[ Considering he never made it onto that battlefield, not to mention he's been here for over half a year now, he's just adding that to the fact that he hasn't seen her since they were in school together. Easier to be casual about it, in that case. Not to mention... he's just had a really weird month, so at the moment, this is one of the few nice surprises he's had in a while.

He chuckles as he watches her scoop up the little creature and then reaches out to pet it on the head. He still has no idea what it is or why it's here but eh. That's less important at the moment. ]

Well, it could have been some angry and overprotective older brother... [ He muses this out loud for a moment, tapping a bandaged finger against his chin before shooting her a crooked grin. ] But nah, it was crazy mushroom cultists trying to feed us to their creepy tree altar or something. It was a whole thing, you're lucky you're showing up now.

[ Which reminds him. ] Claude and Hilda are here. Have you seen them yet? They'll be thrilled to see you, too.