All right, so asking wasn't a big mistake at least. Julien's pedipalps bob, he doesn't know if he should press on earnestly or get drawn into tangents. Fortunately the Warden takes pity on him a little.

"I was, but that could have been regretting being in a bad situation, right? I don't want to leave it at that." He'd known on multiple levels that it was a bad situation, even though he'd also been convinced that he'd defected of his own accord and couldn't think about it in words.

Julien rakes one hand through his feathery blue hair. "I never thought 'oh, I'm going to break curfew.' It was a mistake - an error of judgment - not deliberate rebellion, but the consequences are the same as if it was." He can feel his face burning. "I didn't think, and then everything just snowballed. So I just wanted to say, I guess, I know I fucked up."