It is, all things considered, a very nice drawing room. Portraits adorn the walls and the heavy drapes are open to let starlight from the moonless night through. There's a table far too small for the large room with a pot of tea, a set of tea cups and an arrangement of cookies and fruit. Two oaken doors are firmly closed to one side, and to the other a single door is slightly ajar, the sound of sobbing coming from past it. Every once in a while it's possible to hear a page being turned in the other room as well. The drawing room on its own is silent, save for the ticking of a grandfather clock and then, with no prelude, an exclamation.
"...there was something trying to affect my mind but shrugging it off was less expensive than the contact was guiding so it was still net fine, not being affected by psychic stuff is the cheapest power I have."
"Hrm, it sounds like what happens when two empowered touch then - albeit with the guiding and compatibility added on."
"It is... an amount impolite to discuss but I suppose needs must."
"When empowered touch they can get a sense, as if at a great distance, of their feeling for one another. Marriage impacts the bond, intensifying it, hence the taboo against discussing it without necessity."
"Is it actually marriage which has these magical effects, or is it those intimacies traditionally reserved for marriage?"
Presumably he means accompanying one's spouse overnight during their haunting.
"Some intimacies are necessary for the initiation of marriage between empowered."
"I'm... not sure I'm going to wind up with accurate models of the situation if you talk around it to this extent. Which is fine, because I don't have a demon! But to be clear the thing you're doing here is a different thing from successful communication."
"If it is not particularly relevant I'd prefer not to discuss the details, all things considered."
"Okay. So people don't talk about this and you're people. But I don't need to get married, I can get by on holding hands. My partner back home can't abide social contact when she's backlashed so the usual thing she does is hide under a blanket with only her feet sticking out, and that'll do."
"I can in fact talk about this if it's necessary for you to have an accurate model, it is just a non-trivial risk to be involved in such discussions, and while I detest this fact I can't entirely ignore it."
"It is always possible for someone to walk in at an unfortunate moment...I suppose what is really happening is that I have rather strong instincts that apply regardless of particular circumstances."
"Empowered as well..."
"Was there a particular question you wanted to know the answer to regarding martial intimacies."
"Again, this does not in fact matter as a thing for me to understand, because I do not want to marry an eighteenth century noble and have demon-infested children, but the thing I was curious about was what specific feature of marriage the magic acknowledges. At what point or after what event do the magical effects of marriage take effect?"
"Soon after the couple has spent their first night together during which both of them are haunted - I don't know the exact timing beyond that."
"...but the hauntings being able to occur together is itself a magical effect of marriage, yes?"
"Not the first time - you have to wait till your demon is strong enough to haunt you with another person present."
"Aha, gotcha. I guess that'd impose a floor on the marriage age?" A floor which Lucette is under, since her demon vanished when he walked into the room.
"Mm? Skipping hauntings causes your demon to get strong enough to manifest in such a manner within a month typically."