Stephen’s jolted, for a moment, by that hyper-specific unexpected overlap, which just keeps happening with Cosima for some reason —

But if hers was said in confidence, then his even moreso; he can’t bring himself to explain I think I know how you feel, and how he understands that white-hot anger at the idea of a loved one actually wanting Tranquility. Gwenaëlle was so open about herself, but that particular piece of information had been obtained too closely, too intimately for his comfort. So, instead:

“So that’s at least four onion layers. You’ve got a whole ogre,” Stephen says, his instinctive kneejerk instinct to start off by making light. But his tone soon pivots, turning serious again.

“You still carry people with you. Your words. And that still holds true: of course you’re gonna carry that with you and you’ll still care about what happens to her, even if you’re not romantically involved anymore. And you already said to me, back then, that you’d already been spotting the ways in which your pieces didn’t line up anymore— so, yeah, I could see the Tranquility just, I don’t know, making that even more apparent?”