"What was it like?" He does not comment on the past tense. Whether that's because he didn't notice or he's carefully not saying anything about it is unclear.

"There's no place for me anywhere," Vivi says simply. "I guess I could just stay here and be safe, but I've passed lots of time like that." He doesn't really know what he wants, but surely this empty city isn't all there is.

He wants to believe that, at least. Besides, he's sure his siblings won't mind if he goes exploring. Maybe he can tell them about the other layers, if they don't get there first.

(Really, he is simply lonely and curious. And Gabriel is the first new thing he's seen in a while. He's the promise of, at least, something interesting.)

"And if I can defend myself better, you can go and hunt machines in the other layers, right? So it'll work out."