How Much is that Akk Dog at the Window?
Summary: Sponge is very good at training animals. It's a bit of an under-explored gift.
[A continuation to last night's drabble, because obviously Sponge wasn't going to let Geoduck's problem go. For what it's worth, their plan is a game changer for him.]
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Had they not been forcibly assigned to become a medic, Sponge could have very easily gone into animal handling. That much had become clear when they'd first began training Beautiful.
She made for a perfect service barghest, with how easily she picked up tricks and how intuitively she detected injuries.
Perhaps, once the war ended, they could professionally train service animals to help their vode better acclimate to the civilian life. Maker only knew how many of them would undoubtedly be left with severe battle fatigue and disabilities, that the Republic would undoubtedly not feel so inclined to help them deal with...
But those were thoughts for another time. Another life.
Right now they needed to focus.
The scans and psych eval had confirmed their suspicions on what was causing Geoduck's "little problem". Sponge's oldest batcher, their ori'vod they'd been convinced hated them just as much as Conch did, had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury that had gone untreated for literal years.
It could have killed him.
It should have killed him.
The human body truly was a mixed box of chocolates whenever it came to medical oddities of absurd percentages.
Coric and Kix had stared hard at the scans, read the results once, twice, trice for good measure, and then looked just as flabbergasted and afraid as Sponge had.
The last time a clone had come down with such a distinct mental disorder as this one... Well, the vod had killed his entire squad because he was absolutely convinced they'd all been replaced with advanced spy droids. Acted on the paranoia that followed Gooey everywhere he went.
It was nothing short of luck that Geoduck had reacted more rationally than fearful towards his plight. Been more than aware that it'd be impossible to replace his entire battalion and general with fakes, despite his brain erroneously trying to convince him otherwise.
It had always been in his nature to doubt his own thoughts and explore every option until he was down to a solution, and that had saved a lot of vode a lot of potential horrors...
Impulse control was Gooey's strongest suite.
Fear of the human psyche and its degredation aside, the medics all agreed this was a case that could not go ignored and untreated. Gooey had been suffering alone. Had suffered more than anyone should, with something that should have been spotted and dealt with far earlier in his short life. They had to find some kind of a solution.
A treatment plan.
Disability aid.
Anything that'd make his life less of a disfuncional mess whenever he had a bad day (and they were horrified to learn that there were a lot of those).
For what it was worth, general Fisto seemed to like and support Sponge's idea. Which was why the 501st medic was currently training a most friendly and very inquisitive akk dog puppy.
She was no Beautiful, but Pearl certainly took to her training well. And she was very good at recognizing faces and signalling in specific ways that Sponge would later make a chart for, so that Geoduck knew what each gesture she made actually meant.
Hopefully a service animal would help their older batcher feel a little less lost in a crowd. And if not... Then at least Gooey would feel like he had at least one friend he could recognize. He hadn't had any issue identifying the pup thus far.
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