Diarmuid chuckles lightly thinking about how odd--and amazing--it is that mere words on a page can do so many of the same things to her that food can to others, "Do you think if I tried specifically to write something that didn't come off tasting alcoholic it would work or would the very fact that I am thinking so hard about not doing it be my undoing?"

He pauses a moment to think about what a version of himself raised by Donn might have been like and can't help but pale slightly when his first thoughts drift to how he had been during the January experiment, "I don't think I want to think about a version of me raised by him. I hope that not many universes ended up taking that route..."

In fact, Diarmuid wants to not think about that possibility so much that he very quickly latches onto what Tohko is saying about her parents. He is about to ask if she would mind telling him more about them when he realizes that she is talking about them in past tense, "They are...gone aren't they? Even before our worlds were destroyed, you were alone..."