Shu was alright with them not giving them food if they didn’t want to, he saw no reason to force them into it using guilt and bribes. He was happy enough to go and hunt for food but if they were going to support everyone they would need a lot of it. He was ready and willing to do anything he could to get food for their crew because he cared, he didn’t want anyone to go without food. It might be good to stop off at a bunch of planets and get food from there, but he didn’t want to steal from them either even if it was just hunting. Not everybody would want to eat meat all the time like himself so he would always want a fresh supply of fruits and vegetables, not to mention T’charrl needed a lot of sugar. He had told them that before, even if his diet had a lot more meat in it now since he got all changed. Smiling happily he turned to T’charrl, bouncing around him. “Friend! I would like you see you hunt with us too! Not seen you hunt before!”

T’charrl didn’t know how he’d handle hunting with them if they were going to go after a lot of fish and to stop them from getting their fish was just mean and selfish of him. Even with their reassurances he was not going to hold them back just because they asked nicely, not wanting to get in the way of their fun. To stop someone from doing what they always felt rather selfish of him, seeing it as forcing them back. “Uhh, but you want fish, you really liked it…” he frowned, looking away with a frown before to Haku as he spoke up. It still didn’t sound as if they would have to be compensating for him and limiting their fun all because of what he was afraid of, making him feel like a coward. “But you shouldn’t have to. You should be able to do what you want…not have to stop because of me. If you want to go without me, it’s fine. You should catch your big fish if that’s what you loved and remember about the planet”.

It was probably pretty pathetic that he believed in stories, but there was little else he could believe in when the universe around him was a pretty crap place to be. Kiton could believe in the stories if he wanted to but it seemed that telling people he did was only going to damage his reputation when he already had none. It made him feel a little sad, but then again he was probably seen as pathetic for being a Frost Demon who believed in stories. “So what am I if I’m not intelligent and I’m not an idiot? I can’t be the only person here who believes in stories”, he frowned, shaking his head, “For your crew I barely know anything about them so whether you tell the truth or not…I can’t tell whether you are good people. You all could be collectively lying to me for all I know. It may sound rude but it happens”.

Kiton thought it was a little weird that they didn’t get him healed if they want him healthy but hearing the reason left him confused. He didn’t know how that worked or what kind of energy they had but he probably shouldn’t question it, especially if it was none of his business. “So he can heal his own kind, maybe…I don’t know. I’m not exactly an expert on the matter. Sounds pretty weird, anyway…” He wouldn’t mind getting healed since it meant he would be able to sleep without having to worry if he may never wake up. His kind were very durable but it wasn’t as if he couldn’t get scared about having terrible injuries and whether he could last through them or not. “You’d be surprised by how many would be quite happy to leave me. The cyborg would be quite happy to do that…” he sighed, looking to Vegeta, “I’ve never been treated like this before. It’s different and refreshing, maybe something I can get used to…uhh, i-if I stay. I don’t know what those rebels are going to do with me”.

Viral had a moment where his mind was blank, his concentration at a complete minimum before his mind slowly crawled back into reality. Staring at nothing at first, Aito’s voice was only penetrated the darkness like an echo before he realised what was going on as he was released. Rolling onto his side he groaned, holding his head painfully as his mind was forcefully pulled together. He didn’t know what had happened but he felt absolutely terrible as his mind was pieced back together, soon realising how much he had failed to try and harm Aito. He could barely fight him nevermind try and harm him. Looking to Yumi as she tried to help him up he stared at her expression, frowning before he looked to Aito who decided to chime in again to give her comfort. He was really causing a lot of negative emotions to those who were constantly around him. Everybody was constantly miserable whenever they were in his vicinity and that alone made him question what the point in trying was.

Sighing, he lowered his head and moved his feet underneath him, trying to push up before Aito decided to give a helping hand too. Staring at him as he spoke he slowly looked away, letting out a sigh he moved away once he was up. “Don’t talk to me. Keep your words to yourself!” He couldn’t keep this up and if the tests were going to be that stressful then he wanted no part in it. He would rather die than have to go through all of this and as time rolled on he might as well be killed off at this point. His illness was too complicated and full of layers and all it was doing was making everyone around him feel horrible and worn out. He was like a disease that was creeping up on everyone and that test managed to prove he was a danger to himself as well as others. “Just kill me and get it over with. Make it easier on yourselves and cut all the hard work!”

The promise of a hunt had everyone all excited, except maybe for T'charrl. Hunting was exciting, both Shu and Takeshi had done it in some capacity growing up so it was second nature to them. Surely their friends had done it before too, even if they hadn't done quite what he and his brother had. Takeshi really did enjoy the taste of that fish last time but he doubted they'd find another, it wasn't like there were a lot swimming around in that lake. "Hey, we can get fish any time, doesn't matter to us. We just want to go hunting, we'll hunt whatever," the older boy pointed out, smiling as he glanced back at T'charrl, "You're coming with us, you've never been there! We'll just find something else to hunt, no big deal." Reaching out he clasped his friend on the shoulder, pausing briefly as he did so and glancing at his hand. His fur felt really weird, kind of like he was putting his hand on the head of a broom... "Oh!" Takeshi gasped, pulling back his hand as his face flushed in embarrassment, immediately looking at T'charrl. "I uh... There was a long hair, I poked my hand, just surprised me is all. Maybe you need a haircut!"

"You're someone looking for some kind of guide, and I just don't think that guide should be some tales of heroes gone by or some vague recollections, that's all," Vegeta said plainly with a shrug, "I don't necessarily approve of my friends doing the same thing, I think it's a little fantastical and childish, but ultimately I can't make them stop, just like I can't make you stop. You don't even have to take what I'm saying to heart, it's just my opinion on the matter." If Kiton were more sure of himself then whatever was being said now wouldn't phase him, but the fact that essentially a stranger's view made him question himself showed he wasn't really sure of himself either. "Rude? Listen... We've all got a lot to do, more than trying to come up with a way to collectively deceive someone. Takeshi and Shu aren't smart enough, Yumi is too nice to try, Viral's sick, so that leaves me," Vegeta explained, smiling slightly as he glanced at the Frost Demon, "I could be deceiving you, but then what would I gain from that? It's like using you as a weapon, there's no reason to do such a thing, we wouldn't bother with it."

How was the food coming then? He was awfully hungry at this point and was somewhat impatient with the fish. Luckily it wasn't a frozen filet, they didn't have to worry about defrosting it before frying it up. Checking the skillet to gauge how ready it was Vegeta grabbed a pair of tongs, grabbing the tail end of the filet and flipping it before moving the potatoes around, adding the vegetables in for good measure. "The cyborg? I imagine you mean Ricken?" he asked, "He'll have nothing to do with you, nor will the rebellion. Korian is in a precarious position with us, he needs us but we don't need him. If they ask for you we'll simply deny them, tell them you're under our care. Like it or not they can't refuse, unless they want to alienate us." It was a dirty move, but then the rebels had a history of being a bit of a thorn to them anyways so Vegeta didn't much care.

The disdain was warranted there, Aito wouldn't take it personally if Viral was mad. His tactics weren't always the kindest, nor were they always the most straightforward, but then they did get results. Anyone could sit there and tell a person what was wrong with them, but he preferred to push them to making the breakthrough themselves, as evidently Viral had finally done. Getting the Beastman to his feet he smiled apologetically, slowly getting himself and Viral moving again towards their destination. "The harder work would be killing you. Do you even realize what you're suggesting I do?" Aito asked, frowning for the first time as he looked away, "You're my pride project, I can't deny that, but you're also like a child to me. You asking me to kill you... It's not possible. Even if you degenerated further, went into rampancy, I'd refuse to take your life. I would sooner allow myself to die again then kill you, and that's not happening either. Listen, Viral... What we're going to be doing isn't going to be easy, I'll tell you that right now. You're going to have to hang in there with me and trust me, we've already just made a big leap in our progress towards your cure. And besides, we'll have Yumi along to help."

Yumi managed to smile some at the mention of her name, trying to feel more worthwhile than she had previously thought. She knew her role and she'd carry it out well, she just hoped her helpfulness to everyone wouldn't fade once Viral had healed. Training people was hardly something that had ever crossed her mind, yet in a way it made sense. She wasn't much older than the rest of the group yet she had extensive training, some of it exclusive to her, like what she'd gotten from Geoffrey. If she could make use of that and show her friends some new techniques then she'd be fine with that, and it would be a way to pay back their teaching her Ki. "Compared to everything else you've been through that was nothing, right Viral?" Yumi asked, smiling up at her friend, "We're finally going to get you help, and you're going to start getting better. No one has given up on you yet and we're not going to start, we're all here to help you get better. Never forget that, okay?"

T’charrl was quite conscious about the idea that he might be hindering their chances of getting the food they wanted and was definitely against stopping them from going. He was happy enough to stay behind and see what else there was other than going hunting. Maybe there was something he could do with the others that would entertain him, giving them their opportunity to go and get some fish if that’s what they really wanted. Giving Takeshi a little smile he felt confused when his offer was instead rejected, Takeshi refusing to leave him behind. He didn’t know if he should object to that but he probably couldn’t when Takeshi was pretty stubborn, even if he gave him many reasons to not back away from this opportunity to have some freedom on the planet. Opening his mouth to speak he felt Takeshi clasp his shoulder, his eyes quickly looking over but Takeshi had already removed his hand, giving him an odd comment that he couldn’t quite understand the meaning of. “Uhh…a haircut?” he frowned, looking to his shoulder and giving it a feel, “But it’s always been this way. What’s wrong with it…? I thought you didn’t like touching me, anyway…”

Kiton frowned at Vegeta’s suggestion, finding it to be odd when he had been the one to go about his own way and not need anybody to tell him what he should follow. Stories were good to keep him from feeling lonely, he guessed, but to be looking for a guide sounded like an odd way of putting it. “I-uhh…fantastical and childish? You know, opinions are just another way to mask negative comments…” he frowned, looking to his pills, “I don’t see how it’s any different than having a father to look up to, telling all of these great tales of people in the past”. Making sure Vegeta really was who he said he was came as a top priority to him, especially when he was supposed to be the one trusting them with his safety for now. He wanted to know if he was going to be able to relax and recover, but it seemed to be quite a lot to ask given Vegeta’s reaction. “W-Well…you’d gain money. Turning in criminals is a big thing for people in ships like yours…”

Kiton didn’t know how much longer he could keep up trying to be tough and sound independent when everything he was saying was only making him out to be a child. He never talked to somebody like this before so it was a little hard for him to keep control of the conversation when Vegeta was beating him down with every sentence. Looking to the floor as Vegeta spoke he couldn’t help but feel forced to one side if he was to avoid the rebels touching him. “Under your care? So to avoid punishment from them…I have to go with you people?” he asked cautiously, finding he knew very little about them now that it was being mentioned, “And what exactly is it you all do that’s different to them? Why do you have such a large space ship and hardly any people? You could have a bunch of corpses in here just lying around and you’d never know it…”

Viral couldn’t stand it anymore. All this wasted time of trying to cure him and he had only gotten so bad to the point where he couldn’t see through an order that would only see him trying to kill his creator again. He was making it worse for everyone and people were wasting their lives trying to help him when they could easily forget that he existed and move onto better things that didn’t involve watching over him all the time. If Yumi was already becoming fed up with that then who knew what he’d be left with when all this was over. She should’ve been allowed to live her life without him just like she did before. Feeling frustrated with himself he could only keep marching to what felt like a dead end, Aito’s words only making him feel lost. He didn’t know what Aito was doing by telling him all this when he probably wouldn’t notice if he died before being resurrected when he couldn’t take notice that he was being tortured for the gain of someone else. To tell him all this felt like it was a way to pull him back towards their side again, making him wonder if it was all worth sticking with his word.

Grunting as he held his head, he tried to find the right path he was supposed to undertake with what he was being told, simply finding it hard to believe what Aito was saying. “That wasn’t a big leap…scientists destroy their failed projects all the time…you can just order me to accept death…” Even after all this questioning and trying to figure it out, it was fairly evident that his purpose was no more and his acceptance of death made him believe he was inferior to what they wanted from him. Trying to save a failed project was just to try and mask a mistake. Finding it hard to focus on anything other than pain he slowly looked to Yumi as she spoke to him, staring at her with an exhausted expression. She was the one who was questioning what she was good for just a moment ago, but now she was wanting to keep going with helping him even if she was fed up with it herself. Opening his mouth to speak he soon paused and turned away, letting out a groan as he lowered his paw and hunched forward. “To be proven weak…I’ve been there before. After all that I can only see confusion to how I am to get better. I have already forgotten many things as I become a monster, so whether I remember this in a few hours is left open for anyone to guess…”

It just didn't feel right excluding T'charrl from hunting, not when he was always coming along with them. If he genuinely didn't want to go then they weren't going to force him but to Takeshi it sounded more like he was just trying to be polite. There was plenty of animal life to hunt on Uuonoe, and not all of it was in the water. Sure, that fish had been pretty darn tasty, but who was to say they couldn't find something even better elsewhere? Trying to reassure their friend with a pat on the shoulder Takeshi quickly regretted his decision, becoming acutely aware of all of the little hairs prodding at his palm. Reflexively pulling back from it he knew he was going to be questioned for that, trying to come up with a half-assed explanation for his reaction. "I know it's always been that way, but maybe it's a bit long?" Takeshi offered lamely, smiling slightly as he shifted about, "Uh... T-That's not true either! It's not that I don't like touching you, it's just... Uh... I mean you've got a lot of hair, more than any of us do. I'm just not used to it, that's all. I don't hate it."

Okay, this was most certainly not working as Vegeta had hoped. What he figured to be a way of making Kiton think more realistically was only serving to upset him, not his intention whatsoever. Maybe he was just tired and not up to the task of trying to help someone right now, he was certainly being more critical than he might normally be. "I suppose... Though I just took stories at that, as stories. I modeled myself after what I could see, what I had concrete proof of. I like to know what I'm doing, not haplessly follow something and hope it works. Though that didn't stop me with Viral..." He'd gone into the Beastman's treatment essentially blind, going off of only notes and papers that he'd collected during his time on Earth. By his own logic he shouldn't have done that, work with those, as it was the equivalent of putting all his faith in a story. Ugh... He really needed some food. "You say that as though we're bounty hunters, but we're not. We don't turn people in for money, we're more for getting people freedom than taking it away."

"I'm not saying you have to stay with us, but for when they come asking that's what we'll tell them. Think of it as almost a diplomatic immunity, you'd be exempt from their persecution. Once they stop calling then you're welcome to do as you please, which we've been saying since this started," Vegeta responded, checking the food once more and smiling satisfied that the fish was nearly finished cooking. Pulling the potatoes and vegetables from the heat he grabbed a cooling plate and laid the skillet on top of it, turning off the respective burner before turning back to Kiton. "Well... We don't go out looking for fights, for one. They intentionally go to worlds where the Saiyans have control, we just happen to find them on occasion. We're also not actively fighting the King, not right now anyways. I suppose we're also different in that we don't try to recruit whoever we can find, it's more of an optional thing," he mused, reaching up and scratching at his cheek. "Actually, I know we don't have corpses, I've done an extensive inventory of what's on this ship and how many rooms we have, both living quarters, maintenance, storage and other, so I know there's no bodies. The reason it's so empty is because... Well we sort of stole it from the original crew," Vegeta admitted with a smile, "The Saiyans owned it, we are kind of borrowing it indefinitely from them. The crew who had it was much larger than we are, so that's why it seems so empty."

"It was a big leap, I know exactly what we need to address first now, where as before I wasn't wholly certain. I'd say that's some major progress," Aito explained, glancing over at Viral, "And you're right, I could. I could kill you myself if I wanted. I could eject you out into space, or force you to do it yourself, but I won't. Get this notion that I'll take your life out of your head Viral, that's one thing I will never grant you. I can help you and I will, simply taking your life and trying to repeat my success isn't good enough. I don't want another Beastman, I want you, and I'll be damned if I'm denied that." He hadn't come back from the dead to just fail on his first task, nor was he going to give up on Viral so easily. They hadn't even begun to work and already he was getting somewhere, if anything that was more encouraging than not. Having at last reached the library, Aito waited for Yumi to get the door for them, smiling gratefully as he led Viral right on inside. It was a surprisingly spacious room, more so than he'd have expected on a ship built for Saiyans. Just as he'd hoped too it was brightly lit, with relatively soft colors and plenty of comfortable furniture for their use. Making a beeline for the nearest sofa he stood beside it, looking at Viral and nodding to the furniture. "Sit however is most comfortable for you and we can start."

T’charrl was a little concerned at this point when he was feeling the excuses were starting to pile up on Takeshi’s side, especially when he was getting to the point of accidentally touching him when he typically had an aversion to him. Yumi had told him plenty enough that people didn’t like touching him but it still hurt when it happened. Feeling a little confused by it he frowned at Takeshi, rubbing his shoulder when he tried to make an excuse for it. It wasn’t a very good excuse either, his claws giving his fur a rub as he stared at Takeshi. “Long…? But it doesn’t get any longer…” he frowned, looking down at himself before back to Takeshi. “Shu has a lot of hair and you’re fine with him, right? Why don’t you just say you don’t like touching me? I already know nobody but Shu likes touching my fur so you don’t need to hide it”.

Kiton felt he probably wasn’t going to do too well if the people here knew how much he followed stories of old compared to trying to follow his own path, but it was the only thing that was keeping him going throughout all his hardships. He wasn’t the only one to do such a thing, he was sure there was others out there who did the same when they travelled alone. It was tough being alone in space and hoping you might just pull through and survive solely based on logic, but if there was tales of people who went through even worse hardships then it gave you the belief that you could do the same and continue onwards into tomorrow because things could get worse if he didn’t have something to believe in.

“If I modelled myself after what I could see then I probably would’ve killed you and stolen this ship. I grew up around criminals so it’d be a bad idea to look at them and think that’s the way life should be”. He couldn’t wait for his food and the smell and sound of it was making him rather weak in the legs. If he wasn’t so low on energy he’d be quite happy to use his tail to sit on. “Well…you don’t have to be a bounty hunter, just someone needing money. I-It’s not like I’m trying to encourage it, just…I guess I’m just sounding paranoid at this point…”

Kiton was just wrecking all of his chances to live normally with these people if he decided to do it, even if it was sounding pretty good to him. The others probably wouldn’t want to talk to him too much anyway so that’s probably going to be something he shouldn’t have to worry about. If they didn’t talk to him then he didn’t need to go looking for their approval at least, even if it would be nice to finally have others to talk to without having to resort to business talk or taunting. Staring at the food as everything was finally close to being done he looked to Vegeta, giving his reassurances that the place was clean but not giving him a very clear answer. “Uhhh….so you’re just wandering around and stole a ship from the guys the rebels are fighting?” he questioned him, feeling confused, “Do you have a goal? Nothing you’re looking for or doing?”

Viral couldn’t take it anymore but everybody had so much confidence in him despite what was happening to him and how much he had to carry on his shoulders. It was too much for him to carry and having that little session made him wonder what was the point on letting him live. Even with all this power he was useless and if he was this weak in this form then who knew how he would fare in his normal form. He was going to be extremely weak, he had been told that much, but to be rendered completely useless made him feel depressed. Aito had already said how little he cared to watch over him even if he didn’t say it that way. Keeping his eyes off him he remained drawn to the ground, looking rather fed up and depressed. “Sounds like…selfish longing to me”, he muttered, “If we never went for the Dragonballs, you wouldn’t have me. I’m surprised I’m still alive”.

Finally reaching the library he watched Yumi get the door but soon looked away again, lowering his gaze as he was lead in. He didn’t know how being here was going to make him feel comfortable but there was little he could protest about with these two around. Moving with Aito he stopped as well at the couch, staring at it before looking to Aito in annoyance. “No matter what I do, I can’t sit comfortably…” Moving around to the front of the couch he stared at it momentarily, letting out a groan as he tried to figure out the best way. Eventually deciding on one he leaned on it, slowly twisting himself around and sitting down on the couch in a slouch for his legs and his tail to the side. It was rather uncomfortable what with his spine ridges and dorsal fin having to be squashed on its side but it was the only way he could keep comfortable with his legs and the rest of his fins. Unable to do much about his arms he simply swung one around onto the armrest with the other lying across towards it.

Takeshi really didn't want to hurt T'charrl's feelings so he had to come up with a lie. Unfortunately for both of them he wasn't always the quickest when on the spot, and no sooner had he spoken did he cringe internally; a lousy lie wasn't going to fool the Kaesstrian, he was too smart for that. Smiling nervously he was sure enough called out on it, feeling awfully embarrassed and like a lousy friend for trying to deceive the guy. "I mean... I know that, but still... It's kind of long, don't you think?" he asked lamely, quite unwisely trying to stick to his guns. Ouch, now he was getting called out for it as blatantly as could be, he really couldn't deny that. Sighing he shrugged his shoulders, looking away as he rubbed at his neck. "I... I'm not used to it, that's all. And Shu's hair is... Different? They have different feelings. Besides, when he and I first met I didn't much like his hair, or him for that matter, right buddy?" Takeshi asked, looking to his brother for a little help here, "But look at us now. I like you plenty T'charrl, I'm just not used to you yet, that's all. We're still friends, right?"

"We've all recovered since the battle, you haven't. I would be impressed if you managed to kill all of us," Vegeta remarked, sounding somewhat amused. Especially now that his father and mother were present too, that made just another pair that Kiton would have to deal with. "As I've said, we have nothing to gain from turning you in. Nor do we have anything to gain from keeping you here, aside from perhaps another friend. What ultimately becomes of you is your choice though, we're not going to be making you do anything. Just know if you remain here you're likely much safer than if you go off on your own." Given his life prior to all of this Vegeta suppose that a degree of paranoia was only natural. Between having to contend with Kiton's worries and Viral's at the same time however he knew he would get quite exhausted rather fast, so it was a blessing that Aito was back to help out.

At long last the food seemed to be ready, as the fish was beginning to flake apart simply by being moved. Eager to dig in himself Vegeta turned off the heat and removed the pan from the burner, draining a bit of liquid that had run off before placing the skillet aside for the moment. "Let me rephrase what I said earlier... We are not the rebels, but we help them. Our ultimate goal is aligned: to bring down the King and restore peace to the universe. That being said we're free to do as we please, so yes, I suppose you could say we were 'wandering around' when we stole the ship," Vegeta explained, putting the fish onto a decent sized plate as well as the sides he had prepared, "We have plenty of time to talk after a meal though, so how about we focus on eating for the time being? Go find a table, I'll bring the food out and get us set up."

While in truth dealing with Viral and his terrible condition wasn't Aito's ideal way to come back he was still more than happy to do it. There was no way in good conscience that he could just leave the Beastman out to dry so to speak, he wanted and needed to try and help. Having arrived in the library, the first thing Aito figured they should do is make themselves comfortable, or as much so as they could. Chances were it would be nigh impossible for Viral to relax, but being better situated should make talking come a bit easier. Watching as the Beastman struggled to get settled on the couch he smiled sympathetically, wondering if they should go ahead and 'restart his system' so to speak. There was a way to get Viral to change to normal, but doing so would leave him rather drained. For the purposes of this meeting he didn't want Viral being too tired to speak so he would wait, if only a little bit. "So then... Do you still feel poised to kill me at any moment? Or did our little exercise alleviate some of those worries?" he asked, smiling as he took a seat in a chair opposite the Beastman, "Please don't think I was trying to put you down by doing that. I simply wanted to show there's no reason for concern, I can defend myself."

T’charrl felt a little awkward right now, even if it wasn’t entirely Takeshi’s fault. He had been the one to have all this fur and it wasn’t as if he was the only one who didn’t like it, he didn’t have to make up so many false excuses. Giving his shoulder a rub he soon stopped as he was made aware that he still flaked when nervous and that was something he couldn’t change about himself. He really didn’t know if he could allow others to put up with him in there was that much of an aversion to being near him when touching him meant displeasure. “I-It’s not something I can help…” He couldn’t trim the hair on his body without it coming out prickly and rather sore, plus he needed his hair. It was a complicated sensory organ to him and something Takeshi probably couldn’t understand. “I-It’s not that different. It keeps my clean, allows me to feel changes in the air, it’s how I hear things too…” Frowning, he let out a sigh. He didn’t know why Takeshi had to make up so many excuses when he could just say he didn’t like touching him. “Not used to me yet? But I’ve been here a while and-…it doesn’t matter. I already know how people feel about getting near me, Yumi already told me so you don’t need to hide it…”

Shu didn’t know what was going on but his friend T’charrl was upset, he recognised that much. Takeshi making up excuses didn’t do too well for him and just made T’charrl a low more withdrawn. He knew why Takeshi didn’t like touching him but hearing T’charrl say he was told Yumi and the others didn’t like doing so either did make him feel a little sad. T’charrl was such a cuddly alien and very warm when you hugged him, it was just sad that nobody wanted to know that. Looking to Takeshi he frowned as well, giving his arms a rub. “I don’t know why I got furry when with Father took me, though…”

Kiton frowned at Vegeta’s reasoning, looking away. “Well…I could sabotage your ship…then you’d all be dead”, he spoke lowly, finding even thinking about it to be rather disgusting, “If I was evil I would probably do that. Blow up the engines, take the smaller vessel...” He was quite aware that they couldn’t breathe in Space and taking advantage of that was certainly what someone evil would do, but he really wasn’t that kind. Not all outlaws were evil, most were just out to survive and there was an awful of lot of that type of person. Looking to Vegeta he smiled a little at the friend suggestion but soon friend again when he was the one left to make the decision. It was partly their decision too, seeing as how they would be the ones to take him on and give him a home. “Yeah, I recognise that. Not like I can go anyway with no money, no ship, no home…or family, for that matter. Not even a criminal family”.

Once the food was being moved Kiton immediately perked up, staring at the food with great interest. He couldn’t wait to get into it, he had been denied food for so long so excitement levels were very high right now. He knew he would have to take his time but it didn’t mean he wasn’t going to savour every bit of it. Pushing away from the counter he winced when he nearly fell off his own leg, his tail nearly slapping things off it as he regained his footing. Looking to Vegeta he still felt confused as to what their true goal was other than bringing down the King, but he was still sure that they had a home planet as well. “Why get involved with the King? Was your home planet conquered?” Being told to go and get a table was probably going to be the hardest part, seeing how he struggled to walk right now. Walking with little balance he stumbled out of the kitchen and towards the tables, going straight for the nearest one and accidentally throwing himself on the seat. Finding out soon after that it was a bad idea he let out a groan of pain, slowly placing the bottle of pills on the table and resting forward. “I-I’m r-ready for fish!”

Viral didn’t have the energy to protest against sitting like this, especially when the only other option was the floor. He didn’t have any other way to not look stupid and if he had to be uncomfortable to look like a normal person then he would have to put up with it. Sprawling his legs out in front of him he let out a sigh, looking to Aito with a frown as he started talking. He didn’t like that test and it only managed to make him feel absolutely awful to the point of wondering what was the point on living anymore so acting as if it was a good thing just made him feel equally as awful as he did earlier. He just knew it would subconsciously have him trying to ambush Aito if he so much as blanked out. Aito probably didn’t care and was happy with his superiority right now, showing off he was stronger than a monster like him. “You were ready for me. Who is to say you will be ready for me next time?” he spoke lowly, looking away, “I’m not always in control of my mind, I’m sure you’ve realised. I don’t know if you’ll still be ready for me for me sneaking up on you because you look like something I can eat. It hurts me to know how weak I am as well and how out of practice I am! It hurts to take an order like that already, but to find out how strong I am…”

As if Takeshi weren't feeling bad enough about his aversion now T'charrl was listing off why he needed the hair too. Things were just fine between them until this stuff came up, he always felt like crap for making his friend upset. Looking at the Kaesstrian apologetically he frowned at the mention of Yumi, having no idea she had spoken to him about it. So she was telling him they didn't like him then? No, that didn't sound like her, but she'd said something to that effect. Great, now he was going to have to argue against her word too! Sighing to himself he looked over to Shu, even further upset hearing the little guy expressing his concerns. "I don't know buddy... Maybe Vegeta or his dad can help us with that now though," he offered hopefully, smiling slightly as he looked back at T'charrl. He couldn't well let the guy keep going on thinking he didn't like him or something, but how was he supposed to fix it anyways? There was one way he figured might work, yet doing so was going to take an awful lot of courage on his part.

"I don't hate being near you, honest. I mean I'm near you right now, aren't I?" Takeshi asked lamely, shifting his weight around a bit, "Here, I'll even prove it to you." He was probably going to go in a fit over doing this, but he'd rather have everyone in a decent mood for playing than be all mopey and sad. Stepping in he abruptly placed his arms around T'charrl, hugging his friend as he seemed to pale considerably. Despite himself he went ahead and kept on hugging, arms wrapped around the Kaesstrian for a good solid few seconds before he finally stepped back. His mouth twitched slightly with anxiousness and he was squirming a little, but for the most part Takeshi looked to be keeping it together. "S-See...? Baby steps, that's all. I'm g-getting better at it!" Ooooh, it was all over him wasn't it? Those flakes, what were they even? It was quite the effort not to start brushing himself down, because boy did he want to.

"Right... Let me show you my concern for that potential event," Vegeta responded, turning and resuming preparing the meal. As his father had decided Kiton was not inherently a bad person, and he wasn't going to do what he had just said. Might he end up leaving them once he was able? Perhaps, but he scarcely felt like his life was on the line here. "Which is why I would suggest you consider coming along with us. We wouldn't send you off with nothing, but we can't put you up and provide for you if you leave either. Even if its only temporary that you travel with us, that's fine. We're not ones to turn someone away, regardless of who they are or what their past might look like. Everyone's got skeletons in their closet, I know I certainly do." Hell, he probably had enough to fill a graveyard at this point, yet the others didn't scrutinize him for that. Nor was he labelled by those mistakes, which was nice seeing as he had made plenty. The one person who he actually worried about though was Viral, as his handling of the Beastman had been anything but satisfactory over the years. From friend to something of a nuisance and back, Vegeta didn't know if the damage done could be reversed.

Gathering together the plates and utensils they would need, Vegeta sent Kiton on ahead to pick out a table. The Frost Demon could barely walk on his own but he was going to, what with his helper's hands all full of food. Following close behind he watched as Kiton unevenly moved about, wincing as he nearly fell over the table. "We have a personal history with the King, and a poor one at that," he explained simply, setting down plates on the table before beginning to portion out the food, "Shu and Takeshi are his sons, both of them were forced to work under him for a little over a year. The way Viral is now? That's because of the King too, as is why Yumi looks different than a normal human would. He's made our lives fairly difficult, so we've got a score to settle I suppose." Setting out the last of the meal, Vegeta piled up the empty plates before taking his spot beside Kiton, wasting no time in beginning to help himself to the meal.

"With all due respect Viral, you're hardly a well-concealed assassin in your current state, so I think I would know if you were coming. That being said I suppose you're right, I can't always be prepared. But think about it... Before you were erratic, none of your attacks would have killed me outright. If you did attack me it would be when you're not yourself, and therefore your strikes would be both predictable and far from the single, lethal blow you'd need. Short and sweet, the only time you'll attack is if you lose your mind again, and I can handle you like that." So it seemed that his method hadn't fully alleviated that worry, but at least Viral was now looking at things differently. If his only concern was that he might go rampant and attack then it was easily handled, he just had to be mindful not to spark anything. This session of theirs was also doubling as a conditioning, getting the Beastman used to being around Aito again. Once that became a non-issue then the real work could begin.

"Let me share something with you Viral, if you will. It'll be quick, I promise," Aito said, smiling as he leaned forward in his seat, arms folded across his legs. "I had managed to attain Super Saiyan strength early in my life, and I spent a great deal of my childhood and young adult years unopposed by anyone. Father and grandfather aside there was hardly anyone who could fight me and come out victorious, so I may have been a bit arrogant before. It wasn't until I met someone and began training with them that I finally met my match, on more than one occasion. If I remember right we had fifteen sparring matches in all, and I won eight of them, the other person won seven. Every single one was close too, it wasn't as if either side ever had a gross advantage over the other. I would love to fight with them again when I get the chance, to see if I can put another win under my name, or if he'll manage to tie things between us. Tell me... Any guess who that person might have been?" He didn't say it outright, but the way that Aito was staring at Viral, smiling amused, his expression might as well be saying it. Giving it only a few seconds of silence he let out a chuckle, reaching one hand up and rubbing at his head, "You're sick, it's natural your strength has waned. But you can get to that level again, to someone who I could barely beat. I know what your best is, and I know we can reach it again. All I ask of you is to trust what I say and do as I ask."

T’charrl didn’t really know what he was supposed to do if this was going to be the thing with Takeshi all the time, but all he could do for himself was not let them other than Shu touch him. He didn’t want to make them uncomfortable but he did spend a lot of time by himself for reasons like this. Sure it made him feel a little lonely but it wasn’t as if they didn’t talk to him every other time he was out having food or trying to train. He was pretty happy with that kind of life because he was used to it and wasn’t hurting anybody’s feelings. If they were all going to play then he could sit out and watch them without any problem, plus he just wanted the company right now. He had been feeling lonely again since leaving his planet but that was because he had quite a connection with his planet, but maybe once he got onto another planet he’ll start to feel better. Shu having fur when he apparently shouldn’t did make him wonder what he was like without it, even though he’d probably be like Takeshi.

Looking to Takeshi with a frown he shook his head, not sure if Takeshi knew what he was saying. “Uhh, y-you don’t need to…” He didn’t know what Takeshi was wanting to prove but he really didn’t need to do anything if he didn’t want to, not wanting to make him anymore uncomfortable than he might already be. Feeling slightly uncomfortable he didn’t know what to do when Takeshi suddenly stepped forward and hugged him, his emotions quite plainly obvious the moment he touched him. Raising his arms up he stared at him when he moved away, taking a step back as he stared at him for a moment, watching his actions before he let out a sigh, looking away. “You didn’t need to put yourself through that, I’m fine”, he spoke, thinking Takeshi had completely forgotten what his kind can do regarding emotional responses, “You’ve got, umm…my dust on you…”

Kiton was rather excited for food and the way he moved didn’t do a very good job at hiding it with how terrible he was at keeping balanced while rushing to the table. He knew he would have to be slow with it but he also knew he was going to have a hard time keeping calm with all that food given to him like this. Despite it not being terribly much it was a lot more than he had gotten that was actually quality food. Maybe it was a good idea to go along with them, even if the reasons seemed a tiny bit selfish of him to use them for protection and food. They were the ones offering him safety and he might as well take it, what with the free food and the possibility of fighting in the future. He was a natural fighter like the Saiyans and being all beat up like this wasn’t where he wanted to be.

Thinking about it as he sat there waiting for his food he looked quickly to the plate before to the food as Vegeta dished it out, staring at it longingly before looking up to Vegeta. “Huh? Sons? Uhhh normal humans…I’m not too sure what ‘normal’ is to that species. I don’t know about the other one, though…but guess you mean they’ve not always been a monster”. Once Vegeta finally finished with the food he reached out for the cutlery and started on his food, pausing for a moment and sighing happily. It was so relieving to finally get some food in him and it was delicious too, something he could definitely get used to. Deciding it was okay to finally relax he took his bottle of pills, opening it up and taking one of the vitamins inside. “I gotta say, I do like this. I’ve never had anything like this before and I’m not a good cook at all…”

Viral didn’t like how Aito was constantly contradicting him and practically making fun of his worries, finding it to be something Vegeta would do too. He had worries that was perfectly reasonable and there he was making them out to be pretty pointless to wory about anyway. He was part feline and had soft paws despite his large form so who was to say he wouldn’t hear him. He was certainly not comfortable and didn’t know how he was supposed to do to feel alright with himself when all of his concerns were just being made fun of. Groaning as he leaned towards the edge of the couch he shifted his attention away from Aito, already looking fed up with this session and just wanted to move onto doing something that was probably less embarrassing. “Great. Always good to know. It’s not like I can remember what I do most of the time, nevermind everything else…”

Viral didn’t know what was the point in this session but he was already getting fidgety, his attention not appearing to be on Aito so much as the inability to get comfortable. Slowly moving onto his side some more he sighed as he rested his head against his arm, looking back when Aito started talking about himself. He felt the whole Super Saiyan point was bragging now with the aim to make him feel even worse about even thinking he might be able to lay a finger on him. Listening nonetheless, he stared at him plainly when he tried to drop a hint on who he might had fought against who was of equal match, not really understanding what he was getting at. If it was someone he met then it had to have been someone from the outside but he couldn’t think who it might had been. “I don’t know. I don’t know who you met however many years ago…” he muttered as he looked away. As Aito continued to speak he only gave him a glance when he made his point clearer, but to Viral he didn’t find it to be believable at all. It sounded like empty encouragement to him. “Whatever. It’s hard to tell if you’re lying, but I nearly died to a bug and that’s hardly ‘that level’. I don’t know how much was stolen from me when I was in confinement, but it must had happened after I killed you. I only thought I was strong. I was careless…big-headed”.

Takeshi knew he had gone and screwed up just now and he was damn determined to try and make it better. Of course, making it better may involve doing something he otherwise would have no business doing, but if that's what it took to reassure his friend than so be it. Mentally preparing himself for what he was about to subject himself to the Saiyan sighed once before stepping in and giving T'charrl a hug, making it last a few seconds to try and make it genuine; he didn't have a problem with T'charrl himself, he wanted that to be abundantly clear, it was just the hair that got him sometimes. When he'd had just about all he could Takeshi finally stepped back, smiling nervously as he resisted the urge to pat himself down. "You say that like it was some k-kind of torture," he answered, chuckling as he shrugged, "I'm fine, honest!" Except it felt like his skin was crawling, probably from being poked by all the hairs. At the mention of dust he couldn't help but look down at himself, blinking seeing all the sparkly flecks covering his clothes and arms. Chuckling again he looked back up at T'charrl, his face reddening some as he shook his head, "No problem, really! So h-how's about we go play, huh?"

"Normal humans wouldn't have those ears that she does, nor the abilities that she possesses. And neither Yumi nor Viral are monsters, I would be very careful how you speak about them around me," Vegeta warned, for the first time today sounding a bit threatening, "Their conditions don't make them monsters, they're a product of a madman's tampering, that's it. We'll get them back to normal, that's all there is to it." Leaving it at that he took his seat at the table, beginning to dig in after having portioned out the food. His stomach grumbled even as he began to dig in, quite clearly starved after the long day they had. After a brief spell of silence Kiton finally spoke up again, Vegeta simply glancing over out of the corner of his eye before nodding and continuing to eat. "Glad you like it, though it's hardly anything special. I was just too lazy to cook a real meal is all." Simple but quick, and it didn't hurt that it tasted good either. They really ought to have a more substantial meal than this, but when the Frost Demon had to gradually work on eating again they couldn't be too hasty.

Aito knew Viral didn't want to be doing this, but then that was normal; people wanted help, but rarely did they go to a therapist because they wanted to hear what was wrong. He could sit here and tell Viral just that, prescribe all sorts of medicines and let the problem work itself out, or he could take the direct approach and handle it himself. As of this very moment the Beastman most certainly did not appreciate the help, but when he was healthy again he'd look back at it favorably, he hoped. "Memory problems, hm...? Interesting... There's several reasons that might be an issue. Could be a blow to the head, or perhaps a bad reaction to medicine. I'll run a neurological test with you later on and we can figure that out, restoring your memory should be simple enough." As it was it would be just a case of healing whatever might be injured in the brain, or removing the toxins or chemicals from medicines that was causing the issue. It wouldn't take much time, an hour at most and then Viral should be back to full capacity, memory wise at least.

"Please, pray tell, what would I gain by lying to you about that? I'm not trying to butter you up here Viral, I'm trying to tell you that you were and will be a very strong fighter. And confinement...? What exactly do you mean?" He hadn't heard anything concerning confinement, not in the case of the Saiyans or otherwise. Depending on the conditions of said treatment it could explain some of the problems too, which may shed even further light on the problems at hand. Hoping for a bit more information he looked to Yumi for help here, smiling as he raised an eyebrow, "I don't suppose you know about this, young lady?"

Yumi smiled back at Aito uncertainly for a moment, not sure if she was really qualified to be talking about things like this. "I mean... I know the gist of what happened, sure, but I can't really say for certain what it was. From what I remember though Viral was put into a kind of sleep in a cryogenic tube, and he was there for a while. The doctors kept him healthy with IVs and things like that, but he was in there for a couple of years I think." Yeah, because she and Vegeta had been little kids when he was put away, and it wasn't until they were almost teenagers that Viral was brought back out. What did any of that have to do with his current condition though? That was years ago, over a decade in fact, how could it relate to now?

"I see... Cryogenic slumber..." Aito mused, frowning as he rubbed at his chin. "There's a distinct possibility that your problems began there Viral. If proper precautions aren't made then the body will suffer damage from being put in stasis; tissue may deteriorate, as will muscle, functions may become impaired if the brain suffers any damage too. Plus if you were fed through IVs it is possible that something may have gotten into the solutions, something to promote further damage. It's speculation, but it would explain some of your conditions. That and the rate at which you've declined is much too astounding to be over just the last year, even with the tampering. I think some pre-existing conditions already were causing issue, and what was done recently just opened the floodgates, so to speak." It was probably an awful lot to take in, none of it good, but it was more light on this situation of theirs. "I'll get every bit of information I can regarding your treatment prior from Vegeta and we can work from there."

---

An awful lot of information had been gleaned from that brief session, and on top of what Vegeta had for him Aito had a very clear idea of where they stood now. A series of poor treatments and experimentation had led to a degeneration of Viral's normally exceptional ability to recover, and in turn his cells being able to reproduce at astounding rates. That would explain the weakening of his regular self as well as the memory issue, as brain tissue was likely lost during the initial sedation and while in stasis. But what of the transformation issues? Aito was certain he had that explained too, and it was far easier to put into words than the memory and muscle problems; Viral was a conglomerate of different creatures, their genes melded with his own to grant him unique abilities. With each gene came some aspect of the animal, and those aspects could bleed through when certain genes were triggered. Viral had the capability and the knowledge of how to trigger each, at least previously, but now he seemed to have lost that. Aito's assumption in regards to that was a hormonal imbalance coupled with the memory loss, meaning that he couldn't properly balance the different aspects and he had actually forgotten how to. The hormonal imbalance would also explain the aggression and the anxiety, as too many chemicals in the brain would cause it to fire off in erratic ways. It was a wide array of problems, but knowing what they were now made it easy to handle.

"And that's where we stand. I've got every one of your treatment plans mapped out already and I'm in the process of getting the materials together. I know it must seem like a lot, but the reality of it is your conditions are quite easy to treat. It will be a lengthy process, but you'll begin to see results within the first week." Memory should improve first and foremost, followed hopefully by his hormonal imbalance. Getting the genes to cooperate was going to be a combination of reconditioning, waiting for his body to settle down and likely a little bit of gene therapy to boot. "Of course... To even begin with any of that you need to be comfortable to be in a medical room again, otherwise I can't administer anything. So tell me... What exactly is it about the room that gets you so unnerved?"

Viral was awfully stressed out while going through all of this, feeling as if he couldn’t find himself anymore as everything was just beginning to build up from here. There was too much to listen to regarding his health that had gone wrong and for how long these problems had been happening startled him greatly. He didn’t want to show it but he was not wanting to be here anymore and just plain wanted to leave and give up on this because it all sounded too complicated for him. All he knew was his body was breaking down and he was probably going to go mad and become a monster for good as he lost his mind and control over his powers. It was a surprise that he hadn’t manifested extra arms by now, but that was probably the last step of madness he would go under. It was painful and scary to have to go through all this, but he was determined not to show it when he could only struggle to keep himself together and not end up devolving any further.

This might had been fairly routine for Aito but when he was the patient he couldn’t help but feel nervous and fidgety, his worry that he might not get treated in time being the main cause. All this talking might had been good for Aito but it was doing nothing for him, especially with the seat not being very comfy for him to try and relax. He was trying but it really wasn’t working very well and all he was feeling was pain and discomfort, making him feel rather angry. It was hard to keep it together for this session and all he could think about was going somewhere else or finding some medicine.

All this talk about his genes wasn’t helping him at all and all he wished was to move onto something else, at least something that might help him. There was all sorts of possibilities they could explore and if Aito knew what was wrong then why wasn’t he already trying to fix it for him instead of talking to him pointlessly. He was damaged and had been for a long time, he understood that, but having to talk about it made him feel anxious and simply wanting to get away. He didn’t know how much of his mind could be restored or how he might react to it when everything suddenly came back to him, how much of him would disappear and how much might return. Aito being so calm about it didn’t help him at all.

“Easy to treat…and I have to suffer through it. I don’t see how calling it easy to treat helps…” he mumbled, feeling uncomfortable having to listen to all of this. He didn’t know what he was going to do to him or how he might accomplish it, knowing it was going to probably be painful and tiring but hopefully not as much as it already pained him to remain in this condition. Slowly rubbing his head to try and ease the pain and tiredness he looked back to Aito upon the questioning of his feelings towards the medical room, feeling embarrassed that he would have to talk about it when he already hated talking about his feelings. “I just…can’t handle being there. The smell of it just reminds me of those damn labs. Incase you missed it, I can’t control my memories and what might pop into my head at the time! I don’t like being reminded of the worst of times…”

"Saying it's easy to treat means just that, Viral. I was worried we would have to undergo several long trials of treatment, perhaps even put you into an induced coma at some point, but I'm pleased to say we won't have to do any of that," Aito explained, smiling happily, "For the most part these treatments should take about half an hour to an hour, one time a day for... I'd venture a guess of four to six weeks. Results won't begin to show until the end of the first week, but then that's still very quick. Only seven days until you begin to see differences for the better, surely that's nice to hear, hm?" When the initial assessment had given him months and it now came down to just weeks that was a massive improvement, even Viral must be able to appreciate that much. Now that he had a plan of attack planned out in his mind, Aito figured they could go ahead and begin working together in earnest.

"The smell, hm...? So is it the smell of medicine, or just a sterile room in general?" Aito asked, looking across at Viral curiously, "I know you don't like talking about it, but we need to work our way to getting back to the lab, it's the best place for this kind of work to be done. If it's the smell that triggers it though... Perhaps some candles? Some kind of fragrance to mask the smell, that may work. Then again...?" Hm, what if there was another alternative? Getting up from his chair abruptly, Aito began to look around the room, pacing a bit and examining the furniture. With seemingly no rhyme or reason he pushed away the coffee table, then a few of the chairs and finally his own chair to the side, opening up the sitting area in the library quite a bit. "Yes... Alternatively I could have the equipment I need be brought here, and we could avoid the laboratory initially. That way we can begin treatments right away without having to condition you to feel secure in the room, and we can work on both your hormonal imbalance as well as that simultaneously. Kill two birds with one stone, as it were. Would you be more comfortable if we worked in here? Or even another room for that matter?"

Viral was a little more than anxious as Aito continued to talk about his treatment, shifting on his seat to try and distract himself from the thought of it. He didn’t know what was going to happen to him during the treatment or how he was going to come out of it, feeling as though his fate wasn’t going to be completely up to chance and how he might react to the treatment. “Nice to hear…and what exactly is going to happen to me? You’ve yet to tell me”, he spoke before sighing, “What is going to happen to me after this whole thing too? I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same person of if I’ll change completely and that concerns me”. Everything about him had been because of what happened after he was frozen, but if he was to believe Aito then he would regain the memories he had before and would be able to remember everything that happened to him. He would probably change completely or lose who he is.

Everything was making Viral feel unwilling to go through with the treatment when everything could change for him. He had become used to certain aspects, even the pain he was going through he had gotten used to it. He didn’t know how he might adjust even if it was going to be back to his normal form, but his problem was he had been living like this for a very long time with his mentality completely destroyed already. To finally get it back to normal was stressful for him but Aito and Yumi would probably never understand why he would possibly feel that way.

Staring at Aito as he tried to suss out what his problem was with the room he frowned at his conclusions, letting out a groan as he tried to come up with some ways to substitute it. “And you don’t think experiences might help make it incredibly painful to be there? Just smell? Hmph…” He didn’t think candles would help when it was not only the smell but the feeling of being in the room. Finding it to be rather awkward to talk about he soon had to watch Aito start moving everything around him, shifting the chairs and moving the table to create a rather large area. Feeling rather embarrassed he looked away from him, giving his head a rub. “Isn’t this place just completely unsuitable for any sort of comfort…?” he sighed before giving his arms a scratch, “Whatabout my room? I never use it, anyway…”

"Your personality will not change, at least not that I can predict. Obviously some things are different now than before, what with heightened aggression and anxiety, but that will become almost non-existant once the treatment begins. Far as I'm concerned you'll be the same person as before, you'll just be healthier, that's all." Realistically you couldn't change a person's personality, that was impossible. Yes, you could manipulate them to act a certain way, but in the end they were still the same individual and the same held true for Viral. The different behaviors that he was exhibiting now, every single one of them, Aito had concluded they were due to his condition and would fade as he began to recover. "I know it may seem difficult to believe right now but you are very much the same man I last saw all those years ago. Obviously some things are getting in the way, but I can see the same Viral as back then. Now... You'll have changed a little over the years, that's natural and expected, but not this much, and all of the change is due to your recent experiences. Given a little time and our working together I'm certain we'll begin to see the real you again."

Of course, knowing what Viral needed treating was only half the battle, they still had to actually treat him. With Viral having an immense aversion to the lab they couldn't really go there to work, meaning that they would have to find an alternative. When asking the Beastman what it was precisely he was averted to. Hearing that the smell was the first thing that came to mind was a bit puzzling, especially given how many other factors likely had a hand in it. "Obviously experiences are going to have an effect, but we can't much control for those right now, so we'll focus on what we can. Obviously smell is hardly going to negate all of the problems, but its better than nothing." Smiling sadly at Viral, Aito reorganized the room a bit then leaned back in his chair, laying one leg over the other as he folded his hands in his lap. "Your room? Hm... I suppose that would work, depending on how large it is. If that's where you feel comfortable though then we can certainly go there. Is there anything we could do to make it even more relaxing though? Any kind of stimulus?"

Viral wasn’t feeling too convinced, even if it was coming from Aito. He just didn’t trust the man as much as he probably did before, however much that was previously. The man was not showing as much heart as he could probably show concerning him which made him feel like he was an issue just waiting to be sorted, but maybe that was just him thinking that and him having a hard time seeing through all the previous hate he had for people. He didn’t really know what the problem was but he knew it was going to be a problem working with the man he barely knew anyway, whether he trusted him before or not. He didn’t know if he was telling him the truth about his personality, even if he was the expert. “How do I know if you’re telling the truth? How can I trust you? These are all the questions I wish I could answer myself, but I just-…how would you know if you’ve never done this before? I don’t understand how you can have such confidence in this treatment…”

This was all too stressful, especially when it was his health that was at risk. He knew he was going to get treated but now talking about it just made him incredibly nervous and he was willingly showing it through anger. He didn’t want to have to have all these worries and the way Aito was talking was making him feel very worried for his own well-being when he had no clue how he was supposed to be treated in the first place. The guy wasn’t exactly giving him many clues other than needing a large area to work in. Letting out a groan he slowly rubbed at his face, not exactly happy that he wasn’t going to give him any treatment for his mental problems quite yet when those were the most painful for him to experience. He wanted to be able to eat and sleep, to not have to worry about what might give him a painful memory and not have to have panic attacks and aggression stemming from that. He hated it but there was nothing he could do about it, it seems, not when his genes were damaged. “I don’t know what relaxes me anymore. I’ve not been relaxed for over a year! Why don’t you try and figure it out if you know me so well…”

"I suppose there's no reason to say you can trust me. The only thing you've got to go off of is the memory of me, and even that seems to be gone now. So then... If we've no basis to form a trusting relationship how can you possibly trust me?" Aito asked, smiling slightly as he spoke, "Vegeta had no issue whatsoever in leaving you in my care, despite his working so hard with you. Yumi would have left us alone too had she not come along at June's request, so Yumi trusts me as well. Everyone that knew me trusts me, and even the rest of your friends do as well. If you cannot form trust based on me personally then trust what those around you do. If they give alarm then stop putting your faith in me, but until then you've just as little reason not to trust me." After they began getting some headway into the treatment and Viral saw results then the trust was bound to begin budding, this much he knew. As they were still on the first steps however it would be a while until they reached that point, and Aito knew that it wasn't going to be an easy road getting there either.

"Do you think in all my years practicing this that I've never used these methods before? Not even once? I've tried them before, with other patients and they're proven to work. That aside I know everything about you, or at least how you were created. If something is wrong I can figure that out, and once I sort that small bit it's no issue in fixing it again. After all this time I still know the majority of your coding, of what genes we used, of the process we went through. I know everything I need to about the old you, and I'm learning everything about the current you. If I combine past knowledge with the new information then I can use the same treatments for your case. Long answer short is I've done this before, so rest assured you're in good hands." When he had said he had never done this before it was true, partly. Aito had never done this treatment with Viral before, but there had been other cases; people with hormonal imbalances, anxiety disorders, he had treated a number of problems in his time. Of course a good number of them came with the help of Ikura's help, but in regards to Viral he was the best suited to handle things.

Aito figured he was being transparent enough, yet Viral still found cause to be anxious. If there was any uncertainty or anything vague about what was to come he only needed to ask, it was as simple as that. He was more than willing to answer any questions or share any of the information he had gathered, but that couldn't be done if questions weren't asked. "What relaxes you... Well... I would figure being out in some natural light would help you quite a lot. Artificial light and enclosed spaces will naturally bother you, for more reason than one. So perhaps... Hm..." Could they somehow get some natural light inside the ship? Probably not, as harnessing light in space wouldn't be an easy matter whatsoever. They needed to go to a planet then, let Viral get out into the open air and hopefully then relax. "Tell you what... Let's work together on this. Whatever you think will help you relax right now, do it. I'll make suggestions while you're doing whatever it is you decide. I would rather you decide what feels best for you than tell you what to do."

Viral couldn’t think of a good reason to grant Aito his trust and as he spoke he couldn’t help but feel as if he was being told he was stupid for not trusting him. He didn’t know if he was actually being mocked or if he was just being paranoid about it, but either way he was not happy with how he spoke to him. “That’s them, not me! I’m the patient here! My opinion matters!” he snapped at him before letting out a growl as he sat back again, trying to cross his legs but giving up in frustration when he couldn’t get his leg over his knee properly, folding his arms in an angry huff. June was someone else he didn’t know whether to trust, mainly because he hadn’t seen her much if at all properly. There was very little reason to trust them at a time like this and all it managed to do was make him feel insecure about his position. “You won’t tell me what you’re going to do to me so how can I trust that?”

Even with Aito trying to give him his reassurances that he had tried all these things before he still couldn’t find the desire to feel comfortable with the treatments. Maybe he was being paranoid beyond everything, unreasonably so, but he still felt it was right to question if he could trust him and his methods. “Other patients…but I’m not like other patients! I don’t know if you even practiced on me in the past…I don’t even know how many years you had me for before I killed you, nevermind what you did with me…” He was worried that things would go wrong and knew he should have faith in Aito, but he couldn’t find it.

Viral couldn’t find a way to settle himself with all of this going on, finding it hard to accept the help even though he was desperately needing some. It was the same as getting opened up in his mind, getting forced to change to suit someone else; however, this change was supposed to be for the better. He shouldn’t be thinking like this but he was unable to put this feeling aside and trust the man. With no idea to how he was supposed to feel he was completely stressed, not even finding it possible to relax. Not really finding Aito’s suggestions particularly helpful he sighed, holding his arms together as he looked away. Feeling at the point of giving up thinking about it his ear twitched at the command to do something he finds relaxing before he raised his paws to his ears, his face going red before he let out a growl. “I said I don’t know! Actually listen to me, maybe??” he snapped before rolling to face the side of the couch, folding his arms over the edge and resting his head as best as he could.

"Nor am I saying your opinion doesn't matter Viral, that's not it at all," Aito pointed out calmly, "All I'm saying is that everyone else trusts me, so all I'm asking is that you take their opinions into consideration. Do you trust their judgement? If you do then you can trust me." Until they began working he was skeptical that anything he said could make Viral trust him, that was just how the Beastman operated. Given all of the trauma and hardships he had endured it was only expected he be wary, and it would be no small effort to take down the shield he had built up for himself. "You want to know exactly what I'll be doing to you then, is that it? All you had to do was ask for the specifics," Aito said with a smile, "To fix the hormonal issue I will be giving you medicine with the required hormones, and over the course of a week or two we'll administer the drug to regulate the imbalance. If it works as I suspect, which it will, your body will no longer have these erratic changes, and furthermore your moods will be more consistent. As for the degrading of your memory, some supplements with plenty of vitamins will be provided to help build up any brain tissue damaged, and I'll also be going through some therapy with you to help handle some of the more unsettling memories. In all you'll be taking two pills and have maybe an hour long session every day, or every other day. Not so daunting now is it?"

Everything that Aito was proposing was tried and true, having been used both by himself as well as other doctors numerous times. Again it all came back to the not knowing issue, and having a lack of trust between Viral and himself. "We were together for two years before that happened, and I never really had to treat anything back then. And I know your situation is different from other patients; anatomy, experiences, medical history, all of these are essentially as stark as day and night in contrast to those I've worked with before. That being said your base is still human, with some extra abilities added on. In layman's terms that means that most conventional practices will work just as well for you as anyone else, regardless of the differences." And if he ended up being wrong, which he sincerely doubted, there was already another two sets of plans he could set in motion to try and tackle the issue. Come Hell or high water Aito would fix these issues, he was too damn determined not to.

"I am listening to you, all I'm asking is you try something. You know you better than anyone else, myself included. I can't say what you're thinking at any given moment, only make conjectures based on what I see." That was one big problem with depression, it made even the most menial tasks daunting and at times almost punishing. If Viral was incapable of finding any relaxation even in the most basic of things then they had a slightly bigger problem on their hands; Yumi was here to help, but using her to calm Viral seemed almost like a cop out as it didn't really solve anything. Viral would have to deal with his issues, not cover them up. Looking at the Beastman thoughtfully for a second Aito rose up from his chair and walked to the couch, smiling as he reached down and began to scratch the spot just between Viral's ears. If he was a large feline then surely he'd enjoy this, right? An unorthodox approach to be sure, but anything was worth trying.

Viral really couldn’t place his trust in someone who was going to give no information on how these treatments he was apparently going to undergo would work or whether they would have a massive success rate in the first place, his biggest worry being placed on the possibility he may end up being cut open anyway. He didn’t want to be cut open or lose his mind so everything was making him nervous. It didn’t matter what this man said, what mattered was if what he said was the truth and if he could trust his health in his care. Groaning at his further attempt to earn his trust he just wasn’t convinced, keeping his eyes off him even when he started telling him if his treatment plans. With his tail swinging in annoyance as he spoke, not liking the sound of all the medicines he was going to have to go under to stop these changes. “And whatabout my damaged genes? Vegeta said my genes are gradually disintegrating…and better yet, what’s going to happen to me regarding the medicine? I’m well aware of side effects, you know…”

Viral didn’t know a lot about himself when for most of his life he was just looking after Vegeta and Yumi until Yumi left and Vegeta decided he was independent enough without him. He didn’t know how old he was and felt dwarfed compared to everyone else in terms of life experiences. He had been told it only took a few weeks for him to go from child-sized to a fully grown adult so he didn’t have any of the childhood experiences either. He couldn’t imagine himself as a child or what they could’ve done with him in that short experience, but then again he didn’t know what they made him for in the first place. Everything about him was a mystery but he didn’t think he had the chance to ask about something like that right now. He had bigger concerns and finding out the secret to his past just now didn’t make him feel confident he would remember it later when he had to be constantly reminded what his own name was just now. “That doesn’t make me confident, especially since technically that means you’ve only known me for two years! You already said you never watched over me when you were dead, so what would you know…”

Feeling it was best to ignore Aito at this point he turned away with embarrassment and gave him no attention. It was stupid asking someone like him to find something relaxing when it was already impossible to even begin to imagine what that might be. He hadn’t found anything relaxing in a long time and being tense all the time made him feel pretty annoyed and angry he couldn’t do such a thing. Huffing as he lay over the edge of the couch he only felt the need to keep to himself for now, his frustrations that he didn’t know what might calm him making him moody. Growling lowly to himself over the embarrassment he didn’t take notice of Aito until he was right over him, immediately looking up but instead of finding the ability to get up he was stopped as his ear was assaulted by the man. “W-What are you doing??” he gasped, his paw trying to reach back to him but was rather pathetically held back as if by a solid force, not really getting anywhere apart from weak swipes, “Y-You’re playing a dangerous game here! Y-You…filthy human…!” Slowly his resistance was broken, his movement dwindling until it was near nothing. Groaning through a purr he found no way to fight against Aito but he was very embarrassed, already hating how easy it was for them to take advantage of his animal instincts during his illness.

"Your genetic damage is purely due to the hormonal imbalances. Your body is unable to properly balance out the different genetic structures that were placed in you, resulting in precisely what you are now. By balancing the hormones we even out the body, and through that the genes will cease misfiring and you will be able to control yourself better. I suppose that's as simple as I can phrase it for you, but hopefully you understand the gist of it." That all being said there were a few problems with the proposed treatment, particularly in regards to memory. While it was true that the hormone therapy would balance out the physical aspects, much more precise and deliberate treatments would be needed to cure other problems. The brain, for instance, did not possess readily-reproducing cells, at least not to the extent that other organs do. In order to solve that issue they would have to use stems and re-purpose them for brain tissue, then find a way to passively insert them into the afflicted area and let the cells sort themselves out. Once the tissue had returned so too would functionality, and a little therapy should more than spur along the recovery. "Side effects, most likely, will be lethargy, irritability, and perhaps even lost of appetite. With all due respect however those aren't anything new to you. As you recover however the effects will become less and less, to the point where they'll be minor inconveniences."

Truth be told Aito didn't know Viral all that well. At least, not this iteration of Viral, they were practically strangers to one another. It may be a little incorrect to say they only knew one another for two years as well, as it had been in reality five before his passing. If they were to count genuine time spent together however, and uninterrupted time, then two years it was. "I did say two years, I know, but that's only if I consider time that we spent together constantly. You were technically five when I passed, so I suppose five would be correct. However you spent more and more time with Vegeta and Yumi, as well as instructors, whereas I became busy with managing the company. For a while I managed to shirk my duties, but inevitably I was called back," Aito admitted, smiling sheepishly as he let out a chuckle, "My intimate experience with you is limited, yes. But my understanding of your workings are far more elaborate and in depth than someone like Vegeta, who knows you very well. I hope that our discussions here might help me understand you better however."

Viral having no clue whatsoever how to relax was a little inconvenient, as now they didn't even have a place to begin conversations. There had to be something that would work, some method they could use to help reduce stress. Aito watched the Beastman silently for a moment before having a switch go off in his head, smiling amused as he got to his feet. It may not work whatsoever and only serve to anger Viral, but nothing ventured nothing gained! Standing just behind the Beastman he reached down and began to scratch his head, watching curiously for the reaction. In a somewhat hilarious fashion Viral quickly tried to cease the petting, but his hits came more as playful swipes as it quite clearly had a sort of effect on him. "Well... At least now I know this works in calming you down!" Aito declared proudly, grinning as he resumed the scratching, "Relax, I'm not going to abuse this, just keeping it in mind should we ever find ourselves in a bad situation, that's all." Retracting his hand for now he figured he'd best spare Viral's dignity, placing his hand on his hip and smiling. "I suppose we should get you changed back now though, hm? No sense in just waiting idly for you to resume your normal form."