He tensed visibly, hands twitching as though to catch the dog. Worried it might fall or something? Either way, his cheeks colored that pale lavender, full lips curving into a barely perceptible smile. Perhaps it was just strange for him to have what he equated to a human being hopping into his lap whenever they liked?

"Thank you, Ren. It's very good to be home." He nodded, meaning it, and ran a hand gently along the dog's back, marveling at the soft fur. Without really meaning to, he glanced at Aoba's hair, wondering if the feathery mess was as soft as it looked. With an upward tick of his eyebrows, he looked away quickly.

"Ren! If you're got the space now, you and I can go over information from the Guardian vaults and see if there's anything relevant to extrapolate!" Ghost intoned, zooming over from where he'd been staring out the massive windows up at the Traveler. Declan paused in his petting, looking to Ghost, then Aoba, nodding slowly.

"It isn't *all* the information we can access, but it's a great deal of it. The most comprehensive collection, at any rate. The Ishtar library on Venus will have all the rest. If you two can't find anything here, we're bound to find something there."