Posted by Frigga (Thera-pet) in Side sim: The Pet Interrogation

Posted by Lieutenant Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim: The Pet Interrogation

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Side sim: The Pet Interrogation
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻
In Solal’s most recent letter exchange with V’alura, she had suggested he ask Alexis about pets. She’d said they were fulfilling and lovely and very helpful. All very emotional ideas. Solal could trust Alexis to give him a logical rundown of the idea. She was the most logical human he’d ever encountered. He decided to ask her off shift since it wasn’t duty related, and so that was why after hours he was looking for her.

~ Solal

Alexis had no idea that Solal was looking for her, but a quick inquiry to GALEN would let Solal know that Alexis was at the holodeck and Frigga was with her.

The holodeck was set up as an obstacle course, with various levels of difficulty, and several different scenarios waiting to be triggered from different species to animals, safe and hazardous situations.

Bonner and Frigga

Solal stepped into the holodeck almost hesitently, stopping just inside. A part of him would rather turn around and walk back out, but no, he’d written V’alura and told her he’d do this. So he cleared his throat quietly, “Lieutenant?”

~ Solal

Frigga had just come down off a ramp and Alexis knelt down and held something out for her to sniff. “Find,” and Frigga took off at an adjacent angle. Bonner looked over as she stood. “Dr. Solal.” She knew the holodeck wasn’t over scheduled, she had checked because these practice session were lengthy but necessary. It couldn’t be a medical emergency, the comm system was working, and GALEN would have notified her. Perhaps it had to do with the genetic testing he had recently volunteered for? Or....had she made a friend? What an interesting idea. She waved him over, “Come in. What can I do for you?”

Bonner

No, there were no emergencies, and Solal hadn’t scheduled time for himself in the holodeck in weeks - not since V’alura had sent him her Paris program. He’d been too busy, he told himself, and he had been, at first. Now he simply lacked the energy for anything besides working. But as long as he could work he was fine.

He stepped a little ways into the room, eyeing Frigga briefly before looking at Bonner. Then he contemplated how to ask his question. “My… ehm.” What did he call her? Sister still felt way too weird. But she was more than a colleague by now, he guessed. So… Friend? Still weird, but he went with that anyway. “Friend, seems to think I should ask someone about the benefits of having a pet.” He thought it was obvious why he would go to Bonner with such a question, given what she was doing.

~ Solal

Alexis nodded her head once slowly. “Ah. Well I can tell you why I got Frigga, but my situation, or my perspective, is different than why most people get pets. She was a prescription by the ship’s counselor. I was 20 and having a hard time communicating with people in my department. Before it hadn’t been such a big deal, I was much younger than everyone and I had my studies to complete. There were…problems with the way I approached people and spoke with them. The counselor thought it would help if I actually attempted to socialize some. Get out of my books.” This had always been an embarrassing topic for Alexis, but she felt okay about sharing this with Solal. Maybe because he’d spoken to her about his…relative, or maybe she was just familiar enough with him as a person. “The counselor thought caring for a pet would force me to leave my quarters and my books and interact with people. She told me, quite correctly, that if I wanted to be a doctor, for nurses, medics, lab techs, other doctors, to respect me and not see me as a ‘kid’ then I had to learn to speak with them in a professional manner I had to put the work in. I could not order them around like an EMH.”

Bonner

Solal listened intently. If he weren’t so commited to “the whole logic thing” he might’ve chuckled, he was known for being… Well, rather Vulcan in how he told other people things. He’d likely have the same problem if he were in any sort of leadership position. But he was still puzzled by her story. “Why would caring for a creature of lesser intelligence help with your interactions with other officers?”

~ Solal

Frigga returned after completing whatever task it was that Alexis had given her. “Sit. Stay,” Alexis accompanied these with hand signals. “GALEN task complete, begin task 2.” The scenery changed and the holodeck now looked like the triage area on deck 14. It was filled with people of various injuries. She looked at the pup, “Frigga.” Alexis waited for the dog to look at her, “Help.” Frigga took off around the room.

Then Alexis addressed Solal while watching the dog. “On a most basic level caring for Frigga forced me to go out into the ship. She had to be walked and exercised. For their physical health animals need room to move and explore and ‘do her business’ as we humans say. For a dog a junior officer’s quarters, well any standard quarters are too small. So I was forced to leave my room and walk about the ship. Most species are very curious and eager about animals and pets in particular. So even if I did not initiate the conversation, people talked to me because they wanted to know more about and interact with Frigga.” Frigga barked once and then dropped to her belly. Alexis issued a short one note whistle and Frigga started to inch toward a woman who was leaned up against the wall.

At first glance she seemed to have an injured wrist the way she was cradling it. “In fact her being of lesser intelligence was a huge help to me. Dogs in particular are very sensitive to vocal tone. I am often very analytical and clinical in the way that I speak. It is not that I am not concerned for my patients, but I sound more like I am simply reciting facts. I have been told that is not reassuring. Learning to use the appropriate tone for Frigga helped me learn how to modulate my tone when working with patients.” Alexis began walking toward Frigga and the woman and she motioned for Solal to join her.

Bonner, AMO

Solal thought about that for a moment and nodded. People gave him a pass on his vocal tone because he was Vulcan. He sounded like any other Vulcan. “People talk to you just because you have an animal with you?” He asked. Then his second question, “How exactly does an animal help patients? It seems.... Distracting.” When Alexa waved him to follow her, he did.

~ Solal

“Oh yes,” Alexis answered to the affirmative to his first question. “Most species seem to enjoy animals, especially ones they can get close to and interact with. Even people who don’t have their own pet for one reason of another.” Alexis reached down and gave Frigga a pat on the side and that calmed the dog who then sat quietly still watching the woman as Alexis ‘checked her’ and then dismissed her from the program. “I am also not very good with picking up emotional ques. Animals, canines in particular, are able to smell the difference when our bodies produce hormones in reaction to stimuli and the emotional process so she’s able to pick that up before I do. It’s also helped me learn to pay attention to those emotional clues. At first I found the patients attention on Frigga distracting and problematic. They were more interested in her than the exam I was performing. Over time though I discovered that if I could have patience through it, Frigga’s distraction helped keep the patience calm. Especially if they had been severely injured or had to go through a procedure that was stressful for them, her presence made the over all experience much easier.”

Bonner

Solal listened quietly while she explained. He did not entirely understand. He understood the idea of losing efficiency in order to gain it, that was, the patient’s distraction in order to not lose time waiting for the patient to calm. “So it was, overall, a positive, to be made to care for the dog?” He asked. “My..... Friend has been telling me how… Nice, pets are.” How he should have one… He wasn’t sold on that idea.

~ Solal

Alexis nodded. “It was. More than just professionally. I am not Vulcan, though there are many times in my life I wish I was.” And not because of the no emotions thing. “I do not know how much this will help. However, I started my tour of duty at 17, a year younger than the typical age to enter the Academy. I was very lonely. My first assignment, there were no children, no teenagers on board. Not that I really connected with them. And my colleagues were just that, people I worked with. I love my work, but I was very only and felt quite isolated. Frigga helped with that.”

Solal listened closely, suddenly seeming more interested than before. There were not many other people Solal connected with.

The dog in question returned with some trophy and Alexis took it. “Greet,” and Alexis pointed to Solal. Frigga approached him and sat looking up at him expectantly. “If you like you can let her sniff your hand and then you can pet her.”

“She provides me with companionship. Animals are very accepting of differences and uniqueness.”

Bonner

Solal crouched down by the dog and offered his hand for her to sniff. Once she had, he cautiously like she might eat him, began to pet her head and then her back.

~ Solal

Frigga loved meeting new people. Luckily for Solal she was working right then and on her very best behavior. Otherwise she would have run off to find a ball and bring it back. She sniffed his hand, touching her nose gently to his hand a moment. He smelled of curiosity and uncertainty to her though. So Frigga stayed very still while this new person pet her. Her tail swept the floor slowly back and forth. She dipped her head making it easier to get to her head. Also she had noticed that if she tried to watch or sniff their hands while they pet her, the nervous ones got more nervous.

When Solal started to pet her back she let her front legs slip flat to the floor and rested her head on her front paws. Then she looked up at him with a very cute look. Her tail began to wag faster and she resisted the urge to grumble happily. That tended to make the nervous ones more nervous too.

Frigga

Solal recoiled slightly at the cold wetness of the dog’s nose, and then relaxed and began to pet. Then the dog sank to the floor and Solal kneeled, following her down, continuing the pet. If one was not mistaken, he might even be enjoying it. But that did not show on his face.

~ Solal