[The corner of his mouth quirked upward in satisfaction at the pink tone spreading over Stellaris's cheeks and he gave the fringe one last playful swat before answering her.]

Hopefully you won't have to sneak up on anyone any time soon.

[He paused for a moment as he tried to recall the events of the past few weeks.]

You've heard about the reconstruction efforts already, so I won't bore you with that. There was a little event in the park. A barbecue with food shaped like people in the Sphere. It was kind of creepy. [A huge understatement given what the event was meant to signify, but he wouldn't get into that just now.] A lot of people got their names back and, recently, a lot of our weapons have been replaced with harmless stand-ins. I think that's all the high points.

[He considered mentioning that Youth's son had disappeared, but he didn't know if the two were close and if she'd even know who he was referring to.]