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Description
Handler name: Jess
Tokota Import: Titan 12771
Themes featured and brief summary of how they are explored: Abandonment — Titan has to deal with the hurt and loss of his lifetime best friend Nemu 2416 as she and her handler move on, leaving him and Jess behind.

Word Count 708:
Titan had spent most of his life alongside Nemu. Likewise, Jess had spent many years alongside Dixon. The handler-toko duos had been on countless adventures together, travelled hundreds if not thousands of miles, and faced many highs and lows together. Ever since he was a pup Titan had had Nemu to look up to, to learn from, and to keep him company. Never in his wildest dreams — or perhaps nightmares — had he expected a day to come where he would have to face the world without her. And yet it had.
Perhaps if he’d paid more attention he would have noticed the signs, the minimizing, the long stretches of time Nemu spent away with Dixon… But they’d always come back. Until one day they didn’t.
The day before had passed in the same manner as so many days before; Titan and Nemu had gone out into the woods sniffing about and following game trails, poking their noses into dens and tree hollows, chasing fish in the creek. When they stopped to rest near the lake’s edge, Nemu had seemed a little off, but Titan didn’t think much of it at the time. When they returned home that night and Nemu licked his cheek, he wagged his tail and they sniffed noses, and then without a second thought Titan bounded off to meet his handler Jess for dinner. What he hadn’t seen as he’d run off was the way Nemu’s head and tail had dropped once Titan left, and how reluctantly she’d made her way back to her own handler, Dixon.
The next day had come just as any other; the birds began to sing as the sun rose over the mountains, golden light filtering through the trees and dappling the ground.
While Jess’s Tokota pack had grown — and would continue to grow in the future — Titan was still allowed to live in the house with her. He likely always would be, being her first tokota, and the special bond they had.
When Titan awoke that next morning at the foot of the bed, he was surprised to find Jess was not in it. Usually, if she woke before him, she would scratch lightly between his ears on her way out of the room, but Titan did not recall this happening this morning. Perhaps he’d been so deep in sleep that he hadn’t noticed? He got up and stretched, yawning before shaking off his sleep and padding out the bedroom door to find where Jess had gone.
It didn’t take long to find Jess in the living room, sitting on the couch and sipping a cup of tea as she studied the pages of a book of wild plants and herbs, and their associated uses. As Titan padded up, he couldn’t help but sense that her mood seemed off somehow. He tilted his head and gave a little whine, as if asking ‘What’s wrong?’.
Jess patted the sofa beside her and encouraged Titan to hop up. While he was indeed a full size tokota, the two of them could still fit — albeit squished. “I’m sorry buddy,” Jess said, putting her tea down on the coffee table and closing her book so that she could turn and stroke Titan’s ears. “We won’t be able to see Nemu or Dixon much anymore,” she said, to which Titan again tilted his head in confusion. “They’ve moved on, I’m afraid.”
And just like that, Nemu’s off-behavior the day prior suddenly made sense. Titan had always known it was a possibility — neither Nemu or Dixon were originally from the area, and while they’d been content to stay a while, they’d also mentioned the possibility of moving elsewhere in the future.
While it indeed made more sense now, it did not hurt Titan any less to know that his best friend had simply walked away as if nothing were wrong, knowing very well she would not see him for a long time, or perhaps even ever again. If only he’d known, Titan would have done so much differently during their last day together, and the fact that there was nothing he could do about it now hurt.
“I know, buddy,” Jess said, pulling the toko’s big head into her lap as he whined. “I’m sorry.”

Description
Handler name: Jess
Tokota Import: Titan 12771
Themes featured and brief summary of how they are explored: Abandonment — Titan has to deal with the hurt and loss of his lifetime best friend Nemu 2416 as she and her handler move on, leaving him and Jess behind.

Word Count 708:
Titan had spent most of his life alongside Nemu. Likewise, Jess had spent many years alongside Dixon. The handler-toko duos had been on countless adventures together, travelled hundreds if not thousands of miles, and faced many highs and lows together. Ever since he was a pup Titan had had Nemu to look up to, to learn from, and to keep him company. Never in his wildest dreams — or perhaps nightmares — had he expected a day to come where he would have to face the world without her. And yet it had.
Perhaps if he’d paid more attention he would have noticed the signs, the minimizing, the long stretches of time Nemu spent away with Dixon… But they’d always come back. Until one day they didn’t.
The day before had passed in the same manner as so many days before; Titan and Nemu had gone out into the woods sniffing about and following game trails, poking their noses into dens and tree hollows, chasing fish in the creek. When they stopped to rest near the lake’s edge, Nemu had seemed a little off, but Titan didn’t think much of it at the time. When they returned home that night and Nemu licked his cheek, he wagged his tail and they sniffed noses, and then without a second thought Titan bounded off to meet his handler Jess for dinner. What he hadn’t seen as he’d run off was the way Nemu’s head and tail had dropped once Titan left, and how reluctantly she’d made her way back to her own handler, Dixon.
The next day had come just as any other; the birds began to sing as the sun rose over the mountains, golden light filtering through the trees and dappling the ground.
While Jess’s Tokota pack had grown — and would continue to grow in the future — Titan was still allowed to live in the house with her. He likely always would be, being her first tokota, and the special bond they had.
When Titan awoke that next morning at the foot of the bed, he was surprised to find Jess was not in it. Usually, if she woke before him, she would scratch lightly between his ears on her way out of the room, but Titan did not recall this happening this morning. Perhaps he’d been so deep in sleep that he hadn’t noticed? He got up and stretched, yawning before shaking off his sleep and padding out the bedroom door to find where Jess had gone.
It didn’t take long to find Jess in the living room, sitting on the couch and sipping a cup of tea as she studied the pages of a book of wild plants and herbs, and their associated uses. As Titan padded up, he couldn’t help but sense that her mood seemed off somehow. He tilted his head and gave a little whine, as if asking ‘What’s wrong?’.
Jess patted the sofa beside her and encouraged Titan to hop up. While he was indeed a full size tokota, the two of them could still fit — albeit squished. “I’m sorry buddy,” Jess said, putting her tea down on the coffee table and closing her book so that she could turn and stroke Titan’s ears. “We won’t be able to see Nemu or Dixon much anymore,” she said, to which Titan again tilted his head in confusion. “They’ve moved on, I’m afraid.”
And just like that, Nemu’s off-behavior the day prior suddenly made sense. Titan had always known it was a possibility — neither Nemu or Dixon were originally from the area, and while they’d been content to stay a while, they’d also mentioned the possibility of moving elsewhere in the future.
While it indeed made more sense now, it did not hurt Titan any less to know that his best friend had simply walked away as if nothing were wrong, knowing very well she would not see him for a long time, or perhaps even ever again. If only he’d known, Titan would have done so much differently during their last day together, and the fact that there was nothing he could do about it now hurt.
“I know, buddy,” Jess said, pulling the toko’s big head into her lap as he whined. “I’m sorry.”