There is the barest hesitation, as he stops in his tracks and his eyes unfocus—but then it passes, and he just looks puzzled.

"I, um... I'm sorry. You said... the, the apartments change from occupied to unoccupied based on our perception, is that right?" He feels very odd. But then he reaches for the unlocked door of the nearest apartment, two down from his own—they're all unlocked; he thinks Magpie had something to do with it.

"I never like doing this. It's their home." Two months in Tartarus has done little for his fellow-feeling with cognitions, it seems.