[ He'd meant it in more of an ownership sense - how does one phrase "is that the same person whose head is on Phos's body" in a tactful way? He did his best. This whole situation is rapidly approaching levels of inhumanity that are hard for him to understand. The idea of Cairngorm, or Ghost, or both - perhaps there was no clear delineation between their desires at a level this deep - holding onto their departed partner's decapitated head is unsettling. But, thankfully, Lupin's known Cairngorm for almost a year; he's aware enough this time, unlike the incident with Cairngorm smashing Phos's face, to recognize that he's assigning human values to something distinctly inhuman, and he forces himself to divorce his feelings of perturbation from the matter.

From a completely neutral point of view, it certainly explains why Cairngorm's relationship with Phos is -- complicated. To say the least. There are a lot of things he wants to ask - chief among them being "does that mean Phos's personality and memories were part Lapis, too?" - but he makes himself focus on Cairngorm. ]

... [ he's quiet for a moment, thinking it all over. It's a lot for a human to try and understand. ] ... I know you. I'm sure that both of you felt guilty over losing Lapis. But I'm equally sure that you would never purposefully hurt your partner. Whatever happened - in the end, the moon people are the ones who took them away. Not you. Not Ghost, either, even if they want someone to blame. No one can keep fighting the same battles for 100 years and not make a single mistake.