It was a little strange to see Sophie with her hair in nothing but a ponytail, but compared to the mess it had been before, it was an improvement. "It is good. I'm very talented, you know." He put a few more pancakes on her plate than she might normally have asked for; she probably hadn't been eating properly, and she needed to get on that.
His comment had been his general frivolity rather than the dark humor of recent weeks, which might have meant he was approaching normality. But approaching it wasn't the same as being there, and Sophie seemed to be at about the same point he was. Which meant that she would probably be able to offer a response when he asked, "Are you okay?"