"—I don't see how it would? How would it?"

"That's—peculiar. What way?"

"I don't know! Like a professional relationship, do we need a code of conduct?" 

"Everything else in their life stops being enough. They seek out their Object if they lose it, and...Objects are drawn to each other. Even if this suspected effect isn't real, Objects do tend to take over one's life."

"That's very worrying. And it doesn't sound like something that's going on with us but if it is nonetheless it's a very scary effect."

"Code of conduct? Like, no making out in crime scenes, no hands below the belt...?"

"Do your best to minimize the number of Objects you use. I don't know if the problem is psychological or magical, but it's common."

"I just think that murder mysteries and makeouts should be separate."

"But how separate? Is it just a 'don't investigate and shag at the same time' or 'on days where you were looking into a crime don't flirt'?"

"Does it not affect you?"

"I don't have much experience with people wanting to kiss me. Maybe if we're doing research but not recon?"

"It affects me. I only use one Object regularly; the rest, I store."

"And you feel like everything else is—less?"

"Sounds alright to me. And, really? You're awfully cute, I can't believe it's that uncommon for people to want to kiss you."

"When I imagine that Object leaving my possession, I feel a desperate fear that nothing will ever be right again. It's all I have left." 

"It's probably the personality. I kind of never stop talking." 

"Neither do I, really, although I suppose talking while making out might make the process somewhat harder."

"May I ask...?"

"Us seekers and collectors of Objects tend not to get along, you know. This is why. You can ask, but I'm not going to answer, in case you develop an interest." 

She pours herself another glass. 

"We could make the experiment."

"That is indeed a thing we could do, but if it turned out to be impossible, which do you think you'd stop, the talking or the kissing?"

"I never claimed to make it easy for people to kiss me. We can figure it out."

"Sure, that sounds like a worthy experiment. For science."

She nods. "I won't ask, then. This sounds—suboptimal, this whole situation. Magical objects that could help people, that can do unthinkable things..."

"Maybe you just need someone with the right mindset. For those of us who don't, it's a dangerous experiment."