Val felt the weight of her capsule pack in her pocket that Bulma had given her. It contained a small, two bedroom capsule house with a loft that she could use where ever she decided to train. Not necessary for her to have her 'creature comforts,' but more her own space to research and live separately from where ever she decided to train.
She saw the Kami House in view now as she flew. She sensed only Krillin there, but not Master Roshi. She landed beside the house, just realizing the island was smaller than she remembered, which meant her using her capsule house here was not manageable.
She saw Krillin jump up from a beach chair, closing the magazine and half shoving it rolled up form between parts of the chair. Val could not read the title nor much of the picture beyond a woman and a car on the cover. "Oh, hi. Val. How are you? What are you doing here?" he rushed out. He took a step in front of the magazine.
"Good. Just here too... um...," she hummed out. "To catch up," she landed on. She brushed a stray hair out of her face. "And. Possibly. Somewhere new to split training and researching," she added, holding her breath when she finished.
He studied her for a bit, seeming taken aback. "Oh, what happened with Tien?" he blurted out the question.
She sighed, bringing her hand up to her hydrangea necklace. She tried to think of what to say, landing simply on, "we broke up." She bit back the desire to mention Aiko, but kept it quiet.
"Oh... whoa... wow..." he muttered. He said something else about 'a chance,' to himself and shook his head. She cocked her head over at him, trying to sort out what he was getting at. "That's too bad," he landed on.
She nodded sheepishly, crossing her free arm over her chest, still fiddling with her necklace. "He'll still be there. When the androids come," she confirmed. "We may need him."
"Oh, well, that's good," he said.
She looked around the island, realizing there really was no room for her capsule house on the island, and likely no room on any other nearby islands for that matter. She hummed to herself disappointedly. Maybe she could just train here three days a week, but go back to Capsule Corps to research and rest the other days. She would be stuck there with Vegeta, especially when she still did not want to be around him often now. Tien's fear she would end up with him was something she was determined to never allow. She reminded herself the fighter from the future looked nothing like her. Distance was needed now.
She sighed to herself. It would be better off to go train at the Look Out. There she would have the room, training, and distance she wanted.
She looked back over at Krillin, getting a sense off him. He had grown stronger since she saw him last. Training with Master Roshi was working for him at least. "You've grown stronger," she complimented, breaking herself out of her thoughts.
"Oh, yeah? Thanks for noticing," he seemed to beam at the compliment. "As have you," he returned.
"Thanks," she answered back, thinking not as strong as she could be.
Vegeta had grown far stronger with having more time to train than she had. She was held back by needing time to research and to try replicate anti viral medicine she stole from the ship before the heart virus coming could take off. Bulma had also been working through the research Vegeta stole, having more luck with her projects than Val had since she also had more time to devote to all of it. Val huffed to herself, frustrated.
"Hey, I said are you alright?" Krillin asked her.
Val blinked, looking back over at him. "Yeah, sorry," she said, coming out of her thoughts. "I was trying to find somewhere else to train, but no offense, I don't think here will work. It's far too small. I need somewhere with enough space to both train and work. But trying to both train and work on medicine to help fight off the heart virus coming has been so difficult," she admitted. She looked around the island, too small for her to set up her house, so too small for her to do what she needed. "It's difficult to balance both, but I have to. I have to succeed in both," she resolved. She gripped her necklace harder. "It's all I can focus on. But focusing on both leaves me so lacking in progress in both." She brought both hands up to the corded necklace around her neck.
"Can you give one up?" he asked, frowning slightly. "At least for the time being."
She shook her head. "No," she answered. She furrowed her brow. "Absolutely not."
"Well, just don't overwork yourself," he advised. "Do what you can, not what you can't."
She nodded, frowning. She thought to herself how she could possibly allow herself to fail in either regard.