Yes. It was in Human On The Inside, (one of my favorite Authority books), where his opponent squared off with him but refused to make an aggressive move and just stood there, so his abilities didn’t work against that. His abilities also didn’t work against the kiss that followed.

Exactly! I approached this the same way. I hate chit chat but recognizing why I hate it helped me to understand why others like it, need it, and want to have it.