PJ had to drag him out by the shirt. When their dad caught wind of wrongdoing, who else was there to look to except PJ? Not that this was always the case, but PJ had felt an obligation to his little brother ever since Hunt’s beady little eyes had landed on him. As an older brother, it was his job to keep Hunter safe.

Nonetheless, the two would often roughhouse in their youth—playfully, just a way to burn off the energy. After all, they came from a fighting family; their grandfather (“Papi”) had once been a member of Corona City’s Royal Guard before he had retired and settled down in Pliding. He knew what trained fighting looked like, and thus, he tried to impart such on PJ and Hunter instead of encouraging their listless energy. Be something productive with yourselves, he would say. The sentiment was often followed by a wallop on the noggin.

Though PJ often spent more time in the kitchen with his nana, Papi’s wife, his developing passion for cooking took a backseat once he started seeing Hunter’s true aptitude for fighting. His younger brother was a quick learner. Not only did Papi see it, and PJ, but their mother as well. At first, PJ didn’t pay the praises much mind; sure, he may have been slower with learning, and not as fast or technically-learned as Hunter, but he had his own merits. Yet hearing Mama compliment his brother had inevitably lit a fire under PJ. He framed it as wanting to make sure Hunter didn’t get himself nearly killed when he went and picked fights, but at his core, PJ just wanted to be able to stand toe-to-toe with Hunter too. He didn’t want to be forgotten in the family, outshined by the mark of a prodigy he unfortunately did not possess. Issues were often exacerbated to the ten-year-old mind.

However, Papi’s lessons did come in handy for PJ as he aged; the family had moved to the heart of Reverie during the boys’ teenage years, leaving behind the low-risk environment of Pliding in favor of expanding the boys’ avenues. And with city life, that sometimes meant run-ins with more unsavory crowds. Sometimes, they were friends. PJ was no stranger to knowing peers who may have dropped out of school or ran with gangs. Other times, those “friends” often landed someone in collateral range. That was how PJ developed a reputation as a street fighter, and caught the eye of his future coach for Reverie’s fighting tournaments. That began when he was sixteen.

PJ didn’t officially enter into tournaments until he was nineteen years old. Hunter’s popularity exploded much faster and more loudly, while PJ’s popularity carried on at a slow incline. In a way, he rode off the coattails of his brother’s reputation, as it wasn’t hard to make the connection between a pair of fighters with the same unique surnames. The Hare and the Tortoise personified, as fans would say. Whenever it was teased the two would fight against one another (or beside one another for doubles), the excitement was palpable. But aside from PJ’s quick temper and tanky resolve, he wasn’t a fighter of spectacular note.

That was until Nana had passed away.

He may have liked to spar, but at the end of the day, the tournaments were a paycheck to PJ. Throughout tourneys, he had still dedicated his time to learning more about taverns and cuisine. Sometimes, he wondered if the City Guard would have suited him better, like it had Papi, but what PJ had enjoyed at first of the tournaments was the unserious and unrigid aspect of it. However, once his nana died, PJ’s fighting style became different; he focused only on fighting, and wistful ideas of culinary arts faded. For better or for worse, the sudden loss of his most reliable rock led to a sharp spike in his popularity in the tournaments. People wanted to witness Phillip “the Tenderizer” Bescatti’s fights. His reputation for being the sponge who could soak up hits turned into the wolf whose bared fangs meant their opponent would be devoured. Heated jabs leading up to tournaments became more targeted and mean-spirited in attempts to rile him up for a better show. One fight in particular would become PJ’s breaking point, and at the height of his popularity, he broke away from the fights and retreated to Pliding Town again.

He stayed in his hometown, with Papi, for a year’s time to mellow out. During the break, he retrieved his nana’s cookbooks and continued where he had once left off those years back. To honor her best and carry on her memory, PJ decided he would make his own restaurant with her recipes in mind. Thus, he returned to the densely populated Corona City, where he’d buy his own space to set up The Wolf’s Den. Thankfully, he had a bit of clout to his name to spread its opening via word-of-mouth.