There was, at that, a small hesitation. A smoother path to embark on, perhaps, to just brush it aside, move along well enough. But it was that sort of desire to avoid the wrong thing that ended him up with the wrong thing anyway, and so he found himself unable to do so again. Especially as he was perhaps understanding what the issue had been in the first place.

He shook his head.

"All the kisses you want," he said, "are yours, but freely given. This will be my question, although it's technically two. If you can bend the rules, darling, then so can I."

And so, before he began to second-guess himself yet again, he asked: "Do you possess that scarf of your mother's? Considering how you left your home, however, it seems incredibly unlikely. In which case, what was your first item of purple clothing, then?"