Magic Items to aid relationships

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

There was this crude idea for a short Ranma 1/2 story that drifted into my head recently. It involved a Wandering Shop (for you non-Discworld fans: a magic items store that is itself potently enchanted so that it can travel to different worlds/dimensions/times) whose owner specialises in "relationship magic"- magical items and spells and the like to aid in romance without the blunt simplicity of love potions (which he scorns as "crude and simplistic"). Naturally enough, when he decides to try selling his goods in Nerima, he adds fuel to one hell of a fire.

The problem is, I can't think of any items he might sell. Do any of you have any suggestions? So far, these are the only things I can think of:
*a pair of small, matched precious stones. When pressed against the flesh, they sink into it and move to the brain, establishing a powerful mental link between the two people who bear the stones. To put it bluntly, the link lets the users hear each other's thoughts (and speak telepathically to each other in time), sense their emotions, use each other's senses (which can evolve into 'share each other's pain' in time- basically, one person could see/hear/taste whatever the other was seeing/hearing/eating if they willed) and experience each other's memories.

*A "how to" book on relationships between martial artists. Yeah, I know this isn't actually magical, but given how little idea any of the Nerimites have about how relationships *should* work, it's close to magic. I need some help with this item: can you suggest A: advice it might give (I got two bits; "ask your interest to spar/train with you", and "stand beside your love interest in battle") and B: how said advice might be written so as to make it plain and easy to understand.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

I ran into one fanfic that had Akane learning to cook by treating it as a martial art. For her, at least, such a cookbook could work wonders. (A cookbook that would beam instructions and common sense directly into the brain would be even better.)

[mondu_the_fat]

Items that help relationships? Heh. Most of the things I'm thinking of run from the suggestive to the naughty to the vulgar.

For Ranma 1/2 specifically, a clue meter.

Sample: Kuno/Shampoo wears it, then thinks "Ranma wants me!" -- it light up like a christmas tree. Akane wears it, cuddling Ryoga and says to Ranma "just because Ryoga isn't here means you can pick on him!" -- it lights up. Ranma wears it, and before he can open his mouth to say something hurtful (even if true) it flashes him.

mundane example: if you're wearing this and your wife asks you if the dress makes her fat, it will flash to indicate that to you that what she wants is affirmation that she's attractive/you still love her, instead of really wanting to know if she is fat.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I don't understand what precisely the "clue meter" does/how it's supposed to help.

Does anyone else have any further suggestions? Items to encourage love without, well, mindrape?

[mondu_the_fat]

It helps by reminding people that what they are about to say is either flat out wrong or hurtful.

For example, remember the scene where Ranma was trying out Akane's clothes, then Ranma says the waist is loose and the top is tight? Ranma wasn't lying, and he certainly didn't say it to anger Akane, but a person with a clue would have smiled and thanked Akane for the clothes. He didn't need to hurt Akane's feelings needlessly, and he didn't need to lie either -- if Ranma had a clue, he could just have say nicely that it fits (which it did).

After sex, a clue meter would light up and wake a man about to fall asleep after a great orgasm when the woman wants to cuddle in the afterglow.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Thanks for the explanation.

So, does anyone have any further suggestions? If it makes things any clearer, the sort of materials this merchant would sell would be aimed at encouraging "lovers" to get closer together.

For example, one item might be a mirror or a looking glass that allows one to see into the past of a person you desire. For more "desperate" types, things like conception elixir (magic potion that only works for women: mix in a drop of blood or a single hair or somesuch from a person you love and drink to become pregnant with their child) or something vaguely like the master/student pills (the eaters become "magnetically charged" and stick to one another).

[Daniel Jess Gibson]

For example, one item might be a mirror or a looking glass that allows one to see into the past of a person you desire. For more "desperate" types, things like conception elixir (magic potion that only works for women: mix in a drop of blood or a single hair or somesuch from a person you love and drink to become pregnant with their child) or something vaguely like the master/student pills (the eaters become "magnetically charged" and stick to one another).

Two suggestions: a potion that gives you an insight into what you can give to a person that they truly need (not necessarily what they want, but what they need). On a side note, imagine if there are several doses. The fathers might want to steal one to give Akane and Ranma suggestions, Nabiki wants to use it herself, or sell it to the fiance(e)s.

The second item would be an earring or ear-piece that `translates` what a person is saying into what they mean, in a way you understand. So if Ranma said, 'Hey Akane, you don't look like a complete tomboy today.' Akane would hear, 'You look the way I wish you looked all the time, I appreciate the change.' Unfortunately, it works completely, so if Ranma tells Shampoo he doesn't want to marry her, or Ukyo he loves her as a friend, they hear that too.

[antimatterenergy]

If you go voodoo way. Jujo/gris gris bag. Particularly love juju's.

A statue of a love, fertility, marriage god/dess like Aphrodite/venus (greek/roman), Kamadeva (hindu), Lofn (norse), Chalchiuhtlicue (aztec), Gekka-O (Japanese marriage god), Benzaiten (Japanese goddess of love), etc...

Maybe a pair of dreamcathers but instead of blocking nightmares it allows the two peoples dreams to link.