"Reminder?" He asks, keeping his voice calm and even as he speaks. Rat seems to him as brittle as a branch in the wake of winter; vulnerable, and prone to snapping at any moment. Still, he doesn't back away; instead, he gradually inches closer, tilting his head to gesture the abandoned ball. "And you're certain that what you saw in that is the truth? Not an illusion designed by the city to mess with your head?"

For his own part, his stomach knots every time he so much as looks at the ball; he's heard the rumors, of course. Of stones showing people various possibilities of their fates. So far, he's been able to avoid seeing them for himself. This one, of course, seems to have cornered Rat.

"Do you want to be alone?" He asks, stilling for a moment. He wants to reach out and pull the other man in for a hug; he wants to hold him and keep the loneliness at bay. He doesn't want to cause Rat discomfort; he also wants Rat to know that he's not just going to go away. He knows full well what he feels for Rat. Perhaps, in the Paris he left behind, some version of himself is with Cosette - married to her by now, probably. But himself, now - he isn't that person, and he's not going to forget Rat anytime soon, on a whim or otherwise.