Perhaps he ought to stop with the hypothetical and just eat, seeing as Viral wasn't eating one way or another. It would be a shame if they got nothing out of this and the Beastman refused to eat; with the improvements he had seen as of late, one would think Viral would feel at least well enough to attempt a small meal. "You want me to eat as well...? Okay then," Vegeta said as he sliced some steak for himself, popping the food in his mouth without second thought, "It's not poisoned, in case you were wondering. Tastes fine if bland." But then he wasn't terribly hungry anyways, so it wasn't as though his meal had been ruined as a result. If a few bites on his part got Viral to eat then he'd gladly chow down on the meal before them. "You know... I've been thinking lately," he began, pausing briefly to place another bite in his mouth, "How much things have changed for us. I mean think about it, we were simply living on Earth just over a year and a half ago by now, and here we are, traveling the galaxy and seeing things most could only ever dream of." Frowning as he sampled the fish and found it to be just too fishy in taste, Vegeta set down his serving of that and instead returned to the steak, still not having the faintest idea what animal they were eating. "Kind of amazing to think about, how drastic that change is. And I've got the feeling we won't be heading back for a while yet."

"Why should I care? The time I spent with my race was lousy, and until recently I thought they were genocidal maniacs. Someone else can lead them, I want nothing to do with that," Takeshi retorted before giving a shake of his head, "Besides I'll even say it myself, I'm not leader material. You really think I'm gonna lead some planet?" Most days he couldn't even get his friends to do as he asked of them, how was he going to do something on that huge of a scale? For all he cared Krom could just take over, or his father could even stay in power if he gave up the whole ruling the galaxy deal. That still sat funny with him, thinking what his father had done had been for good; Shu and Viral would hardly agree to that sentiment, and their pain was plenty reason enough for him to remain skeptical. "I know I gotta help him, I don't know [i]how[/i] though! If I did then I woulda ages ago!" Takeshi snapped again before scuffing his shoe against the floor, folding his arms and letting out an audible sigh, "I get it, I get it, I made things worse freaking out. Not my fault though... Last time it happened he attacked me too, and the time before that he tore off my tail..." His reaction wasn't that wrong then was it? "But fine, I'll go and see him. You just... Uh... You know, I really don't care. Do whatever, not my problem," he added, giving a dismissive wave before moving to leave the room as well.

Just because someone was larger than you didn't mean you couldn't beat them, Yumi knew that plenty from personal experience. While being outsized and physically weaker certainly made it tougher all you needed was a bit of know-how to bring someone down. "Yeah, exactly. If you can get them off balance, for instance, make them miss a punch, then all it takes is one good hit from you to knock them over," she explained with a grin, thrilled that Shu seemed to be getting it bit by bit, "See, you and I are lucky because we're fast. All we have to do is avoid getting hit until we can do something, understand?" They could work on it later today even, and if they could find someone to play the part of the big-bad guy then all the better; Aito wasn't really that bulky, but he did tower over Shu, maybe he'd be willing to play the dummy for their sake? Giving Shu a little push to pick out his toys, she watched as he picked out a good many from the chests, piling them up one by one until he had a sizable bunch of them. "Those will be perfect, good choices Shu," she said as she grabbed herself one of the toys, smiling as she waggled it in his face, "Hi there Shu, ready to play with me?"

[hr]

The fact that eating had been a success with Viral was a large milestone. No sudden transformations or becoming ill, he'd eaten a decent portion of what had been provided and seemed no worse for wear now. Such news had both Vegeta and Aito beyond excited, as this meant that his physical symptoms at least should begin to recede, and with that the mental aspects ought to improve. They would still need to guide him through that though, provide therapy as needed and perhaps even change their approach to suit what was bothering him at the time. In all though it was very promising, and it would only continue to improve from there. So confident that Viral was in good health they had even moved him from a more secure place to a normal residence, albeit one that was sparsely populated. In favor of the indoor arboretum or a medical facility, he now enjoyed the equivalent of a small home of his own, off of the rebel facility and more towards the edges of the city. Medical personnel would still make occasional rounds to replenish medicines or bring equipment by, but in large he would now be left to do as he pleased, in what they hoped would be a more comfortable environment.

"Everything is coming back with promising results, this is good," Vegeta said, unable to hide his delight as a smile sat plain on his face, "Your genes have begun to repair themselves, the injections of proteins is seeing to that, and your weight is increasing as well thanks to muscle mass rebuilding. You're no longer at risk for unwarranted transformations, and are perfectly capable of moving about on your own accord. We're slowly but surely getting there." All that remained now was to make sure he kept up on his nutrition, gradual as it may be, and to continue therapy until he was in a more comfortable state of mind. All told there was no definitive timeline for what was left, but compared to just how long he'd suffered for, a week or even a month wouldn't be too bad. Placing down the documents on the coffee table, Vegeta sank back into an armchair and raised his arms up in a stretch, yawning before rubbing at his face. "Hm... I think this means too we can get back to training, if you'd like. I considered us exercising like before, but if we're both perfectly capable of fighting then why not train?" 

Play therapy hadn't been quite what Yumi expected, though it seemed to have gone well. All she had done was pretend to be any various member of their group and play with Shu, some of which she'd done better than others. The purpose of such an exercise was lost on her even now, but seeing Aito constantly jotting down notes and nodding in approval had been good signs. The little boy had since gone off to be with Takeshi again, which left her with time to visit T'charrl; their friend had finally been given a clear bill of health and released from the hospital, and with only sparse visitors with everyone being busy she figured he'd be happy to have her. It took a bit of questioning of the staff to even track him down, but eventually she'd managed to find him. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Yumi called as she smiled, waving to T'charrl, "You look much better now, I'm glad. How do you feel though, still sore?"

Takeshi had known for a while he needed to do something for Shu but he'd neglected it. In some ways he had done so in hopes of Vegeta or someone else stepping up, feeling poorly equipped to even begin to try helping his brother. There had been a very foolish part of him to that had hoped the kid's problems may just fade with time, that he'd get better on his own and not even need the help. It was obvious now it had to fall to him, and as Krom had pointed out it should be him to do it anyways. Having since come to terms with taking that responsibility there was still the matter of how to actually help Shu. Transforming in his brother's case always seemed to be emotional, and goodness knows he was the last person who ought to be telling someone how to keep their cool. If he found a way to help Shu then he'd probably do it himself too, but that was a big if. "So uh... Training with Krom was interesting. Turns out he's a hell of a lot stronger than I thought," Takeshi began, smiling sheepishly as he itched at his nose. Before he could even consider treating Shu's problem of transforming, he first thought he should put it out there just how his condition was. In hopes of keeping the younger boy calmer he'd brought him out to the woods, and even had a small packed lunch for them to share, just the two of them. "He and I kinda talked about a lot of stuff, some of it was kind of weird, and other stuff was uh... Well tough to talk about," he continued, glancing over at Shu as he nudged him in the shoulder, "We talked about you too, buddy."