Imagine a handler who's too cautious with their hound. Mocking, taunting, yet apologetically patting its head and muttering apologies whenever the training is too harsh or their insults too personal. A handler who constantly scans the room for their hound, then approaches so quietly that the hound jumps a little from being startled for the first few months of training. A handler who trips over their words, whose cruel laughter turns high and genuine. A handler who knocks off things and drops important papers, just for the hound to pick them up. A handler whose hound has to help them stand up from their chair after a long night of debriefing and filing reports. A handler who's too afraid to leave the hound alone. A handler who has to turn away at the sight of the hound's wounds. A handler who quietly cries after the meetings with the higher management, despite being known as stoic and capable.
The handler who wishes to run away. The hound that would follow them.
