Oh, whenever Liliana moved away like that, it always felt as if she'd gone and carved out of portion of Ignis and took it with her. Even worse, when it was followed by such silence, and he was left reprimanding himself for overthinking it, for not just saying one of the first things to come to his mind (or any of the things that came to mind, there certainly hadn't been a shortage of them!), for once more, in trying to side-step the wrong response, tripping over his feet straight into a different wrong response instead.

At least he had checking the paella to focus on for a moment, leaving him even more surprised when Liliana spoke, not some rote filler about grabbing bowls or whatever other menial task in front of them. His attention shifted her way, feeling compelled to ask if he'd maybe even heard her say anything at all, and then she was continuing.

The tension he hadn't entirely realized he was holding had loosened, and he smiled, not as imperceptivity as he'd have liked to have thought. He killed the flame on the stone and moved over to take the bowls from Liliana, leaning in for a soft kiss as he did so.

"Purple is a far better color for you anyway, 'Iana," he said. "Though I suppose I am a bit biased; I've always been quite partial to it myself. May I ask a follow-up question? Well, full disclosure, it's actually two but one rather depends on the answer to the other."