WT - S.S Awoo

Dae and Hypnos waited in line to board the S.S. Awoo. Hypnos pressed against the back of Dae’s legs, keeping them grounded as they braved the crowd. Dae briefly worried about the amount of people boarding the ship, brief images of the vessel sinking crossing their mind. They quickly banished the thought, and buried one of their hands in the soft fur of Hypnos’ neck fur. Hypnos, also uncomfortable with the amount of people surrounding them, reveled in the closeness of his handler.

After what felt like forever, it was their turn to board the boat. They climbed the stairs that lead up to the deck and tried not to look over the railing and into the water below. Neither of them had ever been on a boat before, so they didn’t know how they would react. Hypnos saw lots of sea sickness in their future, which wouldn’t fare well for the journey ahead, or the trips to the supposed other regions they were to travel to. He tried not to think about it as his nails clicked against the wood of the deck and the water gently rocked the boat.

Dae leaned against the railing on the side of the boat, took a deep breath, and looked over. They felt impossibly high up compared to the water and falling overboard from this height would surely break a few bones. Dae took a step back and put their hand on Hypnos’ head again. Hypnos let out a soft boof and licked Dae’s hand. Hypnos led his handler away in the direction of the mess hall, or what smelled like the mess hall.

“Good thinking, boy,” Dae said, allowing their tokota to lead them in the direction of food. Now that they thought about it, their stomach was achingly empty.

The duo entered the mess hall to find it significantly less crowded. Both of their shoulders immediately relieved of tension. Dae got in line for the cafeteria-style self serve. They made sure to grab some tokota food and treats for Hypnos. Hypnos jumped into one of the booths to reserve it for his handler. He looked around the room to inspect the type of people that were also journeying to new lands. A man with a female tokota that was pressed against him similarly to how Hypnos was to Dae was behind Daelin in line. Hypnos watched as the man approached Daelin from behind and reached out to touch their shoulder.

Hypnos immediately leapt to his feet, knowing that his handler didn’t like to be touched. He bounded up to the man and put himself between the stranger and Daelin. The stranger held up his hands in innocence as Daelin turned around confused. The stranger’s tokota immediately assumed an aggressive posture and bared her teeth at Hypnos.

“Whoa, buddy, what’s going on?” Daelin asked.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to impose,” the stranger said. “My name is Woody, I’m the faction leader for the Wilderness Trackers. This is my tokota, Amai,” Woody said as he motioned toward the snarling tokota. At the mention of her name, she relaxed. “I was just going to tap your shoulder to ask if I could reach around you to grab those delicious looking blintzes when your Tokota put himself between us.”

Daelin pet Hypnos between the ears, making the tokota relax. Hypnos didn’t move from his place between Daelin and Woody, though. He kept his eyes on the strange man. Amai was glaring daggers at him in return. Hypnos fought the urge to growl, but he knew that wasn’t his place as a certified emotional support tokota. Instead, he ignored Amai as much as physically possible, even though he could sense that she was a higher rank than he was.

“This is Hypnos, he’s my EST. I don’t like being touched, he was just doing his job,” Daelin explained.

“Ah, I understand. I apologize, it was rude of me to assume I could touch you,” Woody said. “Amai here is just as protective over me. What’s your name?”

“I’m Daelin,” they said. “It’s cool to meet a faction leader.”

“A pleasure, Daelin. Have you decided to join a faction?” Woody asked as he finally reached the blintzes he’d been eyeing. He piled his plate full as Daelin and Hypnos watched.

“I haven’t yet, no,” Daelin said as they rubbed the back of their neck.

“Well, I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but,” Woody said as he eyed them up and down, “I think you would be a perfect fit for the Wilderness Trackers.”

“Why do you say that?” Daelin asked.

“Someone with a bond so close with their tokota, someone who is willing to go on adventures,” Woody said. “That is someone that we need in the Trackers. I can tell you have a passion for adventure.”

“I mean, I do,” Daelin said. Hypnos fought the urge to roll his eyes at Woody. “But why should I join when I’m doing just fine on my own?”

“You can find like minded people, as well as a plethora of perks,” Woody said. Amai began tugging on Woody’s shirt, trying to pull him away to some other business. He looked down at her and said, “Not now, mom.” He rolled his eyes and looked back at Daelin. “Look, I have a faction leader meeting in five minutes, so I’m not going to sit here and try to convince you that we’re the best. Just think about it and observe us on this journey, okay? I promise you it won’t be a mistake.” With that, Woody sat down a piece of paper in front of Daelin, careful not to touch them. He shot Daelin a finger gun with his free hand and followed Amai to the meeting room.

Hypnos and Daelin stood in silence as they watched the faction leader walk away. Daelin looked at the piece of paper, which had Woody’s name and contact number scrawled on it in the worst handwriting they had ever seen. He looked at Hypnos with a confused expression. “Did he just call his tokota ‘mom?’”